The catgirl would pause, taking a look down at her right arm before letting out a sigh. She probably had that coming for gunning at giant predatory birds with a taste for flesh and fog. Or probably stuck in the fog and had a taste for flesh. Mmm, those questions could come at a much later date. Leannah would allow Lazhira to patch up her arm, and at the very least she found that the pain was subsiding to at least being a bit less than it initially was as she'd begun to notice it and the pain began to kick in finally. Thanks the heavens for adrenaline being a thing. Perhaps she could see if magic could be used to heal herself as well though? Mmm, maybe not in the middle of the totally-not-suspicious temple though, especially if those birds were such a minor threat overall. In fact, perhaps they needed to get moving even more before something else came knocking. For all she knew some idiot was going to barge in with Malphas-style flair and challenge them to a duel or something.
However, the picture book she'd found was interesting, and she gently dusted off the cover before holstering it in her waistband on her left hip. It seemed similar to how the ancients would depict scenes of legend on walls, so it only made sense that this book could hold similar value from what she could see of it already. Maybe Lazhira or someone could translate? Only time and trying would tell.
"Thanks, Lazhira," the catgirl said, giving her compatriot a warm smile, before returning her own gaze to the floor and beginning to dig around the books one last time. It was worth a shot to see if she could find one more thing, one more book or tome in the best quality she could find it. It was knowledge, information of a long lost past, and maybe it would help 'illuminate' what had gone on and what was going on...or something of the sort. Anything useful would do frankly. If she found anything, she'd holster it in her waistband on her left hip as well with the old picture book.
Still, once she was done with the digging about for good, she would look back up at statue and orb on it ahead, and for a brief second pondered something. She then let out a drawn-out sigh, and glanced over at Novak, "Well, there's one way to find out for better or for worse if that orb goes in the slot...just be ready in case something falls from the ceiling or something in the process."
Imagining rolling up her sleeves, the catgirl moved forward with a small running start toward the idol. She tried to channel some magic in her legs, using the mental image of a river to focus some power to there. Just enough to leap up. Her plan was to get up onto the idol, grab onto the orb itself, and get down quickly. She'd seen one lumbering stone attack dog, and it had almost killed her. She didn't want to deal with another if she could. Still, her aim and effort were to to grab the orb swiftly and get back down to go stick it in the slot on the wall herself!
Maybe this would go well? She hoped. But chances were that something, anything would happen at this venture. Didn't want to waste the good daylight sitting about more though!
Still, some questions began to bubble up into her mind. How did Lazhira manage her trips here? Why was the symbol on her arm like that on the temple here? Did she have some connection to this place? Why was the Illuminator not worshipped by the people due a kyrinth (whatever that was) telling them to? It was all so odd, and it all brought on more and more questions that seemed to unnervingly go without answer. Yet for now, there was the exploration! The adventure! The looting! Telling people these things belonged in a museum! Seducing women and wielding a cool whip-...ok that one sounded a LOT worse in hindsight. To let it wander too long in her thoughts, being carefully shifted to the backburner as it were, without it being relevant enough at this very moment to pursue was foolish.
Physical Conditioning: Peak Human - Her body is naturally tough, durable, and strong. The pinnacle of human physical strength, endurance, and agility. Keep training, and surely she can surpass even stronger beings.
Soul Flare: The ability to turn one’s soul into a weapon itself. Needed for most basic magical feats. Channel the mana present in the air through your body to achieve great feats. Allows one to interact with supernatural things, and perceive things others may not.
Unique/"Cheat" Ability: Suns Disciple - Wherever you go, the sun shines on your path. The sun illuminates you. Keeps you warm, and safe - and yet it burns. Burns you. Burns your foes. Burns everything. The sun of this world is not ruled by the goddess that bought you here. If you desire to strengthen it, seek them out yourself. As it is, you will steadily grow in physical power and endurance as the sun rises up until its peak, and steadily return to your normal strength as the sun falls, until night hits. At the moment, even during noon, you will gain only a minor boost to all physicals. Additionally, you have a minor affinity for Light-based magical feats.
Martial Art Prodigy: A skill denoting a preternatural affinity for the martial arts. At its current level, this ability merely increases your potential for learning martial arts, and does not denote a higher skill level than average. Keep honing your fists and pushing yourself. ("A skill denoting that she knows what she's doing currently, if not being experienced with it. Basically she adjusted to her new body.")
Sunlight (Lesser/Restricted): A skill in which denotes one as being able to cast basic ‘Light’ spells with minor ease. This ability however, has been modified by ‘Suns Disciple’. Spells cast from this family of spells will typically take a form befitting that of the Sun Goddess. Light spells typically are those of healing, restraint, and help. Yours however, take the shape of a burning sun in some fashion. (Something is preventing you from fully using this ability and causing them to be less effective and unstable).
Inventory:
-Clothing: Her initial set of clothing, consisting of what is seen in her appearance pic.
-Golden feather: A feather of unknown origin. Its warm to the touch, and gazing upon it fills you with confidence and a certainty of purpose to accomplish your goals.
-Old picture book: You’re not quite sure what it depicts, aside from various scenes involving what appears to be the God of knowledge and some others. A collection of tales involving him, perhaps? Maybe you should take some time to read it, or ask someone about it.
As she moved deeper into the forest, Kir began hunting for the supplies she needed to make her bow and arrows. She began pulling on and testing branches, very young trees popping out of the ground, wood on the forest floor, and so forth to look for a non-rotting piece of wood that 'felt right' and best for making a bow. Likewise she'd be looking out for those with which to make a couple of high-quality arrows, and plant fibers or such that would be fitting for fashioning a cloak of sorts or weaving it together or such. The arrows she would aim to make high quality enough that could still use recreations of them effectively on prey and such, and likewise craft the bow to make it to last as best as possible. The knowledge was in her, like it was second nature, and she wanted to make the best use of that she could. Besides, she'd been open when saying this was the first task she was going to do before properly hunting after all. Made the best sense to her to have something to use to kill the prey.
Still, Aya was at least said she was going to 'scout out' things. No idea what Argos was going to do though. If he took up her offer of help she'd get to him to fashion some glove-ish thing from his horn and pelt. Otherwise she'd be getting her weapon and such made right now before going hunting. Would be more advantageous than doing nothing, and then maybe she'd have a better chance to explore later once getting these basics taken care of. Even so the female goblin kept hard at work as she focused on her tasks and had gathered her supplies and was working to get it all done well. Now wasn't the time to slow down and do nothing.
As she worked, Kir cast her eyes over at Argos briefly before returning her eyes to the work she was doing.
"Want anything too?" Kir asked the male, tone not judgmental but more simply causally offering, "While I'm working at this I might as well, at least if you want while Aya is running around the place."
It was a simple offer, and Argos could accept or leave it as he wished. She was mostly doing her own thing, but having someone else at least armed on the hunt wouldn't be a bad thing either. Sheesh. Considering how few hobs there were, it made her wonder how stupid some of the prior generation was to just up and die off or something. Eh. It was a question that didn't really matter anyways, not as long as she didn't end up like them.
***Summary: Kir went deeper into the forest, going about gathering remaining materials for making her bow, two high-quality horned-rabbit-horn-tipped arrows, and cloak, and then has gone about working on crafting them. During the process of this she made a causal offer of making something for Argos, and only if he accepts she will also craft him something to fight with. If he doesn't accept she'll just finish up work on her own stuff.
-Primitive Crafting: Ancient civilizations used the very same methods as they harvested the base materials at their disposal to make weapons. Learned how to make primitive traps like spike pits, holes, and spike traps. Also learned to make bone/wood weapons such as clubs, bows, slings.
-Knowledge of the Three: Knowledge of the Three Great Gods. Ability to properly worship. Ability to create shrines in honor of the Three Great Gods.
-
Titles:
Blessings:
Curses:
As for what those shrines are they represent the 3 main Gods of this world Ramos, shirila, and duelvena There are gods for everything from food to hunts even to keeping yourself clean but each of them isn't as powerful as the 3 main gods I am about to tell you about. First, there is the god of light Ramos he is the god of light and he gives us the very sun we see during the day he is purity itself and as such is mostly worshipped by most creatures in one form or another. Ramos is the exact opposite of the goddess known as Duvelna she is the goddess of death and night. She is death itself and must be respected if not feared for with a single touch of her finger you are dragged down into the netherworld. She gives us the very moon in the sky. Finally, there is Shirila the goddess of the earth as she is the embodiment of the earth and life itself, she is also known as the eternal mother. She gives us the very plants that grow everywhere around us and gives life to it. She in tune with everyone that loves the earth as it should be.
