I still remember way back when, when I did an act that just taught a few tricks to a few people.
And it would later turn out that slime-filter Umbrals would become an entire large faction, and the secrets of Wyvern-taming appear to have changed the society of Cloudlands Humans forever.
The Skylander Skrayt kind of faded into obscurity though. But there's probably a small enclave of them up there somewhere!
They worship Vanti in her aspect of Purposeful Destruction, something that probably has roots in human warbands fighting to bring down the walls of Tamvatra and the other Hive Coast cities. I think this kind of worship is largely ritual invocations that seek to make Vanti angry about something that has been created to be permanent and to give the worshippers the power to destroy it, such as an enemy village. Their interpretation of Vanti may be a bit lopsided!
A sentient race of bipedal feline rodents found primarily in the Hot Lands. Myridna have fur that shields them against extremes of temperature and comes in shades of yellows and oranges for females, reds and browns for males. Females stand on average at 120 cm, males at 150 cm.
They have strong longer upper arms, a pair of smaller secondary arms on the upper waist and legs that in normal sitting position look short and stubby, but can stretch to be quite long. Myridna middle arms are short with three clawed stubby fingers well suited for gripping, while the upper arms have three fingers flanked by a pair of thumbs; the three fingers each have retractable claws. Male claws are shorter and sturdier and better suited for digging through tough surfaces; while female claws are longer, sharper, and better suited for cutting through softer substances. Myridna tails are short, strong, and sturdy on the males, while females have thinner, longer, prehensile tails.
Myridna live long lives, up to hundreds of years, but this can vary immensely as more sedentary and passive individuals die out faster, while more active lifestyles can prolong Myridna lives to exceptional length.
Myridna are well suited for living terrestrial, semi-aquatic or even underground lifestyles. Their lungs and digestive systems are especially hardy. The lungs are both capable of breathing in all but the most toxic of environments and holding air for extreme periods of time. Their digestive systems are highly efficient and capable of digesting practically any biological matter. Myridna are partial to darker locations, with eyes well suited for dimly lit places. While not blinded by bright lights, they are not fond of them and can grow irritable if forced to be out in sunlight or other bright places without means to dim the light their eyes are exposed to. Myridna are particularly fast and dextrous, making for exceptional climbers - a process aided by their claws.
Myridna love to craft and build, especially with metals. Myridna culture holds to a practical, utilitarian mindset and thinks little of unnecessary ornamentation and designs in the things they make. As a result, most other races find their architecture and craft skillfully made but bleak. Ornamentation tends to be formulaic if it exists, applied solely to increase its value for outside trade.
Labor is heavily divided by sex due to the significant dimorphism of the species. Myridna couple in monogamous pairs. Attachment to one's mate is so strong that widowed Myridna are unlikely to remarry. Loyalty in general is at core of Myridna being, with betrayal the gravest sin one can commit.
Myridna feel an affinity towards cats, having some feline features in their own appearance. Myridna homes and sailing ships tend to keep cats for company and vermin extermination. Some big cats have been tamed among the lowland Myridna to act as a guard and war animals.
The Myridna worship Yggdrasil, Fiel, the High Moon Holder, the Hollow God, Vanti, the Ember, Lazat and Vathys most of all. Worship of YORCTOL is widespread, especially among the Highland Myridna, where it approaches the status of a state religion. Some Myridna worship Nehu Farstrider, the Void Huntress, with rituals asking for forgiveness for their ignorant shunning of her in times long past.
***
Highland Myridna:
The Myridna of the mountainous interior of the Hot Lands are known as Highland Myridna or highlanders. They tend to be on average shorter and more stunted than other Myridna due to their largely underground lives and scarcer nutrition.
The vast majority of the Highland Myridna live under the rule of the Mountain Kingdom. This feudal empire consists of dozens of vassal clans sworn to the Mountain King. Subservient lords provide warriors and taxes in exchange for royal privileges and protection. The Mountain Kingdom has a distinctly martial and belligerent culture, with lords known more for their fighting skill and their weapons than their learning. Artisans, smiths, architects and builders of all kinds are nevertheless greatly respected and valued. Weaponsmiths are particularly prestigious, with lords and warriors competing for the services of master smiths.
Highland Myridna dwellings are always built into mountain stone and may extend deep underground. To outsiders, they are lightless labyrinths answering only to Myridna logic. For the inhabitants, they are perfectly structured and sensibly ordered. Forges and furnaces are the most important places in a settlement. At least one forge is always left open for any inhabitant who wishes to try their hand at smithing, though waste of ore and materials is harshly punished.
Other races are rare but not unknown in Highland Myridna settlements. Humans are the most common outsiders, tending to Myridna fields and gardens as well-paid specialists. Where the Highland Myridna settle, the slopes of mountains are reshaped for terraced fields and gardens; egg-laying birds and hardy mountain cattle are also kept in high pens and pastures. Fungi are also cultivated in underground pits as great delicacies.
The most important Highland Myridna settlement is the royal capital at Hanehuramo, 'Ironmount'. Other important places are the Mikatena Fortress guarding entry into the lowlands and built by the great Unzo, Samokape in the shadow of Mount Matuname with its volcano-fueled furnaces and Vaturahane in the high north, now a border-fortress against the Druyul principality established there.
The Highland Myridna are exceptionally skilled at digging stone and excavating precious ores and gems. Various metals are worked by Highland forges, with the secrets of iron carefully guarded from outsiders. Moonstone, Stillstone, Mithril, Adamantium and Orichalcum have also been encountered and worked by Highland Myridna in small quantities. Their miners regularly face burrowing Iktai, with many Highlanders considering them the nemesis of their race. Appeasing worship has even given birth to a dark Iktai Mythic god that hungers for Myridna flesh. Iktai-hunters remain an elite social class among the Highland Myridna, one that has essentially also become an influential cult of YORCTOL.
Magic is known by individuals and usually taught by practitioners to one or a few apprentices. Ritual implements of different metals and materials are valued as empowering symbols. Mystical architecture is implemented into constructions in formulaic fashion. The Highland Myridna have a particular tradition of elemental magics; the Elemental Bloodline of Earth Surfing has spread especially among the aristocracy, with scions of their line prized highly as mates. Even the current King has a spouse of Earth Surfing descent.
The Entangled Wreathes are a kind of flower which form portals between themselves allowing for instantaneous travel. Certain strategic locations around the Mountain Kingdom have been linked with Entangled Wreathes to form the Wreathways, a young but powerful means of travel for the highlanders. Wild-grown Wreathes also connect to this network, making it somewhat vulnerable to intrusion from afar.
