Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
This appendix deals with Caln, and its mythos. Caln is not a modern world in the way
ours is. Most of the cultures are entrenched in the Iron Age, with steel being a new
invention, first developed by the inhabitants of the Myriad Islands and just within the last
five hundred years has the secret of making the alloy become known to the continent of
Man. It is not a common alloy yet, and is highly prized. Enrir is still in the late Bronze
Age, mostly because they have depended more on magic than technology, and not
enough is known of Trexit to know their technology. The term “modern” in this
appendix refers to the period of time that the story takes place.
Maestros:
The beings truly responsible for Caln call themselves the Maestros. They are
responsible for creating life on Caln by singing to and waking the magic stored in the
planet. Because the mortals of Caln are now fallen creatures, to look upon the maestros
is to die unless the Maestro in question chooses to preserve the life of the mortal who has
seen them. Fortunately, they do not lightly walk the material plane of Caln anymore after
their creation rebelled against them. Still, they watch over the planet and answer the
prayers of their faithful. Generally, the mortal priests and priestesses follow the gender of
their chosen Maestro. There are exceptions, however, which will be discussed below.
Maestros are in their positions because they are appointed by a higher being, not because
of their power, and so they do not need worship to maintain their position in the order.
They do, however, need worship to perceive the minds of their followers—especially
humans, who are not native to their world. The prayers of the faithful inspire the
maestros to sing blessing to their creation. The lack of worship turns their songs to
cursing.
The Council:
The council is divided into two parts, the inner council and the outer council. The
Maestros of the inner council are different from the outer council. They are worshipped,
outer council Maestros are not. The reason they don’t call themselves gods is that they
honor the higher authority in the universe that created them. The outer council represents
aspects that are more specific and though they played a part in creating life on Caln, they
did not play a part in creating the Three Races. Because of that, outer council Maestros
are not usually worshipped by them. They claim no temples, though small shrines or
altars are appropriate and only cultists will follow them specifically. They are always
revered. Farther down from the outer council in the cosmic order of Caln are the true
immortals and the ascended, but those will be discussed later.
Each of the maestros on the inner council has a plan for mortal salvation. This is
an option that a mortal can take to demonstrate absolute dedication to one particular
Maestro. Normally, all mortal dead who pass judgment go to Sorrith’s care in his Armies
(except Hybrids, as mentioned below), but those who have dedicated themselves to a
specific Maestro go to that specific Maestro’s domain on Innus once they have passed
Sorrith’s judgment. The clergy of the Maestros go to the same places as those on the
paths, but may have different roles in life and death. The difference is that the Clergy are
devoted by their own free will, and can leave by their own free will. Those on the path
have dedicated themselves absolutely. They choose to follow of their own free will, but
in the process of dedication they are bound to their devotion by oaths and magic.
Not everyone wishes to be a member of the clergy, mostly because all clergy of all
races are celibate except for the priestesses of Lemari—who, because of her nature, are
quite promiscuous. Not many people choose the paths of salvation, but the Maestros will
always be able to trust the mortals who have chosen their paths. Unlike clergy, any
gender can choose any path, but once chosen, only the Maestros themselves can absolve
the choice. Clergy of the maestros are often on their chosen maestro’s path, but are not
always. Since they have bound themselves to the Maestros, even before they reach
Sorrith’s domain, the Maestros feel comfortable tasking them with things that they can’t
even trust their mortal clergy with, or give them powers that they can’t risk giving
ordinary mortals.
Lemari’s plan of Salvation: Lemari looked at the mortals of Caln, the ones she and the
Maestros had painstakingly created--the Linyth, Esyth, and Rysyth--and took pity on
them. She wouldn’t forgive them for disobeying, but she wished to restore the original
design of the races. Her plan is that of the Sacred Druid. Human druids might do
similar work, but they generally dedicate themselves to the outer council. The Rysyth,
Esyth, and Linyth Sacred Druids are doing the work that they were originally created to
do. They are granted a timeless body, but not an immortal one, meaning that they do not
age or die of old age, but they are still essentially mortal. Unlike Lemari’s clergy, these
folk do not whore themselves, but are celibate. They devote their entire being into caring
for the planet of Caln. It is a very lonely, very demanding task. Lemari accepts no
humans to her path.
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Sorrith: (pronounced sor-ITH)
Sorrith is the maestro of Death, Justice, and War. He sits in judgment over all the
spirits of the dead. He is a rational Maestro with a highly structured system of worship.
His temples are a combination of a court of law, a mortuary, and a military stronghold.
Human temples to Sorrith also have a dividing wall: a magical wall dividing the temple
into the places where the living can go, and the places that are set aside for the those who
are already part of his Army.
At the end of mortal life, the dead pass through his court where their souls are
judged. If they are found worthy, they continue on to the feasthall. If they are not, then
they are sent to Kohlerir if they fail but are human, or consumed and wiped from
existence if they are of the Calnese races.
The worship of Sorrith is the practice of warriors, professional militaries, judges,
and battlefield medics. His living priesthood devotes itself to these tasks. Sorrith is also
known as the patron Maestro of humans, mostly because only he provided for the
disposition of human faithful. He handles all dead human souls, having been appointed
to that task so that all the other maestros could go about the business of caring and
watching over their creation. He used to be an outer council maestro of Law, but Caius
took that aspect from him so that when he was appointed to the inner council, he could
assume these three new aspects that came as a result of human interference. In the
civilizations of the three races, he took over the temples of Ixah, the only inner council
maestro to rebel. He is the lord over all the council’s armies.
In regards to Lemari, he doesn’t understand her rage. He does not hate her. He
simply can’t comprehend her behavior. Understanding insanity is not in his nature. He
simply and calmly cares for her devotees out of respect for her.
Sorrith’s army is made of three groups: the conscripts, who consist of every
mortal who has died outside the path of salvation, the enlisted, who are on his path of
Salvation, and the officers, who are entirely made up of immortals. Priests who die
without joining the path of salvation also join the enlisted in death, but only the enlisted
from the path of salvation and select groups of Officers get to wage war on the material
plane.
Sorrith has two appearances. His true appearance is of a tall, dark haired, black-
eyed muscular warrior with his armor, shield, and his long sword, called “Judgment”. He
also has a cloak of crimson silk. He has a celestial masyth charger named Atrix, a
creature twice the size of a rysyth, and from its back, he issues his commands on the
battlefield. The same masyth also consumes the souls of the evil ones.
His second form is that of a skeletal humanoid, wrapped in his crimson cloak.
His eye sockets are filled with a white light. His face is horrid and half eaten by decay,
and he smells of embalming spices and blood. Not many have seen his face in this form
and lived. He usually only reveals his face to the dying, but if he must reveal himself to
the living before their time is done, he wears a platinum death mask with the eyes
carefully cut out. In this form, he carries the sickle called “Harvest”, which continuously
drips blood. In both forms, his seal is of an eagle (actually a Kailyth) with its wings and
legs outstretched. In one clawed foot, it holds the sword, and in the other, the sickle.
There are three stars above its head, representing humankind, immortals, and the Calnese
Master Races, or Life, death, and undeath, or Rysyth Linyth, and Esyth, or even Humans,
Maestros, Creator, depending on who looks at it depending on culture and status in the
Cosmic order. Spanning from wingtip to wingtip above the stars is a banner, known as
the banner of rank, and is only present on the seals of his immortals.
Only the living, mortal devotees carry a holy symbol, and it never bears this
banner. On the manufactured holy symbol, the symbol is set in a gold disk, representing
Sorrith’s vows to Caius. The Enlisted also have this disk instead of the banner, but it is
tattooed into their flesh by Sorrith or by his immortals. They are literally unliving holy
symbols, and they find it impossible not to present themselves unless Sorrith purposefully
enshrouds them with his magic. The ascended humans of Sorrith’s Army bear the banner
on their seal, which denotes their rank among his officers. It is also pressed into their
flesh, as with the Enlisted, but upon closer inspection, the sigil appears as being made of
tiny, iridescent scales that reflect the sunlight.
