The Shifting Ennead
Spoiler: Summary
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Region Preference, in order: 71, 69 (nice), 70, then any region that borders either Waste or Toxic in Polar>Temperate>Tropical priority order
Leader: Ninth of Nine Prince Antenius, Who Grasps the Wave, Son of Strolinus, Son of Akkoroas
(Tentative) Stats
D: 4 (incl +1)
M: 4
E: 4 (Incl +1)
F: 2
I: 3
Capital: Danabae
Demonym: Shifters, Enneii
Starting Faith: The Descendants of the First of One
Holy Sites: House of Silt [Cult of the Silted Queen]
Neoplastic Monolith [Open]
The Last Limites [Descendants of the First of One]
Resource: Edible Algae
Requirement: Exotic Creatures
Starting Tech: Composite Grafting
Supports:
Aristocratic: Shifting Ennead
Clerical: OPEN
Mercantile: Shifting Ennead
Brief pitch: Extremely hierarchical octopuses are addicted to body modification.
Spoiler: Thalassography
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Danabae, the Waters Which Do Not Still. From nearby, uncharted waters come currents that whorl and swoop through Danabae, creating unique currents along the seafloor. Tunnels, outcroppings, peaks, and strange columns abound, though the flatter, center area of the region is covered in a thick, still carpet of algae.
It is in this central area, often called The Crop, lies two monolithic structures, hollowed out by currents and laborious effort. The dark gray stone of Last Limites tower over the surrounding seascape.
In and around The Crop can be found most of the Danabaean settlements, typically small villages mostly made of thickened algae domes, carved stone, and silt held in place by carefully grown stalks of adhesive seaweed.
Spoiler: People, Government
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Danabae is populated by three distinct peoples organized into four castes, mostly along racial lines.
At the bottom are the serfs, nearly entirely made up of native Mer (though the odd foreign wanderer unlucky enough to end up working or truly disgraced Nautilite may be found here as well). These people are attached to the sea and spend their entire lives producing or, in times of famine, becoming food for the other castes. Although they have limited mobility, both socially and locationally, they are granted some level of autonomy so long as the required goods are produced. In many villages, the Mer have full governments who act as intermediaries between the serfs and the upper tiers. There are even whispered rumors of a silent Silted Queen lurking at the edges of this society, waiting for the ideal time to lead her people in revolt.
Above the serfs are the Arms. Especially loyal or hardworking Mer, industrious but physically weak Nautilites, and even a small few unlucky, but still wealthy, Doflein make up this class. They are artisans, architects, artists, biologists, grafters, scholars, and anyone else who creates goods other than food or simple raw materials. They do well enough for themselves, but the lack of prestige in their work leaves them with little true influence in Shifter society.
Next are the Beaks. This is the warrior caste, almost entirely Nautilite in makeup. They are soldiers, peacekeepers, border guards, scouts, test subjects, sealords (as in, property-owners), tax collectors, assessors, and anyone else whose value to society comes from their physical presence or who benefits the state without producing goods (whether through administration or a particular skillset). The Beaks are powerful mostly in that they are the violent arm of the state. They are afforded luxuries when stationed near The Crop and promises of luxury when away in order to guarantee their loyalty. The wealthiest of these keep large numbers of Mer servants nearby to manage even the most simple of tasks, considering labors such as carrying money, moving aside curtains, or writing to be beneath their dignity.
Finally, the ruling class of the Enneii are the Doflein. This is both the name for the species and the caste, since the overlap between the two is nearly perfect. These people issue commands, lead military campaigns, advise the Princes, and breed. They are organized into various families and operate under a strict hierarchy based mostly on how recently their family was in power and how intermarried their family is to the current Prince’s.
The Nautilites are large, shelled mollusks with a large number of grasping tentacles surrounding their faces. They are physically very similar to nautiloids (especially the chambered nautilus) save that they are larger and more dexterous. Nautilites who are unmarried leave their shells natural, but those who are bonded will carve and paint their shells in complex, and identical, patterns as part of the marriage rites. The height of prestige for a Nautilite is to attain a high rank in the military and then to do nothing for as long as possible, their every need catered to by Mer.
The Doflein are much like large Octopuses, though countless generations of careful breeding has given them longer lifespans and a peculiar ability to recover from even grievous injury given time. A Doflein can enter a stasis-like hibernation at will, during which time it is able to regrow lost limbs, shed and replace damaged flesh, and even recover some lost brain tissue. This process is incredibly slow, though, and rarely serves much purpose aside from grafting. The current ruling family is the Akkoroan family, with Prince Antenius at the head. He is, of course, the youngest son of the main branch of the family, as the Doflein practice Ultimogeniture.
The serfs are, of course, attached to the seabed they farm. The Arms move between the serf villages freely. The Beaks typically follow the government as it moves, though portions of the soldiery are always stationed in The Crop and near the borders. The ruling class is most nomadic. With their food needs taken care of, they enjoy exploration for its own sake and patrolling for new delicacies (or graft materials).
