I guess that I have never appreciated shallow stereotypical villians. I think that in pretty much any media the villians usually have more depth than the heroes. Back in the 90's I probably spent way too much time playing pbem role playing games. I felt that a lot of games and characters were overly stereotypical, and wanted to try something different. This is the character concept and campaign diary that grew out of it... Gar u'Vok e'Tov, a lesser shaman of the Crooked Plains People was one of the more creative ideas I've had.
Every year during the Hare Moon, the third full moon of spring, the Crooked Plains People like many others drive the pubescent males out of their settlements to protect the breeding females and young from their aggressive behaviors. This also prevents the maturing males from being killed by the alpha male who is coincidently, frequently their father. For some unknown reason, this annual rite came upon me as a young male completely unaware. I whined and begged, but as dawn broke my mother broke my bow over her knee and my father chased me from the encampment while my sister cheered, as was the custom among the People.
After being driven out of their homes, and if they live long enough, the young males join together, forming small nomadic groups that are reputed to prey on passing travelers, small settlements and each other. Less frequent but far more hazardous, the marauding bands sometimes flock to banners of charismatic warriors and mages, the so-called Dark Lords. As a member of the People, this option wasn’t really open to me unless I wanted my sister to come hunt me down and drag me back home in disgrace. I thought that I could stay near the boundaries of my tribe’s territory and scavenge enough to make a new hatchet and bow, before beginning my vision quest. Unfortunately the tribal boundaries were also near human territory, and I found a human whom I was more or less honor-bound to help.
The human’s name was Faerin de’Harkwood, Harkwood remarkably enough being his father’s name rather than his mother’s. He had the misfortune to have been beaten and exiled by his father for attempting to mate with a female. As the Truth of Hospitality required, I healed and fed this human and eventually learned his language. Also as Hospitality required, he invited me to accompany him and I was duty bound to go with to ensure his safety as he had no survival skills. What he did have, although it shouldn’t have surprised me, was the power of a greater shaman. Maybe human males are more effeminate than those of the People? This would have insulted my sister, as she could have broken him much easier than she had routinely beaten me. Maybe their physical weakness was the price of greater magics? I didn’t know.
I had discovered another thing as well, he was both more curious and a better musician than me. His musical skills almost got us both killed though. Faerin asked me to show him my spirits, with absolutely no awareness of the improprieties, and he didn’t catch on when I merely stared at him in disgust. So I thought to demonstrate his foolishness. I walked away from the fire and politely dusted off a rock and said, “Sit here.” “This is a drum.” I said, pulling out a small tambour. “You tap it here, this is the beat.” I said, tapping it slowly. I then retrieved my herbs and offered smoke to the four winds and began a simple blessing. Granted I was somewhat irate, but he changed the beat. He started improvising and the spirits started dancing. The fire flared up, taking my eyebrows. The spirits roared around our camp, wrapping Faerin’s blankets around his throat and tearing the drum from his hands. Out of my depth and acting on instinct rather than from ritual, I cut my arm and offered them blood sacrifice in apology. Although they accepted the blood, they demanded further payment in terms of an unspecified service at a later time. I agreed, planning on taking that service out of Faerin’s hide.
As agreed, I accompanied him on his journey when he recovered. I jogged beside his horse as we neared the borders of the Rock Diggers, the Dwarves. The area we were in had been abandoned by the dwarves many generations ago, so I was more interested in explaining to Faerin why we should eat his horse, rather than ride it. After all it wasn’t any faster than I was on foot, it made much more noise and needed too much care. It would also save time if we didn’t have to hunt. He disagreed, claiming he couldn’t run as fast as I could, and I was forced to agree that he was a poor physical specimen, although I think the idea of eating horse bothered him more than having to run.
I suspect that Faerin had been planning on the meeting others, but had neglected to tell me out of some perverse pleasure he receives by watching others reactions to the unexpected. I know he thought the spirits had been amusing. The first of the others was a female, although neither Faerin nor the males who joined us later deferred to her leadership, as I would expect among the People. Her name was Jade, though she gave no lineage. I wondered why she hid her matronym, as the strength of her mothers was obvious. I was certain she could stand against my sister Kor by will alone, and physically she might have been her equal as well. Jade claimed descent from both elves and humans, and was aggressive in this claiming. She said her father was among the elves and that she meant to find him. I thought by the strength of her anger, she meant to hunt and slay him, and wondered if he had perhaps insulted her mother in some way, that he was alive but not with her. Like Faerin to my disgust, she also rode a horse, and claimed to be a musician.
