shadow pridak money gang

Nope, don't even sweat it. There's no worries about profile approval before posting in the BZPRPG, same as when you were last here. Have fun, and as long as the visions don't get too metagame-y feel free to have fun with those too. my heart is in freaking tatters already wow. Sad! -Tyler

SHE IS PERFECT GLOWING MY DRUNKEN VALKYRIE SLOB OH MY GOD -Tyler

Everyone: assume six to eight weeks as far as the timeskip goes. Joske? Echelon? Dorian? All considered dead. Makuta is back, and everyone feels it, but no one is willing to say the words aloud yet. -Tyler

-Staff Characters- Name: Chojo [Crown Princess] Umbraline Desdemona Species: Dasaka Caste and Clan: Menti Caste, Umbraline Clan Gender: Female Appearance: Desdemona is a willowy creature, just inches over the average height but slim and slender enough to require a layer of slim, interlocking crystal armor over the upper half of her body wherever she goes, as though she were a bauble that were in danger of breaking. Her actual armor is a dark navy, so dark it appears almost black, with fine golden trimmings running near the joints and along her chest in ornamental patterns. Her face has a similar look; attractive to behold but frail and slim, only her eyes look consistently healthy. They are a deep, powerful navy blue, a rare color for a Dasaka that may be linked to her prowess as a Menti and telepath. Weapon(s): For her court appearances, when Desde made them, she carried a long, ornate crystal dagger marking her as a member of the ruling clan. But she was not particularly skilled at using it and instead deigns to carry with her a small pouch around her neck, along with three crystal spheres fashioned for her by her nurse as a child. Her Soulsword process, historically middling compared to her prowess in the other three Menti disciplines, has recently begun to manifest in odd spurts. Mask: Kanohi Sanok, the Great Mask of Accuracy, in the shape of a Hau. Powers: To make up for her lack of strength and fortitude from birth Desdemona was blessed with a profound, natural knack for the Willhammer, Mindarm, and Sighteye disciplines, as well as her lifelong prowess at Ideatalk; she and her sister were two of the youngest Menti fast tracked to Battlemaster in the history of the Empire, and it is a source of endless pride that she managed to reach the rank before her sister. Her ability is such that it is almost always on, with the same amount of effort it takes to remember to breath or swallow food. In general, it manifests as nothing more than a quiet mental tug for most and when she wants to she can drop most of her whims and desires into another person’s head and embed them there, in the subconscious mind. She kept this, as well as most of the range of her abilities, secret, so as to avoid scorn or undue attention on her family while they maintained control over the island, but the end of civilization and an enormous Soulsword Kanohi Dragon tends to pull the lid off the crown princess' powers. Traits: Quiet and reserved from her years spent in glorified house arrest, Desdemona is a sharp, politically savvy girl who realizes the gravity of her birth, her powers, and her situation. If not for her birth as an Umbraline and second daughter of the Rora it is entirely possible she would be abandoned or shunted to some other lesser clan affiliated with her family, for her situation is one that unnerves many of the matriarchs in her clan. She is shy and sweet, always willing to be of assistance to the sister she idolizes, but resents the fact that Yumiwa values handmaidens more than her and sees her as a summit to climb, a benchmark for her own achievements rather than her younger sister. [Her Soulsword process, historically middling compared to her prowess in the other three Menti disciplines, has recently begun to manifest in odd spurts.] Since her kidnapping at the hands of Clan Fursic, subsequent escape and the fall of Sado, D̸̩̀e̸̺͝s̸̞̽d̵͓̋e̴͖͌m̸̩̉õ̸̗n̸̠̚ả̴̧ has grown bolder and more outspoken with her opinions. She has been freed from her tower, albeit under the worst possible circumstances, and she has no desire to ever be imprisoned again. [Mask: Kanohi Sanok, the Great Mask of Accuracy, in the shape of a Hau.] Biography: If she were in any other clan – even the Fursics – she would be dead. Desdemona was born almost a month early, frail and already sick from the day of her birth, and her very survival was, depending on which gossip you talked to, either a stroke of luck or some sort of omen from Zuto Nui; on her very first night alive she had used what could only be natural telepathy to scan Yusanora’s mind and plant a single word there: D̷̘̦̬̣̱̰̮͓͉̫͈̠̑̎͊̅̽͝ȅ̶͕̹͙̣̌͆͋̌͑͐ͅs̶̢̟͈̞͔̠̲̬̮̩͙̄̓͛̔͘͜͜͝d̵̢̛̺͈̱̂̊̅̒̓̀̀̈́̈́e̴͕̥̭͖̪̬͗̍̋̎̾͌͆͆̄̎͘m̷̳͉̪̱͈̹̞͚̫̣͗̌͑͌̈́͑̋͌͊o̶̜͍͎̞̬͎͕̞̣̟̽̿̌̓͗̌̎̓̾̍͝͠͝n̸͕̝̲̘̠͂̅̐̽̀̄̏͋̈́̕͝ͅą̵̛͉̠͖͊̏̀͂͊͂̊͌̒͊͘̕ͅͅ The name stuck, and over the course of her life the natural prowess of the Rora’s second daughter manifested at odd times, in odder places; the usage was never more than fleeting but it was decided that she should be tutored as a Willhammer in private, away from anyone else training as a Menti. After she was trained as ably as she could be – at a certain point she started to overshadow many of her own tutors – the isolation stuck, for both her sake and to prevent her from inadvertently latching on to those at court who she may affect and manipulate – publicly, anyway. If she were in any other clan – even the Fursics – she would be dead. Desdemona spent much of her life confined to the Imperial Palace grounds, a potential harbinger of the Rora's decline that none dared publicly reveal the extent of...until the Rora's decline came upon her anyway, at the launch party for the Chiisai Ryuu. Convinced of Fursic involvement, the Chojo began her own ill-advised investigation. She found herself kidnapped for her efforts, and would have died at the hands of the Fursics if not for her sister's sworn sword, Korae Inokio, and the assistant to her uncle Umbraline Masayoshi. The princess had scarcely recovered from her ordeal before the Rahkshi fell upon Sado. In the chaos, Desdemona manifested a miracle - a fully formed Soulsword, in the shape of a Kanohi Dragon, to cover the escape of countless civilian ships. The trauma of this manifestation left her comatose for most of the voyage to Mata Nui, and her presence on the Ideatalk plane has become even more dominant and invasive than before. D̵̡̧̧̛̛̖̗̙̺̞͔͉̯̟̟̝̗̙͇̤̠͕͓̦̖́̅̅̊̈́̐̉̀̔͗͘͜ͅe̴̡̹̜̮̗̖̤̤̖̰͎̳̯̿͊̄͋̈̕͜s̴͚̻̩̤̩̟̬͍̽̅͂̈́̍̅̈́̆̂̕͘͠͝d̵̡͓̩̟͓̜̫̖̝̣̮̹̙̝̈́̐̓͗̈́̃̓̃͗̓́̉̄̍̔͂̈́͛͑̓̔͊͝ȩ̴̧̛̠̩̬̻̱͉̣̣͚̼͕̠̥̻̭͑̔̈́͂͌̓̄̎̃̔͂́̇́̍̚͝m̶̢̢̡̛̛̠̘̻͉̟͙͕̹͓̦̪̣͖̯̠̭̻͔̘̟̬͋̆̈̅̐̌̐̄̂̍̓̍̋͐͠ṏ̷̡̪͎͚̰̠̟̟̹̗̝́̏̇͜n̵̢̙̤̠̞̱͖͉͕̰̋̈́̇̀̓̌̆̔̾̓̋̿̈́̇̿͂̔͌́̽͊̋͂͘͘͜͝͠ͅa̵̧̖̦͌̇̏̂̂̑̀̈́̐̐͗͆̀̀͛ Weakness(es):D̵̡̧̧̛̛̖̗̙̺̞͔͉̯̟̟̝̗̙͇̤̠͕͓̦̖́̅̅̊̈́̐̉̀̔͗͘͜ͅe̴̡̹̜̮̗̖̤̤̖̰͎̳̯̿͊̄͋̈̕͜s̴͚̻̩̤̩̟̬͍̽̅͂̈́̍̅̈́̆̂̕͘͠͝d̵̡͓̩̟͓̜̫̖̝̣̮̹̙̝̈́̐̓͗̈́̃̓̃͗̓́̉̄̍̔͂̈́͛͑̓̔͊͝ȩ̴̧̛̠̩̬̻̱͉̣̣͚̼͕̠̥̻̭͑̔̈́͂͌̓̄̎̃̔͂́̇́̍̚͝m̶̢̢̡̛̛̠̘̻͉̟͙͕̹͓̦̪̣͖̯̠̭̻͔̘̟̬͋̆̈̅̐̌̐̄̂̍̓̍̋͐͠ṏ̷̡̪͎͚̰̠̟̟̹̗̝́̏̇͜n̵̢̙̤̠̞̱͖͉͕̰̋̈́̇̀̓̌̆̔̾̓̋̿̈́̇̿͂̔͌́̽͊̋͂͘͘͜͝͠ͅa̵̧̖̦͌̇̏̂̂̑̀̈́̐̐͗͆̀̀͛ is physically weak and incapable of hand-to-hand combat. Her prodigious Menti powers, possibly the strongest in living memory, have started to manifest an unprecedented fourth Discipline - telltale hints of which have also begun seeping into her Mindarm, which rattles objects at a distance without her will, Sighteye, which induces mild hallucinatory illusions in unprotected beings, and her prodigious Willhammer. Her tell, which once manifested as deja vu, can seem to trap people in a skipping version of the same moment, sentences repeating upon themselves again and again and again and sentences repeating upon themselves again again and again and again and again and-- -Personal Characters- Name: Reordin Maru Species: Toa of Ice Gender: Male Powers: Due to using Kopaka’s Essence Stone, Reordin has immensely honed control over the element of Ice and can resist some of the coldest temperatures on Mata Nui for extended periods of time. Kanohi: Reordin wears a Kanohi Tauhaka, a Mask of Alchemy. The Kahoni Tauhaka allows its user to change the material or element(s) of one object into another. For example,Reordin could turn a tree from wood to stone, or a metal door to glass, the transmuted object gaining all the new strengths and weaknesses of the new material. The Tauhaka cannot create or destroy new things; it can only alter already-created items. The rate of change is determined on the size of the object – the larger the object, the more time is required exponentially to transmute its substance. Against living beings, the Tauhaka is far less effective. Weapons: For weapons, Reordin wields two ice axes (what most people would call ice picks) with serrated inner edges; the weapons are versatile for both combat or for maneuvers which may require him to grab onto something such as the top of a building or the crevice of a canyon. Appearance: Tall and noble looking, with the poise of a leader, Reordin has the lean, athletic physique of an athlete and a soldier. His old, custom-designed black and white armor has transformed now that he’s a Toa, becoming a smooth, seamless blend of whites, with accents of grey and black across his entire frame lending a less conformed look to his attractive body shape. The Toa of Ice is built for free running, and spikes on his feet allow him to climb up a variety of surfaces, such as mountains or canyons. Reordin’s face is handsome, with defined cheeks, a strong jaw, and a thin mouth that seems to be continually smirking. Most notable are his eyes: two big, steel blue orbs shrouded in mystery that seem to focus like those of falcons gazing at prey when he’s examining something or coming up with a plan; his gaze can either pierce your soul or warm it, depending on his feelings towards you. Alignment: Wanderer's Company (Neutral Good) Abilities: Extremely diverse knowledge of parkour, or free running; his body is adjusted for the toughest physical conditions, and he has borderline Calix-level power over his body movements. He's also versed in several different hand-to-hand and sword-fighting styles. Reordin has the natural poise and tactical brilliance of a leader, and has a good feel for the emotions of his men and how to assuage them. Personality: As a lifelong soldier and cop, Reordin has always made his living off of what he believe: namely, the subtle facial tells of a suspect's face, the evidence someone leaves behind at a murder or robbery scene, or the tactical layout