"It's no problem, Lazhira, I just kinda acted without thinking-"
But as Leannah reacted to Lazhira's safety, having just breathed a sigh of releif to see her safe, reality came suddenly crashing back into her mind as the glint of that golden feather in her hand caught her eye.
Eh?
Eh?!
EH??!!?!
B-But it, but she, but how, they, why...how. She was just some random from another world who got thrown into this one by some capricious catgirl-loving being! It was a good taste in catgirls admittedly...b-but they had a similar taste?! Or maybe she was just imposing her thoughts on the other party. Oh heavens above this was equal parts awkward, embarrassing as all hell and then some, and also the GREATEST COOL EVER!!! If she'd been back home she'd have shit herself on the spot after experiencing this, like THIS THING, at all in the first place. That or someone spiked one of her drinks or she was at one of 'those' parties, in which case it'd all still make sense but...ok, no, getting sidetracked there. Far too sidetracked. But the feather! Yes, the feather! It was a sign, plus she also wasn't dead! But still, the biggest thing she'd experienced in this world so far was that...
...There was a Cute Bird Sun Goddess in this world~!!!
Seriously. Sure she was excited to no end, but like at the same time she did begin to settle down as old college studies kicked in. Soon the visibly thrilled-to-no-end catgirl would stop herself, taking a few deep breaths as the others began to leave her behind. She had to be objective about this, and yeah the goddess has made it clear that she could incinerate her quite easily. Definitely deity behavior, and a big red flag that would require taking caution in the future yes. but the almost tsundere-sounding bit at the end was still utterly adorable and endearing. That or she was getting a bit heavy into the tropes. She was an Egyptologist, not a total weeb! Er, "Japanophile". Ugh. either way she was most versed in anime watching and video games and one mobile game on the side, really, so she wasn't an expert on the whole place by any stretch.
Wait. Oh hell. Oh hell. Oh hell. This meant she really had to kill one of those Elder Beasts that she'd been told about before by that other being...goddess...well, whoever they were beyond her current running theory anyhow. That had already been apparently a thing on the list of to-do's for getting sent here, but frankly until now it had been a somewhat more distant thought. More so she had been jolted and startled by the fact a deity answered her stupid prayer and then gave her a mission to do. Giant stone golem? It had been a fight for survival. Rocketing herself out of the compound like a flaming hot catgirl cheeto coated in nitro? Instinctive. Beating up a zombie-looking thing in that little tower? Honestly not as jarring to her.
For the most part she'd been riding the wave with things, taking it in and doing what she could and frankly not being as oddly shaken as the average person might be. It was a new life after all, so it was more interesting to think about all the things around her and explore them. But her inner Egyptologist screamed in pure delight at the fact she'd spoken to a literal goddess in a vision! It'd be like if she'd been talking to Ra himself or Thoth back home or something! It was a plot out of fiction, or anime, or ancient legend made truly manifest before her mind's eye! How would that not be either terrifying or cool or BOTH to someone?!
Looking up and noticing she was falling behind, however, Leannah lightly slapped her own face to 'snap out of it' before tucking the feather away somewhere 'safe' (considering her attire and situation). She then took a few more controlled breaths, stilled her nerves a bit, and then jotted along quickly to follow her compatriots. No, they still had some ancient temple exploring to do! Hopefully the tropes of traps and giant falling rocks and so forth didn't apply here as they had in Earth's own movie tropes, but at the same time such silly information was all she reasonably had to run with in terms of caution. Frankly the mysterious fog was already something of a red flag about potential things mulling about this place or set up within it.
It didn't even soak in yet that she'd used one bird to knock another one out into the fog like a pinball on steroids, but as she caught up and walked in with the others the scenery itself was something...beautiful. Beautiful in an archeological sense anyhow, between the plant-covered overgrown stone walls, to the odd symbols that she noticed Lazhira seemed to also have tattooed on her arm (that would be a question for soon or later depending), to other carvings and pillars and former braziers and iconography and more! But as she'd already gotten a bit too excited back there about something more, cause what were some ruins to a vision where one talked with a goddess after all, she held her cool. Even so a sense of awe washed over her, and such was the only natural response to something like this in her mind even with her trying to keep her cool.
The catgirl looked at the glassy-looking stone, which from here already seemed impossible for some ancients to make with older types of tools alone, but every bit of media knowledge she had from back home told her to 'not go and just grab it' outright. More so, she looked down and began reaching around their feet and the floor somewhat to look for a book that was as intact and best-quality. At least as far as one could hope in this place anyhow. Sure the writing was unintelligible on fast glances, but perhaps magic could fix that! Maybe. It was worth a shot in the dark to be frank, to satisfy that curiosity and hopefully not 'kill the cat' as the old adage said.
Though whether she found anything worth picking up or not, Leannah would stand back up properly and listen as the odd man who'd accompanied the three of them here spoke to Lazhira. Huh. Another Earth person perhaps? Maybe she could ask later. Either way his question seemed rather valid though.
"I'll second that question, actually, though after back there I also wonder how you get through that fog so often and so safely," Leannah said, giving a small nod to Novak inn agreement before turning her her toward and directing the rest of her words at Lazhira herself.
-Dracis: A diminutive draconic race, they possess hair on their heads and mammal-like animal ears, with a few pronounced spots of scales on their thighs, but their hides are otherwise scaled but made to be incredibly smooth. They each have a tail as well. Their skin is dark blue in coloration, something that blends in rather surprisingly in dark areas and in the dark in general, whilst their eyes and blood literally glow a blue color. The race itself seems to be openly female to all, but in truth they are a hermaphroditic species that all possesses mammaries on their chest for feeding young. They contain both sets of reproductive organs naturally, though the ‘masculine’ set is kept hidden within an internal body pouch when not in use. When giving birth, the species will normally produce the usual standard of 4 young in a given ‘birthing’. Yet the work for the young’s care is made more manageable by both parents taking up the work of it and being biologically designed to do so.
The Dracis for the most part live underground and above, the former being more expansive and large than the latter, their hides protecting them from sunlight due to thickness and yet still naturally slick enough to slide about underground tunnels and homes even tight spaces with a flexible ease. The race itself is known for rapid reproductive numbers despite their size, and over 2 thousand years have become masters of metal-crafting, mining, minerals, and forging techniques that have made them famous around Ishtar in this respect. Even so the race can also breathe fire to a certain extent, utilizing a special but well-insulated gaseous organ attached to their respiratory system and their naturally higher internal body temperatures that make them suited to live in cold climes with a certain ease.
Dracis are known for their masterful metal crafting work and large numbers in any given settlement they inhabit, but beyond these the race has mastered the work of underground living and stone-carving/decoration. Ornate carvings decorate the interior and exterior walls of a Dracis home, and even things like air flow and stability are usually well-accounted for when they design underground spaces for practical reasons. Such has come with myriad centuries alongside much experience and learning, but in the end has produced a very stable form of home-building that they even apply above-ground as they ran into other races and learned more from them. In fact, their construction techniques and principles have come to mix with that of the Caledoni and Satyri above ground much more in recent centuries, creating a hybrid that has rapidly become popular and has been seen to be long-lasting for non-underground homes that even the Dracis use them for above-ground habitations.
Their society itself possesses a love of preserved foods, using differing methods from dry-aging in the mountainside winds to controlled spoiling to others imported or learned from external influences. Underground mushroom and snail and crustacean farms are also featured in their craft due to the presence of underground rivers and water flows in the mountains. They enjoy foods with strong flavors, spicy and earthy being their culture’s seemingly two favorite flavors to evoke, and combined with Satyri spirits and Caeldoni desert crops and such things have featured more and more in their meals over the years this has created a unique shift. Indeed the ‘new cuisine style’ has become a standard and the staple for what is by current times identified as “Thakisian Cuisine” at home as well as abroad.