Two others joined us. One was a human carrying a long curved sword, and to my shame I never knew his name as he was from a far land and spoke a different tongue. The other was a Rock Digger. He was as wide as he was short, and he was covered in metal disks. He held a metal club and stood in the trail like a boulder in a stream. Faerin and Jade prevented our fighting, and because of it changed the course of the People. He said his name was Kayin and he would not give his lineage to an orc. I asked if he was shamed by that lineage or if he was humbled by the greatness of the People. Again Faerin and Jade prevented our fighting, and turned our words into a child’s game we took delight in. Thank the spirits, Kayin was not a musician nor did he ride a horse. The first of our bonds was forged as we outran the mounts of our comrades.
Kayin led us to a large hill, saying he was sent by the dwarves of Stone Haven to find and re-open their former home. Kayin did not know why his ancestors abandoned this place, but he was a builder and not a scout or warrior, so suspected the move was political. We were to discover that he was wrong; he was a warrior.
Dirt Haven I called it, and Kayin did not object. We entered by a hidden door and found only empty halls and a great beast. Kayin called it a rock worm and said it knew all of the history of this place. The worm sent us to the mines in the depths of this place, claiming some power had stolen her magic and slain the dwarves that lived here. We found the first bodies near to a hole torn in a wall. We entered the hole, and the second of our bonds was forged as Kayin and I fought back to back against insect-warriors.
We entered the domain of the large bugs three times. The first, to our misfortune saw the loss of the human who spoke a different tongue. Kayin who knew him best, and spoke his tongue quite well, said that he was from a land across a great lake. The second time we entered, Faerin revealed the strength of his magic when he cast lightning across the caverns, slaying many and setting the mosses and lichens afire. The third time we entered the charred caverns, we discovered the rock worm’s orb. The insects pursued us, but the torn wall closed behind us as we returned with the orb.
I must go back and address the issue of our comrade’s death. He was slain in the first encounter with the insect-warriors, dying while the rest of us fought for our lives. When all was done, I attempted to save him and followed him to the very gates of the underworld through which he ran willingly. Perhaps, if I had known his true name I might have saved him. His death is on my shoulders, as I never bothered to know him.
Kayin judged his work finished and said he needed to return to make his reports. Rather than returning directly to Stone Haven, he brought us first north to a strange tower where we passed through fountains of fire and walls of wind before meeting another human male who was obviously also a greater shaman such as Faerin. Maybe they aren’t really males? His name was Eliphas, and he agreed to return our dead comrade to his homeland when Kayin finished telling him about Dirt Haven. He then requested that we look into retrieving an artifact for him at some dead shaman’s valley on the other side of Stone Haven, when Kayin was finished giving his report to the dwarves. Apparently this was part of an agreement between Kayin and Eliphas, in which Eliphas helped Kayin find the location of Dirt Haven.
So we went south against my better judgment to let the dwarven nation imprison and ridicule me for crimes they committed against the People. Kayin said that this would make a better orc out of me, but he had also said, “the only good orc was a dead orc.” I had stopped telling him I was of the People and not an orc, as he never listened. The dwarves stopped hitting me after three days, but then hit me again for another day when I told them my sister hit harder. I didn’t tell them where she usually hit. They released me after a fortnight, when the others were ready to find the dead shaman’s valley. The dwarves replaced my leathers and gave me steel weapons to replace the ones of bone, and Kayin turned red when I allowed that dwarves do good woman’s work. The Rock Diggers treated Faerin with great respect when we left, and I didn’t understand why but Jade explained that it was because dwarves made the sword of his fathers. I didn’t know why this was important.
We were led for several days through tunnels under the mountains before coming out into the outskirts of a Grass Eaters’ kingdom. Although not as structured as the dwarves in how they arranged their lives, the humans went about things in a manner that frightened me. They lived in buildings of stone and wood laid out in straight lines. If there were many buildings, the lines were longer or there were more lines. Even the plants and grasses and trees of this land grew in straight lines as if mimicking the homes of these strange people. The humans did not hunt, but the herds of strange animals came to them to be slaughtered, too polite to stay in the wilds waiting to be hunted. Grass Eaters frightened me; they were small and weak, but there was something in their way of living that allowed them to grow and become something greater than what I could see. I knew that I would have to look longer, to puzzle out their riddle and perhaps bring it home to the People.