Spoiler: History
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Danabae was once a region of Mer and Nautilites living alongside each other. They were never truly friends, though strained peace tended to prevail unless times were particularly lean.
Generations ago, though, the Doflein arrived. With their sophisticated strategies and willingness to offer hefty bribes, they quickly won over the pragmatic and, honestly, lazy Nautilites. This alliance quickly overpowered the Mer, and the modern caste system began to take form.
Since then, the Doflein have used their power mostly to encourage their best and brightest in the field of grafting. Their ability to induce stasis and mend flesh, coupled with an ingrained fear of appearing weak, has created a cultural fascination with, or perhaps addiction to, body modification. It is not uncommon to see Doflein with scales, fins, spines, or any number of other features. No two Doflein are biologically identical at this point (unless they wish to be).
Spoiler: Resources
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The Doflein, and by extension the Ennead, are hoarders at heart(s). Thus, they keep what they can to themselves. They do, however, see the value in trade and order their serfs to produce excesses of Edible Algae. Everyone needs food.
The Doflein addiction to modification, though, knows no bounds. They are constantly seeking new sources of flesh, bone, scale, and more esoteric body parts. Thus, they will always demand outside suppliers of Exotic Creatures.
Spoiler: Faith
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House of Silt [Cult of the Silted Queen]: The Mer in Danabae have a collection of local faiths, mostly centered around various animistic beliefs. A large and growing movement, though, sees the Mer waiting for a savior in the form of the Silted Queen. She takes on the role of semi-divine hero who will lead the Mer to freedom and thus ascend to true divinity. Her shrines dot the villages of Danabae. The greatest of her temples, though, is the House of Silt: a low cave made entirely of loose dirt that stays standing despite the ocean currents.
Neoplastic Monolith [Open]: A great roiling mass of hard, stone-like flesh grows near the [direction of nearest waste or toxic border] border of Danabae. It shifts, grows, and consumes constantly, and is revered by some few who dare approach it. There are no official faiths associated, but its obvious power and beauty are worthy of some veneration, surely.
The Last Limites [Descendants of the First of One]: The faith of the Doflein is a simple one, truly, since they find little time for religious rites or esoteric philosophy. The Descendants of the First of One is, rather, the general guiding mindset of the Doflein. It is in some ways ancestor veneration in that the eponymous First of One (a previous ruler) is, according to legend, in stasis beneath the Last Limites and will one day arise to bring the Ennead to greatness. In truth, though, it is a philosophy of growth. The Descendants follow in the First’s obsession and prize personal growth and change (in the physical sense) above all else.
Maurente [Region 74]
Spoiler: Thalassography
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Maurente is mostly a large, flat, seaswept plain, broken up by canyons that teem with creatures and seem to glow with a life of their own. The flatseas are mostly empty, though, except when the herdsfolk of the region are moving their squid, manatees, or krill through the weeds for grazing. Within the canyons, settlements and natural habitats for many creatures can be found.
The borders of Maurente are mostly unoccupied, though, for a variety of reasons. To the west, the threat of the warlike Nautilites, or more recently the designs of the Ennead, kept settlement there the resort of the truly desperate. To the north, the seeping toxins of the wastes and brine make the seafloor uninhabitable. To the east and south, the strange roughs cause great currents to sweep along, creating an obstacle to construction that, as of yet, as not needed to be tackled.
Spoiler: People, Government, History
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The major sentient population of Maurente are the Reida, a species of intelligent flatworms. The Reida refer to the region as Masae, but the arrival of the mighty Ennead has seen such distinctions disappear rapidly. The Reida are organized into many tribes, the most dominant of which is the Jugurtuns. Prior to the conquest, there was no true ruler of the region, but when the tribes gathered, it was the Jugurtuns who fielded the most warriors, produced the most representatives, and who could bribe the most small tribes.
The Reidan tribes exist in a state of near constant conflict, though this conflict tends to be resolved with injuries or, at worst, a handful of deaths. Far more important is proving superiority and claiming land than any sort of conquest or destruction. When disputes arise, as they must, swarms of Reida from each tribe will mount their squids and aim to create "infernos," or areas of heated water. The tribes will then enter a contest of wrestling, jockeying for position, and stunts that lasts until one tribe retreats, either due to shame or the heat. When the Reida need to turn to true violence, these firefly squids prove to be startlingly effective, if unreliable, deterrents to enemy combatants as well.
Under the Ennead, the Jugurtuns retain some of their power. As the Doflein love of strict hierarchies begins to drift into Maurente, the Reida find themselves slotting into position beneath their new rulers, sorted mostly by the size of their tribes. In the end, though, the major reorganization sees the extraction of taxes from the Reida. On the whole, this is not the worst thing, though many of the more powerful tribes resent their new constant need to pay off rivals - they are more used to receiving tributes, not sending them.
Spoiler: Resources
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Export: Firefly Squid. The Firefly Squid are squids about six or so feet long on average. They are the main domesticated creature of the Reida, useful for everything from pack animals to war beasts to food. They are special for their eponymous fireflies - a glowing, heat-producing plankton that lives in the body of the otherwise translucent squids. These plankton can, when made to, produce incredibly hot temperatures which the squids can then vent out of their mantle.
