THE PEOPLES OF AGEMONIA
NIHTEEGRI
Nihteegris are humanoids with the agile tails and sharp teeth of predators. Nihteegri are born with a love of the stars, which forms a basis for their shared language and customs.
The nihteegri are spread far and wide into many towns, tribes and counties, ruled by noble houses. Historically there have been alliances and wars between the rivalling families, but nowadays most of them are united as the Republic of Benem. An electoral college convenes in Starhaven, making decisions more or less respected by all the houses. How much any of this reflects on the life of Benemite serfs and poor workers is debatable.
Outside of the Republic, nihteegri hunters and merchants are a common sight in the surrounding wilds, and nihteegri live in the free cities of Mossport and Bekora’s Hoist and many other nearby lands.
The Republic was founded 160 years ago after a civil war, where three tribal dictators supported by the pagan priesthood fought against the liberal noble houses, commoners and the cosmographers. As a result, the pagan religion was supressed and cosmography, the scientific study of the sky, took its place. Today cosmographers act as physicians, advisors, herbalists and astrologers in all Benemite towns. However, many still worship the four pagan goddesses in secret.
The other peoples of Agemonia see Benemites as romantic stargazers or clever diplomats. Noble knights, wise old cosmographers, witty merchants, funny storytellers, and free-spirited hunters are typical nihteegri encountered by foreigners.
AGURIANS
The oldest and perhaps strangest of Agemonia’s peoples are the agurians. Certainly the most mineral. They are creatures of stone, never ageing, never procreating, never being born. They just are. Sometimes an agurian will fall asleep, looking just like any big boulder, until centuries later, he will wake up and live again.
They mostly reside in Agemonia’s mountainous northwest beyond the Mutelands, but small groups exist all across the world.
Agurians hold much wisdom lost to the other peoples of Agemonia, sometimes carved as runes in their stone skin or as statues inside their cavernous cities. This can make them artistic or melancholic, when they see the mistakes of the past repeated over and over. They grow precious agura crystals in their backs, which makes them valuable trading partners and also targets for raids.
Three centuries ago an agurian called Xotho tried to take over the whole world, subjugating all the other peoples under his reign of stone and terror. Xotho claimed it was time to take back agura, and many of his fellows, tired of being hunted for the magical crystal, took up arms. Agurian armies conquered city after city killing or enslaving their populations.
Eventually Xotho and his military retreated to their ancient mountain realm or disappeared, leaving agurians a diminished, remorseful people.
The other peoples of Agemonia nowadays see agurians as strong but withdrawn, a group of former power, like a neutered animal. Older people may still fear them remembering tales of Xotho, but others wonder if agurians might still carry some knowledge of the ancients who once ruled Agemonia and are said to have created all the peoples.
Agurians are often seen as powerful warriors, wizened travelers, potent geomancers, or talented architects.
KORALLIANS
Korallians are an amphibian people who mostly live underwater. They have no families, but start their life in huge groups of larvae which must compete for food. Through several metamorphoses precious few of the larvae grow into korallians proper, having eaten many of their competitors. A full grown korallian will have both gills and lungs, webbed feet and hands, and a head full of tentacles.
Most korallians live in capitalistic underwater city states which form a loose league called the Thalassocracy of Zeebul. These societies are driven by the pursuit of profit and a strict loyalty to the rich Creators, who are seen as the source of jobs and wealth.
The strongest corporations are also powerful military mights, and have gone to war with the Republic of Benem to the north and the Megeian Empire to the east. As a result there is a semi-independent demilitarized zone between Benem and Zeebul. In the zone lies the free city of Bekora’s Hoist home to both nihteegri and korallians.
All korallians can communicate telepathically, but the most powerful can use the powers of their mind to subjugate others or read their thoughts. These korallians typically end up as Creators or members of the psionic police force The Shiver.
Before the Thalassocracy, korallians worshipped Bekora and other gods of the deep. Bekora is still venerated in some far-off communities such as the dry korallians in many overland cities and the pirate town of Shiver Retreat.
The other peoples of Agemonia see korallians as ruthless and greedy dandies or their hapless victims, as slaves of propaganda or sometimes romantic freedom fighters. The Creators and The Shiver are feared everywhere.
