[Aesca] Industrial Animistic Ameripunk

[hiryuu]

http://orig04.deviantart.net/71ee/f/2015/139/9/7/cave2_by_mr_author-d8tziue.jpg

Ameripunk - We're talking John Henry, Paul Bunyan, Glooscap, Emperor Norton, and Harvey Milk as the type of heroes I'm aiming for. Tall men and women who rope thunderclouds and have disagreements with mountains that end in piles of gravel. Magical forests that travel further back in time the deeper you go, and the monsters that inhabit them growing ever more strange - zoonookwas and whirling whimpuses and passomos and worse. A setting that's just as much America (and possible Americas) from the 1890s to the 1960s as Greyhawk is to medieval Europe.

I'm pounding out some stuff, hopefully quickly, for the setting; it's a long-time growing, and I've been using for writing but not a whole lot for RPG stuff. So now I wanted to use it for RP stuff. Not really interested in doing too much mechanical work, but I see a herculean task no matter what system I choose. So, I'll go with Pathfinder for now. I started in on races but very quickly realized how much of a crazy path I've led out for myself.

WORLD MAP (http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/069/2/e/aesca___za_warudo_by_mr_author-d5xnjnw.jpg)

I want to start each race at 15 points and keep them there.

Maybe I should start by explaining how magic works.

The first thing is that everyone uses magic, but not everyone is a magician or a wonder-worker. The very act of walking down the road or turning over a rock is filled with magic. Utilizing a skill is a form of magic; banging on the head of an axe in the forge or opening a window is a complex series of interactions between your mana and the mana of the object you are manipulating, relying on bargains and acquiescence of the world to your desires. That is the nature of things.

The power of the magician, however, is in skipping steps. Making the window open on its own, dipping hands in molten metal that does not burn because you have made a deal with it not to burn you and pulling out the head of an axe, these are the things a magician does.

Certain types of magic get what is close to a free pass: if you're higher up on the food chain, you can usually just do it. Locksmiths can open locks with some sweet talk and a tool, awahee are born with the ability to tell their elements what to do (within limits, as outlined below), and most adventurer types can tell their fire to best light itself before they do something drastic. New magicians getting into the game can temper their names by demonstrating mental and authoritative superiority over stuff. Magic is the act of getting things to do what you want by showing them you know better than they do. On the other hand, there's certain things that never get a free pass no matter how good you are, and you always need to go in and punch them wielding arguments and the armor of authority.

These include, but are not limited to: curses (because you are often not the person who placed the curse), diseases (who are just trying to do their job), mind control, mind reading (both because a person's mental geography is a place where they have absolute authority and you have to convince their subconscious mind that you are in charge of that most private of places), and shapeshifting (you are subverting the entire cycle of life itself by saying you know better).

Doing these things usually requires entering a metaphorical geographical location and punching everything you see until it relents or sweet talking it. Again, you can get better at this by cutting your teeth on spiritual things and getting a name for yourself. Your reputation can be a weapon. You also run the risk of making that thing more powerful as it becomes wise to your tricks or your fighting style, which is why this is frowned upon when it comes to the untrained fighting diseases or curses.

Aside from using mana to force an object, process, or spirit into acquiescence, whether by family line or obligation, there are methods by which processes and forces can be combined to achieve work results. Understanding these processes is very important for most forms of metal working; the more you know about how something works before you start telling it what to do, the less you'll have to actually force it to do something to behave in a way that isn't in its primary nature. The vast majority of people just don't have the mana to tell a giant stone block to fly, so they throw it on log rollers.

An item to which you've given instructions can't just endlessly repeat them forever, so utilizing the base properties of materials is often more efficient for the purposes of creating an infrastructure than doing a little song and dance routine. The wonder-workers who first experimented with such things are responsible for a wide variety of advancements and techniques, from complexities such as teotl extraction to simple solutions such as trapezoidal doorways in earthquake-prone areas.

Basically, magic is a contract between you and some aspect of the world to act within its purview on your behalf. Only if you apply your own power to that aspect can it start doing things outside its purview: doors open and close, prevent things from passing through, block light, and so on, which is the door using applying own mana – but it can't get up, splinter into a person-shaped thing and start punching your enemies unless you're willing to lend it the weight of your own mana.

In Nuwep philosophy (and in a few other places) the nature of these contracts revolves around the decay, recovery, and creation of a series of elements - these are the classic elements, of course. These elements are both physical and memetic. A meme or zoidea have elements as well - a new idea, as an example, is a Fire-based creature, not because it physically burns things, but because it is a new idea - it will become something else once it gets cemented in the noosphere properly:

Air - Leg Movement, Bravery (Enemy - Fire, Becomes - Water)

Water - Arm Movement, Wit (Enemy - Earth, Becomes - Ether)

Ether - Eye and Mouth Movement, Mysticism (Enemy - Air, Becomes - Fire)

Fire - Hand Movement, Inventiveness (Enemy - Water, Becomes - Earth)

Earth - Resting, Stoicism (Enemy - Ether, Becomes - Air)

In their cycles, each of these elements is modified by the presence of another:

Light - Maintains the current state of that element.
Darkness - Begins the transition from one element to the next.
Wood - Finishes the transition from one element to the next.

Finally, there are two methods of manifestation of negative connotations of any given element:

Poison - Causes the element to become dangerous and caustic, enhancing its flaws. Poisoned Fire can cause decay of the body through radiation in its physical form, and in its noospheric context, it can make someone obsess over new ideas or entrap them in a web of needs. Air becomes toxic to breath, and bravery becomes foolhardy blustering. Poisoned Water is tainted and thick, and it turns wit into biting resentment of all those around, and so on. Awahee from Nazro are often touched by poison, and their magic (as well as their moods) are often rather dour and extreme.

Rage - Unlike the more subtle Poison energies, Rage manifests as strong as it can in any shape it can. A jungle affected by Rage is teeming with biting insects, super-persistent predators, and deadfalls, not to mention poisonous plants and quicksand everywhere. An awahee whose manifestations are affected by Rage finds an enemy around every corner, and that enemy and her entire street need to be burned to the ground. This is said to be the Rage left behind by the turning of the wheel in the past, but as all guesses go, there isn't a whole lot to work from.

[hiryuu]

Core Classes
I will get to most of these later.

Bard
Music as a form of magic is already extant in the world at large; this is mostly a golem thing, but it's spread out to other races (and cultures) as well.

Clerics, Druids, and Wizards
These classes, as written, don't work really well in Aesca. I'll kick something around later – the short of it is that these are perfectly awesome classes if you're mainlining Europe (though I'd say that either cleric and wizards or druids and wizards need to have a lot of crossover, but that's another post entirely). I need to bridge the gap somehow – that'll come later. Likely it'll cast psychic spells and be Charisma based.

Druids might work as a class, but they'd likely be chaotic evil and require brutal murder to recover spells.

Linguistics
A variety of new languages are present in Aesca.

Druidic does not exist and is not a secret language. There's no "abyssal" or "celestial" type languages. Maizcatl is the language of the dead.

Izzabellan is the standard language at use in Calpolli and the continents of Arna, Maca, and Ayotl. It sees some use almost anywhere in the world, since the only culture attached to it is one of universal vilification for its founder.

Neighbor Band Languages are to a nearby group of one's own tribe that nonetheless uses a different ancestral language or extreme dialect.

Neighbor Tribe Language is the overall pidgin use of the language series that a given tribe uses. These languages are named after the tribes who speak them.
Amareekah is a band variant of Izzabellan.

