Shih's History
Shih hiNacunya was born in the city of Mmilaka in Salarvya to the Jade Bone clan. Though Very-High in status, Shih's lineage was quite low owing to the source of wealth of his immediate family. As shipping merchants, their mundane focus on trade reduced their standing in the clan. In fact, had it not been for the substantial contributions made by his family to clan coffers, their status could have been called into further question.
Growing up in Salarvya, Shih did not lack for tutors. At a young age, his native intelligence and talent for magic caused him to shine among his peers. Unfortunately, even this could not transcend the scorn of his clan. Children can be particularly cruel. Frequently he got into fights with his clan cousins and was soundly beaten for it. Seeking to transcend his family stigma and at the strong advice of one of his clan fathers, Shih joined the priesthood of Black Qarqa, the Salarvyani analog of Sarku, at the age of 13. As a scholar, his abilities and clan status held him in good stead allowing him to rapidly advance through the junior acolyte ranks. Still he longed for adventure.
Something of a hot-head and prideful of his family, Shih jumped at the chance to act as a family ambassador, furthering their business ties with certain trading concerns in Tsolyanu. At the age of 20, he made the arduous journey by ship to mighty Jakalla, that port of ports.
In Tsolyanu, the Jade Bone clan was closely affiliated with the Domed Tomb clan, a High clan whose members were dedicated to the Worm Lord. Leveraging their influence, Shih was quickly welcomed into the local Sarku temple ranks. There he took his vows as a full priest.
When not performing his priestly duties or studying the potent magical disciplines of the Lord of the Dead, Shih sought to fulfill his family duties by furthering their shipping interests. This also benefited the Domed Tomb. Though young, he was quite successful, building a respected name among many of the shipping clans.
At 28, Shih was asked by the Domed Tomb to take ship to Haida Pakala to establish a new shipping affiliation. On the ship of Captain Harchar were devotees of various clans and Gods who he would later call friends. Over the months at sea, Shih learned the rudiments of sailing a ship and acquired some martial skill.
The journey was boring, punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Immediately upon exiting the Equnoyal River delta, their ship was beset at night by hlutrgu. Many sailors were wounded and died before they could be beaten off.
Over the deep dark ocean, Shih saw his first ahho. It was fighting for its life against some fantastic snake creating such waves that our ship was tossed about. Thankfully, they both descended into the depths leaving our ship in peace.
Two months into the journey, with sea birds telling us that land was near, we heard a horrible buzzing over the water. Louder and louder it came. I did not know at first what terrible thing was upon us, though judging by the frantic efforts of all the sailors to put on sail, I could guess. It was nighttime and over the western horizon, I began to see a strange purple glow. If was from this direction that the buzzing sound came. Soon we all beheld a thing to cause the bravest of men to lose their water. First in whispers and then in screams, men uttered one word: Hluss! Some of the sailors, with no land in sight, jumped overboard. A passable swimmer, still I had no great urge to jump into water that housed who knew what manner of flesh-rending beast. I will never forget the huge purple hive as it approached. A fantastic flash of brilliant light shot from the top of the hive and destroyed the side of our ship. Clinging to driftwood with the Captain and my soon-to-be friends, we moved away from the wreckage.
The screams of the many sailors we had come to know drifted hideously across the water as they were fished from the waves by long hooked poles wielded by hluss operating on the lowest tier of their hive ship. Later, we would learn the terrible fate that awaited them.
The morning following our ship's destruction found us desperately trying to lash together different pieces of wreckage at the direction of Captain Harchar. On this makeshift raft, we floated for two days. Exhausted and conserving water in a barrel that we had salvaged, we finally washed ashore on a long sandy dune that served to draw a line between the ocean and the swamp behind it. We were well west of Haida Pakala.
Ravenous, we scavenged local shellfish and ate them raw only to learn of their psychotropic properties. We all had vivid hallucinations. I remembered what we ate in the hope of informing my clan of this potentially profitable trade item. That first night, giant crabs attacked us from the sea, directed by a large crab perched atop a protruding rock. After losing a number of crabs to our magic, it clicked its claws and the crabs withdrew.
