Vrylakos
First Post
Ok, this is a country in my Shards campaign. Check my sig for details on the world. In short... it's flying islands hovering over a near-sentient primordial darkness that rises occasionally and causes a new Dark Age. We took a year off playing, and restarted two weeks ago. When last seen, the party were in a falling skyship, having just blown an assault on a group of chaelgrata (vampires who exist as black chilling liquid).
Here's where they ended up as the game begins: enslaved in Tleyzu, suffering lots of ability damage, and never allowed to sleep long enough to replenish their spells. Hope they escape
Here's Tleyzu.
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Tleyzu
Most know Tleyzu as a mysterious land of savages ruled by xenophobic Witch-Queens. Tleyans commonly raid the lands of Fiore and make off with resources and Fioran folk. Stories tell that Tleyzu is a nation where slavery, blood-sacrifice, and strange magic are all practiced.
Tleyzu’s Geography
Tleyzu’s many shards are for the most part covered in dense jungle despite their proximity to the Beneath. The means by which the Witch Queens of Tleyzu achieve this is unknown, but may involve blood sacrifice, pacts with demons, Beneath-powered sorcery, or some combination of all these practices.
The dense and dangerous jungle is only broken up by the occasional volcano or steamy marsh-lake. Obsidian mines usually can be found near the volcanoes. Crawfish are plentiful in the brackish lakes, though few fish are found there; other strange fauna inhabit the shallow marsh-lakes.
Tleyan Society
Tleyan civilization revolves around plateau-bound cities, which the ruling class of Tleyzu inhabits. Their subjects consist of human jungle tribesmen who regard the witch-queens as divine, and serve them with a religious fervor.
At the pinnacle of Tleyan society are the witch-queens who endeavor to perpetuate their race. Though not truly ‘queens’, they are the highest caste in Tleyan society. They are not human, but instead are a perverted offshoot of the First Race, the T’alma. This deviant race calls itself the ai’talu, which roughly translates to “The People of the Blood of Light” or “The Pure-Blooded”.
Their skin usually red or red-purple in color, while their hair is thick, straight and black or dark purple in color. Their eyes have lost their whites due to the Beneath’s taint, and are now black. Their noses are small, their bodies lean and angular. Commonly, ai’talu dress in veils and robes that conceal their form and enhance their air of mystery. They are fond of bodily decoration in the forms of exotic hairstyles, skin paint, tattooing and occasionally scarification. The revelation of their physical appearance is usually reserved only for their mate.
Ai’talu are usually simply referred to as ‘the Witch-Queens’ by their tribal subjects. Males are called ‘warlocks’, regardless of profession or training, for the tribal Tleyans regard the ai’talu with a great deal of awe. Despite the power of the ai’talu being called magic, it is actually willcraft, the way of psionics – the original T’alma art preserved for millennia since the Age of the Creation. Few outside of Tleyzu know that the ai’talu practice psionics, and instead believe the Witch Queens are in fact true witches.
Tleyzu is a matriarchy, and female Ai’talu are regarded as precious beyond measure. Proximity to the Beneath for centuries if not millennia has ruined the ability of the Tleyans to naturally reproduce. The females of the ai’talu are able to use psionics to stimulate procreation with other, more fertile races, but such results are mixed, and often result in the choth-talu, the mixed blood failures who are not true ai’talu, but make good psychic warriors and bodyguards. Choth-talu are regarded as more capable then humans, but are not seen as true ai’talu; male choth-talu are never chosen as consorts by witch-queens, and most females are slain at birth.
Fresh blood is needed to keep the ai’talu breeding true, but even so the race is degenerating. To prevent this loss of psionic power, the greatest among the ai’talu have become powerful psionic liches – the true witch-queens. Beneath them in status are the mortal witch-queens, followed by the male ai’talu who serve as leaders in war and consorts to the witch-queens. The male ai’talu are raised in a monastery-like environment, and are taught the ways of war and the mind. This training prepares them for life as a leader in battle and as a bodyguard/consort should they be chosen as one by a witch-queen.
A consort warlock wears armor (possibly metal) and wields an exotic weapon chosen by his witch-queen. Their devotion to the wielding of their beloved’s weapon is taken as a token of their bond with their witch-queen, and the weapon itself is considered a symbol of their mate. Consort warlocks take offenses to their weapon very seriously.
Though the ai’talu do not have a code of honor as such, consorts are called upon to defend their witch-queen’s ‘face’ and insure that no one disrespects them. Occasionally, rivalries amongst witch-queens can lead to ritual duels between warlocks in the arenas that can be found in all ai’talu cities.
The Tleyan Savages
The tribal people of Tleyzu consider the ai’talu as something akin to gods. The ai’talu, to perpetuate this reverence, keep the tribal folk as primitive as possible and school their shamans in the proper ways to worship the ai’talu. In the eyes of the tribal folk, anything that a man cannot make by himself in the wilderness comes from the Witch-Queens. The ai’talu have mastered the manipulation of the tribal people, and are able to stir them into a zealous rage in battle.