-Caeldoni: They are a humanoid race that sports a lighter shade of distinctly coal-grey skin, one that blends in rather well into the darkness of the desert’s long, cold nights, and insulates against it due to its thickness and hardiness. Members of the race each have six arms, outside of accidents or injuries that would result in arm loss, alongside a dense and packed musculature. Meanwhile the race’s members naturally average from 8’2” to 8’7” in height throughout the population, a rather tall height for a humanoid race. The race is a hardy bunch, resistant to temperature changes for the most part, building hardy homes to live in and being strong and disciplined workers no matter the trade they take on.
For their traditional homes they first make an ‘internal’ layer, composed of stones fitted so well together they don’t need cement to stay together in an airtight manner, with a proper brick exterior using a form of cement to bind them together. Some wooden beams are used internally, fitted to secure the lighter roof. As a result, heat produced within a Caeldoni home will usually be retained rather well, and such homes even include a chimney of sorts to release fumes from fires lit inside. Of course these developments are recent ones in the last few centuries, and combine Dracis principles of air flow and Satyri minimal waste style to form a hardy type of building. Indeed the Caeldoni would come to combine the best of each world into this style, which has proliferated in Thakisian territory since and become the dominant form of above-ground construction for its quality and sturdiness in the face of ill-weather incidents.
The race has long used the hardy grasses of the cold desert region as sustainable enough plants to farm, most notably: “Chirmu” (‘grainy’) plant that is a hardy analogue to ‘rice’ of some kind, and the tuber roots of the “Kibt” (‘filling’) bush. In terms of ‘farming’ they do so near certain oases, and water in some places where rock formations have been turned or carved into reservoirs for the region’s rainwater and/or for melting ice to store water. The building of aqueducts from the mountain rivers and suchs in a joint project with the Dracis has also led to a greater proliferation of water sources for use, allowing for greater food production (in some amount at least) than used to be otherwise sustainable. Further, the Caeldoni have cared for packs of very large ram/camel-like furred creatures (imagine a bulkier omnivorous camel with far less noticeable humps, a thicker and wider skull, and curled horns on the sides of their head, and greater muscle) called “Diu”. These creatures are equal parts food and efficient cold desert pack animals and cavalry mounts all, producing milk and even having warm furs to sit against when resting on a cold desert night and being fast on the charge. These beasts can live in both the cold deserts and in the mountains rather well, in fact, which has made them useful to more than just the Caeldoni in the long run.
Another thing the race has done well is the art of warfare. Discipline and strength both internal and external are emphasized among the Caeldoni, who take practice and discipline in this area seriously and apply it in other non-warfare areas during peaceful times. At least this is their general practice when being serious about things and working. Outside of work they can be a rather jovial and relaxed people, celebrating big occasions with feasts and even plenty of grain-and-starch-based alcohol called “Sakae” back in the day before other races introduced them to many more flavors and varieties.
Among the race’s other innovations, however, weaponry is something they take seriously. Whilst they pale to the Dracis’ mastery of metal and its uses, the Caeldoni have contributed weapon designs and ideas that combined with the Dracis’ skill has given them superior tools as soldiers and fighters. The “Caeldoni Blade” or “Namurer” is a unique type of blade originally of Caeldoni design and improved vastly by better metalwork. Ancient Caeldoni smiths would make a giant metal blade with a wave-like blade design to be set into a wooden/bone handle, secured with leather straps around the hilt, and it would be swung around using all-six-hands due to the blade’s size and weight. Such a weapon proved to be able to cleave through a horse and rider in one shot, and with improved metal and metalsmithing this can still be pulled off even with a standard level of armor worn on both horse and rider. In fact many old smithing bloodlines from the Caeldoni have stayed in Dracis lands (even some Satyri to boot) and continued to help bring their own influences to the table when it comes to weapon design and creation to this day.
-Satyri: As a species, they are shorter humanoids with goat-like eyes and horns that curl back over the top of their heads toward the back, as well as fur on the hand/forearms thighs/legs to keep them insulated and warm the extremities. The hair on their head is more human-like, but they also sport furry animal-like ears. Their fingernails are notably tougher, akin to claws but differing from them in shape, and finally they have a peculiar gender ratio among births that has naturally caused the vast majority of the population to be female. Meanwhile the cultural practice of polygamy has been common within their race to ensure propogation continues, usually controlled by a group of females wedding a male who will maintain the rather large household and ‘hold down the fort’ as the females perform other important external tasks such as getting food and working and fighting in wars and so forth after giving birth. The species itself gives birth to smaller batches of rather normally 2 young at a time as well, with less or more being a rare occasion akin to the trends of twins and so forth in humans.
They were originally a primitive non-beastmen race driven southwards from their tribal lands in the far north by the First Beastman Incursion, the Satyri were homeless and trying to not go extinct. Their homeland was lost, as was the remainder of its entire population due to the beastmen horde, and their people strangers in a new land, but even so these Satyr-like humanoids came as unwelcome guests at first due to their arrival coming alongside the First Beastmen Incursion. They would eventually find homes within old ruins, abandoned habitations, and so forth, and settle in these places on some occasions with other survivors as the population of the territory began to climb upwards again and a nation began to form.
At first their presence was taken as hostile by the devastated Caeldoni and Dracis peoples, who had been pushed to unite for the first time and work together closely by the Incursion and its aftermath, but this only lasted a certain time before this ‘new people’ began to finally be integrated and negotiated with by their native neighbors who were too worn out for another war at first. By the time the territory/nation of Arinynia was vassalized by the rising Orduin Empire around 1105, the Satyri were basically still ‘new’ but at least weren’t ‘enemies’ either and were considered to be among the population by this point.
The Satyri proved themselves adept in brewing myriad spirits, some kind of which had been unknown to others in the territory prior. Honey-Meads, created through Satyri bee-keeping practice, the use of the unique fruits of the region to brew various pseudo-wines and such also became popular. Minerals salts and cold desert plant juices and so forth also became incorporated, and indeed this is in part what won over the other races on the part of the Satyri as they came to touch on the tastes of other races. The bitter and sweet and even bittersweet drinks they loved would enter society as a whole in due time. Likewise what wood could be accessed from and around the mountains became subject for the Satyri wood carving methods, creating ornate totems and poles and even methods of making wood pieces fitted together so tightly that nails of metal or pegs of wood weren’t necessary for creating structures. This habit of minimal waste in building and crafting things among the Satyri would later be incorporated with Dracis efficiency-based design and Caeldoni stone-fitting and brick-make craft to create beautiful above-ground homes and designs that would begin to feature even in underground settlements back in the mountains.
(Image of a Primitive Tribal Female Satyri Warrior during the era of the First Beastman Incursion, and general example of Satyri Body shape: imgur.com/a/0PP81Vl)
-Undead: The unliving, reanimated by necromancy walking about the world of the living. Such is the nature of their existence. They are divided by sentient, semi-sentient, and non-sentient types, the first of which is by far the most common in Thakis, the middle group only being used in limited numbers for labor, and the latter being only conjured up (and in great numbers at that) during times of war. Sentient undead are just that, sentient, and in Thakis the majority are human undead with myriad others from other races having been conjured up or made use of since the Sentient Undead took over Thakis. They do not need to eat, but can, they do not need to sleep, but can rest about if they so desire, and are beings that are their core are rooted in necromantic magic. Anything short of destroying their heads, however, and they will continue to act onward and even have the potential to reassemble themselves by grabbing lost parts or the parts of other dead bodies and sticking them on themselves. This reassembling behavior, however, is not present in mindless undead but can be etched into the simple behaviors of semi-sentient undead akin to programming a computer or robot to perform a task.
Those from the lost ancient empire bring with them designs and styles and customs of their own ranging from the eating of meats marinated in juices and spices before roasting them gently to perfection all the way to unique ancient jams and preserves made to last using honey and salt. Militarily they bring a tradition of high discipline and organization, which combined with ‘modern’ arms and tactics can prove to be effective forces indeed. Their stuff is also reminiscent of greco-egyptian-persian stuff probably to some extent, the middle probably more likely than the first or the last.
(Examples of the Pharess herself in her imported-silk traditional-style nightgown: i.imgur.com/df0lYpd.png)
-Centaurs: A race that isn’t uncommon to the non-mountainous areas of Thakis, but absent in the mountains, the current population mostly consists of descendants of defectors from the Holy Zentaeri League and others settled there during the time of the Orduin Empire post-vassalization. They aren’t Zentarist on the level of current HLZ standards, but either hold other beliefs/religions or a milder/opposing form of Zentaurism branched off from the dominant current form in the HLZ.