QUOTHIANS
Quothians are a secluded people from the nocturnal woodland realm of Heartwood. These corvine women who live in moonlit tree houses, have since time immemorial been tasked with keeping the demons of the Breach at bay. They have large white eyes which see in the dark, their body covered in black feathers which easily blend into shadows.
They farm giant arachnids known as speendles, who weave expensive silk which is Heartwood’s main export. Quothian silk is used for magical scrolls and for the finest clothes and tapestries. Obviously, many quothians are employed in the silk industry.
Male quothians are seen as chattel that live in pens and are used as slave soldiers or tasked with milking the speendles or other menial labours. Perhaps for this reason female quothians can have a hard time getting accustomed to the men of other peoples.
Traditional quothian religion is mostly based on ancestor worship with the skulls of their long-dead foremothers routinely consulted for advice. They are ruled by the Council of the Dead, a parliament of sorts, where seven quothian elders consult the skulls of their foremothers. Each quothian knows the direct line from herself to her foremother, and this can affect their position today.
The other peoples see quothians as witches dabbling in dark magic, dangerous assassins and thieves, or suspicious traveling silk merchants with ulterior motives. Some believe seeing a quothian means bad luck.
IGNISAURS
Ignisaurs are easily recognized for their burly physique, their smooth scaly skin, and their horned heads. It is said they born as neither male nor female and shed their skin periodically. Upon the third shedding they are expected to choose their own sex.
Most ignisaurs are subjects of the Megeian Empire and venerate the Burning Sun. In this strict caste society, noblewomen act as priestesses and politicians, noblemen as warriors and merchants. Most ignisaurs, of course are commoners or slaves, whose lot in life is eternal toil in the gold mines, in the fleet, in the quarries, or in the cactus farms.
In every Megeian city there is a Solar Temple where priestesses oversee elaborate ceremonies where slaves are often sacrificed to their cruel sun god. Soladins are religious soldiers in service to the church, and a feared sight everywhere. Calling someone sunless or shaded is a terrible curse coming from the maw of an ignisaur.
Ignisaurs consider the Megeian Empire like the Sun itself to be never changing. Right now it seems larger and more powerful than ever, ruling the seas, and having conquered both boryot cities to the north and xi-noq islands to the south. Whether total domination of Agemonia is possible for them remains to be seen.
Most of the other peoples of Agemonia fear ignisaurs and consider them cannibals, slavemasters, and conquerors. Ignisaur art is seldom seen and most people outside Megeia have not developed a taste for their cactus wine. Yet, ignisaurs can sometimes be found as mercenaries in Benemite cities, and some ignisaurs have left their homeland to seek a more peaceful life perhaps in the service of the Amethyst Order or the arts or sciences. They are few and rare, and still carry stigma of the Empire.
PATTANGANS
Four thin arms, two legs, a long tail, and dorsal fins are the distinctive characteristics of a pattangan. In the Mutelands they live as five clans each with their own customs and territories.
Pattangans worship the totems and other spirits that protect themselves, their tribe, and their surroundings. Some of them may even have spirit animals as familiars, following them around, whispering otherworldly wisdom in their ears, and defending them in battle.
By day the typical pattangan is a hunter-gatherer who wields a bow in two hands and knives in the other two. By night they will abandon the weapons for clacker castanets and chopsticks, perhaps sipping some honey wine or eating live butterflies. Most pattangans live in fairly warm climates and dress only in loinclothes or skimpy vests. The richest might drape themselves in light garments of quothian silk.
The largest town is the Great Moving City of Ban’Daryan Hebath, home to the Gunbanjar clan. The city is built on the backs of enormous gunbanjar lizards who migrate around the Mutelands following their own progression. The city and the clan are ruled by the Painted King and his many children who include the Shaman Prince, the Warrior Princess, the Merchant Princess, the Judge Prince, and many others. Soldiers ride on smaller lizards, constantly patrolling the perimeter of the gunbanjar pack.
Elsewhere, the clans have more or less lost meaning. The pattangans who live in Benem, Heartwood, or agurian cities are often poor refugees who have to beg, steal, or take on low-level jobs. They are often mocked and their mannerisms and even food are ridiculed. That is not to say there is not a cheap pattangan restaurant in most of these places, of course.
