Five common beings: Tentacled

These beings live near wet areas of the world:  on coastlines, in marshes, near lakes and swamps.  They are strange looking, with a bulbous head attached 8 tentacles that give the beings their name.  Archives from those who live near oceans say that these beings resemble ocean creatures such as cuttlefish or octopuses, even saying that the tentacled are like large octopuses that can live on land.  Their bodies are extraordinarily flexible, squeezing through tiny cracks and holes, and can change color and shape at will, and they can also breathe water, an ability they make use of to become the greatest fishers, pearl divers, and finders of anything in the oceans.  On land, they do not walk as we do, but instead slide along the ground, surprisingly quickly, using some tentacles to support themselves, and some to carry tools or equipment.  In water, they become much more free swimming, propelling themselves without an obvious motion, by blowing water out of themselves.

More than anything else, the tentacled are known for their cleverness.  Over and over again, from diplomats to traders to soldiers, tentacled all over the world are known to their ability to find weak spots, trickery, the shortcut nobody else would see, or the easy but hard to see way to accomplish whatever they set out to do.  At times, this cleverness draws admiration, such as on a monster hunt where the tentacled know exactly where to strike a gigantic sea monster to kill it as rapidly as possible. Sometimes, it draws scorn and anger, such as when the tentacled turn to assassination and ambush as they often do in warfare.

Tentacled seem to have a connection to the ocean and weather.  Their main religious organizers are so called rain priests, storm watchers, or current watchers, and their main role is to predict the weather and oceans.  Stories suggest they they are quite good at this, although some think that the rain priests either keep their predictions vague, or change predictions as needed to fit what others know will happen anyway.  Some also perform ceremonies to draw rain or favorable oceans, although we do not know if they do as promised, or is the ceremonies are simply performed when the desired weather will occur anyway. 

Historically, tentacled have lived in small villages, at the largest forming confederations.  They are the most fiercely independent of the common beings, refusing to bow down to even the mightiest empires or rulers.  We do not know if this is a natural component of their personality planned by the creator, or if the ease of assassination means a disliked ruler or conqueror is quickly killed.  One would think that such independence would lead to infighting, but surprisingly, the tentacled have found other ways to work together, organizing themselves in village councils and confederations, relying greatly on reputation and trust, and other simple but unusual methods to come to decisions.  And although obedience is nonexistent among the tentacled, and convincing a group means convincing each member, once a decision is made, the tentacled are known to stick quite strongly to it.

If we find ourselves at war with the tentacled, we must be prepared for a frustrating fight.  Even less that the other common beings, the tentacled do not like to fight straightforward battles of army against army, instead, preferring to use assassination, ambushes, and surprise attacks as often as possible.  But even if they do fight in a straightforward way, their ability to use 4 or even 5 tentacles to carry weapons and shields makes them hard to fight if they can get amongst our own soldiers.  Using their abilities to camouflage and squeeze through the smallest of spaces, the tentacled will likely go for our leaders, sabotage our equipment and supplies, and use any other methods to turn the battles before they are even fought.  Moving soldiers is dangerous as well, any delay or disorganization invites a hard to spot ambush, as even large numbers of searchers and swarmers will miss well trained tentacled.  In battle, we must still keep watch at all times, the best of assassins can hide in small dips in terrain, and strike our most valued soldiers when we are least expecting it.  Training a large number of replacement commanders is necessary, as well as constant vigilance, and a knowledge of what the enemy values, so as to force a fight on our own terms if war becomes necessary.

Despite the variety of tentacled confederations, independent towns, and other groups, their cultures, like all the other common beings, seem to fall into 5 general types.  The fact that all common beings, including us, seem to divide this way is curious, and our priests and scholars have suggested numerous explanations.  But until we can communicate again with our creator, this remains an unexplained oddity of our world.

The most well known type of tentacled culture are the ocean dwellers.  These tentacled groups build their livelihood around the oceans more than any other, whether by fishing, monster hunting, kelp gathering, shellfish gathering, or other ways we do not know as much about.  What farming or land living they do is even based on the ocean, growing materials for nets and boats, for example.  These tentacled are known to be the most physically powerful of the tentacled.  As a fits a group living near the ocean, their culture is full of stories of cleverly defeating giant, powerful, enemies, whether the numerous enormous beasts that lie in the far ocean.  It was one group of these tentacled that defeated us in the tribute war.

Some tentacled cultures have an uncanny ability to determine whether rains or dryness will come.  These, the "rain" cultures, make much of their living by marsh farming.  Crops like floatfruit, tall rice, and glowmoss once came from their villages, depending on the weather predicted for that year.  Stories of luck and chance, and how to spot opportunities, are their specialty, more than others.

"sailing" tentacled seem to have an affinity for winds, understanding how to use them, and predicting what they will do.  These tentacled are most known for trade and fishing, being the best at traveling long distances, and also for catching migrating birds.  These tentacled were the first sailors, and throughout history, navies around the world hired mercenaries from these cultures to crew boats.

Tentacled who live near stormy areas are often "mystical" cultures, far more religious than others.  These cultures engage in numerous weather rituals, attracting or repelling storms, waves, currents, or other changes.  Tentacled in these types of cultures insist that the rituals are effective, but our own priests and scholars are suspicious.

"seasonal" tentacled are the most adaptable, with a society prizing adaptability to changing weather and seasons.  These cultures prize adaptability above other cultures, the mark of a respected tentacled in this sort of society is one who can quickly learn many skills, and thrive in any situation.

Catching a Kraken

Although most of us have heard stories of sea monsters, and use numerous products from them, few have seen these creatures outside of those washed up on the beach.  For most, stories of the Kraken, whale, pliosaur, sargasso, sea dragons, and other such creatures are legends and rumors, dangerous creatures who clash with monster hunters (usually tentacled or humans) out in the oceans.  Only a few traders and fishers throughout our history have seen these creatures, fewewr have written about them.

This description is from a trade mission, common amongst powerful empires with smaller trade partners, where diplomats and workers examine how the products they buy are created, and see how the good they sell are used.  This mission was sent by the Kalaxich rulers to a small tentacled confederation, and while on it, a fish leader joined a kraken hunt.


The Kraken Hunt

We arrived at the trading point the first day of the mission.  As is done most years, merchants were sent to arrange terms, and the tentacled negotiators and merchants were hard at work.  On display nearby were products to be exchanged at this time.  An array of products rested in front of us; I was amazed to see how such a small village could produce.  Pearls, preserved fish, sea crystals, salt, marsh grass, and much more were on display from the tentacled.  Our own traders were showing off our own products:  glass, stone, metals, wool, and wood, and other materials and devices some produced by own own workshops, some from other lands.  Our merchants, and the tentacled, examined and commented on these products, admiring the craftsmanship, or choosing which to buy for the next years.

For this mission, our head merchant wished to ensure supplies of ink, and I had been sent to examine the tentacle's kraken and cuttlefish hunting methods.  The negotiations over trade terms were tough, as these tentacled were fiercely independent, and their unhappiness at bringing me a long was a sticking point, with kraken hunters in particular annoyed at bringing along a passenger.  Ultimately, however, our negotiatiors reached an agreement, with trade terms decided after three days, the tentacled being convinced to allow us to examine their fishing and farming methods.  Most of the merchants left at that point, while three of us remained to carry out the examinations, along with a few guards and guides.

I had learned that a kraken hunting expedition would be leaving in four days;  during that time, I watched the tentacled catch cuttlefish.  The tentacled do not use boats for this tasdk: the inkfish they catch live close enough to shore that the tentacled can simply swim to hunting areas, and catch the fish.  I was only able to catch glimpses of their catch techniques:  it seems cuttlefish are dispersed enough that they cannot use nets, instead, bait is used to lure the fish to points, where the tentacled round them up and arrive at shore.  I was surprised to learn how little ink each cuttle has, the tentacled must cut up almost 20 to fill a single container our merchants use.  The rest of the meat is preserved for food.  We had never considered buying this meat before, unlike preserved fish, and our merchants have returned with some to test its richness, if it is as rich as fish, it would be a good purchase indeed.  I cannot fault the tentacled's methods for catching the cuttles: they can catch these rare animals as well as my own fishers can in our rivers.  The tentacled's voraciousness for our knives was also explained, these tools are used for almost all tasks the tentacled can set them to.

I had been introduced to the kraken hunters during negotiations.  They were unhappy at having to bring me along, but appeared to hide their grumpiness by the day before the expedition.  That day was spent in preparation.  For boats, the tentacled use a floating marshgrass, weaved into a boat frame and shape.  Into the boats were loaded fish, knives, bags, and other materials that I was not watching at the time.   Every member of the monster hunting group takes part in this work, and I was prodded into helping, placing cloth, food, and other lighter items into the boats.  The tentacled had brought an extra two group members, and an extra boat, to carry me for this trip.  The boats were placed on the shoreline, where the tides could raise them into the water.  Finally, the day before, a rain priest performed a ritual, to determine whether the weather would be calm enough for the trip.

