Khale, Roots of the World
From TSOY
Contents |
Introduction
Only a few tribes-people were left, their warriors decimated in a lightning strike by the vipers of Ammeni. Nevins and Violet, brother and sister, carried the mortally-wounded chief in a make-shift bundle.
"Nevins, take my spear," the chieftain moaned. "You must lead the tribe now."
Nevins shifted uncomfortably, his lute banging against his elbow. "Father, I am forsworn not to fight, but to tell the stories of battle."
"Tighten your wrists," growled the dying chief. "Be a man of Khale. It is your duty and destiny to protect the tribe's women."
Violet sighed. "Give me the spear already, Father. My arm is as strong as any man's, and deadlier."
"Woman, daughter - you cannot wield the sacred spear of our tribe. The wood would creak and break under your grasp. Be not jealous of your brother. It is your duty to raise the remnants of our tribe."
"I cannot wield ..." Violet started, astonished at her father's lack of wisdom. Her eyes grew tight in anger, and then tighter in concentration. Catlike, she grabbed the spear and tossed it into the brush.
"Fool woman! Your petty jealousy will cost us our heritage."
Violet stormed away, reaching into the undergrowth. She pulled out a bloody spear and the black-clad head of an Ammenite assassin, severed with one blow. "I cannot wield the tribal spear, you said?"
A Forest Aflame
Across the Border Sea, the deep green peninsula of Khale is an echo of Qek's lushness. Once a stone's throw across the Hungry River from Qek, the earthquakes of the Time of Shadow have split it away as the river was ripped into the much larger Sea of Teeth. It is still close: the Dragon's Mouth is a small strait between Khale and Qek, and is usually much calmer than the sea. Controlling this strait, as well as a mysterious substance called moon-metal, earns Khale the enmity of its southern neighbor, Ammeni, who has attacked the country in a war of attrition for several years.
The forests of Khale are wet and thick, but move from jungle to evergreen woodlands, dappled with sunlight. They are sacred to the people of Khale who live beneath their towering bows. Everything a tribesman could need is found under the forest-top, from fields of mushrooms and plants for medicine and food, to deer to hunt and ride, to fallen tree limbs easily sap-cured into bows and spears. Before the Time of Shadow, great webbed cities connected the forest; since then, the remnants of tribes live only off the land.
Khale is a harsh land in which to live: its many rivers flow with the blood of cousins, as the many tribes fight for control of their own land, and Ammeni pushes its troops further north. The land rumbles as many chieftains try to unite the tribes, but so far, none have been successful.
The People of Khale
The Tribe is Family
Khaleans (ka-le-ans) are a hearty and strong people, Mediterranean in appearance, with generally black, brown, or red hair, and green or brown eyes. They claim ancient heritage with the people of Qek, although they speak different languages, and maintain good relations with the few Qek that emerge from the jungle.
Khaleans operate in tribes of two to ten dozen people and consider all tribe members to be their family, not just blood relations. In fact, blood brothers from different tribes are not considered to be related at all, except in the way that all Khaleans are related. Upon marriage, males join the tribe of their wife, becoming part of a new family. In addition, outsiders, or those with no family, can become part of the tribe through a naming ritual.
Within the tribe, status is very important. While family lines are matriarchal, positions of power are dominated by men. The tribe's chief is almost always male, the husband of the eldest woman in the tribe, and his advisors, usually a bard and his most accomplished warrior, are also men. When two tribes battle, it is Khalean law - that is, tradition as old as Khale - that only the tribe's men can fight. If a woman were found to be fighting for a tribe, it would be a horrible disgrace, and that tribe would more than likely surrender the fight.
Cousins at War
Each tribe governs itself in Khale, making its own laws and staking its own territory. The Year of Shadow scattered the old tribes, and since then, many of the new tribes have made war on each other over parcels of land, each claiming ancestral rights.
Ammeni, however, has declared war on Khale in the past few years. Several tribal leaders have attempted to unite the tribes in order to strike out at the foreign warriors, who are systematically destroying the forests on Khale's southern border. No true leader has emerged thus far, and Khale grows smaller and more fragile each year. One unexpected side-effect of the war with Ammeni is that some women have taken up arms, causing tension within tribes.
We Are the Forest
The forests of Khale are worshiped as ancestors. Each tree in a tribe's territory is believed to be a fallen member of the tribe, born again as part of the land. (This further inflames battles between tribes over land, as each tribe believes the trees there to be their ancestors.) An ancient and legendary tree in the center of Khale is said to be the great King Khale, a ruler that united all of the peninsula and lands beyond, and the father of all modern Khaleans.