Holystone is a rare and sacred mineral of the Highland Myridna that absorbs energy directed into it. Much of it has been lost across the centuries, with surviving items and deposits guarded by the royal house of Samoza. The Mountain King wears a crown of holystone imbued with divine power. It grants its wearer cold and logical clarity of thought when they subconsciously wish for it, allowing the Mountain Kings to detach themselves from worldly prejudice and emotion in hard times.
***
Lowland Myridna:
Myridna of the Lowlands live in the eastern hills and plains of the Hot Lands. They tend to be the tallest and largest Myridna, with higher standards of nutrition than their highland or coastal cousins.
Lowland Myridna build their burrows in soil and rock, with towns often built with both an aboveground and underground half. The influence and presence of other races in the Federation has led to lowlanders dwelling far more on the surface than their highland cousins. Whether above or below the ground, Myridna architecture is strong and sturdy, if not especially aesthetic in the eyes of outsiders.
In the past, almost all Lowland Myridna lived under the Federation of Horns, an union of clans led by the Mihoza family of beast-whisperers. The Federation has collapsed and fragmented after the Druyul and highlander invasions and the devastation of its capital by the manifestation of the mad Architect. Though the Federation still exists in theory, in practice its successor states govern themselves with no central authority. A significant part of Lowland Myridna now labor under the rule of the Mountain Kingdom, which has extended to parts of the lowlands.
The Lowland Myridna are known as the people of horns or the herding people. They are skilled pastoralists, the first to domesticate grazing beasts for their own use. At the heart of Lowland Myridna culture are the Hrududu and Nym-Haggis, the gifts of the Makers when the world was young. These docile animals provide the lowlanders with meat, milk, eggs, manure, furs and leather. They are also put to work in pulling wagons, plows and powering mills. Wealthy lowlanders can boast with their hundreds-strong herds of Hrududu and Nym-Haggis, where poorer pastoralists have to settle for less prestigious ungulate and avian cattle. Lowland Myridna are a hierarchical and authoritarian people, with stark differences between social classes. The poorest - those who labor for others and own no cattle of their own - have little in the way of rights or protections from abuse. Loyalty is nevertheless expected to one's clan and superiors.
Lowland Myridna are skilled workers with bone, leather and wool, with their textiles renowned across Aebrirea for their hardiness and quality. Metalworking has spread from the highlands, but is generally of a lower quality than in the Mountain Kingdom. As the Myridna have little interest in useless ornamentation, it often falls to human and Baólian workers in their midst to finalize crafts and pieces for trade. Humans serve important roles in Lowland settlements as planters and farmers of staple crops, which the Myridna consider an inferior trade to animal husbandry.
Hrududu riders are a recent development in Lowland Myridna culture, pioneered by young braves after the invention of suitable saddle and harness for the great lizards. Though naturally docile, selective breeding has produced bolder lines suitable as war-mounts. These can easily traverse even mountainous terrain at their rider's behest. Riders join together in secretive lodges with their own rituals and traditions, forming a new source of authority and power in the wake of the collapse of Federation government. Dawn Guards, remnants of the Federation's elite border force, are another influential force in the new order.
Magic for the Lowland Myridna is either self-taught, learned from wandering masters, or taught to those with wealth and influence in the schools at the old capital Takohane. Certain kinds of magic are respected more than others and supposedly reserved for the upper classes, such as lunar magic and Shaping, 'the Breeder's Art'. Lowlander settlements often hold a ritual enclosure in the middle utilizing basic principles of mystical architecture to empower magic.
The Godblind are survivors of the Battle of Takohane, rendered blind and mad by witnessing the rogue Architect manifesting in its terrible glory. They are both feared and pitied, with most settlements and rulers cloistering them in special houses away from the outside world. Most Godblind remain in and around Takohane, surviving off the generosity of others. Wealthy and powerful families may keep Godblinded kin in their own houses, caring for them as their long lives near their end.
***
Coastal Myridna:
Myridna living on the coasts and islands of the Hot Lands are known as the Coastal Myridna or the shorelanders. Their fur is generally shorter and their builds leaner than other Myridna, which is more suitable for swimming and diving.
Coastal Myridna build their villages at the water's edge, often incorporating underground pools and streams in their dwellings. They are skilled fishers and sailors, with larger settlements boasting master shipwrights. Shorelanders delight in shipbuilding and its associated trades, as well as working pearls, shells and other bounty of the sea. Baólians are often found living side by side with Coastal Myridna, sharing their skills and affinity for the water. Coastal Myridna are not so given to roaming and exploring as the Baólians, however, and prefer not to take to the open seas if they can avoid it. The Baólians have introduced worship of the Sea-Spirit to Coastal Myridna as well.
Coastal Myridna prefer to sail at night. Their sensitivity to sunlight has led them to construct their ships with sealed, covered decks for daytime sailing. Myridna ships may seem abandoned during the day to outside observers, as almost all activity goes on inside. Magic is also used to provide shade at times. Sea-magic, lunar magic, elemental magics and shadow magic are favored Arts of the Coastal Myridna. Mystical architecture and ritual magic is incorporated into ships to varying degrees.
There is no unified Coastal Myridna civilization. They live as scattered clans and small polities or then under Druyul or Lowland Myridna rule. Colonies exist in Arka and Stromhiem as well as the Hot Lands. Coastal Myridna are roughly more egalitarian and individualist than their Lowland or Highland cousins, with those peoples often finding them irreverent, lazy and disrespectful, whereas Coastal Myridna see their kin as conformist, tyrannical and unintelligent. They value loyalty, but only when freely given or born of natural bonds.
***
Whew. Probably overlooked some things, but that's the basics of the Myridna covered.
It was founded by a family who had a similar attitude to their cattle as to their subjects: valuable possessions to be ultimately sacrificed as required. That had long-term influence in the kind of society it became. That said, it was a more equal society in the past - the general disarray in the region has led to many free herders becoming impoverished and being forced into working for wealthy elites, so class differences have become starker after the Federation's fall. Politically, it was a noble oligarchy with the Mihoza and other powerful families sharing power.
The Druyul are a sentient species of bipedal reptilians at home in hot and humid environments and native to the western Arken Lands. They are efficient omnivorous predators, preferring live prey eaten raw as ideal meals. Druyul society respects industriousness, strength and utility to the tribe as a whole most of all. Druyul culture shuns those who cannot or will not work for the benefit of all. Old Druyul serve in various roles, but are expected to commit ritual suicide once too infirm to work.