At high tide the next morning, the tentacled swam to their boats, raised small sails, and set out to the ocean.  My own boat was placed farther up in the tidal zone, and several of the hunters pushed it out to see.  I had known before that ocean waves would be larger than I was used to, but to experience it was a whole different matter.  The light marsh grass boats wobbled back and forth far more than our own riverboats, and I thought I was loose my balance many times as we traveled from shore.  Over the day, the shoreline receded, and only the ocean was visible.  The swells calmed somewhat, and I noticed the rocking less. 

Our journey to the kraken hunting ground took four days.  When winds were strong, sails were used.  In weaker winds, the tentacled themselves took shifts in the water.  At our first calm period, I was handed an oar.  "Everyone pitches in", said a tentacled, and though I attempted to argue that I was not strong enough to row well, that we specially breed rowers to do so, the tentacled were quite insistent that I play my part.  Copying as best I could how our own rowers moved, I pulled the oars through the water, assisting as best I could at propelling my boat.

On the third day, I was told to watch for Kraken, as we were approaching a good spot.  They were described as looking much like the tentacled, but larger, with longer tentacles.  I do not know how the tentacled knew where they were, as the ocean appeared as empty as it had before, and endless blue plain of waves and sky, with only an occasional bird or fish.  Soon, I spotted something.  Looking closer, I could see it.  "Kraken!" I yelled, pointing towards a long, red, mass of tentacles.  The tentacled, excited, looked to where I pointed.  Soon, they looked away.  "That's not a kraken, just a giant squid", said one of the hunters.  I asked further.  "A real kraken is far larger", responded the tentacled.  I could not understand, the creature was longer than our boat, with a mass of tentacles, how could this not be the legendary kraken that we had heard so much of?  But I said nothing, and we continued on.

A day later, the tentacled stopped, dropped sails, and dropped stabilizing lines into the water.  Having not spotted a kraken, they reached a chosen spot, and set up to catch the creature.   Some boats were separated from the others, and filled with fish.  Others, empty or holding equipment, were kept far from these, including my own boat.  Some kraken hunters stayed in boats, other nearby in the water, all watching for kraken.

With time on my hands, I watched the ocean.  I realized that there were lighter and darker spots, that I later learned were deeper and shallower areas.  The sea proved mesmerizing, and I often found myself mentally removed while watching, with only the occasional bird to break the spell.  The waves formed strange patterns.  I sometimes drew myself out with a sudden realization that I must check the ocean for kraken, but wandered from this thought as I watched the ocean.Near the fish boats I soon noticed a dark spot, a depper section of the ocean.

Farther away, blobs of lighter areas appeared. As I looked towards those lighter areas, I suddenly heard one of the hunters yell "Kraken".  I looked around, hoping to see the creature, but did not notice anything.  As I looked around, I suddenly saw that the dark spot near the fish boats seemed to be larger.  Looking more carefully, I indeed saw i grow.  Soon, the dark patch grew large in the water, and I could see almost nothing else under the ocean.  Structure appears, several white blobs, writhing, and mottled circles.  As the creature rose, I felt a wave swell, and in a jolt of fear, I leaned back, expecting the rising creature to overturn the boat.

The creature burst from the water.  Huge purple tentacles emerged, far taller than I was, taller than the sails on the hunter's boats, and covered in giant, toothed circles.  The tentacles hurled downward, engulfing a fish boat, and soon I could hear a crunching.  The tentacled responded quickly, some jumped into the water and seemed to swim towards the kraken.  Coloring themselves blue, they dropped stalkblood ink into the water, and swam the other way towards the kraken.  The kraken did not appear to notice, it continued to hold the fish boat in its crushing grasp.   I was frozen in fear, gripped by the sight before me.

Than, everything changed.  Suddenly, the kraken let out a jet of water, and the tentacles flashed to a bright red.  Some tentacles let go of the boat.  I looked into the water, and saw what looked like the great tentacles thrashing through the water.  Waves radiated, and the boat rocked several times.  A few tentacled left the water, waiting in their boats.  The kraken twisted, releasing great boils of water with each motion, and it almost appeared to slide back and forth.  A dark cloud seemed ot fill the water, For several minutes, the agitated creature bubbled, thrashed, and twisted, and at one point I nearly fell flat into the boat, wondering whether the hunters in the water could survive, and worried that the creature could turn on us.

After some time, the creature's motions slowed.  It seemed to weaken, bubbling the water less, and became more sluggish.  The tentacles slowed, thrashing less.  Than, in a slow but powerful motion, the creature seemed to turn on its side, tentacles sliding into the water.  Finally, I saw a dome of water form, than release in a spell, as a huge body emerged from the ocean.  The tentacled waited for a bit, than, satisfied that the body was limp, they moved the boats in closer.

Shortly after, a smaller tentacle emerged from an opening in the great creature.  One of the monster hunters emerged, carrying a knife.  I would later learn that two of the hunters had slid into the kraken through its mantle, sliced its arteries, and waited inside as the creature bled to death.  The kraken could feel these intruders, and was trying with its tentacles to remove the irritation, but the tentacled were safe inside.  The others had distracted the creature, throwing dye into the water to distract the creature, drawing it away from the boats.  The kraken had originally been drawn to the fish boat, smelling and meal and attempting to ambush it as it would catch a creature.

I looked more closely at the creature.  It was shaped much like a tentacled, with a rounded body attached to 8 tentacles.  The lighter blobs I had seen earlier were eyes, I later saw that each of these was as large as a tentacled.  A I later saw a large funnel, the hunters explained that this was used to jet water, much as they do, and this was the boiling I had seen in the fight.

The tentacled went to work quickly.  They placed skins into the water, later I learned that these were shark skin, to scare away scavengers.  Strip after strip of muscle was removed from the creature and placed into boats, or simply left at sea.  Meat in the boats was preserved at sea, covered with material that the tentacled had brought from shore.  They eyes were removed, so large that it took three tentacled a piece to carry them to the boats.  Fluid and lenses from these eyes were used in in rituals by the tentacled.  Finally, the tentacled reached the organs of the creature.  Buried within, the most valuable part of the creature, was the ink sac.  Compared to the kraken, it was almost nothing, but still took three tentacled to remove and place in the boat.  All of the boats were filled with material, whether meat, organs, or leftover supplies, with the tentacled and I resting in any remaining space.  Finally, as the sun began to set, the boats were as full as they could.  Our knives, in the hands of the tentacled monster hunters, reduced the kraken to strips and blobs of muscle, left in the ocean for its creatures to scavenge.  The hunters set their sails and rested as they returned to shore.

Our return took less time than the journey out.  Upon our return, the hunters unloaded their boats, storing leftover supplies, preparing meat, and arranging with out remaining merchants to purchase the kraken ink.

The monster hunters are indeed very skilled at what they do, and I can find little fault with how they catch the creatures they do.  The creatures they hunt are indeed rare and powerful, and they make use of as much of it as they can, but the ink that is our main purchase is but a small part of the creature.  Kraken meat, in addition to cuttlefish, may make a rich food, and we should attmept to buy other kraken products to see how useful they may be.

The five common beings: Chitinous

We once ruled much of the world.  Our empires spread through all but the most inhospitable of lands, our great buildings and monuments dominated all others, our knowledge was second to none.  But the other species finally organized, and overcame our empires, allowing the overgrowth invasions to overrun us.  Now, we are like anyone else on this world, pushed back to our core lands.

As we rebuild, we will encounter other chitinous, with different traditions and histories, which all leaders must understand.  We will also encounter other beings, and must understand ourselves, and how we differ from the other intelligent beings, to prepare for challenges ahead.

Other Chitinous

Compared to other intelligent beings, it is easy to assume that all of us are the same, and to make mistakes as a result.  As when meeting other intelligent beings, diplomats, traders, or anyone else who will interact with another chitinous should understand the society and culture that one is interacting with.

Though we had numerous empires and nations before the overgrowth invasions, it seems that most cultures divided into 5 general types.  Those like us should be easy to understand, but others have different ways of obedience, religion, and views toward trade and warfare.  In our society, and societies like ours, a single leader commands everything.  To us, this makes sense, as only a single leader with no attachment to any portion of their nation, and with understanding of all facets of a civilization, can truly balance and understand all concerns, and only through obedience to such a leader can we ensure a stable society.  Indeed, to many of our priests, the world itself seems organized in this way, with the creator choosing one of the chitinous societies to lead the world, with all others organized to take care of facets of the world.  However, if one approaches other chitinous leaders in a similar way, they will be confused and frustrated.

Breeders

Some cultures, the breeding hives, are instead ruled by a supreme breeder.  Though this breeder, like our own supreme rulers, must understand something of all facets of a society, the leader instead focuses their energies on creating smarter, stronger, or more powerful citizens of the hive, and leaves much of ruling to subordinates, specially created by the breeder to be supremely skilled at their own domains.  This obedience structure exists all the way through the society, to the lowest members, with leaders focused far more on training, or breeding, than on commanding or organization.  Such societies believe the strength of a hive is in its members, and strive to breed and train the strongest, smartest, and most excellent of citizens for whatever the task.  Most believe that the original creator filled a similar role, creating all creatures and plants of the world to fill their roles, and leaving the fate of the world largely to us.

