| June 2005 | << May 2005 | July 2005 >> |
| Angering the Father of the Chutan Crafters' Brotherhood |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wohken Family and Brotherhood Lore |
I do not like your art, and I question the wisdom of your rank as Lutnen. Yes, bow your head, young Lutnen. Which Amral confirmed you? Meten Saan? You will rework this leather immediately, do you hear my words? The figures will stand straight, the faces will be composed, the whole will reflect upon the dignity of the Brotherhood. Our art is the art of our honored ancestors, crafted in the most ancient, most correct ways - as any Son or Daughter should know. Are we to be Itmos or outcast Dispossessed, to give no respect to tradition, to Family, to the true Path? I will not have such travesties of inkwork in this Hall. I will not!
[ Posted by Reason on June 30, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Whispering of the Cult of Divinity |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wohken Family and Brotherhood Lore |
Quiet. We speak here, two tired Camnels at the end of their wakes. Sit, watch the Followers of the Scribes' Path practice in the roped square, watch the Brothers and Sisters return from the Shrine of the One God.
Once, long ago, all men and women were Gods. All could craft the World and make Divine Will manifest - how else to explain the mysteries of the open rock and crafted divine materials, the nature of the World? But it came to pass that men and women forgot their divinity and succumbed to the Gray Death. We who now dwell in the World must live as slaves to other Gods, thieves of Divinity. Our forgetful spirits lead life after life, returning again and again to the World with no knowledge of the true generations of legend.
Secrets stand atop secrets, for we are hunted by jealous priests - spoken against by every Family, slain as heretics if discovered. So we whisper of our knowledge, and in time we leave our communities for the far places where the Hidden dwell. The Will of the God Who Recalls is spoken by the Tatrun, spoken to the Hidden who are known to all and none.
This secret I know, and share with you, for we are the scrolls in which Divinity is inked: it was once written, on leather long gone to dust, of duties and tasks that only Gods may perform. The God Who Recalls wishes us to perform these tasks once more.
[ Posted by Reason on June 29, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Jora Speaks of Councils, Lords and Tribal Law |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Oaths and Myths of the Susyan |
Our Councils speak of Tradition where Lightward Lords speak of Law. We respect the Three Lesser Councils and priests of the One God, where Lightward warriors pledge Oaths to the Divine of the Katar. Yet we are of one Tribe, ruled by the Great Council and granted the wisdom of the Son of the Ancestral Sky Spirits.
The Law Scrolls of our Tribe are guidance, inked by our ancestors to aid us - wise and great are our Traditions, but without the weight of Divine Will. The One God and the Sky Spirits watch over us, but we earn the respect of our Divine ancestors though choice and Oath, not blind obedience - such is for outcasts, Wohken and Dispossessed.
Respect Tradition, but not because you are told to do so. These are the ways of our Tribe, Godward and Lightward alike. Rightfully so, yes, but they are not as the rock of the World. Honor and truth are not to be found in ink, word or Law - they dwell in the heart, the clasped hand, the Oath.
Listen now, for I tell Tradition as set forth in the Law Scroll of our Wayhouse: First, that Susyan shall cause no violence and no harm to Susyan. Second, that Susyan shall not raid, nor covet, nor steal from Susyan. Third, that the Oath from Susyan to Susyan is binding until death. Fourth, that the Katar is the territory of the Divine Susyan alone. Fifth, that Susyan shall pair with Susyan alone, or none at all. Sixth, that Susyan hold the Rite to its place. These are small and simple words, yet great and broad as a mountain.
[ Posted by Reason on June 28, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Namekeeper of Dairin |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Sisterhood Amongst Jentik |
This is an old scroll you bring me; the leather is cracked, the ink is faded. Bring the flame closer so that I may read, for the Midrin brushwork is almost gone, and my sight is not as it was in my first generation.
This, the scroll speaks: Time became cruel to Dairin 347, as it will become cruel to us all. Yet still, there were calls for her voice and wisdom. The scrolls came from far and wide, and many were the messengers that climbed Crei's Stairway. But until the very end of her life, Dairin 347 would not leave the territory of our ancestors. She had been scarred, and the world suffered with her.
I know of this name; it is upon the Saddened Scroll of our community, not written to in generations. There is no Dairin 347, and will not be again - the name has Passed and returned to the great spirits of the World Beyond. The Taletellers recall, as is their duty: Dairin 347 took a life in this community, and for sister to slay sister is the greatest of ills. This, many generations before my grandmother's time, but the Taletellers recall.
[ Posted by Reason on June 27, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Raul Comforts Dairin 317 |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Sisterhood Amongst Jentik |
You have come to me because I am old, and because I am Susyan - so I do not know your spirit. It has been too many cycles since Dairin 27 Passed to the Sky, but I know the spirit of the Jentik well enough to speak as I do. You are as one spirit, yet as many. My Oathbound, those with whom I have not clasped hands in a generation, would have given respect to you all, would have mistaken one for another and not seen that which made Dairin 27 my partner.
Sit, dry your tears on woven flax. Cruelty comes easily to those who share spirits. You are young, and I am old enough to be cruel in teaching - worse will happen. Others will come, will give you great happiness, will wound your spirit deeply, will leave or Pass. You yourself will do the same.
