[center][h2]Phosphoros[/h2]

[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Triumph_of_Achilles_in_Corfu_Achilleion_cropped_color_enhanced_white_balanced.png/800px-Triumph_of_Achilles_in_Corfu_Achilleion_cropped_color_enhanced_white_balanced.png[/img]

[i]“By my blood … and those before me.”[/i]
-Mennonite warrior’s oath[/center]
[hr]
    In an age lost to time, a great mountain once dwarfed these lands - lands inhabited by the ancients, corpulent and arrogant. They raised their civilizations under the shadow of this mountain and warred, drank, fucked and prospered… for a time. Their magics and excesses upset the mountain, corruption at its feet, and tolerated it no longer. A great eruption, the Omega, drenched the land in ash and fire. 
    The once-great ancients perished to a man, leaving behind their ruined temples and monoliths.For many years, the clouds of ash choked the life from anything foolish enough to linger. But it eventually settled, turning the land rich with minerals. The Omega reformed the geography into a massive plain, ringed with volcanic ranges - a land we call the Cradle. 
    Nowadays, life has returned to the Cradle and the great mountain stands no longer. Five nations thrive within its boundaries, sometimes competing, at others coexisting. The greatest and most warlike of these, Kothar, marches on its neighbor Mennon, intending to break the back of its alliance with the western nations for good. It is the largest offensive seen in centuries.
    As if this were not the worst of it, the magic of the ancients did not die out with its creators. In the shadows of the Cradle, dark things lurk unseen. Crypts are nesting places for horrors, children are snatched in the dead of night, shadows descend on caravans that are never seen again. 
    Legends tell of men and women of great ability, strength and character rising against such adversaries and emerging victorious. In times of need it is said they will appear, rising against insurmountable odds and bringing balance to the Cradle. If there was a time to make themselves known, now would be it.

[center][i]It is a time of war, a time of monsters, but most of all, a time of heroes.[/i][/center]
[hr]
Welcome! This RP revolves around the volcanic plains of the Cradle, a bountiful, yet dangerous land of war, monsters, magic and myth. The story takes place in the midst of a war between the kingdoms of Kothar and Mennon, and threatens to drag neighboring states into the fighting. As the war rages, ancient creatures stir in long-forgotten tombs, awoken by the scent of blood and ancient magics that linger, cast by long-dead civilizations. You will step into the shoes of a great individual, akin to a classical hero, their companions or any other gifted persona. The RP will take you on a journey across the breadth of the Cradle and into the heart of Kothar - your deeds etched into legend and your spear into the heart of your enemies.

[center]The Story Begins…

The forces of Kothar have marched across the border into Mennon, pennons flying, horns blaring. Already, they are poised to capture the western plains. Great camps have been erected and soldiers wait for the orders that will launch the next offensive. Rumors have circulated through the ranks of a foreign sorcerer having been seen close to the frontlines. These align with whispers of strange lights emanating from ancient ruins along the plains, near battlegrounds. Some say this is the cause of the odd, recent tremors across the plains. The elders of Roshad worry this sorcerer is seeking a way to tap into the ancient magics below. Doing so could awaken horrors that are better left undisturbed. 

A great hero of renown is gathering likeminded adventurers in a small Mennon town. A band of argonauts of many backgrounds and ambitions have gathered at his call to bring challenge to the dark wizard. Why you choose to go is up to you, but this hero has explained that the sorcerer intends to awaken and wield a great power, capable of many god-like feats. This power is said to have a range of effects, such as granting immortality, making the Darklands hospitable, turning the Cradle into a utopia, among oter things. However, you are told the sorcerer likely plans to make himself into an all powerful god over the Cradle, turning the lands into his personal playground of terrible and unlimited power.