We traveled west on this long dune for days until we saw a sight that struck terror once again into our hearts. There in front of us, aground against the dune, was a huge hluss ship. It was different than the ship that attacked us. As there was no way around the ship and no viable path west, we cautiously approached. When we saw no activity, we decided to investigate.
To make a long story short, we eventually scaled the side of the ship on ropes left by local ahoggya. Entering it, we were puzzled by the eerie silence. At the top of the ship was a room with openings and a fantastically thick piece of carved glass on rollers that could be positioned to bring things closer when looking through it. As we descended down through the winding passages in the ship, we found various rooms with platforms secreted by the hluss containing compartments within. In those compartments were various pigments and straps as well as some weapons and jewels. Descending further we came to the bottom and finally found the hluss. They were all dead.
A horrible fungal epidemic had wiped them out. On a central raised platform, we saw the hluss queen, three times the size of the largest warrior. Hundreds or even thousands of dead hluss covered in white powder were all facing inward towards the queen like a vast dead flower. Investigating some of the large side compartments, we found starving sailors captured from other ships and, oddly, slaves. From these slaves, we learned that the hluss traded with certain people in Haida Pakala and that they were all destined to be horrible delicacies to be served live to the queen. In other rooms, we found hundreds of nodules like large hard green cheeses. Breaking into one, we were all horrified to see that most pernicious of drugs, Zu'ur, pour forth. Sense-numbing addiction and eventual death if we breathed the smallest portion, we were lucky enough to escape without losing anyone.
After much investigation, we learned that Zu'ur is actually a secretion of the hluss queens. This was later traded to humans for slaves. This secret alone would assure a substantial reward if we could only survive to inform the OAL back in Tsolyanu. It occurred to all of us that the hluss probably found some humor in the fact that humans were helping them kill other humans.
Upon leaving the ship, we were surprised to see a small group of ahoggya on the beach. After a number of tense moments, during which we weren't sure whether we would be eaten, we finally made ourselves understood by their leader. He sent one of his "people" back to their village for help. Soon, we saw many canoes, which transported us first to their village where we were treated as honored guests. There we danced with them. This seemed to be part of their mating ritual, which confounded all of us. Given their size and ferocious countenance, we were surprised to learn of their gentle and honorable way of life.
After a time, we bid the ahoggya farewell and continued our journey east. Eventually, we made our way to our destination in Haida Pakalla. After getting word back to our temples, we were each requested to lead a large joint temple contingent back to the hluss ship to ransack it. Fearing the white fungus, we had originally not ventured into the crush of dead bodies to get the many gems and other items that we could see. With a high level contingent of war mages from the Temple of Vimuhla, we made our way safely back to the hluss ship. Using many ropes and slaves, we eventually succeeded in our mission, acquiring a large haul of gems and magical items.
Afterwards, we were invited to assist in the summoning of Jeneksha'a (spelling?). After chaining 40 slaves to the side of the hluss ship, we called that demon lord. So vast that it filled the horizon, it came from the ocean. After a period of bargaining, it ingurgitated the ship, destroying it utterly. We returned to Haida Pakala where the individuals who were trading with the hluss were honored for their efforts with the high ride.
To honor us, we were taken into the lower recesses of the temple of the She Who Strides the Wind and placed on a tubeway car back to Tsolyanu. For a while, the tube through which we passed glowed red from heat and the car shook. Eventually though, we made it back to Jakalla into the tubeway station under the temple of Vimuhla.
Back in Jakalla, we were all rewarded for the service we had done for our temples. Eventually, officials of the empire debriefed us. Shih was given a ceremonial copper dagger dating back some 10000 years that was to be the first in his modest collection.
As a result of our journey and much study, Shih soon rose to the 3rd circle within the temple. Back in Jakalla, he continued his friendship with those with whom he had been shipwrecked. He also actively sought the friendship of those within the Temple of Sarku who were like-minded or
well positioned to help advance his career. Chief among these was his friend from the Dark Fear clan, Kurnur, who shared his interest in the tsuru'um, and had the right balance of twisted humor, sophistication and appreciation for wealth.
