|
|
||
| Home > RPGs > Kalyr | <Prev Next> | |
The Vordral's head was crowded and noisy, as it always was on a night when there was going to be a fight in the pit. The room fell suddenly silent as Yorrek strode up to the bar and glanced at the scarred face of Blackwyn the barman. Without a word, Blackwyn poured a mug of the inn's strongest ale, and Yorrek retired to a corner of the room. Even Borkugg, the inn's vicious and brutal head bouncer, gave him plenty of room.
Yorrek was the undefeated champion of the pit fights that were held in the cavern behind the inn. In the year since he arrived in the city, he had fought no less than eighty-three opponents and beaten every single one. Many the fights were against would-be champions, desperate men like him who sought fame and fortune and were prepared to risk their lives getting it. Other fights were against those who had in some way offended the shadowy figures who ruled this part of town. They were usually scared to death with the prospect of having to fight a man like Yorrek .Those fights seldom lasted very long.
Tonight's fight would be different. "The Management", whoever they actually were, had managed to obtain a vordral. Yorrek knew nothing of how or where this particular vordral was captured. He had never actually set eyes on a vordral, but had heard many tales of them. Tales of how marauding bands of them would sweep out of the hills to destroy remote villages, or to ambush trading caravans. There were old legends that told of them being the descendants of kandar expelled from the cities in ancient times due to their evil ways.
The clock over the bar struck six. This meant not long to go until the fight. Time to prepare! He glanced at Borkugg, who in turn gave a signal to one of the other bouncers to open the door leading to the cellars. Yorrek finished his drink and descended the stairs. On reaching the foot of the stairs he caught a glimpse of the cage which, he surmised, must contain the vordral. Resisting the temptation to have a closer look at the cage, he scanned the rack of weapons on the wall for a suitable one for the fight. Although many fights were unarmed, this one would not be. After trying several weapons, he finally selected a shortsword and a small shield. A cheer echoing along the tunnel leading to the arena signalled the end of the previous fight, between two young hopefuls fighting for the chance to face him in a couple of weeks time. A few minutes later the unconscious loser was carried out though the tunnel, followed by the victor. Yorrek knew little about either man.
Yorrek strode into the area, acknowledging the cheers of his ever-growing legion of fans. The entire arena was a cavern hollowed out of the rock behind the inn. In the centre was the circular pit where the fights took place. Around the edge were crowded nearly a hundred people, all eager for blood. Some day, thought Yorrek, people are going to fall into the pit during a fight.
The tension grew. After a long wait in which the noise of the crowd go louder and louder, the vordral was finally thrust into the arena. It was an ugly misshapen thing, with green blotchy skin and fangs, dressed only in crude rags. Yorrek noticed that one of it's arms was considerably longer than the other. The longer arm carried a large wooden club. It snarled at him, waving the club. For what seemed like an age the two circled one another, before the vordral lunged forward with the club. Yorrek caught the blow on his shield and replied with a slash of the sword which nicked the vordral's shorter arm. First blood! The crown cheered. It soon became obvious to Yorrik that, despite the race's reputation, this vordral was no fighter. The vordral's blows were easily parried, while it left itself undefended far too many times. Yorrek played with it, giving it minor cuts and scratches, or deliberately just missing with his sword to prolong the fight. The crowd were baying for blood.
Then it was all over. The vordral fumbled an attack and dropped the club, which skittered away. The crown urged him to kill. Then the vordral sank to it's knees and begged for mercy. "No kill" it croaked, in a guttural voice. Yorrek raised his sword for the final killing blow. The crowd began chanting "Blood, Blood". They were expecting a kill tonight, and there would be trouble if there wasn't one. "No kill", repeated the vordral. Yorrek raised his sword again.. and felt pity for the pathetic creature. Previously he had thought that vordrals were just monsters, now he realised after all that they were people, just like him.
"You are spared", he said to the vordral. The crowd booed. If they rioted, it was the problem of the shadowy management of the place. This would be his last fight, he decided., as he walked back down the tunnel, out of the inn, and into the night. He never knew what became of the vordral.