Living priests of Sorrith tend to be as rational as their Maestro, but tend to be very
impatient. They know and accept as a tenant of faith that they will die, and that their day
of death is uncertain. If something must be done, it must be done with expediency and so
procrastination, for a Sorrithian priest, is one of the greatest sins. Priests of Sorrith are all
trained in the art of war. They take their role very seriously as protectors and defenders
of the upright, stalwart defenders against temptation and the denizens of Pathir, and
judges and warriors on the material plane.
The final interesting thing about Sorrith is that all of his immortals are ascended
humans. Like Lemari, he rejected the true immortals. Since he is the judge of the
council, he cannot accept them into his service until their sentence is complete. Humans
who earned their immortality and have been patroned by him have made it into his
service, filling the ranks of Officers in his army. Sorrithians dead, alive, or immortal are
not all dour, however. They readily enjoy a good joke. They take their play as seriously
as their work, and hold it sacred as a rare treat on the material plane. All mortals, both
living and on the path of salvation know that there is a feast waiting for them when their
service on the material is complete.
Sorrith’s plan of Salvation: Sorrith remembered how humans helped him when he lost
his body to Ixah. He remembered his new tasks and his role and came up with his plan.
Since all human dead who pass the test of judgment remain in his realm, he had to think
of a different way to separate those who had dedicated themselves from the rest of the
mortals who went to his domain by default. He also needed a way to seek out the dead
whose spirits remained on the material plane for one reason or another. His immortals
could do it, but they were continually wrapped up in the war against demons. His
solution was simple. He created gems, very similar to the soul gems of three races,
which a human soul could be contained in. Caius blessed his plan to do this because he
had not participated in the creation of the three races, and he believed that whatever he
would do with these human souls, even if a little strange, would be essentially good.
In a very somber ceremony, a willing human could be killed as a sacrifice. At this
point in time, its soul would be contained in the gem even as the blood was offered before
the Maesro’s idol. Usually following this event, the soul is educated by the officers of
Sorrith on everything they will need to serve him. Then, when they are suitably prepared,
they return to their bodies but not to life. The gem they inhabit is pressed into their
corpse right at the solar plexus. No matter what time the ritual is performed, the
individual always rises before dawn at the same hour that soldiers begin their day.
People on the path of salvation are collectively known as The Enlisted, but
individually known as Sacred Watchers to the living. In Sorrith’s army, they occupy the
lower ranks while their service continues upon the material plane. This condition is
similar to undeath, but it is not a cursed or evil state. Their souls in their gems are
granted the magic to animate their corpses and maintain them, but to remove the gem
from one will cause the body to cease movement, though the body is preserved until the
gem is destroyed. Destroying a body will force the watcher into an early retirement,
because they are only allowed to inhabit their own bodies, but that is incredibly hard to
do short of immolation or disintegration. Being essentially dead, they never need to
breathe more than to speak, they never sleep, and they can’t eat solid food. As for why
Sorrith chose to create this special condition, the enlisted will say that their body is
merely a vessel and the most convenient method of conveyance. They wouldn’t have it
any other way. Inhabiting a dead body mimics the trial of Sorrith following his defeat
and they consider it the highest form of blessing to be like their Maestro. Compare them
to Ixcara or Thrass’s minions, and watch out for a fight. That is a sure way to get them
into a rage.
There are other reasons for this condition. Besides mimicking his own state and
trial, Sorrith, as the Maestro of death, wanted to give people a walking reminder of their
mortal destiny. Since they are dead, they can affect the incorporeal as well as the
corporeal. This means that they can see, hear, and touch spirits. One of their tasks is to
seek out the spirits that get lost on the way to judgment and to show them the way to
Sorrith’s courtroom.
There are some things that are particular to them. From the time they die, they
begin to dehydrate and emaciate until they look like terrible, mummified husks of
humans. They do not feel this process. They no longer feel pain, because physical pain
is a privilege of the living. They do not stiffen as long as they inhabit their body. They
have a fluid grace that belies their condition and even the weakest of them has the
strength to match ten humans—they are stronger than even Caius’s devotees. Unlike
cursed undead, who are the products of demon influence, the Enlisted can walk in the day
or night.
They are also incapable of healing naturally. In return for this disability, Sorrith
allows them to drink blood. It is only necessary for two things: healing of their wounds
and maintaining a freshly dead appearance. They can get it from three sources: their
enemies, the dead who are brought into the temple for processing, and from a person
willingly presenting a small amount as a gift. The last option gives them the best benefit
for the least amount. Given a great deal, they can even regenerate, though it is usually
easier to stick a severed limb back on. They do not have their own blood, though.
Instead of blood, their veins are filed with a somewhat sticky, mucous-like endoplasmic
substance that becomes redder or clearer depending on how much blood they have
imbibed within a month. The enlisted do not smell like decay, nor do they decay—they
merely appear to dry out. After they have initially dried out for the first time, they smell
like Sorrith in his second form: of embalming spices and fresh blood.
It seems like a situation that has more advantages than disadvantages, but it is a
very difficult path with a great deal of responsibility. They have a very clear purpose and
a series of tasks they must do. They also must obey their superiors as if the orders came
from Sorrith himself. If an enlisted of Sorrith disobeys, it is immediately pulled up to
Sorrith's court for questioning. If it is found guilty of sin against Sorrith, it is
immediately sent to the lower level of Kohlerir. Second, not everyone who wants to
follow the path of salvation can actually do it. Sorrith actually judges a soul during the
ceremony. If the gem does not take on its own color when it is placed into the
candidate’s hands, the candidate is simply slaughtered as unworthy. Most of the time, the
ceremony is performed in a temple and once a mortal passes behind the dividing wall,
unless they are consecrated by Sorrith himself, must die to leave. Fourth, to become
undead is to forfeit all hope of becoming immortal. In return, though they don’t know it,
they will be the last to leave Caln at the end of time, having helped Sorrith gather the
humans, both living and dead, so that they can be sent onward. Fifth, without the body,
they cannot interact with the material plane other than being able to speak to the minds of
select, sensitive people and they can project a vaporous spirit form in a limited radius
from their gem, but this vapor can only make “physical” contact with the incorporeal or
with immortals. This could be potentially dangerous, since a gem without its body there
to protect it is very vulnerable. The only definite way to kill an Enlisted is to shatter its
gem when it is exposed. Sixth, they have knowledge of the feasthall, having been shown
it, but they are not allowed to partake in the feast until their service is concluded—which
could potentially be milennia. Seventh, an enlisted can only own a few things: Its
clothes, which is usually one set of Sorrithian robes, one set of armor, and one set of
funerary attire, and it usually has all of the gear necessary to do battle on the material.
All of them also carry a tiny stiletto, which they use to open wounds and to do rituals.
This tiny dagger is blessed to bless the willing with health, or cause decay in their
enemies.
Every enlisted is a member of the clergy, but not every Sorrithian clergyman is a
member of the Enlisted. In the ranks of the enlisted, Sorrith actually has priestesses. He
is the only one of the six to have clergy of the opposite sex, but arguably, since they are
not alive, gender means nothing. Enlisted with white gems are of the highest rank. They
are the only ones who can hold the title of High Priest. The rest of them are in a simple
chain of command. Nobody but Sorrith knows why they are chosen to the ranks they
receive at their death, but once it has been chosen, it is permanent. There are few
promotions. They are given a task, and they must do it until Sorrith calls them home.
The reward for all this is a retirement in Sorrith’s domain. Sorrith commands the
feasthall and the Blessed Realm, the place where all dead, having passed the test of
judgment, go to unwind from the arduous task of living before going on to their chosen
deity. Normal folk, if they did not choose a specific Maestro in life, go on to battle
demons on the eternal battlefield. Priests of Sorrith who die outside the path go to the
battlefield to become the NCOs in command over these dead. The Enlisted do not go to
battle when they are called home. Having died already, they go directly to the feasthall,
where they are given lauds, riches, their own living quarters, and the knowledge that they
need never do battle again until the great melee at the end of time. Eventually, they grow
bored of retirement and begin to spar with each other, and so the grand lists were formed
in the afterlife for the entertainment of those who are feasting, or visit the sections of
Sorrith’s domain to greet the followers of other Maestros. They are not exempt from
battle on the field, though. They can go if they choose, but it is never for eternity. Some
even go to help train the conscripted, or go when the itch to do battle takes them.