After a number of minor adventures in Jakalla's Tsuru'um, one of the priests of Ksarul was given a mission to retrieve certain scrolls in the domed city. These scrolls identified the date of the last Ditlana, a point of considerable political contention. The Temple of Ksarul sought this information in concert with the Temple of Sarku. Our group was led by Mi'aikar, a Ksarul priest of the 12th circle. With official passes, we descended through the entrance in the Necropolis down the long stairway towards the city that existed during the last days of Engsvan hla Ganga.
Though eerily attracted down a side stairway, Mi'aikar informed us of the certain death that awaited us in a shrine to the Goddess of the Pale Bone. After thousands of steps, we took a side passage down what proved to be a huge sewer pipe. At its end, we found the River of Silence.
Standing at the end the sewer pipe, Mi'aikar magically produced a bright light which shone across the water. Soon Katalan's ferry came floating across the water to retrieve us. An ancient technological marvel, Katalan asked what news we had heard of his lords in Engsvan hla Ganga. From his perspective, that venerable empire lived on. On his ferry, he brought us to his small island fortress where he apologized for serving us 100 year old provisions; for some reason that he could not fathom, he had not received new supplies in quite some time. Other automata were there in various stages of disrepair. Eventually we crossed the rickety rope bridge from Katalan's island to the Domed City.
That bridge was terrifying! From the River of Silence, hundreds of undead reached up towards us from beneath the water's surface. Mi'aikar informed us that a misty island existed down river where dwelt the demon Srukarum, master of dread Sarku's undead legions. Though hard to believe, the number of undead argued for the veracity of his statement.
Continuing on our journey, we moved through the stygian blackness to the temple where the papers we sought were located. On the way back though, our path was blocked by a ceremony of the Temple of Hru'u. In a square with the heads of the principle aspects of each of the Gods, acolytes of that temple were calmly entering the glowing open mouth of Hru'u. Not confident that we would survive being discovered violating the sanctity of this ceremony, we moved through the Domed City towards another exit that Mi'aikar knew about. On the way, shunned ones beset us. Mi'aikar's steel halberd with inexorable disjection held them at bay while I pulled an eye of raging power acquired from the hluss ship. To everyone's surprise, it not only disintegrated a large number of shunned ones, it cut a huge round hole hundreds of feet through the surrounding buildings. The eye was dangerously defective. Vanquished, the remaining shunned ones ran into the darkness. Investigating the tube just cut, we traversed through building and ruins into the corner of a building that we never could have otherwise found. To our surprise, we saw light coming from within. Looking through the opening we had just created, we watched a secret ceremony led by masked priests of the Temple of Ksarul.
This hidden temple was very strange. The walls contained a mural of the battle of Dormoron Plains, but a very different version than was officially told in the temples above. It depicted the Lord Ksarul allied with the Goddess of the Pale Bone, The One Who Is and The One Other. Also, it showed the Lord Ksarul being vanquished when The One Other changed sides. The ceremony that we watched honored this triad. The floor mosaic contained green attributable to the Goddess of the Pale Bone, red and white attributable to The One Who Is and the blue of Ksarul.
When the ceremony was over, we watched the priests leave through a secret door and then investigated the temple. To our surprise, we discovered that the alter covered a secret passage. Using ethereality, one of our members moved through the alter into the stairwell below, releasing the catch holding it closed. Descending down the stairs, we found a metal corridor extending out of sight. Traveling down it, we found the entrance to one of the mazes used to test the abilities of advanced worshippers of Ksarul.
Circumventing deadly traps, we came to the center of the maze where we found a small room with ceremonial garb for many priests including a strange mask and cape and a large room with an altar. With this information, we left rapidly to inform our temple of our horrible discovery. Ordered to search for additional information, we returned below.
To this day, I get nightmares about what we found. Traveling through the maze to its heart, we watched priests garb a young boy in the strange cape and mask. Both suddenly seemed alive. The boy was placed on the altar and slaves were offered up in an elaborate bloody ceremony. Then we saw a huge nexus point appear over the boy. Through this nexus, we beheld the huge tentacles descending towards the boy's prostrated body! At this point, some of the priest in the room began having second thoughts about what they were doing. That was when we attacked. From the words and gestures of the high priest, they were trying to bring an aspect of The One Who Is physically onto this plane! If they succeeded, we were sure that life would end!