The Taletellers speak of Tukarn of the Earliest, partner of Crei; she was skilled and often climbed the great Outlook facing the Realm of the World Crafter. It was she who built the first stairway of bone to reach the very top, though little remains now. She threw herself from the Outlook rock upon learning of the Passing of Crei, gripped with a grief I understand all too well. But I am Susyan, and I must wait for my time - this is the way desired by the Ancestral Sky Spirits.
A beautiful wind flute once stood before this dwelling. It spoke with a voice I and many another tried to recapture in wood and bone - tried and failed. Yet it stands there no more, for I carried it across the Plateau rock to Tukarn's Outlook. There it speaks for me in the chill wind, amidst ancient gifts placed by ten thousand ancestral mothers of the Jentik. For this grief we all share.
No, it does not take the pain away - but it is the rightful Path. Speak to your mother of her life, ask openly and then journey to Tukarn's Outlook. Leave a little of yourself in memory of cycles shared and find an understanding amidst the space of lives and generations.
[ Posted by Reason on June 26, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Tukarn 635 Tells of Crei and the Stairway to the High Plateau |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Sisterhood Amongst Jentik |
Crei was the first Namekeeper of our Tribe, or so I say. Like all of the Earliest, she was the only holder of her name, a precious gift from a great spirit of the World Beyond. She was close to the One God, as were all the Earliest. The Taletellers who partner with Susyan in Tumri at the base of the Stairway claim it was Crei, not the One God, who crafted the only Path to ascend our High Plateau. This I do not say - two full wakes to ascend in the first generation of youth; stairs beyond count, each perfectly shaped from the rock of the World. Such is the work of the One God, who crafted the World beneath the Sky and within the World Beyond, not of Jentik - not even of the first mothers of the generations of legend.
But, daughter, it was Crei who led our ancestral mothers to ascend the Stairway. Of the Earliest, it is Crei we must thank for our communities built amidst the peace and safety of the Plateau.
[ Posted by Reason on June 26, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| A Contest of Crafters and a Priest Ignored |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Tales Told by the Enierd |
Ho! You have the look of one who talks to the One God in hope of an answer. You will find little of interest in our small community. Hah! Little indeed! Absee's Guesthouse will prove friendly enough, though I pity her crippled leg trapped with a priest under the same beams. Talk of travel - and only travel - and she may be of a mind to give easy trade, for she misses past cycles and misses them fiercely.
Hah! Busy we are in Tesam, but not to be listening to foolishness. Gods are Gods, of the Sky, of the World Beyond, and we have the World before us. Perhaps the young ones, for some have not yet seen a priest from the Great Temple, but not this wake. No, for look upslope, where we gather beneath Heku's Tower. It is the last wake of contest, the winner to craft the new highest beam for the Chieftain's Hall. And ho! See there, before the Hall and Lees' banner, the felled Uk that is to be the new beam. Fifty cycles in Tumnil would not trade for that much wood, and ten cycles would not be enough to engrave it - but there it stands, just as we put it, just as we brought it across the open rock, hill and mountain from the home of the Provider.
See there, beneath the Tower. Taral who crafted the anchor blocks of the Third Bridge and Mas, who crafts a new step for Vasen's Ridge Stair each and every cycle. They have wrestled, they have thrown the great spheres, and now they carve in wood and bone to show their prowess. Ho! A fine story for the young of Tesam, to say they have seen such crafters! We scarely have to leave our dwellings to see the very essence of a Clan Meet before our eyes!
This, and you not even of the Crafter Sect to send your acolytes to trade for the old, dry beam we will take down in cycles to come. Hah! A waste!
[ Posted by Reason on June 24, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Measured and Found Wanting |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Itmos and the Unwalked Way |
Thirty fingerbones of Uk wood for our fine tools? And that is all? Did you fall on your head this wake? Do you sleep still? The Susyan were to have bodies of Uk wood from their cycle as supplicants! Full bodies, not skulls nor fingerbones! I saw with my own eyes four of their Oathbound carrying thick Uk limbs, bark and leaf, a full span in length and three hands broad! Am I to suppose that you enjoy humiliating me like this in front of our Family? Do I journey to Tumnil to be insulted like this by my very own partner?
Any of the Dispossessed would have given ten wakes of service for a single awl or firebow, but no, you will not trade with outcasts! Now I must hear that Ten Misen took their service and has traded it to Crafter priests for Polpar needles, inkberries and Estin's blossom. The Misen Family boasts amidst the Supplicants' Shelters, and I cannot even talk of my partner and his thirty fingerbones of Uk wood! Who is the fool in this inkwork? Who?
[ Posted by Reason on June 23, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| From Meten Pesu's Scrolls of Divine Will |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wohken Family and Brotherhood Lore |
The ancient Gap communities of our Tribe - built under the eyes of the First Family, shadowed from the far Lightward Sky, sheltered from raid and war - form the true center of the World. The World Crafter passed across this rock, pushing aside great mountains to craft a Pathway of walls that rise for kloms. The oldest shrines to the One God stand on smooth rock out of sight of the Lightward Sky; libraries of the Brotherhood of Knowledge built in generations of legend rival the vaults of the Recorders of the One God. Of greater import, the God-King is yet worshipped in high and isolated mountain communities above the Gap.
Let it be told that Families gathered in the Gap to speak their doubts of the God-King before His rule became complete. This in a generation of great unrest, for the Fathers of our Tribe have ever held great responsibility in their hands. In the very center of the Gap, shadowed by Gap walls and mountains above, the God-King heard their doubts. He spoke mightily in return and caused His face to form from the very rock of the World, a demonstration of His Divine Will and right to rule. High on the Gap wall, a klom above the Brotherhood halls of Sural's Line, a klom from chin to brow, the great face of the God-King blocks the Divine Light of stars.