of the place where a perp is hiding out. Destiny is not high on his list of favorite things, nor is the concept of fate; as someone who has deliberately plotted out his own life path ahead of time, the Toa of Ice is a very quick thinker, always planning on the move, even sometimes switching up his entire battle strategy in the middle of engagement if only to confuse his enemy and give him the upper hand. During his time with the Wanderer's Company and his tenure as Stannis' presumptive deputy, however, Reordin has developed an appreciation for deep thinking as well as quick thinking, often trying for the sake of the rest of his team members to create a hybrid of the two that both fits his leadership style and the purpose the team was assembled for. The personality imbibed into him by Kopaka's Essence Stone has only furthered this begrudging appreciation for the philosophical. Though he may occasionally be the butt of jokes for this, Reordin is not a man who suffers fools gladly, and will pay back a jibe or a gag in turn down the road, and much more sharply. His anger can be a simmering thing, long and bitter, and he will nurse resents for a time, but in the end his bonds with his team and his friends are unbreakable. Despite his penchant for provoking personal conflicts, he will always come to their aid - if only to make them feel like tossers for going against him in the first place. Biography: Reordin started out his days as a simple Matoran - a bright eyed idealist, in fact - with a sense of duty to Mata Nui and to his people. The moment that he reached the age of eligibility, he signed up for the Sanctum Guard and quickly became one of Ko-Koro's most well-known beat cops; criminals and Guards alike both feared and respected him for his growing willingness to go outside the boundaries of what a normal cop would do, and only by the skin of his teeth and his brilliant capture record did he escape administrative action. However, while leading a platoon of Sanctum Guard troops for the Island Liberation Squad in the Battle of the Hive, Reordin's lieutenant, Darrick Bane, as well as the majority of his men, were killed in combat; the two other survivors died en route to Ko-Koro to spread the news.With no one to corroborate his actions, Reordin - along with, unknowingly, his Ussalry counterpart and bromance partner Sulov Koskium - were placed on administrative leave; while Sulov was discharged, Ko-Koro was attacked by terrorists before Reordin's case could be reviewed, and the lieutenant immediately led a group of ILS forces to the village to see what he could do. He is currently assisting his home in any way he can, all whilst bearing in mind the ominous visit of a strange Ta-Matoran the morning after the Battle of the Hive, during which Reordin was told to watch for the Wanderer, who would change his life forever. So he watched. And watched. And watched. And…Stannis. Instantly, he and the Pa-Matoran butted heads, arguing over strategy, the Essence Stones, what the fate of the Chosen may be, and, at the crux of each debate, the faith of the saint vs. the logic of the soldier. Throughout their journey, however (and with the help of a certain Le-Matoran flygirl turned Chosen One) Reordin managed to develop a budding appreciation for the Wanderer’s style of leadership. When Stannis and Oreius, another Matoran from the team, were separated from the rest of the Company, Reordin took charge and collected two of the remaining stones while Stannis’ half of the team collected Pohatu’s. When the team linked back up together, Stannis and Reordin (kind of) buried the hatchet, and the team used the Essence Stones to transform into Toa. Now Reordin is a Toa of Ice in the vein of Kopaka, and is learning to use the power of the First Toa whilst not completely surrendering himself over to the personality of his predecessor. Of all the predecessors he could have gotten, it was Reordin's forefather that ended up being Heuani; the Toa of Ice refused to follow in his footsteps and assisted in the final vanquishing of Makuta. After the battle and the team's experiences in Mangaia, Reordin returned to Ko-Koro to defend the village. He was instrumental in leading the resistance against the Legacy, bringing the ILF as a shock force and reuniting with the Maru there to drive out what remained of Makuta's garrison. He once again serves as the village's chief protector. Weaknesses: As a Toa of Ice, Reordin isn’t big on fire or intense heat, and his penchant for cockiness in the face of an enemy hasn’t exactly dulled much, either. Name: Akiri Hahli Species: Matoran Alignment: Ga-Koro Gender: Female Appearance: Hahli is of average height and width for a Matoran – possibly an inch shorter than normal – well-formed and graceful. She carries herself with a speed borne of military training that belies her soft, poetic nature. Weapon(s): As a Marine, Hahli is talented with all manner of Matoran tools and weapons; she practices with a Bamboo Bow regularly but does not carry it with her many times, leaving her with just a Bamboo Disk, Ga-Koro fishing staff, and a long, well-made dagger given to her by Akiri Jaller. The blade is Protosteel edged with rena and the hilt is black, polished Muaka bone; though somewhat plain looking the blade is powerful and expertly crafted, and will never give out or break. She also came into possession of one suit in the first wave of Exo-Matoran, serial number C09T, through her influence as Akiri. She's fallen in love with piloting it around Ga-Koro for fun as of late, and in her off hours has fun swapping out its Patero Launcher and rotating triple trident arms for pressurized water cannons and reinforced, wedge-shaped feet for kicking beach balls. This configuration, nicknamed 'Summer Hahli,' is a known urban legend in Ga-Wahi and in the nightmares of Akiri Jaller. As a backup, her faithful assistant Eutuchia's Exo-Matoran, serial number Z63L, is often used to rotate parts and weaponry in case her primary Exo-Matoran takes damage - or, in times of great injustice, used to combine into a larger, two-pilot Exo-Matoran. This configuration, nicknamed 'Hahli Gattai,' definitely lives in Jaller's nightmares. Which is why it's based. Mask: Powerless Great Kaukau Powers: Control of Ga-Koro and a natural grace with her surroundings: this gives Hahli greater ease when moving around, whether through athletics, parkour, or other physical activities. Traits: Though a formerly high-ranking Marine, with all the borderline workaholism that the moniker implies, Hahli is, at heart, a poet. She has a deep-running appreciation for the world around her and often looks for the philosophy in life where others may overlook it. She’s a student of history, a firm believer that while history may not always repeat itself, it does always at least rhyme, so she’s trained herself to learn from any mistakes she made as a Marine and improve on them as an Akiri. Though she’s loving towards all of Mata Nui in general, and often tries to mediate small-scale conflicts between other Akiri, she will ultimately put her village and people above all else, and will detach entirely from communication for weeks at a time if conflict truly does arise, leaving Ga-Koro an oasis of peace and neutrality in Mata Nui. Despite her poetic and generally peaceful nature, Hahli can use her gift of words to call upon her incredibly sharp wit; the Akiri can deliver a barb twice as piercing as any stingray with just words, and her time with the Marines and outfoxing the Toa Daedra and Nokama's murderers has left her Biography: Hahli cut her teeth in the Marines, serving Ga-Koro and Turaga Nokama – her mother figure – as diligently and loyally as could be. She was kidnapped and held by Nokama's murderer, a cavalier Skakdi by the name of Grokk, and forced to watch her Turaga die - alongside several of the Toa "Arete," secretly the Daedra. When Ga-Koro's supposed protectors and Nokama's killer both viewed her as a loose end, Hahli slipped free and went to ground in Ga-Wahi for the last weeks of Makuta's fall, evading capture by Makuta's forces. She returned in the chaotic aftermath of Makuta's fall, to the joy of all her friends and fellow citizens who thought her dead. Well-known and loved throughout the village, the intrepid Ga-Matoran was voted into the position of Akiri in a near-landslide. Hahli accepted the position with the same humility and care she accepted her charge as a Marine with, and she does so to this day. Weakness(es): As a Matoran, Hahli has none of the powers, strength or size of other, larger beings, leaving her weaker in a melee fight. Name: The Red Hot Chili Pepper ("Redhot") Species: Toa Gender: Male Mask: Kanohi Pakari Powers: Elemental Power of Earth Equipment: His elbows, fearsome things to behold, have been known to cave in a man's cheekbones - no matter how pretty - with a single crushing blow. Has fists like marbled ham, if you put marbled ham on a morningstar and slapped someone in the face with it Pakari-tier. Appearance: About a hand-and-a-half taller than the Toa average, and thick with muscle; Redhot's jaw is lantern-shaped and spare, his face stark and teeth massive, but his grin always betrays a certain cheerfulness, and scarlet eyes brim with energy, giving him a youthful cast. Bears midnight black armor, with some concession to bright red streaks on the vambrances, calves, and heartlight. His costume is a single bandana tied around each wrist and a half-mask that covers his eyes, shaped in the form of a bright red bell pepper. Personality: Soft-spoken and friendly, the Red Hot Chili Pepper takes his name less from his personality and more from his famously resilient taste buds - he loves all manner of spicy or hot foods and can wax poetic about them for hours. Also passingly fond of good alcohol, though he tries not to get drunk when he can help it. Red Hot Chili Pepper tends to serve best as a lowkey bastion of wisdom and advice, though he is more than willing to function as a party tank if need be, raising the question of whether there might be a little bit of a berserker's streak to him after all. Biography: See Whitehot. Name: The White Hot Munequita ("Whitehot") Species: Toa Gender: Female Powers and/or weapons: Earth, super-strength, jar of dirt, Swole Hatchetton the Swole Hatchet Appearance: Whitehot is either an inch or two taller or smaller than her brother; no one really knows because when the two stand together, a witness tends to be thrown bodily into