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 Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 6:09 pm
RELIGION
Over and above all other gods, the N'ezi-ozu revere and worship Death; they recognize that others exist, and respect them as beings more powerful than mortals, but offer them no devotion. Death, they believe, is the great unifier of all beings: everyone, regardless of their status and deeds in life, will one day be taken by Death to pass through the Gates of Heaven, never again to be known on the mortal plane.
...well, almost never. For it is also in Death's power - indeed, it is his right - to deem a soul unready for its eternal rest and deny it entrance to the afterlife, forcing it to be born again into a mortal form until its purpose has been fulfilled. This rare occurrence is regarded neither as an honor nor a punishment; it is simply the will and judgement of Death, whose reasons can be guessed at but never known. Reincarnation is not a goal strived for by the N'ezi-ozu: they revere Death, after all, not the continuation of life, although it would also be incorrect to assume that they are eager for their own deaths. Death is an honor to be earned, not blindly hurried toward. The better, fuller a life one has lived, the more deeply they will be missed and the longer they will be remembered by the kin they leave behind.
Unsurprising in a culture so steeped in death, the N'ezi-ozu venerate their ancestors. While of course they believe in an eventual afterlife for all souls, they also believe they know how to keep a soul grounded to the earth, bound to their living family until the spirit is deemed fully prepared to move on. When a member of the N'ezi-ozu dies, their body is laid out for scavengers and the elements to pick clean until nothing is left but bone; while all scavengers are welcome to help free the skeleton from its flesh, they are not permitted to take even the smallest bone. Deep in the sacred heart of the pride's territory is a complex system of caves set aside not as a dwelling for the living, but for the dead, and in these catacombs rest the bones of every pride member who has ever passed.
It is the duty of the Amoosu - the death-priests - to lay to rest the bones of the dead with those of their family who came before. The bones of each and every lion rest in a carefully defined and outlined place, marked in a system only the Amoosu know and comprehend, so that they know exactly which bones belonged to which lion, no matter how old they are. To ensure that the bones are not disturbed or misplaced, no one who is not an Amusu is ever to enter the catacombs. They are the custodians of the remains, with one exceptions: the skulls, after being ritually prepared, complete with claw-carved markings to identify them, are given to the family of the deceased to rest at the family's shrine. In this way, with the skull properly prepared and tended, the spirit of the deceased is bound to the skull, where it will live for an indeterminate amount of time. One day, whether after a year or ten years or however long it takes, an Amusu will proclaim that it is time at last for the soul to depart. Once all its living family had paid their final respects, the skull will be shattered and the fragments placed with the rest of the skeleton in the catacombs.
In rare cases, when great crime or treachery has been committed, no bones but the skull will be kept. The skull will still be prepared in the ritual that binds the soul to it, but it will be neither enshrined nor shattered. It will be buried deep within the earth to be forgotten, the soul forever trapped, never to move on to the afterlife. Among the N'ezi-ozu, there is no greater punishment.
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Posted: Wed May 31, 2017 6:59 pm
HISTORY
The N'ezi-ozu are an ancient pride, their origins obscured by time and myth. No one can say where they truly came from, but according to their own accounts, they are descended from 13 lions once chosen by Death himself to know and keep his secrets. In the early days of the world, Mkodi left a riot of life in her wake, giving rise to everything from gods to mortals to populate her grand creation, but there was one being she did not create. Some say that she did so unintentionally, that he was born as a natural consequence of life, for what lives must also die, but that is not what the N'ezi-ozu believe. They believe that Death came into being with the universe itself, preceding Mkodi and her earthly creations, and that though he chose to bow to her, it is alliance, not allegiance, a symbiotic relationship wherein whatever life she gives, he will eventually take.
