THE HISTORICAL RECORD
--Individual: Zab. Has brown skin. Has many good ideas about healing.
--Individual: Enko. Zab's twin sister. Skinny and wild-haired. Has a goat, Vonzo. Has brown skin.
--Enko eventually also discovers milking domesticated animals (goats).
--Enko tames and successfully mounts a Relk, that's more or less a giant, four-winged, desert hawk. Their food intake is surprisingly low in comparison to their size, a definite benefit. Relk tempers can be a bit on the short side so they require a determined crazy rider. At first Enko is the only one brave enough to try riding one, but eventually she teaches other teenagers of her tribe to do the same.
--Individual: Tab the shaman is the oldest of the Ossain, 66
----Tab has 2 wives and 3 kids
----His apprentice Gneb is smart, but not good at memorizing things...
----Tab is jealous of the twins
--Individuals: Gneb, Tab's apprentice, an Ixen, and his personal guardian spirit, Sizouze, a six-foot tall being with four big wings, glowing red-brown skin, a flat nose, and yellow eyes, a servant of Numen. Sizouze is bonded to Gneb
--CONFLICT: Maraq wounds Gneb. Sizouze didn't sense the attack coming. Sizouze get Gneb to healers, and then hurries to inform the Sabral elders of this new threat...
--Individual: Selen is a female Ixen to whom Numen teaches the secrets of blacksmithing...
--Individual: Selen takes on a young human apprentice, Drall.
--PLACE: Deep under Cloud Mountain, Selen's helpers are very near to what Numen calls ebrin, or Cloud Steel.
--ANIMAL: The Cave Foxes of Cloud Mountain: They are like other foxes aside from their permanently dark fur and crystalline eyes that glow faintly, allowing them to make their way in complete darkness without trouble. The foxes don't seem hostile or shy of other beings, preferring to go about their business, nobody is sure what purpose they serve yet. They seem so intelligent and are so clearly unusual that it's presumed that they were put there by the gods (most bets are on Numen), and that someday the reason for this may be revealed...
--GROUP: When yet another wild surge of magic changes the cave foxes of Cloud Mountain, they become vaguely humanoid and as sentient and intelligent as any human.
They are the Kitsu.
VIRTUE-- People should act:
Truthfulness. Lies are the cause of all evil.
VALUE-- Our society should strive for:
Stability. We should fight against chaos, and when it comes, we should try to make things peaceful and ordered again as soon as possible.
God of interest: Numen
--Individual: Teni: a Sabral woman. Leader of the Norcs. Teni's grandmother, father, and younger sister died of the Swelling Sickness. She herself is the first cleric of Noric, and in his name she casts the spell Serpent's Fortune, which gives protection against sickness and death for the faithful.
--INDIVIDUAL: Drok: the Ixen enchanter with the Amulet of Powerful Madness. His magical workshop is somewhere near the plains, near a river...
--The mad Ixen mage with the Amulet of Powerful Madness casts a new spell and creates: Gretchlings.
Gretchlings were once common moles, but now they walk on two legs.
Gretchlings are:
--about 3 feet tall
--hairless
--gray skin color
--slimy
--no visible ears
--nose: like a star-nosed mole, with feelers
--teeth: rows of shark-like teeth
--eyes: six small eyes, solid black
--build: lumpy
--hands: clawed for digging/burrowing
--tail: none
--Gretchlings are extremely gullible and extremely loyal. They will follow whomever they believe is powerful, and it's very hard to change their minds about that.
The gretchlings start doing small chores for the mage, gathering and preparing food and digging more tunnels for themselves... Enlarging his lair... going out and gathering ingredients he needs for spells by night...
--INDIVIDUAL: The first person to take the time and effort to train Giant Blues for mounts, as well as cart haulers, was a Yano man named Aali. It took him 3 years to train his first mount, a large female he called Abla, and in a decade he began teaching others the great benefits of domesticating these large lizards. Now nearly every town and many villages have caves dedicated to housing their scaly helpers.
--Magical Item: The Unburning Log: For those cold nights in the desert: One prominent Yano tribe owns a dry log which burns... but is never consumed by fire, meaning it can be used over and over again, night after night. This log was probably cut from some very special tree, and probably has some much more amazing properties to it, but this is the only remarkable thing anyone has ever discovered about it so far.
This was created by Braara. The way the Yano continually fight for survival and win, much like the desert plants the goddess had created, intrigues her, so she's decided the Yano will be her people, while Numen focuses on the Ossau.
--Magical Item: the Shield of Magic Resistance, a medium-sized round shield with holy symbols of Numen, Braara, and Noric etched into it... It will offer great protection against spells targeting its bearer...
--Group: The Norcs, a group faithful to Noric led by the Sabral cleric Teni. They live on the plains to the south/southwest, between the desert and the forest/jungle
Location: the Drizzle Forest, south of the Ossau desert. A magical imbalance is making the food that grows here (maracuyas) unhealthy for sentient species. The Swelling Sickness causes problems with circulation, making too much blood or sap.