Your characters could join this hero for any reason: to slay the sorcerer and destroy this power none should have, to use it for good, to use it for yourself, whatever you wish, so long as it brings you all down this path together.[/center]

[hider=Map of the Cradle & Geography]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5pjanr7.jpg[/img]

The Cradle is the vast plain created by the Omega - the eruption of the great volcano that once stood guard over this land. The Cradle is ringed by volcanic mountains, known as the Brimlands. These mountains are littered with ancient ruins and terrible happenings, an almost - if not forbidden - area among most intelligent peoples. Beyond the Brimlands is the Darklands, a place where man has not stood since he first escaped the void and established civilization in the Cradle. One can only speculate the Darklands are still as terrible and horrifying as they were during the age of ash, from which we construct myth and legend in attempt to understand such an enigmatic land.

The Cradle itself is dominated by a fertile plain, mostly under the banner of Mennon, the people of the horse. To the southeast, near the Silesia and Kothar border there are immense sprouts of geysers and giant lakes, products of the Omega. Far northwest, deep in the territory of the Roshad, there are nigh impenetrable dark forests, filled with wildlife both known and abnormal. It is not unusual for tales of monsters to wander here from the Brimlands and take up residency to the detriment of local life. To the northeast of Mennon are the badlands of Baccum, a rough, arid place were law seems to have died along with civilization. Sane men do not go there (But we are not sane men!).[/hider]

[center]Civilizations of the Cradle[/center]
[hider=Kothar]This is the most warlike of the Cradle’s civilizations, and is frequently at odds with its neighbor, Mennon. Several historical incursions have only been defeated by the combined effort of several states. Kothar has annexed smaller tribes in the past, growing fat on tribute from these peoples. Its soldiers are very disciplined and well-armed. Kothar pioneered the dreaded pike phalanx, specifically to counter the cavalry of Mennon. The martial inclination of Kothar has bred many heroic personas, and many more of its people aspire to their legendary status. The denizens of Kothar believe in a manifest destiny to conquer all of the Cradle. 

Kothar was formerly a loose collection of city-states, each ruled by its own warlord. These city-states were as likely to fight each other as foreign civilizations, each vying for supremacy. It was only the conquest of Phedas the Great that brought them under a single banner. Since then, Kothar has evolved into a unitary state, dominated by a ruler called the Archon. The Archon’s position is often, but not always hereditary. Some warlords are elevated to the station by their peers on account of merit and reputation. On a local level, villages and towns are governed by elected officials, who report to the warlord who holds power in their respective province.  

Kotharans worship a single deity, known as Lekos. Formerly, each city-state had its own patron god, but belief in these was abolished after Phedas’s conquest. The patron god of Phedas’s city-state, Thedus, was deemed the only deity fit to revere. Lekos is a stern and martially-inclined figure. He represents war - both physical prowess and strategy - and purity of body and spirit. His symbol is a burning torch - just as fire devours everything it touches, Kothar’s might devours lesser civilizations. “Purity through fire,” is a common Kotharan motto. Fire is so and such revered that executions are often done through drowning, deeming the criminal unworthy of a cleansing fire, which often is used on the respectfully deceased. 

In Kotharan society, masculinity is aspired to by both sexes. Both males and females hold traits in high regard that other cultures might reserve for men: physical strength, mental fortitude and acuity, fighting prowess, hard work and the ability to provide for one’s family and society at large. This results in a largely egalitarian society, as both sexes have the same rights and privileges. Women are allowed to own property, fight as soldiers and participate in athletic competitions. It isn’t uncommon to see women performing “masculine” jobs, like smithing, construction and other physical labor. When it comes to family, it is the women who actually do the lion’s share of running the household. Childbearing is an important motherly duty, but raising an infant from birth to adulthood is a burden shared equally by the mother and father. Homosexuality is not strictly taboo, but same-sex relationships do not hold the same weight as heterosexual marriage. Birthing the next generation is regarded as a duty, one strained by a same-sex-couple’s inability to reproduce. 