So far we have met the Kandar and Humans, the 'master' and 'slave' races populating the surface of Kalyr. As well as these, there are a number of other commonly-known races. There are rumours of other, stranger races existing in remoter parts of the world, although these stories are usually written off as over-elaborated travellers's tales. Stories of orange cat-men, and giant purple tadpoles with arms get treated with the contempt they deserve.
The second of the two ancient races, Zughru are well build humanoids, mostly 4-5' tall. A small minority (about one in fifty) are much taller, growing up to 8'. Many live underground, in cities under the mountains, although many more live in small villages on the surface in mountains and forests. They have little love for kandar, humans, or any other non-zughru. The entire race are naturally psionic, with almost all individuals having the powers of The Way of the Will, and the Way of the World.
Zughru society in the sprawling subterranean cities of Rhukadh and Zurglauz is highly structured. All zughru are born into one of many 'Guilds', all of which are centuries old. The guilds and their role in life are as follows.
The Guild of Warriors is responsible for the defence of the zughru people, and for maintaining order. It forms the core of all zughru armies and police. A high proportion of giant zughru are in this guild.
The Guild of Transportation is responsible for moving things. Rhukadh, the transport guild runs the railway and canal systems.
The Power Guild, which exists only in Rhukadh, is responsible for the hydro-electric power station and the electric power supply to the city.
The Guild of Artificers is responsible for all manufacturing, including that of weapons.
The Guild of Tunnellers is responsible for both construction of underground accommodation and for mining.
The Provisions Guild is responsible for all food production, both underground fungus growing and surface farming, and with all food preparation.
The Administrators are responsible for all coordinating the actions of all other guilds. They also take responsibility for all negotiations with other races.
The Guild of Intercessors are the zughru priests, responsible for the spiritual life of the zughru people.
The Guild of Cleaners does all the dirty jobs such as street refuse collection and sewer maintenance. They are looked down upon by other zughru, who react at -2 to them, but they are just as essential as any other guild.
All guilds have a hierarchical structure, each guild headed by a single individual. The heads of the guild, together form the government of the zughru. The head of the Administrators is the effective leader of this group. Since membership of each guild is hereditary, some guild. can have more zughru in them at one time than they need, while other guilds may be short staffed. As a result, many zughru work for guild. other than their own. Such zughru are only ever employed on menial tasks, the more responsible work always being given to actual members of the guild. This guild structured society applies only to the two largest zughru nations. There are a few remote communities of zughru who not have any form of guild structure, and live a much simpler existence.
All zughru worship the guardian Zughru, father of the zughru. Little attention is paid to any other guardians, whose existence is practically forgotten except by the priests. Religion has become very formal and ritualised.
The zughru languages all sound harsh and guttural, and zughru have names like Rhuzdulg, Kaurutu and Narzizh. Female names always end in a vowel. Zughru do not have a family name, using the name of their guild, and there rank within it as a surname.
The majority of zughru never come into contact with any other races. Their image of the kandar is of a cruel, decadent and effete race, who are a pale shadow of what they once were, and are heading for extinction. Few zughru have even noticed that humans and kandar are actually separate races, and have little knowledge of races such as lesardaan. Many have heard of vordral, but believe that they have all been wiped out by the kandar.
Uleems are very short humanoids, only about three feet tall, with purple skin and short tails. They were originally a kandar slave race, captured via the mirrors in the days of the First Empire. Nobody knows where they came from. There are very few of them in Kandar lands, where their social status is above that of humans, but below that of the Kandar. They are good at getting on with other races.
Most of those seen in kandar areas earn a living as traders, often becoming prosperous. Their innate skills sometimes give them a false reputation for being miserly and dishonest. They have generally adopted the language and culture of kandar/human society when dealing with non-Uleems. They do in fact have their own language, culture and history, which is not shared with other races.
