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This book is old, but well preserved despite that. However, it has a certain flimsy feel to it, as if it were never intended to survive as long as it has.
Possession of this tome is worth **** Research Points per session. If delivered to the Church, this tome is worth **** Church Prestige Points. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of The Aten. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of The Mer. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of The Naga. With a year of study and **** Research Points, this tome will provide information on the topic of The Tengu.
To be enclosed in all four directions is the lot of Komaru. The barriers that surround the land are as much a part of the land as its people's connections to Mourn itself, and from those barriers arise strength, perseverance, loyalty and courage. But of the cage that holds Komaru, there is much to be said.
The walls of Komaru were shaped in the Age of Komaru, the First Age of the realm, the Age when every bloodline bound the kingdom together and man first grasped the power of the Cosmos. The walls of Komaru were shaped by betrayal, for in His efforts to forge Komaru into a crucible for His children and siblings, Komaru's favored brother turned the other creature of Mourn against the children of Komaru's family. That the creatures are hostile is a reflection not of their inimical nature, but rather of what our eldest ancestors made them into. It is a shame that must be borne that they war upon us, and we must always remember our part in making them what they are in this day.
Chief among the tragedies of our past is the creation of the Aten, for even now the Aten themselves are innocuous beasts. Nature spirits, they serve as the guardians of their species, and left to their own devices are little or no threat to humanity. However, the Betrayal taught these simple beasts that they could feel pain, torment, and fury. By the scores, Aten were slaughtered alongside thousands of the bloodless men of the river valley, until at last both found that together, they could fight back. Thus was the first Pharaoh born.
Aten are attracted to humans who experience great emotions, be those fury, woe, hate, or even more benevolent feelings. Becoming a Pharaoh requires a human to willingly surrender to the nature of the Aten, feeding the emotion into the creature's heart and unifying with it. Soon, where there was one man and one beast, there is only one creature, far greater in power than either. The Pharaohs are then blessed with dominion over both their patron species, human and beast, and mingle their desires into an unnatural fusion of human ambition and animal lust. When a Pharaoh rises, it is not long before it seeks to expand its power and spread its seed.
The greatest check against the power of the Pharaohs is their very nature. When one rises, others often rise as well, feeding upon the emotions that the first one generates in other men. Few Pharaohs possess the wherewithal to cooperate, and a spawning of many Pharaohs soon ends with only a few remaining. If Komaru is fortunate, those few that survive will have been driven by a need to destroy the others, and will lack interest in conquest. Sometimes, however, the survivors or survivor are so finely honed by battle that they can quickly dominate the entire river valley and send them across the Eastern Furnace to attack the heart of Komaru.
It is fortunate that the thralls of a Pharaoh can be fought with blade and art, even the Children of the Pharaoh themselves. It is unfortunate that the Pharaohs themselves cannot be killed so easily. The worst curse of the Pharaoh, though, is their rapacity. The mind of a Pharaoh is a callous, soulless thing, and woe betide any who fall into the grasp if one or its litter of amoral Children.
The Pharaohs themselves are exemplified by the principles of Shaping and Identity. Each is different, and they structure their existence as a way of changing the world. It is to this end that they are believed to covet Komaru, for within it lies the key to the world. One can only dread what the Pharaohs would do with that key, were they to possess it.
The Merru
Before the coming of Komaru, humanity lived upon the waves as well as the earth. The sea was a fickle lord, drowning many but guiding others to distant lands. All of that changed with the Betrayal, when Komaru's sister spurned the ocean's love and the Betrayer twisted its affection into hatred. Now the ocean, given name as the Merru, is the consumer. Already it has devoured half of Komaru, and there can be no doubt that it desires to swallow the rest.
All of the creature of the rim are strangely bound to desire, and the ocean is no exception. Many prophecies of the ocean relate to the intermingling of its currents with human blood, and speak of what will come of such a child. But whereas the Aten Pharaohs can engender a gross fertility within humankind, the ocean's powers of conception are veiled in mystery or even sterility. That there is any more beautiful creature that a Merru manifestation of the opposite sex is difficult to believe, even as those of a shared sex find it repugnant and foul. Many scholars believe that this effect is part of the nature of the ocean's betrayal: twice jilted, it presents itself as all that a lover desires and everything a competitor reviles - yet still its song enraptures he or she whom the competitor yearns for.
So, too, is the diet of the ocean fearsome, for it feeds upon the memories of those it calls. Curiously, some see this as a gift; more than one poem has been written of the rapture the deep can grant by tearing away memories of a lost lover or a terrible tragedy. Many who have lost memories to the Merru find themselves forever after drawn to it, craving the sensation of time once held and now torn away. Some poets even speak of this as the true way of conjoining with the Merru, and whisper that the memories themselves may be the children forbidden by prophecy.
The Merru are exemplified by the principles of Uniformity and Consuming. Whereas the other wardens of Komaru consume portions of what is dear to the kingdom, the Merru alone bear the power to destroy the kingdom itself. For proof, one simply need look to the lost cities of the En'you, now drowned beneath the unforgiving waves.
Only the gifts of fortune have prevented the Naga from becoming as implacable nemeses of Komaru as the Aten or the Merru. When the Betrayer met the Naga, he learned that they were bound together by service to their Queen, who acted to guide their actions and mediate their independence. He attempted to slay the Queen, and it is said that he did so simply for the chance to watch and learn from the dissolution of that unity. Because his sister Asawa was willing to bind her blood to the Naga Queen and preserve her life, the Naga unity was preserved.
The sacrifice of the Asawa family is what maintains the Shield of the North today. As the Aten desire flesh, the Merru memories, and the Tengu dreams, so do the Naga the souls of the dying. When an Asawa dies, his or her life is offered to the Naga, and it is said that all of the experiences of his or her life become part of the collective experience of the Naga race. Some of the families of Komaru find this pact with the Naga abhorrent. but every Asawa seems to accept it as a part of who they are.