Kotharans favor simple, drapey clothing. An undergarment and cloak of linen or wool, fastened with bronze clasps or pins is common attire. Little distinction is made between male and female fashions. Kothar’s appreciation of the human body is apparent in the meticulous wrapping of clothes around the body, to accentuate the wearer’s form. Fabrics are often gossamer or transparent, plain white or accented with very basic colors. Sandals are worn on the feet in public, and Kotharans are usually barefoot at home.[/hider]    

[hider=Roshad]Insulated from the armies of Koshar by the other Cradle states, Roshad boasts the most learned academics of them all. It is known for its great library of texts uncovered from pre-eruption ruins, and has sent many expeditions into these depths. Roshadite culture revolves around astronomy, and their rituals and ceremonies align with certain stars and calendar dates. Outsiders view these customs with some suspicion, quick to blame sorcery and dark rites. The Roshadite pantheon is an integral facet of their artwork, the most famous of which are the great stone heads and ziggurats that feature so prominently in their lands.  

Roshad attire tends to be tight and close to the body, with various tanned skins and furs being the medium. As the winter grows and the summer shrinks, brilliant cloaks and capes come out of the wardrobe to dazzle the whitening world, with each families eldest bearing the familial cloak, an ancient tapestry depicting the families greatest moments, or most dire situations. These tapestries are threaded with the best materials the family can afford, and every new name is stitched with care. The greatest insult is to be removed from your families cloak. 
Beyond the cloaks of winter, the scholars and temple priests of Roshad are known to wear totem-like hats during ceremony, so that their very gods may watch over them during the most sensitive of times.

Roshad’s mighty walled cities of Ziggurats and statues are ruled by a complicated web of individuals, where a Patron assumes responsibility for all the males of the city, where as he is supposed to present the perfect role model for the male citizens and instruct the city on male social cues. Likewise there is also a Matron to represent all the females of the city, and to serve as a role model. These elected individuals join a city wide council of further politicians, including the temple priests, who inherit their spiritual position from their parents, and the city “Thinker” a esteemed position that presides over all meeting, represents the city during intercity relations, and is to act as an unbiased voice.

The Thinker is chosen from the cities Library harems, a large pool of esteemed men and women deemed capable of producing gifted offspring. While these people live ordinary Roshad lives, their children are continuously inspected from birth to determine if they will be eligible to be the next Thinker, a life long position. Those who don’t make it tend to either become matrons, patrons, or a respected and educated member of the city, and often joining the harem themselves. Admittance to the harem is done through inspection by the priest caste on the applicants, with the priest caste unable to apply themselves. 

Unlike most of the other civilizations, Roshad has a very rigorous marriage system to match their complex political make up. Families often have written ledgers depicting their family trees and all its accomplishments to go along with their cloaks. The point of this is that during proposals of marriage, the couple must present themselves to the matron and patron, while the two families debate on if the union will produce great children, or not. Because of this, people with bigger, grander family ledgers have a better time finding spouses, than those who have subpar, or a stained family.

Along with marriage and politics, religion also plays a mighty role in Roshad society. Ever since the dawn of time, the leader of the Roshadite gods, Zxorel of the Stars, has promoted research, study and knowledge. It is written on the stone figures of the land and told in the skies that people were birthed to advance, and learn, at all costs. And so the priests look to the skies to learn the will of Zxorel and the other deities, and the people look to the books and artifacts stored in the great libraries for the duty of mortals in their studies. Virtue is measured by intelligence, and any activity that showcases it is encouraged.[/hider]

[hider=Mennon]Mennon sits in the heartland of the Cradle, where the soil is most fertile. It has has born the brunt of many Kothar offensives throughout history, and has been the de facto leader of military alliances to counter its attacks. It has strong agriculture, thanks to the volcanic minerals, and a long-standing tradition of horsemanship. Like the Kothar, the Mennonites place emphasis on martial tradition and prowess. 

Mennonite society is built upon a feudal system. A monarch sits at the head, who governs via local barons and officials. In turn, these local rulers employ a class of minor landowning nobles, called kestaphos, to manage estates and strips of land. The kestaphos have been romanticized in song and legend, and are well known even outside Mennon. These warriors ride the best horses, armed in lamellar, with spears, bows and round shields. They decorate the shafts of their spears with colorful ribbons, signifying their households and deeds. They are trained in the use of a special weapon - the chakram. They carry these in special sleeves on their non-dominant arm, and can draw and throw these in the heat of battle with mere flicks of the wrist.