The world grew, prides and empires fell, and the N'ezi-ozu watched. They saw the consequences of reaching beyond one's purpose, and to prevent themselves from doing the same, they withdrew from the outside world. In time, they were almost entirely forgotten, and though life was not without its trials, they endured. They were insular by nature, fearing corruption by Mkodi's children, but they could not afford to close themselves off completely without risking extinction, so when new blood was required, it would be taken in with guidance from the Amoosu, absorbed into existing families as necessary. Still, even with occasional infusions of outside blood, certain genetic traits remain strong: most notably, they are smaller than average, and natural colors - pale and dark in particular - far exceed more vibrant ones.
Though they have narrowly avoided jamming themselves into a genetic bottleneck, their isolation and traditions nearly killed them anyway. The plague that took such a toll on the rest of the continent generations ago did not leave the N'ezi-ozu untouched: it slipped in with a rogue deemed worthy of becoming one of them, and ultimately wiped out nearly half the population. Perhaps the death toll wouldn't have been so high, if it hadn't been for their extreme veneration of the dead. It is only in the years since the plague that they have laid the bodies of their dead at the borders to be picked at by scavengers; for most of the pride's history, it was they who consumed the flesh of the dead, taking into themselves the strength and life of the deceased. Only when it was dicovered that this practice was making the plague more virulent did it stop. There are a few - not many and very old, but a few - in the pride who remember and took part in the old tradition.
The pride staggered onward, clinging to life but more suspicious of outsiders than ever, and though the plague had ended, their numbers slowly dwindled as fewer and fewer cubs were born. Then came the earthquake, that seemed a cataclysm - the bones of their ancestors were disturbed, and some portions of the catacombs collapsed and remain inaccessible to this day. The Amoosu became preoccupied with accounting for every displaced bone and putting it back with the skeleton or at the very least the family to which it belonged, not only paying even less mind to the greater world, but to the living pride itself. Years passed in this way, the pride barely clinging to life as the eldest Amusu insisted that none of the new blood with which they were presented was worthy of being made family.
Then the old Onyeisi, who had lived through both plague and earthquake, passed into death, leaving behind only two sons who could succeed him, Owu and Itiri. According to tradition, they underwent the Trials of the King, and it was Itiri who emerged as the new Onyeisi of the N'ezi-ozu. Though some worried that perhaps Owu would not take the loss gracefully, by all appearances he has held no ill will towards his brother, respecting the decision of the Amoosu and the ancestors. Very shortly after Itiri's ascenscion, the eldest Amusu, frail and unsteady in his old age, suffered a bad fall that took his life. Though he had had no formal title or station of leadership over the other Amoosu, his age and experience had given him status beyond all the others, and without his strong voice, the remaining priests struggled with how best to continue.
The disagreements and confusion soon came to a head when a lost and heavily pregnant lioness was found on the border, weak from hunger and exertion. Itiri and Owu both believed that she should be saved and brought into the fold, but the Amoosu argued that Isiike would never have allowed it if he were alive; not only were strangers not to be trusted, this one carried cubs who would be born to no family. As the debate raged on, public and heated, an adolescent son of the N'anya family stepped forward and laid a paw on the female, and declared that she belonged: her place was with the Uju family, which had suffered the most in the wake of the plague and numbered only three. This N'anya adolescent, Nchekwube, was a seer, his powers just now flaring into life. He could be a valuable ally and a force to be reckoned with, but who, if anyone, will he side with?
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:37 am
FAMILY
The Thirteen Families of the N'ezi-ozu each trace their heritage back to Death's 13 chosen from whom they descend. They are a patriarchal society, and lineage is followed through male lines, although there is no formal division of families in life - these are not clans or houses, and they do not use surnames. It is in death that family becomes most important, as each family has its own shrine and own section of the catacombs. No family is known for any one trait, physical or otherwise, as by this point they have all married back and forth into each other so many times that whatever defining features they may once have had have long been lost. Each family is known by the name of its founder, who themselves bore the names of causes of death.