They stand at around 180 cm, with chameleon skin and flexible, detachable tails. The shifting coloration of Druyul scales is also used for intentional and involuntary emotional and social signalling. Eggs laid by fertile females are typically covered with mounds of earth warmed by fires for incubation; parents will retrieve their spawn once they have hatched and raise them with the help of extended families. Communal rearing has always been normal for the Druyul, but has extended to include even more 'parents' in the aftermath of the population boom of the Age of Growth. For the Druyul, it truly takes a village to raise a child.
Almost all Druyul live under the authoritarian and highly hierarchical Draghai World-Empire, with a minority of the species living as Mani-Druyul, outcast tribes beyond the Empire's reach. These tribes still tend to be ruled by a single chieftain with a great deal of power over their subjects. Whereas Draghai Druyul have developed sophisticated tools, architecture, food preservation and metalworking techniques, the Mani-Druyul tend to live simple and primitive existences out beyond the Long Shadow that forms a sort of northern border for the reach of Imperial authority. For the Mani-Druyul, the Emperors and their hateful Architect have perverted the natural state of the Druyul, and they seek to reject all that the Empire represents in their lives.
Druyul are influenced by the primordial trauma of the Laughing-Death-of-Hope, a monstrous Horror Bird empowered into divinity by the Ziggurat of Ascension. This god-beast terrorized the young Druyul species for decades before dying before the heroes of Baólians and Humanity in the First Battle of Askrheimr. Though its legend is now largely obscure among the Druyul, it lives on in expressions such as 'Iä! Death comes on the wings of God!', a cry of great despair. For the Imperial cult of the Draghai, the Laughing-Death-of-Hope justifies why the Flame of the Ziggurat is reserved only for the Imperial line - lest it fall into such terrible hands again.
***
Draghai Druyul:
Not sure if this is legible enough; I had trouble representing the jungles with everything else.
The Draghai were once a tribe among many. They had the fortune of spawning Draszi-Jast Ominor, the Druyul who would become the Prophet of his kind. Commanded by the avatar of the Makers known as the Architect, Draszi-Jast embraced the Flame of Ascension and become a god in the mold of the Maker's will. For the Prophet born in the Flame, there was now a divine mandate for the creation of a Druyul World-Empire - the Kerajaan Draghai. In the Prophet's lifetime, he became an influential figure among his race, a spiritual leader whose wisdom and learning was sought after from far and wide.
Greater and divinities would soon clash, however, as the Architect decreed for Draszi-Jast to meet a chosen mate and sire an heir. The Prophet used his divine will and gift of the Claíomh to defy his patron, refusing to marry but instead siring several offspring to be groomed into heirs according to their potential. Of this defiance was the bloodline of the Prophet born, and in time he was succeeded by Zainul-Jast, who became the first Emperor of the Draghai. He commanded the tribes to submit to him and fearful of his divine ascension, they complied - save for a scattered few who fled north and became the Mani-Druyul.
Under Zainul-Jast, the Empire grew and developed rapidly. In His time, the Holy Directives were presented to the Draghai - the Druyul are to have no gods but the Architect, a jealous and avenging master; the Druyul are given the world entire, their conquest of Creation is preordained and the will of the Architect; the Druyul are forbidden from internal conflicts and disputes, from murder, theft, adultery and lies towards their own kin; all of them are made equal under the Architect, but all must obey their elders, chiefs and their Emperor. The Empire was shaken, however, by the Great Slave Revolt of Ingra and the Usurpation of Sang-Pa, the Umbral who stole the Flame of Ascension from under the Emperor's nose.
The Architect's final decree for Zainul-Jast was one ordering a conquest of the Hot Lands. This would in time lead to the death of the god-emperor, the destruction of the Architect and the very ending of the Time of Creation. For the campaign, a great armada was built and an immense burden placed on the populace to fuel the war. Its disastrous ending also greatly weakened the Empire from within.
***
The capital of the World-Empire is the Prophet's City, a sprawling settlement surrounding the Ziggurat of Ascension. Since the Empire's founding, it has grown from simple huts and shelters into a metropolis surpassed only by great Emblatha in the Hot Lands. It is bounded on all sides by cultivated jungle; the soil the city is built on is barren and infertile - a side effect of the Ziggurat's presence, but generally held by the faithful to be the Emperor's will against the encroaching jungle. Its houses are low and stout, arranged symbolically in descending levels from the Ziggurat outwards. The Empire's highborn live closest to the Ziggurat, but even their houses of stone cannot reach higher than the Ziggurat's vast base. As a result of these restrictions on building height, many Druyul homes have large underground levels.
Other important towns include Petaang Sejanga, the only large harbor maintained by the Draghai; Darang, where the Tyrant's Legion is stationed much to the discomfort of its populace; Suranga, the 'Fountain-Home', renowned for its underground river; Mejaan Asta, built half into the mountainside by craft of the northern tribes; Sinjar of spices and beasts; and Baningan, known for an arena where slaves and soldiers in training may be placed to honor the Emperor in battle.
Draghai settlements follow patterns imbued with mystical architecture and honoring the Emperor and the Architect. As such, they have rigid and ordered layouts that often sacrifice comfort and practicality for esoteric purposes as dictated by the Emperor. Large plantations and walled jungle farms tend to surround towns, patrolled for vermin by semi-domesticated jungle cats. A significant portion of the Draghai remain nomads or semi-nomads, moving in tribal bands through the jungles. Draghai work wood, stone and clay, but the vast majority of all Druyul construction is of wood with roofs of leaf and branch.
Druyul food staples are a variety of small and large birds, freshwater and saltwater fish, tapirs, water buffalo, yams, taro, cassava, bananas and rice, enriched by the bounty of the jungle. Those who can afford live prey prefer to catch and eat them raw, though the vast majority of the population subsists largely without meat. Fruit wine is the drink of choice and flows freely in various religious festivals, which provide regular opportunities for the populace to break social norms, find mates and enjoy themselves without fear of reprisal, at least to an extent.
Draghai culture is highly religious and directed by the elites of the priesthood, local governors and the Imperial family. Festivals, games and days of charity serve as outlets for the masses in their usually disciplined and repressive lives. The greatest festival of the Draghai is the Week of Ascension, held at the Ziggurat when the Flame is at its highest. The population of the Prophet's City swells in these times to numbers far beyond what it can support normally, but the Emperor's divine powers are put to use to sustain all pilgrims for days of feasting, drinking, mating and religious devotion.