These societies will have the strongest and bravest soldiers, the most skilled craftsmen, best laborers, best workers of any sorts, and will take pride in such, but organization is always slower, as direction and command is weaker and leaders take longer to consult with others and make decisions. 

Shifters

These cultures do not have a single, fixed leader.  Instead, whichever leader is most skilled in the most important goal of the society is the one to rule.  During wartime, the military commander rules, when new settlements are needed, a breeder or builder rules, when trade is desired, a merchant rules.  We cannot understand how citizens could adapt to such a constantly changing structure, yet it seems their loyalty to the hive as a whole keeps everything organized. These societies pride themselves on the ability of their members to adapt to, and overcome, most challenges, viewing our type in particular as inflexible, but we have found them to often be chaotic.

Constant changes of obedience structures are the most obvious difficulty, but one that is easily adapted to.  More difficult to adapt to is the fact that, in our own society, a higher ranking member of our own society must know enough to work with those under their command, in these societies, members are less focused on outside knowledge.  Knowledge of who will be higher ranking is important, whether in warfare, trade, building projects, or anything else we might do together.

Uncommanded

If shifters, with constantly changing leaders, seem chaotic, uncommanded cultures are perhaps the strangest of all.  They do not have leaders, instead, members communicate with each other to create some sort of agreement, which is than followed by all involved.  These societies, like shifters, are adaptable;  unlike other cultures, the loss of a leader means little to the uncommanded.  Their ability to make decisions is often astounding, yet such cultures can take a long time to make decisions, and can sometimes persist in poor decisions, or become paralyzed among choices, without strong leaders.

Working with such a wildly different culture proves challengine to most other chitinous, to the point where those used to working with other chitinous are better suited to understand these cultures.  One must develop a skill in working with large groups, and at clear communication.

Supporters

In these cultures, leaders are skilled at administration or support, and their main role is to provide resources to those underneath them.  Like breeders, most decisions are made by subordinates, and this organization method extends throughout the culture.  These cultures pride themselves on their management abilities, and in the past were most famous for large building projects, especially irrigation and roads.

Those who can interact with breeders will understand these cultures as well, for they share many of the same views towards organization and obedience.


Chitinous and other Beings

When understanding other intelligent beings, it is vitally important to understand how we differ, and how other beings view us. The creator made us much like large ants, and that is indeed how others view us.  The other common beings are about the same size as us, but other types of beings have wildly different sizes, and may view you with fear, or barely notice you.

Almost universal amongst other beings is a lack of obedience.  Us chitinous do not fight against our own groups, either obeying leaders, or obeying decisions made by a group, as part of our nature.  Yet other beings must often be forced or threatened to obey leaders or group decisions, as they often refuse to follow such decisions.  Even among the most peaceful, many prefer to treat each other as equals, or argue amongst themselves, and chitinous among them will be uncomfortable.  Chitinous are often shocked at how little respect most other beings have for obedience, as they watch members fight for status, or argue and fight to make a decision, or refuse to even have or respect a hierarchy, while non-chitinous often are resentful and rebellious when expected to obey us.  On the other hand, on-chitinous often prefer to make agreements with us, expecting us to behave as expected, rather than trying to backstab or swindle.

Our priests have often argued that the creator placed each being on the world to fill a role, and that our role, as the most organized, was created to rule, much as our leader's are bred to rule over our societies.  When chitinous empires were powerful, this story was easy to believe, but after the invasions of other beings and overgrowth, many now doubt this story.  Origin stories in some other chitinous cultures tell a similar story, and non-chitinous resent the idea that they should be subordinates.  Uncommanded or shifter cultures in the past could attract alliances more easily, as their stories flatter the other beings, by viewing them more as equals.  In our current situation, our priests may need to rethink the origin of the world, and the other beings and us may interact differently.


While us chitinous have special breeders to have children, in many other animals, including intelligent beings, half the members can produce children in some way, who split their time between breeding and other work, while the other half also split their time between mating with the breeding ones and other activities.  Among the common beings, humans and tentacled breed in this way, with breeders called "females", "women", or some other equivalent word, while non-breeders are called "males", "men", or an equivalent word.  Within societies, rituals surrounding breeding and mating are highly important, and some languages and cultures view all beings, including intelligent ones, as male or female.

When interacting with other beings, one should be highly aware of the rituals and expectations surrounding breeders and non-breeders, as other beings can be easily offended, and highly emotional, if not done as expected.  Some beings will also insist on describing us as male and female, especially if the language has no alternative to male or female to describe a being.  Most of the time, the "gender" is described by job, although sometimes with appearance, and the division changes from culture to culture.  Almost all agree that our breeders are "she" and maters are "he", some humans cultures assume all are "he", dangerous or strength work, to humans, is commonly "he", but otherwise no clear pattern exists, apart from following how males and females divide in the culture in question.

The five common intelligent beings: Humans

In the process of rebuilding our civilization, we must at some point contact other intelligent beings and tribes in the world.  In the past, diplomats, soldiers, traders, and anyone else who would interact with the outside world would learn about the cultures, thoughts, and anatomy of the other intelligent beings in the world.  We will maintain this tradition, and recover as much as we can of our history and knowledge of other intelligent beings.

The Five Common Beings

While our world is full of intelligent beings, must are confined to small areas, or like the dragons, exist in small numbers.  Before the ground vine invasions, only 5 intelligent beings, us, humans, tentacled, djinn, and cultists, filled much of the world, and as we rebuild, it is almost certain that we will see the other 4 again, as well as other hives of chitinous.

Humans

Every society that encounters these beings notices the strong connection between humans have to animals and plants.  It is the humans that first farmed and herded, who supplied the best products of farming and livestock, even hunting and fishing, and who used their connection and skill with wild areas to dominate the forests and open plains.  The humans even seem to act like other animals much of the time, dividing themselves into tribes and groups, and leaders fighting for riches, status, and the chance to breed.

Taller than us, the humans walk like clawbirds, but have smooth, tan to brown skin, with no tail, and patches of hair rather than feathers.  Our breeders have created some soldiers or workers with strength and endurance to match humans, but this takes time and effort to achieve how humans grow naturally.  The creator clearly wished to create a being that could understand and master the beasts of the world, and manipulate other facets of nature, such as the plants, wood, and soil.

For much of our history, humans lived either in small villages or traveling shepherds, but they did not always live this way.  It was several groups of humans who invented farming, and our earliest records describe us and humans living together in many cities, with human farming and physical strength necessary to build the first walls and temples.  But the humans reverted to tribalism over time, as some rebelled, and some lost their territory to our own hives.  While we established great civilizations, they remained in their forests and steppes, raiding, fighting, and exchanging their goods with us.  Some established some petty kingdoms, and a few of these helped defeat our own great empires, but that was when the overgrowth attacked.

When we lost contact with the other beings during the overgrowth invasions, humans were being attacked and pushed back as much as we have, and it is likely that they have retreated to forests, although some of the horse tribes may remain on steppes.  They may well be more civilized this time around, needing to organize to defeat the overgrowth.  It is likely that the humans have maintained their skill with farming, herding, and hunting.

One of the strangest, and most frightening to one not used to humans, is the variety of animals found amongst them, some of these animals far larger and stronger than we are.  The most common include tamed wolves, which the humans call "dogs", used for almost all tasks, tamed aurochs, called "cows" and "bulls", tamed horses, sometimes called "donkeys" or "mules" used for work and travel, wildcats, to hunt smaller animals, and fowl, called "chickens" used for food and eggs.  Many more such animals exist, including clawbirds, rodents, wingbirds, feeder plants, and wisps, and one should make sure to ask the tribe or group one is spending time with about any such animals found.

Although bigger and stronger, humans are not generally as disciplined as we are, and in an organized foot battle, are usually at a disadvantage.  Most humans understand this, and instead use their strength, speed, and skill with horses to gain advantages of speed and distance, using skirmishers and raiders to weaken us, than attacking with fast marching soldiers to fight where and when they wish.  When humans join close battle, they are fearsome, bellowing and screaming at enemies, and entering a battle frenzy, smashing and striking even harder than one might expect seeing them outside of battle.  Skilled commanders must read other archives to understand how to protect supplies, choose where to fight, avoid fear in their own soldiers, and defeat a frustrating enemy.

When understanding humans politics and organization, one must learn quickly how the tribe one of working with understands status.  Almost all have more influential or less influential people, but some see themselves more as equals, some form leaders based on family history or gifts from higher ranking groups.  In most human groups, even those where people are born into a status, ambitious beings can take status away from others, or loose status to others in a war or political fight.  This fighting and politics can often


Humans forms hundreds to thousands of tribes, with little clear organization, but most follow one of 5 patterns

The first, and most well known, are horse lords and herders from the steppes.  More than anyone, these groups understand beasts, using their skill with horses for fighting and trade, and their skill at herding for food.  These groups are dispersed, fiercely independent, and the politics and status of members are hard to follow.  In the past, they served as mercenaries and traders, if groups have survived the overgrowth, they are probably righting for territory.