the air so high that all other witnesses are forced to locate him, like a golf ball voyaging whimsically across the cosmos. Either way, tall and shapely, with muscled arms, legs and abdomen lending her the power of a brick (HOOOUSE) the Warrant Officer tends to cut a striking figure in her navy Marine uniform, clashing against her white and black armor set and highlighting her cheerful green eyes. Her Pakari is shaped like a Kualsi and colored a light grey. Technological items: Volo Lutu Launcher Weakness(es): Her little brother's ######, being an Earth Toa in a largely aquatic environment Alignment: Hot Personality: Despite looking like a happy-go-lucky bimbo, Whitehot shares her brother's love of a fight and berserker's streak, though tends to be much less vigilante about it. Her time with her partner has slowly coaxed her out of her shell a bit, but Whitehot still tends to be the "bad" cop (AYY YO MA) and it requires a lot more to earn her respect than her happy-go-lucky big brother. She could still drink your ###### under the table doe she's not the White Hot Munequita for nothing. Biography: Whitehot was born to a poor family in Onu-Koro famous for its obscenely muscled, ridiculously laid back kids, but most of her easy-going attitude was spent on trying to keep her younger brother Redhot out of trouble. A huge kid even by Hot Family standards, and always down for a brawl, Redhot grew up wanting to pound people into the dirt for a living under the Ussalry banner, but after his infamously disastrous entry exam her brother went off to the Crucible with all the funds he'd intended to save up for his Ussalry uniform. Whitehot went out through Mata Nui, from the highest jungle to the meanest snowbank, looking for her brother. Finally, heartbroken and nearly hopeless, she stumbled into a hall in Ga-Koro known as the Crucible - there she saw not only her brother, cleaned up and happier than she'd seen him in a year, staring starry-eyed at a young Toa of Fire who was literally jumping rope with a drunk's body. Satisfied that Redhot's new infatuation could keep him on point for the time being, but still wanting to keep an eye on her brother regardless, Whitehot took the entry exam for the Ga-Koro Marines and passed with flying colors. Her only request was the ability to choose her own partner, a totally contradictory pretty boy who was just coming off a slump of his own [NOT WHAT YOU THINK] and took a similar Warrant Officer job. Name: Deuandra, the Diamond Fox Species: Cy-Lesterin Gender: Female Powers: As a Lesterin of Crystal, Deuandra has an incredibly acute sense of vision and tends to emit a hallucinogenic, Lightstone-ish glow that has been chemically imbalanced to strobe various colors. Over the years, under the influence of her various concoctions, she has on occasion accidentally caught a glimpse of her own fluorescent reflection and nearly shocked herself into catatonia. Luckily, not many of these are fatal thanks to her Lesterin physiology. Kanohi: Kanohi Iden, Great Mask of Spirit Weapons: Deuandra is not trusted with weapons, so to speak, save for her Kitab al-Stevia, or Book of the Pure Waters. With this tome, she seeks to purify the blood Arms bleeds, denoting various chemical formulae and their use for battle or recreation. She also has a small, electronic device powered by hand cranking with enough memory to record and repeat one song ad nauseum. (approved by Tyler) Appearance: A Lesterin of slightly shorter than average stature, Deuandra’s unintimidating presence nonetheless feels as though it could never fit into polite Lesterin society. Her face is sharp and attractive but unkempt; her lime green Kanohi has been slapped over with hues of gold. They pair well with her white armor and blue highlights around the torso and limbs, but her haphazard mask is but one example of her carelessness regarding how she looks. She has painted the brand of Khy;barr on both shoulders, seemingly just to do it, even though she is technically not a slave herself. Her fingertips, which have been constantly singed by chemical fire or subject to decay, have been painted back over with smiling faces drawn on each fingertip. She wears goggles that constantly hide her bloodshot eyes, even outside the confines of her lab. She also has a generally haggard, emaciated look to her; perhaps one of her greatest assets to the fort is that she never seems to actually partake in food, and as such cannot be a drain on Arms’ resources. Alignment: Khy;barr (Best [Chaotic] of the Worst [Neutral]) Abilities: Her Lesterin racial abilities aside, the main thing keeping Deuandra’s weak sense of self together is her intelligence. She is whip smart and has a knack for chemistry and anatomy, having just enough of an idea how species might respond to potent substances that she can personalize brews that work best for whatever warrior comes barreling into her lab. She supplies Arms with a number of potions, drugs, or healing poultices for his conquests, and hasn’t come anywhere close to running out of ideas. She records every successful recipe in her book. Personality: It’s important to look beneath the surface with Deuandra. She’s capable of a facsimile of casual conversation, but it may not be altogether pleasant one. Usually completely enthralled by the possibilities of her work, she can be curt and dismissive of any disruptions, save for Arms himself, to whom she extends a sort of detached gratitude for his resources. Any time he lumbers in, she makes sure to actually check on what exactly she’s brewing up before handing to him, suggesting she is aware somewhere in her brain of the consequences for handing off the wrong drug. None of them ever seem to affect him adversely, even when she has no plausible explanation for why, but she just considers that proof of a continually satisfied customer. Everyone else who doesn’t take what they want from her narcotic buffet and leave is subject to heavy sarcasm and barely disguised impatience. But rest assured, inside her head, Deuandra is having fun. Constantly dancing around to the one-song soundtrack of her life, she sees the world in hues even she doesn’t have the words to describe. She is a passenger in her own brain, utterly riveted by the sights that it has to show her; she lacks much self-image and seems perennially on the edge of disappearing into a puff of technicolor smoke and wafting back out into the sky. She is used to passing out from one mishap in her lab or another and doesn’t seem cognizant of the fact that she has, in fact, been the lucky recipient of a number of successful Tryna usages - combined with subconscious use of her Iden. As she’s never dead longer than a few minutes, these are technically more resuscitations than they are resurrections. She is educated on matters of science and Zakaz’s history and has reason to believe that the beginnings of her cookbook date back to Lamo-Lyco-Oshan itself. In fact, she seems fond of conspiracies and ghost stories in particular, and rumors abound of the witch in the bowels of Khy;barr who plies her black magic and attempts to reforge links with the old, dark gods of the Lesterin. Biography: Deuandra is the second generation in a family of singularly talented alchemists – with singularly bad taste in benefactors. Her mother, Deandra, was renowned throughout Seprilli as a renaissance woman – equal parts skilled healer, potent bombmaker, culinary artiste and narcotics dabbler. Ever a woman with a flair for the dramatic, she fashioned herself the White Cobra of Seprilli. Locals who had been on the receiving end of her caustic nature were less charitable with their monikers, picking on her gangly looks and obnoxious nature by calling her, simply, “the Big Bird.” Whatever her spirit animal, Deandra and her adolescent daughter were in constant demand. Though they enjoyed a relationship that resembled teacher and student more closely than mother and daughter, they were nonetheless cordial with each other and worked well as a team. The first time Deuandra ever left Seprilli was with her mother, as part of Malnak Seprillian’s campaign through the Zakaz delta. Their bombs were crucial in the taking of several fortresses, their healing poultices helped seal wounds many warriors would have thought mortal, and their more unsavory concoctions provoked a battle haze akin to the fiercest Spine Slug reactions. Their success, however, was closely tied to Malnak’s; in the century after his conquest, the two Lesterin attached themselves to various causes and lesser warlords, attempting to find a customer base in the dangerous eastern areas beyond the Rift. None of these campaigns were particularly successful or notable, but it was on one of them where her mother met her end. As Deandra was preparing chemicals for the battle, her daughter had finally found the courage to crack open the Kitab al-Stevia, her mother’s book of secrets, formulae and theorems that had been kept from her all her life. To her shock, she realized that her mother was only capitalizing off the knowledge of others – using the shoulders of giants to inflate her own self-image and present herself as a genius. The resulting shock led to obsession with the book’s secrets quickly – biological theories and black magic abounded, enough to overwhelm the unprepared adolescent when her assistance was most needed. This led to a fatal misstep. Among the chemicals Deandra and Deuandra carried around was a single vial of Antidermis, the product of careful extraction from the very lip of the Rift; even the two scientists weren’t mad enough to enter for larger samples directly. It was up to Deuandra to mix the compounds their warlord benefactor relied on for his fervor in battle, and in her fugue state (or perhaps out of a detached, scientific curiosity, who could say?) she mixed the Antidermis into what she thought was the warlord’s potion. It was her mother’s coffee. What followed was chaos. The warlord, probably pretty fairly to be quite honest, blamed her for her mother’s death and considered her a traitor to his cause. She fled with nothing but the coat on her back and her mother’s book, scurrying into the wilds. What followed was survival by any means necessary, a lonely girl attempting to make do with what little hospitable flora the island of Zakaz had available. She fended well for a time, but it’s likely she would have died had a certain four-armed goliath not stumbled upon her looking for a place to dump his raw and fearsome materia. In one hand, he gripped the skull of some monstrous Rahi that Deuandra had never encountered before. With his other three, he began burdening her meager campsite with garbage. Through all this, Deuandra sat silently, brewing the hallucinogenic, mushroom-heavy goulash she had been subsisting off of for months. Arms, as is his wont and his right, took a great spoonful right from the broiling pot. What he saw after imbibing, he has never revealed – nor has Deuandra even been particularly curious enough to ask. What matters is that he signaled for her to follow, and she did. She took that to mean she had some freedom of movement when she arrived at Khy;barr (ironically, the very fortress her mother and her had been hired to help besiege) but she has never exercised it, preferring the simple comforts of her lab and the excitement of a new day of cooking over roaming around Arms’ grim demesne. Weaknesses: Deuandra has little capacity for caring or worrying about her own life. She might not even be cognizant of being permanently killed, so she doesn’t really sweat it much. Being unarmed doesn’t help her in this regard, but if someone has gotten deep enough into Khy;barr to dig her out, she’s probably toast anyway. So in the short term having no weapons is probably for the best. -Tyler