[hiryuu]

One of my primary thoughts is to give everyone a "base magical bonus" or whatever that works like concentration checks, based on Charisma, that overrides most current checks:

Mana is the sense of the inherent potential possessed by a given being or creature. You express your mana in your ability to flaunt your connection to the world in order to give your words gravitas and to enforce your proposals on the world. You can use mana to open doors, figuratively and literally.
Your mana check bonus is equal to your Charisma modifier + your level + feats (or other miscellaneous bonus). A mythic character adds her tier to her mana check bonus. You use this bonus in place of any other similar ability, such as Wild Empathy or to dispel another caster's effects. Every character can make this check. Some spells, effects, and other things might require a mana check. You use this check as your attack roll during mana duels.

Mana checks are made instead of Concentration checks, checks to overcome spell resistance, and checks made to dispel magic or other effects.

Passive Mana is the inherent resistance of any given person's ability to be assuaged by your actions. It lets them bluster, assume you're not who you say you are, and protects them through its many layers of complex lies and counterarguments about any mana-using attackers. Your Passive Mana Bonus is 10 + your Charisma modifier + your Wisdom modifier + your levels in any spellcasting classes.

The measure of magical energy that can be used to express one's mana is called “paqui.” Every character has a measure of this energy they may pull upon. The maximum amount of paqui a character may have is their Character Level + Charisma modifier. Any ability that calls for use of a class-specific resource, such as rages, bardic music, arcane pool, ki, and so on use the paqui pool instead. If they have a method for regaining that resource, they may use that method to restore paqui. Some feats and special abilities require the expenditure of paqui. Normally a level 6 character with a Charisma of 20 has 11 paqui.

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So, first up on the block are humans and maize-cutters.

Humans are the race of magical power, mysticism, and are currently in astrological ascendance.

Maize-cutters are the race of primal rage and anger. Also, they're dinosaur people.

http://orig12.deviantart.net/1533/f/2015/111/5/2/humansmaizecutters_by_mr_author-d8qm9kv.jpg

Humans

Humanoid
Bonus Feat (4)
Skilled (4)
Language Standard (Linguist; 1): Izzabellan; Bonus List: Any
Other/Regional Traits (6): Aesca Humans have a series of traits depending on the primary culture in which they have mired themselves. Listed below are the continental regions and a short bit about some of the cultures which might be found there and what abilities these cultures impart, through blood or faith.

So, here's where I'm having the difficulty. I've managed to punch down some descriptions and arrange some things - just having issues with the details.

Calpolli Humans
In the continent region of Calpolli, down through the Sea of Rage and across the colonies of the continent of Macamo, humans share their blood with spirits known as orahjoo, blood which manifests on their bodies in the form of tattoos on the primary shoulder that slowly shift and grow with the strength of the possessors' mana. Some humans do not, having a faith that hinges on the worship of the Sun and does not use mana marks.

Ayohlee Clans: Clown, Trickster
http://orig07.deviantart.net/c3b7/f/2015/123/8/b/ayohleesmaller_by_mr_author-d8s39kc.jpg
The trickster is a sacred figure among the people. They make people laugh, they take advantage of loopholes, and mercilessly mock systems that are in place. The trickster clans often have license and legal authority to undercut, interrupt, and indulge themselves in whatever policies or laws have loopholes exist that they could possibly exploit. Most tricksters in the modern age make themselves available for hiring, rather than openly disrupting the flow of modern life, which can often have drastic consequences, though it is their ritual duty to point out flaws in the status quo, and few would question their right to poke fun when it's certainly right to do so.

Life in a happy family is not a constant joy; being a trickster or a clown, despite the laughter they are supposed to generate, is a deadly serious business that carries great spiritual weight. In the strict society of the confederacy, the clowns exist to portray antisocial tendencies and rebellion while still being tightly controlled by their roles in society. They shake society with clever lampoons and skits so that the people are aware of the foolishness of their surroundings even while they remain strong in their traditions.

The Clown does this by openly mocking or flaunting tradition: wearing winter clothes in summer, summer clothes in winter, washing with dirt and drying off with a shower. The goal of the clown is to point out inconsistencies and hypocrisies by making the rituals of life seem silly. A sense of humor in Calpolli is subtle and sometimes outright dangerous, and it should be borne in mind that this lampoon should be facing society, culture, and political machinations. It is not enough to simply be funny; there must be wit, wisdom, and a lack of shame on the part of the clown, unless the joke calls for an excess of shame.

The Trickster does this by rabidly exploiting the system. Trickster families do not often enjoy the social protections of the clown families, and many times are seen as troublemakers and dangerous folks. A lot of people leave such families because the lifestyle is a little rough, and still others leave their own families to join them. While clowns are not exactly slapstick characters, tricksters often are, though their sense of humor is much more self-deprecating. This is something that is important to remember, a trickster's job is often to get caught rather than get away with their trick.

Some of the most reviled families in the confederacy are trickster families, such as Frog, who is a servant that louses up his job on purpose to teach others that unsupervised work is the worst kind, or wild hopper, who steals food and kills those who walk off into the woods alone, and Brumtumbler, who tears apart anything he finds.

Ayohlee tattoos are often brightly colored, and as they grow, display bright contrasts, weaving over and amongst each other, filling up with hidden symbols and meanings, and containing backwards phrases or tattoo artist mistakes filled in with half-forgotten deeds. Sometimes they are even as animate as those of a magician, other times they are still and stark and hard to tell if their off-centered nature is purposeful wabi-sabi or an honest accident.

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At first I wanted to give clowns Cultural Adaptation at will, but now I'm thinking it'd be cooler to drum up some unique abilities in general. Only problem is what they might be.

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Nahkweesee: Wonder-working Families, Corn Families
The families of the stars and magicians are less in number these days, but that is because they hark back to a darker, more dangerous time. Everyone uses magic in all the things they do, but to handle it all day requires a special kind of madness. To be a magician begins with making new, simple bargains or, as reputation grows, demanding services of spirits in exchange for mana. This is a difficult path, seeking out broken or flawed parts of the world machine and getting them up and running again, cleaning out pollution, guiding lost souls, and changing the landscape by reliving its dreams and resolving the memories they fail to relax from themselves.

The Wonder-working families concern themselves with matters of universal proportions. They are the stargazers and dancers, magicians who wield the powers of the heavens and work on astronomy, astrology, and tie their actions to the moon. Among them are Hornhead, who is said to have dreamed the world into existence, Spider, whose web holds up the stars, Horned Snake, who watches over magicians as they learn their trade and offers up its forehead-stone to new practitioners, and Moon's Road, a mystic path where the previous ages lay out like cairns on the roadside. Their homes are often stuffed with strange patterns and piles of research, and sometimes they even take on obscure or lesser-known orahjoo such as Peacock Spider and Tri-Colored Night Heron.

Corn-family magicians are those that concern themselves with worldly matters; while the Hornheads speak of walking among dreams and times, Maize fiddles with the spirits that make crops grow, or see to the dead, or engage in taboo magical practices that are necessary for day-to-day function, such as scapegoating for more powerful families or pawing through dung to find out tomorrow's forecast. Their ancestors once sacrificed people during old ceremonies, and some still do, creating jackets out of the subject's skin to honor their duties and prevent the soul from being transformed horribly in the underworld. They are call Death families because they serve such orahjoo as White Bird, Maize, Raven, and the cold, quiet gaze of Winter.

Nahkweesee tattoos are often started with fish bone needles, and only grow more hand-woven with each iteration. Deeds are marked in violet tones where they are not dull reds, yellows, and browns, and the borders take on the demarcations of a spider web. Images of the night sky often predominate, and as the tattoo grows, those distant stars begin to twinkle and clouds in the night drift by.
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These are the magician clans - I'm pretty sure they should have an at-will Detect Magic and maybe some extra paqui, but I don't like giving races abilities that are +1 to this/+2 to that, I like giving them extra options.

