Baifa Monü Zhuan
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
- Intent: To flesh out the Horse Lords of Atrisia contributed by
Maple Harte
for the lore and commonwealth - Image Credit: General and I
- Canon: N/A
- Permissions: N/A
- Links:
- Transfer Essence
- Memory Rub
- Animal bond
- Name: Umanushi
- Designation: Sentient
- Origins: Atrisia codex Atrisia wookiee
- Average Lifespan: 120
- Estimated Population: Planetary
- Description: Considered the cousins to most Atrisians, the horselords are one part mysterious in how they have managed to maintain their own god empress/emperor and naturally atrisian in their looks. Their main distinctions is the thicker muscles and ornate hair designs. It is a mark of honor to grow their hair out and dishonorable to have it cut off. Their feathered cloaks that are created from the thousands of birds that fly around the valley. Paint that has been created from the bugs that attract the birds giving each clan a distinct set of tattoos and markings.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average Height of Adults: 2m
- Average Length of Adults: N/A
- Skin color: Ivory with small shades of gold
- Hair color: Black
- Distinctions: The males are generally thickly muscled where as the females are light and quick on their feet. Both have exceptional eyesight and a connection to the Longma. Ornate hair designs into horns on the head.
- Races: Divided into two sb races, the alpha's and the omega. The Alphas are generally larger, with thicker muscles and defend the cities. The Omegas are smaller but not weaker, they are more artisans and bards.
- Force Sensitivity: Low
- Mūnshingā: The supreme leader of the Umanushi, a living god by their standards who transfers their essence from body to body when the time is correct and is able to erase memories of the new host from others minds. So that a leader can better rule without the burden of family or the past. They are physically chosen for their strength in the force and the essence is poured into them willingly. Selection is generally done by the leader when it comes time for their body to pass away, teenagers are brought before in a selection process and anyone can be chosen from noble to farmer. Outsiders are not permitted for the selection process and few know about it not understanding that it is a single being instead of different leaders.
- Animal Friendship: A rare ability for some of the horselords is the ability to connect and even control in small ways their longma or some of the other creatures on Atrisia. Going beyond their normal training and bonding... the deeper the connection the more highly skilled and prized the longma and rider are seen.
- Empathic Connection: Their empathic connection with the Longma makes it easier to train them but it also makes them feel their pain and the more connected with the most skilled able to connect almost ot the point of controlling them. In that case there is a risk their consciouness could become trapped within the mind as their body decays from lack of nourishment and care.
- Note: The longer spent connecting and controlling can increase the risk as the passage or time is generally not the same for animals. An hour or even a month can run the risk of the body being harmed and unable to return to it trapping the conscious mind within the animal.
- Space: The Umanushi have a phobia of space and will often when off Atrisia slip into a catatonic state and the further away they are the harder it is to recover. The connection is a closeness to their leader/god who exerts a force influence over the people. Withdrawal from the influence gets more and more dangerous to the health the further away.
- Diet: Omnivore: They are able to eat generally everything with standard poisons posing a problem. lactose is severe for them as it can cause nausea and debilitating cramps.
- Communication: Verbal
- Technology level: Slightly Below Galactic Standard
- Religion/Beliefs: Among the horselords of Atrisia it is a very different culture. Almost alien compared to the rest given their isolation. THey wage war against offworlders and outsiders but it is forbidden to attack each other, outside of the main city or few roads that are monitored visitors are not safe by decree of the Mūnshingā. The Mūnshingā is highly regarded, among the horse lords as their ultimate authority within the clan. THey are always considered highly exceptional in terms of physical and mental prowess but are also able to touch the life force of the universe. Their leader is considered by many to not die but transfer bodies as they are forever. The God emperor or empress is not gendered as the force user chosen can be male or female but they must be atrisian and the primary religion of the horse lords follows the will of their god who in turn for honor has sworn service to the royal house of Atrisia after several wars between them. Battle borne is an important term.. their fights, in war there are those who are trained but to be born in the middle of a fight to a warrior is rare and often the marked ones are highly regarded towards warlords and clan leaders.