Some promising tribalfolk are taken by the ai’talu and trained to become guardsmen and elite soldiers. Due to the rarity of ai’talu pregnancy, some promising tribesmen may find themselves used as breeding stock. The choth-talu are allowed to breed with human tribes, and so ai’talu blood has for many generations been diluted with the human population of Tleyzu, to the point where it has influenced the appearance of the people.
Despite psionics-assisted breeding, the ai’talu are finding it difficult to breed with their local human population as the humans begin to succumb to the taint of the Beneath. Thus the Tleyans have more and more of late been forced to raid other countries to introduce fresh blood to their populace. The kidnapped folk become slaves, the lowest class in Tleyzu. Slaves who are especially dangerous, such as spell-users, are generally drugged into a mildly apathetic state, and not given enough rest to allow them to regain their spell-using ability.
Tribal people who disobey tribal law are given to the ai’talu as slaves. Many of the more intelligent tribespeople are also brought into the plateau-cities as workers or personal servants of the ai’talu.
Tleyzu’s Resources
Tleyzu’s shards are hot and steamy. Where jungles do not cover the land, volcanos do. Metal is rare, while obsidian is plentiful. A wide variety of creatures live in the jungles. Those possessing knowledge of the jungle’s plant life can find exotic herbs with medicinal uses; these herbs can also be used to create narcotic substances and deadly poisons, which are commonly used in Tleyzu. The jungle natives fashion weaponry out of wood and obsidian, and armor from animal hides.
Military Tactics
For the most part, Tleyan barbarians hope to win by sheer numbers and their legendary ferocity. The vast majority of Tleyzu’s military consists of jungle-born skirmishers with no real discipline or grasp of tactics. These are bolstered by smaller groups of elite trained humans, usually led by a warlock. Very rarely does Tleyzu engage in large scale battles, but when they do they are supported by one or more witch-queens who coordinate tactics via telepathy and provide psionic attack power when needed. Choth-talu are usually able to find usefulness in the eyes of the witch-queens if they serve as military leaders.
The average savage skirmisher is leather armored, and wields a simple club or axe of wood and obsidian.
The average elite guard wears leather, hide or laminated wood armor and wields a masterwork obsidian-toothed warclub.
Another weapon in Tleyzu’s arsenal is the blood totem. These appear as huge statues, and the common folk of Tleyzu revere them as icons of religious significance. Each blood totem has a name and a history. These totems can accept the blood sacrifice of a human or ai’talu; such a sacrifice allows the spirit of the dead to inhabit the totem for a limited time and animate it. The spirit can be returned to the body of the sacrificial victim within a few hours, though if it is not returned it slowly dissipates. The blood totems are brought to life on days decreed holy by the witch-queens, and if needed for war. Sometimes, rival Tleyan cities will do battle using their blood totems, rather than engage in a resource-costly war.
Here's where they ended up as the game begins: enslaved in Tleyzu, suffering lots of ability damage, and never allowed to sleep long enough to replenish their spells. Hope they escape
Here's Tleyzu.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Tleyzu
Most know Tleyzu as a mysterious land of savages ruled by xenophobic Witch-Queens. Tleyans commonly raid the lands of Fiore and make off with resources and Fioran folk. Stories tell that Tleyzu is a nation where slavery, blood-sacrifice, and strange magic are all practiced.
Tleyzu’s Geography
Tleyzu’s many shards are for the most part covered in dense jungle despite their proximity to the Beneath. The means by which the Witch Queens of Tleyzu achieve this is unknown, but may involve blood sacrifice, pacts with demons, Beneath-powered sorcery, or some combination of all these practices.
The dense and dangerous jungle is only broken up by the occasional volcano or steamy marsh-lake. Obsidian mines usually can be found near the volcanoes. Crawfish are plentiful in the brackish lakes, though few fish are found there; other strange fauna inhabit the shallow marsh-lakes.
Tleyan Society
Tleyan civilization revolves around plateau-bound cities, which the ruling class of Tleyzu inhabits. Their subjects consist of human jungle tribesmen who regard the witch-queens as divine, and serve them with a religious fervor.
At the pinnacle of Tleyan society are the witch-queens who endeavor to perpetuate their race. Though not truly ‘queens’, they are the highest caste in Tleyan society. They are not human, but instead are a perverted offshoot of the First Race, the T’alma. This deviant race calls itself the ai’talu, which roughly translates to “The People of the Blood of Light” or “The Pure-Blooded”.
Their skin usually red or red-purple in color, while their hair is thick, straight and black or dark purple in color. Their eyes have lost their whites due to the Beneath’s taint, and are now black. Their noses are small, their bodies lean and angular. Commonly, ai’talu dress in veils and robes that conceal their form and enhance their air of mystery. They are fond of bodily decoration in the forms of exotic hairstyles, skin paint, tattooing and occasionally scarification. The revelation of their physical appearance is usually reserved only for their mate.
Ai’talu are usually simply referred to as ‘the Witch-Queens’ by their tribal subjects. Males are called ‘warlocks’, regardless of profession or training, for the tribal Tleyans regard the ai’talu with a great deal of awe. Despite the power of the ai’talu being called magic, it is actually willcraft, the way of psionics – the original T’alma art preserved for millennia since the Age of the Creation. Few outside of Tleyzu know that the ai’talu practice psionics, and instead believe the Witch Queens are in fact true witches.