-Elves: Elves fled from the Zentaeri, elves descended from those who hung on there from old Navarrosian attempts to colonize the area, and other refugees and migrants and such from the last 2 thousand years have themselves become a staple in some parts of Thakis. A mix of high elves and myriad others, their knowledge of magic and other matters have given them niches within the population.
-Humans: A natural result of population migration from the Empire over a very long time, they stand out as a versatile and adaptable group who have fought to survive within the cold deserts and the mountains just like anyone else.
-Other: Lingering Beastmen, exiles or refugees from other areas who became so desperate as to flee to Thakis, members of outcast groups, and other such species also live within the borders of this nation and have been assimilated over time. Whilst Humans, Elves, and Centaurs are the more notable minorities, with the ‘big four’ races being the most populous and dominant, these others exist and have a good amount of numbers of their own whilst bringing some aspects of parts of where they came from with them.
Culture/Religion
-One can call Thakis a proper and thoroughly mixed melting pot, one forged in the heat of two Beastmen Incursions, the Pale War, centuries of Orduin Empire vassalization, conquest by the Undead, and eventually the Bug War and Collapse of the Orduin Empire. From the polygamous marriages of the Satyri, to the Imperial touches of differing sorts from the Humans and Elves, to the martial discipline of the Caeldoni, to the efficiency and organization of the Undead, to even the metalworking of the Dracis living throughout the land, all have come to have some impact or effect on the population as a whole. Religious temples or shrines dedicated to various gods or traditional deities, great feasts for certain milestones in one’s lifetime or to celebrate certain times of year, unique foods developing from ancient and current cultures alike, traveling and stationary merchants spreading goods through the land, various coming of age ceremonies, and so forth are all just minute cogs in the great wheels that keep Thakis moving forward. ***(Note: Specific things for culture and religion can be added here over time, I just don’t have the capacity to go ham on this in-depth for stress reasons.)***
Yet one thing that stands out most at the core of Thakis is a certain...unspoken solidarity.
The peoples of the land have been put under the blade together or by each other, and yet in the end were forced together by hardship and a desire to survive. For generations upon generations of issues, wars, rumors of wars, civil strife, and invasions, this history has forged a diverse population whose outlook is that of unity. To invade their lands is to also invoke the wrath of angry citizens and the governors and nobles alike. This isn’t to say all is perfect, no system ever is, and internal disputes and corruption and civil squabbles and so forth are issues that have arisen from time to time among others. But as a whole this is all general sentiment that has come to exist that can be summed up as: ‘Our crap internally is our crap, so if external threats poke at us we will rally together against the external threat’.
-Thakis itself seems to push the agenda of magical learning rather hard due to its leadership. Those seen as good candidates for it are usually fortunate, as they get training at the nation’s Magic University and are guaranteed a generally good future wherever they work within the Kingdom. Of course this doesn’t mean non-mages are discriminated against, as there’s plenty of non-magical trades to be sure that have emphasis and are important, mainly that Thakis as a nation has put emphasis on training and educating mages among its population. Even foreign mages are invited occasionally, if/where they are willing, so that magical knowledge can be shared and learned about from places abroad in turn.
-
Naturally with the sentient undead population and their old ruler's return, old religion has seen a revival in current times. Even a number of living in Thakis worship the gods of the Old Thakisian Pantheon. The primary and most well-known/venerated ones are:
Kalbrax, "The King of the Gods" and "The God of Night, Death, Pestilence, and the Underworld"
Myssea, "The Queen of the Gods" and "The Goddess of Light (Sun/Moon), War, Courage, and Rulership"
Kaltena, "The Goddess of the Rains, Love, Life, and Fertility"
Thont, "The God of Fire, Rebirth, Metal/Mining, and Strength"
and finally-
Gehalal, "The Goddess of Knowledge/Secrets, the Abyss, and the Magical Arts"
These deities are usually worshipped as a standard with sacrifices of animals and goods and wealth and such in their grand temples or far humbler shrine-temples and household shrines, with dedicated priesthoods who possess a rather linear and straightforward manner of organization within. The kind of things one might expect of Ancient Greece or Ancient Egypt in real life basically. Further, syncretism with other native religions of Thakis has been a natural part of the Old Thakisian Religion's return and reforms since returning to the world.
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The product of old Dracis, Satyri, and Cadeldoni shamanistic and animistic sorts of practices, scattered in a loose manner with no real organization or hierarchy. Dracis had dedicated rook-hewn shrines, or Satyyri sacred groves, or Caeldoni sacred hills among other things, and these religions has some syncretism in a loose sense by the time of contact with the Orduin Empire. Due to this contact, however, organization of the religion would form up more neatly over passing years, and by current times the original religions have basically fused together into a big, animistic, organized priesthood style of religion with a hierarchy and so forth. In fact, in current times rock-hewn temples and wooden beams and exotic materials used to make above/below-ground shrines/temples are very much common.
Cryian beliefs hold that all things have a 'god', whether it be the sky or trees or waters or so forth. Shrines are crafted, or sacred places designated, to basically honor and enshrine those 'gods' in those places and pay them proper homage. Prayers are made at these shrines and sacred places (usually marked or cordoned off specially somehow), asking for help, assistance, luck in love or battle, or otherwise as fits the deity whose shrine one is at. Lucky charms are crafted and sold at the Greater Shrines, in order to raise money for maintenance as well as give worshippers a manner to keep a reminder of the gods with them as a token of remembrance, and festivals for only the most major of the venerated gods (or most prominent local one) are held a few times a year.
Priestesses are basically what compose the whole of the priesthood, though as the Dracis have no dimorphism this matter was eventually settled that they did in fact qualify to be priestesses as well.
The 'Big Three' gods of this religion, due to history and time and syncretism/assimilation, are:
Amiha, "The Greatest Divine" and "Goddess of Fire/Light, Fertility, Love, War, and Rulership"
Urusn, "The God of Waters, Darkness, Storms, Luck, and the Dead" and "The Lord of Funerary Rites"
Keld, "The God/Goddess of Wealth, Earth, Silence, Forests, and Madness"
Otherwise this religion has its wide variety, and frankly even syncretism is common when running into other religions. The Old Thakisian Goddess "Myssea", for example, has been equated as an epithet or variant of Amiha that the undead brought back the worship of. Likewise the syncretism practiced by the Old Thakisian religion has treated the Dracis 'Big Three' and some more popular ones as epithets or alternate forms of their own deities among the Dracis who are worshipped in a unique fashion. Both religions coexist with general harmony and peace really, and syncretism and good relations were pushed throughout the Pharess' campaign to better unify the living and dead peoples of Thakis in peace centuries ago.
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Due to influence from the Orduin Empire, the Church of the One is still present as a distinct minority within Thakis. Likewise Zentarists in Thakis are less extreme than their brethern, holding either variant ("heretical in the HLZ") or milder/opposing form of Zentauristic beliefs branched off from the dominant current form of Zentarism in the HLZ. These form their own sub-branches of the religion that exist within Thakis as their own minorities.
However, whilst the Cult of Dumas has no station or place or hold within Thakis, the shared theme of the "Abyss" as a theme between Dumas and the Old Thakisian Goddess Gehalal is undeniable. Though any such peculiar syncretism or connections made or the ilk would only ever be found far from Thakisian borders, it is worth mentioning as something of a super minor and super niche religious thing that 'actually exists' somewhere in the world outside of Thakis.
Government
Thakis is ruled by an imperial-style hand, with the Pharess at the top as the mage-scholar-ruler she is. Around her are experts, both in magic fields but also in military, land management, and so forth that compose the “Royal Council'' and advise the Pharess as well as work under her. These council members are the top officials in the kingdom as well, beneath the Pharess that is, that each oversee a set number of provinces. This is very much an ancient system that was brought back into effect from the long-lost kingdom of old, centralized and stable and powerful whilst being adapted to a new and uncertain world in some sense. New members of this council are selected by the Pharess herself.
Beneath the Pharess and her Royal Council the land is divided into provinces, each of which has a noble provincial governor which is appointed in a competitive system. This system promotes efficiency and quality of the province, ensuring that the kingdom’s higher authorities and the Pharess can and will mete out punishments up to the loss of status, wealth, and/or lives for bad performance, corruption, and other such issues. Such pressures are exerted on noble houses to also keep them in-line. Likewise such noble houses leading the provinces are expected to be educated, and are all educated at the capital in their youth in order to keep them close to the Pharess’s sway and as hostages of a sort. Then under each governor is also a Council to balance them and assist in governance of the province, this council being formed of representatives from each settlement within their province...and the number of representatives from each settlement being based on the yearly census that is taken rigorously.
