[Dusk] Artist wanted for the Oyasini

[Michael Morris]

Hello everyone. In August and beyond I'm going to be focusing on individual races and lands of the world of Carthasana. I would like to be able to use unique artwork for this. Think of this as a chance to have your artwork seen on a major website here at ENWorld. Artists will be creditted and retain all rights to work done - should Dusk eve be print published a contract involving cashola will be worked out before any of the pieces will be used in print.

Here is a description of the Oyasini for those interested.

Remember the Dark Crystal? Well, the Oyasini are analogous to Gen and Kira - the Gelflings of that movie. Girls have wings, boys don't. The similarities end there since the movie never showed us more than those two or the society they had.

The Oyasini fill the niche filled by the halflings of most settings and provide a "halfling" race that, while not totally unique, at least has the virtue of being neither Tolkienesque (2e) or kenderish (3e)

Both the Oyasini and their primary homeland the Osherin Coast will be detailed in August. Guidelines of each follow. Please follow these guidelines in all drawings submitted:

OYASINI
This is the description of the Oyasini given on the site.

The halflings of Carthasana call themselves the “oyasini.” They lie between the world of elves and pixies, similar to each race but directly tied to neither. Oyasini skin ranges from chalk white to a light blush hue - their silk fine hair runs the gamut of red and blond shades, although on rare occasion light cyan and white are seen among their number. Oyasini eyes are blue, pink, violet or steel grey.

Oyasini differ from the halflings of other worlds because the females have wings that, while too small to allow true flight, can allow them to fall safely from any height. Oyasini tend to build treehouses as high off the ground as the trees allow.

Costume: Oyasini prefer flowing gowns above all other types of dress, and both the males and females are unlikely to be found in any other type of garment while among their own kind. Their dress is not colorful - usually it is a single white or with a hint of color. When traveling among humans or elves they favor the use of cloaks and other garments that break up their outline.

Marriage & Family: Oyasini practice polyandry - which is to say that one wife will have multiple husbands. Three is the usual number, though rich matriarchs with as many as twenty husbands are not unknown. Part of the reason for this practice is that females only account for one-sixth the population of race. Males are expendable - females are not. While matriarchy may tinge some of the other cultures so far explored in this book, it is firmly entrenched in Oyasini society and the status quo. Females wield great political power within the numbers of oyasini. They hold all the priestly and administrative positions of the clan hold government and their rule is largely unquestioned.

Religion: Oyasini religion is purely monotheistic. They believe that the goddess Ooyas-shandra created the world for them and then created spirits to administer her world. Oyasini tend to classify the gods of other religions as mere spirits that have gone renegade and forgot their true place in the world.

Oyasini males are called Oyasoi. They are much more frequently encountered as adventurers than the females, possibly because within their own society they are second-class citizens. Or perhaps it is because they are better suited than the females to spy on the doings of human kind.

The females of the Oyasini world are referred to as the oyasi. Their distinguishing characteristic is their wings, which can reach a span of up to 4 to 5 feet across. The wings are wisp thin, highly fragile and believed to be semi-magical, and they can be collapsed and hidden under flowing robes and cloaks. The wings are much that of a moth in appearance - translucent with a decided gossemer quality.

THE OSHERIN COAST
This area of Carthasana is covered in the Osherin forest where the might Osherin trees grow. These trees can reach over 1000' in height and have bases up to 150' in diameter. Whole cities rest in the branches of these mammoth trees. Unlike Redwoods though, the Osherin trees are deciduous and have leaf crowns not unlike that of an oak although nearly 900 or so foot of tree will pass before the first branch.

To the north are the Christobal mountains which are much like the Cascades in appearance though they do not pierce the treeline nearly as often. None of these mountains are volcanic.