Khale has one of the most vibrant artistic cultures in Near, most probably because of their belief that creating art is a form of worship. While their painting and sculpture are beautiful, their real excellence is with their music and stories, which are intertwined. Their stories and songs are usually the tales of ancestral heroes, although they are usually embellished or even completely made up, depending on who you ask. (Khaleans insists that all their stories are true, although one of their favorite proverbs is "a story should be told the way things should have happened.") Often, an entire tribe will dress up and act out a play depicting a story of ancient Khale, even getting other friendly tribes to participate.
Religion revolves around festivals, gatherings where a tribe - or many friendly tribes - will gather for a many-day-long revelry and celebration of their past. All festivals have telling of great tales done by their ancestors, done ritually around a bonfire. These rituals are competitive as tribal priests or bards try to outdo each other with fantastic stories. The bards, part priest and part artist, are given a special place in Khalean culture, as they are immune to normal tribal conflicts. When two tribes clash, the bards of each tribe will meet to write down the story of the conflict, narrating it as the battle flows. Killing a bard is a criminal offense, and usually results in the death of the murderer.
Magic is fully accepted in Khale, and fascinates most people. The bards of Khale, and foreign sorcerers (called druids by the Khaleans) are highly respected and use magic freely. It is said that each bard learns three Perfect Chords in his lifetime: one to bring tears of sorrow; one to change tears of sorrow to tears of joy; and the last to put listeners to sleep.
The Green World
Inside the forests of Khale, there is another world, a mystic world. This is their greatest secret, and it is forbidden to share it with those not of the tribe. Ancient trees, those with a circumference greater than two men holding hands, can be used as a gateway into the Green World. This Green World is a maze of pathways, some so small that one must crawl through them, and others large enough for five people to stand side-by-side. The walls of these caverns are growing wood, light and grainy, and glow with faint green light. When the Sky Fire came, many Khaleans moved into the Green World to escape, building cities inside its immense caverns. Those cities lie dead now, and are said to be haunted; gnarled trees grow throughout them, with human expressions twisted into their trunks.
The Green World covers all of Khale, and can be used as a passageway to anywhere else in the land, provided there is a guide. When one ends up is less certain: while experienced travelers have little trouble, those who get lost in the Green World may find themselves exiting into another time entirely. Bards sometime use these passages to go to earlier times and talk to ancient ancestors, although no one has ever been able to travel within one hundred years before the Time of Shadow, or one year after it.
Legends say that King Khale himself still wanders these halls, a large old man with a beard like moss, and hands like wood-knots. Supposedly, he or other great ancestors can guide you to any place and time within these halls, or grant you great boons, provided you perform a quest, usually a re-enactment of a previous adventure of the ancestor. During festivals, tribes will sometimes send their greatest bards and warriors to perform a quest and grant them success over their enemies.
As war envelops Khale from the south, some tribes have moved completely into the Green World, leaving the land of Khale behind. Their great mistake lies in the fact that the Green World does not stand alone: it is formed of the forest of Khale, and as the forest falls, it grows dimmer and smaller.
The Hands of the Tribe
Within tribes, farming and hunting are both respectable jobs and craftsmen and artists are well respected. The ability of Khalean craftsmen to forge sharp swords and carve strong tools and weapons from wood, curing them with sap, is legendary.
Khale trades for metal tools with Qek, and their longships sail to southern Maldor to trade spices which do not grow in that colder climate. Many young Khalean men, bereft of family, have joined crews, even becoming pirates. The Wooden Sickle is a famous ship of pirate youth that has been the scourge of the Ammeni coastline.
Khaleans have a taste for drink, and import beer from Maldor and Goren and wine from Oran in large quantities. They also are known to grow marijuana, a plant which is smoked for mild hallucinatory and relaxative effects. This drug is said to bring out epic tales in heroes and increase sexual desire.
- Marijuana effects
- Undistilled drug
- One penalty die to Reason-based abilities
- Heightened tactile effects (two bonus dice to some uses of Savoir-Faire, two penalty dice to all Resist checks against Seduction or resisting physical torture)
(See the section on Ammeni for more information on game mechanics for drugs.)
Moon-metal
After the Year of Shadow, a group of explorers found a forest like no other in northern Khale; metal grew up from the ground, gleaming like bright silver, sprouting branches like trees. This, the only metal in Khale, is said to be a piece of the Shadow Moon fell to earth. Whatever it is, it has taken root and grows in a parody of a natural forest.
Moon-metal is easy to craft, and deadly sharp and strong. If heated over a fire, it responds to the user's wants to form itself into any metal object, which is of superior quality (an automatic +1 weapon or armor.) However, it severs the user's relationship with the Green World. If moon-metal so much as touches you, you receive one penalty die with the ability Tree-Bond. Each day that you are in contact with moon-metal, the penalty dice grow, to a maximum of five. It takes an expediture of five Vigor and five Instinct points to remove one penalty die. (These points need not be spent all at once if a character does not have that many.) One cannot enter the Green World with any moon-metal upon their person.