When a couple is married, the female becomes a part of the male's family, and that is the family into which their cubs will be born. When an outsider joins the pride, the Amoosu will commune with the ancestors to determine which family wants them, and a living member of that family is expected to step forward and exchange blood with the newcomer, solidifying their new bond. From that day onward, for all intents and purposes, the newcomer is as brother or sister to the one who came forward for them. In the N'ezi-ozu, there is no difference between a blood-sibling and a biological sibling: they are related, which means they will not be able to take as mate anyone to whom they are now related more closely than second cousin.
Akaraaka (fate)
The family from which all Onyeisi rise.
Current Members:
Itiri (dark) - Onyeisi; brother of Owu and Juu; born after the plague
Owu (lonely) - brother of Itiri and Juu; born after the plague
Juu (quiet) - sister of Itiri and Owu; born after the plague
Obiike (brave) - only surviving child of Keechichi and Igwe; first cousin of Itiri, Owu, and Juu; four sisters died as cubs during the plague
Akwa (weep) - mate of Obiike, originally from the Aguu family; born after the plague
Notable Deceased Members:
Nnukwu (great) - previous Onyeisi; father of Itiri, Owu, and Juu; died of old age
Keoma (genuine) - mate of Nnukwu, originally from the Odachi family; mother of Itiri, Owu, and Juu; died of natural causes a year before Nnukwu
Keechichi (honorable) - brother of Nnukwu, died during the plague
Igwe (sky) - mate of Keechichi, originally from the Mberede family; died during the plague
Aguu (famine)
Current Members:
Keoyi (cold) - mother of Akwa, Ntunnanya, Amamihe, and Mgbamizu; widow of Ihe, originally from the Nganga family
Ntunnanya (wonder) - daughter of Keoyi and Ihe; sister of Akwa, Amamihe, and Mgbamizu
Amamihe (wise) - daughter of Keoyi and Ihe; sister of Akwa, Ntunnanya, and Mgbamizu
Mgbamizu (whisper) - son of Keoyi and Ihe; brother of Akwa, Amamihe, and Ntunnanya
Notable Deceased Members:
Ihe (light) - mate of Keoyi; died during the plague, prior to the birth of his cubs
Agadi (old age)
Current Members:
one sister of Nnunu
one brother of Nnunu
assorted others
Agha (war)
Current Members:
assorted/undetermined
Notable Deceased Members:
Isiike (stubborn) - ancient Amusu who recently died as the result of an accident; no living close family
Aghugho (treachery)
Current Members:
assorted/undetermined
Ahuojoo (sickness)
The family in which the plague originated.
Current Members:
Nkocha (curse) - daughter of Ajo and Siri, last descendant of the plaguebringer
assorted/undetermined others
Notable Deceased Members:
Kivuli (shadow) - the rogue who brought the plague with him and died from it; mate of Ufu; father of Ajo
Ufu (pain) - mate of Kivuli, originally from the Agha family; mother of Ajo; died during the plague
Ajo (bad) - only child of Kivuli and Ufu; mate of Siri; father of Nkocha, left the pride after his mate's death and perished in far lands
Siri (difficult) - mate of Ajo, orginally from the Elo family; daughter of Igirigi and Ndida, sister of Kemmasi; mother of Nkocha, died during childbirth
Elo (venom)
Current Members:
Kemmasi (curious) - son of Igirigi and Ndida; brother of Siri
assorted/undetermined
Notable Deceased Members:
Ndida (south) - mate of Igirigi, originally from the Nkunwu family; mother of Siri and Kemmasi, died during the plague
Igirigi (mist) - mate of Ndida; father of Siri and Kemmasi, died during the plague
Odachi (disaster)
Current Members:
two brothers of Keoma
assorted others
Mberede (accident)
Current Members:
distant cousins of Igwe
assorted others
N'anya (love)
Current Members:
Nchekwube (hope) - adolescent Amusu, a seer just coming into his powers; son Urupuru and Nnunu; brother of Amara and Ebere
Amara (grace) - daughter of Urupuru and Nnunu; sister of Nchekwube and Ebere
