Player Additions to Arathia
Created by the Player of Arizima
"We are the greatest warriors, natural philosophers, arcanists, and artists this world has ever seen. You deny yourself Duat to join us, a servant to that greatness and to the perpetuity of our people's sovereignity. The path ahead will be longer than you can imagine filled with countless joys and sorrows. Serve your ambition and your people well however, and perhaps countless years from now you will find a prize greater than any you surrender this night." ~High Priestess Anekset of the Great House Karneka just before the beginning of the Lich's rite.
Dunnoth is a land shrouded in mystery to most that live outside it's borders. Is it a beacon of civilization on the southern continent producing some of the greatest thinkers, arcanists, and warriors the world has ever known? Or is it a mad decadent aristocracy ruled by the malevolent dead, filled with a thousand strains of heresy? Ask the average citizen of the north or an unlucky soldier that's had to face the famed mercenary companies of Dunnoth on the field and they might say it's closer to the latter. Ask a citizen of Dunnoth or a merchant taken with the great port of Sirai and you'll get a different answer. Critic or defender though, no one can deny the advances in architecture, the medical sciences, or Dunnothi mathematics that benefit most across the known world.
The Great Port City of Sirai
Sirai is a coastal jewel located at the base of a river delta. When most adventurous types think of Dunnoth Sirai probably springs to the mind first. This is where the merchant ships and caravans from the world over come to meet and trade exotic goods from across the known world and beyond. A traveler can get lost for days exploring the Grand Bazaar and smaller markets without even touching the great monuments, grand gardens, or the opulent theaters and gilded Opera Houses. Exotic spices, dyes, and beautiful textiles stretch as far as they eye can see with anything else imaginable available with only the briefest search. Beyond the markets closer to the homes of the Great Houses the University and Grand Library of Sirai can be found where the Great houses compete to claim themselves the patrons of the next artist, natural philosopher, or budding grand arcanist. More than a few of these would be thinkers and creatives come from elsewhere around the world their ideas falling on deaf ears or being labelled heresy. Here that hardly matters and the Siraite houses are more concerned with finding the next big thing. Its a trend that's mostly benefited the people of Dunnoth but caused some friction outside their borders.
The people of Sirai are varied and come from all corners of the known world. The majority still look traditionally Dunnothi though with complexions ranging from dusky to near charcoal wrapped in embroidered brilliantly colored silks and cottons. The market places are a sea of orange, teal, blue, and black as the natives with a bit of coin to their name weave their way through the crowds. Siraite's are often almost disarmingly friendly, eager to exchange ideas and news from across the world acclimated to a constant stream of strange people and customs trickling in and out of their city. Its a fact that they're maybe too proud of. Sirai revels in it's status as maybe the wealthiest and most certainly the most cosmopolitan city and as a city that's been able fight off jealous and fearful aggressors over the ages. It's people hold Set the strange and violent warrior god of all things not Dunnoth but still not quite Isfet above almost all others. The yearly grand Festival celebrating the summer solstice is well known as one of grandest parties you can find in Dunnoth ending with a play set on Dunnoth's largest stage sponsored by one of the Great Houses depicting their god's victory over Apophis the world Encircler and his rescue of Ra.
At the top of the cities hierarchy the Great Houses led by the undying Matriarchs that have received the Lich's rite rule almost everything. Riches work their way up from the merchants in their employ and protection to give the Great Houses the wealth needed to constantly one up each other with the next great public monument or next great discovery. The nobility are expected to be well read and educated with at least a working understanding of arcanist and natural philosophy along with a solid foundation of the arts. Those that go further and make their own new discoveries or that become artists themselves are especially prized and it's from those prospects that occasionally a promising new candidate is chosen for the rite. On the darker side the feuding between the houses for more control of the markets can turn violent and if it's not common its not unheard of for smaller merchants and artisans to find themselves caught in the middle of a titanic struggle with little to no say in their fate. To most in the city this is a small price to pay but that's not much consolation to those that end up caught in a power struggle between the walking dead and their houses.
The Soul of the Dunnothi
To the people of Dunnoth the soul isn't a single ephemeral concept that's always out of reach. It's a concrete thing made up of five key aspects that can potentially be damaged or in terrible cases stripped away.
Ren: The Ren is the name of one of the Dunnothi and their heritage. Given and family name combine to give us identity, place, and purpose.