The second well known groups are farmers, living near fertile fields or irrigated rivers.  They are experts at understanding soil, and are expert farmers.  These are the most status based societies, with groups of "nobles", acting like our commanders and leaders, separated from "commoners", acting like our laborers and soldiers.  These humans are the most like us, but one must still be mindful of status fights, and complex politics.  It is these tribes that sell us exotic fruits, food, clothing, and other such creations.  Today, these groups are probably at the edge of steppes or forests, building up their farmland and irrigation systems.

From deeper forests come the third group, who have an affinity for plants.  They are forest dwellers, living in small villages supplied by small farms, orchards, and hunting.  They are fiercely independent like the horsemen, and almost as disorganized, but are more settled, and known for ambush rather than raiding.  From these tribes come fruits, wood, and forest creatures. It is these tribes who are happiest in forests, and today, that is where they will be, fighting the overgrowth using the techniques they best know.

Along rivers, lakes, and coasts from the water dwellers.  They are  sea and river traders, and fishers.  Sometimes raiders, they prefer to trade, and become wealthy through controlling seaways.  Though less prone to fighting than others, the sea traders are still strong, and a few have used their boats to outmaneuver us and strike weak coastal hives.  Today, these are probably in forests, carving out a space near the rivers, there they can beat back to overgrowth and make contact with others.

The final group are the rockworkers.  It is these tribes who often served as miners, quarry workers, and stone haulers.  These tribes assisted us in building projects, and throughout history have lives in rougher forest areas or near rivers, getting food however they could.  They have learned to live in rougher, rockier soils, turning them with hard work into something workable, while extracting stones, minerals, and jewels from the ground.  Though less violent than other humans, the stoneworkers are perhaps the strongest of already strong beings, and they make tough fighters when called into action.  Today, they are most likely found at the edges of forests and rocky areas, waiting to capture back useful land.

Origin of the Intelligent Beings of the World (Jinn story)

Despite our own storytellers figuring out how the world was made, the other beings in the world have their own stories of how the world came to be.  These stories are recorded in the archives, for use by diplomats and travelers. 


Siswhen World Creation:  How the Beings Came Into Existence

And the world was fully formed, as we see it today.  Rivers flowed to the sea, waves crashed on the shore, storms and clouds billowed in the sky, plants sprouted, and beasts swam and ran throughout the world.  And, hidden from view, the elemental spirits appeared, pleased with the world they inhabited.

But over time, the spirits grew unhappy, for while they could watch the world, and draw life from its energies, they desired to touch, feel, and influence their environment, and take part in its shaping.  And so the spirits began looked for ways o influence the environment.  Some tried telekinesis, others tried movement, and other tried intense focus.  Through years of practice, the spirits learned to influence, and play with, the world.

Than one day, while playing in a puddle, a spirit of water discovered it could merge with the water, taking the water as a body, and manipulating it as if the water was a creature.  Other spirits were confused at first, unsure of what they were seeing.  The water spirit at first was scared, and in desperation, freed itself from the water. Whispering to the other spirits, the fear and confusion turned to joy, as the other spirit learned to possess their own bodies of dirt, cloud, and fire.  Later, the spirits could possess animals and plants, some even changing the shapes and sizes of their hosts, until the creatures rejected the spirits.

The storytellers cannot say how long this lasted until a spirit, desiring more control over their bodies, fully merged with a creature, merging with the kelp found throughout the edges of the ocean.  Not realizing what it had done, the spirit struggled, but soon learned to live with its new body, and to this day is known as Sargasso.  Its descendents still prowl the ocean to this day, floating through the water and consuming whatever debris comes its way, and is still a feisty and combative creature.

The other spirits mourned the loss of their friend, but other spirits, desiring a more permanent connection to the world, merged willingly with pieces of the world, forming the elementals and golems we know today.  But the true goal of most spirits was to merge with an animal, for the animals could crasp and run, and had intelligence that a possessing spirit could use.

It was the most powerful, arrogant, and ambitious spirits who first merged with a creature.  Seeing the powerful, fire breathing drakes, feared by no other creature, the most powerful of the spirits forced their way into the drake's bodies.  But even the drake's bodies do not have all that another body might, and the willful spirits copied other animals, giving their hosts the wings of a pterosaur, the teeth and bite of a crocodile, a roar greater than that of a tiger or lion, and grew the creatures to the size of the great whales found in the ocean, turning the already fearsome drakes into dragons, the most feared creatures ever to inhabit the world.  But a large dragon is hard to control, and even the most willful spirits could barely control the instincts of the creatures they had created.  And to this day, the aggression and arrogance of dragons has made them many enemies, and despite their power, most have been killed by chitinous armies, or other beings.

Other spirits were less willful and ambitious, and simply took over smaller creatures that suited their desires.  Today, their descendants are the faeries, speaking trees, speaking rocks, tunnel moles, and others that are found in pockets throughout the world.  Over the years, these creatures have proved happier than the dragons.  Mostly attached too once place, they happily play their part in the world to this day.

But it was an ambitious, yet patient and intelligent, spirit of beasts that created the first of the successful beings in existence today.  It wished to control the forces of the natural world, from beasts to soil to rivers and plants, and knew that not just any creature would do.  Like the dragon posessors, this spirit wished to control a powerful creature, and first looked to other powerful animals, like the tyrannosaur, kraken, or great pterosaur.  But unlike those who posessed the drakes, it knew the raw power was not everything, and also looked to smaller creatures, like the lion of the deer, for it knew that such creatures, through their numbers, could change their surroundings in astounding ways. 

It was while the spirit was considering capturing a ground raptor that the spirit found its creature.  Living in the forests and plains with the ground raptors were baboons, apes, and monkeys.  As the spirit considered the ground raptors, it saw how adaptable and intelligent the apes and baboons were.  The spirit considered how the creatures could use sticks and rocks around them, eat almost anything, and how the same body shape could survive in forests and in the open.  Thinking out the possibilities, the spirit realized, that in apes and baboons, it had found the creatures it wished to possess. Gathering its friends, the spirit posessed some baboons and apes, and shaped them to suits its purposes.  The creatures were made taller, and minds expanded.  They were made able to run for longer, and the hands that could use sticks and rocks were made even more skilled.  The spirit made a wise choice, for today, its descendents are the humans, and they live throughout the world.  As the spirit wished, the humans have power over nature, having tamed animals, grown plants, and harnessed the rivers and soil.

On seeing the success of the humans, few spirits realized what the spirit of beasts had accomplished.  One who recognized, however, was a spirit of waves.  Realizing that a similar creature could give this spirit influence over the wind, waves, weather, and currents, it sought a similar creature.  In the ocean, the spirit found it: the octopus.  Flexible, clever, and able to break into the tightest of spaces, the octopus was the host the wave spirit desired.  Today, its descendants are the tentacled, famed for their stealth and cleverness.  The spirit made the octopus larger, able to travel on land, and allowed it to survive the birth of children.  And while weather is a much harder force to control than the elements of nature, the tentacled have an uncanny ability to sense and adapt to changes, and their rituals seem unusually linked to miracles of rainfall or ocean blooming.  Like the human, they have spread over the world, taking to marshes, lakes, and shore as the humans take to forests and farmland.

It was a spirit of decay that created the third widespread creature we know today.  Capturing the earthworms found in most of the world, creatures that scavenge soil and decomposing bodies, their descendents are the cultists, masters of life and death.  Their rituals change bodies to snow angels, undead, and other of the most feared and welcomed forms to meet.  Able to commune with the dead, scavenge almost anything, even rumors of resurrection, the cultists bodies still give away the lowly worm origins.

Finally came the most successful of the spirit's hosts.  A spirit of enhancement, who had first wished to capture gemstones and water, this spirit saw the success of the last three spirits, and looked for a creature itself.  Ass a spirit of enhancement, this spirit was already used to seeing the potential in unassuming objects, and this spirit looked for an even more obscure creauture than before.  Selecting the ant, that small, but numerous, burrowing creature found nearly everywhere, this spirit greatly increased its size, and turned its front legs into hands as the humans had done.  Becoming the chitinous, their empires dominate the world today.  They are masters of enhancement and transformation, their smiths and craftsmen making the finest and strongest materials, and like the ants they descend from, the live in burrows, formed into a strong hive society, with legendary organization and obedience.