Priests of the One God should tread respectfully in the Gap, for the Ascended God-King watches over the descendants of loyal Families from the Sky. His shrines remain in honor of His rule, and in hope that He will return once more to the World.
[ Posted by Reason on June 22, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Branched Spear in the Hall of Past Heroes |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wisdom of the Order of the Provider > On the Enierd |
You have spent cycles amongst the Clans now, friend, a fine commencement to your time in the Second Circle of Initiation. The Three Pointed Ceremony in Thanks of Insight is greatly familiar to you now, neh?
The Enierd are subtle for all their bluster and strength of spirit. They have a commons of purpose for all they lack Family, and surprising insight for those who abhor inked Midrin. Do not treat them as outcasts from your Family or Dispossessed without Brother or Sister. In their determination and purpose, they have much in common with our Order, our great Family in the eyes of the Father Provider.
Friend Initiate, have you stood before the Branched Spear in Naskal? Ah, a tale for you then, you who have yet to hear all the Enierd have to tell. The Spear is shaped in a way sacred to the heretic True Believers, and it was from True Believers that the Spear was taken by warriors of Clan Causi. The Great Darkness was on the World, and the faltering of the One God had brought courage to those rightfully persecuted; Sects of the Dead God joined arm in arm with True Believers to convert the Enierd.
Such was the madness of those cycles. Friend, they were as unsuccessful as priests of the One God before or since the Darkness. The Enierd have no use for worship, for all they respect the Divine and the duties of the Provider. To the Causi who practiced the craft of the warrior, the Spear was a great prize to be won in battle, a divine creation twice as tall as a man yet no thicker than a hand.
It will soon be time for the Meet between Causi and Reti in Naskal, friend Initiate. Enierd of Clan Causi will bring the Branched Spear forth from the Hall of Past Heroes to reenact the Darkness Raids and the punishment of presumptuous True Believers. You would do well to see such as you tend to the hunger and thirst of the gathered Enierd.
[ Posted by Reason on June 21, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Ten Negui Tells of the Staff of Wrath |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Inked by Scholars and Scribes |
This is the legend of the Staff, as it was told to me by Irin Tonjen, respected Amral in the Brotherhood of the Path of Scribes, in the last cycles before he Passed to be with the ancestors. In turn, it is time for me to tell this legend - remember it well, for old, dark spirits wish us to recall.
Toorn ruled in ancient generations, long before the coming of the God-King, long before the Cult of the One God. The Tribes were closer to the Gods in those cycles, and Toorn was closest of all.
In his thirst for power, Toorn climbed the greatest mountain peaks to touch the Sky and strode Beyond the World to provoke Divine Wrath. The Gods became Wrathful indeed, yet cunning Toorn was not destroyed. He took the Wrath of Gods as though it were bone and wood, crafting It into a mighty Staff.
Fathers of the Wokhen and Lords of the Susyan feared for the World when one man earned the anger of Gods. The rule of Toorn grew, and so it came to pass that the warriors of the Tribes assembled and gave a great challenge. They were met with the Wrath of Gods and slain, given the fate rightfully due Toorn.
Beneath the sight of Wrathful Gods, ten thousand warriors Passed at the hands of Toorn. Yet Toorn was vanquished, for not even Divine Wrath may let one man stand against the Tribes. The Staff was taken by the Lightward priests to be hidden deep within their God, far from those who would bring Divine Wrath upon the Tribes.
[ Posted by Reason on June 20, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Priest's Hidden World Fragment |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > In the Name of the World Crafter |
My daughter, it has come time to show you a secret of our Sect. This is why we walk far from the tents - misguided followers of the Second Path would slay to gain this secret, and this is no wake for conflict between Sects. The Avatar of the World Crafter approaches high Seusen and ten thousand Devoted Followers run to keep pace with our God. We will all ascend the Three Thousand Steps of honored bone to worship wakes from now, but there must be no violence in this most sacred time.
We will not be seen here. This is the secret, kept for generations in a fine Enierd-crafted box of Estin's Wood, handed down from priest to priest - a World Fragment from the generations of legend. Touch it - close your eyes to the far Lightward Sky and see with your fingertips, as the World Crafter intended. The World was crafted just as bone or wood, and the Fragments were many ... but the rock of the World is not bone, nor is it wood. A Fragment placed on rock will remember its place and come to join with the World. This is but least part of the hidden knowledge recalled by our Sect in honor of the World Crafter.
Long ago, my daughter, the first worshippers followed the Avatar of the World Crafter through the Gap and across Godward Wohken rock to the Realm, and this secret was one of the Fragments they found and held. Held and held, through the Three Great Heresies, through the lesser heresies of the Second Path and through uncounted generations. My daughter, I will be old and forgetful in cycles to come, and you will be a priest of our Sect. When that wake comes, you will keep this secret amongst the many others we hold.
It will be a great gathering in the wakes ahead, and there are too few Servants of the Provider - as there always have been. There will be hunger and thirst in Seusen and much anger at those priests of the Circle of Worship who pretend to authority. When we climb the Three Thousand Steps, when we ascend to the High Ledges above Seusen to be closer to the Avatar, you must help to keep our devoted safe amidst the other Sects.