Draghai art is heavily influenced by concepts of Fate and the order of Creation as described to them by the Architect. Geometric patterns are popular decorations, reflecting Draghai ideas of the Architect's designs. Mundane arts are intimately connected with Draghai practices of magic. Both arts must be pure and follow the Holy Directives; heretical practices are ruthlessly eradicated. As such, the priesthood largely controls the patronage of both artists and wielders of magics. Independent practicioners are found among the nomadic tribes of the jungles, who are only loosely under Imperial authority - the bloodline of Death Bones spreads with them. Elemental magics, Vigor, lunar and solar magic and use of magical ores are most favored by the Druyul - they view powers of Narrative Satisfaction, Legend and other 'creative' magics with suspicion and disruptive of the Architect's grand designs.
Worship of other gods than the Architect and the Emperor is banned under the Holy Directives. Cults to other deities exist among slaves and sometimes with subversive Druyul. Discovery tends to mean torture and death, especially for Druyul. Unknown to the Druyul, their fearful retellings of the Laughing-Death-of-Hope have spawned a dark reincarnation of the Horror Bird beast-god as a Myth.
The jungles present challenges for Imperial infrastructure; the jungle roads remain open only through constant labor and the Emperor's power. The many rivers coming down from the Imperial Mountains offer easier means of transportation. They converge into three major rivers, known as the Three Sisters by the Druyul. The Ziggurat and the Prophet's City have been connected to the Middle Sister with a great artificial divine canal.
The Draghai military has not recovered from the Day of Horror - the defeat of the Draghai invasion at the gates of Takohane and the death of the divine Emperor Zainul-Jast. Raids by Baólians, Sura and Humans took a heavy toll on the Empire's defenses in the aftermath; the liberation of tens of thousands of slaves by these raids impoverished many Draghai elites and caused a critical labor shortage, which in turn led to unrest and several failed uprisings against the Empire. Sangal-Jast and Manang-Jast, the two returning Princes, further worsened the situation by engaging in a brief but bloody civil war. Though the victor Sangal-Jast, now the Star Lightning Emperor, has stabilized the Empire, it is no state to launch any further military campaigns for at least a decade. Children of the other Princes also scheme and hunger for the Flame, desiring to topple Sangal-Jast and rule in His place.
In theory, the Imperial military consists of several standing armies, the Legions, maintained at Imperial expense; however, the costly war has left only a few Legions with sufficient numbers to be a credible threat. These small but elite forces are supplemented by auxiliaries made up of Druyul conscripts and slave warriors when necessary. It is further strenghtened, at least for the time being, by the Tyrant's Legion, which has entered the service of Sangal-Jast. The Draghai navy is a shadow of the glorious armada that set out; only a handful of warships remain, maintaining the sealanes between Arka and the Hot Lands territories of Kerong-Jast.
Even so, the power of a living god-emperor is allowing recovery to progress at a swift pace. The Draghai will not be satisfied until the entire world is underneath the heel of their World-Empire. It is the will of their god, after all.
***
Kerong-Jast's Principality:
The northern tip of the Hot Lands lies under the dominion of Kerong-Jast, the Iron Prince. This principality is a semi-autonomous fiefdom of the greater Empire, ruled by Kerong-Jast with the blessing of his divine brother. It was forged in conquest, with the human, Baólian and Myridna peoples of the region brought forcefully under Draghai rule. Many of these peoples were pressed into slavery and put to work for Kerong-Jast's Druyul or shipped to replace lost slaves on the mainland.
Kerong-Jast's Draghai are not markedly different from their mainland brethren. The Iron Principality is characterized by the low numbers of Druyul compared to their subject peoples, however. Kerong-Jast has allowed local cultural practices and traditions to continue where they do not conflict with the Directives. Even worship of foreign gods is tolerated - though never for Druyul subjects. Some measure of cultural synthesis has begun to take place, with Hot Lands cuisine, arts and traditional pastimes influencing Draghai customs. Veneration of the Emperor is less pronounced in the Principality - Kerong-Jast prefers to encourage devotion to the Architect instead of his brother.
The capital of the Iron Principality is at Keraang, on the shore of the Kelpwild Gap and thus very close to Arka. It is not a true city, but a fortified military outpost that is slowly growing a civilian settlement around it. Anemic trade with the Mountain Kingdom and lowland Myridna polities takes place, but to most peoples of the Hot Lands the Draghai are hated enemies.
Witnessing the manifestation of the Architect in the skies over Takohane left those unfortunate to witness it as maddened Godblind. Draghai Godblind were put to death afterwards for no longer offering anything to the Empire. Some small numbers of them survived, wandering away from Draghai territory in their maddened state or rarely sheltered and hidden away by sympathetic family members.
I'm sure there will be, but I'd also like to point out that people tend to leave species alone out of respect when their creator seems to have a plan for them.
I don't think anyone directly messed with the Draghai beyond stealing a godhood
I really regret not trying harder to force through a Breaker into existence back when we were voting, despite arguments not too. The Draghai basically got away with everything, receiving huge amounts of preferential treatment with no push back, and even after their god died, they just went right back to their old ways. They're exactly the sort of thing the Breaker was always intended to happen too.
Honestly seeing this is supposed to be a base other people can set quests in having an expansionist repressive empire seems useful for setting tension and antagonists.
Like I know no one has actually used it as a quest setting yet. But I'm still hopeful someone will. Like photomajig made maps and everything.
Honestly seeing this is supposed to be a base other people can set quests in having an expansionist repressive empire seems useful for setting tension and antagonists.
Like I know no one has actually used it as a quest setting yet. But I'm still hopeful someone will. Like photomajig made maps and everything.
The Sura are a species of large, six-armed humanoids with reddish-bronze skin, three eyes and white hair. They are physically very formidable, but are unable to use magic beyond the cultivation of Vigor. Being stronger than most civilized species, they tend to view other races as inferior and poorly made - either adopting a contemptous view or a paternalistic one when dealing with them. Surish physique is so robust that it takes a great deal of damage to kill them. Diseases are rarely dangerous and even pregnancy barely slows down female Sura.
Sura are omnivores and must eat a great deal to maintain their bodies. Their immense strength allows them to take down prey with their bare hands if necessary and to push furrows in soil where others require beasts of burden and plows. As such, they lack many tools developed by other civilizations. The Sura were the first to invent the wheel and it carries mystical significance for them, depicted often in art and used in religious rituals.