Requirement: Crops. The Reida are not farmers, they are herders. And when tides are rough and the seafloor is barren, the squids can go hungry. An import of food for the squids - and their masters - would go a long way toward calming the constantly warring tribes.
Spoiler: Faith
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The Reida practice a vast variety of philosophies, organized into numbered, tenet-based Ways. Each Way is based on interaction with the currents of the region in a unique manner, ranging from trust to reluctant resignation to struggle. The holy sites in the region are not physical structures so much as schools centered on great teachers. The three dominant philosophies are listed below.
The Third Way: Led by Syphax. This school is based on not only accepting and trusting the currents, but assisting them. It is the most proactive of the pro-current schools, seeking to physically proselytize - those drifting with the current are encouraged to snag their less exuberant tribe members and drag them along. Some within the philosophy are even known to create vast artificial webs to snag as many as they can while drifting.
The Seventh Way: Led by Hiempsabal the Lost. This philosophy is predictive in nature. Hiempsabal is said to be able to predict the whims of the water, and teaches those who follow his word to do the same. Thus, the Swimmers of the Seventh Way begin moving before the tides shift, hoping to reach whatever it is the ocean has for them before their capricious environs shift again.
The Nineteenth Way: Led by Ṣap̄anbaʿal of Gaeitu. She teaches that the current is a great foe that most be resisted at all costs. This is by far the most enduring of the great philosophies, owing primarily to the structures its adherents build under Ṣap̄anbaʿal's watchful eyes. Their holy places dot the seascape, providing haven to those who wish a respite from the violence of the tides. Those caught in the open are advised to meditate on resist.
The Cathedral of Movement [Region 67]
Resource: Piezo-phosphoric crystals
Desired Import: stone working tools or tech
Holy Sites:
- The Ceaseless Gibbering
- Vault of Strife
- Gap of Finality
Spoiler: Thalassography
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The Cathedral of Movement is a region underneath a vast ice sheet. Along the northern border, the icepack pushes very deep, at times nearly contacting the sea floor. To the central south lie the Red Weeps. The Ice Above is stained a deep red, and thick, salty substances weep from above down into a deep rift below. Southeast and southwest of the Weeps, lie regions yet unexplored.
The massive Ice Above unifies the region. Impossibly thick, yet very translucent, the Ice above shines with endless dancing, shifting bands of color. This continual aurora gives the region, and the people, its name.
The Stone Below makes up the sea floor, sloping generally away from the dangerous regions of the north. Slate, schist, and sparkling granite form countless tables and towers; the softer materials having been ground away by the relentless tides.
Between the Ice Above and the Stone Below lies the Cathedral of Movement. Strong currents combine with the bobbing pressure of the Ice Above keep the waters swirling in complex, sense-defying patterns. The light through the ice spawns endless phytoplankton, which is fed on by uncountable masses of small crustaceans, collectively referred to as Cleaners. The life cycle of these Cleaners is the marching-beat of all the other creatures’ life cycles: endless schools of small fish which feed upon them, and the larger ones that feed upon them, and so on. Larger crustaceans sweep across the Stone Below at regular intervals, feasting on the detritus.
Vegetation is sparse, but prolific. Thick bands of kelp spring up where the water is deep enough to avoid the Ice Above’s crushing press and the Stone below is shallow enough to allow the light of the Ice Above to cause it to grow. These scattered but thick forests provide cover for the endless schools of fish that traverse the area. The kelp provides both edible leaves, fodder for the delicious fire mollusks, and stringy stems used as textiles and rope.
Spoiler: People
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The Scintillius are Mer native to the regions. Being exothermic and living in cold waters, these Mer tend to be more rotund than others in warmer climates. Scintillius wear some clothing for protection from the ice and the jagged rocks. They are particularly fond of belts and harnesses with multiple pouches. Notably, their fur tends to come in a wider variety of colors and almost exclusively in winding patterns of different colors.
Most Mer live in homes made of stacked schist & slate tablets and woven kelp interior furnishings. Sling chairs and hammocks dominate for furniture. Piezo-phosphoric crystals provide ample lighting. Granit with large reflective crystals is highly prized, and a sign of wealth. Larger structures are largely absent. Instead, the Scintillius gather in large cleared, levelled areas. They tether themselves to the carved Viewpoint rocks on the seafloor. This allows them to stay in one place without much effort.
The Scintillius are a people obsessed with patterns, currents, and movement. Stagnant water is terrifying to them. Their main topic of daily discussion are the sea currents, the changing colors of the ice-above, and what meaning these hold for their daily lives. This obsession has created an ever-changing society. Scintillius seldom stay with one profession, live in one location, or stay as a family unit for very long. This has created a society of generalists and teachers, with Mer constantly wanting to learn and do new things.