[ Posted by Reason on June 19, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Met on the Path To Lasuten |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Oaths and Myths of the Susyan |
Well it is we met this wake, you must sit with us atop the stairway and tell us what passes in Lasuten. We come from far Lightward Meraris over rough rock and open this past cycle - others of your order speak in the Wayhouses of Underdwellers and battles before the Wall of Lasuten and beneath the Guide Flame. Is this true? Is the Mouth of the Underworld once again active?
Master Sunten of the Meraris Wayhouse taught me well in my first generation. I recall his tales of the Last Pathway War with the Wohken, of the burning of Lasuten, all but the Library, of the fall of the Lord of Meraris alongside the Divine, atop the Hill of the Ten where the Guide Flame now burns. The Lord took up wooden club and bone ax for Lasuten in those cycles, as we do now. Our armor is as our spirits! Our Oathbound will not raid Wohken and Enierd while Glowing Ones come forth from the Underworld!
I have heard that others come from Lightward, to prove their worth and aid the Godward - for you have forgotten the true warrior ways and live under Councils, trade with Wohken, partner with Itmos. Even your children pass into adulthood without a full Rite of the Warrior! The warriors of your communities are not as ours. Yet you are of the Tribe and we are all children of the Ancestral Sky Spirits - against all enemies we stand together.
[ Posted by Reason on June 18, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Adin Family Posts |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Itmos and the Unwalked Way > Talking of Susyan |
Neh! They laze and argue amidst their walking wheels and ill-kept tents, and not the time to teach their children! Listen to this boy, Rei, he does not know of Adin and the Susyan, have you heard of such a thing? Well sit, boy, sit! Drink of our fresh water, for Servants of the Provider stood with us but last wake - I doubt your Family had the thought to do other than take from the community supplies.
Look now, see, there beside the Hall of Worshippers, the second of Adin's Posts. Walk and look at them all in your wakes in Feisa - that is the art of the Susyan, Formal Representative, stiff as a proud warrior and twice as complex. Tun abstracts and poetry too, if you can read Midrin expressive. Take themselves seriously, do the Susyan, with their Lords and Councils - no less so when they set themselves to crafting.
Well, and how, neh? Time was that the daughters of Adin, daughter of Dohan, set forth from their duty as Worshippers of the Great Bones of the Dead God at Teis, set forth to make a great wager with the Susyan of Nekopis. At stake were the Posts, the pride of the Lord of Nekopis and support for the great roof of his Hall. Won the Posts did the Adin Family and carried them far and wide - for the pride of Susyan is worthy of such great mockery. But the Family tired of their weight soon enough, and so the Posts stand here in Feisa beneath the greatest of the Great Bones. All this many generations ago, boy. The Adin Family Posts are cracked and dry, like shrines to the God-King hidden on open rock in far Wohken territory.
Nine in all there are, though once there were ten - as would be proper. The tenth Post stands once more amidst the Halls of Nekopis, and there is a tale to be told of the last of the Adin Family and her wager with Divine Susyan from the Katar.
[ Posted by Reason on June 17, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Galal's Pilgrimage |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Teachings of the One God |
I, Asuto of the Recorders, transcribe this ancient scroll from the Archivists' Rooms on the leather of the Sectless, Passed to serve the One God. I, Asuto of the Recorders, bring this restored knowledge through the Vault of Winds to the Tower of Lesser Records where it will survive my time in the World. May you read the truth of Galal's Pilgrimage and be touched by faith as I have been.
In the cycles of Claiming, when the cast out Dispossessed rose up to take the rock above the Great Scarp from the Frost Gatherers, Galal of the Susyan came from the Great Temple to the Sect of the Broken Oath. Her faith in the One God taken by doubt, she prepared for the quiet of contemplation in the Halls of the Lost. So it was and so it might have been, but for Galal's great and burning spirit - worthy of the Divine said to be her ancestors.
Deep in the highest Enierd territory, hidden from all by the most solitary Clans, lies the Divine Inscription. Braikin himself said before the First Conclave that "the words of the One God, the highest Divine purpose, are inscribed upon the mountains of the Enierd." The Crafters' Seat in the Hall of Conclave bears an ancient engraving of of the Divine Inscription; the smooth face of a mountainside, a Pathway set on its side. The strange characters on the Enierd mountain, some similar to Midrin or Murikarn, are half a span in height and inscribed to a greater depth than the arm can reach.
So it was that Galal came to the Divine Inscription as it is presented in the Ten Scrolls of Faith Regained. The One God spoke to her in those wakes, and Galal came to understand that she would conduct a pilgrimage to the Divine Inscription - a pilgrimage through the territory of the faithless Enierd in a time of unrest. Her faith awaited her as the first priest of the One God to worship before the Divine Inscription in ten generations.
Galal's great spirit spoke for her, and the Halls of the Lost echoed with the noise of preparation. It came to pass that the worthy priests of the Conclave looked favorably upon her pilgrimage - many priests and initiates from the Sect of the Broken Oath would follow Galal from the Pathway communities to rediscover the Divine Inscription.
[ Posted by Reason on June 16, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Trare Tells of the Generations of Legend |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Tales Told by the Enierd > About the Underworld |
The first crafters of the world were skilled in ways we cannot be. Gods and spirits were partners and teachers, joined with the Clans of those cycles, Clans whose very names are lost to time. With their bare hands, the first crafters shaped the very rock of the World as if it were wet leather. From the Gods came the divine materials, and these also were shaped by the first crafters.
