Home of the Odd Duk

Category: World of Dira

Pinakidion’s campaign world of Fantastic Action!

More Cosmetic Changes

It has come to my attention that another role paying game used the term 'Hesperian' to refer to a Roman-based society in an alternate future. Although I came up with Hesberian independent of them, the folks at Steve Jackson Games came up with it quite a bit earlier than I did. I do not want to infringe on their trademarks at all. It's obvious to me that as they have prior art (I know it's not a copyright thing) I need to change.

So, the Hesberian Empire material I came up with will have its name changed again. I am making certain that there are no duplication of specific people mentioned in other products. Awrelius will have a name change to Cutelium, but others with different names should be okay.

Henceforth, the empire that dominated Dira and influences Lenga is known as the Bedrian Empire.

NKQB
Nabrolus Kenuraque Bedrianus
For the Senate and Ken of Bedriana

Blogged with Flock

Kirnemian or Keyalimbele

In Lenga, the same species is known as Keyalinbele. Unless noted, they are the same in both worlds. For simplicity, they will be described by their Dira name - Kirnemian or Kir for short.

Kirnemians are more commonly known as the the Kir, a species of ken living beyond the borders of the old Hesberian Empire. They were nevered conquered and they also never sought Hesberian land. The few skirmishes between Kir warriors and the Hesberian army demonstrated the superiority of the Kir infantry to the Hesberian's infantry. (However, the Kir did not have calvary as such, allowing the Hesberians to escape a total rout.)

Personality: The Kir tend to be a peaceful people that enjoy the spoken word, linguistics, vocal arts and drama. Kir are generally welcoming of new ken and enjoy discussing new ideas with anyone with the patience and forbearance to listen. By comparison, the most quiet and reserved Kir would be considered chatty by most ken standards. Other ken tend to react negatively to Kir, especially with their tendency to speak in never-ending run-on sentences. There are Kir that enjoy a good fight and those that devote themselves to a temple, but most Kir tend to enjoy working in the market selling vegetables or cloth or any manner of goods because of the opportunity afforded to talk to others.

Physical description: Kirnemians are broad, squat humanoids with a greyish red, thick, leathery skin. Their eye color ranges from typical colors of green, brown, and hazel. They can also have bright golden colored eyes (not yellow), but do not have grey or blue eyes. They are about five to five-and-a-half foot tall. They are broad in the shoulder and the trunk with two stocky legs.Their heads are wider than a human's but not longer from scalp to chin. Except for the presecene of a second mouth, they could be mistaken for a beardless Duregar or Dwarf. The second mouth is located just below the rib cage in the center of the abdomen. It is capable of speech as it has its own set of lungs and voice box, like the upper mouth. The lower mouth, though, is the only mouth that allows for eating. The upper mouth can only be used to breathe and to speak. Each set of lungs is smaller than for most humanoids and considering the physical difficulties of both sets of lungs holding air at the same time, they are unable to hold their breath completely for any length of time.

The Kir generally have a weak digestive system. Their food is considered bland and overcooked by most other ken. The Kir would describe their food as very subtle in flavor and prepared dry as a matter of preference. The Kir are not capable of drinking beer or strong drink. They enjoy a type of white wine, but generally drink water and teas.

They dress in whatever clothes are fashionable in various lands except for heavy shirts that would cover the lower mouth. Many enjoy wearing Hesberian togas and traditional garb which consists of a specially made leather jerkin with a cotton half-shirt underneath and breeches. The third button of the jerkin allows a Kir to expose the lower mouth for eating or talking. This can be fastened on the wearer's left side to close the rectangular flap, or their right side to open it.

Relations: The Kir are quite sociable and strive to maintain good relations with all ken. However, as Kir have the appearance of constantly talking, Duregar avoid them and Ilosians consider them undisciplined and annonying. The Kir enjoy humans – the younger generations tend to imitate various aspects of human life, most notably their dress. Like others, they dread the violent Sook.

Kir lands and society: The Kir enjoy having an urban society and pay great attention to spoken and theathrical arts. Their society has enjoyed real peace for hundreds of years. Elements of their traditional culture still thrive in older cities. Certain artisans still practice the art of harmonic speaking and singing. Despite two airways and voiceboxes, it is still uncommon for a Kirnemian to use both at the same time with any amount of skill. (generally they switch back and forth, one speaks while to other inhales.)

Those with this skill and the ability to use magic have a superhuman ability to control their magic. In general, they are not able to discover new spells or magic abilities easily. Instead, what they do know and use is quite reliable. When Kir spellcasters cast a spell, it will do what they intended unless countered by another spellcaster or the traget has immunity to the magical effect. Their spells do not backfire in any way.

In Lenga, they are almost always surgura and not echewa.

Religion: The Kir acknowledge their own pantheon of Gods. The most revered being similar to Ebulus, a god of the Sun, art, and medicine. Those that become preists concern themselves with ritual chants and sacred rites, the most sacred being a vow of silence. Preists are generally revered for piety as the clergy have little power over day to day life of an average Kir.

Language: Ancient Kir spoke a di-tonal language that often relied on speaking in chords. Speaking in a third chord conveyed a different meaning from speaking in a fifth chors. Speaking in the same tone had a different meaning still. Over time, however, the Kir learned to speak in the same tone and with only one mouth. To keep the meaning of ancient texts, the language added a series of markers to denote the correct tone. The word pra before and after a phrase or sentence denotes a third chord. A single pra added to a word adds the meaning of a third chord to that word only. There are seventeen markers to denote the sixteen chords and monotone in Kir music. (There are sixteen notes in their scale as opposed to twelve in many Western scales.)

The ancient language cannot be spoken without the aid of magic for most ken. Kir that are trained in harmonic speaking are much sought-after to read the ancient texts.

Names: More on this later

Combat: Their chain mail armor is still the strongest for its weight currently made by anyone in the known world. They are master infantrymen as the stockiness and low center of gravity make them difficult for even calvary to plow through. They do not ride horses and rely on archers and spellcasters for long-range attacks. An individual Kir tends to lack skill for single combat, though they naturally wrestle well.

Adventurers: Kir love to learn new things and so they tend to be enthusiatic companions. However, their combat skill tends to develop over time making them less valuable in times of crisis for an adventuring party.
Kir RACIAL TRAITS

More on this later.

• Automatic Languages: Kir

DESCRIPTION TABLES

Random Height and Weight

Mavinian Deck of Cards

For the definition of a Mavinian Deck of Cards, consult the Encyclopedia Hesberica here. In short, a Mavinian Deck is a five-suited deck of cards with twelve ranks in each suit. The top card is the Merchant. The next set of cards range from one to ten. The lowest card is the Servant card.

A group of people known as the Mavinian Traders use these cards for amusement as well as communication in their own language. Each deck is hand-crafted, usually by the person using a given deck. Many are crudely made with whatever material is at hand, but a few are ornately made with the Merchant and Servants cards drawn with faces.

On the downloads page you can download pdfs and an all-in-one zip file. Individual OpenOffice Draw files will be posted soon. These example files do not represent an ornate deck. Instead they will serve as a prototype deck for playtesting.

These cards are very close to Las Vegas poker card standards - 2.35" wide and 3.25" long. The corners are rounded with a 1/4" radius.

© 2024 Sycarion Diversions

Theme by Anders NorenUp ↑