Most of the elemental spirits without hosts exist as wisps today, responding to rituals, and many say they are not even there.  But one remaining spirit of energy still wished to influence the world.  and so it captured the wisp, that creature of smoke and cloud that lives in the deserts and swamps of the world.  And while the other spirits could not understand this choice of host, they soon saw the intelligence of the decision.  For using the wisp, these final spirits could still absorb and form a body from nearby materials, fire, or cloud.  And wisps do not need to eat, instead, they merely need a source of sun, fire, or energy.  Today, we form the djinn.  And while the chitinous believe that they are the natural rulers of the world, we have lived in lands that the chitinous shun, from deserts to hot plains.  Our power over fire and energy, the abilities the others call "magic", and skills with atronomy are well known throughout the world.

Today, there are many spirits with now host, and they are known through ritual and occasional hauntings.  However, today it is the descendents of hosts who fill the world.

Comments

Most djinn stories are similar, although each nation of djinn has its own slightly different version.  A few say that the djinn are spirits who did not capture a host  They all flatter us with being the second to last spirit to capture a creature. 

While the djinn story is compelling, it makes little sense to explain such an obvious symmetry and design in their world through random actions.  Why only 5 spirits would choose to capture hosts is a strange coincidence.  The djinn understanding of the world also assumes 5 types of magic in the world, with many subtypes, while or own sorcerers say there are 14.  Our own scholars think the djinn story was originally the ramblings and guesses of djinn mages and mystics, and that these beings simply are too proud to admit they were wrong.

It is clear to our storytellers that the creator planned the djinn to have power over the energies of the world, and over the stars in the sky.  The djinn, lijke the tentacled, humans, and cultists, have become changed in some way, not realizing their place in the world.

The killing of the Dragon Rashyral

This book records the campaigns against the great dragons.  Once, there were dozens of dragons in the world, but today there may be none, or only a few, remaining.


Rashyral

Rashyral's lair was located at a pass between three nearby empires, in the Zegra mountains.  At the time, these mountains jutted high, and were even inhospitable to antennaed, and Rashyral's pass was the only easily passable route through them.  As the three surrounding empires grew larger, and traded amongst each other, all travel had to go through this pass, and Rashyral demanded tolls, over centuries building up a store of jewels and precious metal.

We don't know when this arrangement started, but after hundreds of years, this was the state of trade amongst the three surrounding empires.  But Rasyral's tolls were a drain, and travel through the pass was difficult.  Traders and merchants long wished for another route between the mountains.

It was the engineer Chek'yen who first proposed a new route.  Exploring the mountains on the borders between the empires, she proposed a large tunnel underneath some of the mountains.  The building of this tunnel system is described in the engineering and construction archives.  It took many years, but when completed, the caravan trade through Rashyral's pass ended.

Rashyral was incensed at the loss of her source of tolls.  She had heard about the tunnel building, but did not expect it to be completed, as many large projects had failed in the past.  When she learned what had happened, she flew across the mountains to find these tunnel entrances, and destroyed numerous caravans for fortresses in her anger.  Few chitinous of any of the empires traveled above ground near the mountains for fear of attracting the dragon.  Though the tunnels mostly traveled under the mountains, some pathways along the surface had been needed, and Rashyral soon found these, shutting down trade once again.

Rashyral's attacks had become so severe that merchants from all empires decided again to use the pass and pay the tolls.  but in her anger, Rashyral demanded exorbitant payments, threatening ot bankrupt merchants, and stop all communication between the empires.  When trade thinned, and she was not given the tolls she wanted, she raided the empires, destroying as she wished. 

None of the three empires, understandably, would allow these attacks for long, and built defenses on the mountain.  BGut though Rashyral could be driven off by the large ballistas used at the time for defense, they could not kill her, so 5 campaigns were launched to kill the dragon.

In the first campaign, a group of soldiers from the north followed a diplomatic caravan, and attacked Rashyral as she was returning with her tolls to her lair.  Rashyral was not fooled, and attacked the soldiers in the open, scattering and killing most of them.

The second campaign used a similar method.  Two groups of soldiers disguised as merchants moved towards the pass, and this time surprised Rashyral immediately after paying their tolls.  At first it seemed that Rashyral would loose, that the soldiers would swarm her and defeat her, but dragons are powerful beings, and Rashyral took to the air, twisting and turning, and dropping the soldiers, who could barely hold As Rashyral flipped and swung through the air.  Those that survived qere either killed by the dragon, or ran away.

Rashyral, in her arrogance, continued to allow travelers and caravans through her pass, believing that no army could defeat her.  In the third attempt to kill the dragon, a diplomat told Rashyral of an army gathering near the eastern border of one of the nearby empires. After collecting the toll, Rashyral flew away from her lair, and sought to destroy the army before it had a chance to find her.  On seeing the dragon, the soldiers, as planned, retreated to their defenses, hoping the Rashyral would be either enranged, or desiring a kill, and would allow herself to be killed by the empire's defenses.  The dragon did indeed fight a battle with the defenders, but though many defenders were killed, and while several had scored hits on Rashyral, the dragon once again flew away, still uninjured enough to move.

In the fourth attempt, the three empires cooperated to carry about 8 ballistas to Rashyral's pass, in an attempt to assemble them and shoot the dragon where she could not escape.  The soldiers of the three empires reached the pass as planned, but the ballistas could not be prepared before the dragon destroyed them and scattered the armies.  Only a couple of shots were loosed in the fight

At this point, Rashyral did not attempt to exact revenge on the nearby empires, and some suggested that she would settle back to her old ways, collecting valuables and food as a toll, and that the defenses would not be needed as the dragon settled into the new trade system.  Some suggested that trade and diplomatic caravans could slowly move to the more accessible tunnel routes, and Rashyral could simply be given some token payments to keep her happy.  The empire's leaders decided to make another attempt to kill the dragon instead, as tribute and tolls would still be expensive, and they would still be risking the dragon's temper in the future. 

This time, they took around three months to prepare.  Assemblers practiced assembling, loading, and firing ballistas.  Scouts mapped the pass, and chose the best firing locations, quietly preparing them as occasional trade groups went through.   When the time came to attack, about 15 ballistas, and about a quarter of the swarmers available to each empire, marched as caravans to the dragon's pass.

As in the past attacks, real diplomatic missions and traders preceded the  soldiers.  Over several days, workers arrived and hollowed out small caves.  Later, soldiers arrived.  Every night, each trade caravan would leave some soldiers behind at the pass, carrying just enough food for a few days.  In the evening before the attack, ballista builders snuck into firing positions with their materials.  During the night, they assembled their ballista, assembled ammunition, and covered the machines in preparation for the next day. 

On the day of the attack, a smaller group of soldiers entered the pass, announced themselves, drew weapons, and commanded Rashyral to fight.  Laughing at the sight of the attackers, Rashyral slowly crawled out of her lair, raised herself up, and opened her mouth to flame the swarmers.  As planned, the swarmers were facing towards a ballista, and when Rashyral inhaled, a bolt struck her in the throat.  the swarmers dispersed as the dragon walked forward to attack this shooter.  as she walked, another 3 ballistas let fly, and these bolts pierced the dragon's wings. 

Realizing she was under attack by a whole army, the dragon raised herself into the air, to fly around the pass and spot her attackers.  The general had anticipated this, and more bolts pierced her wings.  In too much pain to fly, the dragon landed, roared, and charged towards the outer edge of the pass.  All ballistas were shooting at this point, and bolts struck the dragon in the rear knees, wings, and all along her body.

At this point, a horn sounded, and the swarmers hidden near the pass attacked the dragon.  unable to fly, and unable to flame due to the pain in her throat, the dragon began to roll on the ground, attempting to crush the swarmers as they pried her scales open, and stabbed and sliced their way into her body.  Many swarmers were crushed by the rolling, others were shot by ballista bolts, still firing into open areas when possible, but the cutting and stabbing weakened the dragon, and after fighting so hard, the mighty creature's rolling slowed and stopped, and all the dragon could do was lay in the pass as the swarmers continued their work.

When the dragon died, soldiers and workers from the three empires explored her lair.  The treasures she had accumulated after hundreds of years were divided as war spoils, and taken to the three empires, to be distributed amongst the population, and used as trade goods.  The victory celebrations lasted for weeks, as the dragon's treasure was paraded, the battle reenacted, and her skin worn as an imitation in life. 

This had been the first time a dragon was killed.  Unfortunately for the future, members of the three empires spread the news freely to neighbors, where it spread even further, including to other dragons.  Later fights with dragons were far more challenging, as the dragons respected us as opponents and made preparations, sought allies and subjects, made preparations, and did not arrogantly fall for ploys as Rashyral did.  The ballista techniques, supply techniques, and swarming techniques were and are told over and over to generals, to better prepare them for future wars.

The First Whalers (tentacled legend)

We do not know when and where the tentacled first started hunting the great beasts of the ocean.  Most tentacled tribes tell a fantastic story of a desperate fishing village, but the details are different for each tribe and confederation, and we cannot take it as anything other than an embellished tale.  Monster catching appears to be a long tradition of the tentacled, spread to the humans, and one with much pointless danger and peril, best left to those tribes willing to take the risks to obtain the exotic goods.

