Elemental weapons & Teshnos

From: Nils Weinander <niwe_at_ein.ericsson.se>
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 1996 15:53:49 +0200


Arkat (disguised as John Brown):
>here is my idea of how the creation of the five elemental
>weapons went:
>
> The Elemental Weapons
>
>Darkness: Nakala's Mace (The Black Mace) which was made of Lead
>Water: Trident of Zaramaka (Magasta's Tongue) which was made of
> Aluminum
>Earth: Staff of Ga (The Staff of Law) which was made of Copper
>Fire/Sky: Aether's Spear (The Firelance) which was made of Gold
>Air: Sword of Umath (The Windsword) which was made of Silver

Shouldn't the Earth weapon be an axe? In one of our old campaigns, the elemental weapon of Earth was Balastor's axe, of Pavis fame.


Over to Teshnos!

Peter M:
>9) Nils W. has had some ideas about how the Teshnans order their
>society. Basically it's Hindu-like with a caste of untouchables
>who do all the dirty jobs that would befoul someone's lifeflame.

OK, here's the basics of my theory. In some distant past, Teshnos was inhabited by earth worshipping wareran humans. Their main deity was Teshna, land goddess of Teshnos. The land was then invaded by sky worshipping kralori humans from Vithela.

The invaders had three castes: Morning, the peasants who worshipped Solf (Lodril); Noon, the warriors who worshipped Somash (Yelm) and Evening, the holy men who worshipped Zitro Argon (Dayzatar).

The original teshnans were oppressed and form a fourth caste, Night. They are not allowed to worship their old gods. This provides the additional problem that there is no god who gives the Teshnans Bless Crops. I think it was Peter or Joerg who suggested that the teshnans turn to their alies, the embyli of the Fethlon jungle for fertility magic.

The Night caste cannot own any property and may not use metal tools. Really oppressive land-owners don't even allow their nighters to cook their food or use fire in any way.

However, the original people and the invaders have mixed to some degree, so the modern teshnans are a wareran/kralori mix racially. The castes and the cults have changed a lot and one important cult has been added: Calyz the firebringer. I see Calyz as a cultural hero, a deified human who learned the secret of firemaking during the greater darkness.

The more radical priests of Calyz says that he is a god for all people, regardless of caste and want to introduce the cult to the Night caste. Conservative teshnans are duly horrified at the thought. The land-owning peasants of today (the Morning caste) are less than happy to worship the lazy and debauched Solf, so they mostly turn to Calyz instead.

Harstar the rebel probably promises reforms and more freedom for the Night caste in return for their loyalty.


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