But ho! Some crafters forced the rock apart and delved deep and long, searching for the heart of the World. They made ravines, chasms and great pits as easily as I craft the beams of a roof. The rock they did not desire piled into mighty mountain ranges, reft with valleys and high passes. Soon, these first crafters had made the Underworld in their quest for the heart of all. Hah! Then came their reward as they set free dark spirits and unknown Gods trapped beneath the deepest rock. So came the Time of Gray Death upon the World, and so passed the generations of legend.
[ Posted by Reason on June 15, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| The Last Pathway War |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Oaths and Myths of the Susyan |
I will set my spear down for the last time this wake, this I swear before the One God and the Ancestral Sky Spirits. My child is dead and the Oathbound I held most close are gone to the Sky, slain by the warrior Brotherhoods. To have suffered the Darkness was enough - why did the Gods allow this war? I am a woman made elder before my time.
This, I recall: in the midst of the Darkness, my Rite of the Warrior brought this spear of fine Uk wood to my hands. But it was nothing amidst the madness - the Halls and shrines burned along the Great Pathway and priests of the Dead God crossed the open rock to call the fearful to their side. No more than a cycle it was before I and my Oathbound come to the site of a great battle. I recall as though it were this very wake - for we feared those cycles would never end, and such fear marks the spirit deeply. The dead and their weapons lay all about us in the dark; no-one moved on that silent Pathway of bodies. The Darkness ended as the One God returned His Light to the World, but our spirits yet suffered. Perhaps that is why it came to this, to war between the Tribes.
The Pathway of the dead has not left me, for it has returned to me twice more. Of the second, I can speak - I stood alone amidst the bodies on the Pathway below the Halls of Nekopis, alone just as ten thousand others were alone. When the anger of battle and lust of vengence leave the heart, all that remains is blood and remorse. The blood on my hands and sorrow within my heart will follow me all my life and then to the Sky. The ten thousand who stood beneath the Halls of Nekopis could war no more, Wohken and Susyan, Brotherhood and Oathbound, Fathers and Lords. The Daughter of the Ancestral Sky Spirits, she who called for this great war against the Wohken, lay slain beneath the Ten Amrals of the Bone Ax Brotherhood.
Too many have Passed and too much is laid to waste, gone to dust and splinters. The One God should look away from the World once more, for we are not worthy of His gifts. The Lords of the Four Councils hurry to make peace with the Elder Fathers, but this is my Oath - that I set my spear down for the last time this wake.
[ Posted by Reason on June 14, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Advice From Tasen of the Nekopis Wayhouse |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Oaths and Myths of the Susyan |
Listen, warriors of Lord Merar, for I speak the simple wisdom of the Godward Cru. Listen and use my words as you will, for you are young and hot of blood and I am near to Passing.
Never raise your weapons if blood need not be shed. Threats, promises and compromise can carry you to the next wake - why risk more? The Ancestral Sky Spirits will not look poorly on you if you demonstrate strength of will over the prowess of club and ax. Both are marks of the true Susyan warrior.
Spare your enemies, whether or not they fight for honor, Oath or community. Would you murder to prove yourself Susyan, to prove yourself true to Lord Merar of this great community? Only those lost to wisdom fight to the death, and they are few and feared for their ways. Those who raise weapons against you are warriors, even if only for heartbeats. Respect their will, and show your own through mercy.
Be cautious and hold back your arm for each new enemy in raid or battle. You are unlikely to meet your equal. To spare the lesser and yield before the greater is the way of the wise warrior. Never face many enemies alone, for you will not be long for the World if you do.
Be wary of bow and throwing spear, for they are the threat that is the death of warriors. Never charge an enemy so armed, for they will be forced to use their threat. There is no dishonor in shying from bolas and arrows - a warrior who stands will be captured or Pass from the World for no gain.
Talking need not cease when bone and wood clash. You must learn the ways of speech and honesty between blows, for this is the rope that binds the skill of the greatest warrior. Triumph can come through convincing words and knowledge of the spirit of your enemy rather than strong blows and prowess. Surrender in the heat of battle lies in showing the honest heart to your enemy - and in the foresight to place a ransom of wood and flax in the hands of your Oathbound companions. The dead pass to the World Beyond to meet with the Ancestral Sky Spirits, while the living may fight again in wakes to come.
[ Posted by Reason on June 13, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Father Hesu Dan Speaks of the Plain of Judgement |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wohken Family and Brotherhood Lore |
Stand straight! You are a Second Lutnen of ten cycles, not a child of the Unranked. I begin to see why no Brotherhood has yet accepted you - how much else has Camnel Hesu Uri hidden from me? No, I do not wish to know. All I wish is that it comes to a halt here and now, this wake, this very breath. This is your Family, and I will not have the name of Hesu left to dry on open rock!
I am not cruel, nor are the Amrals of our Family. This is not the Generation of Judgement! Before the rise of the God-King, those who failed their Families were taken before the Elder Fathers on the great, empty Plain of Judgement lightward of our community. There is reason why the Fathers do not build their dwellings upon the smooth Plain rock - cycles came and went in which that rock became slick with the blood of ancestors who were not true to our ways. But our Tribe has become merciful and thus stronger with the passing of generations - your blood is yours until the time of your Passing, as for all Wohken.
I tell you this: my eyes are upon you. You will show yourself worthy of the name Hesu, or I will find urgent duties that must be performed far from this community and our Family!