Rarely, Sorrith will choose to accept a member of the three races into the ranks of
the enlisted. Such individuals are always transformed by Sorrith himself and always
have a white gem. Their process to become enlisted is quite a bit more complicated, but
the ceremony is much easier. Essentially, Sorrith asks them directly and if they agree,
Sorrith lays his hands on them and crushes the part of their souls that is of Ixah, and then
fills the space with his own essence. This does kill their bodies, but they are infused with
enough of Sorrith’s essence to keep them from turning into their natural elements at
death.
Regardless of species, Sorrith’s undead are only honored by the church of Sorrith.
Most humans tend to view this arrangement as disgusting and unnatural. Other races
view them as blessed and worthy of respect, but they are never fully accepted.
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Meranna: (pronounced Mer-AH-nah) Meranna is the Maestro of Rain and freshwater,
the sky, and magic. Meranna appeared, fully formed, when the magic of Caln was
awakened. Since she was its representative—and magic is a universal aspect of Caln--
she was appointed to the inner council. Meranna’s magic can be used by its natives freely.
Humans, being foreign to Caln, were never meant to use it.
Her peculiar creation makes her quite a bit different from the other Maestros. She
is a jealous being, who seems to crave the worship of her followers, whether they are
human or natural to Caln, and she seems to grow more powerful as more creatures bow to
her. Moreover, she covets all hybrids of human and linyth origin, and only through her
path can a linyth hybrid have the hope of salvation and live. Sorrith’s enlisted ranks
contain a few hybrids, but they cannot be counted as “alive”.
While all the true natives of Caln have a certain amount of magic necessary to
their survival, only the Master races were granted the ability to harness the magic and
become elemental mages. The Linyth, however, who were once accomplished mages,
and granted the ability to work magic outside their element, boast no mages. The ability
to harness magic was stripped from them when they were cursed. They are left with the
passive magic of their nature and little else in the way of magic.
Human priestesses mostly worship her aspect of water and the sky. They pray to
her for the rains and to purify the water they need to survive. She appears as a woman
clothed in blue, with long blue hair the color of the sky, fair skin, and glittering jewelry
made of raindrops. Her eyes are colorless. She carries a pitcher of water and a mage’s
staff, which she calls “awakening”.
Brought into Caln by humans, or a result of Ixah’s rebellion, these powerful beings are
opposed to the Maestros. These beings are tied to the prison realm of Pathir. Some of
these are devils and foul spirits, but some, the major ones, have banded together to form a
pantheon in which all of them compete for the worship of humans and the Calnese
natives. These demons have named themselves gods, and have done their best to destroy
the worship of the Maestros. Their ultimate goal is the overthrow of the Maestros’ order
and become the “True Gods” of Caln, ultimately continuing their rebellion against the
true order of the universe.
They can all promise, lead astray, dupe, seduce and bully their way into the lives
of mortals and each of them has a favored method, but the demons that created the
pantheon amongst themselves have risen to the top of the order. Their chief worshippers
are the low or dark tribes of humans, as well as the city of Arynstar, roving tribes of half-
breeds like centaurs, renegade hybrid mages and half-immortals, and all the omryth.
There are even a few select members of the three races that have chosen to worship one
specific demon.
They call themselves The Pantheon of Man, though the very name is a mockery.
Their desire is to dominate and enslave or destroy mankind. All who worship them agree
that Ixah is the head of the Pantheon, but there is only one variant, and that is in the city
of Arynstar. There the King has declared himself a god.
Ixah: (pronounced Ikss-AH) Ixah was once an inner council Maestro, and one of the
beings responsible for the creation of life of Caln. In the beginning, he was responsible
for putting a shape to things. He was the one who made the original templates for Caln’s
creatures, and he held the position of Caius’s steward.
All that changed with the coming of man. Caius, seeing the evil that was done by
the humans and the demons they brought with them, and in response to Lemari’s grief,
left Caln to Ixah while he sought the council of the creator. While he was delayed, the
demons took advantage of his absence came to make “peace” with the maestros, and Ixah
listened to them. The demons were repenting for their behavior and, while not asking for
a position on the councils, were asking for control over the humans. In their reasoning,
they came from the place where the humans were created, and knew how to deal with
these creatures. It would not be for long, of course, but it would keep order while Caius
was away. If he could grant that, the demons could quickly put humans under their heel
and teach them to obey.
The other Maestros were not keen to take this plan. They were content to leave
things as they were until new orders came, even though they knew it would mean that he
Three races would be hurt by their lack of action. Already, they were hearing the dying
pleas of the Calnese races in their minds as the souls of their mortals returned to them.
The demons saw the doubt in Ixah’s mind and played to it. Caius, they reasoned
with him, was a bumbling fool to go ask the creator about humans. His need to ask
demonstrated a lack of control and a lack of leadership. If the humans were on Caln, they
whispered, were they not meant to be creatures of Caln? Besides, what did Caius do to
create life on Caln? Caius did nothing more than work as an overseer while the other
Maestros did the dirty work of creating the place. Was not all of Caln modeled in Ixah’s
templates? Ixah began to see their point of view. Though he had no authority to do so,
he gave permission to the demons and committed his first act of rebellion, but the deal
was bad. He, in his Naïveté had literally turned the demons loose on Calnese creation in
agreeing, not only to deal with humans, but to help deal with the corruption in the three
races. They promptly betrayed him and began to destroy what he and the others had so
painstakingly created.
The Maestros were horrified. Ixah, twisted by his act of rebellion, began to
believe the lies he had been fed and declared himself to be the head of the Council,
stating that Caius had abandoned them. Worse, some of the outer council and the lesser
immortals followed him! The remaining members of the council opposed him and war
broke out between Ixah and the council, but when they began to make war, fighting
around the humans whenever possible, they found that the strain of war was threatening
to wipe out their whole creation. In panic, they decided that what was really needed was
Caius’s authority, but they dared not leave Caln. It was in all of this chaos that Sorrith, an
outer council Maestro of Law, stepped forward. He had branded himself with the seal of
Caius and declared that he would carry on the war for the legitimate authority of the
Maestros. The Maestros were not keen to accept his offer. They did not want to leave
Caln in the control of the Outer council Maestro for fear that he would betray them, but
he bowed down, declaring that as a Maestro of Law, he would not. He had been a Major
General in the war on Caln, and he asked them to trust on faith. Grudgingly, they did so.
Sorrith was true to his word. While the others were away, he continued his war
against Ixah and the demons. He even succeeded in bringing back a lot of territory to the
true authority of the council in the name of Caius. Always, the demons came to whisper
in his ear as they had done with Ixah, but he opposed them, making prisoners of each that
tried, until they dared not approach.
Ixah also tried to sway him. He waited for Sorrith to reject the demons. Then,
with the backing of rebellious, but still legitimate, Maestros, he tried to sway Sorrith by
declaring his authority as an inner council maestro, but that didn’t turn him. Then he
tried to reason with him that he too was doing this in the name of Caius. After all, Caius
had left him in charge as the steward, and he was only trying to put things to order again.
Sorrith would have none of it, informing Ixah that his actions were outside of Caius’s
intentions, and therefore illegal. He upheld the authority of the four that had gone to
fetch Caius and plead before the creator. Finally, since he couldn’t convince Sorrith to
join him, he declared his intention to destroy all of Caln’s creation and remake it under
his authority. He captured Sorrith in a particularly nasty battle. Since Ixah was a higher
being, he bound Sorrith to the Material Plane, tore him limb from limb and burned him,
then scattered his ashes.
Ixah had utterly rebelled. To further his campaign, and begin making his
declaration a reality, he made new templates and creatures that would serve him
specifically. To his eternal frustration, he found that he had no power to make new
creatures on his own. While the battle on Caln raged, he thought of ways to turn creation
to his worship. Finally, he had an idea. He swayed and corrupted a group of rysyth as an
experiment, fantasizing that these new things would overtake the old, who had abandoned
him. Thus, the Omryth were created. Ixah was winning on Caln, and without Sorrith, no
armies could stand for long. The outer council Maestros who hadn’t rebelled all looked
for Sorrith, but they couldn’t find them. They began to believe that Ixah had truly killed
him, and they all wailed in despair even as they tried to fight in his name.