--PLACE: Zab, Enko, and Vonzo the goat kid live in the rocky desert of Ossau.
--PEOPLE: Zab and Enko are part of the Ossain people, who excel at finding sustenance from the wildlife of the desert and its areas of scrub and chaparral.
--MAGIC ITEM: THE RUBY EYE: Magic has acted upon one local crystalline structure to make a magic item found on the ground near Zab and Enko, the Ruby Eye. This is a ruby, clear (but red) in the center, almond-shaped, but about the size of a cactus fruit (but a little more flat). It sparkles in the sunlight of its own accord, so either Zab or Enko will be sure to notice it.
The magic in the Ruby Eye is good for just one use: If a sentient human looks at an animal through the Ruby Eye for a second, or at a specific plant for a few seconds, a new sentient people will be created, with the traits of that animal or plant.
The Ruby Eye's magic was destroyed//relocated when Sabro was created (see below).
--PEOPLE: The Ixen. They have the horns and horizontal pupils and legs of mountain goats, though seem otherwise human. They are quite intelligent, and learn languages quickly... The Ixen have started to teach themselves magic.
--PEOPLE: The Sabral, the cactus-people. The Sabral have started to practice shamanic practices (like druids).
--The Sabral, worried about The Imbalance, encourage each of their people to partner with a human. All shamans, warriors, and farreachers, are to be paired up with either a Sabral or a Human coworker, whichever was the opposite of their race.
--MAGIC ITEM: The Sabral shamans, concerned about the Imbalance, make a tool that can be used to fight against it: a large (9 feet tall), very rough statue with two arms and two legs. The final stone chipped from it, a hunk of rock about the size of a human fist, controls it, and whomever holds it can make the statue walk... or fight... They name the statue The Walker, and weave mystical enchantments upon it to make it as impervious as they can make it to magical attacks...
--MAGIC: There is a small and select division of men who serve as priests to Aphet. Collectively, this group made the discovery of a spell known as Suspend, which allows the user to stop the passage of time for up to a minute.
--People: Among the Yano there is a mystery cult of Aphet composed entirely of women and girls. They worship in secret, as they know Aphet would want. Indeed, secrets and mysteries are highly prized by the cult, as are dreams that they think are significant. When two people have the same dream independently, they know it is from Aphet, and they puzzle over its possible meaning/significance...
--LOCATION//PLANT: Sabro, the huge giant cactus tower.
Sabro slowly gains sentience.
--MAGIC ITEM: Amulet of Powerful Madness An Ixen enchanter on purpose makes an Amulet of magical Power that accidentally also unknowingly and increasingly drives its wearer mad.
--PLACE: The Deep Sea: To the east of the rocky desert of Ossau is The Deep Sea, a place that the Ossain people know only by its dark water. There are light-colored sandy beaches all along the coast, often with sea-caves, most of which aren't safe when the tide comes in, though there are also many exceptions.
The Ossain people do not know the art of boat-building, so the sea is a mysterious and forbidding place for them.
They are vaguely aware that there are other seas in the wide world, but all they know is this one, and that its name is the Deep Sea.
They also believe that there are things with wills of their own far under the surface. Water-breathing people? Water spirits? Sea monsters? (Some or all of the above?) The Ossain don't know. That's just what they believe. They have a few very old, short, and vague folktales about such things, though.
--THE DIVINE:
--Deity: Numen: Numen is concerned with the imbalance. His scions are humans, and therefore also the Ixen and Sabral. He has gone to bestow the art of blacksmithing to a mortal.
--Deity: Braara: the wife of Numen. They live in a palace with carved marble walls. They have dogs, and a garden.
--Deity: Noric: Deity of the sky, especially at night, and the stars. He has recently grown particularly fond of the Sabral people, and of Sabro...
Numen: creation
--art
--crafts
--new enterprises
--beginnings
Braara: sustaining life
--survival
--plenty//bountifulness//not starving
--edible plants
--success in hunting
Noric: deity of the night sky and the stars
--zodiac signs
--navigation//finding the way
--darkness//making a small light in the darkness
--the things one sees when one looks up, such as birds, tall (non-food-producing) trees, mountaintops, wind (moving the clouds aside so the stars can be seen)
Thizuth: deity of change and unexpected surprises (chaotic neutral with violent tendencies)
--Disruption, rebellion, opposition, violence
--Opposition includes the other deities, therefore:
----Opposition to Numen: destruction, endings
----Opposition to Braara: famine, pestilence, lack, want
----Opposition to Noric: being lost, blindness, things that are buried, stillness
And, as long as I'm here, the major constellations:
The Earth Signs:
Horse, Tent, Chair
The Air Signs:
Bow, Knife, Eagle
The Fire Signs:
Dragon, Snake, Hand
The Water Signs:
Dolphin, Wolf, Wave
I don't think any of the deities were born from a mother... I think they just came into being when huge natural phenomena happened.
--Numen: when the universe first began
--Braara: when plants first started growing
--Noric: the first time the sun completely set
--Thizuth: when the first earthquake happened (or the first time people witnessed a big volcanic eruption?)