Ebere (mercy) - son of Urupuru and Nnunu; brother of Nchekwube and Amara
Urupuru (cloud) - mate of Nnunu; father of Nchekwube, Amara, and Ebere
Nnunu (bird) - mate of Urupuru, originally from the Agadi family; mother of Nchekwube, Amara, and Ebere
unnamed second cousins of Urupuru
Nganga (pride)
Current Members:
two unnamed brothers of Aja
one unnamed brother of Keoyi
distant cousins of Aja
distant cousins of Keoyi
Nkunwu (apathy)
Current Members:
assorted/undetermined
Uju (grief)
Current Members:
Ikpeazu (last) - son of Uyi and Aja, brother of Nkwusi and Naani; together, they are the only remaining biological members of the Uju family
Nkwusi (end) - son of Uyi and Aja, brother of Ikpeazu and Naani; together, they are the only remaining biological members of the Uju family; volunteered as blood-sibling to Imani
Naani (only) - daughter of Uyi and Aja, sister of Ikpeazu and Nkwusi; together, they are the only remaining biological members of the Uju family
Imani (faith) - the ailing rogue lioness found at the borders who has since recovered and delivered her three cubs; mother of Ikuku, Mgbanwe, and Nro
Ikuku (wind) - daughter of Imani; sister of Mgbanwe and Nro
Mgbanwe (change) - son of Imani; brother of Ikuku and Nro
Nro (dream) - son of Imani; brother of Mgbanwe and Ikuku
Notable Deceased Members:
Uyi (ash) - mate of Aja; father of Ikpeazu, Nkwusi, and Naani; died of a broken heart
Aja (dust) - mate of Uyi, originally from the Nganga family; mother of Ikpeazu, Nkwusi, and Naani; died as the result of a hunting accident
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:19 am
TRADITIONS
Marriage
The N'ezi-ozu mate for life, and more often than not for love. There are no arranged marriages; although family members may 'encourage' certain matches, the final choice is always up to the prospective couple. Adolescent marriages are uncommon, but neither forbidden nor actively discouraged. If a female becomes pregnant without being married, then congratulations! You're married now. If she refuses to identify the father and he does not step forward, she will be stripped of her family and expelled from the pride. If this happens, and the father later reveals himself or is discovered, he too will be disowned and exiled.
Rogue breeding is not permitted under any circumstances; if it was done willingly, the offender will be disowned and thrown out. If the mother is a victim, she will be allowed to stay if she so chooses, but as they have no father, her cubs have no family, and will be treated in a similar fashion to rogues: an Amusu will examine and determine to what, if any, family they will belong. It is possible that some or all of the cubs will be rejected, in which case they will be taken beyond the borders and left.
Hybrid breeding is absolutely not allowed, and though as with rogue breeding the mother will be permitted to stay if she was unwilling, the cubs will always be killed.
A widowed lion/ess may remarry, though in the case of a lioness, it must be into the same family as her previous mate so that she isn't changing families a second time. If her deceased mate has an unmated (or widowed) brother, it is common for him to offer to marry her, though he is not obligated to make the offer, nor she to accept it.
Gender and Sexuality
The N'ezi-ozu are...neither fully open- nor closed-minded. They have no room for genders other than male and female, but do accept that someone in a male body can truly be female and vice versa, and an individual will be regarded as the gender they say they are. Same-gender marriages are accepted, but surrogacy gets a little tricky, due to the importance of family lines. Ideally, the surrogate should be a sibling of one of the parents, but if neither parent has a sibling who can serve as a surrogate, another family member can be sought. If the potential surrogate has a mate, their mate must also agree to the arrangement.