Tleyzu is a matriarchy, and female Ai’talu are regarded as precious beyond measure. Proximity to the Beneath for centuries if not millennia has ruined the ability of the Tleyans to naturally reproduce. The females of the ai’talu are able to use psionics to stimulate procreation with other, more fertile races, but such results are mixed, and often result in the choth-talu, the mixed blood failures who are not true ai’talu, but make good psychic warriors and bodyguards. Choth-talu are regarded as more capable then humans, but are not seen as true ai’talu; male choth-talu are never chosen as consorts by witch-queens, and most females are slain at birth.
Fresh blood is needed to keep the ai’talu breeding true, but even so the race is degenerating. To prevent this loss of psionic power, the greatest among the ai’talu have become powerful psionic liches – the true witch-queens. Beneath them in status are the mortal witch-queens, followed by the male ai’talu who serve as leaders in war and consorts to the witch-queens. The male ai’talu are raised in a monastery-like environment, and are taught the ways of war and the mind. This training prepares them for life as a leader in battle and as a bodyguard/consort should they be chosen as one by a witch-queen.
A consort warlock wears armor (possibly metal) and wields an exotic weapon chosen by his witch-queen. Their devotion to the wielding of their beloved’s weapon is taken as a token of their bond with their witch-queen, and the weapon itself is considered a symbol of their mate. Consort warlocks take offenses to their weapon very seriously.
Though the ai’talu do not have a code of honor as such, consorts are called upon to defend their witch-queen’s ‘face’ and insure that no one disrespects them. Occasionally, rivalries amongst witch-queens can lead to ritual duels between warlocks in the arenas that can be found in all ai’talu cities.
The Tleyan Savages
The tribal people of Tleyzu consider the ai’talu as something akin to gods. The ai’talu, to perpetuate this reverence, keep the tribal folk as primitive as possible and school their shamans in the proper ways to worship the ai’talu. In the eyes of the tribal folk, anything that a man cannot make by himself in the wilderness comes from the Witch-Queens. The ai’talu have mastered the manipulation of the tribal people, and are able to stir them into a zealous rage in battle.
Some promising tribalfolk are taken by the ai’talu and trained to become guardsmen and elite soldiers. Due to the rarity of ai’talu pregnancy, some promising tribesmen may find themselves used as breeding stock. The choth-talu are allowed to breed with human tribes, and so ai’talu blood has for many generations been diluted with the human population of Tleyzu, to the point where it has influenced the appearance of the people.
Despite psionics-assisted breeding, the ai’talu are finding it difficult to breed with their local human population as the humans begin to succumb to the taint of the Beneath. Thus the Tleyans have more and more of late been forced to raid other countries to introduce fresh blood to their populace. The kidnapped folk become slaves, the lowest class in Tleyzu. Slaves who are especially dangerous, such as spell-users, are generally drugged into a mildly apathetic state, and not given enough rest to allow them to regain their spell-using ability.
Tribal people who disobey tribal law are given to the ai’talu as slaves. Many of the more intelligent tribespeople are also brought into the plateau-cities as workers or personal servants of the ai’talu.
Tleyzu’s Resources
Tleyzu’s shards are hot and steamy. Where jungles do not cover the land, volcanos do. Metal is rare, while obsidian is plentiful. A wide variety of creatures live in the jungles. Those possessing knowledge of the jungle’s plant life can find exotic herbs with medicinal uses; these herbs can also be used to create narcotic substances and deadly poisons, which are commonly used in Tleyzu. The jungle natives fashion weaponry out of wood and obsidian, and armor from animal hides.
Military Tactics
For the most part, Tleyan barbarians hope to win by sheer numbers and their legendary ferocity. The vast majority of Tleyzu’s military consists of jungle-born skirmishers with no real discipline or grasp of tactics. These are bolstered by smaller groups of elite trained humans, usually led by a warlock. Very rarely does Tleyzu engage in large scale battles, but when they do they are supported by one or more witch-queens who coordinate tactics via telepathy and provide psionic attack power when needed. Choth-talu are usually able to find usefulness in the eyes of the witch-queens if they serve as military leaders.
The average savage skirmisher is leather armored, and wields a simple club or axe of wood and obsidian.
The average elite guard wears leather, hide or laminated wood armor and wields a masterwork obsidian-toothed warclub.
Another weapon in Tleyzu’s arsenal is the blood totem. These appear as huge statues, and the common folk of Tleyzu revere them as icons of religious significance. Each blood totem has a name and a history. These totems can accept the blood sacrifice of a human or ai’talu; such a sacrifice allows the spirit of the dead to inhabit the totem for a limited time and animate it. The spirit can be returned to the body of the sacrificial victim within a few hours, though if it is not returned it slowly dissipates. The blood totems are brought to life on days decreed holy by the witch-queens, and if needed for war. Sometimes, rival Tleyan cities will do battle using their blood totems, rather than engage in a resource-costly war.