Then in each province there are the divisions into the various villages, townships, and/or other settlements that exist within there. These have their governor-appointed mayors, and each mayor has a council of prominent citizens to once more balance them out.
Otherwise the Pharess is herself the chief judge of the nation, and likewise appoints judges to the provinces and settlements to act as extensions of her will in a judicial capacity.
Terrain
The nation of Thakis contains within it everything from the frozen peaks of the mass mountains of the far north, all the way down through the vast cold deserts to the south of them.
A harsh array of landscape for sure, only the hardiest and most survivable of species of plant and animal life tend to live in the cold deserts. Tough grasses (including the roughly rice-like “Umoi” plant), certain kinds of small shrub, and a few small variants of tree (including the very hardy “Steelwood Trees”) grow sparsely all around the cold desert terrain, and similarly insects with tough exoskeletons and other mammals or creatures find homes in the trees, under the sand, hidden in the crevices of rock formations, and even in or upon the rare ‘mini-mountains’ or ‘big rock hills’ that are scattered about a very scant few places within the desert. Further, in myriad but highly scattered spots there features clusters of a gigantic cacti called “Fowl’s Talon”, which in reality are a single cactus whose roots produce multiple ‘bodies’ stemming from the same deep root network. Such unique cacti are great at storing water, and them being rigid and durable structures have made them great homes for certain kinds of creatures. These cacti also produce unique bunches of fruits at the top of them, fruiting bodies with seeds in them but also an incredibly sweet fruity flesh, which are called “Fowl’s Fruit” since mostly only flying creatures can get ahold of them beyond the iron-like spines of this rigid plant.
Whilst having a higher amount of rainfall and water than a standard desert, and a number of oases scattered widely about, the incredibly cold temperatures most of the year make it a place that is hard to survive or grow amidst the masses of sand and rather poor soil of the area and even the snow and freezing ice that tend to cover it at times. The harsh climate only softens some in the summers, getting up to about 70 degrees at the very most and becoming more comfortable to several local species. It is during this time that a larger burrowing creature called the “Rock Eater” will rise from their deep underground burrows and reproduce...which means knowing where to avoid them lest one provoke the anger of a hormonal monster that can swallow and chew armored soldiers whole just like it devours minerals at extreme depths and tunnels through the sand whilst passing it harmlessly out out of ‘vents’ on the sides of their many-row-of-teeth-lined mouths.
As for the mountains, the massive stretch of them is filled with barren snow-covered peaks, rocky outcroppings, high altitude trees and such life in lower areas around the mountains, and so forth that would be found in such an area. The sheer cliffs and faces that can be found at dangerous enough to scale on one’s own with the assistance of tools, much less going in bare-handed to scale and move about them as the Dracis race and Satyri race can both do with a frightening ease. Even so the dangers are never zero, even for the races best equipped for such areas, though beneath the mountains for untold kilometers upon kilometers are minerals, metals, ores, and other such underground resources richly deposited and highly valued. The likes of sulfur and such materials can also be found amidst the few volcanoes scattered amidst the swath of mountains. Even in summers these mountains are usually only ‘warmer’ to a certain yet distinct minute extent at the lowest altitudes, as at the tops and on most other parts of the terrain remaining freezing cold year-round. The air is also incredibly thin, making traversing these mountains tough for anyone not used to such a landscape.
History
Long ago in the cold north, there was a human nation or 'small empire' who lived among the cold sands and mined from the great mountains. In time, however, the nation itself died off and disappeared under mysterious circumstances before the Navarros Empire would rise up into power. Their ruins would be buried underneath the sands, old cities and outposts and tombs and monuments and so forth left concealed by time and lost to common knowledge. From this the Caeldoni people would move in or otherwise move in from the former fringes of the territory itself, living as tribes upon the cold desert land and subsisting for themselves. The Dracis, a diminutive race skittering about the mountains and deeps beneath, would rise to take charge of the mountains. Both races would war and trade at times in the following primitive time period, but neither would remember the old nation. All that remained in record are a few of the oldest primitive Caeldoni legends, even then with many embellishments and changes over time, but by the time the Elven Empire came knocking the old nation had been forgotten.
There would ultimately be local trouble and strife as the elves tried to stick frontier settlements in the territory and made military efforts to cull the locals back, all simply supportive measures to take the desert land from 'undesirables' and basically secure a safe trade route to the valuable mountains. Yet in due time the Navarros would fall back as the First Beastman Incursion erupted southward, turning the territory into a slaughter and a warzone. Thechaos would kill most, and force the two current local races and some portion of elven settlers together to hold up for survival. Such was the desperate nature of the times, but in the wake these groups would basically be alone for a time. The weakened Navarros left the area alone, and it took roughly ~150 years before the Orduin Empire would approach them to make them vassals. During this time period the Satyri would enter the picture, ultimately becoming one of the locals after some conflict, then some diplomacy, trade, and eventually integration.
The united peoples would use their knowledge and such the elves left behind to basically advance to something of a minor kingdom, leadership from the Incursion period basically forming the foundation for a united leadership. At least before the Orduin came along and vassalized them. The area had organized themselves similar to the old elves’ government in a sense, but under the Orduin Empire would be shaped by foreign influences in turn. Yet under the Orduin Empire the territory itself was basically just a means to get metal and precious underground resources from the mountains, all whilst providing needed trade as a means to keep the area under their thumb. It was an effective strategy, but only time would tell if it lasted.
Fast forward to the Pale War, and the events of 1204 and 1207 preceding it, that would seemingly trigger a strange ‘shift’ in the territory. 'Something' would begin to stir underneath the sands, at times sending tremors through the sandy ground of the cold desert. Undead began to rise from the sands, as well as a small number of ruins in the process, leading the locals to basically have to adapt to living with undead as a new issue. Mostly they were mindless, walking zombies that moved around in small groups or alone unless one disturbed them, though they would feed on anything living nearby ranging from plants to animals to unfortunate citizens or soldiers. The Empire during this time left the vassal state alone to handle it all, however, because they themselves were in the midst of the Orduin Civil War. By the time Hesper’s bloodline rose up to take control the area was from that time basically given minimal 'assistance' militarily. Even this, however, was simply in order to keep secure the Empire's route to resources in the mountains. Some magic charms were placed to ward these weak mindless undead, cullings of corpses were done when they wandered too close to civilized areas, roads were streamlined to create a safe network, morer ruins were uncovered by shifts in the land, and so forth during that second 'era of peace' from 1253-1903.
Eventually the Second Beastmen Incursion would strike, and this swath of death chased out Imperial Scholars and Local Scholars studying the ruins amidst the chaos. Towns and villages and other settlements would either be lost in the tide, fortify themselves simply to survive, or otherwise for the 200 years of death that would follow. Yet in the wake of so much death more would ‘wake up’ from beneath the sands, including stronger undead and far greater ruins. Upon the eventual shattering of the Beastmen homeland, though, finally whatever was stirring under the sands and in the ruins arose fully.
Old, now undead, mage-rulers from the old northern empire lost to time began to rise back up, and with the devastation around the borders and to the Empire’s military the state wasn’t fit for another war right out of the gate. In this time the locals were once again left to themselves aside from the Empire securing the road to the mountains alone this time, with the hope the issue would sort itself out. This would only lead to the area being to be conquered by the undead forces and rulers that rose up frighteningly fast, who themselves nearly fought a mini-civil war amidst internal squabbling before uniting under the banner of one of their own in the end. The wisest and greatest among the ancient rulers, a scholar-ruler of short stature, who wielded powerful magic in her own right that would make an elf blush. Yet with her rise any growing squabbles among the undead were put to rest finally, and the occupied land was now under their control as they looked toward the Empire.
Amidst this situation the Empire mediated a peace treaty for the living locals’ surrender, a humiliation the locals would not forget, but barely managing to keep the flow of goods from the mountains and that territory in their grasp. Albeit from here a tense situation with the undead would continue to persist. Necromancy was, after all, illegal within the empire for a reason. Yet another war right after 200 years of death, and under the pressing need to recover, wasn't something anyone wanted to have to put a further effort into during such a time period. In this case the justification was that the Empire might as well use the undead as a buffer, in case another northern threat emerged in the future. From here during the second longest 'era of peace’, from 2108 to 2422, would see the undead and locals have to sort things out internally.