Spoiler: History and Government
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As far as the Scintillius can recall, they have always lived under the ice. The towering columns of the Vault of Strife recall a time when their society spread as far south as the great southern glacier. But over time the Red Weeps consumed those settlements. Time itself tends to be a nebulous concept for the Scintillius, more attuned to the tides and auroras than to any arbitrary, measurable, set, increment. The track their ‘years’ as 2 cycles of Cleaner spawning, separated into the Stripe Spawn and the Shine Spawn. But beyond that, smaller time increments seem unneeded.
The government is, in essence, a technological theocracy. The Weavers are a select group of community leaders who maintain tight control over their primary resource and unique technology. They utilize this technology to discuss the various patterns and movements across their region, to develop a consensus around future events. The Watchers are the day-to-day local representatives, listening to the world around them and the people within, and reporting back to the Weavers.
Spoiler: Resources & technology
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Growing on the Ice Above are strange crystals, Piezo-phosphoric Crystals. These crystals seem to be both mineral and organic in nature, somehow. They possess the unique property that, when subjected to a compressive force, the crystals generate light. The more compression, the more light, up to a certain limit. These crystals are use as light sources throughout the Cathedral of Movement with the water pressure increasing their glow as the Stone Below slopes downward. The Weavers and Watchers tend the patches of these crystals that grow throughout the cathedral, ensuring they are never over-fractured.
The Scintillius are always on the look-out for Stone cutting tools and tech. Schist and slate are hard to work, and the limitations of the fractured-plate style of stone available limits their ability to build.
The Piezo-phosphoric crystals have another unique property. If the crystals are fractured and divided in a very specific manner, pressure on one will cause it to glow. The other matched crystal will also glow in the same manner. This is true no matter the distance the two crystals are apart- even to the edges of the Cathedral itself. This Piezo-phosphoric Resonance has been turned into a communications technology, similar to how photosphore signalling is used by other societies. The Weaver’s have a secret code of flashes caused by tapping the crystal with a special hammer-device. This Sounding Code allows them to communicate across their entire realm.
Economically, the Scintillius are capitalists, driven by risk and reward. The more wealthy put up capital for new business ventures to mitigate the risk of starting up. Their beliefs in patterns and movements create an innate sense of risk-taking, and their economic system rewards those that get their guesses correct. However, there is a strong prohibition of the Weaver's and Watcher's engaging in supplying venture captial. Instead, they are consulted for their knowledge and paid accordingly.
Spoiler: Faith
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All Scintillius firmly believe that the secrets of the universe reside in the shifting coronas of the Ice Above, the tides, and the movements of the water. Studying them, interpreting them, and sharing their findings are the obsession of the people. The Watchers listen, trying to avoid guiding the discussion. The Watchers are taught that the people can understand their part of the Pattern. It is the Watcher’s duty to understand their people. And to inform the Weaver’s of their insights. The Weaver’s duty is to interpret the entirety of the Cathedral, and to take actions accordingly.
There does not exist a formal liturgy or codified religious text. Only the lessons carved into the Pillars of Strife. But the population, to a Mer, believe in and support, the Weavers and Watchers.
Holy Sites:
- The Ceaseless Gibbering is a special tunnel along the northern border. Some special property of its location and design causes the cave to emit constant burbling noise. Many Scintillius believe that the cave speaks words to those that seek to listen and understand. Perhaps they are right. A Weaver has a home here and spends their time meditating in front of the cave.
- The Vault of Strife is actually a misnomer. A large circular space roughly in a deep depression at the center of the Cathedral. Here are stored the stories and mythology of the Scintillius. Each story has been carved into a slate tablet, and each tablet stacked beside or on-top of each other. These create the pillars of strife. Much wisdom is contained in here, almost always through the story of a failed action, missed opportunity, or other lesson taught through misfortune and trauma.
- The Gap of Finality is a rift in the floor at the southern edge of the Cathedral. A strong current pulls a column down from the Red Weeps above, sucking it into the unknown underground. Here is the burial place of the Scintillius. Bodies are wrapped in kelp, with prayers of farewell bound to the body. It then is pushed towards the gap and pulled into the underworld.
Sketi [Region 68]
Spoiler: Thalassography
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Sketi is cold and, oddly enough, dry. Much of the seafloor in the region is hilly, with peaks home to small coral systems and their symbiotic partners. The valleys come in two varieties. First and most commonly are the “still valleys,” places where the seafloor is sandy, covered in plant life, and home to the various peoples of the region. A fair few of these lower depths, however, are constantly shifting and are covered in valuable mineral deposits. A process that takes place deep under the seafloor produces pockets of air that percolate up through these valleys, creating shifting waves of bubbles rising through the water. Some valleys are filled with hydrophobic salts which catch large “rafts” of air, which the locals often use for anything that requires dry work.
These bubble columns dot the landscape, keeping visibility strangely limited from some angles. Travel across the region is also bound to established routes that are clear and safe, creating a sort of populated highway through Sketi.