Mennonite religion revolves around ancestor veneration and the worship of folk deities, often great quasi-historical figures immortalized in legend. Mennonites are strongly inclined towards filial piety and honoring the deeds of their elders. This is, in part, due to one’s parents being responsible for their birth, tending and raising, which demands thanks and respect. Mennonites sacrifice food, totems that represent earthly goods and possessions to their ancestors, to ensure their wellbeing in the afterlife. They burn long strands of incense so that their prayers drift to the heavens in the smoke. 

The two most widely-revered deities are Shemael and Alkon. Shemael is the de facto ‘folk hero’ of Mennonite society. A legendary warrior alive during the first foray into the Cradle, Shemael led the ancestors of the Mennonites in conquest of the plains, laying the foundation for their civilization. Shemael is usually depicted in a gleaming, gold lamellar coat, with the enchanted spear, Pilka. He sits on Kephael, a steed of pure white. When the sky thunders, Mennonites attribute the sound to Kephael charging across the heavens. 
The god Alkon is a descendant of Shemael, a mighty general of the first war against Kothar. Alkon was known for his guile, rather than his strength - it was his crafty tactics and gift of wit that outmaneuvered the Kothar and pushed them out of Mennonite territory. He is also considered a god of fortune in some parts of the country, who arrived in the nick of time to turn away misfortune. 

Due to Mennon’s feudal system, there exists a wide disparity between rich and poor classes. The overwhelming bulk of the population falls under the former - serfs and peasants that work in exchange for their lord’s protection. They subsist on simple foods, like grains and vegetables, eating meats and savory dishes on rare occasions. Wealthy nobles, on the other hand, eat gamey meats often - the spoils of hunts and delicacies imported from abroad. The peasantry will be called to arms in times of war, each lord having a quota of armed men to meet when called to muster. This has had mixed results, as many peasants march off with little or no combat experience. Some nobles have taken to training and employing professional soldiers in their rosters to circumvent this problem, though this has not caught on everywhere. As such, the quality of Mennonite armies is often said to only be as good as the weakest noble.  

Mennonites dress themselves in spun wool, often uncolored or matching the palette of the plains they call home, with dull greens and light browns. Hats are often fashioned from skulls of predatory animals and ringed with flaps of fur, with the most popular and rare being that of the yusin, a dangerous six legged wolf like beast that forms the nightmares of shepherds and misbehaved children alike.[/hider]

[hider=Silesia]Silesia is the he southernmost nation. Ruled not by kings, but by a confederation of representatives from each of its major tribes. A strong mercantile power, blessed with mineral deposits of gold and salt as well as most of the few rivers and lakes in the Cradle. Known for its archers and light troops, Silesia has adopted the military tradition of arming two bowmen for every spear. Mennonite grain is ground into flour via watermill and sold for profit.

Silesia dress is telling of their environment, with their area in the cradle having hotter summers than the others, head wraps and flowing loose fit clothing has remained fashionable throughout its existence. Bright colors are common, with cooler colors being favored. A rich Silesian can be picked out from a crowd, as they will no doubt be dressed in bleached linen robes, blue sashes and headwraps, while also being complimented with plentiful golden jewelry, crafted with the geometric art style of the Sileseans.

Silesian government is upset with you and your decisions, get a job. Silesian government is of course, a confederacy of tribes working on cohesion. Each tribe is represented by the tribal leader, which could be a petty king, an elder, or an elected official. Every tribe has the right to its own form of government so long as they are loyal to the confederacy as a whole.

Disagreements among tribes do rise, and are often solved by the confederacy but there are occasions where tribes attempt to cut off from the confederacy, or cause brief civil wars. These conflicts are often resolved through trade embargoes or swift and brutal retaliation by allied tribes to ensure a quick conflict rather than a long war. The threat of brutal punishment acts as a strong deterrent, keeping would be upstarts in their place. One of the most famous examples was Jurrod the Bloodied, a young man who murdered his father to take control of one of the larger tribes of Silesea, but upon disregarding the confederacy and attempting to set himself up as the sovereign of Silesea, the confederacy broke down his walls, stormed his towns, and slaughtered the first born of every family and all who got in their way. Jurrod himself was sacked by his own people after the atrocities, and his body was offered to the confederacy in hopes for forgiveness.