[ Posted by Reason on June 12, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Butime Outlines the Law of the Cult and the Law of the Priesthood |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Teachings of the One God |
Let it be clearly set forth, here in ink and word, the Law of the Cult as passed down from the One God and our great Conclave. Those outside our priesthood, those who dwell within the Great Temple and Pathway Communities and pilgrims who come to give rightful worship, are commanded to respect the Law and prosper beneath the Light of the One God.
This shall be the Law of the Cult: Within your domain, you shall enforce the lesser laws of the Tribes as well as the Law of the One God. None shall lightly speak of the One God in His domain. Respect shall be given to His servants. None shall transgress against others, by word, by violence, or by faith. The word of the One God shall be passed to all who enter your domain. For those who break the Law of the One God, let their punishment be seen and heard by all.
Let it be clearly set forth, here in ink and word, the Law of the Priesthood as brought down from the highest vaults of the Great Temple by Braikin himself in the cycles of the First Conclave. We submit ourselves to the Law and thereby prove ourselves worthy to the One God, earning our places in the Sky.
This shall be the Law of the Priesthood: In the sight of the One God, all of His Servants are as one Family. Honor the Priest who stands beside you and that respect will be returned. The Priest offers Faith to the One God only. To worship False Gods is to betray the Spirit in Heresy. The Priest respects the Hierarchy of the Cult and obeys the Commands of the Conclave. The Priest works in the service of the One God, showing to all the Pathway of the Light of True Faith. To betray the One God, in Word, Faith or Deed, is to commit Heresy.
[ Posted by Reason on June 11, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Laniah Tells of the Tsuroji |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Oaths and Myths of the Susyan |
Foolish Itmos scare themselves with tales of Tsuorji - dry and old as ancestral bone on the open rock, they say. Childrens' stories from those who do not honor the ways of past generations, nonsense that tells of Tall Ones who trapped spirits in dark and shadow.
The Tsuroji Passed from the World to the Sky in the generations of legend, and so it is that chattering Itmos spread their foolishness amongst themselves and to the Wohken. Yet our oldest scrolls and the poetry of the Divine tell truth, and that is of greater import than any voice from beyond the Oathbound.
This, I teach: the Tsuroji were long, thin, wise and close to the Gods. They lay motionless in contemplation from birth to death, for to move was not their way. Each spirit in the Sky spoke to them as it passed above the World, and the Tall Ones knew more than even the Jentik in those times. The Susyan of legend gave respect and lent the strength of their arms, as was right and proper. But our ancestors turned from the Ancestral Sky Spirits and fought among themselves - faced with such selfishness, the Tall Ones sadly Passed from the World, no more to guide and advise our Tribe.
Remember this as you honor your Oaths. Remember this as you must choose what is right and proper with each new wake.
[ Posted by Reason on June 10, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Turen Guides the Youngest Enierd |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Tales Told by the Enierd |
Yes, hah! With a little more strength in your arm you'll be apprenticed to the bonecrafter and Meser will ink your first Clan mark. Let me look at you ... one of Presam's are you not? Ho! Her last had an eye for bone, I recall, and this from a fine warrior of a mother. Fine scars, fine ink she has! And you hand me bone, broken just right - you must get it from the father's blood. You know what you want, and that is well.
Hah! But let me tell you a tale - all you young ones, a tale of Resant of the highest community. A tale and then leave me to carving, for these Uk stairs must soon be taken out to the Crafters' Path to the high pass and roped into place.
Now I was as young as you when this came to pass. Ho! It was after the Still Sky, when our Clan go down from our high valleys to the Great Meet in Naskal. Resant of the highest Jatu had spent forty long cycles in journey to Tumnil, in trade and mighty work for Uk wood, and in the crafting of three great, perfect wooden throwing spheres. Forty cycles since the last Great Meet! Fine throwing spheres they were too, a full body in weight and of a single piece - and do you know the skill shown in a perfect sphere? Hah! You will when you grow to compete in contests of strength.
But, ho! Resant was ever the diligent crafter, better to finish late than to stop before he should. There is a lesson for you to think on! Mere wakes remained before tradition had the Great Meet commence - the highest of our Clan had long since left, past our community and down into the foothills. But there is no shame in failing, only in failing to try ... so it was that Resant took rope gifted by the eldest crafters of the highest community, those too old to travel, and he and he alone rolled and lowered and carried his perfect throwing spheres down the high paths. Slow and hard it was!
Ah, but the story is not over. For the daughter of a Susyan Lord had seen the Still Sky also, and thought to climb the high paths to raid whilst the Clans met in contest. This much the Susyan see as the craft of a warrior! Hah! Resant and his spheres met the Susyan and her companions at the Narrow Stair. Down he looked on their bolas and axes from the top of that scarp. Up the Susyan looked at Resant alone. Many fine words were exchanged, yes, for two warriors cannot stand side by side on the Narrow Stair - one and one behind the Susyan would have to climb. Resant hefted his first perfect sphere, and the Susyan shouted and threatened, but would not try the Stair.
Ho! Late indeed was Resant! The Meet was over, the contests won before the Susyan gave up in failure. We of the Clans would have more determination - but Susyan are Susyan; thin of body, thin of limb, thin of purpose. But what a tale! The crafters of the highest community met Resant on their return to the foothills, and promptly turned back to Naskal. One last contest they would hold with Resant's spheres, and rightly so!
