Kusukiriori
From Axalon RPG
“The Deathlands.” Created by Tarantulas.
Contents |
Capital Cities
Tikikuro, the largest temple, left untouched by ‘Starfall’. Starfall, the historical meteor shower which tore the islands apart a thousand years hence, and brought rising water levels, tsunamis and earthquakes all across Lith’s surface. Not to mention upsetting the delicate balance of the floating continents for years afterward. Tikikuro itself has been historically shored up, using timber from derelict ships, coral, driftwood when available...but largely, it is built out of bones and buried flesh from large sea-beasts, piled into mass-graves and preserved. Although other, smaller creatures are sometimes useful, too. Over the last five hundred years, the city has become quite elaborate, a tangled stronghold of rickety spires and web-like hanging bridges, nets and ropes, spears, hooks and rusted anchors. Comparisons could be drawn with Shanter cities, though those tend to be more functional.
Apart from Tikikuro, there is only one true ‘city’ as most other nations would define the term: Freeport, first established as a fortified survey site by the Shanters some 150 years ago. Today it is a lawless, awful, pestilent city of smugglers, slavers, fleshpots and shadows deeper yet...which, nonetheless, acts as a gateway and first taste of Kusukiriori for most travelers to the islands.
Language
Yatterspeak, a language made up of rapid clicks, hums and whistles, very difficult for the human tongue to render. The gypsy Charonai can often also speak eloquently, and volubly, in a number of other tongues. Kwiloon and Orucks, meanwhile, often have much more difficulty, but most can manage a halting Lithian if necessary. Prior to the coming of the Three, Zibuko was the name both of the decimated Kusukiriori native people and their twittering tongue.
State Religion
Zibuko Death Worship. The Zibuko always believed death is a necessary and natural part of life, not to be feared but embraced. Their successors have simply taken it one step further. Our ancestors, they say, are all around us, to advise and empower us if we will only let them. And, of course, how better to influence the spirits of the dead than by joining them in death...?
The outside world takes a rather dim view of Kiriori religion, and somewhat legitimately at that. Blood rites, ritual torture and cannibalism are common, and it has been suggested that the consumption of live flesh is not always limited to one’s own species. The religion of Zibuko is highly mutable, with many regional differences in strictness in conduct and interpretation of scripture. For some sects Zibuko is a silent, austere discipline of self-flagellation and asceticism. For others it is a reason for ecstatic, frenzied festivals, personal mutilation and gladiatorial contests.
Population
Living: About 4700, half of which being predominantly Kwiloon, Charonai and Orucks. Perhaps 2000 more are humans, Gatalans and others living in fortress-like Freeport.
Dead: approximately 1 billion, and counting.
Divisions by race are common but not rigid generalizations, rather than laws cast in stone. Kwiloon tend to be rulers, administrators and scholars. Charonai act primarily as priests, artists and explorers. Orucks farm and perform the bulk of local militia. The Kiriori have a reputation as cannibals. Their food chain is as follows: Kwiloon subsist on kelp harvested by the Orucks and large insects which they breed as a delicacy; Charonai eat Oruck eggs and sea-berries, and Orucks feed on the recently dead, fish caught by the Charonai, condemned criminals and the occasional vagrant.
- Kwiloon - Most often one sees the diminutive, hunchbacked Kwiloon clad from head to toe in all-concealing robes, out of which only the huge rending claws are visible, knuckles dragging along the ground of their subterranean homes. In fact these were formerly used for burrowing, though the meteorite’s metal surface makes this unlikely. They are traditionally the thinkers, generals, scholars, tinkers and (harsh, severe) judges of Kusukiriori.
- Charonai - The bat-like, aliped Charonai are ritually scarred nomads, musicians, thespians, puppeteers, poets, jesters and fortunetellers of a decidedly morbid bent, speaking often and at length on the subject of their dark god, the hungering, thirsting, never-sated nonentity of the Abyss. That, or engaging in ecstatic dances and fights, often both one and the same, always ending in death for someone -- a blood sacrifice for their thirsty, starving god.. Their oily, waterproof fur ranges from white to black, often with a dusky purple tinge caused by a form of mildew. They are an all-singing, all-dancing, all-flying, all-fighting traveling circus, unwelcome outcasts the world over.
- Orucks - Orucks are feared and much-despised humanoid spiders. They display sharp, acid-dripping mandibles, a thick natural hide and shaggy fur interlaced with barbed quills. They are deceptively glossy and sleek, looking as refined and elegant as they are deadly. They are the Kiriori’s enforcers and executioners- frequently both at once, as they are permitted to eat those they slay.
The Three - For the most part, the Three are latecomers to Kusukiriori. The region, before it became the Deathlands, had an immense diversity of populations, including the avian Zibuko themselves, even the descendants of whom are today believed extinct.
The Deathlands, perhaps because of Freeport, have an increasing reputation as a haven for outcasts, and survivors of The Orphan Nations in particular have been finding their way to the islands with increasing frequency. Humans, Rats, Gatalans-- all have been reported as booking passage by the Shanters. It is even rumoured that some have gone so far as to join into the Zibuko death cult.