CHARACTER RULES Here is where you post the profile(s) for your BZPRPG character(s) (you must post a character's profile before you begin playing). Staff is not required to give approval for characters: you may post and play immediately. However, we can at any time ask you to modify characters if we think that they are too powerful or otherwise against the rules. There is no set pattern when creating character profiles, but if you need inspiration for what to put down, look at the outlines from others’ posts. SECTION I. General Rules In the profile page, you are allowed ONE POST; multiple posts by a single player will be deleted. Place all your characters into one post; this makes it easier for you, your fellow players, and the Staff to find your characters. You can have as many character as you want, as long as their profiles all fit into one post. Your character must belong in the Bionicle universe. This is not to say your character must be of an official Bionicle species, or come from an official location, but he or she must be something that could come from Bionicle. Specific guidelines about this are in the following sections. You cannot play as canon characters, like Tahu or Roodaka, unless doing so under explicit staff permission. Expies – characters that are essentially carbon copies of characters from other franchises, like Transformers or Star Wars – are also strongly discouraged. The point of the game is to create your own unique Bionicle-universe characters, so embrace the opportunity! This is the most important rule: Your character must be reasonable. No gods or other invincible characters. Your character MUST HAVE WEAKNESSES; it must be possible for other players to defeat them in combat. You must either post a picture of your character, or write a detailed description of his or her appearance – or both – in their profile. SECTION II. Suggested Profile Fields Unsure of what to include in your Character's profile? Below are some suggestions as to what would be useful subjects to cover. This is by no means a definitive list; you may include other categories, and some of these suggestions can also be omitted. Remember that the point of your character’s profile is to serve as a reference, so that others can interact accurately with him or her even upon first meeting. Try to be very informative. Here are the suggested profile fields (bold indicates a required field): Name: Species (Toa, Matoran, Turaga, etc.) A detailed description or image Gender Powers and/or weapons Technological items (and, if Foreign Tech, which staff member approved the item) Weakness(es) Alignment (good, evil, neutral, etc.) History Personality and traits SECTION III. The Lists Below you will find the lists of species, powers, and masks allowed in the BZPRPG. These lists have been carefully thought out; if a certain species or item is not on these lists, it has been omitted for a reason. All characters, unless given explicit staff permission to the contrary, are required to exist within the parameters of these lists. Playable Species: Matoran – No powers or powered masks Toa – One elemental power and one mask from the approved list Turaga – One heavily weakened elemental power and one mask from the approved list Vortixx – No powers or masks, two pieces of foreign technology Skakdi – One elemental power (requires two Skakdi in conjunction to use), one vision power, one piece of foreign technology. See Zakaz Exception in Section IV Technology for Zakazian Skakdi. Parakuka – No powers alone, but can be very powerful when bonded to a host (See here for more information on the Parakuka; if your character has bonded with a Parakuka, say so in that character's profile). Lesterin – Special innate elemental abilities and either one mask from the approved list OR one piece of foreign technology (See here for more information on the Lesterin). See Zakaz Exception in Section IV Technology for Zakazian Lesterin as well as the LMRP. Dashi – See DMRP or Section V for details Dasaka – See DMRP or Section V for details Datsue – See DMRP or Section V for details Kaiakan — See Zakaz Exception in Section IV Technology for Zakazian Kaiakan as well as the LMRP. CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: Personalized/customized species are allowed – however – they MUST resemble or be similar to one of the above species, including abilities, powers, and power levels, AND must be approved by a staffer before use. Allowable Toa/Turaga/Skakdi Elemental Powers One elemental power per character. No multiples. Air Crystal Earth Fire Gravity Ice Iron Plant-Life Lightning Magnetism Plasma Sonics Stone Water CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: Customized powers are allowed – however – they MUST be reasonably powerful, balanced, AND be approved by Staff before use. Allowable Skakdi Vision Powers: Heat Vision Impact Vision Infrared Vision Laser Vision Thermal Imaging Telescopic Vision X-Ray Vision Allowable Kanohi: Kanohi Hau The Mask of Shielding Kanohi Pakari The Mask of Strength Kanohi Miru The Mask of Levitation Kanohi Kakama The Mask of Speed Kanohi Akaku The Mask of X-Ray Vision Kanohi Kaukau The Mask of Water Breathing Kanohi Huna The Mask of Concealment Kanohi Ruru The Mask of Night Vision Kanohi Matatu The Mask of Telekinesis (off-limits to Dasaka characters) Kanohi Rau The Mask of Translation Kanohi Mahiki The Mask of Illusion Kanohi Komau The Mask of Mind Control Kanohi Kiril The Mask of Regeneration Kanohi Pehkui The Mask of Diminishment Kanohi Kualsi The Mask of Quick Travel Kanohi Calix The Mask of Fate Kanohi Kadin The Mask of Flight Kanohi Sanok The Mask of Accuracy Kanohi Iden The Mask of Spirit Kanohi Suletu The Mask of Telepathy Kanohi Elda The Mask of Detection Kanohi Zatth The Mask of Summoning Kanohi Arthron The Mask of Sonar Kanohi Volitak The Mask of Stealth Kanohi Tryna The Mask of Reanimation Kanohi Rode The Mask of Truth Kanohi Shelek The Mask of Silence Kanohi Jutlin The Mask of Corruption Kanohi Sana The Mask of Healing Kanohi Haunoru The Mask of Focused Shielding The Mask of Rebounding The Mask of Sensory Aptitude The Mask of Emulation The Mask of Scavenging CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: Customized masks are allowed – however – they MUST be reasonably powerful, balanced, AND be approved by Staff before use. Only one mask is allowed per character, unless the duplicate has been won by battle or otherwise granted a special exemption. Suvas are not available, and multiple masks may not be obtained without staff permission. Masks may be changed in game provided this is done reasonably and the original mask is no longer available for use. SECTION IV. Technology Foreign Tech Per the nature of certain species' foreign origins, if you have a Skakdi or Vortixx character, you are allowed one or more pieces of advanced foreign technology. Technological items of this sort must be approved by staff prior to playing. If your character has a foreign tech item, you must note which staff member approved the tech after you describe the item in your profile. These are the limitations on foreign tech per species type. Skakdi: One piece of foreign tech Vortixx: Two pieces of foreign tech Lesterin (w/out mask): One piece of foreign tech Zakaz Exception: Characters on Zakaz may have one additional piece of Foreign Tech. For Skakdi this means two, for Lesterin this means one or two depending on whether or not they have a Kanohi. This does not apply to existing characters moving to Zakaz, and this does not apply to Vortixx as there are no Vortixx native to Zakaz. The only way for a character not of these species to own a piece of foreign tech is for them to win it fairly from another player’s character in combat. Native Tech Technology on the island of Mata Nui has taken a step forward, and so more advanced technological items are no longer out of the question for Toa, Matoran, and Turaga characters. If a character wants a piece of this new “native technology,” they can attain one from a Koro Leaderor shopkeeper IC or, as with attaining foreign technology, win it fairly in PC-vs.