Another fortnight and we met a small band of the People, single males traveling together for protection. They baited Kayin, holding him to account for the actions of all the Rock Diggers as they tried to do to me. They did not beat Kayin as his folk beat me, but threatened him and asked Faerin to sell him to them so that they could have him to punish. Faerin and Kayin both thought their lives were at stake, and perhaps they were because these males were angered, accusing the human and dwarf of submitting themselves to others as none of the People ever would. This concerned me and I asked questions of the older males in my role as shaman. Not having a shaman among them, they laid their burdens on me and expected me to take them up, as would any shaman of the People. Thus relieved, they ceased their antagonizing of Kayin, and shared meat with us and told us of the valley of the dead shaman.
To their shame and to the shame of all the People, a greater shaman of the Grass Eaters had come upon this band of males, and as it was of old, some were beguiled and went with this human when he took his leave. The human made his home in the valley of the dead shaman, and when the People went there to reclaim their lost siblings, the human shaman turned his magics on the People and the People again fought one another as they had in the time of the Daemon. It was now my duty to defeat this shaman to prevent further losses, the lives of the lost siblings becoming a lesser concern.
Thanks to the directions of the People, we entered the valley a couple days later. A small tower presided over a wasteland, through which trailed a drying riverbed. Freestanding pillars on which rested the statues of the shaman and his daughters could be seen in the distance, positioned around a mudflat. We determined that it would be best to tend to the human shaman first, so that he and his followers wouldn’t interfere with the task Eliphas set us. We also thought it prudent to attempt to eliminate him before he learned that we were here.
Unfortunately events proved that he already knew of us as his followers fired crossbows at us when we approached the tower that night. When things went bad, we charged the tower to minimize our chances of getting hit. Faerin called up a wind, further fouling their aim and hardening the mud of the tower’s moat. The door crumbled when we hit it, and Kayin let me slay the first of my People. I slew five of the People before burying my knee spike in the kidney of the shaman while he battled Faerin; later when I released their spirits, they thanked me for their deaths.
Jade found Eliphas’ artifact and instructions on revitalizing the valley in a hidden room. Restoring the valley required no sacrifices or great magic, only the reciting of words at the base of each statue. I found it mildly disappointing. Eliphas’ Artifact was a golden quill.
I didn’t return to Eliphas’ tower with the others, but told them that I would find them in a couple of seasons. I wasn’t sure at the time if I wanted to find them or not. I had slain some of the People, and I believed that if I continued to travel with Kayin, Faerin and Jade I would kill more. While the People routinely fight to survive, we have seldom killed each other since the time of the Daemon. On the other hand, those I killed were serving one who would have set himself up as another Daemon; my vows as shaman required me to slay them. Maybe I just wasn’t one for adventure.
I also stayed behind to learn more of the ways of the Grass Eaters and particularly I wanted to learn more about their animals and growing things. I thought that this might be something that would benefit the People. The first Grass Eater I approached had her animals chase me away; the second had her animals and her whole tribe chase me. The third was a lone male living on the outskirts of the Grass Eater territory; he laughed, but agreed to teach me. His name was Aaron, and I believe that he was a shaman although I never saw proof. He taught me as he agreed to, but he also got labor out of me such as none of the People has ever done; I learned about the food plants and herbs of the Grass Eaters, and I also learned about their dogs and horses and goats and sheep. I also learned that goats and sheep do not stay where you put them as do the plants and herbs, they move and go places that one wouldn’t put a growing plant, and they go to these places when its raining or snowing or the middle of the night. I learned to not like the goats and sheep, but in the spring of the next year I took five goats with me when I left Aaron to return to the Broken Plains of the People.
I managed to avoid my father Tov e’Shuk and the other males residing with the women’s camps. My sister Kor on the other hand broke my nose again and ate one of my goats. Despite being a sibling and male, my role as lesser shaman and preserver of the People convinced her that I had the interests of the tribes in mind. Not for her brother, but for the shaman she gathered young females to learn the care and husbanding of goats. I left the plains again quickly, before the females decided I was meddling in their interests or another male thought I was threatening his position.
