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The Manus and Pria

In the vast Astral Sea are countless planes. Each one has distinctive qualities that make it different from any other plane. On each plane is a being that is composed of the plane's very essence - it is made up of those qualities that make the plane distinctive. These primordial beings or primordials take form in various ways. Many primordials take on the physical essence of a plane. Others, like the Pria, take on the spiritual essence of their home world.

Cerah is a place of vivid colors. Like the Prime Material Plane, there are brightly-colored flowers, but on Cerah the colors are richer, deeper and almost palpable. Regardless of the climate found on all three continents, there is abundant life and life forms. It is not necessarily idyllic as death is also a part of life, but the sensations to all five senses are richer and more intense.

Amongst the gods worshiped here, the most popular are  Kehindupan and his wife Kemashian. Throughout the three continents, any race with sentience has constructed temple-library complexes to honor them. The Temple-Library is also an institution of higher learning and students stream in to study the collected knowledge of Cerah.

Despite the universal love for Kehinupan and Kemashian, only the Manus and the Pria become priests for them. These two races have a special relationship to these gods. The Manus were the first-created on Cerah. They believe that they are created in form and spirit like gods of life and death. As a mark of their favor, the Manus were given a secret knowledge to create a soul. The use of this knowledge is not perceived as an abomination, but as a tribute to the powerful gods of life and death. Manusian priests spend years in study to learn the secret to making the Exilir of Souls and using it to create the Pria.

The first Pria created is the same gender as the priest. When created, the Pria is an adult, but the creating priest spends at least five years training their creation how to interact with society. Priests of Kehindupan are renown for authoring masterworks about etiquette and social graces. Using these books and other materials, a Pria learns about the world around them and how to interact in society like the Manus.

One to three years after creating the first Pria, the priest will create a second one of the opposite gender. A priest will never create more than two. The created Pria consider themselves siblings.

Most created Pria remain near the temple-libraries where they were created. Regardless of where they decide to live, the Pria are devout worshipers of Kehindupan and Kemashian. Usually they choose to be priests, paladins or mystic theurges with a tremendous talent for alchemy.

Prian marriages are arranged by the Manusian priests.  Siblings cannot marry each other. A few marriages are arranged to gain favor or position within church hierarchy, most, however, are arranged by a byzantine set of rules known as the Diyerni Zor. The purpose of the Diyerni Zor is to prevent health issues with the children of Pria. Pria couples are not limited to the number of children they may have. Large families are common.

Freeborn Pria are like a Manus in every respect. The only hint that points to their ancestry is  a lock of silver and red hair. Not all freeborn Pria  have this distinctive mark. Otherwise, Pria are physically a slightly idealized form of the Manus. Pria do not consider themselves superior in any way, but those outside of Cerah usually consider the Pria more beautiful. Both the Manusians and the Pria appear as humans approximately six feet tall. They have an elongated head and a very flat nose with a single nostril shaped like a horizontal slit. On their foreheads is a barely noticeable vestigial third eye. Their arms and fingers are proportionally longer than a human's. Both races prefer to dress in simple robes of white with a brightly-colored sash. The robes also conceal the fact that both races appear bowlegged. This is due to a limited hinge joint located half-way between the knee and the hip.

In game terms, I imagine the Priests of Kehindupan and Kemashian are similar to the Newhonian White Wizards featured at the Hill Cantons site. The post with the revised PDF is here. They also have the power to imbue a handful of spells to the Pria they created. (This ability is similar to the Psionic ability to imbue abilities.) The Pria doesn't pray to their Manusian creator, but mentions their creator in prayers to Kehindupan and Kemashian.

One specialty of the Manusian Priests is alchemy. Learning to create a Pria provides experience in making various potions and understand their effect on the body. The alchemy is also essential to create the Exilir of Souls, a substance that allows the Manusian to create a soul at all.

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2 Comments

  1. Sean Holland

    Quite fascinating and intriguing. What do they think of other races who are so far from their creators?

  2. sycarion

    Young Pria may ask, “Do your priests create people like us, too?”

    Pria see every sentient race as created by someone. In that sense, there is much in common. The fact that almost all other races do not have their creators to walk, talk and adventure with is met with pity or bewilderment in extreme cases, though most reactions are mild. It is a source of curiousity, especially amongst the created Pria. They often innocently ask questions similar to “what is it like to …”

    Freeborn Pria are not nearly as concerned about the difference as they were born in the same way as most other sentient species. To the contrary, outsiders marvel at the lack of stratification between the Freeborn and the Created Pria.

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