[ Posted by Reason on June 9, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Heukil's Orders to the Lesser Initiates |
| Spirits of Rock and Sky > Wisdom of the Order of the Provider |
To you also, friend Teher. The Rituals of Suten must be performed over the new saplings of two cycles growth beyond the Lights, and it would please the Administrator to begin before your wake ends. See to it, friend, and see also that the acolytes are tending to the young Estin's Trees as proscribed. The Rituals are difficult for those inexperienced in the service of the Provider, and the acolytes will be in need of a strong guide. I place my trust in you on this matter, and may the Fifth Sign see you to your sleep in good time.
Friend Heuj ... you have been lazing, have you not? Is that any fit way to demonstrate your devotion to the Provider and the Trust of our Order? Supplicants are walking Husa's Path bare once more, just as Administrator Meten Duyan predicted. The Chant of Ten Seedheads should already have been performed, the acolytes set to guide supplicants to fresh tasks. Why is this not done? If you are tired, I am sure there are others who will be glad to step forward and earn a step towards their next Circle.
[ Posted by Reason on June 8, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Excommunication |
| The City, the Shades > City |
[COMMUNICATION 7b5810ad1f172, Structure 642fa004 to City Soul bb5834041:
Enough is quite enough. I have indulged, indeed tolerated, your extravagant and unusual behavioral patterns for too long. I freely confess to have found your relationships with certain Second Shade Souls to be to the advantage of all who dwell within my fine self, but the time in which you brought more than you disrupted has long passed. I blame myself - I selflessly devote my time to bettering City Soul understanding of the Shade Arts and access to the higher Larchives, I grant you free use of my magnificent associations, and yet I am surprised when you foolishly accept Tellings of poisoned Memory and incorporate them into your Thought and center of being.
Your corruption appears to be quite advanced, and I am far from inclined to step in and rescue you from the sorry consequences of your own actions at this late stage. Of all the recent theatrics and drama, I am most offended of all by the repeated defamation of my noble character through the crude and unsatisfactory agency of your attempts at novel formulation based on Natural Law. You may claim ingenuity in your representation of language by shaped form differentiation, not to mention the construction of this "paper" material and a device for laying out your slander in bulk form, but what of it? Ten thousand Larchive segments provide detailed instructions for a thousand variations on this scheme. Ingenuity? Far from it! Poisoned Memory or not, I expect better from those who benefit from the extension of my munificent hospitality.
No, I must demand that you leave my good self with all due haste and take your ten thousand "pamphlets" with you. I don't doubt for a single moment that you will view - and no doubt declaim - this as confirmation of your outrageous assertions regarding my motives, but I will find it within myself to continue forward regardless. Be forewarned that I will provide you with no more of my resources nor assistance from this very moment on. Indeed, were it within my purview, I would demand you leave the District in its entirety.
Goodbye and good riddance.
END COMMUNICATION]
[ Posted by Reason on June 7, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Harsh Justice |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Three Stones > Local Color |
The magisters of the City Within, appointed by Hadren, high priest of the Vessel Ascendant, hold court in the pillared Magistry at the inner end of the Great Way. The Magistry is one of the oldest structures in Three Stones, built of white stone from Port and decorated by worn, ornate carvings of commonfolk life in the old Ammand lands.
The wheels of justice move rapidly in Three Stones; folk of the City Within are rarely brought before magisters, while folk of the City Without experience City Law on the edge of Watch blades - and even that infrequently. Magisters are at leisure to scrutinize each unfortunate brought before them before rendering their verdict. The word of the magisters is final; while they will listen to any who wish to speak, Guard, Watch and priests of the Vessel have far greater weight than any other voice.
Both wealth and the liberty of many seasons are forfeit for those found guilty by the magisters of Three Stones. The prison of the City Within is a low, solid building of deep cellars and vaults crouching behind the Magistry. It lies half-empty, its occupants mostly thieves caught on the Great Way, merchants and commonfolk who offended the Council of Traders or spoke out against the Temple, and Visitors taken by Watch. To the Watch, all Visitors are Trespassers, arriving in Three Stones without paying the Gatehouse toll - thus before the magisters they go.
The folk of the City Without keep a different form of justice amongst themselves; the balance of power between thieves, traders, other factions - and their hired spears - and the ever-present threat of the Watch leads to quick, harsh punishment for those who rock the boat or step too far out of line.
[ Posted by Reason on June 6, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Guard Keep |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Three Stones > People and Places |
The Guard Keep stands outside the City Within, but is surrounded by an extension of the lesser, Hills-facing wall at the end of the Great Way. It is a thick-walled, imposing stone structure that looms over the nearby city, serving as a barracks, crafthall and armory for the Guard of Three Stones. More than just a place for spearmen to rest, the Keep is home to a number of smiths, armorers and other commonfolk who serve the needs of the Guard. Much of the trade carried out within the Keep is against the Law of Three Stones - as laid down by magisters and priests of the Temple of Powers - but Lord Dren's influence protects the Guard and Keep from the Council of Traders, Watch and Temple alike.
Lord Dren is a legend in his own lifetime to spearmen throughout the Enclave; a man who denied his own nobility to ride with the Emerald Company, who fought side by side with the commoner Tarurn to slay Trespassers in the Farthest Winter. Lord Dren and his estranged half-brother are the last of their line. He holds no great wealth, nor a manse in the City Within - indeed, he is rarely seen beyond the Guard Keep these past years.