Other Species in Khale
Like their claimed brethren, the Qek, Khaleans have little problem with other species. Goblins form tribes throughout Khale, and are called spriggans by the locals, who find them more amusing than annoying. Elves are viewed with some pity and suspicion: they are believed to be the seeds of fallen ancestors who did not take root and now wander. The Ratkin are not numerous in Khale, preferring the cities, but there is the rumor of one Khalean tribe composed completely of Ratkin.
Crunchy Bits
Khale Cultural Abilities
- Camouflage (Instinct)
- This ability is used to stay hidden in plain sight by using natural patterns, covering one's self with mud or leaves, and otherwise blending in with a wooded environment.
- Genealogy (Reason)
- Knowledge of one's lineage is of great importance for a Khalean bard. Being able to find a common ancestor with a stranger automatically grants you kinship with her, and can turn an enemy into a stranger. This ability is used for recalling this sort of knowledge, and giving proper greetings to strangers, especially chiefs of other tribes.
- Guerilla Warfare (Instinct)
- Unlike Battle, which is standard military tactics knowledge, Guerilla Warfare is your character's knowledge of alternative tactics which give a smaller force a much greater advantage. It is used for coordinating quick and nasty attacks while hiding in the forest; using noise and trickery to appear to be a larger force, and eliminating your enemies one by one through ambushes.
- Lunar Forging (Reason)
- This ability is used to craft moon-metal by projecting one's psychic force upon it. A successful ability check is needed to craft an item. When struck by wood, moon-metal has a tendency to lose its form: this skill is also used to force the metal to keep its shape (a resisted ability check versus the attack).
- Spear-fighting (Vigor)
- The most popular weapon in Khale is a long spear, formed completely from sap-hardened wood. This weapon is good for stabbing from hiding, and with an especially long head, can be grasped closer for fighting up close. This ability is used to attack with this weapon, or other polearms.
- Tree-bond (Instinct)
- This ability allows the user to travel in and navigate the Green World. A successful roll is necessary to enter the Green World. With another successful roll, one can navigate anywhere in Khale, or anywhere in the Green World one has already been. A third successful roll is necessary to travel to any time besides the present.
Khale Cultural Secrets
- Secret of the Perfect Chord, Joy
- With a successful Music ability check, which can be resisted with a Resist ability check, your character can evoke swellings of joy in all listeners, no matter their disposition. Cost: 1 Vigor.
- Secret of the Perfect Chord, Sorrow
- With a successful Music ability check, which can be resisted with a Resist ability check, your character can evoke tears of sorrow in all listeners. Cost: 1 Instinct.
- Secret of the Perfect Chord, Sleep
- With a successful Music ability check, which can be resisted with a Resist ability check, your character can put all listeners to sleep. Cost: 2 Reason.
- Secret of the Forest's Embrace
- Your character gains a bonus die to Stealth and Guerilla Warfare when in thick forest.
- Secret of Forest Transport
- Your character may bring others with her when she travels into the Green World, holding the portal open for them. The ancestors, should they live, will hold you responsible for your visitors' actions. Cost: 1 Vigor per person.
- Secret of Bough's Bosom
- While in the Green World, anyone attempting to heal your character automatically receives a bonus die.
- Secret of the Moon Heart
- Your character has absorbed a quantity of moon-metal, which has bonded with her flesh. You no longer need fire to mold the metal into new forms, and can spend Vigor on a one-for-one basis for bonus dice when forcing the metal to keep its form. You cannot ever enter the Green World, however, and all attacks against you with wooden weapons do +1 harm.
Khale Cultural Keys
| Key Name | Summary | Key XP | Buyoff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Key of the Lost Child | Your character has no tribe. They are lost to the Green World, or perhaps decimated in battle. It is her duty to carry on the tribe's name. | Gain 1 XP every time your character tells a story of her tribe. Gain 2 XP whenever your character defends her tribe's name or lands in words or in battle. Gain 5 XP whenever your character finds a new legend of her tribe. | Join another tribe. |
| Key of the Tribe | Your character's tribe is a great part of her identity. | Gain 1 XP whenever your character does something to help the tribe. Gain 2 XP whenever your character defends or helps the tribe even though it brings her ridicule or inconvenience. Gain 5 XP whenever your character defends the tribe in battle. | Leave the tribe. |
Examples
Sample Khalean Names
- Males: Pwyll, Nevins, Bowdyn, Gwawl, Aonghus, Morvyn, Dwayne, Kelvin, Keaghan, Brasil, Cathair, Hueil, Donat, Eoghann, Newlyn
- Females: Maeveen, Isolde, Elsha, Aphria, Evelina, Moyna, Deirdre, Jennifer, Wynne, Yseult, Africa, Violet, Donella, Grania, Merna
Sample Khalean Character Ideas
- a shamed warrior, cast out from his tribe
- a bard full of tales and looking for more
- a lost Ratkin adopted into a tribe
- a tribe-less pirate of the high seas
