Creative Exercise--Aleasana

[Rhialto]

As fierce as the Bodai warriors are, lately they seeme to be ill-matched against the Juni's use of sand magic - turning once lush grazing lands into treacherous sand traps for the Bodai's ponies. The Juni warponies (which only vaguely look like ponies but are more closely related to the abundant sand lizards) seem to have no problem with such terrain.

Recently, Val-Alen has hosted a young Juni shaman named Ikontet, who paints a different picture of the Juni invasion and the Bodai response.

According to Ikontet, when the Juni first arrived in the grasslands, they thought they had discovered paradise. "Never in his life had my father seen so much green," he explained in halting Aleasani. Food was abundant, and many among the Juni thought they might never have to suffer want again.

However, things soon changed when the Bodai found them. At first the Juni had little fear--they had traded with the Bodai for generations, and were certain that moving closer would only strengthen their relationship. However, they soon found out otherwise. "When my father spoke to the Bodai chief, they told us, they said we could not live here. They said that this land was theirs, and it had been given to them, and they alone could settle on it, and if we settled on it, they would kill us." The discussion became heated, and then one of the Bodai grew angry and stabbed Ikontet's father to death. Before the Juni could even react, the Bodai were launching arrows at the tribes' warriors, and rounding up the youths and women. "They took us into slavery. We are the Juni--we have no such thing. In the Great Sand--life is hard. When you meet another tribe--you celebrate, and you trade, and everyone leaves, as friends. Sometimes, there are fights, but they are short, because if we all spent our time killing each other, and taking each other prisoner, we would all die. The Bodai--they are not like this. When one Bodai meets another Bodai, they do not say 'Come friend--share my food'--they say 'Who are you? Are you as strong as I am? Give me what you have!' Then they fight, and sometimes, they kill each other, and other times, one takes the other, to use as a servent. We--we were not expecting this. We did not understand that you could own another person. We still do not understand."

According to Ikontet, he and his fellow captives were beaten and abused by the Bodai, and forced to perform menial tasks. Finally, he escaped, and after a month on the run, found another tribe of Juni, and joined them, warning them of the Bodai's actions. "I told them they could not trust the Bodai. I told them in the Great Sand, the Bodai wore a friendly mask, but when they reached the grasslands, they took it off, and they were demons." Ikontet says he has become a leader in the Juni struggle against the Bodai, though he still hopes for a peaceful resolution. "If they wish to fight, we will fight. We will ruin things so that they will fall to the smallest child of the smallest man. But if they want to be friends, we will be friends. We will stand with them until the last darkness falls."

Bodai traders insist that Ikontet is a liar. Many however feel his story shows every sign of being true...

 

[Arkhandus]

Edit: Was only mentioning it because the wording seemed to imply something different.

 

[Sarellion]

But most of the people of Val Alen couldn´t care less about the story of a small savage who is at best only eating his own elders instead of every one else. Also in this times of war most humans are interested more in their own survival than in the tales of a little funny looking guy. It´s nice entertainment for a night though.

Most people also side with the Bodai. Nearly everyone agrees that they wouldn´t like a bunch of cannibals intruding in their territory, too.

 

[Rhialto]

You recall that it was the Bodai who first lived on the grasslands, and the Juni who just recently were driven there from the Sun's Anvil Desert? Your post seems to reverse that, from my reading..... *confused*

Yes, I did. Read it over again. The Juni arrive in the grasslands, think they've come to a wonderful paradise, and then the guys who've lived there dissuade them of that notion.

(Postscript--Just reread and noticed a few phrases that could be misinterpeted. I'll take care of them.)

If you want to talk about this further, move it to the meta-thread. That's why it's here.

 

[Tonguez]

Juni society is highly decentralised and is characterised by small family based mobs of 10 - 30 individuals. These mobs are nomadic wandering over vast territories eeking out what living they can and visiting particular sacred sites which include sacred stones, oasis, hunting areas and other sites of significance.
Juni wandering is recorded in elaborate song-maps remembered by the Juni bards and celebrated in song and dance. Juni beleif is that nothing exists outside these Song-Maps and that each place is continuously sung into being by recitation of the Song-Map. When something is encountered for the first time (and thus is not part of the Song-Map) it is considered a Dream until it is sung into being, Juni also beleive that should the Song-Map ever stop being sung the world will disintergrate.

When Juni mobs meet the first part of the ritual of encounter is to recite the Song-Map of each Mob, if two Song-Maps share common sites of significance then kinship between the two mobs is recognised and freindly social interaction begins, the more common sites shared the closer the kinship recognised.

Other Juni myth tells of the ancient Dragon-King who once lived wrapped around the Sun Anvil and who first sang the World into being and who had the Juni spring up from the sand with his children the Lizards at their side. It is for this reason that Juni are able to speak to reptiles including the large Setu (Monitor Lizards) which they sometimes ride over the Desert sands .

The Juni age-bands also deserve comment. All Juni males upon passing childhood are intiated into a mystery cult which cut across Mobs and bind all members of a recognised Kinship area. These Cults each teach different skills useful to Juni life. Some teach magic, others the secret nature and its spirits and others the skill of warriors.

One obscure Cult which has suddenly risen to prominence in the new expansion into the Bodai grasslands is the Cult of the Sand Tiger. This Cult teaches the Secret of the Blood Frenzy where a Juni can gain increase strength and endurance by tearing the flesh and drinking the blood of his enemies.

 

[Rhialto]

Bump.

 

[Rhialto]

ba-bump.

Twice in one day people. Don't make me do it again.

 

[JimAde]

Fine...

Shay loremasters maintain that the Bodai and Juni were actually a single people who were displaced from Aleasana proper ages ago. Those who settled in the grasslands became sundered from those who ventured into the deep desert. This idea is met with derision by both the Bodai and Juni who point out that their people cannot even intermarry and do not share a common tongue.

The Shay are not forthcoming with an explanation.

 

[Lalato]

At the southern edge of the Faegrim where the marsh turns to the grassland home of the Bodai live the Isslen, commonly known as lizardfolk. Their raids often strike deep into Bodai and Fae territory, but they quickly recede back to the swamps with their loot. Neither the Bodai nor the Fae have made any large scale efforts to attack the lizardfolk as it is commonly believed that they live under the protection of dragons. This is likely untrue, but the rumors persist nonetheless.

The Isslen perform the raids to hide that they are also searching for a rare crystal that can be found in and around Aleasana. These crystals hold religious significance in the Isslen's matriarchal society.

--sam

 

[Rhialto]

The Juni age-bands also deserve comment. All Juni males upon passing childhood are intiated into a mystery cult which cut across Mobs and bind all members of a recognised Kinship area. These Cults each teaching different skills some magic, others the secret of bards, others the nature of spirits and others the skill of warriors. One obscure Cult which has suddenly risen to prominence in the new expansion into the Bodai grasslands is the Cult of the Sand Tiger. This Cult teaches the Secret of the Blood Frenzy where a Juni can gain increase strength and endurance by tearing the flesh and drinking the blood of his enemies

Ikontet is a member of the Cult of Dreaming Dragon--apparently a group of some signifigance--and while he doesn't exactly approve of the Cult of the Sand Tiger's methods, he does seem to condone them. "Blood for blood, death for death," he stated when a Bodai trader irately argued that such a group proved the evil of the Juni. "You have woken the Dragon. Now feel his claws."