-PC battle. If your character has one or more pieces of native tech, you must specify in their profile how this technology was acquired. Smaller, freelance native tech shops can be created and run by players, as long as their merchandise is all pre-approved by staff. Shopkeepers are encouraged to require some kind of task-based IC payment in exchange for their special technologies, just so that native tech remains more valuable than imaginary widgets. There is also a "Living List" of token Native Tech items or item types that may be acquired by PCs in-game without approval. If players wish to suggest other technologies to add to the Living List, they may PM those suggestions to a member of staff. Here is the list. Glass lenses with various focusing/diffusing properties. These are used in telescopes, magnifying glasses, and lamps. Such lenses, usually employed in Lightstone lanterns, can also be purchased separately, as they're prone to breaking. Onu-Koronan task tablets or "iStones" with abacus, note-taking, and some document-holding possibilities. These are very difficult to open without damaging the machinery inside - they've been manufactured to break this way by the Onu-Koro engineers on purpose, so that their computing abilities remain essentially unreproducible. Basic metal tools such as hammers, axes, pickaxes, and even scissors. These items were available before, but now they're more easy to acquire; the best come from Ta-Koro. Simple clockwork devices with gears, springs, and even little bells. The most complex and expensive sort are the smaller ones, especially rudimentary, one-handed watches. Many varieties of little wind-up toys are also available, from bouncing Fusa to rolling Manas. Disk launchers have propagated, reducing the need for skill when using a bamboo disk as a weapon. Some launchers hold more disks with spring or gravity-loading magazines. Photothermic powder, also known as "Stralix Powder" after its inventor, made up of mixed lightstones and heatstones. This powder is slightly more potent than the explosion of a Madu Cabolo, and is much safer to store and use. Sharp impact, or fire, can set it off. Kites and gliders, while usually impractical, can be produced on request by the right craftspeople. Huge, delicate hang gliders are made best in Le-Koro. Volo Lutu Launchers, a type of grapnel gun, have been around since the days of Makuta. They're now cheaper to produce, and are available in models able to haul the weight of larger beings like Toa, not just Matoran. Patero Launchers, projectile cannons powered by compressed gas. The Patero launcher consists of an elastic bladder that is inflated by hand pump, a projectile barrel, and a rapid air release mechanism. This simple launcher can fire lightweight rounds without much accuracy, but over long distances. Only the smaller, handheld type is readily available; the secrets to making artillery-sized air seals still lies with Onu-Koro. Some types of Patero shots include small fireworks, glass-capped Stralix Powder capsules, clusters of bamboo arrows, and even confetti cartridges. Exo-Matoran Suits. See here for details. SECTION V. The Dasaka Like other standard species characters in the BZPRPG, Dasaka may be created and played as without the necessity of staff permission. Any Dasaka characters you create in this way, however, must exist within the parameters outlined below. To have Dasaka characters of a more advanced sort, staff approval is required; the process by which to attain this can be found in "C. Changes To Dasaka Regulation." A. Required Profile Fields Dasaka character profiles are stricter in structure than the profiles of other species, because there are more required fields. Along with other profile fields you opt to include, these are the requisite fields for Dasaka characters: Species (Dasaka, Dashi, Datsue) A detailed description or image Caste and Clan Gender (see “C. Changes” for details) Powers, including (as applicable) mask powers and Menti Discipline(s). Weakness(es) B. The Lists Below you will find the lists of species, powers, and masks allowed for Dasaka characters. All characters, unless given explicit staff permission to the contrary, are required to exist within the parameters of these lists. For more information about particular powers, clans, and castes, please see the Dasaka Master Reference Post. Playable Species: Dashi – No powers or powered masks Dasaka – One Menti Discipline and one mask from the approved list Datsue – One Menti Discipline and one mask from the approved list Allowable Castes Menti (warrior-level only) Dashi Ringti Saihoko Datsue CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: You may request for your Dasaka or Datsue character(s) to hold higher rank within the Menti caste. Allowable Menti Disciplines: Soulsword Discipline Sighteye Discipline Mindarm Discipline Willhammer Discipline CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: You may petition for your Dasaka or Datsue character to be proficient in more than one Menti Discipline. This must be approved by a Staff member. Allowable Dasaka Kanohi: All masks on the list in SECTION III (except for the Kanohi Matatu, Mahiki, Komau, Elda, and Rode) may be used by Dasaka characters. CUSTOMIZATION EXCEPTION: Customized masks are allowed – however – they must be reasonably powerful, balanced, and be approved by Staff before use. Only one mask is allowed per character, unless the duplicate has been won by battle or otherwise granted a special exemption. Suvas are not available, and multiple masks may not be obtained without staff permission. Masks may be changed in game provided this is done reasonably and the original mask is no longer available for use. C. Changes To Dasaka Regulations The above lists and whatnot outline what is acceptable for Dasaka characters that don’t require staff approval to be created or played. However, there are other, more advanced possibilities for Dasaka characters available to you as players, which do require staff approval. Caste Approval You may request for your Dasaka or Datsue character to hold a higher rank in the Menti caste. You can request to have, say, a Toroshu character, or for your character to perform a special duty for the Rora, or whatever else you can think up. To petition for a more advanced societal rank, your PM must include what rank/duty you would like to have, and a brief statement about why you want that position for your character. Clan Approval You may request to begin a new Dasaka clan. Despite the upheaval in Kentoku and the exodus of many Dasaka to Mata Nui that does not mean that we have seen every clan before. Requests to make a new clan need to include the leader’s name and profile, a brief description of their history and culture, and a description of what lands they hold (or held) and how they have handled the disruption of the Empire due to schism or invasion. Menti Discipline Approval You may request for your Dasaka or Datsue character to be proficient in more than one Menti discipline. Multidisciplinary training is not common but neither is it prohibited. If your character is the First Son of a clan, they are granted permission for two disciplines automatically. Otherwise you must seek the approval of a Staff member. In your request please specify the disciplines that you wish to have, as well as a brief explanation for why the character in question would know them. Gender Approval Male Dasaka are no longer subject to a dice roll. However, in the interests of maintaining lore consistency you are allowed only one male Dasaka without staff approval. Any further characters must be approved by staff. Additionally for a male Dasaka to be a First Son of any given clan they must be accepted by that clan’s leader. Any male Dasaka that is not a First Son does not automatically possess two disciplines. SECTION VI. Warlords and Forts Ambitious Skakdi characters may establish themselves as warlords, vying for glory and power over the lands of Zakaz. But even the fiercest warlord is just one Skakdi: they will need a base of operations, and the support of a band of capable warriors. To establish a fort and claim the title of warlord requires the support of at least two additional Zakaz PCs controlled by other players, and staff approval. See Section V of the ZMRP for more details on creating forts. Required Profile Fields: Fort profiles should be included alongside the profile of the controlling warlord. Fort name Controlling character Location (approved forts will be marked on the official Zakaz map) Description or image Forces Loot (this will be assigned by the staff upon approval)

The Lesterin The Lesterin are the main inhabitants of Seprilli, and are not an uncommon sight on Zakaz (though to the Skakdi they are rarely a welcome one). They are of similar height and build to Toa, but longer-limbed and more gangly in proportions, possessing distinctive crests that jut from the back and/or top of their heads. Their shoulders sport similarly jutting armour, typically carved and decorated to reflect their elemental affiliation. Lesterin are able to wear and use Kanohi (though they do not need to), and possess innate elemental energy. Unlike the powers wielded by Toa and Skakdi, the Lesterin’s energy manifests passively, granting them characteristics according to their element (generally recognisable by their colouration): Fire (red/orange and black): resistant to extremes of heat or cold, heightened speed Water (blue and yellow-orange): able to hold their breath for exceptionally long periods of time, heightened agility Air (green and red): able to hold their breath for exceptionally long periods of time, heightened speed Stone (brown and white): skin resistant to being cut or pierced, heightened strength Earth (black and dark red): resistant to pressure or crushing, heightened night vision Ice (white and lime): resistant to extremes of heat or cold, heightened dexterity Lightning (blue/white and gunmetal): resistant to electric shocks, heightened reflexes Magnetism (gunmetal/black and orange): surrounded by a magnetic field which resists magnetic pulls, strong internal compass Plantlife (blue/green and yellow): immune to poisons, able to gain energy from sunlight Iron (metallic and brown): skin resistant to being cut or pierced, heightened endurance Sonics (silver/grey and light blue): enhanced sensitivity and range of hearing, able to project voice at unusually high volumes Plasma (white/orange and light grey): almost complete resistance to heat, heightened agility Gravity (purple and copper): resistant to pressure or crushing, able to lift heavy objects as though they were much lighter Crystal (light blue/white and green) enhanced range and acuity of vision, glow slightly in dark places similarly to Lightstones Lesterin’s bodies are also more efficient at processing toxins than most species, giving them a resistance to poisoning (and, as can be seen at any watering-hole on Seprilli, a high tolerance for alcohol). The Lesterin may lack the physicality of the Skakdi, but they are a skillful and cunning people. Natural sailors and shrewd traders, their mastery of seacraft and talent for bargaining grant the people of Seprilli a degree of freedom and prosperity even under the Skakdi’s theoretical dominion. Lesterin society has no caste system, but its mercantile nature gives rise to stratification nonetheless. Most work as labourers and craftspeople, either selling their wares or working for a wage; a large contingent are individual traders, buying and selling