Yet the undead weren’t just obsessed with unlife, nor was the queen a tyrant to push all to rebellion or undeath. These undead were once rulers, some wise and other conquerors, and they managed to among each other sort things out to smooth over their rule over both living and dead. No great conqueror takes a land and willingly leaves it under the constant threat of revolt, nor would it be pertinent for a ruler to purge useful and hardy peoples from a land that needed citizens. Indeed the Pharess, as the ruler herself was titled, would bring an era of peace into her lands despite a myriad of little rebellions and other issues along the way. Adapting to a new world was itself already a challenge, but learning and applying knowledge was not unknown to the Pharess or her contemporaries.
Eventually the Bug War would then begin, and as a token of trying to avoid war the Pharess sent some living forces to help push back the tide as the undead kept the home borders secure. It was an effort to at least avoid war with the neighbors outright, though it wasn’t a guarantee they’d be friends either. Even so the Empire fell, the trade road was secured by the Pharess and her new people after being abandoned during the chaos of the collapsing Empire, and exposure to the Bugs during the war exposed them to ideas of gunpowder and such ilk.
By current times, with a thriving mixed kingdom that has fortified its borders, the Pharess has continued to manage, organize, and lead the people. Matters of war, trade, and so forth are as always ever-present and actively managed, but lessons from the past had to be learned to avoid another disaster as had been in the very very ancient past. Roads have been improved, settlements have been shored up with some basic defenses, and a system of tiny yet scattered border garrisons and internal garrisons have been placed along roadways to ensure internal security and keep watch. Only a limited population of undead would be used for an amount of manual labor and be used for border patrol/watch duties, as military and civilian-working mages undead and otherwise were put to use. Otherwise things have been simple. Trade is done with those who are willing or not a threat to the kingdom. Immigrants and refugees desperate enough have come to also live within the Kingdom’s borders. Peace and a sort of prosperity have even finally reigned over the territory proper for nearly 200 more years, leading to a ‘golden age’ the land is currently in the midst of.
Economy
One thing that the land of Thakis has always been able to produce, the things most valued from their territory for purposes of trade, have always ever been the bounties of treasures and wealth hidden deep within the earth itself. Metals for forging weapons, precious metals for creating stunning adornments, and great troves of gems and crystals that lie buried beneath the harsh landscape. Sulfur and gunpowder-making materials even exist in abundance between the mountains and caves and the few scattered volcanoes that lie mostly dormant amidst the great swath of mountains and hot springs in Thakis’ far north.
Indeed, such things have fueled the more recent delving into gunpowder as well as the ever long and increasing history of forges and smelteries and mines and metalwork that continues to this day to be the top industries of Thakis and its people. Thakisian metalwork is something of high and unique value, being a craft honed and forged in the fires of war and devastation, amidst the burning embers of imperial rule, underneath ancient oversight from times long passed, and among the local people who have had to rely on it for their very survival for over two thousand years. The quality of their metal, and the quality of their work in regards to things made from this metal, are notable as being high and top-tier within the continent of Ishtar and ‘made to last’ in turn. However, work in regards to the making of glass does pale more among them in comparison to the likes of the Karynia’s own skill at it. This in and of itself is mostly due to the metalwork focus within Thakis more than anything else.
Secondarily the exportation of exotic alcohols with a unique Thakisian twist or flavor have been exported, like with any other region producing its own kind of spirits, and desert honey meads and peculiar and unique cactus fruit ‘wines’ feature among other similar things. In this area the Satyri have shown to be the most involved of the Thakisian races in this craft, alongside a couple of brews of Dracis highly-spiced spirits developed in more recent centuries and increasingly popular Caeldoni-style hard vodka made from desert tubers, though the cheaper Caeldoni “Sakae” and other cheap grain or otherwise derived beers of the Undead usually only are sold locally unless requested by a trade partner. It can’t be said to be the most major industry by far, with more limited variety but unique flavors, as compared to the area’s top exports of raw and processed materials from the earth by far. But unlike that trade just ‘who’ it is traded to has far less oversight and restrictions and is much more open and free at the very least.
Other trades of local livestock and foods and more products also occur, usually selling just excess beyond what it takes to sustain the land’s own population and keep some storage, but in terms of being more or less ‘pronounced’ they can basically be glossed over as the less-than interesting stuff.
Military
-Military units of the ancient Kingdom the undead came from were once broken down into simple branches of Infantry, Chariots, and Ranged. Each internal unit was about 150 men strong, with a pair of leaders to manage each half of these and minimal sub-commanders to assist. It was also a far simpler and less advanced time, admittedly, where such organization could be so general and fit easily enough when the mage-rulers of said ancient Kingdom were choosing all the commanders directly for the smaller amount of forces needed in that time period.
Likewise, pre-Undead occupation the Kingdom’s armies were organized in a roughly reminiscent manner to that of the legionaries of the Orduin Empire, albeit adjusted to a style fit for the levy system with the only ‘professional’ being guards of nobility. Six-soldier conteri form the smallest block of infantry, 10 conteri form an eairutae (the old local language word for ‘60’), and 5 eairutae forming a single cohan of 300 infantry. Cavalry were organized in larger conteri of 8, 5 conteri per eairmus, and 5 of these would form a 400-soldier cohasti. Mono-race cohan were standard to avoid mixed-size issues, with Dracis/Satyri ones serving on the back line. Humans/Elf ones were fewer naturally, but served in the center of the front line with the Caeldoni on the left and right sides of the formation. This created a front line that could face similarly-sized opponents evenly, whilst the larger Caeldoni would be able to push in from the flanks. The shorter back lines were simply used to support putting pressure around the flanks and from a lower angle, as they could run and move about the legs of the Caeldoni with a greater ease to get at the enemy. Ranged archers would fire from afar to soften up the enemy and skirmish prior to battle, but in turns used longer-range bows and crossbows especially alongside the likes of infantry-sized ballista and catapults from the back in a non-siege situation. Combined with cavalry (melee and ranged) use on the flanks, this formed the strategy they often used. Force the enemy to come to you or move, bring them in close, and hit them with a disciplined infantry line before enveloping from the sides and crushing with larger sub units but smaller overall amounts of cavalry.
-In the current time, however, modern tactics and organization have combined to create a new post-Orduin approach that is uniquely Thakisian. Every 10 infantry soldiers are organized into a Khayt, 10 Khayt are formed into a 100-soldier Aya’im, and six of these are formed into 600-soldier Taimla/units of infantry. Ranged units wielding larger crossbows called ‘Kha’armae” or just “Armae” reduce this to 360-soldiers units called “Lamin”, which are broken down into 6 60-soldier units called “Ay’aat”, and each of these are broken down into 6 10-man “Baer” sub-units. Cavalry, aerial or land, are still broken down and organized the same way as they were in the pre-Undead occupation period.
Each of the lowest subunits splits up and carries supplies for setting camp, including a tent and preserved rations and tools and so forth. This in turn makes each larger subunit able to set up camp at a rapid pace, and everyone knows their place and what to do and where to set up when organizing a camp. Leaders of each sub-unit size are also assigned, creating a simple but effective chain of command alongside a system of redundancies for the chain of command in case of leader-sniping attempts or group leader deaths on the battlefield. Looting and raiding and gathering are organized to keep military units fed, and provisions are stretched out in portions to minimize the amount they need to gather (entirely so in a terrible pinch/situation, but not forever in such a case).
Battlemages are organized in sub-units of 5, 25, 50, and 100 respectively, and are divided up and used to both support armies medically, supportively, defensively, and offensively depending on the situation. They fall under the military, but also a special ‘magic’ wing that differs from the usually mundane forces but is designed to rapidly break down and split up and coordinate with mundane forces to facilitate whatever needs done at the time, whether it be making fortifications in a hurry or healing/restoring injured to send back to the battle’s front lines or creating advantages for the mundane forces or even counteracting enemy magic or so forth. This is an ancient tradition that has come to be combined effectively with the rest of the Kingdom’s forces.