Government
Necracy (‘enlightened rule by the dead’). The Kiriori submit themselves to the rule of a form of theocracy in which the high priests [claim to] speak with long-dead folk heroes and martyrs, asking past saints their guidance for the future. Punishment for crimes is harsh; death is (one may have guessed) common. Considered backwards by some, but the outside world perhaps does not fully understand the Kiriori’s unusually intimacy with Death’s kingdom. It is an alliance, they say, that no mortal country can hope to match.
That being known, the Kiriori are often very cautious of other nations and their laws. Their pilgrims often get by on taking contracts as bounty hunters or mediators in other lands. Some have even engaged them in small groups and hired them as guards- a duty for which the Three showed a surprising affinity. Certainly the threat of being eaten by foreign monsters employed by the state makes crime particularly unappealing.
Geography
Formerly, a populous ring of snowbound, densely forested islands in the far north. That, of course, was before Starfall.
Just lately, a wide sea of broken cliffs, craterous lakes brimming with ocean water, kelp-encrusted sea-caves and shantytowns built up around the old coastal temples. Villages are small and numerous. Very little surviving flora or fauna remains on land, but abundant coral reefs have taken hold in the surrounding waters.
Economy
The Kiriori are seen to shun the outside world. The Kwiloon graze on harvested kelp and breed giant insects as a delicacy; the Charonai eat fish or hunt the Charonai’s thousand-strong hatchling broods; and as for the Orucks eat the Charonai and Kwiloon, especially criminals and the infirm. Circle of life, simple as that. The Deathlands have no imports, though speculation has it that the Deathlands may abound with rare mineral wealth beneath the surface. Of course, no one has wanted to broach the subject of further digging up sacred, dismembered Kusukiriori with the current population. Some of the more daring Shanter captains are known to sell salvage in Tikikuro (bad as it is, it's better than Freeport; at least the death-monks in Tikikuro are unlikely to come sailing after you), but beyond that, Kusukiriori is almost entirely isolated; all except Freeport, which, once again, operates under its own, nebulous terms.
Military
No standing forces, or organized bodies. Again, there is no separation between the church and state. Between Kwiloon Iron Hand monks and Oruck executioners, with Charonai death-dancers providing formidable air support, the Kiriori are able to field some fearsome warriors at close quarters. Though their technology is primitive, and largely salvage bought from Shanters, Kiriori combat skills are well-honed by daily exercises, in the form of religious devotions and ceremonies... All of which is remarkably useless in modern warfare, not to mention the absolutely pathetic size of their militia, if and when they can mobilize -- without radio, news of a real attack can take some time to reach the proper ears.
Fortunately (for them -- less so for others), all this is in addition to powerful command over the ‘spiritual realm’ which all priests seem to possess: speaking metaphorically (or not, depending on who is doing the speaking) the Kiriori may summon forth great flying armies of ghosts. Ghosts to fight as they did in life, or to shape their ethereal bodies into bridges and barriers, great birds to ferry the living across great distances, impenetrable shields, whole fortresses, even huge bullets of spiritual force... Certain other nations have attempted to rationalize these apparitions as a function of the collective unconscious, not truly the spirits of the dead but psychic energies given form by powerful emotions - not real, only memories. A Kiriori would find this highly offensive (to say nothing of how the ghosts in question might feel - again, supposing they are real at all).
Culture
Mystics and monsters, cannibals and savages, reveling in brutality and desecrating themselves with mind-altering poisons (booze, for example) and hallucinogenic drugs - well, that's what people say. The world does not pretend to understand them and generally does not wish to do so. They are a mystery better left that way, and most would also prefer to leave them to their own devices. Surely the lot of nihilists (but are they? really?) will kill themselves off in the long run.
History
A millennium ago, Kusukiriori was all-but destroyed by the Starfall event. The damage would have been even more catastrophic, affecting the entire world, had the largest asteroid not been halted by a last ditch of science and magic, slowing the asteroid’s destructive progress to a crawl...but, unfortunately, not before the majority of Kusukiriori was laid to waste. The cataclysm also caused water levels to rise worldwide. For three centuries, the newly formed Deathlands would remain empty. Empty, that is, but for the voices of the lost Zibuko, calling, mourning, reaching out. The call was eventually answered, and lucky for the answerers: for they have been granted access to powers few others could hope to grasp, and the peace of mind that comes from a true belief that this life is merely, as the Charonai might say, the curtain before the real show.
Relations
Considered weird at best and evil at worst, the Deathlands are to be avoided if at all possible. There can be no reason to venture there apart from idle curiosity, and there are things one is better off not knowing. Nevertheless, it has been generally agreed that the Deathlands deserve an honorary place on the Bantuss Council, if only because the Zibuko instigated the original Council the last time around.
They have preserved limited contact with the Shanters, but the Shanters gave up the city of Freeport as beyond redemption a long time ago, and will only deal directly with the abbots of Tikikuro.