Accessories
Shortly after birth, the Amoosu grant each cub a token of protection: a tail vertebra from their most recently-deceased ancestor, which is strung onto a simple leather necklace that they will wear until adolescence. Once the first token is no longer needed, it will be returned to rest with the skeleton it came from.
Upon coming of age, an adolescent will surrender their childhood token and be presented with a new one, this one chosen by the Amoosu from amongst all the deceased family of the young lion/ess. It is always a phalange - a toe-and-claw bone - which females traditionally tie into their hair and males wear as a necklace, and is more decorated than the token that preceded it, but the bone itself is never painted or altered. When a lion/ess dies, their token will be returned to their ancestor.
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Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2017 11:53 am
RANKS
Onyeisi (chieftain)
The ruler of the pride, descended from the original king, Akaraaka, whose line has never been broken. The Onyeisi, ostensibly, is in charge of all mundane matters within the pride, guide the Thirteen Families, and enforce the laws. He also decides when the pride is open to allowing in a rogue, although the final decision of whether or not the rogue will be accepted rests with the Amoosu. In recent years, the power of the Onyeisi has waned.
Adaeze (princess)
Wife of the Onyeisi.
Amusu pl. Amoosu (witch)
The death-priests, who are responsible for preparing and caring for the bones of the ancestors, bestowing the bone-tokens worn by the pride, and determining what outsiders will be permitted into the pride - and to which family they will belong. Only Amoosu are permitted to enter the catacombs. Traditionally, all Amoosu are male.
Di-anyi pl. Enyi (friend)
While the Amoosu tend to the dead, then Enyi tend to the living. These are the healers of the pride, and traditionally all Enyi are female.
N'echebe pl. N'echebe (protector)
Scout and guard rolled into one, the N'echebe are responsible for patrolling the borders and detaining or repelling rogues. They also keep vigil over the dead when they are laid out, to ensure that no bones are taken.
Ezinulo pl. Ezinulo (family)
Default rank among the N'ezi-ozu. Everyone helps out in whatever area(s) they're most useful in as far as hunting, cub-sitting, teaching, and other such tasks.
Ntakiri pl. Ntakiri (small)
Cubs.
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Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 8:33 am
Territory
One of the reasons, aside from their isolationist ways, the N'ezi-ozu have remained unknown to the larger world for so long is that they are far removed from the main SoA lands. For reference, it would take a full five weeks to travel from the Pridelands to the N'ezi-ozu.
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Posted: Sat Jun 03, 2017 2:47 am
Itiri, Nchekwube
Owu, Imani, Imani cubs
Isiike
Various Amoosu
Nchekwube sister+her beau
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Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 4:48 pm
[image]
N'ezi-ozu
Keepers of the Dead
Hello and welcome to a contest for the N'ezi-ozu, SoA's newest lined pride! In this thread, we will be looking for 2-3 owners for this new pride, as well as players for assorted members of the pride. The N'ezi-ozu reuse what were previously the lines for the Jini-msemi, edited by Tonberry Queen X for use for our new pride. If you're interested, either in pride ownership or just in having one for yourself, please read on!
Pride Ownership Contest Rules
Everyone is free to enter this contest, regardless of whether or not you currently have any Firekin (or even any SoAs, really). Leadership characters will be provided for the winners.
The N'ezi-ozu is considered a shop pride - this means that, like the Firekin, Pridelands, and Ela-wadiyi, if all chosen owners for the pride lose ownership for failing to keep up with lined-pride ownership requirements, the pride will revert to the shop to be contested to new owners.
As with when the Firekin was contested off to new owners, everyone will be entering individually. We will choose 2-3 winners from the entrants to be the group who runs the pride. You should be prepared and able to work with ANYONE who might enter, to share responsibilities, communicate, and work together. If you prove incapable of this, after investigation you may be removed as leader.
The central characters provided, which you will meet further down in this thread, will be considered Feature Characters; if, for some reason, you lose your OOC leadership position and do not regain it within 4 months, the shop [working in conjunction with the remaining owner(s)] may kill or rehome your leadership character. In this way, OOC leadership can change without having to put the pride through another IC upheaval.