The Story

The ocean currents had shifted for several years.  Like most nearby villages, the summer was a time for bounty, as hordes of fish for catching swam off the shore.  But the ocean was moving differently, and the few fish had made themselves available that year, and the thinned stores from previous years had grown thin. With the storm seers predicting more years of barrenness, the desperate villagers decided to risk the deep ocean, where monsters were said to swim.

In their storage boats, the fishers sailed out into deeper waters, and set their lines.  For three days they would sail out of sight of their village, over the abyss of the deep ocean.  There they would bait the lines, wait for fish to bite, wrestle them into the storage boats, and when the boats were full, sails back to the village.  For days, the others in the village would wait patiently for the fishers to return, worried about what might catch them.

The first couple of catches went well, and the deep ocean fish were preserved and stored.  but the smell of fish was calling to the great sea beasts, and in the third trip, the monsters appeared.

As the fishers were preparing their first catch, removing fish from the lines and swimming them to the boat, a dark patch appeared below them.  As the patch rose, growing larger, the fishers recognized it:  a fearsome Kraken.  Sensing the fish in the storage boats, the kraken rose to the surface, its tentacles, uch larger than those of the fishers, felt the water and the boats, curling around the hard caught fish and pulling them under.  The fearsome beak bit off some boats while, swallong several days worth of catch on a few bites.  Frightened, the fishers abandoned many boats, and swam away from the hungry kraken's feast, making it home with little to show.

On the next two trip, the fishers traveled to a different part of the sea, and again set their nets.  But the kraken's smell is powerful, and after a day of catch, it would find the fishing spots and once again steal the catch.  The fishers were again sent home in despair.

The fishers tried again, covering their boats with hide to mask the smell.  And once again, a kraken appeared.  But the fishers also attracted another monster:  a greater booming whale, (called the sperm whale or cachalot by other beings, for they have never experienced up close the horrible sound the creature makes.).   And they have certainly never experienced the greatest of these whales, almost twice as long and far larger around than most of their kind, claiming these are nothing but stories  The whale feasted on the caught fish, plucking them off the lines until none were left for the fishers.  Once again they went home in despair.

The fishers made one more try, but the kraken and booming whale were hungry, and both appeared again as the fishers set their lines.  the two great animals made as if to fight, but soon as if by agreement swam away from each other, the whale to pluck from the deeper lines, the kraken to feast from the boats at the surface.  Once again the fishers returned home.

Facing starvation, and giving up all hope of any catch, some villagers suggested begging for food from nearby villages, or even submitting to a warlord nearby and accepting a life as hard laborers.  Their stores were running lower by the day, and a hard decision would need ot be made soon.

But two of the fishers argued for one last fishing trip.  Phislee and Youlin had been part of the previous fishing trips, had seen the monsters, had heard the legends of these sea beasts, and had a plan to survive them. The plan required using some of the precious fish stores remaining, and the two fishers argued long and hard for their use, but the desperate villagers soon agreed to allow it, either convinced that it would work, or that one more try would do little harm.

The fishers, once again, sailed for several days to the deep ocean, and prepared their gear.  But they had also brought a boatload of preserved fish, tightly wrapped to seal the small, and several spears commonly used to fight raiders.  When they reached the spot in the ocean, they set lines and prepared to fish.

Once again, the great booming whale sensed the fish, and began plucking the fish from the lines.  This time, the fishers agitated the whale, attacking it with spears.  The work was dangerous, as the whale tried to eat the tentacled as it would a squid, but the tentacled were fast, and darted away.  The booming deafened many fishers for a short time, and some began to doubt the plan.  Soon for fishers left, and began to resume feeding.

But in the commotion, once of the fishers had firmly attached a rope to the great whale, unnoticed.  The whale was now fastened firmly to the boat containing the preserved fish above.  Several of the fishers trailed the whale, observing it as it appeared to move toward the surface.  At a signal, the fishers near the boat, uncovered it, exposing the smell of fish to the rest of the ocean.

It didn't take long for the kraken to smell its food.  As the booming whale reached the surface, the kraken feasted, pulling the boat towards it to better feed.  But the booming whale felt these pulls, as a sudden pain towards its back.  Sensing the kraken nearby, it turned to fend off this creature.

The kraken obliged, backing away from the whale, and watched as the whale began to swim away.  But as the whale distanced itself from the kraken, the boat with fish was dragged as well, and the kraken lunged forward to keep a hold of its food store. 

The rope was taut at this point, and the whale felt a searing pull.  Turning around, the whale saw the kraken again feeding on the boat, but its motions were timed with bursts of pain coming from the whale.  Believing the kraken was the source of the pain, the whale swam towards it, thinking the kraken was somehow attacking from a great distance away.

The kraken did not recognize this connection between itself and the whale.  On seeing the whale moving for an attack, it now saw the whale as trying to steal its food, and turned to face the other giant.

Both monsters now believing they were victims of an attack, both defended themselves vigorously.  The whale was first to hit, diving below and ramming the kraken near the surface.  The kraken, dazed, grabbed the whale with its tentacles, attempting to restrain the lager beast.  But the whale was too powerful, and bit the kraken hard, ramming it again.

The fishers watched the battle from a distance, as both creatures churned the water.  The kraken sought the drown the whale, grasping over and over with its tentacles, while the whale sought the ram the kraken, bashing it with its tail, and ramming from all sides.  Several times, the kraken grasped the whale, only for the whale to bite the tentacles, and fling itself around and once again rise for air.  The kraken was dazed over and over.  Blood and ink filled the water.. 

After hours of fighting, the whale, covered in welts and slashes, tried to swim away from the kraken.  But the fight had taken a toll, and the whale was now tired and slow, barely able to swim.  The kraken, which had fought so long to protect a meal, now saw the whale as an opportunity, and lunged at it again.  Once again, the battle was joined.  As the kraken grasped the whale and pulled it under, the beast's tail flew out of the water and splashed hard, forming a giant wave that was said to have hit the village several hours later.  The fight continued.

After some time, it was the kraken's turn to try and escape.  Barely able to move, it was mossing a tentacle, and others were bitten and bruised.  Its body had been stunned and bruised by the whale's ramming.  barely able to move, it expelled a small puff of ink, and slowly pushed itself away from the large beast.  The whale, tired, covered in welts and punctures from the kraken's tentacles, and bitten many times, swam towards the kraken as if to mount a chase, but only as a final warning to the creature.

But now, the fishers sprung into action.  Armed with spears and axes, they swarmed the great beasts like scavengers.  Where the two great beast could once have eaten the tentacled as easily as a large squid or fish, they now could do little as the fishermen stabbed and hacked the giant creatures, cutting great slices of meat.  As some guarded against sharks and other scavengers, other fishers cut chunks of meat from the giant creatures, and more stabbed until the last wisps of blood finally left.

With the kraken and the sperm whale dead, the fishers now packed their bodies with light reeds.  Some meat was sliced off, and stored in boats once used for fish.  Other meat would be cut from the creatures and preserved when they reached shore.  It was said that sea creatures stayed as far as possible from the carcasses as they were dragged towards shore.  After all, the kraken and booming whale are two of the most fearsome creatures in the sea;  how much more fearsome must the beasts be that killed them?

The ocean is vast, and the villagers had little idea what was happening out at sea, apart from strange waves rolling in.  The storm seers knew that the waves were unlike any other, but did not know of their origin.  As the fishers returned over the horizon, 7 days after they had set out, pulling the floating beasts along with them, the villagers spirits filled with triumph, and cheers rose as the fishers drew closer.  Villagers swarmed the water, the the carcasses of the beasts were spread on the beach, carved, and stored.

It is said that the village feasted for a several months off the two beasts, and that the carefully stored meat allowed them to last another year, until the ocean currents returned to normal, and the shallow water fish returned.  By than, the story had spread, and other tentacled, and later humans and other beings, learned to hunt and catch the great beasts of the sea.

Zithir History

(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets Cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod.  To make things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human" perspective will be the most basic.)

Early History

Records are sparse for our earliest history.  Our visionaries and prophets, but today and from the past, have been able to sense some events from this time, and a few prophets have been able to catch whispers and calls from powerful individuals during this period.

In our earliest history, our species mostly lived as hunting and gathering groups, living off of prey and plant materials that could be found in the area.  Groups did not need the large organizations and leadership we have today, most were like large family groups or work groups, small enough that everyone could sense everyone else's emotions and thoughts easily.  Most groups kept to territories, and mixed occasionally for exchanges, having choldren, or occasional social connection.   When a group sensed resources were rare, it would move, or join another group in a more safe feeling location.

During this time, our ability to sense the future was enough to avoid almost all injuries, and the need to move gave children the necessary exercise and toughness to avoid later injuries.  Poisons and disease could be avoided by sensing longer into the future, and groups generally learned quickly which areas and food to avoid, and which were safe.

Our prophets have sensed that, during this time, groups gradually got bigger and bigger, as more techniques for finding food, and organizing such groups, became more commonly known.  Eventually, groups became too large to keep together without some more formal organization, and we turned to prophetic leaders to lead such groups.  These leaders have been easier to sense from later times, and we know more about this period than he earliest history.