While Silesian politics could be considered brutal, their day to day life is among the most comfortable in the cradle, with the vast mercantilism of the limestone built Silesian cities offering the best of resources to anyone who could afford them. The wealthy rarely labour, and even the poor have decent living quarters and available food in comparison to the poor of other nations, however this overabundance often brings in more people than the towns can handle, and while the native born lower class can still experience the care of Silesian mercantilism, foreigners are often stuck living in shack towns outside the settlements. 

Silesian food is considered the most colorful and flavorful in the cradle, with Roshadite coming in at a hot (very hot) second. Silesians use many spices and natural sweeteners on their foods, giving their palate very savory dinners, and very rich desserts, often consisting of chocolates and cinnamon baked into fluffy cakes. The most popular dessert happens to be what the Silesians call “Jil’shuk” which is old tongue for lucky plums. A lucky plum is a dried plum baked into a chocolate bread and then rolled in sugar and cinnamon, often wrapped in a thin cloth until ready to be consumed. 

Silesians worship a single god, and unlike Kothar, their monotheistic representation of God does not have a anthropomorphic design or motivation. The Silesian God, Ill’llii, is often depicted as an arrangement of geometrical shapes that are considered “infinite” to represent the omnipotent nature of Ill’llii. 

Ill’llii is the creator of all, and of course is all knowing, having decided the course of history at the very beginning of time. In Silesian myth and religion, life and existence is purely those of the mortal realms chance at creating themselves to the point of being ready to experience the greater realm after this life ends. Being ready means to fulfill and embody the virtues of Ill’llii-ism: generosity, humility, compassion, wisdom, honesty and faith. Those who fall short at the end of their lives and give into the vice’s of pride, dishonesty, greed, foolishness and wrath are doomed to repeat life, born into increasingly difficult situations as per the depths of their fallacy until they finally redeem themselves.

Of course the Silesians are not without guidance, and often convene in great assemblies called Op’kil where the priest of Ill’llii leads the assembly through the various teachings of Ill’llii that were given to the mortals through a myriad of prophets and wisemen over the ages.[/hider] 

[hider=Baccum]Little is known about the Baccum. They are a private civilization that little have the desire to interact with. Among the other civilizations they present themselves nearly naked, covered in tattoos and with their wiry, animalistic muscles decorated with purposeful scarring. Often rumors appear about cannibalism and other barbaric acts in their often untouched lands, their representatives are uneager to dispel the rumors. From the outside they seem an unintelligent people of hunting and infighting, but others speculate it is simply a facade, a grand illusion to keep the others at bay, and if this is true, it has worked. 

Those who do know the secrets of the Baccum know that it is indeed a farce. While outwardly the people seem dangerous and unattractive to be near, in truth it is simply to be left alone. Baccum people own a very rich and diverse culture based around spiritualism, shamanism and dreams, and are willing to do anything to protect it from the tampering of the outside, a dangerous mixture they had endured too many times by the hands of the Kothar. 


The Baccumese are organized into separate tribes only linked together by a common culture, and these tribes are then separated into two categories, nomadic and settled. The settled Baccumese tribes tend to live in cliffside adobe homes stacked on top of each other in the arid badlands. This type of settlement in which the homes are only accessible by ladders make them perfect protection against invaders and the violent wildlife alike. 

Some examples of the terrible beasts often found in the badlands include bizarre monsters that have escaped the brimlands, as well as native beasts such as the feared gorrak, a scaly pack animal that is best described as an reptilian emu bearing three snake like heads packed with deadly venom that causes a terrible sickness and ultimately death.