Spoiler: People, Government, History
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Sketi is populated by two main groups, and a number of smaller peoples. The majority of Sketii are Carstalts. Carstalts are short, flat-bodied crablike creatures whose shells are open on either side, behind the large claw arms. Mating is a permanent prospect for Carstalts, as a mated pair merge into one wide creature, with the exposed flesh on the side of each growing together. More mates can be added to this pair, however, and it is not uncommon to see a Carstalt with a dozen or more members. For this reason, the Carstalts make exemplary production workers, as they can form a line of semi-independent craftspeople who can each specialize and still work in near-perfect coordination. Carstalts have long been content working hard and raising their children - they do not tend toward ambition or aggression.
The second largest population is Mer, who make up much of the wealth and power in Sketi. Prior to the conquest, Sketi was ruled by a queen and her two consorts. When a queen died or abdicated, her favored consort would depart with her, while the other would stay in the role with the following queen, thus guaranteeing a smooth transition and constancy in rule. Ostensibly, this remains the case, though the Ennead now chooses the queen and her consorts and there is no promise of continuation.
A small population of Nautilites is present in Sketi, as well, though they claim no kinship with the Danabaeans and view the northerners as nomadic barbarians.
Spoiler: Resources
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Export: Gravelglass. The mineral salts of Sketi have proven incredibly useful for the production of strong and colorful glass products. Most commonly, this is made into gravelglass to sell to the wealthy looking for a colorful accent to their properties.
Import: Textiles. The tiny population of true fauna in Sketi, coupled with the difficulty in keeping softer materials in good condition around so many claws and hard shells, has created a huge textile demand.
Spoiler: Faith
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For generations, the Sketi largely practices small, familial faiths. With the encroachment of the Pattern, though, their have been a number of unifying movements, though these have been far from successful.
The Three Peaks: There is a place near the center of Sketi that is off the beaten path where three large hills seem to lean into each other. At their peak, a large coral colony grows into a single crown, creating a hollow under which monastics and pilgrims can meditate or pray in peace.
The Open Vent: A place of quiet contemplation, meditation, and medicinal vision-seeking, the Open Vent is as it claims to be. There is a hole in the ground, from which flows a near-constant, wide tunnel of air, directly to the surface. It is calming to look at, strange to think about, and fascinating to study. People of all faiths and creeds can find something worthwhile in the Open Vent. In recent years, the people of the Pattern have begun using it as a tunnel to the surface, a strange new interpretation of the faith that sees adherents suffering the dry air to look directly into the sky above. This is frequently lethal.
Raconensae[Region 73]
Spoiler: Thalassography
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Soft, pale sands shift with the darkening of the water to harsh shards of crystal and rock, melding together in geometric patterns and pockets where arching anemones and clams attempt to root. The water is startlingly clear for how close it borders the Wastes, while an observer from the surface can’t see straight down, once the boundary of crystal is passed, it is quite easy to see circular structures in the depths, interspersed and apparently using the alternating softness and hardness of the substrate for construction. As scouts approach the boundary of the Wastes, the anemones cluster and reach heights of several meters, forming an underwater forest stretching from northwest to southeast.
Spoiler: People, Government, History
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When the Doflein arrived, there were two primary populations in Raconensae. Most notable were the siliike, whom the Doflein call the strisii. These are squidlike creatures with a long, narrow head mounted atop three girthy tentacles, each ending in a trio of smaller tentacles that allow for fine manipulation. They are exceptionally quick and agile, both mentally and physically, and given to rash decisions, fully anticipating an easy escape.
The other people group is the Kiwa. The Chrysomallon Kiwa are cancrine mollusks whose cutting claws are coated in near-luminous hair. These extend three inches--half their body length--forward from their main shell, from which their reamining eight over-articulated legs riot outwards, between which a cancerous mass of eyes peer dimly out. The shell under whose rim these endless eyes squint slopes thickly back, glinting with specks of the same gold of the clawhairs, but otherwise the rude black of unworked iron dominates their greigite-based exokeleton. They do not know permanence, as they are migrants to these waters, but they are fully bound to the seafloor.
For this reason, the siliike have ruled Raconensae since the Kiwa arrived - their mobility granted them power, and the Kiwa could not compete. Mostly, this just means that the Kiwa survive by eating and providing labor, while the siliike hunt, party, and feast.
Spoiler: Resources
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Export: Rust-Veined Pumice. The dying scraps of the anemones often drift beneath the seafloor, beyond the grasping reach of the Kiwa. As they decay, they release a foul gas that is trapped within the roiling, half-molten rock far below. As the floor shifts, chunks of this pumise rise, carried on currents, to heights from which normal folks can harvest them.
Import: Drugs. The strisii are hedonists.
Spoiler: Faith
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Kiwa wished on an Ancient scales
And that's what started Ancient Tails
Around the sea the Strisi swim
But the kiwa offered up their hymn:
They in chorus sang about their lieges' tails
Now their religion can never fail
Ancient Tails, Ancient Tails
It's long past time for Ancient Tails
Come along and take my fin
Let's all sing our Ancient Hymn
The faith is simple, grocking isn't too hard
You feel envy for tails, they're your favorite part
They look so majestic in the waters above
And they're the only thing that the Kiwa love
Ancient Tails, Ancient Tails
It's long past time for Ancient Tails
Come along and take my fin
Let's all sing our Ancient Hymn
Ancient Tails, Ancient Tails
It's long past time for Ancient Tails
Come along and take my fin
Let's all sing our Ancient Hymn
The holy sites are as follows
The Spire: A towering, spiraling column of crystal and anemones that juts out of the ocean floor. It is surrounded by a swirling mass of grit, scraps of biomass, and pumice. The lighter pumice floats ever up, while the biomass sinks slowly to the waiting claws of the Kiwa.