It was during this time that farming began, and has grown since than, as we have seen that it can feed more people than hunting methods when land is not available.  Still, resources were often scarce, and we sense leaders at war during this period, and a few stories from later speak of large battles, and tell of annihilated tribes from this time. 


Religion Founding

Our first religious records started from the work of a visionary prophet called Pyth, the prophet who envisioned a method to link minds across long periods of time.  Though we are now far more capable than Pyth was, future prophets respected Pyth to such an extent that we have kept contact ever since.  A contemporary prophet, Vorkum, organized the first archives.  These ideas rapidly spread, and within 20 years of Pyth's creation, were both in common use amongst most of the world.

The time of our religious founding was a stable one, but according to our archives, little changed from previous times.  We lived in medium sized groups, with a mix of cities, towns, and in the country, with farming gradually replacing hunting as a source of food.Trade and diplomatic networks had started to appear between our tribal and city groups.  During this time, government were largely handled by small groups of prophets leading smaller groups within the city areas.

The addition of archives and communication across time changed all that.  Our societies became far more organized, as religious priests and archivists filled in many of the roles of leadership.  New tools were developed much faster, as archives allowed us to preserve previous knowledge far more easily.  Priests began as well to determine the workings of the universe, determining that we were on but one of many worlds within existence, and getting some sense of how existence operated outside our senses.  The first communing groups were created during this time, led by priests searching for a way to communicate with large numbers at once.




Big Conglomerates

Soon after the spread of priestly archives, the smaller city states and tribes that had existed until that time began merging together into larger empires.  All three leadership structures became far more common, with communings involving thousands, and great leaders emerging to lead vast empires.  Inside these empires, we built our first major road networks, taught ourselves more intense physical training methods for laborers, and organized our first education systems.

Towards the end of this period, education and practice greatly improved our mental abilities, and large numbers of visionaries made long term plans, proposing great projects and multigeneration plans for the future.  Our most important meeting forum was started as one of these projects.


The Great Wars

We had fought many tribal wars in the past, but as our settlements and religion expanded, wars was almost nonexistent. However, as our empires grew and became more ambitious, We began to fight over longer goals, and visions of the future.

The first few wars involved arguments over the building of an irrigation structure.  Some visionaries saw that the irrigation was the only way to organize food, while a neighboring community felt that the irrigation would lead eventually to ruin.  The high stakes of the project and disagreements over what results would be, led to strong disagreements.  Eventually, the arguments led to an attempt to sabotage the project by some opponents, that led to the injury of some of the project's workers.  Feelings of anger built on themselves from there, until the killings started.  At that point, thousands came out to fight, and both empires sought allies.

During these first years of war, we were highly disorganized.  Most fighting was done by mobs of citizens, armed with sticks, knives, or other such easy to access tools.  Cities were emptied out as large numbers of citizens heard of events and, in their anger, rushed off to war.  Very quickly, our armies learned to kill far more effectively.  More experiened or well led mobs learned to go after leaders.  New weapons were created, longer knives, thrown weapons, and spears becoming the most favorite.  Mobs learned to organize themselves into specialized groups, with some of us fighting up front, some searching for leaders to kill, some scouting, andsome filling other roles.  Most importantly, we learned, even in the midst of \anger, how many should fight and how many should stay home. 

As each empire brought in allies, and accidental ambushes and deaths embroiled more of us in the conflict, the war spread throughout the entire world.  Over 50 years, empires fought in huge alliances, sending waves of soldiers at each other, and destroying huge areas an land, and much of the cities we had built before.  As empires continued to mobilize, the wars only began to draw to an end around 40 years after they started.  Over these final 10 years, the citizens of the loosing empires began to loose hope and motivation, allowing themselves to be killed by the winners.  Once their morale was lost, the winning empires could finally destroy most of the leaders and important workers in the loosing empires, and over the final 10 years, These empires were eliminated, and the wars finally ended.

Strangely, some citizens of these empires managed to survive, finding members of winning empires who had not been exposed to fighting and would offer pity.  Surprisingly, almost 1,000 members of the original loosing empires managed to survive in this way.

The great wars killed off almost 3/4 of us, and destroyed much of our infrastructure.  Recovering the archives of the losers took a long time, almost 5 generations after the end of the war were needed until leaders and priests of the loosing side were willing to communicate without feeling or sensing a strong hatred from the winners.  After this period, most empires and groups maintained armies, or taught members to use weapons and plan for a fight, to prevent the certain annihilation that would flow from another war.


Rebuilding and Development

After the great wars, life largely settled back into how it had been before they had occurred.  We divided ourselves back into large empires, reorganized our religion, and lived as we always had.  However, long term visions and prophecies had become far more common, and large projects became routine.  We also maintained greater military forces at all times.  Two wars broke out during this period, annihilating three empires, and further refining our skills at fighting.


Industry

After centuries of this style of living, we accumulated enough knowledge to turn to mechanization, such as windmills, watermills, machines, and large scale boiling and chemical processing, to serve our needs.  We learned slowly at first, but accelerated our accumulation of knowledge, organizing even larger and larger mechanical and chemical projects.

Our industrial development occurred alongside developments in our own powers as well.  We learned to consistently sense greater and greater details of the future, able to predict almost exactly the results of a project or course of action, no longer just sensing fear or enjoyment.  We learned to communicate thoughts far more effectively than before.  Archives from this period became for more detailed and organized, needed to hold records of the rapid changes and new technologies in existence.


Unconnected revolts

However, these industrial changes were also dangerous.  Mechanical devices could injure far faster and more easily than any previous devices, often faster than the in danger worker could sense the change.  Chemical spill and fumes could injure over time, weakening workers against future injury, and sometimes directly destroying mental function.  Our prophets could sense the dangers, and tried to design devices to prevent injuries, but we lacked the skills to consistently build our new devices safely.  Even worse, some children were being born unable to

The resulting injuries led to a larger swell of unconnecteds, and large camps of these injured ones emerged in most regions.  These unconnecteds were a drain to us, staying out of contact was a great challenge, and in some highly industrial areas the unconnected made up almost 1/6 or so of the population.

It was in the region of Packstor where a prophet called Mikstor envisioned a future where hordes of unconnected, led by a skilled commander, and equipped with unusual weapons, and far tougher than normal for our species, would threaten the uninjured population.  Following this vision, he left his home for the unconnected camps, and started to train the unconnected physically and in weapon skills, while also developing new devices.  Other prophets followed, teaching the unconnected to live without our mental abilities, showing them how to use other methods of thinking.

After a few years of this, rumors spread quickly, and several of us felt fear that these unconnected might actually organize.  Ambassadors were sent to the camp to negotiate and head off any fighting before it started.  The ambassadors were at first repulsed by the unconnected, but were surprised to feel far less fear than they had been expecting, and many switched sides as well.  The unconnected camps gradually became economically important, producing unique products and materials that our own industry could not commonly produce.

However, as the unconnected became more powerful over a period of several year, we began to sense an arrogance among them, feeling that the unconnected might attempt to injure us and, insensitive to our emotions, would commit great harm without realizing it.  A few accidents occurring due to a competing building project confirmed these fears, and several camps were attacked,

Unlike most wars, the attacks on the unconnected camps were not followed by an outpouring of the anger among the unconnected. Instead, the prophets leading the unconnected had to hear of the attacks first, and spend time organizing their armies.  The mobilization was far easier for us, as once the unconnected tried to defend themselves, the injuries caused to our soldiers brought an outpouring of anger, and our armies were rapidly mobilized.

The prophets who led the unconnected thought that this was the war they had seen in their visions, and organized most of the unconnected into a large army.  Our war with the unconnected lasted about 5 years.  The unconnected were physically tougher, equipped with unusual weapons, and used fighting methods that we did not expect.  Many of our leaders were killed in ambushes, and soldiers were killed and injured in floods of chemical gasses and projectiles.  However, the unconnected could not muster the anger and aggression individually that we could as a group, and our ability to sense the future and sense our follow soldiers far out competed the unconnected's skills.  Despite a few victories, the unconnected fell on the defensive for most of the war, and were annihilated along with their leaders.


Great Unification

The victory itself was costly, however.  Though we had won the war, the battles had generated a large amount of new unconnected.  Almost none joined the main camps, as they still hated the enemy they had just been fighting, but the same feelings of fear and anger at treatment found in all unconnected brought on our own fears of a new rebellion among experienced soldiers.

In addition, industrial technology had changed little in some areas, and unsafe methods were continuing to be used.  Fear of more unconnected from these accidents brought some empires to ban industrial technology, but other attempted to retain the benefits and run the equipment more safely.