I returned to the tower of Kayin’s friend, and he sent me on with dire warnings. Perhaps because of that I decided it was time to do something I had been putting off for a long while. When I was young and still living with my mother, I experienced my first vision quest and learned I was to be a shaman. Much later, although before I came of age, I had a second vision quest and learned of my death. Now it was time for my third vision quest, to learn of my totem. I prepared myself and had dreams of being chosen by wolf or bear. While I readied my fire, my more practical thoughts agreed that fox or even antelope would be good totems. I offered smoke to the spirits of the four winds, first East for an auspicious beginning, then South for purpose, West for clarity and north to ground his desire. Then I turned to the fire pit, sat and added the proper herbs. Tapping softly on a small handmade drum, I chanted and willed the spirits to show me my totem. A candle-mark later my concentration was disrupted by the bark of a small brown animal lying in the dust outside my circle. That’s how I met my totem the Plain’s Marmot, prairie dog.
A full year after leaving them, I found Kayin, Faerin and Jade where Eliphas said they would be on the eastern edge of a soon to be battlefield. Faerin and Jade appeared glad to see me, Kayin simply muttered that I was late, the armies of Elves and Grass Eaters didn’t notice I was there. The Grass Eaters were different from the ones I had seen and stayed with before; first of all they were much farther north and much better armed. Faerin said that they were the empire from which he came, while Jade said they were the empire from which her kingdom had fled hundreds of years before. Elves I had never seen before, although I had memorized many stories regarding them and their feud with the People. They were tall and pale, sitting on tall and pale horses, fewer though more imposing than the human empire’s army. I wanted to stay and watch, but the others insisted we leave. We traveled north and east to a long abandoned city of elves, once again in search of an artifact for Eliphas.
I do not wish to speak anymore of the city of elves. It should suffice to say that a friend is no more, though the People speak of him as the Daemon of Winter; it is his sword I carry. Kayin has returned to Stone Haven and will not leave it again except for war. Jade has returned to the folk of her own kingdom to raise an army to oppose the empire. The People have agreed to join with the elves when they are called, to fight against the human empire’s army
Truths, Shadow Truths, and Shaman:
Every year during the Hare Moon, the third full moon of spring, the Crooked Plains People like many others drive the pubescent males out of their settlements to protect the breeding females and young from their aggressive behaviors. This also prevents the maturing males from being killed by the alpha male who is coincidently, frequently their father. For some unknown reason, this annual rite came upon me as a young male completely unaware. I whined and begged, but as dawn broke my mother broke my bow over her knee and my father chased me from the encampment while my sister cheered, as was the custom among the People.
After being driven out of their homes, and if they live long enough, the young males join together, forming small nomadic groups that are reputed to prey on passing travelers, small settlements and each other. Less frequent but far more hazardous, the marauding bands sometimes flock to banners of charismatic warriors and mages, the so-called Dark Lords. As a member of the People, this option wasn’t really open to me unless I wanted my sister to come hunt me down and drag me back home in disgrace. I thought that I could stay near the boundaries of my tribe’s territory and scavenge enough to make a new hatchet and bow, before beginning my vision quest. Unfortunately the tribal boundaries were also near human territory, and I found a human whom I was more or less honor-bound to help.
The human’s name was Faerin de’Harkwood, Harkwood remarkably enough being his father’s name rather than his mother’s. He had the misfortune to have been beaten and exiled by his father for attempting to mate with a female. As the Truth of Hospitality required, I healed and fed this human and eventually learned his language. Also as Hospitality required, he invited me to accompany him and I was duty bound to go with to ensure his safety as he had no survival skills. What he did have, although it shouldn’t have surprised me, was the power of a greater shaman. Maybe human males are more effeminate than those of the People? This would have insulted my sister, as she could have broken him much easier than she had routinely beaten me. Maybe their physical weakness was the price of greater magics? I didn’t know.
I had discovered another thing as well, he was both more curious and a better musician than me. His musical skills almost got us both killed though. Faerin asked me to show him my spirits, with absolutely no awareness of the improprieties, and he didn’t catch on when I merely stared at him in disgust. So I thought to demonstrate his foolishness. I walked away from the fire and politely dusted off a rock and said, “Sit here.” “This is a drum.” I said, pulling out a small tambour. “You tap it here, this is the beat.” I said, tapping it slowly. I then retrieved my herbs and offered smoke to the four winds and began a simple blessing. Granted I was somewhat irate, but he changed the beat. He started improvising and the spirits started dancing. The fire flared up, taking my eyebrows. The spirits roared around our camp, wrapping Faerin’s blankets around his throat and tearing the drum from his hands. Out of my depth and acting on instinct rather than from ritual, I cut my arm and offered them blood sacrifice in apology. Although they accepted the blood, they demanded further payment in terms of an unspecified service at a later time. I agreed, planning on taking that service out of Faerin’s hide.