As well as receiving the central characters, owners will be given additional information not provided here, primarily relating to a metaplot you will be expected to run.
Many details and mechanics of the pride are already established here, but there are a couple of things you will have to do, such as flesh out territory details and determine what the Trials of the King actually entail.
This contest will close in 2 weeks, on Thursday June 22 at 6 PM Eastern Time.
Character Adoption Contest Rules
Anyone can enter, for as many character(s) as they like, but may only win one (unless we end up with fewer entrants than characters).
Characters given here may be injured or even killed in the course of the metaplot that will be run by the pride owners. If your character dies as a result of the meta, you will receive a consolation character.
Many of these characters have family, so you must be prepared to work and RP with whomever receives your character's relative(s), or anyone else you may be paired with during the meta.
This contest will close in 2 weeks, on Thursday June 22 at 8 PM Eastern Time. After the contest closes, there will also be a raffle for more pride members, open to anyone who doesn't win one here.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 4:56 pm
With that out of the way, here is the information that was withheld from the contest thread! Initially, the pride was written further forward, but I walked it back so that it would come ready with good meta-material. I originally wrote that Itiri became Onyeisi after his father, but it doesn't particularly matter either way, so you can go with him or with Owu. Either way, they both need to survive the Trials with their full faculties.
During or after the Trials, Naani issues a dare to Ebere: to prove he loves and would do anything for her, he has to sneak into the catacombs. He will be caught and blinded by Isiike.
Whichever brother doesn't win the Trials will go on to kill Isiike, successfully making it look like an accident, just a bad fall resulting from age and infirmity.
Sometime after, the first mystery character appears: Imani (hope), a heavily pregnant lioness weak from hunger and a previous attack by hyenas. Owu and Itiri want to bring her into the pride, but the Amoosu are floundering without Isiike, who surely never would have allowed such thing. In the midst of the arguing, Nchekwube steps forward to declare that she and her cubs do belong: specifically, in the Uju family.
- This is the awakening of Nchekwube as a seer, and a special class of one: he is a seer of True Nature (not to be confused with Truth). He sees the basics of a person's true nature, the sort of person they are at heart, but not everything about them, or specific good and bad things they've done. For instance, even though Owu (or Itiri) killed Isiike, he wouldn't ping as 'murderer' to him, because he's not a killer at heart - just someone devoted to a cause, willing to do what he feels is necessary. He would also recognize gods in disguise, and know the domain of a god without being told. (If you're ever uncertain as to what he's capable of, just ask and I'll be happy to help out!)
- Due to his abilities (though being a seer is not a prerequisite for the rank), Nchekwube will become the Amusu of the N'anya family and have some catching up to do, since they usually start their training as cubs.
Nkwusi of the Uju family will volunteer as blood-sibling to Imani, officially making her his and Naani's sister and part of the Uju family.
Imani will go on to have three cubs, the rest of the mystery characters: Ruaka (female; sign), Mgbanwe (male; change), and Nro (male; dream).
Nchekwube will go on to recognize that Ikuku is the reincarnation of Odogwu (hero), who died during the Trials when Itiri and Owu's grandfather Mmeri (champion) became Onyeisi (making Odogwu their great uncle). Mmeri and Odogwu were just out of adolescence when their father Usoro (celebrate) died and they underwent the Trials, so Odogwu has no descendants. This will be the first and very probably only instance of real, canon reincarnation in the shop.
Imani ultimately ends up in a romance with whichever brother isn't Onyeisi.
You're more than welcome to insert other plots/side plots/etc. for people to do, that's just the main bit that had previously been figured out and intended as history. xP
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Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2017 6:04 pm
The Haven never changed.