Attacking the high priest and nexus point, we disrupted the ceremony. I fired my eye of raging power at the nexus point causing the tentacles to swing wildly through the room (that eye never again worked). Priests were smashed against the walls or pulled within the nexus point, which eventually closed. Miraculously, we succeeded. The remains of the boy inside the cape and mask oozed out in a bloody mess.
We brought these artifacts to the OAL and told our story. Later we learned that members of the Refulgent Blue Curtain Society had been responsible. For their continued worship of the Pariah Gods, they and their families were treated to the high ride. We were rewarded for services rendered to the Empire. Prince Rereshqala himself made me a Tsolyani citizen.
Soon after this adventure, I attained the 4th circle within the Temple of Sarku and was ordered to travel to the City of Sarku to continue my studies of magic and those administrative skills that would allow me to advance rapidly into the higher temple ranks. I was also invited to join the
secret Copper Tomb Society.
My induction ceremony into the Copper Tomb Society occurred at the obsidian arch in the Domed City. Under the terrible eyes of a huge worm, an Avatar of Sarku, and surrounded by other masked Society members and undead, I took my vows and learned the secret gestures and words that would identify other members and needed actions. Afterwards, there were formal congratulations by the other Society members. At one point, I became aware that one of the men congratulating me was wearing a distinctive ring that belonged to my friend Kurnur. Suddenly it all made sense. My friend had intervened on my behalf to get this most prestigious of Sarku societies to see beyond the stigma of my non-Tsolyani birth. I leaned forward so that only he could hear and thanked him. The laughter in his eyes inside the mask and distinguishing bow acknowledged the service he had done for me.
Two weeks later, Kurnur and I were sharing a palanquin, part of a large caravan that traveled past countless villages, through Avanthar and beyond into the Kra hills to the city dedicated in its entirety to the worship of my Lord, Sarku.
After introducing myself to the Patriarch of the Domed Tomb clan, I went with Kurnur to report to one of the Administrative priests. Soon, I began my studies. As a nexus junction, the skin between the real world and beyond from whence came extra-planer energy for magic was particularly thin. This made learning and practicing magic particularly easy. My private tutor, though, made it clear that this was a blessing of Sarku and that believers of other faiths would find access to their Pedhetl vastly diminished.
Although both of us were much more engaged in temple life, Kurnur and I still managed to find the time to explore the Tsuru'um. Still, Kurnur and I were frequently directed to duties that kept us apart.
Asleep in my chambers, I was suddenly awakened by a clan sister who I did not know, in full garb of a ritual priest of the 10th circle and mage. She whispered one of the secret words that demanded immediate service. Hastily, I threw on my robe and followed.
Outside my clan house door, a nondescript temple palanquin waited for us. Looking to the East, I noticed that it was just before sunrise. No wonder I was so tired, I mused, I've only been asleep two hours. My clan sister closed the palanquin curtain and we quickly set off. On our short journey to the temple, she introduced herself as Chranyel hiTedasu and welcomed me with the proper reserve of one who is unclear of the status of the other. Clearly, whoever had sent her was a significant power. From her calculating look, I could almost hear her wondering about the purpose of this summons. She kept her conjectures though to herself.
At the huge temple to Sarku, we went around it to a well guarded entrance that I had never before noticed. From its aspect, I assumed that it was reserved for members of the clergy of high circle, perhaps even high priests. To my surprise, the porters carried the palanquin inside. Only after I heard a gate close were the curtains opened by a bowing guard. Chranyel quickly climbed out and motioned that I follow. No words were spoken.
Somewhat apprehensive, I was led into someone's plush private quarters. She gestured to an ornate cushion and suggested quietly that I sit. Then she disappeared through a curtain.
Kunur, my old friend, appeared through the curtains next, and explained to me his dilemma. I listened to his words and quickly vowed my services to him and the quest that he would be unable to finish.
The rest of the story is being guided by the Worm Lord upon this website.
All hail mighty Sarku!!!