[hiryuu]

Tchahssgahyah: Builder, Innovator
With every world, there are buildings that must be made, shelters from the elements erected, and tools forged. The story goes that people used to be savage creatures with short lives until they started making tools and putting up buildings, cleaning their water, and wearing pants. The yellow-jacket families are the builders of machines, creators of new ideas, engineers, pipe-layers and trade skill workers of Confederate society, and unlike the Tsakwohladeh, who concern themselves with matters of paper, the Tchahssgahyah are people of steel, concrete, and copper. They ride the great trains, truck with spirits of Fire and molten metal, and live in the beating industrial heart of society. In ancient times, they designed doorways to defend against earthquakes and built the great pyramids and mounds at which the people worshiped. They still do that, but now they build the massive cities that rise hundreds of stories into the sky, as well.

Builder families maintain those things that have been built, or who build old things with a strong sense of tradition and style. These families also contain those who do the jobs that make modern living possible at an infrastructure level. They build and maintain dams and sewers, clean skyscrapers, pick up trash on the city streets, build bunkers and walls in the wilderness in case the magicians make a mistake, and operate the power plants that keep electricity flowing. They are good, strong families such as Iron Turtle, Potter Wasp, and Cypress.

Innovator families exist to challenge tradition with newer ideas. They contain artists devoted to raising quality of life; while not the same sorts of artists as clowns or tricksters, these families produce artists who show the world as it should be, not what it is. Whether it be commissioned sculpture or illegal tagging, such brightly colored wasp families make sure that life in the modern world is never dull. They produce actors, set designers, inventors without peer, and makers of tools.

Tchahssgahyah tattoos are often elaborate to begin with, hiding smaller fractal patterns inside the traditional shapes. They are often handmade, and put the machine-printed city family tattoos to shame in regards to their detail and intricacy.
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You know, your constructor/builder type families. I'm thinking of cribbing stuff like stonecunning. Not sure.
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Tsakwohladeh: City Folk, Predators
A cultural and social backbone upon which to build peace and a sense of community is the centerpiece of any civilization. Every society needs leaders, homebodies, and organizers, and for this, the predator families have stepped forward. Made up of the old merchants who were once considered nothing more than a tool by which the Tourmekian empire could move goods and services, in recent times, amid the government and economic collapse, these families have moved in to the kill, to rip and tear at the open and exposed belly of the Confederacy, feasting as they do. Once a firm middle class, the predator families are now nouveau riche in their own right, and spend their nights placating their terrible orahjoo, who sometimes likes to hunt them just to see if they remember right how to be a true predator, trimming the weak and helping the entire herd to prosper. They are certainly wealthy, and they are slowly growing in political power due to their rapid fiscal recovery.

There are a great many families who live in the cities, but are not artisans or craftspeople. They are busybodies who concern themselves with systems of government, management, and retention. These families run restaurants, small businesses, and make sure society stays flowing by opening their shops and stores and making sure goods and services are distributed efficiently and broadly. In ancient times, these families were messengers, busybodies, and matchmakers, and they have changed as rapidly as society. The entire goal of a city family is to stay moving, shifting, working, changing, and reacting with aplomb and sincerity; they contain such families as Green Snake, Cicada, and Computer.

Predator families, on the other hand, share their blood with the great tyrants of the plains and jungles. The hunter-families have a strong, powerful lineage that dates back at least to the formation of the Unahlassgee plateau, and carry with them power and prestige. While they're not exactly magicians, they're not powerless in that regard, either. In the old days, the hunter families prevented the great tyrant kings from entering into cities, and as the world moved on, they began to trim society – removing those parts that were broken or useless, watching lagging sales and snapping up broken organizations, companies, and social circles and breaking them. Some build them up, or take the resources of the wreckage and insert them back into society, while others sit among the ruins and watch it rot. Their family spirits range from the large and dangerous gariax, deathwalkers, cutters, necrotyrants, skelarigs, and other such big hunters.

Tsakwohladeh tattoos tend to be somewhat grand; they reflect the mechanization of the cities and modern society, and are often done with machines, in sharp contrast to fishbone tattoos, and often have scarring or embedded stones that glow. As they grow, they tend to grow in discrete stacks and radiate out from the center instead of becoming a sleeve. It is not uncommon to see even young and inexperienced city clan members with facial markings.
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The big social family; I was thinking they could get a Mana bonus when attacking, or be able to extract types of favors or things while in cities. I was thinking about writing an alternate wealth subsystem to go with this setting (stolen mostly from Fantasycraft), and these guys would be a cool place to try it out.
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Wohahlee: Thunder People, Adventurer Families
There are always people walking, moving among the ruins. The eschew cities entirely; they are said to move like clouds or waves across the roads, and they gather in short-lived villages by the roadside. The jungle is their friend, and the sky and campfires are their brothers. They pick through the remains of city-dreamings and sing at quiet dances and have their own sort of happiness tempered by their will to live.

The Thunder People are the small town folks, the ones who live in small cities and towns across the countryside, collecting in rural communities. They're generally seen as braving elements no one sane would dare try, often more so than adventurer families. They build up their homes, work the land, and were often the bulk of the population during the Confederacy's early years. Families like Summer Rain, Thunder, Walking Fish, and Theryx River have a lot of power, especially since their blood is so vital to the workings of the world, not just in their populations, but in the great cities, as well.

On a smaller scale than even the Thunder People, adventurer families take up space on the open road. Many of these families were once strong warriors, producing great braves and might heroes, but in the tense paranoia of the Cold War, they serve as a constant reminder of something terrible that may happen again. The Scarlet Sea family, for example, has always said that the sky turns the water red with the color of their enemies, and they ferry souls to Death at the blade of an axe, and Long-Necked Sea Lizard plucks birds from the sky with stone arrows. Even so, such families as Turtle and Spiny Orb Weaver have always been wanderers, and many of their members live in the depths of the Dreaming Land as Isolators, and are the equal of any magician on matters of practical magical knowledge.

Wohahlee have the most slapdash tattoos, often started with fish bone or sewing needle and acquiring symbols with more personal meaning than social meaning as they grow. They often depict the open sky with dancing figures, and rarely have the triangles of a professional. The jagged squares of clouds and thunder are common, as are figures with wings, and animals found in the depths of the wilderness course across rolling hills and strong trees depicted amongst nature. These tattoos are often as animate as magician tattoos when the wild-clan member is pressing her mana.
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Essentially? The clans of PCs. These clans living in cities are usually living in low-income areas or what would be criminal areas - if they didn't have the tendency to use "small town justice" in pursuit of criminals or what they believe to be criminals. They're warrior clans in a society that's left inter-tribal wars behind.
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Muscora
The Muscora faith group contains a variety of smaller cults, but their primary belief core is that no human can share blood with spirits, for they have no blood to share. The belief that a spirit never appears in its whole state before a human being suffuses a majority of their practices. They're a generally patriarchal group that inherits a name from the father, rather than the mother's orahjoo spirit. These are people who belong to no clan, and have names like Smith and Cooper and Frederickson. It should be noted that most faith in Calpolli runs the spectrum, and Muscora faithful come to Quahanu mounds and shrines to have their wishes heard and to wash their hands, and the Quahanu faithful come to Muscora temples to burn offerings for the dead or hear wisdom from the meditants.
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These are your "Buddhist" types and social cults and state cults and the like - the cult of the King and tribal council members, "money" cults, gold cults, etc. They're also the most likely to wear feathers in their hair, typically in the form of sun-symbols. Not sure what to even give such people in Calpolli, since they cross over so much. The concept of "faith" isn't so much something that's placed in one religion - somebody might be a child of Potter Wasp and also worship the Sun when they're trying to make some money (gold!) and be a member of a council member's cult, while also making sure their grandparents are taken care of by visiting and being part of a Maize family.