goods within Seprilli or trading with the mainland; and a fortunate few become wealthy merchant princes, operating their own companies (typically fleets of trading ships, selling to the Skakdi) and reaping the profits. Seprilli Port is governed by a theoretically meritocratic body known as the Assembly, made up of roughly two dozen councillors and chaired by a Speaker. A seat is reserved for the master of each of the Guilds, each of which represents the interests of one of the major professions: Traders, Fishers, Shipwrights, et cetera. Other important persons, such as the Sages of the temples of Mata Nui and Artakha, or the delegate of the Kaiakans, are also guaranteed seats. The remainder are to be granted yearly to “the most recognisedly upstanding members of society” — in practice, these are almost always controlled by the most wealthy and influential of the merchant princes. The Assembly provides a laissez-faire degree of law and order, mainly protecting against piracy and representing Seprilli to whichever warlord has most recently decided it falls within his domain. On Zakaz proper, many Lesterin are kept as slaves of the less scrupulous warlords. Free Lesterin can most often be found in wandering caravans, roaming from settlement to settlement and trading goods with the locals. It is common to see an encampment of Lesterin traders not far from the larger towns and fortresses — no self-respecting warlord would let them inside his gates, of course, but most will begrudgingly accept the opportunity of their wares. Of course, not all Lesterin are peaceful and productive members of society. Their natural talents can just as easily be turned towards various forms of thievery — most quintessentially, piracy. The seas surrounding Zakaz are rife with marauding ships, preying on any traders that have the misfortune of encountering them. On the mainland, Lesterin bandits are a menace to the less well-armed Skakdi travellers; and anywhere there are valuables to be stolen, Lesterin dexterity makes for excellent pickpockets and cat burglars, many of whom are thought to be members of a shadowy ‘Guild of Thieves’. The pirate port of Zarrava on Zakaz’s northern coast is a haven and neutral ground for buccaneers and land-based scoundrels alike and, ironically enough, is one of the few places on Zakaz where Lesterin and Skakdi can be found living alongside one another in something resembling friendship. The Kaiakans In another world, they might have been called ‘Steltians’. The Kaiakans are a race of imposing but powerless beings known for their large stature and talent for hand-to-hand combat. The Eyries near the peak of Seprilli are the only known Kaiakan settlements, and are home to a number of traditional clans that subsist mainly by hunting the beasts of the snows and the Khacha forest, eking out a humble existence amid the bitter cold. Kaiakans cannot use Kanohi and have no elemental abilities, but what they lack in powers they make up for in physicality, possessing greater strength and durability than even the average Skakdi. Despite their small numbers, they are known across Zakaz for maintaining a culture of ritual combat that makes them formidable fighters. Many Kaiakans leave the Eyries to work as guards, mercenaries, and other occupations where their physicality is an asset, particularly among the Lesterin who lack their raw strength. Some do this to provide for their families in the Eyries, while others do so purely for personal gain. Either way, their skills make them highly valuable to those able to secure their services.

Cuch-Cokvaim-Skak:Dii - Your Guide to the Beast-Men-Gods of Zakaz Table of Contents: I. History II. Traditions and Culture III. Locations IV. Technology V. Forts VI. Language Guide Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz: The Once-Silver Zakaz, Now Meaning - End of All Worlds In the Time BEFORE Time ------------- Paradise! All was Many, which All was its own Paradise. GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui forged His world in His image, forging many Paradise, each in His Image, which each bore his Perfect Face. Which each bore his LOVE. LOVE was what GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui gave the LESTERIN, chief among GIFTS. To his children, he gave GIFTS to CHANGE THE WORLD (fire ta) (ice ko) (water ga) (air le) (earth onu) (stone po) (darkness of kuta) GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui held back (darkness of kuta) from his children. But they sought it anyway? Why? The Lesterin were good CHILDREN, and did not seek the (darkness of kuta) but abused their GIFTS. LESTERI|NII, FAN LESTERI:NII We abused our GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui’s gifts. We were so so so, so wrong. So sorry we were wrong. We abused our GIFTS, chief among them the gift of SKATHI our Servants, and in return they brought THEIR GIFT THE SWORD to us. IN THE TIME BEFORE TIME---------- The Skakdi were lifted up from dirt. But not by GREAT SPIRIT. Not by Mata Nui. (Who gave Skakdi GIFTS?) They molded dirt as they were molded, seized (darkness of kuta) for themselves, and from Mata Nui’s face they built ZAKAZ. Then they ate Mata Nui’s face from ZAKAZ, leaving just ZAKAZ behind. Once paradise, no more; once Image, no more; once peaceful, nevermore. ZAKAZ IS ZAKAZ. ZAKAZ MEANS ZAKAZ - THE END OF ALL WORLDS. FAN|SKATHI. SKATHI LORLI SKAK:DII. And they will be(,) forever. As we learned. As will you. To know Zakaz, you must know the Skakdi. They created each other. In the Time Before Time, there was no Zakaz; instead there lay an archipelago of near-a-dozen islands, populated by the Toa-cousins known as Lesterin. The Lesterin were a nimble and clever people, skilled merchants and crafters, but not physically strong enough to build glorious Zakaz with the strength of their own backs. Their naval prowess was unmatched, and their travels had brought them into contact with new species on wild new lands, but they had no heart and will, and would drag no treasures, gods or glory back to the grand ziggurats of Zakaz. For thousands of years, the civilization they had raised was the centerpiece of a great mercantile power, capitalists, or here meaning, those who connived against others for the benefit of their handful little islands. From their chief little island, Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean, further horizons dazzled their eyes, ever-seeking competition with the cunning Vortixx Mata Nui had birthed to the North. As their ambitions grow Their clan-weaknesses become apparent Both built atop ⤋ the backs of Skathi. They came from an island to the southwest of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, denizens of a nameless port which Great Spirit Mata Nui paid no particular attention. The Skathi were strong, but they were foundations themselves, and were not thought of as beings with particular aspirations or capabilities. A weak race, merely strong; powerless and easily vassalized, underneath Lesterin they labor; Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean blossoms under Mata Nui’s watchful eye. Lesterin and Vortixx alike hold Skathi in contempt. They were bred like beasts, treated as little more than slaves. Of course, the Lesterin would not view themselves as slavers. When accused They said They were but children. Mata Nui’s children. The Skathi, fury-fueled, cried “No.” “We are not ones To be dominated by Children.” Mata Nui’s children did not enslave, though the truth writ on souls underneath their skins wrote different stories. The Skathi shed their skins forever to become the Skakdi, Beast-Men-Gods, and shed the Lesterin’s skins forever to show the slaves ⤊ beneath. The Skakdi conquest of their former rulers was their first, and like many first times, it was quick and brutal. With their newfound power they stole island by island, sacked city by city, leaving charred ruin and smoke and salt in their wake. Within a year had Silver-Jewel fallen to golden nightmare, when Great Irnakk:Dii seized the shores of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan and, bellowing, dragged the shores in his wake, drowning the great capital In His Glory’s tide. The Skakdi lacked the fleetness of Lesterin upon endless ocean, and improvised; for the first time in their history, they were allowed to build for themselves, dragging all the Lesterin Isles together into jagged-jigsaw Zakaz. The last piece was Great Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean and apple of Great Spirit’s eye. When all the pieces were together, Great Irnakk:Dii stood at the precipice of old and grand Kvere and bellowed thus: “VELON RAL IRNAKK” I am Irnakk. “IRNAKK LANTE” Irnakk hungers. “FAN:DII BALOM SKAK:DII” No Gods, but for the Skakdi. And golden-nightmare bent low to devour silver-jewel whole, swallowing city and town and merchant alike. The cities, he drank like wine. The towns soaked the wine like bread and kept his mind sharp. The merchants did not go to waste either. Their flesh soothed his stomach. Their blood slaked his thirst. And their bones he spat into the ocean, for the Skakdi had begun life as builders, and knew that every great work needed a foundation. They named their home with the broad brush of irony - Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz, or, Silver-Jewel-at-End-of-All-Worlds, for it was the end of their lives as Skathi, and a silent promise to all the people of the world. Nothing would ever be built on Skakdi land again - and all the land the Skakdi saw would be theirs by right. Section I: History Once a submissive, near-slave race of the dominant Lesterin culture, the Skathi people rose up in the Time Before Time to seize the lands of the merchant-princes and build a homeland of their own. Though the cause of their ancient uprising is probably as simple as a matter of the fierce pride endemic to their species, the actual methods of the Skakdi’s sudden rise to power are shrouded in mystery - and perhaps even more sinister than their later actions, for it is well agreed upon by scholars of other races that the Skathi were a powerless race under the Lesterin, without elemental capability or the vision powers that they later became known for. Some theorize that Seprilli perhaps had free-flowing Antidermis similar to that of the Rift, though such deposits have never been found and the theory is disregarded by most who point out that according to the Skakdi creation myths, the Antidermis within the Rift