Meanwhile, Sorrith’s spirit wandered weakly and aimlessly through the Material,
bodiless and disoriented. He couldn’t command the armies of Calnese mortals without a
body, and he couldn’t be found because his ashes had been scattered. The scent and trace
of him was all over Caln.
It was one of the human tribes who discovered him. The tribe’s medium had been
trying to channel a spirit to protect them, and Sorrith appeared before her, drawn to her
plea for communication. The tribe was ecstatic to find such a powerful, good spirit. At
first, they were awed and wanted to worship him. After all, they had heard of him in
battle against the demons and the Ixians. He refused to let them, saying that he was no
God to humans. Sorrith began to see the nature of humans as he dwelt with them. He
began to love the ones who had rescued him from his wondering and remained close,
protecting them from harm, but in his state, and by the will of Caius, he could not protect
them from their mortal nature, nor could he yet understand the concept of human disease.
He might have continued in this bodiless state for the remainder of the war had
not the chieftain of the tribe fallen ill of consumption. The humans had done all they
could, but he died in his sleep. The tribe mourned over him, but instead of burning him,
they offered it to Sorrith. He consulted with the chieftain’s spirit, who said that he would
not need it any more, and he let Sorrith have it with his blessing. Seeing that this body
was already devoid of its soul, he reluctantly took it, thanking them.
The body he assumed for the duration of the war became a part of him, though it
would not heal completely. It was not alive, and was already very far gone when he took
it. Still, it was sustained by Sorrith’s magic and stopped rotting at the point he took it, so
he was constantly in a state of decay. When next he came against Ixah, he discovered
that his fearsome visage was horrifying to his enemies. Even Ixah could not stand to look
at him.
In keeping with the spirit of Caius’s original order during the war, he preserved
all humans to the best of his ability, knowing that they were the reason Caius was
speaking with the creator and now understanding that humans were capable of great good
as well as great evil. He did his best to imprison the dead souls of the races who had died
on either side until such a time as their fate could be decided. This made his battles much
harder to win, but still, he slowly gained ground for the true council. It was a nearly
impossible task. Ixah had nearly won his war.
Ixah was well into trying to seduce the Esyth when the Maestros returned. Caius
was furious and he rode into battle with the whole council at his back and the new orders
from the Creator concerning humans, turning the tide of war. The demons fled as far as
they could, but found that they were trapped on Caln. Humans, being mortal, had already
forgotten how they came to Caln, and the maestros who betrayed the inner council were
rounded up. They also retrieved Sorrith, and mourned over what had become of him.
Finally, only Ixah alone remained to challenge the council. He stood defiantly and cursed
the council, stating that all of them had abandoned the original plan and that Caius was
the true traitor for abandoning them to the demons.
Caius fought Ixah personally at the last battle of the war. The battle raged so hot
and so powerfully between each other and the armies of mortals that the place where they
fought became a blasted wasteland. Their footprints dug up the mountain ranges of The
Rystooth, The Ixir, The Saethir, and The Caisir—the four boundaries of the Gherir.
There, Ixah was defeated.
Pathir was created then, and Ixah was sent there along with the demons and the
renegade outer council members. Sorrith had feared that taking the body as he had would
have been against the will of the council, but Caius forgave him because he had waited
until the body was dead, and his actions following his taking of the body were still in line
with Caius’s wishes. After freeing Sorrith from Ixah’s binding, Sorrith gladly
relinquished the power that the Inner Council had lent him while they were gone. He was
sorely wounded and it would take millennia to recover. He had planned for nothing else
after the war, but to his eternal surprise, Caius handed him his appointment to the Inner
Council, and the realm of the Dead was given to him. He alone of all the Maestros had
come to understand death and mortality, and gladly retreated to his new demesnes to
recover. The human tribe, who helped him, if they hadn’t already ascended, became his
first Enlisted, and the ascended humans of the tribe became his first Officers.
Though dishonored and stripped of his legitimate authority, Ixah still commands a
portion of Caln’s creation, and so he has always been the most dangerous of Demons. As
long as mortals worship them, they can still influence the material realm of Caln, because
all of them still hold to heart the permission Ixah granted them while he was in charge,
and Ixah and his Calnese followers still claim that he is the true god of Caln.
Ixah often appears as a dashing young prince, likable and well spoken, wearing
fine attire, always with long sleeves that cover his arms or as an old man, with all the
knowledge of Caln at his back, still with the same long sleeves. He wears these sleeves
with good reason. He no longer has hands.
Originally, the idea of changing a human’s body (but not its soul) to fit the nature
of Caln by touching and mingling its blood simultaneously with the blood of the three
races was his idea. It was an attempt by Ixah, while Caius was gone, to provide a way to
help the humans survive on Caln by making peace with the races instead of opposing
them. He worked on this before he turned away from the Maestros. However, though the
fundamentals of the idea were already in place within the magic of the three races and
awaiting Caius’s return, this plan was never officially declared because the demons
betrayed him. Until Maira of the Togri, only the maestros knew of this plan. They
approved it, secretly, never thinking that such an event would occur.
Ixah, after his defeat, stewed in his prison and remembered his original plans for
combining the races. He never knew that the Maestros kept his plan and accepted it.
Thinking that there was only one way to get his method in, he stole out of his prison,
seduced select humans of the dark tribes, and stole their souls. With their bodies, he
made new creations, and used their twisted souls to power their dead bodies, mocking
Sorrith’s plan of salvation because he hated what Sorrith had done and was furious that
Sorrith had taken over his temples. He called the twisted monsters “Ixcara.” They were
the last creatures that he was to remake. Sorrith, still following the letter of the law,
found out about these creatures and came down to Ixah. He chopped off Ixah’s hands
with the authority of the Creator and Caius so that he might never again make such
abomination, and promptly sent his Enlisted to hunt the ixcara down wherever they
appear. Still, for millennia, Ixcara have plagued Caln, and the Enlisted have hunted them.
Ixah’s favorite weapon is a stump dagger called “retribution” and his symbol is
the black head of an omryth against a red background.
Thrass: (pronounced Thrawss)
Thrass sits opposite of Ixah in the Pantheon because he is the leader of the
demons who came with the humans. He has proclaimed himself to be a deity of war,
pestilence and indiscriminate slaughter. He brought disease to Caln and manufactured
plagues that would spread among the three races. His favorite hour is midnight, and like
Ixah, has cursed undead. His undead are vampire-like creatures that were possessed
before they lost their lives. At death, like a parasite, the demon leaves, though it hangs
around the undead creature in its early days, tormenting it while the creature still has
enough higher functioning to understand mental torment while the demon seeks to inhabit
another human.
Much cruder than Ixcara, these creatures rise at night only to kill and destroy.
Their souls do not control their bodies, they merely power them, so that as the brain
slowly decays—though preserved under the foul magic of the demon, the creature
becomes more and more bestial and insane. People pray to Thrass as a deity to escape his
pestilence, and to ask him to avert his eyes from their children. The Arynstar Guard often
devote themselves to him on the basis of his affinity for war. The members of his
priesthood are among the most foul of humans, devoid of morality, but completely
willing to grovel to a higher authority. Dark tribal leaders are also often among his
priesthood.
Thrass’s favorite weapon is the war scythe called “Heart bane” and his symbol is a blood
red disk
In this appendix, you will find information on the cultures and continents of Caln, as well
as a little history.
Master races:
After the maestros had made and formed life on Caln to the best of their ability, they were
pleased, and presented it to the creator who was honored by it. The Maestros had done a
good job of making the world he had given them a beautiful tribute to him.
The Maestros were pleased by his pleasure, and sought to find a way to keep the
planet beautiful. The true immortals of Lemari did well, but they were not part of the
magic of Caln. They wanted creatures that could care for the planet who were intelligent
enough to communicate with the maestros. Perhaps, they reasoned, with such a creature,
they could learn how to improve the planet, so they could continue making it better and
more pleasing with each passing year.