The nomadic Baccumese tribes focus on moving quickly to follow the prey that they hunt while avoiding the creatures that hunt them. They use quickly disassembled yurts made of wooden beams and the hides of their kills. To transport their supplies, the Baccumese have domesticated a local beast of burden, the Quallin. A Quallin is a large four legged mammal with bristle, almost hedgehog like fur and a long slim face, equipped with a tactile trunk the length and strength of a grown man’s arm. A grown quallin is about as tall as an adult human, and about two and a half meters long, not including their spiny tail which runs about another half meter. The Baccumese sattle the animal by putting tanned hides on their back and sides, as to pat down the bristled defenses of the beast. Quallin are remarked as tough, strong animals and require very little upkeep due to their natural adaptation to the badlands and survive on grains and fruit. 

All Baccumese tribes are united by their culture, which is a rich heritage of shamanism, as well as isolationism from other cultures. They regularly tattoo and scar themselves to give their warriors a grotesque appearance as to cause discomfort among outsiders, and emphasize fear of the unknown as their greatest weapon on intruders. 

Their tribes are small, and tend to be governed by the elders of each family, as well as the dedicated spiritual leader, the Shaman. The shaman’s role is to ensure every member of the tribe is healthy, both physically, mentally and spiritually. To do this the Shaman utilizes herbs for both medicine and hallucinogenic drugs. 

Drugs are often used by the shaman to bring patients into a dream state, or to consult the dream gods. The reasoning behind this is the fundamental belief in the significance of dreams and the subconscious. Dreams are listened to with great care by the shaman, who is often found hearing the dreams of the tribe as well as their own. Often dreams are used as means of decision among the tribal leaders or are consulted in times of trouble.

The shaman has learned through the stories of those before them the meanings of different objects in each dream, and is the sole authority on deciphering them and the words of the dream gods. 

Each tribe has their own rendition of the dream gods, with some even being remarkable ancestors of the tribe long ago, but almost all of them appear as the animals or object that represents them in dreams. Some notable figures are Teccum, the desert snake, figure of misfortune and trickery, Kalpii, the secretary-bird, enemy of Teccum and figure of protection and wellbeing, Lymnu the Hippo, figure of harvest and famine, and Uiyo, the white Scorpion, the figure of death and the afterlife. 

In regards to death, the Baccumese treat it with great respect and perform massive rituals and ceremonies for their deceased, in hopes that Uiyo will find the deceased suitable enough to bring the dead’s dream soul back to the dreamlands to rest and wait for rebirth.

Recently, a cult of blood magic users have attempted to infiltrate the deep set spirituality of the Baccumese, and with mixed results. While some more desperate tribes bend to the idea of the Cult of Mara, others find it grotesque and disrespectful, some even going so far to describe it as a terrible evil akin to what is birthed under the Brimlands. The emergence has caused intense conflict among the very traditional people that are the Baccumese.

[hider=Baccumese Gods Expanded]
[b]Ukufila the Dung beetle[/b] -- Ukufila represents new birth as well as the continuation of life. Friend of Kalpii, signs of Ukufila are often taken as a blessing, especially after the death of loved one or before a birth, for the dreamer can rest easy knowing that Ukufila has them safely in their grasp, to be contentiously moved through the dreaming in bliss until their renewal or on a safe delivery to the mortal realm where Kalpii awaits their arrival. 

Ukufila and Uiyo were born at the same time in the dreaming, and while childhood friends as well as brothers, when time came to decide who would bring the dream souls back to the dreaming from the mortal realm and who would endlessly move them through the dreaming, the two entered a contest. Teccum aided Uiyo in fooling Ukufila by inviting Ifu and the other elders of the dreaming to watch the competition, while advising Uiyo to test Ukufila's ability in strength and endurance rather than the guile and charisma needed in the mortal realm. 

Uiyo decided that the challenge would be to roll a massive boulder from one end of the dreaming to the other, and back again, to which when Ukufila completed the task with ease, Uiyo was merely beginning. The words of Teccum slithered in the ears of Ifu, Isihlahla and the Elders, and it was decided. Ukufila was indeed the strongest, most induring spirit of the Dreaming, and this it was only rightfully so he be tasked with moving the souls through the dreaming, granting Uiyo the coveted position of being the intermediate between the mortal realm and the dreaming for deceased souls. 