Engineers, many of which naturally are Dracis, come along as well to direct and advise on operations such as fortifications, sieges tactics and additional siege engine creation, and so forth as the military force needs assistance with. Siege operators and equipment are also transported with the army to a certain extent, alongside pack animals and such to transport them. Similarly support staff follow the army in the back, with any land cavalry contingents placed near the front and rear of the marching army in case of ambush.
In terms of pack animals and land cavalry both the Caeldoni’s “Diu” animal (see: “Caeldoni” underneath the “Species” category) has provided much in the way of raw muscle and versatility. Hardy animals able to run over unstable or rough terrain, and large in size, they are beasts Caeldoni use as mounts. Smaller races like humans and elves and undead who are all around human-scale size can still mount and ride them quickly with practice and training that all cavalry-role riders. Plus normal horses and such aren’t as useful in the terrains, though imported ones kept since have been bred in captivity to try to create a hardier breed used as a minority among cavalry mounts. To some extent this has succeeded, especially as popularity in their smaller size and use over more level areas has made them increasingly used in foreign campaigns and trained to ride locally to a growing extent. If naught else, they more and more supplement the larger Dui land cavalry in useful ways such as being lighter and faster despite being only slower compared to the speed a Dui exerts for a charge in comparison. However, don’t think the Dui a meandering beast of burden, as its size and the ferocity of trained ones can frighten enemy horses not raised around such beats to acclimate to them. Likewise the beast’s musk does tend to unnerve creatures unfamiliar with being around them, and they can turn a bit more on the fly than others might give them credit for.
But this all simply notes the composition of the professional wing of the army, which comprises 50% of the Kingdom’s military forces and constantly trains during peacetime. It is a strong and rather well-armed 50% admittedly, but even with magic and preservation methods and such being used to improve the food situation in Thakis the cold truth of the matter is that they aren’t living in Ishtar’s massive breadbasket either. They can only support so many ‘full-time’ military forces reasonably, and 50% is the safe ‘max limit’ on that in or out of wartime.
-The other 50% of the Kingdom’s current armed forces come from temporary levies during wartime, a supporting levy system being necessary to supplement numbers and support the professional troops that are owned by the state.
During a defensive war these levies are all local, formed by local officials and lower military officials sent to each settlement to oversee such efforts and lead the levies during a defensive war. Whilst each settlement depends on size, location, and other things as they can only reasonably supply so many levies to remain stable and continue to produce needed resources. It is usually enough to help secure the interior and help push enemies out alongside the professional forces, swelling numbers and augmenting the Kingdom’s military by another 50%. Mercenaries might also be used to supplement if available in defensive or offensive situations.
During an offensive war, the levies are gathered and drilled in basic fighting and simple enough tactics by professional instructors and veterans to be used alongside the professional army. Padded cloth armors, passed-down armors bought or looted by ancestors from enemies, second hand chain mail armor or other second hand metal armors bought at market, and so forth are the usual standard. Depending on one’s standing in society, such as common citizens vs merchants for example, standards in general for what a levy must bring to war have been set and organised to be feasible and simple to understand. Men-at-arms, shielded spearmen, pike/polearm-wielding soldiers, archers/crossbowmen, simple armed cavalry, and so forth are all generated by this system for the battlefield. Yet walls of citizens with long spears with simpler shields and maybe a hatchet or small hand axe as a sidearm at the lowest and poorest levels of levy possible are also a thing, simply to illustrate the nature of the system in effect. Standards can, however, be switched to certain degrees based on the war situation within certain set boundaries. There are no levy mages, however, as any involved in war are set to be professionals.
-In terms of gunpowder, the Kingdom has some primitive uses that have been innovated by current times. However these are all limited in number, limited to the professional military wing already at that, and are being used by troops trained to use them to boot. The majority of 'gunpowder' used in the professional wing comes in the form of large exploding fragmentary metal projectiles, tossed by either catapult or trebuchet or ballista or such high into the sky to detonate into enemy flying forces or otherwise lobbed over into enemy forces to go 'boom'. These have two kinds of ‘fuse’, one set long enough to cause it to burst in the air and one to set long enough to burst it after reaching the ground on the other side. It is simple, as each fuse has a label etched onto the metal exterior of the projectile as well to ensure ease of use for artillery crews.
The remaining uses of gunpowder among the professional troops takes the form of: professional Caeldoni contingents with large hand cannon groups can fire shotgun-like blasts at enemy front lines before retreating safely behind their own lines, and other special gunpowder contingents of primitive ‘rocket tubes’ composed of a simple metal tube held over the shoulder that has individual exploding rockets loaded and fired by a total crew of 2-3.
-As an aside, the best military contingent in the nation isn’t even within the military. It is the Royal Guards of the Pharess, a mixture of all races in the kingdom who come from the best among the veteran professionals. Ranging from rockets to catapults to spears and polearms and swords and so forth, they are the elite of the elite, the professional professionals who can do about anything and are drilled in a range of things from battle to subterfuge and assassination and so forth. Older members are themselves even more elite, switched out in pieces over time but otherwise all being composed of un-aging undead or otherwise magic-infused living individuals whose aging has been stopped to keep them in their prime and at their greatest heights.
There are also sentient magical constructs made from the souls of enemies or dead prisoners ancient and modern placed into carefully-engineered-and-crafted construct bodies to animate them. These in particular are highly detailed, durably-build, intricately designed, and overall featured at the Royal Palace and anywhere the Pharess goes, acting as the secondary “Royal Construct Guard” that follow the Pharess. They can even be deployed militarily at her orders if the need or desire arises, just like their living/undead Royal Guard counterparts. For the most part, however, they have been hidden from foreign eyes and notice, only known to the Pharess and few who make/construct them and so forth.
-There also exist special regiments who create and utilize masses of raised, mindless zombies that are directed using simple magic charms and a mage/necromancer or two out in the field due to their simplicity. They are, for all intents and purposes, fodder that is sent in to attrition the enemy, kill time, absorb projectiles, attack baggage trains or supply lines, harass vulnerable back lines, and so forth. Simple, cheap, quick to make, and effective, they are an asset that only grows in number post-battle from the corpses and remains of dead enemies and animals and so forth. Their controllers/directing necromancers, however, remain secure behind lines as magic is put to use to ‘see’ the battlefield and guide them and so forth. They are also easy to chop down, and if their controllers/necromancers die they basically continue to follow the last order given or go berserk if they have no orders at the time. These regiments, however, remain inactive or their magic-users playing other roles until they are actually needed and put into action in a given battle or such.
-In terms of flying cavalry, these are an overall rather limited group whether professional or levy. All are professionals or levied nobles who are trained to fly a particularly nasty but unique beast that lives in the Kingdom’s mountains: The manticore. A flying omnivorous creature taken from the farther north, they are able to be tamed and disciplined to turn their natural weapons and the long sarissa or longbows carried by their riders into battle. The horns on their heads, the fangs in their mouths, the claws on their feet, and the disease-causing toxin-coated plethora of spikes on the end of their own tails are threats to any flying mount of creature they come across. Their bodies are immune to their own poison, but even just being hit by their own spiked tails they can hurt themselves despite their thick hide...albeit in turn these spiked tails can even puncture reptilian scales on things like wyverns and dragons due to the tail’s flexibility and reach.
However, hitting a target with those tails requires getting close, where things like size and strength also matter, and that is a double-edged sword for melee flying cavalry. For ranged it means being able to put up some fight even when brought into melee or forced into it in a pinch situation. Even so melee flying cavalry carry with them a long sarissa-style spear to break into the enemy’s mount or body on the charge, maybe even ruin someone’s shield or weight down the enemy mount’s armor by getting stuck in it as well, before switching to a shorter metal spear used to poke at vulnerable points and engage in battle in air or on ground. Among ‘levies’ only the nobility come into play with flying cavalry to show off, which is seen as a prestigious status, but are held to disciplined standards in the field by their non-noble professional commanders...though on certain occasions this can be a problem among ‘levied’ flying cavalry riders to be frank.
Otherwise, and more common than the flying cavalry during aerial battles to supplement them, swarms of undead birds and vultures and ilk can be raised or brought along and applied similarly to the mindless undead on the land, being directed by magic to harass aerial troops, tear away at their wings and riders, and even dive into enemy back lines or formations to at least distract them or buy time or frankly screen against projectiles if the need be.