was not discovered until long after the Skakdi’s rise to dominance. Another implausible, and even darker, tale comes courtesy of the blood-mystics of Zakaz, who teach their neonate occultists that the great Warlord Irnakk:Dii, first of the Ancestors and boldest of his eon, put six, then three, then two, then three of his one-hundred-and-eight wives to the sword, and from their blood and bone powder he drew a demon’s face and formed a compact with it for the Skakdi’s powers. Whatever the case may be, the Skakdi enjoyed centuries of uninterrupted prosperity after the fall of the Lesterin merchants. In time, Warlord Irnakk:Dii died and was consumed in memory of his greatest triumph, the ravenous sack of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan; his blood and bone powder fueled his line, and from the sixty-six young wives the old Golden Nightmare kept at the end of his life, forty of them gave him sons in the nine months after his death, and of those forty, thirteen became Ancestors in their own right after their deaths. The Lesterin had been put in their place, but not extinguished, and provided valuable trade goods to the Skakdi for the sole purpose of surviving as second class citizens. Even the Vortixx to the north were being handled with a surprisingly deft hand. It was a golden age. But betrayal is in the hearts of men and women of all races, and nowhere is betrayal found in more abundance than Zakaz. It began centuries ago, with a Vortixx delegation into Irnakk’s Tooth during a weapons deal with a local warlord. Under the cover of the starless, moonless Zakaz night, seven mercenaries stole away from their barracks and crept down the mountain. Seven ebon shadows dipped into the holy, vital waters of Kvere;Ivi, hoping to discover the great treasure zealously guarded by the Lesterin and Skakdi of old. None of the seven returned, but clearly they had tampered with something - for the next morning, all known Vortixx had become one with the higher mysteries, and the Skakdi as a race had been effectively hamstrung. One of their two vision powers had been taken away from them completely, leaving many warriors feeling as good as blind without their full arsenal. In addition, the full force of the elements they once wielded had been dampened and restricted, leaving the emasculated Skakdi to team up and display what once would have been magnificent elemental displays they were capable of on their own. No Skakdi had dared venture into the water, knowing well the traditions and fearing retribution from the disturbing force named Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru (or, “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves”) so no one knew quite what the Vortixx had found or what had been done when they reached it - save all but the oldest mystics, whose knowing glances and colorless pallors in the weeks after the failed Vortixx expedition did all of their speaking for them. As news spread that the once-unstoppable berserkers of the Skakdi culture had been unmanned, any hopes of territorial expansion beyond Zakaz in the birth of a grand Skakdi confederacy quickly crumbled, in lieu of finding a way to return their powers to them and grant their species the full broth of power their Ancestors had been offered and had gladly supped from. For centuries, all attempts at restoring the Skakdi to their former glory failed...until six cast-offs, pestilence in all its living forms, from all corners of the island, none of whom contained any particular merit to their society, managed to restore their powers. Section II: Traditions and Culture Those who have encountered Skakdi from other lands have a skewed perception of what it is to be Skakdi, seeing them as chaotic beings with no guiding principles or moral compass. In reality, the species is bound by a certain alien sense of honor, at least insofar as respecting themselves and other Skakdi as gods awaiting ascension. Indeed, all beings are allowed under the Skakdi umbrella, so long as respect is paid to the Ancestors and the Skakdi species, which is recognized as the apex species under the Skakdi’s brutal philosophy. The Ancestors are a vital part of Skakdi culture, and serve as the closest thing the famously agnostic race has to a pantheon. Though there are close to two dozen Skakdi who function as universal Ancestors, many bloodlines on Zakaz boast multiple Ancestors of their own further along their family lines, who they worship less fervently but more frequently than the race’s major ancestors like Irnakk:Dii and Nektann:Dii. The suffix :Dii is the highest honorific in the Skakdi race, and is not meted out without great societal consensus when it comes to that Skakdi’s achievements. More often the honorific ;Dii, meaning “king of all on world” as opposed to the “king of glorious legend” of :Dii, will be awarded to an Ancestor worshipped by one family tree. The difference in punctuation is small, but Skakdi have been known to kill when their Ancestors are somehow demeaned, or mantled above the accomplishments of other Ancestors; worse still are those outlanders who confuse :Dii and :Nii, meaning “mongrel.” The worst insults in all the Skakdi tongue are “Heu:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel without his own fate,” eclipsed only by “Mata:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel who kneels for another.” When a great Skakdi dies and is being considered for Ancestral worship, there is a ceremony known as the Valin;Xalt, where his blood and bone is mixed up into a paste which the deceased warrior’s wives must imbibe in and use as a soap. After cleansing themselves with the paste for thirty days, at least six wives should be proven to be with child, or each wife must have killed five Skakdi apiece and returned their skulls to the shrine where the initial Valin;Xalt took place. This proves that the Ancestor lives on in Kino-Ur, the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. It is the Skakdi’s belief that a true Ancestor retains his identity in Kino-Ur, and that one day the Ancestors will help marshal the shades of all Skakdi and ride out from Kino-Ur back into the world, where the armies of the dead will seize the mantle of the living, and all the world will be theirs. There is no strict governmental structure on Zakaz. The entire island’s population is mostly rabble, conscripted into the army of any one of the island’s various self-proclaimed warlords. The title of warlord has somewhat lost its meaning in recent centuries. In the days of old, warlords were few but powerful, raised up by deed and ritual. Any formal warlord was forced by the mystic men of Zakaz to undergo the ritual of Silva;ria;Dii, or the Grand Performance for the Gods. This ritual is two-sided; first, beneath the watchful eye of all his people, the Skakdi must spend ten minutes underneath the waters of Kvere;Ivi with only a single Air Bladder to pop in times of panic. Though use of the Air Bladder is allowed, tradition states that since great Nektann:Dii submerged himself for the full ten minutes while breathing in the waters of the dead, a warlord made of true steel will tough it out without requiring the air. Then the Skakdi must venture to the southeast of Zakaz, to the Rift, before the eyes of six of his most devout followers. There he will be fed an overdose of a miraculous cactus that grows in the Spineless Bay, which offers wondrous healing powers in small doses but overwhelms the senses and induces sheer panic if too much is consumed. The exact dosage varies, but generally it will be enough to leave the Skakdi blinded and unable to use his powers. He will then be led to the edge of the Rift and jump down with all his strength. The test is simple - hit the ground without being impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, and if you are impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, just will yourself to survive. The ceremony of Silva;ria;Dii is intended to prove that there is no foe in our reality or any other that cannot be faced down by a Skakdi without fear in his heart. Unfortunately, as several cunning Skakdi have picked up on over the centuries, the ritual is very prone to sabotage; more than one prospective warlord has been pushed into the Rift while still struggling to retain his senses of sight and sound, and met a gruesome death on the end of a stalagmite. In addition, the rite of Silva;ria;Dii has been invoked less than a dozen times since the Vortixx’s invasion of Kvere;Ivi, usually by traditionalist warlords looking to gain favor with the older generations. These days, any Skakdi with even a small mercenary company who occupies one of the many ruined forts that litter Zakaz’s landscape can call himself a warlord, and such demesnes rise and fall without fanfare every year. The only real organized sport on Zakaz is Sarke, taken from an archaic Skakdi verb for “to make a fool of oneself.” It is, simply put, combat sports. Fight clubs are a mainstay in almost every building on Zakaz that has four walls and a roof, and sometimes even those are optional if a large circle can be drawn in the dirt and a crowd is there. There are only two rules in Sarke: never cry, and keep your opponent alive. This way, one’s honor and the camaraderie between Skakdi are safely preserved, and the disorganized, no-holds-barred structure has taught many a Skakdi inventive new techniques during Sarke that have kept them alive on the field of battle - sometimes even against another Skakdi they know from the ring. To interrupt a duel in Sarke for any reason is rightly considered a slight by both combatants; the tale of Herbak, the bumbling referee who stopped a Sarke championship before a Skakdi was ready to submit, is well-known among the "athletic" circles of the island. One of the slighted combatants, future Ancestor and "the Lion of Sarke" Crokk, decided to exercise his prodigious talent for violence on each of Herbak's limbs before he was floated out to sea, still breathing and protesting. Some say he managed to float all the way to safety at Seprilli. Some joke that he stopped early. Finally, no discussion of Skakdi culture would be complete without discussion of the occultists. There have always been those on Zakaz with sharper minds than reflexes, and in a society where the clever and intellectually capable are mocked and belittled, alternative methods of proving one’s worth to the Skak:Dii ideal are required just to stay alive. For such