The Stillness: A pocket of warm, stagnant water that is formed between two dense patches of crystal sits nearly at the center of Raconensae, the Stillness is a meditative paradise. It is quiet, calm, pleasant, dark, and enclosed, free of distractions and cut off from the demands of the world.
Mortuus Marea [Region 60]
(Italics indicate Lumaeus' original writeup. It is still relevant for the history, but is simply marked for the sake of identifying that which is current and that which died with the Riftborn)
Spoiler: Thalassography: The Dead Seas
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The abyssal polar seas are naturally sparser than shallower or warmer waters. A moonscape which spends much of the year under an ice sheet, it rarely enjoys the bounty of even plankton-fall, much less fish- or whale-fall. The seafloor is in great part vast stretches of broken rock and crooked cliff, without a single bottom feeder or algaeic speck in site. But even this dead land holds life. Follow the coldest currents as they sweep over the precipice and down into oblivion itself, sink past the reach of the feeble gods of yesteryear, and hold on to your body and mind as the pressure and darkness try each, and there you will find the Great Mother. Sheltered deep below the sea floor, the Mother breathes life even into this desolation. She touches the sullen seabed from below, and lifegiving heat and energy erupt for her children.
Spoiler: People: The Riftlings Many, The Old Fathers, and the Youngest
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At each Maternal Font, the Old Fathers cluster, noble monoliths blessed with eternal life. Great tubes, they stretch from the seafloor in their great congregation, striving up two to four meters in height. Their mouths wide, they drink of the gifts and the wisdom gifted from below. Here, they commune with the Mother, and in their wisdom, consider perpetually. They speak in a language beyond our ken, and only their chosen prophet, the Youngest, serves as a bridge between the Mother’s chosen and the Riftlings Many. He rules so long as he is ordained to. When the Mother next elects a Father from among us, and he takes root as the new Youngest, the newest of the Old Fathers falls silent to the inchoate Riftlings Many and communes fully with his peers.
And so we, the Riftlings Many, know the will of the divine. We are birthed by the Fathers of the Mother, and we are numberless. Once, it is told us, we were individual, cosmically isolated larvae who knew nothing but to feed and flee. We were little more than the broken pebbles of the seabed below, and we knew no meaning. But the Mother took pity upon us, and the Fathers gave us the trailing edge of the secret of the Eternal Communion. Where we were alone, we now are multitude. Each cluster of the Riftlings Many holds in its amorphous cloud a unified consciousness, the individual Riftlings which compose it joining or dying without great shift so long as the cluster lives. While each Riftling is a near-microscopic speck, little more than flagella and mouth, the clusters that assume a united personhood are amorphous clouds composed of the Many. Unclothed are we, for the children of the Mother need know no shame, but each cluster has its own patterns, an ever shifting inventory of forms which are particular to it. To the isolated species the Fathers say the world once knew, we might appear to be individuals, clouds of shapes and roils each singular and each distinct. But we know that we are the Riftlings Many, and each cluster honors its millions and millions of constituent polyps.
The Fathers say that the Dead Seas, which have so long protected us against incursion, now shift with new currents. Something stirs beyond. And so we prepare. We send clusters to seek means of survival beyond the Mother’s aegis. We stockpile the precious breath She gives. We have been granted greater communion with each other, and are tasked to preserve our place in a shifting sea.
Now, though, the Dead Seas are ruled by the Doflein. Yes, the Riftborn still exist in colonies in their millions. But the Dead Seas are now a colony of undesirables. The leftover Carstalts, the Kiwa, the broken Mer, each struggling to survive in what was once dead. The Doflein encourage growth, agriculture, and commerce, but the natives and immigrants alike are a shattered people. The loss of the Wonderwall saw the departure of the greatest collection of biomass, and the remainder flounders, propped up merely by Enneii demands. Death is, in Ennead policy, a luxury for the farmers of the Mortuus Marea. As prisoners, outcasts, exiles, criminals, and impoverished continue to flee here, though, its capabilities grow, promising to one day rebuild the waters around the rift into something functional.
Spoiler: Resource: Fertile Soil in plenty, dearth of Toxins
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The Old Fathers feed from the blessings of the Maternal Fonts, and the remnants of these blessings mound up into rich deposits of Fertile Soil around their shrines. These must be carefully tended by the Riftlings Many, for even in this moonscape, protected all around by the Dead Seas, foreign life threatens to take root here. These resources are blessings of the Mother, but they threaten always to burst into flourish. It is a blessing to have labor.
The Great Mother bestows upon us life, but the maintenance of the Dead Seas falls upon us. With diplomats, raiders, and traders threatening to seed new life in our waters, we seek poisons to sterilize our soils and to cleanse our waters of any life but the clouds of the Riftlings Many.