Uleems tend to keep out of kandar or any other politics. All Uleems are in fact citizens of the Uleem nation, which is based in the valley of Dalalnuin. This is the only all-Uleem community in the world, and all but a few Uleems maintain links with it. Few non-Uleems know much about this land. Uleem leaders maintain contacts with various leading kandar and free humans. They also have some trading links with the zughru.
Uleem religion is an informal sort of monotheism, which does not appear to have any form of priesthood. It is unheard of for any Uleem to embrace any other religion, although they give the appearance of observing kandar religious festivals, re-interpreting the meanings to fit in with their own beliefs.
Uleems appear to get on well with all races, even vordral. Their true opinions of other races can only be guessed at.
Vordral are the descendants of the deformed mutants which originated from damaged frozen kandar generic material in the very early days. This has been forgotten by the kandar, whose legends speak of them being descendants of kandar cast out from kandar society at the dawn of time due to their evil ways. Other kandar believe them to be the reincarnations of kandar who were evil in their past life.
Vordral are outcasts from civilisation. Despite their reputation for being savages, vordral are not inherently any more evil than any other race. Many live in small bands in remote areas, occasionally raiding remote villages and trade caravans, or fighting amongst themselves. Some are nocturnal, living underground or dwelling in dense forests. Others live in small villages and live as hunters or subsistence farmers.
They hate kandar particularly, reacting at -4 towards them. This is because of the way the kandar have treated them over the centuries. Some vordral also dislike humans, seeing them as allies of the kandar.
Lesardaan are another former slave race of the kandar, dating from the same time as the uleem. They are a race of lizard-like creatures, standing slightly taller than humans. There is some evidence that they were once an advanced race (or possible slaves of an advanced race) on wherever they came from. Whatever their past, they have now reverted to savagery. They are found in marshes and by rivers just about anywhere, though never in large numbers.
Lesardaan live in crude villages. Some tribes are peaceful, and trade with kandar and humans, but others are murderous monsters, for whom eating people is the least of their crimes. Little is known about their religious beliefs.
Most of the larger animals found in our own world are unknown on Kalyr, although many smaller animals such as rabbits, mice and birds can be seen. The following are examples of some of the larger animals which can be found.
A mountain-dwelling herbivore, resembling a smaller and more agile version of a Glandrin. The females have a pyramid-shaped horn on their heads, which they use to defend their young. Nursing Dermu can be dangerous.
Eynthra are predators, usually found in forests. They are low-slung creatures, up to two tavars in length, with red-brown fur. They normally hunt in pairs.
The most common large creature, glandrin are grazing herbivores, found almost everywhere. They have long necks and elongated ears. Domesticated glandrin are kept for meat and wool, while large herds can be found in the wild.
One of the strangest creatures in existence, Glethnu are large many-tentacled freshwater swimming creatures, domesticated to pull barges. These creatures, bred by the mysterious Academy of Life, are common on any navigable waterway
The most common and most dangerous predator found in temperate zones of Kalyr, Kreylnin hunt in packs, and do occasionally attack people.
Ulsogir are large herbivores with thick brown shaggy hair and large bony plates on their heads. They are kept domestically as draft animals, and for milk and meat. They grow up to two tavars high at the shoulder. Herds of wild Ulsogir are also common in more northern areas.
Riding beast, resembling a furry ostrich. They are faster than the more common zarandar, but more difficult to control. Their fur is most often golden-coloured, usually striped with white. They are not normally found in the wild.
The most popular riding beast, which look a bit like a cross between a horse and a baby elephant. Like yakka, they are unknown in the wild.
Many kandar nobles love hunting dangerous animals for sport. Animals hunted include ulsogir, eynthra kreylnin and feral yakka. Occasionally more "exotic" creatures, including some specially bred and released by the Academy of Life are released into the wild in order to be hunted. Hunts sometimes take several days, and cover large distances.
To satisfy this love of hunting, many rural and semi-wilderness areas are dedicated as hunting reserves. These reserves employ many people to look after them, and to accompany hunts to make sure none of the dangerous animals actually harm any of the kandar nobles.