[hiryuu]

Nazro Humans (http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/217/e/8/nazro__the_poison_continent_by_mr_author-d6gtsbk.jpg)

These people live on the Poison Continent of Nazro, and while the majority of the countries and cultures are scattered among the dust and dirt of the wastelands, others take the risk to live at the edge of the great and poisonous forests, and some even live deep within them. To live free of poison, the continent's people cultivate the deganav herb, which slowly purifies the air near to it, and dig in the earth to find ichor. People who go too far from towns and cities take masks stuffed with dried deganav filters to protect themselves from the grit and poison in the wind. Recently, beings have emerged among humanity that are perfectly at home among the toxic jungles, and they wander, without masks, through the alien landscapes deep within this cursed land.

The Book of Extinction
The primary faith groups out here are ichor cults, extinction cults, and faiths which worship the jungles to the south as though they were intelligent superorganisms. A majority of the faithful refer to several collected works, one being “Goweli,” referred to simply as “The Book,” though known outside the continent as The Book of Extinction, which is more precisely a series of volumes, with each branch of religious thought excluding or including books as canon.

Adadzozeidizgi-Goweh (Book of Tampering): This folio is concerned with writings, stories, and sayings about how humans interact with the world. It teaches that humanity and the other races as a whole tamper with the balance of things, and it is within their purview to also reset that balance. It also teaches that without this ability to tamper with the world, no one is anything at all, just part of a machine that grinds on without purpose. The book also lays out a series of purification rituals that one might undergo in order to apologize for unwise tampering.

Adeloho-Goweh (Book of Sayings): This book is a collection of wisdom parables and teachings from a wide variety of prophets, priests, and laypersons, and is generally referred to by many faiths. If you can't find a verse, story, or writing in Adeloho-Goweh that exalts what you've decided to do with your life, you're not looking particularly hard to find it. This book tends to have it all in any collection – murder, slavery, charity, forgiveness, hatred, love, and genocide are all extorted as sound decisions by a wide variety of philosophers attempting to interpret the world around them.

Advganvhi-Goweh (Book of Listening): This book is largely about spirits, spiritual beings, and how they relate to things around them. It is required reading for almost every magician on the Nazro continent and even in lands beyond. The Advganvhi has found readers even in places that put no stock into the Goweli, the wadi cults, or the cult of purification. Contained within are lists of spirits, methods for locating ichor springs underground, and teachings meant to instill the reader with a sense of expectation about anything the world around them might say or do.

Ayeliudodlvzv-Goweh (Book of the Old Worlds): This book contains the list of worlds before the current one. It is the thickest volume, and is usually what foreigners mean when they refer to the Book of Extinction. It details nonhuman races such as the Iokyu, worm-beings, and the seventh race. Large portions of the text are given over to details about how humanity nearly met its end in the four or five previous ages, and contains apocryphal references to “expanding time” and “sideways time,” and many copies of the book have wriggled their way into the grasp of scientists and black magicians alike. It finishes speaking of an endless cold and a moment in which all time will converge and end. The cosmic fatalism of the book has been on the forefront of multiple attempts to outright ban it or declare holy wars on those who hold it sacred, as well as cultural misunderstandings who view it as the only text to which the Nazro ascribe, collapsing all the troubles of the continent into a single volume.

Gigv-Goweh (Book of Blood): This book contains lineages, references to the blood of prophets, stories about ichor, water, and the ways in which a family should conduct itself among its other members. It stresses the importance of oaths and bonds, outlines rituals for declaring war or making allies, and teaches that life is not something one bustles about in all alone. Gigv is very important in most Nazro religions in that attempting to live a life alone and without support is all but doomed to extreme failure in the harshness of the wastes.

Gozduhah-Goweh (Book of Dust): This book speaks of the uleyovdv, the “wandering folks” who drift across the deserts and jungles. It teaches that these people are to be respected and feared, for among them come great prophets, those who build nations, and the most powerful of magicians. It describes them as children of the dust, who blow back and forth in the wind across the continent and to the pure lands beyond the seas. It outright contradicts Gigv in some places, and is often used to illustrate how heretical philosophies are spawned. It also speaks of survival in the desert, and offers multiple explanations for why the jungle does not move north and why the sea is only corrupt and acrid around the Nazro continent.

Udalahwozgv-Goweh (Book of Rage): This book is about the jungles to the south, about the plants and animals in it, the insects, apocrypha about hive-minds, and stories of armies driven to hatred by dark things in the mountains. It details the Dragon King Hasukallar's arrival to the continent and his continued campaign against the people of the deserts and jungles. It contains a vast number of entries of the tribes who live in the periphery of the jungle, and most recently has added a chapter on a people who came from the pure lands to give the dragon weapons. He used this weapon on the people to the south, to seal his empire from external influences, but only strengthened the jungle in so doing, and granted the tribes there the ability to move unhindered among the forests. The Book of Rage would have its readers believe this had been the purpose of the weapon all along, to give the forest a voice.

Ichor (Needs Mention)
Called “blood of the world,” among other creative terminology, this substance, once thought of as pure Etheric energy in its physical form, can be found in thick veins beneath the surface of the earth. In most of the world, exposure to it invites madness, mutation, and uncontrolled magic. In Nazro, where the veins grow thick under the surface like blood rushing to the site of a wound, the ichor glows a bright violet color, and when extracted from the ground, allows the growth of plants and animals relatively free from most of the blight. Ichor denatures quickly upon exposure to the surface, and finding flowing veins in large caverns is very important to both ichor cults – who drink the stuff until their own blood is replaced, leaving their bodies shining in its soft colors – and to biomancers who use it to grow their own creations. Scientists from the world over come to Nazro just to study the unique properties of the ichor that flows beneath the continent.

Biomancy (Needs a Mention)
Many of the nations outside of the Calpolli continent group practice a form of magic that allows them to subvert the very processes of life itself. They deal with the authority problem on a regular basis. Their method involves using alchemy to transform part of their blood and organs into factories for a substance that permits them to assert their mana into and through it over a distance. Surgically installing a custom-made organ farmed from the seed ichor of the donor inside another person allows the donor to overcome the authority problem by enforcing their mana on the organ, rather than the person. Of course, it's limited in its functionality by its base design, but the mana of this form of magic does relate to sickness, health, and drugs. This leads to a form of magic that, while it doesn't allow perfect mind control, comes dangerously close for some of the developed nations to handle, who make it taboo or outlaw it directly. Whole creatures created through the use of this magic are under the direct control of the donor, and are often used as workhorses or army units by the people of the poison continent. More practical applications are utilized in the Elohino continent group.

The Dust
Those who live in the northwest of the Nazro continent makes their lives and homes amid fine dust particles, poison clouds, and the raw stench of rot that drifts over the landscape. They inherited many of the creations of the last age, life forms able to live in the strange land created by the curse of the poison continent. They range from those who find themselves in tight cities to the loosely affiliated tribes that work the land as best they're able to those who wander among the winds, carried by its chattering voice. These are the people of Jalpa, Izhmadi, Ipher, and the Badlands Nations. The Holy Empire finds little fault with them, though they do war from time to time. Biomancy is commonly used among them, and they are the most familiar people to foreigners.
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Divisions here are "regional." These are the people who live in the northern areas; they've got a negative connotation with biomancy only because it's bogarted by "Priests of the Crypt" - a secretive cult that's found an old-world genetics lab and is having its way with the stuff inside and using that as leverage on several kingdoms in the area. Again, I want to do more than just say "you get a +2 vs disease!" but it's hard when there's a huge pile of abilities you can get and I don't want to stack things.
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The Forest
Some live in the forest and change it. The Forest people live in the periphery of the toxic jungle and wear masks, thick clothing, and specialize in weapons and tools whose only purpose is to tear cloth. These are the people of the Izhdadlv valleys, Maguizhdia, Allono, and Nemi. These people are the most familiar when one is referring to “Nazro cooking,” and their customs are often confused with those of the Dust, who do not wear such heavy gear. Outside their homes, such people rarely show any skin, not out of modesty, but out of fear that the forest may take root in their bodies. Some of these tribes may be found deep in the forests themselves, living in tunnels underground lit by the violet streams of ichor.
________