As agreed, I accompanied him on his journey when he recovered. I jogged beside his horse as we neared the borders of the Rock Diggers, the Dwarves. The area we were in had been abandoned by the dwarves many generations ago, so I was more interested in explaining to Faerin why we should eat his horse, rather than ride it. After all it wasn’t any faster than I was on foot, it made much more noise and needed too much care. It would also save time if we didn’t have to hunt. He disagreed, claiming he couldn’t run as fast as I could, and I was forced to agree that he was a poor physical specimen, although I think the idea of eating horse bothered him more than having to run.
I suspect that Faerin had been planning on the meeting others, but had neglected to tell me out of some perverse pleasure he receives by watching others reactions to the unexpected. I know he thought the spirits had been amusing. The first of the others was a female, although neither Faerin nor the males who joined us later deferred to her leadership, as I would expect among the People. Her name was Jade, though she gave no lineage. I wondered why she hid her matronym, as the strength of her mothers was obvious. I was certain she could stand against my sister Kor by will alone, and physically she might have been her equal as well. Jade claimed descent from both elves and humans, and was aggressive in this claiming. She said her father was among the elves and that she meant to find him. I thought by the strength of her anger, she meant to hunt and slay him, and wondered if he had perhaps insulted her mother in some way, that he was alive but not with her. Like Faerin to my disgust, she also rode a horse, and claimed to be a musician.
Two others joined us. One was a human carrying a long curved sword, and to my shame I never knew his name as he was from a far land and spoke a different tongue. The other was a Rock Digger. He was as wide as he was short, and he was covered in metal disks. He held a metal club and stood in the trail like a boulder in a stream. Faerin and Jade prevented our fighting, and because of it changed the course of the People. He said his name was Kayin and he would not give his lineage to an orc. I asked if he was shamed by that lineage or if he was humbled by the greatness of the People. Again Faerin and Jade prevented our fighting, and turned our words into a child’s game we took delight in. Thank the spirits, Kayin was not a musician nor did he ride a horse. The first of our bonds was forged as we outran the mounts of our comrades.
Kayin led us to a large hill, saying he was sent by the dwarves of Stone Haven to find and re-open their former home. Kayin did not know why his ancestors abandoned this place, but he was a builder and not a scout or warrior, so suspected the move was political. We were to discover that he was wrong; he was a warrior.
Dirt Haven I called it, and Kayin did not object. We entered by a hidden door and found only empty halls and a great beast. Kayin called it a rock worm and said it knew all of the history of this place. The worm sent us to the mines in the depths of this place, claiming some power had stolen her magic and slain the dwarves that lived here. We found the first bodies near to a hole torn in a wall. We entered the hole, and the second of our bonds was forged as Kayin and I fought back to back against insect-warriors.
We entered the domain of the large bugs three times. The first, to our misfortune saw the loss of the human who spoke a different tongue. Kayin who knew him best, and spoke his tongue quite well, said that he was from a land across a great lake. The second time we entered, Faerin revealed the strength of his magic when he cast lightning across the caverns, slaying many and setting the mosses and lichens afire. The third time we entered the charred caverns, we discovered the rock worm’s orb. The insects pursued us, but the torn wall closed behind us as we returned with the orb.
I must go back and address the issue of our comrade’s death. He was slain in the first encounter with the insect-warriors, dying while the rest of us fought for our lives. When all was done, I attempted to save him and followed him to the very gates of the underworld through which he ran willingly. Perhaps, if I had known his true name I might have saved him. His death is on my shoulders, as I never bothered to know him.
Kayin judged his work finished and said he needed to return to make his reports. Rather than returning directly to Stone Haven, he brought us first north to a strange tower where we passed through fountains of fire and walls of wind before meeting another human male who was obviously also a greater shaman such as Faerin. Maybe they aren’t really males? His name was Eliphas, and he agreed to return our dead comrade to his homeland when Kayin finished telling him about Dirt Haven. He then requested that we look into retrieving an artifact for him at some dead shaman’s valley on the other side of Stone Haven, when Kayin was finished giving his report to the dwarves. Apparently this was part of an agreement between Kayin and Eliphas, in which Eliphas helped Kayin find the location of Dirt Haven.