It was Ixah who came up with the templates for these creatures, as he had created
the templates for all of Calnese life. Meranna lent her magic, and Asair collected the raw
material for their bodies. Talus set a time inside these new creations so that when they
reached a certain number of years, they would return to the maestros with all their
intelligence and history, and Caius, who had not, until this moment, directly created any
part of life because he was overseeing the overall creation of life on Caln and insuring
that it was good in the eyes of the creator, granted them a keen mind with the ability of
higher reasoning. Then he pulled out six black gems—two for each of the three races.
They were like pearls, but as the other maestros watched, he drew out a tiny piece of
himself and slipped a piece of that into each gem. They began to glow. Kindly, he asked
the other inner council maestros to do the same. As the maestros followed suit, the gems
began to glow brighter. Finally, when they had all given their portion, Caius slipped a
gem into each of these new creatures and Lemari sang them to life. These became the
male and female of the Linyth, Esyth, and Rysyth.
The division of pieces of their soul was not even, however. Each Maestro has one
gender of one of the races that they prefer. They wanted them all to be unique. Since
there were six gems and six Maestros, it only made sense. The creatures began their
blessed lives, bred, cared for the land, and in time erected temples to the Maestros. When
Talus’s timepiece in them reached its end, they would dissolve into their base materials
instead of decaying like the beasts, and the pieces of the creature’s soul, literally the
pieces of the Maestros that they had sacrificed in creating them, returned with all of the
knowledge of the planet and the history of the creature.
The pieces of the maestros became the unique and whole souls of these creatures,
and in time, they began to develop unique personalities. The children of these creatures
were born with a gem and a soul of their own, and these intelligent, sentient races began
to populate the entire face of Caln. In the cosmic order, they are above the beasts of Caln
but below humans because they were not made by the creator, and will not continue to
exist at the end of time. When time ends, their souls will all be absorbed into the
maestros as was originally intended.
All of the members of the three races have a powerful poison somewhere on
them, a unique poison that was originally intended to help them capture and digest their
prey and defend themselves from natural threats. All of them also have a form of
telepathy. They can always talk to each other mind to mind and with select sensitive or
consecrated humans. They also have their own spoken language, which they use to
activate magic and to communicate with members of their own race.
Esyth:
The Esyth are of the Earth of Caln. They were formed from dirt, rock, and sand. They
bear eight limbs, all perfectly designed to take care of their surroundings. Of the three
races, they were the first to develop tools of stone and wood. They are farmers,
woodsmen, stonemasons, druids and rangers: consummate masters of the land.
Lemari has an affinity for the female Esyth, and Talus, the male. When they die, their
bodies turn into dirt or sand.
Esyth have a leonine head with a mouth full of teeth, which can chew and digest
any plant and any animal. They also safely eat and chew stone, which aids their
digestion. Their soul gem is located just under their ribs at their solar plexus. Their
limbs are specialized as follows: The first set is human-like arms that are always bulging
with the practical muscle they need to do their job. Their third set is another set of arms,
longer and stronger than the first, but terminating in powerful pincers that can be used to
chop, crush and dig, as well as aid their mobility. Their fourth set is specifically for
moving, and they are catlike, with nasty claws. They prefer to walk on their two legs,
though when they really want to run, they will use both pincers and feet in a method that
looks like a gorilla’s run. Their tail is long, terminating in a whip-like end with tiny barbs
that can deliver their potent poison. The barbs are tiny silicon needles like the spikes of
nettles. A little bubble of potent neurotoxin releases into the victim like a tiny needle
when the barb is torn away from the Esyth’s tail.
Their second set of limbs is specialized from climate to climate. In cliff terrain or
forest terrain, these might be wings for gliding or actual flight. They, like rysyth, are too
heavy to fly naturally, but their inherent magic allows it. In a desert, the limbs would be
like huge sails to help cool the creature.
Most Esyth are terrified of the water. Going into the water means drowning.
Esyth cannot swim. They cannot keep their bodies afloat, and will rarely go into water
that is above their chest.
Esyth are highly territorial and often, adjacent tribes will squabble over land.
When they still took care of the land, it was because one climate, like desert, would be
naturally encroaching on the scrublands, or the glacial terrain would slide down over the
plains, and the winner of the squabble could take care of the section that was in dispute,
either returning it to the way it was, or letting the new climate take over in that area.
After the war of Man, they continued to squabble, but it was for the power of their tribe
instead of the rights to care for the land.
Since they are land creatures, they suffered the worst from the human invasion.
Many esyth died in the humans’ lust for land and power. Many tribes were wiped out in
vicious battles because humans did not care for the land as they did. They were the first
souls of Caln to cry out for help against the invading humans, but they were also the first
race to kill a human, and so fall out of the will of the Maestros.
Esyth always move silently in their surroundings unless they choose to make
noise. Even on leaf litter, they do not make a rustle, and on stone, their feet make no
noise. Their language is the language of groaning, roaring, bleating and whistling known
as Esir.
Both sexes stand at around nine feet when they are upright. The most terrifying
thing to see is an Esyth charging at his enemies, second limbs outstretched, weapons in
hand, galloping feet, and pincers which will divide a human in the blink of an eye. When
and Esyth charges into battle, the ground he touches shakes with each footfall.
The female Esyth are inclined more to the less permanent aspects of earth: crops,
flowers, dirt, and husbandry. If it can move, live or die, the females were busy with it.
They cultivated plants and started the first farms and villages. Males are concerned with
the stone, trees, and territory. If it is permanent or does not easily move, they love it.
The difference in the two genders is easy to tell. Like lions, the males have manes and
the females do not. Females give live birth and they are marsupial in nature. Esyth also
settled the first villages and taught the linyth to build their dwellings before their fall.
Esyth were responsible for the building of Arynstar’s Undercity. In modern Caln, they
are a diminished race, sulking in caves, harsh climates, and barren places where men dare
not dwell, and Caln has suffered for their loss.
Rysyth:
The rysyth are huge six-limbed creatures made of the essence of water. They are
vaguely draconic and definitely birdlike in nature. Caius favored the females of the
rysyth and Ixah favored the males. When they die, their bodies turn into fresh water or
salt water.
Caln, like Earth, is about seventy-five percent water, and Rysyth were created to
care for all of it. There are two types of rysyth: Oceanbound and Skyborn. These forms
represent freshwater and saltwater. Both are equal in power, and have no choice in how
they are made. Rysyth lay eggs. If those eggs are laid in fresh water, the rysyth will
hatch as a Skyborn. If it is laid in salt, it will hatch as an Oceanbound. When the original
pair was created, the female was the Oceanbound and the male was the Skyborn, but
subsequent generations produced male and female of the different types. They all still
live together in their underwater colonies when they can. Only the Skyborn live in the
deep freshwater lakes.
All rysyth can breathe air as well as water and both can tolerate freshwater as well
as salt. Both types of rysyth have a serpentine head with their soul gem prominently
placed on their foreheads. Their front top and bottom teeth are as long as a man’s arm
and contain their unique poison. These teeth are specialized to be able to fold inward or
extend forward like a viper’s fangs and their jaws are similar to a snake’s. The rest of
their teeth are tiny in comparison. Rysyth consider themselves to be gourmets. They
learned to make tools from the esyth and their first tools were knives that they used to cut
up their food for easier swallowing. Rysyth are mostly carnivorous. Since they are
creatures of the water, they eat fish, with Calnese variants of shark and whale being their
favorite. They actually raise these creatures like cattle.
Rysyth have a keen sense of smell, and can easily see in the dark, though they
prefer light because it allows them to see in color, which they adore. Skyborn rysyth also
have a trumpeting roar that can be heard for miles Rysyth of both types swim with their
tails, using the side to side motion common in reptiles.
Oceanbound rysyth can normally reach lengths of fifty feet from nose to tip, and
ten feet wide. They care for the ocean and all its creatures. Their feathers are small,
insulating and waterproof, (like a penguin’s feathers) and are drab brown, gray, white, or
blue, often having patches of all these colors. In the Oceanbound, their second limbs are
exclusively for swimming, and are rigid, short, thick appendages that can be carried
against the body or extended. Their first set of limbs are supple, flexible arms with
human-like hands tipped in tiny claws. Oceanbound rysyth are capable of the most
beautiful art and the most potent magic because their hands are such sensitive
instruments. Their hind limbs are little more than tiny fins. They have two dorsal fins,
one at the base of their neck and the other just over their hips. The poison in the
Oceanbound is carried through the bite, as with a viper.