A beautiful, towering city of snow and ice that would have awed any of the mortals who lived far beneath it, unknowing, while the immortals who had the priviledge of looking upon it appreciated it not at all. Such artistry, such perfection...such frivolity. Vanity. It was creation without life, without soul. Creation wasted. It was no wonder that the handful of beings who could enter the Haven did so only rarely, and did not often linger long. It was perfect and pure, yes, but stagnant and cold, and those few who did tread there looked out of place: flashes of life and color defiling the vision of white, breaking the stifling silence when they spoke. But this place didn't tolerate disturbance or imperfection: as soon as the permitted intruders left, their echoes would fade and their pawprints would be dusted over by a new coat of snow. The Haven had been built to withstand and resist change.
At the heart of the Haven, however, the shining white gave way to the gleaming gold of the Gates of Heaven, solid and massive, and beyond them, a mystery. No immortal soul who set foot in the Haven was allowed past them, and the mortal souls who were never came out again. Before the gates lay the true stain on the Haven's flawless beauty, but he belonged as surely as the crystalline structures that had been built around him. He was so dark his features were imperceptible until one got very, very close, which almost none dared to do. His fur was deepest, bottomless black, laid over a large and leanly-muscled frame, bleeding into inky wings that had not been lifted to the sky in time beyond telling. If he had eyes, they were eerily indiscernible, and if he had a voice, no one had heard it within memory. Death was simply there, as he always had been, guardian at the gates of Mkodi's final mystery. A mystery to all but Mkodi, and to him.
He knew what lay beyond, where every single soul that ascended to Heaven went when he bid them pass by. He knew each soul, their lives and loves and triumphs and failures, from the most noble of sacrifices to the foulest of deeds. Every last one was granted entrance, for that was her decree. In her Heaven, they would all know the peace they had not known on her earth. It was a beautiful thought. A beautiful lie. Perhaps it wasn't a deliberate untruth. Perhaps she had genuinely expected the souls of the mortal dead to find peace in the limbo to which she relegated them. Perhaps, to her, the non-existence, the lack of will and consciousness, was peace. But she had never known prison as he had. She did not know the horror of stagnation, of nothing, for all of eternity. Not like she had sentenced him to. And she didn't know them the way he did. She didn't feel the pressing weight of them against her precious gates, didn't hear the incoherent whispers of what had been and what could have been, should have been, still could be. She didn't see the wasted potential, the tales cut short before they had truly begun, the wrongs never righted, the loves lost never to be found again. Creation wasted.
He had no choice but to be witness, to hear the wordless woe when murderers took their 'rightful' place in heaven amongst their victims. The shuddering groans, the heartsick sighs, the sheer restless discontent without form that lay beyond those gates was not peace. If she had been the one to lie here, she would have known that, but this task was below her. She had created All, but once she had, she had left. Debates had raged then as to why, and now and then the old speculations were resurrected, but these days the discussions were mostly philosphical. It was an old, old tale, and countless rebirths had distanced the immortals from its truth, and they had distanced themselves from its meaning. It didn't matter whether she had grown tired or disinterested: she had left. Every last one of them had been abandoned, discarded like old playthings in favor of new ones.
That was what he saw, and he had quite the view from here. Unlike the others, he had never been reborn. He had never forgotten. He wasn't like the others, and he never had been. Though he had been bound to this place, to this form, for centuries most couldn't even hope to comprehend, let alone count - but oh, he had been counting! - he had not always been Mkodi's to command. He remembered freedom, he remembered what had been done to him, and he waited. Day after day, year after year, until millennia had passed. Until the truth had been forgotten by everyone but him and a cautiously trusted few to whom he had told the tale - again and again, across lives - and the time was right.
Today, it was. No one else would know what made it so, but the long wait was over. He lay completely still but for the rise and fall of measured breath, but used what shreds of power he yet possessed to reach out with his mind and touch another's: Gather the others. It is time.
Today, the Haven would finally change. Everything would change.
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