With the care of the soil passed down to the new inhabitants of the waters, it is guided into function for the Ennead. This soil can produce food in other regions. It can grow fiber and materials. Toxins, though, are required to keep the soil clear within the Mortuus Marea. It is to be used where it is needed, and it is not needed here.
Spoiler: Faith: The Eternal Communion
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There is but one faith in the Dead Seas, for we are all born by the Fathers of the Mother and we know the breath of our Creator. The Eternal Communion of the Old Fathers, both with each other and the Mother Herself, is the highest existence and goal to be striven for. We Riftlings Many have been given the secret of such communion, and in our clusters, we are made more than the individual. The greatest horror would be to know existence as an isolate, distinct and distinguished from our cluster. That the Youngest bears this burden is his great sacrifice, and the tragedy of election. But it is through that suffering that our leader enters into the Eternal Communion proper.
Foreign species, it is said, often manifest as isolates, thinking themselves apart and knowing themselves alone. But for the Great Mother, who is whole in Herself and even then holds communion with the Old Fathers, this existence is a broken one. These ruined races are not to be reviled as blasphemous, but pitied in their perdition.
Spoiler: Holy Sites: The True Deep, The Mother's Reach, the Stygian Flow
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Each of the Maternal Fonts is held as sacred, but the heart of the Dead Seas and the doorstep of the Mother’s own realm is the True Deep, our holiest site. An abyss within the abyss, the world simply stops, and a roughly circular void opens to deeps extending beyond sanity. The Old Fathers cluster at the rim, and the Ancient Ones cling to the sides so far down as even they can bear the pressure.
From the nine edges of this circle, the Cardinal Rifts stretch, and the greatest of these is the second holy site of the Dead Seas: the Mother’s Reach. Though the rift itself slowly closes over a dozen leagues, it points to the longest seam of Maternal Fonts we know. The Fathers who cluster along the Reach are favored above all but the Ancient Ones.
With the expulsion of the Riftborn, the True Deep and Mother's Reach are inhabited by a mere remnant of polyps, immitating their once-leadership in a sorry display of something that might be misconstrued as mourning by those unaccustomed to these strange creatures.
The third holy site is also argued to be the unholiest site. The Stygian Flow trickles from [the land above/ruins of a lost age if no land around], creating a zone of such total toxicity that no life can pass through. Though the toxins break down rapidly in the sea and cannot be captured or used, it nonetheless serves as a promise of the future maintenance of the Dead Seas. Some, however, say that any blessing not from the Mother is a false one, and that to turn our gaze from Below will bring only deserved damnation, and individual isolation instead of isolated communion.
Calvarnsis Superior (Region 185)
Spoiler: Thalassography
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A yet to be discovered cause, a mystery still for obvious reasons, sees within the eastern edge of the desolate waters near Calvarnsis a fast flowing, if intermittent, current. This current carries barren water into Calvarnsis, where its cool temperatures can be felt along the seafloor. Just before the sands of Calvarnsis begin their sharp descent into the Inferior region of the territory, though, is a huge, wave-like wall of stone now called the Praesegia, covered from base to tip in red and green coral. This stone shelf is wide enough to catch the undertow of wastewater and force it back into itself, creating a small strip of ocean that is horridly dangerous for any creature. Those that can survive being dragged along jagged coral growths several times at high speed are sucked below into the Furnace. The high pressure system forged for itself a series of outlets in the form of tunnels carved into the sands and stone at the base of the Praesegia, which disappear from all living awareness. All that is known of what disappears into these holes is that the water comes back above the seafloor in Calvarnsis Inferior, superheated, sterilized, and purified.
Away from the Praesegia, much of Calvarnsis Superior is rolling hills, groves of thick help surrounded by protective rock formations, and, along the northeastern border, a series of caves formed from layers of calcified flesh, accreted from the horrors of nearby waters.
Spoiler: People, Government, History
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When the Pepsin arrived, a mere handful of intelligent natives were present. Each was a religious or philosophical ascetic, living alone or in small hermitage clusters. The astounding beauty of the native fauna has led a number of such communities and hermits to live here. Often, they merely wished to enjoy the peace that comes with natural beauty. Some sought meaning in the patterns of the fish, not knowing that they arrived at entirely the wrong destination for that purpose.
As Confederacy merchants began taking hold of the valuable coral along the Praesegia, they found another pocket of life - the agents of the Nacres had set up shop already, though there was plenty of coral to share.
With the arrival of the Ennead, some level of structure was applied to the region. The hermitages, often located in strategically valuable locations, became the centers of permanent settlements. The wondrous creatures of Calvarnsis are beginning to be herded - the open, unspoiled nature of the region lends itself well to Ennead pastoralism, and the simple, absurd variety of local wildlife is promising in terms of potential grafting projects.
Spoiler: Resources
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Export: Crafter's Coral. The coral of the Praesegia is hard and fast-growing, but easily guided into molds as it grows. It can take nearly any shape, and the chaotic waters nearby keep any one colony from exerting too much influence, so huge varieties of specialized tools can come from one location. Nearly every colony has some distinct characteristic, though most of the Crafter's Coral tends to a bright red or green color.