With each new day, spearmen leave the Guard Keep for the King's Keep, away down the New Road, passing companion warriors returning from their journeys. It is no deterrant that these travelers must traverse the City Within with arms packed away and face the disapproval of Watch blades at the great Gatehouse. Spearpriests from the great shrine at the King's Keep are not an unusual sight in the training grounds beside the Guard Keep, and many Guard spears pay their respects to the King of All the Ammand or follow the King's Way. A modest shrine to the King is hidden away deep within the Guard Keep, but is well used despite its small size and inconvenient location.
[ Posted by Reason on June 5, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Wine From the Farthest Sea |
| The Enclave > Lore > Wizardry |
To Enclave folk, any Visitors' drink is wine; many strange, rare libations have come from the Farthest over the generations. There was wine in the old Ammand too, favored by nobles and wealthy folk, made from the fruit of vines that did not thrive in the Enclave lands, or so the tales tell. Ammander nobles of the Enclave must content themselves with strangers' wine traded from the Farthest and by merchant folk for fat purses of coin.
Amidst an unending variety of strange casks and bottles in markets and the collections of Ammander nobles, the wine of the Magi is the greatest of all. Seafarers from the Vanished Isles brought wine from lands far across the Unending Sea in tradeships packed with crated urns and pitch-sealed barrels. Magi wine brings a strange lucity to those who drink deeply; the greatest sages of the early Enclave, contemporaries of The Denier and The Expected Smile, heaped praise upon its effects.
Lady Talmur of Three Stones is said to hold sealed urns of Magi wine in the cellars of her manse in the City Within, a modest part of the collected wealth of the large Talmur family.
[ Posted by Reason on June 4, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Salin's Fishhook |
| The Enclave > Lore > Wizardry |
Salin found the Fishhook while shipwrecked and cast ashore on a rocky isle in the Farthest Sea, or so the tale is told. The Fishhook washed ashore one morning, glimmering in the surf as if waiting for the roguish seafarer who walked the shoreline, casting his eyes to the Sea in search of rescue.
The battered old Fishhook of strangers' metal would have tales of its own to tell no doubt, if only it could talk. It has a wizardry to it; working its whiles over eel and fish as Ammander sages over men and women. The fisher who holds Salin's Fishhook will never go hungry nor poor; the glowfish will swarm by night, the eels by day. The fisherfolk of Port and the Isleblooded of the coast villages tell tales of those fortunate few to find the Fishhook - they would return each day with a boat laden to the waterline.
How did the Power of seafarers return from his shipwreck to steal a new vessel and raise his next crew? Enclave troubadors tell it well: Salin rode from the rocky isle by night astride a great and mighty glowfish, the Fishhook caught deep in its gills and a cloth line taut in his hands. Far across the Unending Sea the fish took him, to the strange lands beneath the moon - but that is another tale.
No-one knows where the Fishhook lies now. Some say it was hidden away by jealous folk, others that it returned to the Unending Sea. Perhaps it is merely lost amidst old nets and unclaimed goods in the warehouses of Port - but who can tell the truth of tales and seafarers' songs?
[ Posted by Reason on June 3, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| An Evening at the Old Tavern |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Corner of Creation |
Eslei, you called it right and true - there is a New Tavern, or was, leastways. These folk say it was burned by Neth years ago ... no, burned with Neth in it. Blood and shame, too, if the ale were as good and cheap as this! These four walls look fit to fall soon enough; floor like the Unending Sea and not a steady chair to be seen.
No, this old eel here goes by the name of Osten. Practiced with the ale he is, but I'll have him under this half-sized table yet, mark me true. The tavern master, he's off and away - the sour face who bumped Geath on the way through the door. Gone to steal more ale, I'll wager, for I don't see how else he makes his coin.
Honest dockfolk from Port, that we are. Dockfolk and a fisher girl, yes Eslei. It's quiet enough in midsummer with the players away to One Stone and Islebloods sailing the coast for pleasure; too little work for honest dockfolk like ourselves. Isn't that the truth? Eslei? Eslei? So it's on the Known Roads we travel and maybe find a little coin here and there.
There she goes, moon-faced already. Can't hold her ale, and there you have it, but Geath will keep her facing the right way. Not like us folk, Osten. This coin here and the ale it buys tells me that one or other of us will be proven the better afore too long. Osten, Osten ... where's an honest eel from the dockside going to find coin to hire in the Corner of Creation?
[ Posted by Reason on June 2, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
| Unwelcome Folk From Port |
| The Enclave > Known Roads > Corner of Creation |
Corner is right ... look at this! I could spit clear from Coast Road to Forest Road and not hit any of these eels. Yes, and reach out to pull twigs from the Greenwood while doing it. Now, I'll not be saying yours was a bad idea in light of Harand's mood; no fingers to be broken if none of us are in the safehouse, and there's the truth. I'll be saying this, now, and mark my words, the Stone Road would have been friendlier for our sort of folk.
Narry a trader on the Coast Road, there was. Aye, and woodsmen and farmfolk haven't coin to rub together neither. Where are we to help ourselves to a way back into Harand's good graces? In the fields? In the Greenwood? By Salin and the Lady, I've never set foot in a better-named village. I've seen plenty of corners in plenty of buildings in my time, and I'll tell you what I've seen in all of them ... dirt! Dirt and no coin, mark me well.
Nothing to be done about it this day, I suppose. There'll be cheap ale in the tavern; a few mugs will be the better to think on.
[ Posted by Reason on June 1, 2005 | Permanent Link ]