Ukufila, however, mended his relationship with Uiyo under the guidance of Kalpii and Isihlahla the Baobab, and now the two work together in synchronous harmony. 


[b]Isihlahla the Baobab[/b] -- Isihlahla the Baobab tree is the great elder of the dreaming, and her visage represents home and family. From her the mortals were eventually budded, and when he saw them different, he planted them in a new garden, the mortal realm. From these first seeds the many people of the cradle grew. Isihlahla is taken in reverence for all decisions that would affect the tribe greatly, or for the union and separation of people. Her unifying spirit is often called upon during arrangements and agreements, the callers knowing her roots lie in all things social, and her great branches shade honesty from corruption. 

From her the dreaming was populated and from her the mortal realm was populated.

[b]Lanzi the Fish[/b] -- Lanzi the Fish is a symbol of great fortune and luck. Often worn as a badge next to Kalpii on the chests of warriors and merchants alike, Lanzi insures that the odds are ever in the favor of the deserving. Lanzi is also the symbol of truth, and such is often crucial in times of law and justice. Lanzi despises Teccum.


[b]Thengisi the Gorrak[/b] -- Thengisi the Gorrak is the mark of the worst a mortal can do. She is the symbol of murder, treason, violence, and adultry. When her image appears in the minds of the dreamers, great caution is taken in the days ahead. Thengisi despises even herself, and wishes to punish all who she symbolizes in the dreaming. Souls said to have undergone the punishing of Thengisi before rebirth are said to cause suspicious birthmarks similar to a gorrak bite on the neck or ankles. Self obsessed criminals sometimes will tattoo gorrak bites on their necks and ankles to symbolize their way of life, or sometimes an elder may call for this to be done as an eternal punishment for the criminal, letting all in Baccum who see's them know that they are tainted. 
	

[b]Ifu the Cloud[/b] -- Ifu the cloud is the husband of Isihlahla, and from their marriage the spirits of the dreaming were born. Ifu represents redemption, rejoice, joy, love, compassion, and heroes. The mark of Ifu is a sacred tattoo that very little have the worth of receiving. Ifu sees that all children of Isihlahla, both mortal and spirit, both bad and good, both pure and corrupt, have a chance at redemption, at true happiness in the dreaming and beyond. He turns away no one and represents true altruism. It is said that all heroes have felt the call of Ifu somewhere along their way through life, and that all who have wronged the world may yet become as Ifu is.

The tale of Ifu is an old one, about the storm cloud and the Baobab tree, to which the storm wrecked the lonely tree for years upon end. The storm would throw down her branches, rip up her leaves, scatter her fruit to land not fertile. Many years went by, and with each outrage, the Baobab tree would sing to the storm, in hopes that it may one day hear her words of plea. Slowly the song penetrated the storm, to which they fell on the ears of the raging Ifu, who in time calmed to listen. He grew of shame for his actions, but was easily forgiven by the Baobab Isihlahla, and in time, the two fell into a deep love. 

Ifu has been redeemed, and found happiness, to which he offers to all his children. It is said every mortal is born with both the storm of Ifu and the song of Isihlahla, and that one day we must all decide whether to hear the song that pleas inside us, and calm our storm to allow happiness, or rage on and destroy the Boabab in blindness.[/hider]
[/hider]

[center]Rules & Expectations
1: The GMs are the law.
2: Basic sitewide rules apply (No metagaming, powergaming or godmodding as well as captain obvious forum etiquette)
3: Be cool like the Fonz.
4: Be excellent to each other.
5: Be active, and let us know if you plan to drop out or will be absent for a time.
[/center]

[hider=Character Sheet]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Sex:[/b]
[b]Place of Origin:[/b] (selected from civilizations)
[b]Appearance:[/b] (pictures must be accompanied by written descriptions)
[b]Psyche:[/b] (distinctive characteristics or qualities that form your character’s… character)
[b]Skills:[/b] (what makes your character extraordinary?)
[b]Equipment:[/b] (what does your character carry at all times?)
[b]Bio:[/b] (a brief account of how your character acquired their skills and became the person they are now)
[/hider]