These guys might be easier. I was thinking about some stuff about throwing up shelters, or being able to scout hexes in a much shorter time frame, or encounter awareness of some kind. Not sure.
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The Sky
The air above the poison continent is filled with creatures and ships of all types. Nazro was the first place in the world to have regular airship travel, if only because ground-travel is impossible, and the ruins of the previous age are laid bare in the whirling sand. In other lands, living in the sky for an entire lifetime is the stuff of adventurous legends or a single city, in Nazro it is perfectly possible and common. There are entire nations in the sky, especially over the Hungry Land where their rule is uncontested. Great beasts with machines strapped to their bodies float over the world, and even plow their way to other continents with enough regularity that one of the popular conceptions of the Nazro bogeyman is that of pirates who descend from the sky without warning.
________

Dreamscarred Press is putting out that Airships product and I can't wait. Ugh. In the meantime I'm using Stormwrack's ship rules, but in the air. Anyway, these are the "social" guys (aside from the people of dust), but I'd like to give them a slightly better spatial awareness somehow.
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The Mountains
They say the mountains are the bones of giants and the bodies of sleeping heroes. The bone-people are known to threaten outsides with the ribs of their enemies, and speak of valleys of massive skulls hidden among the peaks. In the howling valleys they brave snows of death, either formed of ice flakes or spores blown in from the forests, and they build their homes in rock walls, building large docks for airborne vehicles and creatures, and mining deep into the earth for ruins and ore. The Book of Extinction refers to mountain ranges as hallways and roads, and the people who live in the mountains often see themselves as the first stop in the passage between the land and the sky.
________

I hate calling anything "bog standard," but the mountain-people are pretty dull. They get that from their surrounding rocks. Could probably capitalize on the bone-thing some more. Add some bonuses for armor and argh. Again with the pluses being easy.
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The Sea
Even in a sea of corruption, there is life inured to it. Among that life are edibles, hard-shelled and foul-smelling though they may be, and where there are edibles, you will find people. These are the people who live in and among the islands at the edges of the continents and stay low to the ground or else drive boats through and among the treacherous rocks, coaxing a living out of the acidic waters around the Nazro continent. They range from seaside villages to flotillas out on the Damohuag sea to the east. Such people are aware of how close they are to the empires under the water, and grant them as much authority and berth as they might human nations.
________

These people won't have as much easy access to deganav, but they don't need it as much. They could just grow the live herb on their boats and use compressed air from outside. This is something the people of the sky do a lot - sell fresh air. Anyhow.
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The Curse
Some people live in the forest and are changed by it. In recent times, an army from across the sea made a deal with the dragon emperor of Domere that they would produce a weapon for him if he allowed them access to the great pit near his empire. He agreed, and deployed the weapon against the people of the valleys. He was tricked, however. Instead of being destroyed, the people were consumed, and their blood flows thick and stringy, and their bile houses the spores of the forest. They can no longer live without the toxic jungle. They are part of it now. They still live as they did, but now their crops are not the kind which normal humans may find their health. Toxic smog clouds are their sweet spring mornings, and acrid seawater is their wine. These people were once called the Haulhlli and lived along the Route of Mold, though now they are simply known as Uzonvi, the curse laid upon the land by an outsider.
________

Whole subspecies of humans spawned directly through PC action? Check. Immune to poison and disease, reacts to fresh water like it's wolfsbane. Death throes that involve spawning a tiny forest of toxic plants and fungi. Possibly a feat that lets them replace a vital organ (like the stomach) with a small hive of bugs. Poisonous breath weapon. Whole race of Rappaccini's Daughter. Hooyah.
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[hiryuu]

Humans of The Sea of Scattered Flowers

The humans that dwell in the islands of the Sea of Scattered Flowers are surrounded by the modern world, and yet recoil from it as though it were an outside attacker. Bordered in the north by the continent of Lahsati and encompassing all of the small island-masses that dot the sea between Nazro, Elohino, and the Niobraran, the Sea of Scattered Flowers is known as a whole region by many names – the Lost Worlds, Ahtlantilli, Urummu, and Ymanyil. To the people of Ayotl, who claim their homeworld had legends of that place, it is called Atlantis, Mu, Thule, Heva, or Lemuria, depending on who is doing the speaking and whether or not an academic rival is within hearing distance.
The sea people have long pointed to the ancient ruins that litter all across the landscape, many from ages even before the last one, and the scrawlings that cover them which warn of technological progress uncontrolled by the human spirit. This, in combination with the philosophy of Majutilli, which states that no human is capable of controlling any measure of its sinful nature on its own, has led to a system of slow but steady repression of any discoveries which may be made in the ruins or adopted by those in the region.

The southern portion of this region is dominated by a mass of islands in shallow seas, some of which get rather large. Most of these islands are held by the Amarite theocracy, which calls itself the Collective of Unified Holy States, or the United Sea. To the north is the island-continent of Lahsati, which is currently held by the Adeilite heretics, and there are several countries among them that consider themselves allies. The two groups tend to have short, violent wars, lots of fighting over holy sites, and participate in a vicious cycle of destruction and reconstruction.

The Memory (Needs Mention)
Swimming around in the central sea is a great beast. A sea monster called The Memory, which uses hurricanes as camouflage and slumbers on shore in nests it has formed out of ancient cities. There are many theories for what it is and why it exists, most of which tend to state that it is some kind of Voice, a kind of icon or simulacrum entity spawned from the nascent intelligence of the biosphere. It's big, it's old, and no one knows exactly what the whole thing looks like. However, its eyes are well-known and representations of the eight eyes can be found in many ruins and active cities and towns throughout the region. Many times, The Memory has been to blame for the rise of great heroes and villains; people who meet its gaze come away changed, and not always for the better. Those exposed to its rain or bile come away with strange talents and powers. It takes and gives memories at its whim, and has been known to rewrite a person's memories entirely in a few cases.

Pratikshyamana (Needs Mention)
One of the great differences between a “race” and other species is the presence of pratikshyamana. This is literally a domain in the deep worlds; it is functionally identical to a spirit's domain, and serves as a geographical metaphor for the ideas and thoughts of the being that owns it. Skills related to upkeep of the pratikshyamana are very important for personal growth, whether the individual is aware of their domain or not. This place is sacrosant; none but those with permission may enter it, or even find it. This is theorized to tie directly in to the absence of a spirit that represents that race as a whole: there is no “human” or “maize-cutter,” but instead, each member of that race shares, on a metaphysical level, the potential power of such a spirit, and as such, they are masters of a domain. Summoners house their avatars in such places, and it is much easier for a summoner to dream or sing themselves to their pratikshyamana if they have one or more avatars, which is a necessity to construct housing for the spirit in question. Pratikshyamana are also very important for cultures and religions that practice introspection, as both a safe haven while exploring the spirit worlds and a way to organize or quickly find memories.

Amara and the Bridge
Much of the most prominent form of religion in Arcadia, an animistic Gaian faith called Amarism, comes from the translation of a variety of recordings and etchings on the ruins found throughout the landscape. Many of these are pre-Atlantean, and they are believed to have not truly existed until the coming of the Savage Realm. Among them are etchings decrying the misery of technological progress, the torture of the land, and the slow death of the soul that machinery brings.

Much of these translations were written and compiled by a summoner named Amara in the third century during the First Atlantean Age. She was also the first of that age to see The Memory, and speaks of it on the scrolls of Mayug. The first scroll was compiled and began when Amara was exploring the island of Brosinia, north of Atlantis.