So we went south against my better judgment to let the dwarven nation imprison and ridicule me for crimes they committed against the People. Kayin said that this would make a better orc out of me, but he had also said, “the only good orc was a dead orc.” I had stopped telling him I was of the People and not an orc, as he never listened. The dwarves stopped hitting me after three days, but then hit me again for another day when I told them my sister hit harder. I didn’t tell them where she usually hit. They released me after a fortnight, when the others were ready to find the dead shaman’s valley. The dwarves replaced my leathers and gave me steel weapons to replace the ones of bone, and Kayin turned red when I allowed that dwarves do good woman’s work. The Rock Diggers treated Faerin with great respect when we left, and I didn’t understand why but Jade explained that it was because dwarves made the sword of his fathers. I didn’t know why this was important.
We were led for several days through tunnels under the mountains before coming out into the outskirts of a Grass Eaters’ kingdom. Although not as structured as the dwarves in how they arranged their lives, the humans went about things in a manner that frightened me. They lived in buildings of stone and wood laid out in straight lines. If there were many buildings, the lines were longer or there were more lines. Even the plants and grasses and trees of this land grew in straight lines as if mimicking the homes of these strange people. The humans did not hunt, but the herds of strange animals came to them to be slaughtered, too polite to stay in the wilds waiting to be hunted. Grass Eaters frightened me; they were small and weak, but there was something in their way of living that allowed them to grow and become something greater than what I could see. I knew that I would have to look longer, to puzzle out their riddle and perhaps bring it home to the People.
Another fortnight and we met a small band of the People, single males traveling together for protection. They baited Kayin, holding him to account for the actions of all the Rock Diggers as they tried to do to me. They did not beat Kayin as his folk beat me, but threatened him and asked Faerin to sell him to them so that they could have him to punish. Faerin and Kayin both thought their lives were at stake, and perhaps they were because these males were angered, accusing the human and dwarf of submitting themselves to others as none of the People ever would. This concerned me and I asked questions of the older males in my role as shaman. Not having a shaman among them, they laid their burdens on me and expected me to take them up, as would any shaman of the People. Thus relieved, they ceased their antagonizing of Kayin, and shared meat with us and told us of the valley of the dead shaman.
To their shame and to the shame of all the People, a greater shaman of the Grass Eaters had come upon this band of males, and as it was of old, some were beguiled and went with this human when he took his leave. The human made his home in the valley of the dead shaman, and when the People went there to reclaim their lost siblings, the human shaman turned his magics on the People and the People again fought one another as they had in the time of the Daemon. It was now my duty to defeat this shaman to prevent further losses, the lives of the lost siblings becoming a lesser concern.
Thanks to the directions of the People, we entered the valley a couple days later. A small tower presided over a wasteland, through which trailed a drying riverbed. Freestanding pillars on which rested the statues of the shaman and his daughters could be seen in the distance, positioned around a mudflat. We determined that it would be best to tend to the human shaman first, so that he and his followers wouldn’t interfere with the task Eliphas set us. We also thought it prudent to attempt to eliminate him before he learned that we were here.
Unfortunately events proved that he already knew of us as his followers fired crossbows at us when we approached the tower that night. When things went bad, we charged the tower to minimize our chances of getting hit. Faerin called up a wind, further fouling their aim and hardening the mud of the tower’s moat. The door crumbled when we hit it, and Kayin let me slay the first of my People. I slew five of the People before burying my knee spike in the kidney of the shaman while he battled Faerin; later when I released their spirits, they thanked me for their deaths.
Jade found Eliphas’ artifact and instructions on revitalizing the valley in a hidden room. Restoring the valley required no sacrifices or great magic, only the reciting of words at the base of each statue. I found it mildly disappointing. Eliphas’ Artifact was a golden quill.
I didn’t return to Eliphas’ tower with the others, but told them that I would find them in a couple of seasons. I wasn’t sure at the time if I wanted to find them or not. I had slain some of the People, and I believed that if I continued to travel with Kayin, Faerin and Jade I would kill more. While the People routinely fight to survive, we have seldom killed each other since the time of the Daemon. On the other hand, those I killed were serving one who would have set himself up as another Daemon; my vows as shaman required me to slay them. Maybe I just wasn’t one for adventure.
