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 Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:48 pm
Religion
Theoretically, people worship the Speaker, as his his longevity and wisdom have kept Llywdbeinn prosperous even through the harshest dead times and through the worst storms. Most people, however, believe in something older -- ‘gods’ in the deep woods, gods who drink from the pools and make them strange, make them able to heal or kill. Gods that make the plants grow up through the snow, patches of strange emerald green in the barren waste, only ever seen by those who are brave enough to dare the deeper woods.
People make small hand signs to the heavens, whispering oaths to trees and quiet offerings in secret corners of their houses. Bowls of milk, dolls made of sticks, things to ward away ‘bad’ spirits and lure in the good, are everyday occurrences -- offerings to the spirits who could be anywhere in the city, just waiting to infect innocent souls.
The Order of Chronologists
Contributed by Asahi Kumoru.
The Order of Chronologists are a semi-secular order of monks who are responsible for keeping day-to-day records of the city and acting as notaries. The oral tradition still reigns supreme with regards to the stories and legends of the citizens, and the Order would not dream of displacing tales and songs around the fire. Instead, they act as public scribes, recording births, deaths, and marriages; penning petitions to noblemen on behalf of the illiterate; and reading correspondence and contracts to those who cannot. These services are provided for a small fee, to help support the relatively austere lives of the half-dozen or so monks who belong to the Order. None of the Chronologists are considered illuminators - they work to have legible handwriting, but as their records are of mundane things, they do not consider their work to be the same art as illumination.
The Order's small chapel functions as a record hall, and also houses the monks; no ceremonies are performed inside. The chapel was constructed beside an ancient twisting tree, which has become the symbol of the Order, in spite of the loss of the tree itself in great fire 80 years ago. The monks are aware of the nature of tree rings, and how they can be used to determine the age of a tree, and so they identify themselves during festival times by wearing plain wooden carved masks. The monks keep their faces clean-shaven, but do not shave their heads, as having hair is good for warmth, particularly in the archive rooms of the chapel where fires are not allowed.
Their rituals are performed at the solstices and at festivals, and are concerned with the cycles of nature and the continuation of history, recorded and spoken, into the future.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:50 pm
Magic
The forest around the area is filled with monsters -- or so the stories go -- that eat people who venture too deep. Sometimes worse than eat. Sometimes they take them over.
It’s worse, now, than it used to be. People around the forest will be taken over by these creatures and changed -- given strange powers and abilities that make them more than human, with features that make them less. They are marked by their glowing eyes, a feature that can be hidden but wells up in the midst of strong emotion, the creatures inside of them spilling over.
In reality, it doesn’t change their personalities. It gives them power, yes, and that can have an impact on them, but the spirits don’t really take them over, don’t reach into them, don’t twist their souls. This doesn’t change what people think. People with the magic are outcasts, freaks, anathema.
So it’s wisest to hide it.
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Posted: Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:51 pm
Magic Mechanics
Every spirit gives one power and one power only over to its host. At the beginning, this power is erratic and relatively useless -- along the lines of being able to change someone’s hair color, or sense animals in an area, or perhaps kindle the smallest of flames. At level two, the Touched finally get a hold of their magic, and it develops into something useful.
In addition, magic has a cost -- something different for each spirit. This is a strictly visual effect, nearly impossible to hide; something entirely inhuman and distinctive that marks you as ‘other’ when you use your power. It might be hands that glow like small lanterns, or ethereal wings to appear, or darkness to swallow up the skin. The extent of the change depends on power level.
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