These fears, around 15 years after toe first rebellion, led to another series of wars.  Most empires stayed out of these, fearfully watching as some empires fought over industrial policy, how to handle unconnected, and other sources of disagreement.  Fortunately for those living in the fighting regions, only half the population of these empires was killed, before safety developments in other empires allowed them to force a stop to the wars.  However, the problems if the unconnected and industrial policy never went away, and within a decade of these wars, new events seemed to suggest that a new set of wars was about to arrive.

It was at this time that two more prophets within empires that had not been involved in fighting suggested a radical solution:  merge all separate empires together.  It had been suggested by previous prophets that we could easily merge, but only with more recent communication abilities could we do so.

Once our empires combined, the wars of the unconnected largely stopped, and most militaries disappeared as well.  Improvements in safety greatly improved our industrial equipment, greatly reducing the amount of unconnected.  now far better organized as a worldwide empire, we finally began to take on new projects, including sea and space exploration.


Space Travel and Lost Colony

Our space exploration, when started, was dangerous, as rockets are difficult and tricky to design.  However, encouraged by prophets who sensed opportunities in space, we persevered, building and running orbiting spacecraft, after a few years, landing on our moons.  Later, we traveled to and from some other planets in our system.  Our prophets insisted that we would one day be able to live on those other planets, and we tested these predictions with longer and longer stays.

After around 30 years of such stays, we finally had the confidence to send large groups of colonists.  As they travelled to their destination, a cold, icy planet we call Mythfyl, they encountered a strange object floating in space.  Most were afraid, and wanted to avoid it, but several prophets looked into the future of the object and saw opportunity.  They soon won the argument, and we moved closer to the object, curious what it was, and sending data back to our archives.  As we approached the object, we suddenly found ourselves racing along in unknown region of space.  At first we were confused, but soon fear gripped the colonists, as we realized that the planets we could see did not resemble our own, and we could not reach our radio signals.  Our archives were confused, and we could not communicate with the prophets or archives from the past nearly as easily.

Greatly embarrassed, the prophets who encouraged us to approach the object sat, confused.  Others, however, suggested that we settle one of the planets in this system, and survive until we could better decide what to do.  Searching out for settlable planets in the system, we saw three:  a planet with a climate much like our own, an icy, cold world, and a cauldron like, hot world.  Though our prophets sensed dangers on each world, they also sensed opportunities, and saw that all worlds could be settled.

Quental (Zithir view)

(The creatures I'm writing about belong in he same world as the planets Cryolith, Behemoth, Cauldron, etc., hopefully for a future mod.  To make things a bit more interesting, I'll try and describe the three species involved from each other's point of view, although the "Human" perspective will be the most basic.)

First encounters

It took us some time after encountering the Quental to figure out what they were like.  Our first scouts to encounter Quental saw similar looking creatures, camouflaged, with a similar body shape, but larger, and no head protrusions, but they disagreed greatly on the emotions sensed from the creatures they encountered.  Some described the Quental as wary observers, they they either avoided or stayed away from, much like some prey on our own world.  Most described the creatures as looking for fights, and having to defend themselves or run from attacks.  A few, increasing over time, described Quental as looking for contact without desiring a fight.  While we later learned that these responses were from different roles of Quental in society seeking to impress others, our first responses to the species were confused and uncertain, with different groups in our society responding differently.

Continued contact with Quental societies, and our own exploration, exposed us to much less aggressive Quental, and communication became more commonplace as we learned how the species worked, and to recognize which members ot talk to.  A full ability to interact with the Quental took longer, however, as the Quental appeared to view us as lower level members of society until we learned to make and use a substance apparently used to organize Quental into hierarchies.

Body

Quental do not have a fixed form, as most creatures do.  They change their bodies to adapt to a particular role or situation.  In some Quental societies, these adaptations are mostly permanent after a short period of childhood or education, while in others, Quental choose forms that can fill a variety of roles, or be easily changed at any point.  Only their minds are not adjusted in this way, the Quental say that these changes are almost impossible to do successfully, and are often dangerous.  Quental also can share these changes amongst each other.

Most Quental are more injury resistant, and better able to heal, than we are.  They are larger and stronger as well, and can adapt to ingest or breathe materials that we would find poisonous.  Soldiers, physical workers, or others who work in dangerous situations, or situations requiring toughness, can enhance themselves even further in these ways.

Mind

Quental cannot sense emotions, or thoughts, directly as we can, leading to a great deal of confusion at first over how intelligent the Quental would be.  Instead, they use body motions, tone of voice, smells, and other such methods to communicate these things to others, and to see what emotions others are experiencing.   Quental with enhanced senses appear better at this, and Quental who must read these things in others, such as hunters, scouts, or diplomats to aliens, will enhance their senses to better detect these effects.  The most important communication tool for Quental, though, is a particular substance that the Quental use to organize all relations.  This substance appears more common in Quental who are more active or successful in their roles, and Quental with less of it feel a greater willingness to take orders, accept less resources, and a desire to copy, those who release more substance.  All Quental experience these urges strongly when interacting  with other members of their society, and when interacting with us or the humans.  Quental interacting with humans or us have great difficulty accepting orders or following requests, as they sense the lack of substance and instinctively feel that they should be in charge, and often have more difficulty in general respecting the work of aliens, as the lack of substance suggests a less successful person to their mind.  Anyone who must commonly interact with Quental will bring a supply of artificial substance, and is taught to release it in a way to appropriately signal the Quental around them. 

Society

Quental societies organize themselves based on their substance release, and little else.  In some societies, large amounts of substance is release, and Quental form strict hierarchies, at other times substance release is weaker, and smaller groups of Quental compete for power.  Competition or ambition among the Quental is common, in order to encourage substance release, and gain the resulting respect and power, and this competition sometimes leads Quental to create or seek out situations to prove themselves, sometimes to the disadvantage of their group as a whole.

Quental roles from within society are mostly determined early in life, where each individual changes their body to fill a particular role.  Quental societies change in how specialized they expect their members to be, some societies have most members choose more flexible forms, some have most specialize.  Within these roles, Quental attempt to gain status and success, and in societies with less substance release, different groups within society compete as well.  Most Quental societies divide into soldiers and scouts, physical workers, some who use their bodies to produce materials, and thinkers and planners, along with a few much smaller groups.  Soldiers and Physical workers gain the most respect and deference, while Thinkers usually get the least.

Religion

Quental religion seems a far less important part of their society than it is for ours.  In the past, Quental religion was often based around the idea of "great shapers" or "great rulers" who were the ultimate dominating forces in the world, responsible for weather, volcanoes, and other natural events that the Quental could not control.  It was assumed that these great shapers would resemble extremely successful Quental, if one would be met, no Quental would be able to resist the power of their dominating substance.  Over time, religion has changed into something less extreme, resembling our understanding more.  Most modern Quental religions assume that some great shapers were responsible for creating this universe, and occasionally interfere, but mostly are active elsewhere or resting.  These creations are a challenge for the Quental, who must learn to overcome the the difficulties of the universe to become the most respected of creatures, and possible more respected than the great shapers themselves. 

As practiced by the Quental, these religions play a small role in their society, and mostly serve as additional motivation for Quental to achieve respect and success.  It has also at times helped shut down attempts be Quental attempts to destabilize society, as a few individual Quental have at times tried to increase their substance releases, or make themselves resistant, removing the major method of organizing Quental society and encouraging success.  Religion itself is usually least common among soldiers, who struggle against other Quental, usually, and is more common among physical workers, thinkers, and other roles that struggle against the natural world itself.

Quental religion in this system has changed with contact with us and the humans.  Our methods or organizing societies are different enough to change how Quental understand their great shapers, seeing them as less dominating and more encouraging of a challenge.  Human science and religion have encouraged the Quental to think of weather, geologic, or other such events as having a purpose, either set up by a great shaper as a challenge of the world to, or as a response to some moral failing.

Warfare

Warfare among the Quental is done only by those who specialize as soldiers. Fighting among them is almost constant, with quental soldiers constantly trying to prove themselves, and gain resources and respect, by finding dangerous enemies to fight against.  The Quental are quite callous about these wars, as relatives or friends of the dead soldiers are all too willing to stop fighting after a few victories, and accept rule by the winners in the war.  Non-soldiers are highly reluctant to change themselves to become soldiers, to respond to these attacks, and soldiers are reluctant to kill or attack those who would support the enemy who is attempting to kill them.  Most Quental seem to view these attacks and killings as mere competition between different societies or groups of soldiers.

When encountering us or the humans, Quental soldier killing becomes random and constant, as they attack border patrols, settlements, or anything in an area.  Many soldiers seem to view aliens as merely another dangerous creature to prove themselves against, and as anyone could be a soldiers, the quental soldiers attack anything possible.  Quental leaders who wish to maintain peace have had to find other ways for their soldiers to compete, and impose strict discipline, although even in these cases many soldiers find ways to fight and kill neighboring aliens.

In combat, Quental rely mostly on their toughness, and ability to shape their bodies.  Basic soldiers are strong, fast, and very hard to kill, and other types of soldiers can specialize their bodies to fight in different ways.  They adapt quickly to different environments, and can give themselves unique senses as well.