- General behavior: The horse lords of Atrisia are nomadic moving around their vast fields. The massive mountain cities where merchants and traders dwell. The largest holding the seat of their religion with the Mūnshingā and spreading outwards. They are open to any number of people visiting but there are customs that are highly restricted and held on to. Such as clothing and manners, cultural aspects like marriages for life and into the after life. The Horse lords view outsiders, even other Atrisians as unclean towards them... they no longer fight and try to kill them as is the will of their god but they also are not required to marry or welcome them into the clans. THe cities are where they may enter and stay using designated roads either by horse or by air. The worship of their god emperor/empress is absolute as compared to many the being they believe to overtake the bodies has been there since the beginning and is tied deeply to the heart of the planet. Dicted by their god emperor/empress hybrids... half breeds.. the children of the horselords and other atrisians or offworlders are rarely welcomed home. Some are even attacked or killed unless they leave and find protection among the other Atrisians.
There was not much known about the horselords of Atrisia, their early writings and oral traditions had them always on their continents and serving their god emperor or empress. The gender was always fluid and changing as it transferred to a new body every few decades after it had worn out the other and the original host had long since been lost. The early cenuries of the Atrisian people saw them split into different tribes that went to the different corners of the world. The Umanushi came to the Valley Kal an early version of the afterlife and found a massive continent of flowers and mountains. Thousands of types of birds in the skies and around the fields.
They settled there and their leader who had gathered them found the longma. The massive beasts served them well and it had never been seen outside of the continent before. The natural cliffs and small marshlands that allowed entrance isolated them from the rest of Atrisia. There they developed alongside the mysterious at the time Longma something they discovered and it changed things for them as the massive beasts could be used as beasts of burden to haul supplies. They worked to find protection in the mountains that were scattered around the continent. Their leader the Mūnshingā assumed a more prominent role.
As the head of the clans who had come with him he delved into mystical aspects and powers, strengthing his body and mind until he was able to protect and lead his people. The cities flourished as they mined resources and hunted game. Statues to honor what had come before were erected and he finally reached a level he was able to transfer himself into a new body that was younger and more powerful. His subjects wanting to keep his rule for as long as it could last and willingly subjecting themselves to the pain until one could be found who was the ideal vessel to hold their lords spirit longer then a handful of days or weeks.
The horselords of Atrisia as they came to be named by those who found them and survived the encounter used what they could to maintain their mystique and power. THe first houses of it that settled on the coast and harbored outsiders were exiled with their children being threatened by death should they ever try and return. The Li-Ves clan of Atrisia found the emperess welcoming for their skills and knowledge. The war against the Jade empress that came from this mandate was dangerous to all sides and ended only when dirgables were used to go over the mountain defenses of the horselords and take away their advantage of the Longma.
Their leaders war against the Jade Empress ended with subjugation... Unlike many of the other territories of Atrisia they were allowed to stay as they were. The emperor answering to the royal house and the horselords would send their most important to the capital as guests of the Empress. Later her son would return them in return for oaths of honor and everything required to bind the land of the Horselords to the Kital Phard Empire forever. The peace between them allowed the horselords to maintain their lives and they were largely avoided. Their main city accessible by dirgable served where they could be met but largely the continent itself was cut off from the rest of the planet.
The years expanded and the god emperor changed bodies for who knew how long. The possibility of expansion never came but the emperor worked along side the leaders of Atrisia who often visited to try and get the borders opened. It failed and as plagues brought to the world from outsiders came and ravaged the planet the horselords suffered less but almost as much. It was slower to spread as the clans didn't interact but eventually the dangers came to them. They suffered but the emperor worked to save as many as they could with the force powers. it spread and they survived but the losses were numerous. It cause the borders to be opened slightly with heavy restrictions.
The recovery efforts also brought other reforms, the more dominant alphas came together to protect the children and the future generations of the horselords. They threatened to attack anyone or anything that came after them. The opening of the netherworld rifts across the galaxy and death of Akio, conquests and civil wars had them largely staying out of it. Preferring to remain quiet and forgotten as no one had called for the Empress cavalry to be reformed until there were the jade screamers. They rebuilt the cities and as the Jishi era came in the city changed to allow the reforms for medical and education to take hold.
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