According the first scroll, Amara came to the island of Brosin by a wave of water and the voice of The Memory, and awoke to find herself in the care of the locals of the island. They said that they had heard the spirits calling her name. Through the following days, she explored the island, and came to a bridge over a waterfall. Having been an explorer of ruins, she understood that the bridge was part of an ancient ruin, and it overlooked a wall carved with all manner of words and writing, and an image of The Memory and herself.

She translated the wall’s writings and compiled them into a single scroll, believing the changing and shifting shape of the words to be a message from the sea. She dutifully copied all the writings and sent them to her mentor in Llerimas, who published them within the day.

Later scrolls were compiled as Amara traveled between the islands, collecting translations and continually sending them off. She did not get to finish her writings, however, as the Atlantean government would have none of her proselytizing to the common folk. She was caught halfway between finishing the fifth scroll and was hacked to pieces by an imperial ship and fed to the shraks beneath the sea. The fifth volume was eventually recovered and finished, and more volumes followed until the empire collapsed, the region Balkanized, and the Amarite theocracy rose in its place.

The Scrolls of Mayug
Crafted by a series of authors over the course of four or five centuries, the text of Mayug ("memory") is the primary religious text among the various faiths native to the Sea of Scattered Flowers. There are twelve scrolls in the Mayug text, and each one represents a pinnacle of spiritual achievement or set of lessons.

The first scroll is Aalgas, the Scroll of Memory. It details the five duties within the Amarite faith and grants them their titles. The titles are Mallan, who sing for Death, Ajugo, the summoners who are the stewards of the worshippers, who lead and maintain the sing-roads, Learan, who are those that maintain the temples and the places of the spirits, Weyrial, who may or may not be summoners, and are the warriors of Amara, and Koronis, who are the leaders and directors of the Amarite faith. Summoners already sang for the dead, but this scroll affirmed their role in spiritual services, slowly supplanting the previous practices (this was one contributing factor to Amara’s death).

The second scroll, Sheyaul, is the Scroll of Spirit. It details that mobs, or, as they are translated, spirit-lamps, are the manifestation of the souls of the dead, and that Death, every evening, comes to collect them, and they cluster in groups over water that her barge might pick them up. It also details that the manufacture of chrysm (which “flash-freezes” mobs into a crystal form) is a grave sin, as is to use it as a power source, which had started to become common in the region at the time. Adeilites interpret these passages to mean that it is a grave sin not to use the gifts of the dead left behind in the world of the living in any way you can. This book also details the songs used by the summoners to call Death to pick up the wayward souls.

The third scroll, Meyauts, the Scroll of Life, deals with how to live a virtuous existence. It talks of purity of body and mind, how to live humbly, and how to live with others. Often ignored by certain members of the clergy, it calls for priests to live free of most material wealth. Many of its stories are no longer valid as fables in the modern day, but they are often retold in film. Most notable is the story of king Tjai'indi, having lost his throne, who goes on a quest to retrieve it, but in the end, must accept that he is not the king his people need.

The fourth scroll, Paragosis, the Scroll of Purity, says that even the most virtuous man or woman can sin, and so this scroll deals with how to purify the body of that sin. It contains a great many rituals for cleansing the body, soul, and mind of things that the reader might not desire. It also details the pratikshyamana, the physical manifestation of memory, and how to upkeep that place, as well as methods that supposedly allow one to control their own dreams.

The fifth scroll, Paramenax, the Scroll of Hope, speaks of the ability to see one’s goals clearly. It says in many terms that the ability to clarify goals and set forth the time to achieve them is of paramount concern. Amara was killed by the theocratic Atlantean empire about halfway through this scroll, and much of the rest is Atlantean propaganda about the old families and their places in the world, as acquired by divine right through their ancestors and the creatures of the world.

The sixth scroll, Korboras, the Scroll of the Narrow Eye, states that the eye that sees only the goal is blind. This scroll is the subject of debate, for though it is written from the perspective of an Atlantean imperial warrior blindly following orders to the goal, it is said among some of the younger priests among the Learan and the Ajugo to be about Amara and her blind following of the whims of her own budding faith and refusal to see the trials that lay between herself and her goals.

The seventh scroll, Abademai, the Scroll of Change, explains that the cycles of death and rebirth are a normal part of life, and that through destruction, new things are formed from the chaos. This book was commissioned almost in its entirety by Wologius, an Atlantean king who had recently acquired the throne after a bloody coup in which he had removed his father from the office. He held the throne long enough to see the book written before abdicating to an assembly, rather than a single king or queen.

The eighth scroll, Enoeo, the Scroll of Knowledge, is a repository of knowledge and ideas. It details various methods of keeping groups of people, building homes, laying out cities, mathematics, and cosmic theories. It is believed that this scroll was written by a group of Amarites who sought to hide knowledge within the growing faith so that the scrolls would not be burned (Atlantean law at the time outlawed the burning of religious texts, even among the Amarites, but required the burning of educational texts).

The ninth scroll, Orgotos, the Scroll of Tidings, speaks of how to live with fellow humans, even those who do not follow the way of Amara. Among its tenets is to treat others as you treat siblings, and that all intelligent beings must be treated as family. There are creatures denoted in this book that are to be found deep in the earth, under the sea, or in the sky among the clouds, as well as beings that exist only in the corridors of the spoken word and the depths of time.

The tenth scroll, Eremylon, the Scroll of Fables, is a collection of tales and myths meant to teach morals and philosophy, much like any set of fables. Most of these collections are from pre-Amarite faiths unrelated to the Atlantean cult, since, again, laws prevented the burning of religious texts, but the Atlanteans were very keen on stomping out, or at least absorbing and rewriting, as much folklore from the region as they could.

The eleventh scroll, Eikenion, the Scroll of Keeping, rearranges the deck chairs of the religion, granting the Koronis more power than they were originally given, and elevating the status of the Learan, while reducing the role of the Mallan and the Ajugo. Modern Amarism does not actually begin until the writing of this book. It was written by the newly established priesthood in the capital of Brosin as an attempt to reorganize after the collapse of the Atlantean government.

The twelfth scroll, Syniotes, the Scroll of Endings, paints a dismal version of the future wherein the Amarites are bond to a corrupt government and forced to obey the whims of an Unforgiven dictator. Oddly enough, this scroll is seen by the Amarites more as a commentary on Atlantean imperial rule that any actual vision of the future. Some fringe movements have declared it to be a modern prophecy and await anxiously for the apocalyptic end of the world.

Adeilism
Adeilos was a translator working for the theocracy in what is now Rapavi when he uncovered some of Amara's personal notes for her works. Reading through these and engaging his contemporaries in several debates, he packed and left for Death's Country through the Sea of Crows. He took with him the notes he had found and the translation upon which was working, and confronted Death. She brought him to Amara, who assisted him with creating a modern translation. Primary among the notes of this translation is that mobs are not the souls of the dead, but rather the medium through which the dead whose memories linger in the living countries may interact with the world around them, much like how one can tell the level of poisons in the water by the types of life that live there.

When he returned and presented the new translations to his superiors, he was declared a heretic for even daring to visit the dead, and told that there was no way he could have met the real soul of Amara, who had already been incarnated into a sacred vessel at the temple in Atlantilli. Adeilos found himself cast out, but he took a pilgrimage to the vessel, and discerning the woman he met there to be a copy created with ichor, mobs, and a partial copy of Amara's orgus, lacking a soul, he sang for its death, and walked out. He founded a small temple in the Wall Against Evil. While membership was small at first, the trickle became a flood, and to this day, the Adeilites and the Amarites fight over territory and sacred spaces.

Adeilism does not make icons of Amara, which they do out of respect for the destruction of the false Amara at the Temple of Waves in Atlantilli, so that a dead thing might not come to possess it. They have a tendency to destroy any statues of Amara they find for this reason as well, and have no moral compunctions about using mobs as a fuel source for their industry. While Amarite-majority nations typically rely on Elohino or Calpolli allies to maintain power plants and modern infrastructures, Adeilites have managed to conquer most of the Lahsati continent and hold it against the United Sea.