Skybound Rysyth are much smaller creatures, rarely reaching more than thirty
feet from nose to tail and seven feet wide across their chests. They fly with the aid of
natural magic, and the wingspan of their second limbs is at least one and a half times the
length of their body. Their first limbs are taloned claw-like hands and hind feet that are
powerful and also taloned. Skyborn rysyth cannot swim as fast, dive as far, or do much
magic that requires somatic components, the way that Oceanbound Rysir can. They
simply lack much of the fine muscle control in their hands, and their claws get in the way.
What they can do is fly and hover. They have feathers more like waterfowl. Skyborn
rysyth feathers are amazing things. Rysyth can actually “drink” moisture from the clouds
and the dew. They have special belly feathers, which pick up moisture and draw it into
the skin where it is absorbed into the body. Specialized feathers over their spine are
modified into quills. They also have huge pinions, some of which are twice the height of
a human.
The feathers of both types do not cover their head, their arms below the elbow,
or their legs below the hock. These places have scales. The skyborn have a head crest
that starts just behind their soul gem on their forehead and extends on either side of the
head in a dual crest that can lay mostly flat or straight up, similar to a cockatoo’s crest. A
Skyborn rysyth is colored like their Oceanbound brethren, but their flight feathers and
head crest are brightly colored like tropical birds or fish in red, green, bright blue, and
yellow feathers which correspond to a human’s red, brown, black, and blonde hair
respectively. As a Skyborn ages, his feathers turn grey at the edges. The most aged of
them have solid grey feathers.
In the Skyborn, the dorsal fins are two hardened spikes that grow like horns and
must be trimmed. Between them, and continuing down the tail are shorter quill shaped
spikes. These ones are modified feathers and replace themselves, but the two dorsal
spikes are not long and pointy, they are broad and substantial in the shape of a rose thorn.
When Caius introduced his plan of salvation, the humans modified the front spike by
cutting into it. They attached their saddle to the front spike and later, devised the position
of tail rider, modifying the rear spike. The rysyth tend to view it in the same way as
humans view a piercing.
The poison of a Skyborn can be shot from ducts in the top of their teeth like a
spitting cobra. They can shoot this stream of acidic poison accurately up to two hundred
feet. The poison is the same as that of the Oceanbound, but arguably is a nastier delivery.
A creature sprayed by this poison begins to blister as the acid burns their flesh, creating a
vector for the secondary, hemotoxic poison to enter the victim’s blood. A rysyth can
potentially spray enough in one blast to coat an entire human. Unfortunately, their
greatest enemies, the Omryth, are immune to the hemotoxin, though the acid delivered to
the right spot can still do some damage.
Rysyth prefer to live in or near water, and get very uncomfortable when they are
not near it. Rysyth also hate to walk on land. The Oceanbound have to drag their huge
bodies, like seals, across the ground with their sensitive hands. Skyborn can walk and
even run, but they were not built for overland speed. When they walk or run, they are
very clumsy. They sort of waddle on their hands and feet, and they have great difficulty
getting into the air from the ground. When at all possible, they will avoid dry land.
Despite their marvelous adaptations, Rysyth also have a problem with heat exchange.
Being as large as they are, and fundamentally creatures of water, they lack an efficient
method of cooling. Linyth can sweat and Esyth, being creatures of the ground, can
naturally tolerate any temperature short of fire’s heat. Rysyth cannot. They overheat
easily, because their most efficient method of keeping cool is staying either high up in the
clouds or down in the water. Rysyth on land are incredibly vulnerable.
Of the three races, rysyth have taken the language and business of trade to heart,
and have underwater societies, governments and currency very similar to human society.
This made it easy to forge an alliance with the Togri clan of humans when they were
fleeing the king of Arynstar.
Linyth:
The linyth are four limbed creatures created from the air. They have a very sad history.
Modern linyth look nothing like the way they were created. That is because they were
cursed. Originally, Linyth were delicate humanoid creatures with chiropteran wings and
feet that functioned like arms. They could easily do spells with their feet, and actually
walked on their wings like bats. Their language, Linir, was accessible to humans and
could be learned and spoken by them. They were truly mammalian in nature. In this
race, Meranna did not choose the female, as Lemari had chosen the female of the Esyth.
She chose to favor the male, while Asair favored the female.
Linyth males used to be the most powerful mages on Caln. They learned how to
build from the Esyth and used the knowledge to make huge, magical cities in the sky.
When humans came, they quickly befriended the Linyth. The linyth taught their ways,
and humans taught the linyth to read and write. They began to write down their spells
and share them.
The linyth are naturally curious, imaginative, and bold, not fearing to explore
ways to make themselves better, faster, and more powerful. They began to lust after
magic even before humans arrived, and when the human’s brought all their knowledge,
they also brought with them foreign magic. The linyth were the first to listen to the
temptation of demons, and under their influence, mated with humans in an attempt to
gain their magic. The humans were all too happy to participate in this blasphemy. They
had considered the linyth to be beautiful creatures. The magic inherent in the planet—
strong in the linyth because of their connection to Meranna--caused these matings to
produce viable, fertile hybrids. When Lemari cursed the immortals for mating with
humans, she also rebuked the linyth. They were mortal, and so could be forgiven, being
told that they should not mate any longer with these beings. After the long period of
silence however, the demons whispered into their ears and the linyth lapsed back into sin
with humans. Their matings continued throughout the war of Man until the Maestros
judged them at the end of the war.
By the end of the war, however, some of these hybrids had proven themselves to
be as mixed a group as true humans. Some of them were good, joining the side of the
Maestros, and some were not, siding with the demons, but they were still an abomination
in the sight of the Maestros, who viewed their very existence as a corruption.
The pure Linyth were punished for all eternity. Since they had dared to lust after
foreign magic, their ability to use Calnese magic was stripped from them. They were
given new forms to wear that would insure that they made no spells, and their power of
speech was also stripped. Because they had abandoned the air for their lust for power,
they were stricken from the skies and forced to walk the land. They still have their
telepathy, but their new language is no more than a series of whooping bleats like a
zebra’s call.
Modern linyth look like unicorns. They are white in color and stand taller than an
Earth unicorn—about twenty-three hands high. Their horn is made of a clear conductive
material in which their toxin is held: a potent sedative and blood thinner that is secreted
from the tip of the horn. It delivers such a powerful effect that it puts the victim in a
chemical induced coma as the blood thinner makes the victim bleed out. The horn covers
their soul gem, protecting it. They are the only one of the three races to display emotion
through their eyes, because the light of the Gem reflects in them. Linyth have four
cloven hooves that contain gold in their makeup. Linyth need gold as an occasional part
of their diet.
Linyth eat the least amount of food of the three races. It was only after they were
cursed that they developed the need to eat anything of substance. More nutritious to them
is lightning. They crave electricity. They still need it to survive. On the plains where
they now live in herds, they stand still and close in a thunderstorm, so that when
lightening strikes one, every linyth gets the benefit. When they do eat of the earth, they
are mostly herbivorous.
Linyth, being creatures of air, cannot enter the water. They walk on top of it as if
it were just another solid surface. They can no longer fly, but they will always remember
that they once could. Their hybrids were championed by Meranna, because though the
true linyth were cursed and remade to be almost bestial in nature, these half-linyth
creatures could still use Calnese magic in the methods their linyth ancestors taught.
The Maestros had changed the form of the linyth to a form that should not attract
the sexual attention of humans, but still, occasionally, a sick human on a hunt for the
linyth will rape one before cutting off her horn. This is a sick practice that is usually
done in the name of Thrass, who was originally responsible for tempting the linyth to
mate with humans. Usually, removing the horn kills the linyth, but occasionally a linyth
survives and carries a baby to term.
As for the horn, it is powdered and the venom diluted for use in Arynstar
medicine. Usually, the priests of Thrass are the ones who carry the medicines made from
linyth horn.