The Suras as a people are marked by the Six Paths, holy castes and life-paths presented to them by the divinity Kharneth. These are the Path of the Warrior, for those devoted to the arts of battle and seeking to improve their bodies and minds; the Path of Scholar, for those seeking greater understanding of the world around them; the Path of the Healer, for those who care for their fellows and help children into the world; the Path of the Artisan, for craftsmen and builders of all kinds; the Path of the Land, for those who grow crops and work the soil; and the Path of Gold, for those who barter and negotiate agreements between peoples. The Path is generally depicted as a wheel with six spokes, with Kharneth in the middle as master of all Paths.
When one masters a Path, they become an Exarch and receive a magical tattoo on their skin that embodies their Path. Exarchs are highly respected in Surish society and play a role in the succession of rulers and in the settling of disputes. Practically all Sura dream of becoming an Exarch, but only a few have the discipline and talent require to become the greatest in their Path.
The holiest site for all Sura is the Fig Tree of Knowledge and the Temple of the Six Paths around it in central eastern Arka. The Tree shines with the light of enlightenment - in the daytime, the Golden Light of Comprehension, and in the night, the Silver Glow of Inspiration. Once every decade, the tree bears a single fig that grants the collected knowledge of the Sura to whoever consumes it, if they are strong enough to bear the experience. Grand rituals are held for this momentous event, with Surish pilgrims flooding the Temple to witness and partake in the glory.
***
Surakar:
Surakar is the Surish name for Eastern Arka, meaning 'Dominion of the Sura' (or literally 'Reach-of-Sunlight-Boundary of the Sura' in Surish). Other races tend to use it to refer specifically to the western half of the continent between the Wyvern Mountains and the Gulf of Mists. It is this vast land of steppe and grasslands where the cultural and political influence of the Sura is strongest and where the majority of all Sura live.
Surakar is both a cultural concept and a loose political entity. The demigod Atula has united the Surish polities of the region into a singular whole, but the High King's authority is limited in matters other than spiritual. Regardless, Atula and his line are acknowledged as masters of the Sura with Kharneth's blessing, to be obeyed without question in times of war and crisis. Under Atula are satraps who rule over certain regions, settlements or bloodlines. Kharneth's priesthood serve as Atula's instrument of soft influence, appointed to advise satraps and nudge them towards Atula's wishes when needed.
The High King has two seats of power. Atulad, his temporal capital, a city founded in the demigod's honor on the banks of the Sakhath River, and the Temple of Six Paths, the holy site of Kharneth's faith and site of the Fig Tree of Knowledge. Atulad is notable for its rather colossal architecture, as the Sura both require and prefer to build big and imposing. It is built almost entirely of red stone floated down from the Wyvern Mountains and raised in the span of five years by relentless work of builders of the Path of Artisans, with stout square towers that can be seen from far away on the great plain.
Other important settlements are Kharnad, a mountain city fed by the wealth of mines in the Wyvern Mountains; Varadkan, one of the rare coastal settlements of a people distrusting of the sea; Amud, known for its temples and the strength of its Healers; Phaguth, the Bridge-City, spanning the breadth of the Agid River on a bridge built by Monument Makers; Hatad, a lakeside city in particularly fertile soil surrounded by a sea of rye and oat fields.
A number of settlements inhabited mainly by Humans and Baólians exist under the Surakar, exempt from service in war in return for larger tithes of food and wealth. Surish cities have significant minorities of Humans, Baólians and Myridna; some of them slaves, some of them freeborn. Compared to Druyul slavery, Surish slaves enjoy greater freedoms, some protection from abuse, and traditions of manumission which allow them to gain their freedom. There exists a distinct class of magic-wielding slaves, the samadreth or shackled-stars, as Sura themselves cannot use magics other than Vigor.
Many Surish bands remain nomadic pastoralists. They keep vast herds of ungulate and avian cattle that they drive over the endless steppes and grasslands of the continent. These bands pull large wagons behind them, which raise distinctive dust clouds in their wake and are a telltale sign of their presence. The High King's hold on them is tenuous - there are frequent conflicts with settled satraps over grazing lands and water use.
In wartime, the Sura congregate in Warrior bands led by their Exarch, the High King or local leaders. As each Warrior is devoted to only battle, these forces are well-trained and highly motivated - if much smaller than levy-heavy armies employed by other races. Sura arms and armor remain crude; their bodies are so strong that there has not been significant attention given to developing them further. Bronze armor, massive two-handed swords, pikes and enormous hammers are typical Surish warrior gear. Multiple weapons are usually wielded at the same time - for example, using two hands for hammers, two hands for blades and two hands for shields. The Sura use war chariots, pulled by Sura specifically trained for the ordeal instead of beasts of burden. These heavy wagons can simply crush foes under their wheels, cut them up with spikes or give platforms for spear-throwers to launch from. The Sura have no traditions of sailing or naval warfare, but cross waters in Baólian ships hired or pressed for the purpose.
Surakar cuisine favors meat, usually prepared in heavy broths and bathed in fat-rich sauces. The meat and eggs of the Horror Bird are traditionally held to be the greatest of delicacies. Rye, oats and wheat are cultivated and usually made into thick porridges or hardy bread. Milk from ungulate cattle is made into butter, cheese, yogurt and fermented liquors; some Sura devote themselves so greatly to pursuit of these that they are joked to be on the Path of the Udder.
Surakar culture retains a strong emphasis on physicality. The Sura hold wrestling to be the greatest of sports. Chariot racing, wagon pulling and stone tossing are other popular pastimes. Stone-carving, traditionally done with one's own hands, is a central visual art. Rough stone sculptures made in this manner are common sights in Surish settlements and as trade goods. Monumental painting of cliffsides and huge stretched leather canvases is another distinctive Surish artform; such pieces tend to be created by groups of Artisans in collaboration. Surish dyes are valued even outside Arka.
Though Kharneth is the most important god of the Sura, worship of other deities is not prohibited. Sura tend to favor Kronals, Aekidir, Vanti, Azrull, Loppu Sinfonia, Lazat, Katha the Many, the Wayfarer, Zorox Unslaad, Ikari and Vathys. Different Paths are drawn to different gods. Other gods must always take a lesser position beside Kharneth in temples and rituals, however.
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Northern Sura:
Sura dwelling beyond the Wyvern Mountains live apart from the Surakar, though they still revere the High King as a spiritual leader and divine son of Kharneth. They have no united state, bur live as nomads and in some permanent settlements. Their largest settlement is Khethod, in the shadow of the frigid Mountains of Madness. This fortress-like city is warmed by vapors from the earth - hot springs in the caves underneath its streets. Since the lands of the Northern Sura are largely frozen tundra and polar desert, they are also known as the White Sura. Northern Sura resemble their southern cousins in most respects, but consider themselves hardier, more practical and wiser than them. For their part, the southern Sura often find them impious, dull and stubborn.