[hiryuu]

Elohino Humans
The humans of Elohino place greater importance on songs, rhythm, and mathematics at large more than their neighboring cultures; they consider mathematics a form of artistic expression, and abhor the idea that science has nothing to do with creativity and art. They use a practical form of biomancy in which the creations of their biomancers (and some of their amateurs) put creatures that produce electricity and heat in jars, glass tubes, and whatever else they can reach, and use them to power homes, strange weaponry, and wondrous devices. Jet packs created by locking a telekinetic monster into a cylinder strapped to the user's back, clocks with beating hearts, and other such objects are a common sight here, largely because the Elohino cultures abhor the use of spirits and contractual magic. Mingling of flesh and spirit, they say, leads to sin and abomination – the gods must stay in their heavens, and no woman may mingle blood with a soul. A large philosophical concept is Mask, or “salembe,” similar in mana to many ways, but only in regards to what is presented to the world. A lie is not a lie if no one finds out, and thus, the appearance of a thing is more important than the underlying truth of that thing. That is not to say Elohino is a continent entirely of people who refuse to accept reality. There are some, small, very conservative cultures that do not accept reality as it is, but instead strive to make it become what it should be. What that should be varies from place to place, and is a source of large-scale conflicts in the region. Mask is determined with how something appears in its moment to moment – an engine opened up with its organs and pipes exposed is its current Mask, while one closed up so only the aesthetic covering can be seen is another mask it wears.

Salembe (Needs Mention)
Salembe, directly translated into Izzabellan, is “pertaining to the head,” but it is that which may determine personal success and ability to realize one's own destiny. Oyushun is the energy that comes from salembe into the body and spreads out from the fingers and eyes. Oyushun is pushed out the bottom of the feet, and allows someone to move about the world. Extended movements and motion force oyushun through the body, disrupting it, and cause the body to become fatigued, and it can be restored with lamps, rest, and a proper diet. It is the link between the spiritual world and the physical world, and it is the energy which allows one to construct devices that move under their own power or provide energy to lights.

Nkisi (Needs Mention)
These are objects crafted by human hands that are spirits or vessels for spirits. Technically, this refers only to humanoid art figures with modifications meant to represent and become a being, forming the salembe of a spiritual entity and thus equivalent to that being. In the old days, scriptures and stories were inscribed or spoken into the nkisi, who would hold on to it so that it could be passed to the next Soukous in line. In more modern times, as technological process has advanced, people have come to refer to their machines and devices as nkisi, specifically referring to the creatures that they put inside nearly everything.

Mask of Apala
The Apala mask considers itself above the others in station, and in matters of economy and state, this is usually the case. They often consider themselves the backbeat of society, no matter how intrusive they make themselves. You can take out everything but the drums, they say, ignoring the voices, the strings, and the dances. It contains both old nobility and old money. In ages past, they were concerned with acting as the arm of the Soukous in war, but as time marched on, they found themselves in war less often, and their martial duties have fallen to the wayside. They often find themselves supported and told of their importance by the Soukous, and in the modern era, they still find themselves clinging to the old ways to overcome their fears of dissolving in the face of continued social pressures on the mask system.

Mask of Isicathamiya
Once known as singers, the wearers of the Isicathamiya mask accompany daily life, adding movement and meaning behind it. They are accountants, adjusters, and bureaucratic people who pick through the lyrics of daily life so that others can just focus on playing. The Isicathamiya find themselves composed of both middle class families and the nouveau riche, and it is this group that has begun putting stress on the mask system; if anyone can become rich, then anyone can rule, and if anyone can rule, then anyone can potentially become a priest. Isicathamiya were once told that the world only functions because of adherence to the four paths, but with the coming of modern technology and the emergence of the Kwaito, in addition to overseas trading, they have begun to fracture into multiple groups. It is the Isicathamiya that is credited with first trading to the phoonkt and to cultural regions around the world.

Mask of Mbalax
The people have worn the Mbalax mask for a long time, so long that it has become the mask and voice of the people themselves. In times past, they were artisans, laborers, and service workers, and their myriad families and voices have become the teeming call of the masses in the modern day. The Mbalax are the most populous of the masks. They are carpenters, maids, cooks, and preparers of animal hides. The Mbalax have their own temples and public facilities, though social reforms are slowly making their way through many of the nations in Elohino, leading to united workplaces. Only in recent years have the various reform movements been able to push beyond the stories of the Soukous and the heavenly orders, mostly due to the growing majority of the Mbalax and the emergence of the Kwaito.

Mask of Kwaito
Those who upkeep the machines of the modern world are called “Wearing a Kwaito Mask,” and they are one part animal handler, one part mechanic. Originally, these people were folded into the mask of labor and preparation of animals, especially since the first nkisi were very small and used only for power generation. As their uses in daily life proliferated, so, too, did the need for skilled people to upkeep, grow, invent, and maintain the infrastructures required to support them. When the first trains began worming their way through underground tunnels and racing across the landscape on thousands of legs, those in the least of the masks began to wonder what a world without them might be like, and petitioned the Soukous for the creation of an entirely new mask. With the support of other masks and members from each, the Soukous admitted they had discovered in the ancient stories references to those who tame great beasts and command fire. It was unprecedented, and it has led to a surge of social reforms in which other masks are attempting to decipher ancient writings in the hopes that they might find ways to become something more than the priesthood allows.

Mask of Soukous
The wearers of the Soukous Mask are priests, dealing with matters of the spirit. This is a dance that is done to seek out family lines, avenge dishonor, and enforce justice. Soukous are responsible for keeping track of the various story nkisi and their deeds. This position is as inherited as almost every other, and serve as liaisons between spiritual realms and beings and humans. It takes many years of practice and strong salembe, as the people of Elohino find bloodletting of humans and sacrifice of animals, in addition to the sharing of blood between human and spirit, to be monstrous and disgusting.

[hiryuu]

The Chukto
This Quahanoo culture can be found in small enclaves almost worldwide; they don't inhabit Nazro, and these days mostly restrict themselves to the Calpolli and Arna continents. They practice a variant of Quahanoo faith, but instead of tattoos, they carry or wear totem objects, composed primarily of bone and cord. According to their mythology, they were responsible for calling in the Pact of the Wheel and therefore turning the age. They have a great many tribal artifacts from previous ages of humanity, and a few from before that. Each Chukto settlement is built around a specific artifact. Any given village tends to be constructed of whatever can be scavenged from the environment and given minimal working; in mainland Calpolli, as an example, villages are conglomerations of scrap metal, natural materials, and pipes all stuffed into a minimal area and blocked from casual observation by trees or natural formations. The Chukto were invited to become part of the United Tribal Confederacy, but turned it down, though they still fought in the war against the Turmek.

Pact of the Wheel/Bargain of the Wheel (Needs Mention)
Each of the ten races is afforded the power to conquer the world, one at a time. This is the age of a given race's astrological ascendance. If they change the world to such a degree that they can no longer live on it, that race may petition the planet to heal the damage, restore the world, and start over, but each race may only do this four times. Once five ages of that race have passed, another race comes to ascendance. This belief is more or less held by every religion and belief system in the world, and Nuwep faith believes that the next race in ascendance will be the golems. The narhoojai ensure that this deal is honored by their upkeep of the world machine.

World-Machine (Needs Mention)
The sun beats down. Plants grow. Herbivores eat the plants. Parasites force the plants to keep changing up their survival strategies. Rain falls. Tick-tock. Everything works in concert, from the motions of the planets to the transformation of weather and the growth of plants and animals. It could be said to be a machine, moving forward, operating endlessly to produce more diversity in life and geology. Rain greases its wheels, and running herds pound out the sounds of the hands moving. The narhoojai in the depths of the earth are said to keep it operating, and the Chukto believe that working the machine is the responsibility of all races, as they can see the cogs and gears working endlessly.