Slave races:
In the early days of Caln, when the numbers of the master races were few, the creatures
had trouble caring for the part of creation they were tasked to care for. They prayed to
the Maestros for aid. The answer came in the form of the slave races. They are the last
and greatest of all the true beasts of Caln. The slave races were created to be semi-
intelligent but soulless, and made to serve the master races. These creatures can
communicate basic needs to the race that they were made to serve, but other than that,
they are basically beasts that were created to be servants. Humans quickly exploited
these races, enjoying the fact that they were already, by their nature, domesticated.
Masyth:
Masyth are more like small, six limbed dragons than like the birdlike rysyth they were
made to serve. They have chiropteran wings and grow to about fifteen feet from nose to
tail. They have two dorsal spikes similar to those of the Skyborn rysyth. They are
powerful enough to carry one human safely, but only the biggest of them can carry two.
The Oceanbound Masyth serve as janitors and defenders and continue completely in the
service of rysyth. The Skyborn are small enough to go places that Rysyth are too large to
reach on land.
These creatures are bipedal and the Skyborn ones are very swift runners, which
the rysyth appreciated, employing them to protect fallen or grounded rysyth. Humans use
them as alternatives to horses where horses are not available or not convenient. Humans
of Arynstar often amputate the first set of limbs of these creatures to accommodate their
type of saddle, which allows the masyth rider to sit upright on the beast, the human’s legs
fitting into the hollow grooves where the first shoulder blades once were. These saddles
are affixed to the creature by bolts that go through the creature’s bony dorsal spikes. The
saddles can be removed and other kinds of saddles can be attached to the bolts like
harnesses like carts and traps. The dorsal spikes are mostly dead tissue, and the masyth
do not feel the process of bolting any more than a horse feels a shoeing. In fact, the
bolting has to be redone as the spine continues to grow like a hoof. If left untended, they
grow into a spike that can foul their wings.
In the Togri nation, where they live closely with the rysyth, the rysyth demand
that they keep the creatures as the Maestros created them. They are concerned about the
treatment of Arynstar rysyth, but they know they are cared for. Once they pass from the
ownership of the Togri and the rysyth, they are the property of their owners, and rysyth
regard them as a commodity the same way that humans in other continents view horses.
Masyth can live without their first set of limbs quite easily in the care of man, who keep
them and feed them like horses. In the forest of Origin, Masyth are raised in and among
the trees in herds, and need their front limbs to forage and to aid the humans in caring for
their rysyth companions, and so the Togri have developed a kneeling saddle for war and a
reclining saddle for pleasure. In the war saddle, the Togri warrior kneels and is strapped
firmly into the saddle so that they can shoot or fight from its back. In the reclining
saddle, the feet are placed forward and the seat is stiff and long enough to recline
comfortably but still control the beast without fouling wings or arms. It is nearly
impossible to fight in this position.
Masyth eat algae or plant material, grains, and meat in balance. They prefer fish,
but can live on red meat. The humans of Arynstar tend to give them an entirely
herbivorous diet with a plant substitute for meat.
Arynstar does have its own breeding stock, but they prefer the Togri stock
because they are more robust and stronger. This is because the rysyth actually raise the
creatures until they can feed themselves before bringing them to the Togri, where the
ryshians raise them as part of their duties. Since rysyth can actually communicate with
the beasts, they are better suited to raise the hatchlings.
Dramyth:
These are eight limbed beasts of burden that resemble Earth’s triceratops. Esyth used
them to plow the fields, haul things that they couldn’t lift, and level sections of dead
trees. They are the least intelligent of the slave races, barely able to communicate with
their Esyth masters beyond the need for food or an indication of injury or illness.
Six of the creature’s eight legs are used for support and walking, and they are
incredibly sturdy and strong. Their second set is specialized by climate in the same way
as their masters’, though none of them can fly even if their masters can. They are simply
too big and bulky, even with magic. They are about the same size as a rhinoceros and can
easily carry fifty times their body weight.
Humans favor the desert breed, and use them extensively because though the
horses and camels managed to survive, cattle that were brought were quickly hunted and
consumed by Caln’s predators. The huge second limbs in the desert breed are used for
heat exchange by the Dramyth and shade by their humans. Fortunately, these creatures
breed like cattle, and the meat of just one, though very tough, is enough to keep an entire
tribe of humans alive for a month. They eat desert plants, animals, and insects, which
they get by digging in the sand with their noses. Early humans thought that they ate the
sand itself, just like the esyth they were designed to serve.
Kailyth:
These are huge, predatory birds bigger than a sea eagle. Originally, they could defend
and fight for the delicate linyth, and they still function in this role. They are the most
intelligent of the three races and are capable of basic human speech—though they sound
like parrots when they speak. They are also the most independent of the three slave races
and refused to be used by humans. They still serve the linyth, supporting and defending
them as they were meant to do. The only humans they will associate with are the most
potent of hybrid mages. Each of the hybrids that choose the path of the divided soul also
gain a kailyth companion if the creatures are available.
These are the also the smallest and rarest of the three slave races. They thrive
where large herds of linyth exist, and they are entirely extinct on the continent of man,
but on the cliffs of Trexrir, there is a colony living feral called the Yee clan. They are a
plague to fishermen of Trexrir, because they will strip an area of its fish and defend their
territory with sharp talons and their high intelligence. Even the Trexian half-immortals
fear the Yee clan. They wait for the linyth to be returned to their original form.
True Immortals:
True immortals are beings loyal to the Maestros that are less powerful than the outer
council Maestros, but still immortal. At one time they belonged to Lemari exclusively. It
is not known whether she created them or if she was given charge of them by the Creator,
but they have been on Caln for as long as the Maestros. They did not originally play a
part in the making of life, but Lemari originally charged them to watch over its essence
and to aid the Maestros. They have two physical forms on the material plane: a
humanoid form and a natural form. Their humanoid form usually looks like a human.
Their natural form looks like the part of life they were tasked to watch over.
They are on about the same power lever as lesser demons, and when the demons
came over with the humans, the immortals were the first to greet the demons, even as the
linyth were the first to greet the humans. The demons looked like them! They were
pleasant, friendly, open, and informative to the immortals, telling them all about humans.
It was a pack of lies and half-truths, of course, but the immortals knew no better. For the
first time in their existence, they were awakened to their sexuality by these demons, who
showed them that they could produce offspring if they mated with a human. The
immortals were thrilled. At last, they could create something! When they produced
powerful little mortal babies, they were overjoyed. If they could do it with this race,
which was not of Caln, why not naturally try it with the sentient races? Some of them
had misgivings, as some of them had misgivings about mating with humans, but they
tried it, and they were caught. Lemari had been watching when the first act with a
Calnese native had occurred, and howled in rage. They had profaned the nature of the
Maestros’ creation! The offspring of Calnese and immortal descent were crushed out of
existence. Then, Lemari broke the period of shocked silence at the actions of the evil
humans on their world, and was the first to act. She cast the immortals from her, barring
them from the upper planes and forcing them onto the material. There she ripped from
them their ability to mate and their fertility and retreated from Caln in grief. It was
because of this act that Caius decided he should speak to the creator about his humans
and the demons that they had brought.
In modern Caln, immortals are intermediaries of all the Maestros except Lemari,
who rejected them, and Sorrith who considers them all still under judgment. He
considers their service to the Maestros as part of their penance.
Ascended Humans:
Even before the War there were shining examples of humanity among the
mortals on Caln. The maestros can’t explain it, but sometimes, a human’s deeds make
them immortal. All they can tell about it is that some sort of very good magic changes
their nature, but they believe it comes from the Creator. From that point, their life
becomes much harder. They are declared immortal, even down to the curse of sterility,
and are given over to a single Maestro, who becomes the human’s patron. Then they
must do an important task for each of the Maestros and gain power with each completed
task before their full immortality is declared. This is a very difficult road, and very few
pass. For these souls, failure means spending eternity in Pathir, stuck at the level of their
path that they failed until the Creator calls for their judgment.
From the moment the magic renders them immortal, they are barred from the
Realm of the Dead—which is barred to any immortal except the six inner council
maestros. This is especially difficult for Sorrith’s ascended humans, who can see the
feasthall any time, but can never enter it.