-In terms of naval forces, Thakis is limited in both number and scale due to their limited space for ocean access on the western coast. It amounts to one solid port city and a few small towns or villages along that tiny stretch of coast. Even so what they utilize is itself unique-ish due to the climate.
With ice ever prevalent to block access, semi-sentient undead and willing living are used to 'carve' and clear paths through ice sheets that naturally form from the fall though early spring period. However these tend to only be used about the docks and closer to shore where it is easiest to do this.
More so thick ships called "Kapt" are used to clear paths through the ice. These have a specially-shaped front bow covered in metal, as well as thick sides and a strong bottom, combined with an egg-like shape and flush skin-planking to push through and about the ice. It's front 'plow' would help break thinner/medium thickness ice before it, but its shape and style of it below the waterline would allow for the ship to be pushed up out of the water and onto the ice with no damage if it became squeezed or pushed against by ice hard enough (rather than break or take damage or sink). Indeed it is a very resilient and efficient ship for the far north by design. Similar other measures were used in its design as well to adapt it to the extreme climate as well as to even sail down frozen rivers with some ease. Even during summers, where the ice is thinnest and waters are distinctly more open and easily to travel, these ships are still in use due to the dangers of ice. In fact the design of these hips are upsized and downsized (ranging from one to four masts depending) for general naval use since Thakis lacks far more 'hospitable' waters to navigate in general.
"Kapt-Frota" are Kapt-style ships renovated for or outright made for military use, carrying troops or artillery or so forth as the need arises. In that sense they are very versatile, able to take on multiple roles and only being really limited in use based on the particular Kapt-Frota's size. Catapults, ballistae, primitive cannonry (think ancient-china tier but useable at sea), maybe reinforcing the bow to act as a better ram (which it already is generally effective as), and so forth are the kinds of 'weapons' these ships usually wield. Boarding hooks with rope can also be tossed and used to send marines (which do exist in the Thakisian military as levies and/or professionals as well) aboard a weakened enemy vessel to boot.
What the Thakisian Navy lacks in raw numbers and a better clime and specialized military ships and so forth they compensate for in craftsmanship, sheer hardiness, and versatility. Civilian or Mercantile Kapt ships can also be converted more easily for military use, making ditch efforts to increase numbers or replace lost vessels distinctly more accommodating and efficient.
Beyond these ships and ice-cutting crews, however, in times of war or proper need for such measures a large number of deceased sea life can be raised from the dead to harass enemy ships, dig away at their undersides, help escort allied ships, attack pirates, and even capture/drag-off or kill enemy sailors/marines and such that have fallen in the water. In a sense one can call this Thakis' potential 'trump card' navally, especially given the peculiar, dangerous, and/or mysterious life that lives beneath the ice sheets and waves. However, these measures are more so treated in application as a supplement to the small and limited navy of Thakis itself, though it remains a unique and haunting one regardless.
-Most recently experiments in Rock Eater taming/use, or raising them to kill and then re-raise as undead, have been ongoing. Groups have been formed using militarily and civilian personnel in a mix, but not proper regiments, to work on this project at the Pharess' behest and oversight. However, such a thing is an unsubstantiated rumor at best abroad, and internally is simply an experiment and exercise in testing potential civilian or military applications.
Other
-A 'title' the Pharess has unofficially earned in her time as ruler of Thakis is "The Lich Queen". She shrugs it off usually, or doesn't bat an eye at it, which has caused a few beyond Thakis' borders to wonder if there's anything to be gleaned about her from that moniker as well. That or she is just doesn't care about a nickname, perhaps even taking a fancy to it for all anyone knows.
-There is a 'special fleet' being prepped by Thakis on the western coast, using some specially oversized Kapt and Kapt-Frota ships seemingly made to travel into waters farther south. Of course news of this isn't rather well known at all, though the nation's trading partners would probably be aware of the rumors at least. It doesn't seem menacing at least though.
Well someone seemed to have anger issues. That was bothersome. Yet Kir simply shrugged as Argos tried to demean her by saying she 'simply ate up the leftovers the Hobs gave her', though, as frankly it didn't bother her either. Sure she had taken what others brought them, but so what? It was resources to use, and she'd capitalized on that opportunity to give herself a leg up of sorts. It didn't matter how she did it, as she wasn't trying to impress everyone. Admittedly she looked forward to whatever gift that pale Hob had promised her, but all the same she'd apparently made that kind of impact on him with her actions to be given such a thing. It was a simple matter. Sure just shrugging everyone off wasn't good either, that was something she got the impression of in the back of her mind amidst those fuzzy memories, but at the same time obsessing with pleasing them all was nothing to look at either.
But her own thoughts on things aside, she quietly let Argos walk away from her as she stood there, just stomp off into the woods before the one he'd tried to drag off seemed to go after him. Shortly thereafter the two seemed to come back, her brother just silent and there in general. At least Lexi seemed to want to get moving before they lost any more daylight at least. Even so Kir let out a quiet sigh as she looked up at the sun and then back at the forest ahead of them.
"Look, I know the two of you want to make traps, but I'm looking for good supplies and making myself a bow and stuff before doing a little hunting myself first. If you want help on traps after that then feel free to ask me, but until then I'm going to make sure I have something to fight with," she said, looking between Lexi and Aya directly as she spoke before continuing on, glancing back at Argos for the next part, "And look, I didn't mean to rile ya up before. But being stuck in that building for three days has made me my own kind of riled up. So I apologize for all that back there.
Still, if you want to go hunting rather than make a trap I'll be doing so after I get my weapon and such together while these other two start on trap work. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but the offer I made before also stands if you want."
This was a pain, but hopefully one that wouldn't stretch too long out in the end. Blargh. But at this point Kir simplyy gave a silent nod before going to walk deeper into the woods. Time to get to work...finally.
Summary: Kir stood there, stated her intentions to her two sisters after everyone came back to where she was (@TheMushroomLord and @SilverPaw), apologized to Argos to try to genuinely somewhat diffuse tensions (@Jangel13), and has now very blatantly and without hesitation walked out deeper into the forest to get started working.
Kir's intention is to go and make the best bow and the two best arrows she can and the best horned-rabbit-pelt cloak she can. This is so she can made good-enough quality recreations of the arrows to use them effectively, by making the original ones of a high quality. After this, she intends to go hunt a couple of rabbits in the woods with her finished bow and wearing her rabbit-pelt cloak if she can.
If Argos comes along, she'll let him hunt with her without saying a word. If Argos accepts her former offer, after making her stuff she'll help him fashion the horn and fur of his dead rabbit into something of a horned punching glove before she goes hunting.
EXP: 0
Inventory:
- x5 Horned Rabbit Pelts
- x2 Horned Rabbit Skulls With Their Horns
- Sinews Harvested From 5 Horned Rabbits
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Acquired Skills:
-Primitive Crafting: Ancient civilizations used the very same methods as they harvested the base materials at their disposal to make weapons. Learned how to make primitive traps like spike pits, holes, and spike traps. Also learned to make bone/wood weapons such as clubs, bows, slings.
-Knowledge of the Three: Knowledge of the Three Great Gods. Ability to properly worship. Ability to create shrines in honor of the Three Great Gods.
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Titles:
Blessings:
Curses:
As for what those shrines are they represent the 3 main Gods of this world Ramos, shirila, and duelvena There are gods for everything from food to hunts even to keeping yourself clean but each of them isn't as powerful as the 3 main gods I am about to tell you about. First, there is the god of light Ramos he is the god of light and he gives us the very sun we see during the day he is purity itself and as such is mostly worshipped by most creatures in one form or another. Ramos is the exact opposite of the goddess known as Duvelna she is the goddess of death and night. She is death itself and must be respected if not feared for with a single touch of her finger you are dragged down into the netherworld. She gives us the very moon in the sky. Finally, there is Shirila the goddess of the earth as she is the embodiment of the earth and life itself, she is also known as the eternal mother. She gives us the very plants that grow everywhere around us and gives life to it. She in tune with everyone that loves the earth as it should be.
@Jangel13 I don't have much I could respond with for a post, Kir would kinda just shrug silently as Argos walked off and motion for Aya to follow if she wants to. She just wants to get making her stuff and such as detailed in the post.
So no idea how to respond in another post later this week. XD
BCTheEntity
Cu Chulainn
Xaltwind
Jangel13
TheMushroomLord
demonspade64
AThousandCurses
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Rune_Alchemist