Mutation
Humans, due to their inherently magical nature and their position as a race, are capable of cross-breeding with damn near anything. Also, they suck up magical energies like a sponge. Exposure to all kinds of weird radiation and energies from below the earth combined with this magical nature results in a lot of strange variations. Humans with horns, spirit floaters, odd skin patterns, odd hair colors (super common in the Sea of Scattered Flowers), reptilian body parts (more common in Arna and Maca), and odd growths are things one might find in a given person. Of course, there's lot of mutation-induced sickness, too. Rocklung, crystal anemia, puresweats, eyebleed, and growing little rocks inside your pores are just a few of the marvelous things that could happen when exposed to mysterious radiation.

[hiryuu]

(reserved for further human information - Iztac and the sky crossing)

[hiryuu]

Maize-Cutters
The vast majority of maize-cutter societies are pre-industrial. It's difficult for almost any culture that shares living spaces with humanity to accomplish any kind of great societal or technological achievement without finding itself rapidly assimilated into nearby human societies. Considered in Calpolli and Maca to be "little brothers," they are typically left to their own devices in these continents. They're not present in Nazro, and in Elohino they are hunted at best or subject to pogroms at worst. There are maize-cutters who sail the waves in the Sea of Scattered Flowers, and they run rampant and powerful across the mysterious continent of Macamo. They cannot become awahee or dreamers, but they can certainly take to (and very often become) magicians and musicians.

Physically, these people are four or five feet tall and about six and a half to seven and a half feet in length, with bright feathers in forest patterns, curving necks, and long snouts filled with razor-sharp teeth. Their hands are covered in long feathers like a half-wing, and they swing backwards and to the side on their bodies. Their bodies are light, their rear legs long and good for jumping, and they stand on two toes, the third held daintily up into the air and shaped like a handled sickle, from which they get their name. Their tails are long, and stiff ligaments allow it to be held straight like a fishing pole. The entire body is covered with feathers that bulk out the profile, belying how light and fast a maize-cutter can really be. They are a people who have not forgotten that they have feet and mouths, and regularly use all of their potential extremities for building tools, preparing materials, eating, washing, and just moving about their daily lives. Males tend to be lighter and more brightly colored than females, with wide variations among even bands. On males, the end of the tail has a fan of feathers with two long protruding feathers like signal flags. Their young are hatched from eggs, typically one or two per pairing per season, and one brooding per season.

Maize-cutters then to arrange themselves in loose tribal groups based around geographical features. It should be noted that human cities on the horizon, ruins, and abandoned structures count as geographical features as far as most bands are concerned. In Calpolli, recent advancements in farming and domestication have resulted in settled groups that trade with one another and occupy semi-permanent residences, which they typically hand off to one another as seasons pass. In the United Tribal Confederacy, the council has designated a large portion in the western region of the country as designated sovereign maize-cutter territory in the hopes that the fledgling culture might give rise to permanent homes and residences outside of human interference.

In the Sea of Scattered Flowers, maize-cutters are found in smaller groups, both on the islands and in the ocean. They control much of the plains and jungle borders of Lahsati, and are typically used by Adeilites as a sort of cultural shield to prevent themselves from being overrun by zealous Amarites. In return, the Adeilites offer transport and tools to the maize-cutter bands and nations that have formed on the shifting seas. This often results in maize-cutter crew members on airships and submarines. Ethnic variations tend to involve even more vibrant colors than mainland maize-cutters, lighter jaw, flatter foot surfaces, and excess oil produced in body feathers when compared to mainland individuals.

In Macamo, the maize-cutters have built mighty nations and their magicians rival those that humanity has produced in terms of power. Macamo maize-cutters tend to stand a head taller than their other contemporaries, and are known to be violent and somewhat ruthless in their pragmatism. There are five great nations within the borders of the Furious Continent, and what they lack in technological sophistication they make up for in individual strength. Many maize-cutters are capable fliers, with pronounced wings on the arms and legs, slimmer, more tightly wrapped bodies. This is the True World, and the world outside the storm-lashed coastline of Macamo is just a dream floating in the spirit worlds. At best, they see humans as the dream-borne potential of humanity, rather than the real thing, and at worst, humanity is a parasitic scourge on the world, for why else would the True World degrade and destroy the things they make and drive them into a maddening rage?

Humanoid
Standard (0): +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, -2 Intelligence
Language Standard (0): Local Band, Izzabellan; List: Neighbor Band, Neighbor Tribe, Primordial, Spirit, X, X, X
Silent Hunter (2): Maize-Cutters reduce the penalty for using Stealth while moving by 5 and may run while using the Stealth skill at a -20 penalty.
Astonishing Jumper (2): Maize-Cutters are always considered to have a running start when using Acrobatics to jump.
Bite (2): Maize-cutters have a natural bite attack that deals 1d4+1/2 the Maize-cutter's Strength modifier.
Low-Light Vision (2)
Scent (4)
Multi-Armed (4): Maize-cutters have a third manipulator in the form of their jaws, much like a bird with its beak.
Weapon Familiarity (1): Maize-cutters are proficient with maize-cutter weapons, such as mouth knives, javelin harnesses, and wing-atlatls.
Ability Restriction (-1): A maize-cutter can't use its bite attack in any round it is using its mouth to hold or manipulate something.
Poor Manual Dexterity (-2): Maize-cutters suffer a -2 penalty on checks made using their hands in any situation where they cannot also use their mouths. This includes attack rolls made with weapons that are not maize-cutter weapons.

Javelin Harness (Exotic, Maize-Cutter)
A javelin harness is a complicated wood and cord contraption consisting of a full-body harness, a large unfolding bow, and a set of bars set apart like a wishbone right at the user's chest. Maize-cutter bodies are long, and this setup is essentially a ballista mounted on the back, with the firing point just over the shoulder. The bars are cranks for the bow, and the quiver is set on the user's non-dominant side. To load, the maize-cutter pushes the bars repeatedly to winch back the string until it locks into place, then uses its jaws to pick up a bolt and load it into the other side (masterwork models do not require this, just a slight roll to the back and standing up straight loads a bolt). The operation requires a standard action. Firing is accomplished by yanking the winch bars in. This is mostly a shock weapon, since it takes several minutes to take one off or put one on, and restricts the user from doing almost anything else other than using a mouth knife. It does see use in conflicts with humans, since it's one of the few weapons maize-cutters have that can punch through car doors. Humans can't use these weapons.
Javelin Harness: 3d8 piercing, 19-20/x2, 120 feet, 30 gp
It takes five minutes to don a javelin harness and half that time to remove it.

Mask-Axe (Exotic, Maize-Cutter)
This mask has several tight wood and cord components holding obsidian or metal blades in place. It uses the natural pecking motion of a maize-cutter's head to produce chopping force. It can be used by pecking or by bringing the user's head down or across its intended target. It is otherwise identical to the battle axe or greataxe. The greataxe version requires both the user's wings to stabilize during a combat, and makes it impossible to use any other weapons. Humans can't use either of these weapons at all.

Mouth Knife (Simple, Maize-Cutter)
This unwieldy little thing (for humans) looks superficially similar to a katar attached to a leather thong. It's terrible for trying to wrap your hands around the crossbar, but just the thing to hold in your mouth if you're a maize-cutter. They come in dagger and short sword varieties. Humans can use a mouth knife in their hands at a -2 penalty.

Wing Atlatl (Exotic, Maize-Cutter)
This weapon is a curved, shallow hook, usually sculpted from bone. It uses the natural downward motion of a maize-cutter's wings to hurl short javelins and arrows. It only takes one hand to wield this weapon, but otherwise has the same statistics as a light crossbow, and it takes a move action and a free hand to reload.