I also stayed behind to learn more of the ways of the Grass Eaters and particularly I wanted to learn more about their animals and growing things. I thought that this might be something that would benefit the People. The first Grass Eater I approached had her animals chase me away; the second had her animals and her whole tribe chase me. The third was a lone male living on the outskirts of the Grass Eater territory; he laughed, but agreed to teach me. His name was Aaron, and I believe that he was a shaman although I never saw proof. He taught me as he agreed to, but he also got labor out of me such as none of the People has ever done; I learned about the food plants and herbs of the Grass Eaters, and I also learned about their dogs and horses and goats and sheep. I also learned that goats and sheep do not stay where you put them as do the plants and herbs, they move and go places that one wouldn’t put a growing plant, and they go to these places when its raining or snowing or the middle of the night. I learned to not like the goats and sheep, but in the spring of the next year I took five goats with me when I left Aaron to return to the Broken Plains of the People.
I managed to avoid my father Tov e’Shuk and the other males residing with the women’s camps. My sister Kor on the other hand broke my nose again and ate one of my goats. Despite being a sibling and male, my role as lesser shaman and preserver of the People convinced her that I had the interests of the tribes in mind. Not for her brother, but for the shaman she gathered young females to learn the care and husbanding of goats. I left the plains again quickly, before the females decided I was meddling in their interests or another male thought I was threatening his position.
I returned to the tower of Kayin’s friend, and he sent me on with dire warnings. Perhaps because of that I decided it was time to do something I had been putting off for a long while. When I was young and still living with my mother, I experienced my first vision quest and learned I was to be a shaman. Much later, although before I came of age, I had a second vision quest and learned of my death. Now it was time for my third vision quest, to learn of my totem. I prepared myself and had dreams of being chosen by wolf or bear. While I readied my fire, my more practical thoughts agreed that fox or even antelope would be good totems. I offered smoke to the spirits of the four winds, first East for an auspicious beginning, then South for purpose, West for clarity and north to ground his desire. Then I turned to the fire pit, sat and added the proper herbs. Tapping softly on a small handmade drum, I chanted and willed the spirits to show me my totem. A candle-mark later my concentration was disrupted by the bark of a small brown animal lying in the dust outside my circle. That’s how I met my totem the Plain’s Marmot, prairie dog.
A full year after leaving them, I found Kayin, Faerin and Jade where Eliphas said they would be on the eastern edge of a soon to be battlefield. Faerin and Jade appeared glad to see me, Kayin simply muttered that I was late, the armies of Elves and Grass Eaters didn’t notice I was there. The Grass Eaters were different from the ones I had seen and stayed with before; first of all they were much farther north and much better armed. Faerin said that they were the empire from which he came, while Jade said they were the empire from which her kingdom had fled hundreds of years before. Elves I had never seen before, although I had memorized many stories regarding them and their feud with the People. They were tall and pale, sitting on tall and pale horses, fewer though more imposing than the human empire’s army. I wanted to stay and watch, but the others insisted we leave. We traveled north and east to a long abandoned city of elves, once again in search of an artifact for Eliphas.
I do not wish to speak anymore of the city of elves. It should suffice to say that a friend is no more, though the People speak of him as the Daemon of Winter; it is his sword I carry. Kayin has returned to Stone Haven and will not leave it again except for war. Jade has returned to the folk of her own kingdom to raise an army to oppose the empire. The People have agreed to join with the elves when they are called, to fight against the human empire’s army
Truths, Shadow Truths, and Shaman:
As you do not know the People's Way, I know that you do not intend to insult. I will pardon your slight, but know that you impinge on my honor. Listen now, and learn what I have to teach. Honor is the Second Truth. The People do not lie or steal or covet, as do the Stone Diggers or Grass Eaters. What one of the People says she will do, she will do. When an elder speaks, the People listen to her unless she has lost her honor. If one becomes an elder, she must care for all the People as she accepts another at her fire.
Hospitality is the Third Truth. When one of the People accepts another at her fire, she must feed, clothe, heal and protect her guest; and when the time comes for parting, she must attend to provisioning for her guest’s sojourn. When one of the People guests at another’s fire, it is demanded of him that he accept what is given and give what is asked, save where the First or Second Truths hold precedence.