The Naga themselves are akin to the Aten, in that they are bound to one shape. Every Naga appears as a fusion of human and serpent, man above the waist and reptile below. In size they vary from mannish to much larger, and like serpents the shed their skin - including the human parts. As Naga grow older, they may grow additional arms as well. It is said that the Naga Queen has twenty arms, each as thick as a man's torso.
The Naga represent the principles of Uniformity and Shaping. Like the Aten, they can grow and reproduce themselves, for the Naga children are born of pearls formed of souls and tears. But like the Merru, every Naga is truly but one of a greater whole, for all Naga are connected to each other buy the strength of the Naga Queen.
One of the legends of the Naga race deals with love between their kind and humans. It is said that when the world was younger, a youth out hunting saw a beautiful woman bathing in a spring. Awed by her loveliness, he hid and watched her, until at last he could not help but gasp at the sight.
Startled, the woman called out, "Who is there?"
The man, unable to help himself, answered with his name, and added, "I am sorry. I came upon you here unaware, and though it shames me to confess it, I could not help but watch you, for you are beautiful beyond words."
To his amazement, the woman did not seem offended. "If all you wish is to watch me bathe, I am not troubled by your presence. But you must leave when I tell you to, and not come any closer. Furthermore, you must speak to me, because I am lonely and yearn for news of the world."
The man agreed to her terms, and they spoke at length while the woman washed her sapphire hair in the spring water, until at last she bade him leave. But before he went, she told him to come back in a week, when she would come again. Sad but obedient, he obeyed her request.
In a week's time, he found her there again, and they spoke again. As he told her of the world, he marveled at her innocence, for though she knew much of the past, she knew little of the present. When that meeting ended, she again bade him return in a week, and again he obeyed. Week after week, their meetings came, until at last the man had no choice but to confess himself in love with her.
Hearing his words, she smiled sadly. "I am so sorry, for though I feel the same way about you we cannot be together."
"Why not?" he asked, pained to the core of his being.
"For I am not a woman you could call your wife."
"I disagree very strongly, for all that I see is undeniably woman."
"But you see only half of me," she answered.
The man nodded. "But I wish to she more, and have longed for as much for many months now. Please, show me."
She sighed softly, and rose from the pool, and he gasped, for he saw that she was a Naga.
How the story ends is varied. There are some who say that the man was Minamei, and that his love for the woman turned into the human Asawa. There are some who say that the man was Minamei, and that his desire for the Naga was what led him to love Asawa, closer to the Naga than he could ever be. There are some who say that the tears the man shed for the woman turned her scales to legs, and that they fled far to the North to be together and raise their children. But the truth, whatever the truth might be, has been lost.
The last of the warden beasts are the Tengu, the haunter of the South. When the Betrayer came to the South, he found a woman with fox ears sitting by a stream. She was an innocent, but was drawn to the Betrayer's strength. It is said that he raped her, and that her thousand children became the Tengu. Whether that is truly what happened or not has been lost in the annals of time, but what is certain is that the Tengu still seek to understand what makes humanity beautiful, and that in their innocence, they destroy as often as they inspire.
In shape, the Tengu are difficult to classify. Each looks different, and though many wear the features of birds and animals, they cannot be mistaken for the Pharaohs or their Children, for the beauty of the Aten ravishes while the beauty of the Tengu seduces. Though words convey it poorly, the difference is as clear as the Sun and the bright moon, and anyone faced by such a beast need but think of the heavens to know which they face. But describing the physical form of the Tengu does not explain their nature, for they truly exist in two shapes: material, when they wear the body of a human they have possessed, and immaterial, when they simply exist and can spread their being about them like a dream.
The Tengu roam the fens and plains of the Jitani and Issora, and many scholars believe that much of both families' vibrant culture - the ruthless beauty of the Issora, the reckless self-indulgence of the Jitani - can be traced to the presence of so many Tengu among the families. By their very nature, the Tengu feed on dreams: human desires to be more or accomplish more. They dislike pain. although some are said to be twisted by humans to share in pleasure derived from pain. Both humans and Tengu afflicted with this disease are best avoided. For their part, Tengu often reward their prey with fits or heightened sensations, or even the greatest gift and curse of their kind: possession.
Some humans, particularly Issora and Jitani, do what they can to draw Tengu to them, either by living a life of tremendous self-fulfillment or one of great frustration. In either case, the noble will often draw the attentions of a Tengu, who will then possess them for a time and guide their life to dizzying heights of pleasure. Sharing one's self with a Tengu is said to be a pleasure unlike any other, and when the Tengu departs to find another host, many nobles go mad with loss. Others simply die, overwhelmed by the ecstasy of possession, and in many cases the Tengu wear these dead skins and live out their lives for months or even years before losing interest.
The Tengu represents the principles of Consuming and Identity, for their gifts, by their nature, erode the recipient's awareness of self and understanding of the world. However, each Tengu is an individual, and furthermore treats all of humanity as individuals. In many ways, their very nature involves the expression of human individuality.
There is a legend of a woman who dreamt with a Tengu. Forever after, she found her life perfect, until the day that she wondered if she was truly living her life, or only dreaming it, still caught in the Tengu's hands.
Conclusion
The study of the beats that contain Komaru is as fascinating as it is complex. Many students of this university have made it their life's work to investigate only one of the creatures in more detail than has been done before. By the end of your present term, your first-hand experiences with members of all four species will have eminently prepared you for candidacy in the Royal Guard.
| Naga North Shaping + Uniformity | ||
| Merru West Uniformity + Consuming | Aten East Shaping + Identity | |
| Tengu South Consuming + Identity |