For the rest of time, after they pass all six tasks, they are tasked to be leaders in
the fight against the demons. They are given full access to the magic of Caln to use as
they see fit, though they are still barred from the magic of the true immortals, and they
are allowed to ascend to their patron’s domain and back. If their bodies are disintegrated,
they can form new ones, just like all immortals. They are nearly like the true immortals,
but even they are not given the knowledge of their origin.
Omryth:
Omryth are twisted, nasty creatures that are very draconic, though their rysyth origins are
apparent. They have the same body structure as the Skyborn rysyth they were corrupted
from, but they have iridescent, indigo scales instead of a rysyth’s feathers and chiropteran
wings like an esyth. Instead of a feathered crest at its head, it has actual horns. They
have a soul gem, and are like one of the three races since they descended from rysyth.
These creatures are of fire and when they die, they are consumed in fire. When
Ixah remade them from the rysyth he had captured, he remembered the stories that the
demons told of the false worship practiced by the humans on their world. Ixah thought
that this was a good idea and set about changing the nature of his rysyth into fire.
Omryth sacrificed their Rysyth poison for the ability to breathe fire. Omryth fire
is a liquid stream of oil from the glands that in their rysyth counterparts should hold
poison. This oil ignites on contact with air. Omryth cannot breathe water any longer, but
they are immune to the effects of fire. They are also immune to rysyth poison. Since
they were bastardized from the maestros’ plans, they lost the ability to use anything more
than the natural magic inherent to their bodies. They are entirely Ixah’s creatures. To
mock the rysyth, they will even adopt humans as riders, though they lord themselves over
their human riders rather than letting it be an equal partnership.
Omryth also worship Thrass, because it suits their nature, but they will always
revere Ixah first.
Important hybrids:
Centaurs and lamia are the only two fully mortal non Calnese hybrid types to survive.
They are both fierce, vicious, depraved groups that worship demons exclusively. There is
only one group of centaurs on Enrir that recognizes the authority of the fallen Maestros.
Werewolves sprung from a disease created by demon magic, and stalk the nights,
retaining their intelligence, but are unable to control their transformation. This is a
sexually transmitted disease, not a contact disease.
A brief history
Pre-human Caln
Humans know nothing of the time before they were there. Caln was created to be a place
of savage and rugged beauty. The three races recall this time as the age of mythology,
when the Maestros dwelt with them and everything was just perfect. All things were as
they should be.
The War of Man and the Silence
The war of Man is a confusing time in Caln’s history. Events are jumbled into the entire
duration, and though Talus has sought after the pieces in this time that he missed
chronicling, it pains him to review what he has learned of it. He views this time as a time
of chaos, a time when many mistakes across their creation and among the immortals
occurred, and it is more important to him and all of Caln that the major events DID occur
than detailing WHEN they occurred during this time period.
The perfection that was once Caln was shattered with the coming of man. At first,
humans and demons came as refugees and didn’t harm the planet, but as soon as they
settled in and began to propagate (in the case of humans), their fallen nature began to
show, resulting in all the atrocities that led up to the war.
The war began officially when Ixah gave permission to the demons to deal with
humans in exchange for peace. They were, in truth, jealous that the Creator would allow
them to make such things and command life on a planet. Ixah, by committing rebellion,
had uncovered the desire of the demons: to overthrow the Maestros.
The war was fought on the material for the most part. After the war, the Maestros
promised never to do battle on the material plane until the end of time. The damage,
however, was catastrophic. Because Ixah had joined in the rebellion, evil became part of
Caln, and created a dualism that was never originally meant to exist.
Enrian
Enrir, the continent where Meranna placed the hybrid linyth, is home to the Eshrian City
States. These are cities on the coasts of Enrir, with farmlands around them. They are
sovereign states, unified only by the church of Meranna and a common method of
currency. They are also the only people to have actual, church sponsored schools.
The continent is ringed around by magical storms which stop almost all trade by
boat or air. Rysyth have been known to trade with the humans in their fishing ports, but
humans can only fish on the sea in their small ports and estuaries. There is only one
place where ships can come and go from Enrir, and that is the port of Halvir. From there,
trade ships arrive from Trexrir or the continent of man, but only true humans can conduct
this trade. The magic around the continent of Enrir can detect even a carrier of the Linyth
taint in a human and force a ship back into port. Halvir is also the only place that sailors
and merchants from other continents can go. They are stopped at the storm walls of
Halvir and are not allowed into the continent.
Enrir is a continent of rolling hills and plains with no true mountain ranges. Only
in the southwest of the continent by the port of Halvir is the land truly rocky and jagged,
the land terminating in sheer cliffs. This is where most of the mining in Enrir is done.
The northern side of the continent is tundra, as it is near the arctic circle. Their chief city
of Esh is out on the tundra.
The center of the continent should be a paradise for humans, but it is not. It is a
vast plains and grassland area that could easily support human agriculture, but Evil
beasts, like Ixcara, hybrids like the violent clans of the Centaur Race, and powerful dark
tribes roam the center. It is also home to great herds of linyth, both black and white.
Magic is at the center of all Eshrian cultures. The people on Meranna’s path make
up the highest level of society. The hybrid’s curse has become highly prized on Enrir,
and so when a human manifests Calnese magic, it is celebrated. People depend on magic
for their daily lives. Unfortunately for their couture, the taint has diluted over the years,
and there are more normal humans born on Enrir than tainted ones. There are a few
families, though, that actually breed the taint into their lineage by pairing with only the
most powerful of mages in an attempt to keep their magic strong.
The church of Meranna is the exclusive church of Enrir. The people, if they
worship the Maestros, worship Meranna alone, with the other Maestros almost totally
unknown. Meranna is very jealous of her hybrids, and lays claim to all of them. Enrir is
one of the places where the female people on the path are always the priestesses of the
Maestro. There is a bit of a rivalry between those who chose the path of humanity, and
those who chose the path of the mage.
Male hybrids are known as mages or servitors, and females are priestesses or
attendants. Normal humans, unlike the normal humans of other continents, cannot join
the clergy.
Each city state has a unique language, but they are unified by the language of
Meranna, which is derived from a human language that is now extinct and is used by all
educated people of Enrir. If a person wants to be known as “educated”, he or she is
required to learn this language, though the common people may not know how to
understand it. Their common languages are not written, but the language of the church is.
It is, like the Togri language, complex, but it is far more primitive, being more like
hieroglyphs than like the stylized symbols of the Togri language. They developed their
church’s written language from linyth verbal accounts of what the linyth written language
used to look like. No pieces of actual linyth writing survived the war that any Eshrian
has found.
The shape, name and the stamp of the coinage across the continent varies from
city state to city state, but the people do not care about the appearance. What unifies the
currency is the weight of it. The value of the weights is determined by the church.
Trexrir
The dark continent of Trexrir is a savage continent, filled with powerful beasts, horrifying
demons, and humans with amazing abilities.
Most of the humans of Trexrir are cursed with an ancestry that leads back to an
immortal of Caln or of a demon. Held the most sacred and the most pitied by Trexians
are the humans that are born devoid of the immortal taint. On one hand, they are the
only beings on the continent with hope of salvation, but on the other hand, they are the
weakest of all beings on Trexrir, with the shortest lifespan.
These humans can actually leave Trexrir and return. They do so by ships that sail
each year from their port of Salvation if they are bound for the continent of man, the port
of Hope if they are bound for Enrir, or the port of forgiveness if they are bound for the
myriad islands.
Not much is known about Trexrir, except that the ones who worship the Maestros
call their nation Trexit and that the continent is highly volcanically active. The people of
Trexit revere Lemari above all because she alone provided for them when the others
would have destroyed them, but they do not worship her to exclusion as the hybrids of
Enrir do.
The myriad Islands
Here, the few humans who do worship the maestros live in harmony with the Esyth like
the Togri live in harmony with the rysyth, but most humans are of dark origin, and are
vicious corsairs that plague the waters worldwide. Their most valuable trade item is their
enchanted weaponry. Humans and esyth work together to make weapons blessed and
imbued with Calnese magic.