According to the Shadow Truths, Grass Eaters once aided the People. Because the Grass Eaters’ aid allowed the People to live, the People also aid others.
The First Truth is this, the People submit to none, nor do they demand submission. In the time before the moon, the Daemon beguiled the People and demanded submission. Those of the People who refused were slain by the Daemon and those of the people who submitted were slain by servants of other daemons. The People were scattered until the Daemon sent the Others to again beguile them, and the People were slain. Then the People sought out the Covenant of Truths and they refused the Daemon and the Others, though again many of the People were slain.
According to the Shadow Truths, when the Covenant created the first shaman and the People warred with the Daemon, Grass Eaters also joined with the People in their defiance. Because of the Grass Eaters, the People lived and now desire only peace.
You dwell according to the Covenant of Truths as if you are People, and as long as you strive as the People, the People will be your ally. Acceptance is the Fourth Truth; which allows that there is no single way of living. When others allow you to live according to your way, you also should allow them to live according to their way.
According to the Shadow Truths, the People worship no gods. Gods are only greater spirits or daemons that have gained power, and worship which is also power. As the Daemon demanded submission of the People, the people submit to no spirit.
I am a shaman of the People. As a shaman, I carry the history and laws within my soul. I know the herbs that heal and aid, and I know the healing and bone setting. I guide the souls of the dead to their rest and when necessary guide them back from their resting. I go among the spirits and daemons, and beseech them to heal or bring rain for the People. Sometimes I banish those daemons who challenge the First Truth demanding our submission. Although you live according to the Covenant of Truths, I do not wish to give insult; and therefore will not practice my beliefs among you until you give me leave.
I am Gar u’Vok e’Tov, lesser-shaman of the Crooked Plains People. I am male, as only females of the people may be greater shaman. I was whelped during the snowmelt before the summer of lakes, twenty-six of your years ago.
The Grass Eaters and Stone Diggers call us orcs, but we are the People and find this “orcs” a demeaning name, as you find Grass Eater likewise a disliked name.
I am a shaman of the People, and as such must concern myself with the significance, propriety and respect of the People I serve. When I speak of the Covenant of Truths and the History of the People, I speak as the ritual demands. When I speak to the spirits and daemons, I speak as their nature demands. When the rituals and spirits are done with their demands, I act as my totem and my nature demand.
My totem is the plains marmot that you call prairie dog. Like my totem, I prefer to live with others rather than alone. I am protective of my community, but frequently accused of being frivolous. Often curious, I like to watch and play and make jokes. I enjoy basking in the sun.
Being both a lesser shaman whose duty is to serve, and a shaman of the plains marmot who is communal in nature, perhaps I am a little obsessive in regards to the People. I want the People to be come a culture that is no longer attacked, that is respected by the other races. I want the People to grow rather than merely exist, but I fear that in doing so, that the People will become as others and forget the Covenant of Truths. Also despite the Covenant, I find myself sometimes intolerant of the other races. Like the Daemon before them, other races have slain and enslaved the People. The other races look down on the People and call us inferior, all the while lying to and abandoning their own.
I am aware that like my People, I lack the sharp intelligence and education that those of other races have. The People have simple needs and live in a simple world. I am like my People. I am not smart like the Rock Digger dwarves or the Grass Eater humans, and I envy the beauty of the bright elves; but while I am aware of these shortcomings, I do not want others to throw them in my face. I am like my People in that I strive for peace, but am still able to defend myself with axe and bow.
Only one male in thirty is strong enough to win and worthy enough to gain acceptance by the females of the People. Never is that male a shaman.
The mother who whelped me is Vok u’Kor, a greater shaman as is my sister Kor a’Vok, as was her name-sake our grandmother Kor a’Mat. My father is Tov e’Shuk.
I am Gar u'Vok e'Tov, as tall as most humans, and as fit. My skin is a gray-ish brown like overly dry dirt, and my hair is long and black, braided with feathers and tufts of fur. My ears are pointed although not as sharp as an elf’s, and my jaw is heavier with prominent canines. I am dressed in poorly tanned leathers with bone spikes strapped to elbows and knees. A large bone and wood composite bow is in my hands. A quiver of arrows rests on my back, and a hatchet or tomahawk hangs on my belt.
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