White Sura cuisine is simpler fare than southern. More limited nutrition has left the White Sura a little stunted in comparison to the southern Sura, but to any outsider the difference is minimal. White Sura believe meat has to be hunted for the full vitality to pass on to the eater - merely cullling cattle from a herd will not grow your Vigor. Horror Birds remain a valued prize, but Snow Octopi are though to be at least equally worthy meals. When one is caught and killed, the whole band or settlement gathers to share in its flesh.
White Sura do keep shaggy-haired northern cattle for milk and leather. The cold of the north allows for little agriculture. For companions, the White Sura raise thick-furred sabertoothed big cats who are trained to hunt and guard Surish homes.
The Elemental Bloodline of Ice Veins has spread among the Northern Sura. The bloodline of Negil Frostheart, the first carrier of Ice Veins, is a powerful and well-respected force in the north.
Azrull, the Young God of War, Pain and Madness, is a more central deity to the White Sura than it is anywhere else. The seemingly immortal Sura berzerker Argigal makes the frozen north his home, carrying Dirge, the Mask of Madness and the Ring of the Devourer. Worship of Azrull is largely sacrifices to appease his bloodthirst and thus keep his maddened servant away from them, but some warrior cults do pledge themselves to Azrull willingly.
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Vatran Sura:
Stromhiem hosts a notable Sura population descending from the Thirteen Bands who migrated over in the time of the Great Plague. They became a dominant force over the north of Stromhiem in the face of mass death and depopulation of the continent. While Umbral, Sehranen and other local populations have begun to rebound, there is no other polity capable of challenging the Vatran Dominate. This small empire is centered on the coastal settlement of Vatra.
The Vatran Sura have elevated the Path of the Healer above all others after their experiences with the Plague. This focus on care is reflected in a twisted fashion in the Vatrans' attitude to the other inhabitants of Stromhiem. In the Plague's aftermath, the Sura took many locals of other races under their protection - this somewhat domineering, paternalistic sense of protection continues still, with the Vatrans pledging to defend all peoples of Stromhiem against dangers, whether they want it or not. Slavery is banned among the Vatrans, though their conventions of patronage over their 'lessers' sometimes veers into similar bondage.
The Vatrans have adapted to the drier and harsher climate of their new home. Hardy desert ungulates are kept as herds. Crocodiles, the great beasts of the floodplains, are kept for their eggs and hides. Wrestling a crocodile into submission is considered a necessary step in a warrior's education.
Umbral influence in Vatran society has led to increased veneration of the Hollow God and the Ember in the Deep, gods largely unknown in Arka. Though Sura are not very comfortable underground, Vatran settlements tend to have Umbral 'undertowns' dug deep into the bedrock with Surish help. This has also opened the way for Vatran mining, with the trade of precious stones and ore enrichening the city more and more each year. Vatran Sehranen, on the other hand, tend to live in high towers and roofless sun-houses where they might best soak in the light of the heavens.
Vatrans are the only Suran culture with knowledge and use for shipbuilding. Surish ships borrow a great deal from Baólian designs, but tend to be heavier, less maneuverable and much larger. Such barges can carry a great deal of crew or cargo, but fare poorly in naval warfare. Still, being boarded by a Vatran war-barge is on the list of worst possible fates for a ship's captain on the Fire Sea, for repulsing a hundred Suran mariners is never a likely prospect.
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Presumably overlooked a bunch of stuff as usual. Comments and questions are always welcome!
For sure. I hope to get this all up in a collected wiki when I'm done with the big lore dumps. That'll make actually using the setting much easier. For myself, I'd maybe enjoy a traditional RPG quest with a single MC chosen from all these races and backgrounds most. Instead of leveling up, you gain Legend. To be clear, I'm not planning on doing a Quest in this setting anytime soon - got my hands too full right now - but it's an idea I've been playing with from time to time.
The Skrayt are sentient creatures with two pairs of wings and dextrous legs with prehensile feet with sharp talons. The larger pair of wings is feathered and allows the Skrayt to glide and soar over great distances, while the smaller pair of wings is leathery and provides maneuverability and may grasp surfaces and objects. Skrayt measure at around 160 cm on average, with wiry, lean muscle on their flight-adapted bodies. They are generalist omnivores but prefer to feed on fish when possible. Skrayt females lay 1-3 eggs on average. Eggs are cared for by the entire tribe communally.
Skrayt have a great love of freedom and of song. Skrayt like to come together in communal feasts and sky-dances, with the distinctive warbling songs of the Skrayt audible over long distances. Skrayt dislike fully confined spaces and their dwellings tend to have at least one wall open to the skies, so they can swiftly leap into the air if case of danger.
Almost all Skrayt live in the Clouded Lands on Aebrirea. Small populations live in the Sky Lands and elsewhere.
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High Skrayt:
High Skrayt is a name referring to most Skrayt who live in the Clouded Lands, excluding only those who have assimilated into the culture of the Hive Coast. These Skrayt live largely as they have since the dawn of their existence - in small tribes making their homes on the high flying islands of their homeland. These tribes are generally tight-knit and united under elected chieftains. Their dwellings are simple constructions of wood, stone and packed soil. The High Skrayt largely depend on tools of stone, working wood, leather, feathers and bone to reinforce their homes and protect them against cold. When they are able, they raid or trade for metal tools and weapons.
High Skrayt tend to keep birds of various kinds for meat, eggs, feathers and skins. They cultivate some crops and vegetables on mountain slopes to supplement their diets. The Skrayt prefer to feed on fish whenever possible, however, catching it in great flocks from the seas surrounding the Clouded Lands.
Some High Skrayt tribes are independent and guard that independence fiercely, but most have fallen under the sway of monsters and warlords claiming slices of the Hollow King's fallen empire. Skrayt warlords who rose high in the Hollow King's service have gone on to forge tribal confederations that control larger swathes of territory.
High Skrayt distrust Umbrals thanks to ancient conflicts with light-maddened Umbral exiles and bitter competition for favor under the Hollow King. Humans are treated somewhat better. Sea-Ants do tend to hold the High Skrayt's respect thanks to ancient friendship, despite many High Skrayt tribes fighting against them in the invasion of the Hive Coast. The Burned Tribe, one of the most fiercely independent tribes, is notable for its strong ties to the Hive Coast. Many tribes are isolationist and hostile to intruders into their territories. Few find their way into their homes on the high-soaring isles, but hunting grounds and pastures are also jealously guarded.