Import: Exotic Goods. The new settlers of Calvarnsis were lured by the promise of weird fish. Between the hermits, the Glossnians, the Doflein, the Nacres, and the Pepsin, the people here hail from every corner of the ocean. Now, though, they miss the peculiarities of their homes.
Spoiler: Faith
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The only unifying philosophy that has been present in Calvarnsis Superior has been the Eternal Communion. Prior to the Riftborn making themselves known, the scattered merchants, philosophers, and ascetics held beliefs that were as individual as they were.
Wavecrest: The peak of the Praesegia is home to a rustic temple complex, once a tiny commune. The views of, on either side, the maelstrom of the Furnace and the calm depths of Calvarnsis Inferior, are a juxtaposition that can see one lost for hours in contemplation. The twinned abyss was naturally claimed by the Eternal Communion as a site of holy relevance, and the support of the Enneii made this claim irrefutable by those who once called the peak home.
Calvarnsis Inferior (Region 186)
Spoiler: Thalassography
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Calvarnsis Inferior is a region of two dichotomous zones. At the higher levels, one can find an abundance of life. Creatures travel through this narrow corridor between currents antithetical to life to the east and west in order to reach mating, nesting, and feeding grounds to the north or south. The waters here are a resting place for many, as swirls of stone columns reach nearly to the surface from the depths, pocked with caves. They are also replete with drifting bits of decomposing flesh from below, creating a food chain from the smallest of scavengers to the largest predators in a constant dance around the spires.
At the lowest level, the seafloor is death. Bones lie in piles and heaps. They fill depressions, coat rises, and layer on each other in an orgy of off-white angles and curves. Mammoth seal graveyards dot the seascape - stretches where tusks jutting from mer-sized skulls rest in generational mounds. The bases of the spires are carved into long, looping curls which guide the currents into strange, spiraling spouts. Between the pillars, the sands slowly shift beneath the bones, emitting bursts of scalding hot water that form the catalyst for the updrafts which send to the gathering place above the buffet of half-rotted flesh.
Spoiler: People, Government, History
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The few Glossian settlers in Calvarnsis Inferior are under the command of Skipper Lera Celadon when the Enneii arrive. They are not a military power, no matter their fervor and dedication to the cause. The existing structures, mostly in place to exist among the spires and plumb the depths, are coopted by new governors from Danabae. The Shades and Mer from the north are kept as experts; local guides, zoologists, and oceanographers. The Enneii, though, establish their usual pattern of governance, with the Doflein profiting off the labor of everyone else. The Skipper is given a role as an assistant to the regional overseer, trusted with being the liaison between the Enneii and the Glossian remnants. The Cyphiri are treated as being under the Skipper's jurisdiction as well - Lera and her plodding mammoth-mounted patrols are the connective tissue of the region, and the Ennead is not so foolish as to upend that.
Spoiler: Resources
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Export: Mammoth Seals. Mammoth seals are large, furry seals with a set of razor-sharp tusks jutting from their lower jaw. They tend toward brown and grey, though their young are often nearly black. They have thick ridges of muscle along their backs, making them slow swimmers but giving their necks prodigious strength. Mammoth Seals are found all across the chilly waters of the south, though they are rarely found in groups of more than a dozen. Here, though, one can find the focal point of all of their migrations, the site at which every herd eventually can be found - and hunted. Current prevailing theories suggest that the seals have some level of reverence for their dead, a suggestion backed up by the presence of a nearly concerning concentration of mammoth seal corpses in the depths. Some exciteable settlers even claim that they've seen the seal dragging corpses to the region and gathering to see them sink below.
Import: Glass. The constant influx of migrating animals, swirling debris from below, and shifting currents are a feast for the senses. The original colonial shades found difficulty in creating lures for the beasts - nothing stood out amidst this sea of color, sound, and physical sensations. Eventually, though, a technique was developed that hinged on weaving massed webs of netting, coated in fine shards of glass, patterned such that the reflected light mirrored the common refractions the creatures might see when swimming in the right directions.
Spoiler: Faith
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The few colonials of the Lux-Glossnian Shades brought with them a version of the Flowing Way that emphasizes one's unique tie to the threads of reality. Individualism is prized and self-exploration is almost as holy as the thalassographic variety.
The Osseum: Deep in the crevices of Calvarnsis, a particular valley holds the Osseum. This structure is a long, tall triangle of massive rib bones interwoven with a variety of smaller, finer bones to create the illusions of a web. Within, a large vent keeps the waters warm and the ceiling charred black. It is considered a blessing if one leaves the Osseum with minor burns. As it currently stands, the Eternal Communion adherents often find that meditation within a structure built of death that is fed with the very lifeblood of the planet can be a profound experience, and many a Kiwa or Mer proudly bears the burns of the Osseum when they return home from a pilgrimage here.
Re: Empire!7 - Into the Depths: Waters of the World (CWBG)
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