Ba: What are we without our humanity? Our warmth, our humor or that strange quirk of the lips?
Ib: The heart is the seat of emotion. Drive, ambition, and will can't exist without a heart to yearn for them.
Sheut: The shadow is ever present and a reflection of who we are. Without this constant companion could we truly even be called a person any more?
Ka: There is a divine spark in us all that unifies the self. Without the capacity to unify the sum of our parts we are less than nothing.
"Empty and broken the Hollowed stalk the streets. Noses to the ground they notice something sweet. The Hollowed found you and now they get to eat!" -Dunnothi Children's Rhyme
The Hollowed
The Dunnothi understanding of the soul has lead to a particularly creative and cruel punishment generally reserved for only the worst or most dangerous offenders in their society. Just as a few powerful arcanists have developed techniques to carefully examine and bind each aspect of the soul in undeath a few others have figured out how to seize aspects of the Dunnothi soul and tear them from their host. Traitors to the state, mad killers, individuals that knowningly threatened the fabric of society, and more rarely potentially dangerous wild arcanists have all had aspects of their self stripped away throughout the ages. The result is simple. The victim inevitably loses their vitality and their will to carry on becoming increasingly pale, withdrawn, and helpless until finally they lose even the will to breathe or to keep their heart beating. Once the victim dies the true punishment begins. With the aspects of their soul flung far and wide whatever remnants of the Dunnothi that remain are consigned to oblivion while the increasingly agitated pieces of their soul that can act lash out helplessly until they slowly fade away into nothingness. More than a few spirits and shades have been suspected remnants of the Hollowed lashing out in a desperate attempt to get any taste of life they can manage before they slip away into nothingness.
In truth it's rare to see one of the Hollowed reach this inevitiable end. Upon being sentenced the Hollowed are cast back out into the streets (with a geas for violent offenders) and forced to fend for themselves as untouchables in a society that fears and loathes them. Rumors run rampant through the ranks of the common folk that the Hollowed hunt and feed on the souls of the living in a desperate attempt to stave off their own decline. With no legal protections and a number of obvious signs for those that kknow what to look for (most commonly the lack of a reflection or shadow) most hollowed are killed by angry mobs before too long. In spite of this rumor no traditional living Hollowed has ever been known to steal another's soul.
The Traitor House and the first of the Hollowed
The Hollowed have their roots in a conflict long since lost to living memory. It started with a great blockade. The young Empire of Krieghold sought to capture the great southern port of Sirai and beyond as many had before seeking to become masters of southern seas. Unlike most other doomed invasions though the Kriegan's seemed to have the upper hand. Their commanders seemed to act with a dazzling foresight and won key battles at land and at see soon encroaching on the Gates of Sirai itself. The Siraite's prepared themselves for a lengthy siege but before long the gates were flung open and the invaders rushed for the city. It soon became clear that the Siraite's had been betrayed by one of the Great Houses and one of the Savannah Queens herself. Their queen had been promised rule over all Dunnoth in the name of the Empire, a rule free from the competition of her peers. The house turned on the rest in a bloody battle that should have spelled certain doom for the defenders.
What happened next isn't certain and is still hotly debated among scholars. What is known is that the would be conquerors were routed and driven back into the sea and slaughtered almost to the last. Many claim that the god Set himself summouned the storms of the desert, the sea, of locusts, and all the terrible beasts of Dunnoth to destroy the conquerors and would be usurpers of his own great temple city. Others say that's ridiculous and claim that what followed was likely the combined arcane might of the Queens of Dunnoth united fully for one of the only times in history to exterminate the would be usurper and her allies. Whatever happened the Queens of Dunnoth refuse to say. What is known is that in the aftermath a new punishment was devised for the traitors that thought to sell the soul of the Dunnothi people for ultimate power. The Traitor house was stricken from history with a mystic rite that erased the memory of their own name and all aspects of their souls were torn apart and flung to the farthest corners of the world before they were consigned to the desert to die. The records claim that was the end of the traitor house but rumors persisted. Common folklore in Dunnoth states that the house still lives preying on the souls of the living to ensure their own continued survival. They swore an oath to a monstrosity of Isfet beyond the reach of any god and more malicious than even Apep the Sun-Eater. The people whisper that one day they'll come back to claim their true prize and to bring madness down on the people of Dunnoth and every land beyond.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:33, Fri 19 Jan 2018.