High Skrayt fight as tightly coordinated, aerobatic flocks that fall upon foes without warning from high up. Skilled warriors can even fly with expert skill in confined spaces such as caverns, though they prefer not to offer battle on such ground. They utilize a variety of weapons as well as their own talons. One half of a Skrayt warband tends to hover above armed with bows or javelins while the more experienced warriors dive into melee.
Magic among the High Skrayt is passed from master to apprentice. These bonds are rather secretive, with the mysteries of the Art not shared with outsiders. As a result, use of magic can be uncommon with the High Skrayt. Most common forms of magic are solar and lunar magic and Vigor, empowered through complex and sophisticated rituals.
The High Skrayt tend to worship Salocin, a Mythic deity originally given form by the long worship of the Burned Tribe, as well as Kronals, Aekidir, the Teller of Tales, Ülmánaga the Star Maiden, Azrull, the Whisper, Loppu Sinfonia, Lazat, Kharneth and Zorox Unslaad. The Hollow God has become a major deity for the High Skrayt through their years of service to the Hollow King. Cults to YORCTOL have also come to be from the influence of its champions in the Hollow King's armies.
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Hiver Skrayt:
Skrayt living in the devastated Hive Coast and refugees of that civilization elsewhere are known as Hiver Skrayt. If one asked for their identity, they would call themselves Hivers first, Skrayt second. Their ancestors are those Skrayt who came to the aid of Imsamrta the Wise at Tamvatra in the early days of the world, deciding afterwards to settle with the Queen and her Sea-Ants.
Hiver Skrayt have adopted the culture and technology of the greater Hive Coast. Loyalty to and love of the Queens is held to be the greatest virtue. Hard work, wisdom and learning are greatly valued, with many Skrayt studying or teaching at the White University of Wisdom. Hiver Skrayt are familiar with metalworking and a variety of crafts. Hiver Skrayt are generally tolerant of other races, having lived all their lives among Sea-Ants, Baólians, Umbrals, Myridna and Humans. They find High Skrayt tribes rather backwards for their 'savagery' and their isolationism, though also respect them for their martial prowess and courage.
In the traditional layout of a Hive Coast colony, the dwellings of its Skrayt population are built on the highest levels. These rooms have easy access to open platforms on the outside of the levels, where Skrayt may land and take off at their leisure. Comfortable central chambers are maintained for eggs and chicks too young to be allowed to roam on their own. A great flat roof where sky-dances and songs may be performed usually completes the complex.
For their Sea-Ant Queens, the Skrayt most often serve as scouts, sentinels and messengers. A Queen's bodyguard is expected to include strong Skrayt who can fly her to safety in the worst case scenario of the Hive falling - a position of respect and influence. Pride in their work as the 'shield of civilization' in the Hive Coast has made many Hiver Skrayt belligerent and somewhat arrogant, traits often passed down generations even among refugees.
Tens of thousands of Hiver Skrayt were forced to flee the Hive Coast during the great war against the Hollow King or its aftermath, or during the Great Plague. Most Hives were destroyed and the land despoiled, with chaotic fighting between warlords, monsters and Hiver remnants taking their toll for decades afterwards. These refugees have made their way to Stromhiem, Arka, the Hot Lands and even other worlds altogether through the Cosmic Paths. They seek to carry the honor of the Hive Coast even in their exile, perhaps to return some day when the land has recovered.
The Elemental Bloodline of the Metal Eater runs in the veins of refugee Hiver Skrayt, who have carried to a great many different corners of Aebrirea. Magic is learned in schools within the Hives or at the White University of Wisdom; refugee bands tend to pass on their lore in a more unorganized fashion. Hiver Skrayt tend to favor solar and lunar magics. They often explicitly study the cultivation of Legend and the Star-Trails.
Hiver Skrayt most often worship Salocin, Kronals, Adreval, the Heart of Song, Fiel, the High Moon Holder, the Forgotten God, Ülmánaga the Star Maiden, Loppu Sinfonia, Lazat, Katha the Many, Dri the Paranoid, the Wayfarer, Zorox Unslaad and Vathys. Refugee Hiver Skrayt tend to give more worship to the two gods of the Abyss and the Wayfarer with their grief and memories of their lost home and restless travels. Close living with Umbrals has led to some to also worship the Ember in the Deep.
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Sky Skrayt:
Skrayt who live in the Sky Lands, descended from a divinely inspired Skrayt inventor who found a way to rise into the high heavens, are known as the Sky Skrayt. They are little known by their kin in the Clouded Lands, being isolationist and secretive due to their hostile departure from their ancestors. To supplement their low numbers, Sky Skrayt sometimes descend into the Clouded Lands to steal eggs in secret. For the most part, however, they remain in happy freedom in the heights.
Sky Skrayt have a great respect for invention and freethinking, the means of their ascent to the Sky Lands. They abhor any hint of censorship, hold tradition as a virtue in contempt and happily flout laws and conventions among other races. This has led to a reputation as troublemakers among the other sentient denizens of the Sky Lands. Sky Skrayt are largely peaceful and avoid physical conflict, though arm themselves and come together if needed to drive away large predators such as cloud wyverns.
The Sky Skrayt have abstract knowledge of metalworking, but little ore or fuel to use. Most of their tools are thus simple stone. Garments are generally made of feathers, layered thick to protect against the icy winds of the heights. Even so, the Sky Skrayt are remarkably inventive and resourceful with what they have.
Sky Skrayt largely subsist on birds and hardy edible plants living in the high skies. Hungry years are not uncommon. They are smaller in stature and wingspan than the Skrayt of the Clouded Lands, more given to sickness and poor health, and shorter-lived. They have few predators in the Sky Lands, regardless, and rarely die violent deaths.
Many Sky Skrayt prefer to spend their entire lives living in simple contentment among the clouds. They delight in debate and in their peculiar brand of philosophy, compete in poetry and sky-songs and adorn themselves with feathers, bone, gold from the Sky Sea and flowers. They know almost nothing of most other races or places, though brave individuals do occasionally descend to the world below and even more rarely return with wild tales. They are most familiar with the Humans of the Sky Lands, with generally friendly relations between the two. The piratical Sky Ants are not so kindly regarded, but the simple settlements of Sky Skrayt rarely have anything to interest them. Some wild-hearted Sky Skrayt join Sky Ant hives to embrace a very different way of life.
