Before you read this, know that the PCs are all races that could loosely be described as Anthropomorphic and live in a Federation made up of their respective tribe's species. They are largely nomadic, heavily rely on oral passing of stories, and so forth. The campaign in the sequel to another I had run where the world of Thear is actually our own Earth so far in the future that no one even remembers the apocalypse that changed it from what we, as players, know to what the PC's experience. The PCs in THIS campaign have never seen humans. They know very little of technology and are quick to assume that everything that is sill working is a hold over from the ancient magics of their ancestors.
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Long ago, the world was not as we know it today. Our greatest grandmothers and greatest grandfathers prowled the soil on their hands and knees, growling and snarling because they had not received the gift of speech, killing because they had not received the gift of peace, and devouring one another because the first Wendigo hand not been born.
The Stars looked over the edge of their dark world and pittied the beasts that we were, but from so far away they could do nothing but watch... until one of them fell.
Ut'Nrae was this star. A beautiful young woman with the light of the universe in her eyes and white hair that shimmered like the river under Luna. The girl was pure and awaiting her marriage when the Cold Star Mn'A'E'Chi began to visit her. He whispered the sweetest lies into her ear and showed her the other side of darkness that no star may see. As he whispered his lies and filled her with blinding knowledge, unnoticed, Ut'Nrae's belly began to swell.
Ut'Nrae woke with a sharp pain in her belly and realized what had happened to her. Mn'A'E'Chi had impregnated her with his lies. Fearing that her husband-to-be may find out, she fled the village. In her hate, blinded by her tears, she stumbled and fell from the Starland. Her hair flowed behind her, rippling as she plummeted to Thear.
As she fell, her tears fell before her and created the sea in which she landed. Frightened, alone and with ever growing pain in her belly, she swam through the sea towards a great spire of land in the distance. With each drop of her blood spilt into the waters, schools of the first fish were born. The first canyons were dug with her fingers as she clawed up onto the land. Her thrashing created the waves that we still see today. Such was her struggle.
Our Greatest Grandmothers and Greatest Grandfathers watched Ut'Nrae from the bushes, grass and trees with teeth bared. They waited, ignorant and angry, ready to tear her throat once she lie still... but a new cry gave them pause. Ut'Nrae was giving birth.
A great star rose in the sky, silver and round, bathing Thear in soft light as she delivered her child. Too far to reach Thear, too close to join its brothers and sisters, we call it Luna because it was first and it was alone and it was beautiful as the son she bore. His fangs and claws shone like the lights in the homeland he would never know. His fur and feathers and scales looked as fields of grass and neverbrown trees and river rocks. Silver slit eyes, full of wisdom and kindness rest upon his face. She named him M'Rae Chi, for she had never dreamed that something so beautiful could come from Mn'A E Chi's lies.
M'Rae Chi stood from the moment he was born and called out to our Greatest Grandmothers and Greatest Grandfathers. The wisest of them came forward and felt their anger die and their tongues grow clever and peace came to their hearts. The cowards fled and many of them still hide in the bushes and the grass and the trees to this day. All of this came to pass within moments of M'Rae Chi, the All Father's, birth... but Ut'Nrae was still in pain.
M'Rae Chi was not an only child and Ut'Nrae was in agony trying to bring his twin into the world. "Mn'A Kndi! Mn'A Kndi!" She screamed his name over and over, gargling blood as her body was twisted and torn. Hideous and deformed, Mn'A Kndi burst from his mother's flesh, clawing her open with stubbed talons and gnashing her with blunted teeth. Pale, sparsely furred skin, save for the top of his head, covered his form. Hair, as golden as the burning star that rose with him, stuck to his misshapen, muzzeless and beakless face, matted with the gore that gave him life. The star that we call Sol rose and hid the stars and faded the moon with it's blinding light. Every plant that drips poison or holds barbs sprouted from the soil as he rose from her corpse. Every beast that still felt anger or cowardice or was too stupid to rise up on two feet followed him off into the blistering heat.
And so it was that Mn'A Kndi and M'Rae Chi came unto Thear. And so it was that Sol and Luna came into our skies. And so it was that our Greatest Grandmothers and Greatest Grandfathers learned to walk and talk and live and love. And so it was that sickness and plague and corruption and hate came into our world.
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So, questions? Suggestions? Moans? Groans? Complaints?
Thear = Earth
Ut'N'Rae = Nature
Mn'A E Chi = Machine
M'Rae Chi = Chimera
Mn'A Kn'Di = Mankind