--MONSTER: Maraq, the maracuya-tree monster.
--Maraq is 20 feet tall and very tough, for a thing that is able to walk around (though not quite as tough as when it was a tree).
--Maraq will "bleed" acidic sap if injured (though it is immune to the effects of its own sap).
--If blinded, Maraq will attack prey by feeling vibration of movements through the ground.
--Due to one of Drok's discarded magical potions, Maraq is currently very light, with a bounce in his step, allowing him to move much more quickly than before...
--PLACE: Far to the North of the Ossau desert is a very cold place called Abram, a settlement beneath and within the Shield Peaks, a twisting series of ice and rock caves, crawling high up into the mountains before falling back down to the hot springs in the Shield's roots. The people there are warm-hearted, but fiercely protective of their home.
--PLACE: To the west of the Ossau desert is more desert, but it's even harder to live there: fewer plants. Only the Yano people live in the part of the desert they call the Khavos Dunes.
The Yano people do not come to Ossau, because they are a camel-riding people, and the feet of the camel cannot abide the sharp stones and cacti of Ossau...
The Yano people of the dunes set great importance by the other deities that humans revere, though they call them by different names. However, the most important, to them, is the one they call Aphet (although the Ossain people know this deity as Imhar).
Aphet (Imhar) is the deity of dreams, secrets, mysteries, and revelations.
Aphet is seen as male.
Imhar is seen as female.
The Yano are aware that others see Aphet as female, and going by another name, but this doesn't bother them at all. The point of Aphet is that he is extremely mysterious, and so he must have his own reasons to appear to others as a woman, and to tell them he/she has another name.
The animal associated with Aphet is the puma, or cave puma. The dunes are riddled with once-volcanic spires of rock that have plenty of deep caves, and the pumas live in them and hunt in the desert. There is a constellation that corresponds.
(The Ossau people call this constellation the Wolf, but they do also associate it with Imhar.)
The Yano call a skilled (or lucky) hunter one who was "raised by pumas" if that individual hunts alone, or "a pack hunter," also a reference to female pumas hunting in trios, if they work well with others in hunting.
--Place: Far to the northwest, near the top of a very high spire of rock, is a cave that is known to the Yano to be sacred to Aphet. Those who travel there and enter are, it is widely known, likely to be given a dream or vision granted to them by Aphet...
--PLANT: There are some interesting little plants that seem to grow only around Aphet's cave. They look like a yucca except for their fluorescent green glow, and bear glowing red fruit, they seem to give anything that eats them a great deal of energy. Thankfully the plants grow very quickly so any who eat them have constant supply, the only drawback is these special yuccas have a nearly unbearable taste. Even the lizard mounts are wary of them.
--MAGIC CHANGE: The Yano get Giant Blues, lizards big enough to ride-- and they can go into rockier places than the camels...
Female Giant Blues go on four legs. Male Giant Blues are more comfortable walking on their back two legs. Males are much faster, but can't be ridden for very long before they need a meal, and then to hibernate. Females are slower, but can conserve energy and stay awake longer.
Now, the Yano are still a nomadic people, but their society has changed-- every cave of size now houses sleeping Giant Blues. The Yano have learned what floral scents will wake them up for a short time (although they all wake up in the rainy season anyway).
--PLACE: The river that flows along the south of the Ossau desert is the Eska. It has two sources: the Drizzle Forest, and the Khavos Dunes.
However, the riverbed of the Khavos Dunes is dry for 10 months out of the year. Only in the rainy season when the winds change, combined with heat in the west that causes clouds at the same time, does the river flow again in the Khavos Dunes.
Then, bands of green and brown lushness wind across the desert (one wider and greater than all the rest). Plants sprout forth and all animal life, including the Yano and their mounts, rush forth to gather food and water.
The Yano, perhaps oddly, also call this river the Eska.
When the river in the desert flows, the Eska south of Ossau rises. When the river in the desert dries up after two months, the Eska south of Ossau returns to its usual level, fed only by the source upriver in the Drizzle forest.
--Deity/Individual: Ronsi. There have been other paladins of Ronsi before, but Yara is the first sabral paladin of Ronsi...
Ronsi usually appears as a six-year-old human girl (with long straight black hair), but now that there are other intelligent species, she can appear as one of them if she wants.
--Ronsi: Goddess of childhood, games, and fun: CG
Constellation:
--the Dolphin, a water sign.</Orange>
The Earth Signs:
--Horse --Braara: Goddess of plants and bounty and survival and spring: LG
The Air Signs:
--Knife --Numen: God of Creation, beginnings, and the forge: LG
--Eagle --Noric: God of birds and the night sky: CG
The Fire Signs:
--Dragon --Thizuth: God of resentment and violent rebellion: CN
The Water Signs:
--Wolf/Puma --Imhar/Aphet: Goddess/God of dreams, secrets, mysteries, and revelations: CN
--Dolphin: --Ronsi: Goddess of childhood, games, and fun: CG
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:05, Thu 14 Apr 2022.