Sky Skrayt have no organized study of magic. Some dabble in a variety of magics. Like their kin below, solar and lunar magic are most commonly wielded. They have some familiarity with magic relating to Legend and Fate as well.
Sky Skrayt tend to have a distant but respectful relationship to gods. They do not see reason to bother the gods overtly, nor for the gods to take much interest in them. Their modest worship favors Kronals, the Heart of Song, Fiel, the High Moon Holder, Ülmánaga the Star Maiden, Ikari and Vathys.
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The Skrayt are here! They had the unfortunate fate of being right in the middle of Monsterbowl Ultimate for near the entire Quest, but that molded them in interesting ways. Do let me know if there's aspects of these cultures and races that I'm neglecting and you'd like to hear more about, or different ways I could be doing these writeups.
Map for the Clouded Lands coming in the Umbral or White Ant writeups, I think - it's still a work in progress.
Alas, poor Skrayt. I created you, and then kind of wandered off and forgot about the people I left in what turned out to be a monster-infested deathland, except for that one time with the spear. But they seem to have pulled through alright!
Though I do wonder if the combination of Sky Skrayt inventiveness with Sky Ant resources ever resulted in a Legendary Sky Skrayt Sky-Pirate with a fleet of flying machines.
One thing I find interesting is the regular supplementation of divine blood in the mortal populations at random. Though it probably largely depends on how far the particular incarnation of Zorox Unslaad (they probably have a lot of names, might be different for various cultures) gets in regards to strength, since their main deal is no hard or soft caps for their growth and theoretically being capable of true creation. their divinity shows more and more as they grow beyond what's normal (since that's what their divinity does.)
You know the Sword of Damocles? I imagine that in this world, "The Sword of the Draghai" would be a pretty widespread saying.
To reference this dangling threat that the Draghai represent. The sword fell once, it was handled, but now the sword is dangling overhead again. You just hope that the rope hangs tight for a good long while, and that when it eventually does snap, someone has a plan to permanently break the sword this time.
I have started putting up these World updates on a wiki, found here. If anyone feels an urge to participate, feel free to add pages there! You may expand on things established in the Quest as long as they do not contradict previous lore or seek to assert very dramatic changes to the world. I'll edit any pages as necessary if there are mistakes or unclear parts.
I'm not demanding anyone's participation - this is strictly voluntary! If you feel like you might some day end up using this setting for something or just enjoy filling in red links in a wiki, feel free to give it a try.
Umbrals shall be the next World update in this thread, coming soon!
I have started putting up these World updates on a wiki, found here. If anyone feels an urge to participate, feel free to add pages there! You may expand on things established in the Quest as long as they do not contradict previous lore or seek to assert very dramatic changes to the world. I'll edit any pages as necessary if there are mistakes or unclear parts.
I lied - in fact I'm also going to get started on Magics, starting with Lunar Magic! Also on the wiki right here.
Lunar Magic The Changing Art
Lunar magic is magic derived from the light of the Moon of Aebrirea and other void rocks made of moonstone, which takes on raw solar magic from the Unfrozen Sun and reflects it out as lunar magic. It is the Changing Art - that of alteration, transmutation, illusions, glamour, spirits and the Unseen.
White Ants and their descendants and Sea Serpents have a natural affinity for lunar magic. Lunar salamanders are a rare subtype of elemental salamanders found in Sky-Ant hives.
Lunar magic spreads even without active study, as the lingering power of the dead Maker Tarumath threads knowledge of it into the dreams of mortals on Aebrirea.
Uses
Lunar magic deals with transforming and manipulating light, magic and spirit-matter. It allows a caster to change the properties of moonlight, fixing it into solid form as hard as stone, or making it flow like water. Moonlight may also be drawn into illusions to confound and misdirect opponents. It has the rare power to meddle directly with the magic of others, allowing other Arts to be sabotaged or even turned back against their users by weaving the Moon's soft light to unravel their crafts.
Spirits respond well to lunar magic, as it carries in it Unseen influences. Lunar magic is thus useful in contacting spirits and amplifying Unseen influence in the Seen. Lunar magic can also be used to bind spirits into bodies with persistent Vigor, allowing them to reanimate until they have burned off their remaining Vigor.
Stones of the Field of Floating Stones are sensitive to lunar magic and may be manipulated through it. The Sky-Ants have made great use of this to lift and move their flying hives.
The Belt of Light around the Second World gathers lunar magic and imbues its debris with it, producing crystal and stone with potent applications for magic.
Limitations
Lunar magic depends on the waxing and waning of the Moon and other, lesser moonstone satellites in the Void. It is mercurial and changing, eluding and tricking those who grow complacent in its use. The more full the moon is in the sky - the more 'open-faced' it is, as practitioners say - the more potent lunar magic is. Without the moon's light, lunar magic becomes draining to the user and weakens significantly. As such, lunar magic can usually only be wielded at certain times and in certain places. It is strongest on Aebrirea, in the direct light of the True Moon.
Rituals and Symbolism
Lunar magic is associated with liminality, transitions and cycles. Rituals seeking to amplify lunar magic thus incorporate these themes into their performances, props and instruments. Thresholds, doorways, crossroads and other places of transition make for potent ritual sites. Mystical architecture focused on empowering lunar magic tends to create looping, circular spaces with many thresholds and gateways, generally open to the skies or with a representation of the Moon depicted abovehead. Practitioners and ritual participants of shifting or transitional identity and nature are favored for the Art.
Ritualists working with lunar magic often use a moon disc in their craft. These silver or silvered discs are made of several interlocking plates which depict the moon's phases. The ritualist may turn them from phase to phase as they progress in their ritual. The famous Moon Chamber of the White University of Wisdom features a moon disc of enormous size to empower its rituals.
Gods
The High Moon Holder is the deity most associated with lunar magic, having usurped the power of the Maker Tarumath on the Moon. As God of both Magic and the Moon, they are central in any ritual of lunar magic. The High Moon Holder is beseeched for teaching in lunar magic and for gifts of its power.
Other deities favored by wielders of lunar magic include Yggdrasil, for her association with spirits and souls, the Teller of Tales in their aspect of Trickery, Prose as an avatar of Metamorphosis, Vanti as Goddess of Cycles and the Whisper in their guise of chaotic Renewal. Commonly, these deities have a supporting role in rituals with the High Moon Holder elevated above them, but it is not unheard of for one of the other gods to take precedence at times.