men and women, the past provides more answers than the barbarous present, and many have gone to great lengths to comb through old Skakdi legends for knowledge or locate the teachings of long-dead Lesterin mystics. The Nakihl (Nahk-eel), or “hated dead-men” in Skakdi, are the only long-standing organization on the island, a loose amalgamation of philosophers, mystics, and demon worshippers who attempt congress with what they believe to be two other worlds, layered above and below our own, that house all spirits both altruistic and sinister. It is the prevailing belief of the Nakihl that their power was forged in a compact between the old Skathi generals, led by Irnakk:Dii, and one of these unknowable forces, and that somehow the concordat was broken by whatever the scheming Vortixx did beneath the crystalline surface of Kvere;Ivi centuries ago. While the mainstream Skakdi belief is that their original powers will return after they have conquered enough land for the Ancestors to marshal their hosts, the Nakihl tend to believe that only by returning the balance to whatever bargain was struck by the Skathi of old can the full might of the Skakdi be returned. This approach to Skakdi might has not won them many fans among the people of Zakaz. In fact, the Nakihl fortress to the north of Spineless Bay has been sacked five times by angry warlords seeking to purge the taint of the Nakihl’s bloody magic from Zakaz; but after every purge, survivors crawled out from the woodwork like rats, and in no time the Nakihl have been restored to the same state they were in before the raids. The last assault on the Nakihl was over four centuries ago, when the band of mystic men were led by a Lesterin, of all things: a Lesterin named Ahk’rei:Nii, who played with corpses of the dead like puppets and led many of his followers willingly into Kino-Ur. An army united under four separate warlords, led by Warlord Ga’Rokk:Dii the Gunslinger, marched through the Burning Steppes and battled hungry Tahtorak in order to reach the Nakihl conclave and slay Ahk’rei:Nii. It is said that the four warlords who stormed the conclave found the Lesterin in his ceremonial chambers, practicing a ritual to kill half the Skakdi where they stood and reanimate them to fight the other half; it is also said that when Ga’Rokk:Dii drew his famous silver Launcher and removed Ahk’rei:Nii’s head from his shoulders, the occultist actually continued with his ritual as though he had been stung by an insect, head futilely trying to reform itself from the slush that the Skakdi warlord had made of it. Ahk’rei:Nii’s body was taken and burnt once, outside the fortress, before the ashes were scattered into the Burning Steppes to be immolated again, just to be sure. Nonetheless, rumors of Ahk’rei:Nii’s survival still haunt children’s nightmares to this day, leading them to wonder if the evil Lesterin will appear in their dreams and try to lure them to Kino-Ur with promises of great adventure. Section III: Locations Irnakk’s Tooth - Though no larger than a Koro, Irnakk’s Tooth is probably the closest thing to a true city and capital the Skakdi possess on the Zakaz mainland. The settlement of Irnakk’s Tooth is built into the side of a mountain of the same name, that the sages claim to be one of the great Ancestor Irnakk:Dii’s teeth left behind after the Skakdi people feasted upon Lamo-Lyco-Oshan. The current village upon the Tooth is said to be erected from the gnawed-upon, discarded bones of the former Lesterin trade capital Kvere (Queh-reh) - and while no doubt meant as a grandiose boast, it appears that here, at least, Skakdi mythology has a hint of practical truth hidden beneath the bombast, as there are certain buildings spread throughout the settlement that display Lesterin or even Vortixx architectural philosophy. Though no warlords occupy Irnakk’s Tooth full-time as ruler, and none have been brave enough to try for over two centuries, several of the island’s most dangerous and prestigious warlords do have manses that are occupied during parts of the year. Similarly, although outlanders are not as common a sight here as on Seprilli, it’s not unheard of to find mercenaries on the Tooth seeking employment with a mercenary company or warlord. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee) - Fittingly, even the most beneficial landmark on Zakaz doubles as a scar on the landscape. The lake that keeps most of the inhabitants of Zakaz alive, if perhaps not always well-hydrated, was originally situated underneath the capital city of Kvere, used as an underground retreat and natural hot spring that would keep the city warm for the Lesterin merchant-princes during winter months. Now the lake is known only as Kvere;Ivi, or Kvere Grave in Skakdi tongue, for the city that sunk beneath its depths when the Skakdi rose up in the time before time. Caverns which once rested underground are now blown open and ripped asunder from the lakebed, buried within diving distance of the surface of the lake and jutting above its crystalline surface in some places. Though the penalty for outlanders defiling the lake is technically death, this law is not strictly upheld - mostly because few who are foolish enough to plumb the depths of Kvere;Ivi searching for treasures ever return, and even fewer surface again intact. Notably, those foolhardy explorers or treasure hunters who try to mount expeditions are never able to recruit locals. The Skakdi fear going into the water. The Spineless Bay - The Spineless Bay was named by Warlord Nektann:Dii nine hundred years ago, during his short-lived conquest of all lands north of Irnakk’s Tooth. Before Nektann’s arrival, the unnamed river delta that comprised western Zakaz was for the most part a rare oasis on the island, occupied by Lesterin traders and a few Skakdi who had found themselves incapable of fighting battles through infirmity, lameness or meek hearts. Nektann, contemptuously referring to the inhabitants of the western brook as Criebe:Dii, or ‘Gods-Of-the-Weak-Seeded,” had the valley razed as he swept across it, famously declaring that there would never be a place on Zakaz for living Skakdi to sit on their hands and contemplate the flora. Nektann was killed before he could realize his full ambitions, but before he died he had turned the northern half of the delta to cinders and his army had permanently christened it the ‘Spineless Bay.’ Within a couple decades, the still-flaming carcass of the northern Bay had found itself occupied by new warlords - a gigantic species of Rahi known as the Tahtorak, which took comfort in its new environment and sought to migrate south. Only the gigantic flames that still burn on the steppes in the northern valley have halted the Tahtoraks’ advances over the century, leading to two differing legends - the prevailing fable being that the Tahtorak grew from the shed blood of Nektann’s men in the conquest of the bay, and the spirits of the Criebe:Dii kept the fires alight to prevent the rest of their weakling’s paradise from falling to the reborn army. The prevailing theory among the mystics of Zakaz is that the Tahtorak are children of a darker, unknown emissary, and that Warlord Nektann:Dii himself was reborn as the flames, keeping the Tahtorak contained before they run amok on his homeland. In the south of the valley, the lands Nektann never burnt, the name ‘Spineless Bay’ takes on an ironic second edge, for it is here that Zakaz’s largest collection of Spine Slugs lives among the wild. These parasites, which Skakdi use to try and replace a fragment of the rage that was lost to them in days long past, have always found the climate of the river delta palatable, and can be found in plenty the closer the delta gets to Kvere;Ivi. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k) Roughly translating to the mocking nickname ‘Lesterin’s Crown,’ or often just colloquially referred to as ‘the Crown,’ Lesteri;Dak is the ring of mountains, cliffs, and other jagged surfaces that encircle the island of Zakaz. Ranging from coastal cliffs and mild crags to the west and south to the seldom-scaled, mysterious mountains of the east, the Crown is said to be where the bits and ends of old Lesterin islands, fraying and torn from where they were torn apart by the Skakdi and stuffed back into the shape of Zakaz. Though inhospitable and bleak, the Crown does make for a good defensive position during a siege, leading some particularly daring warlords to erect fortresses there. Indeed, even some stray pockets of Lesterin settlement can be found towards the east, where old goat paths and mountain trails will be used by risky caravans and fugitives as a quick path to the sea. The Rift - On the southeast of Zakaz lies a deep gash that cuts through all of reality. In the Time Before Time, a mysterious Lesterin city named Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, the “Silver-Jewel-from-Stars,” was built on the patch of land that the Rift now lacerates. Lamo-Lyco-Cosa was an arcane, avoided city, populated by sages, occultists, and priests, dedicated to the mysteries of the Great Spirit Mata Nui and his mystics, and great care was taken in ensuring that no weapon forged within reality was allowed underneath its gates. Thus it was ensured that even despite the disagreements that often consume scholars, there were protections in place to keep violence from ever breaking out in the sacred city. So it was that the mysteries of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa remained a peaceful, if uncomfortable, fact of life for the surrounding Lesterin settlements. When the Skathi rose up in revolt over Lesterin rule of the islands, Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ignored all pleas for aid and fielded no defense of its own. Their mystics assured each other that the Skathi, as beings of this reality, were unable to break the physical or arcane barriers that protected the city, and that they could continue their work unimpeded. The Skakdi conquest lasted under a year, but the army underneath the walls of Silver-Jewel-from-Stars held out through the whole duration of the war, as the wise men within seemed uncowed by hunger, bombardment, or news of the fall of merchant prince after merchant prince. Until one day, the city did fall. Of course, whether or not Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ever existed is a matter of debate. The small handful of scholars remaining on Zakaz, as well as leaders of the Lesterin conclaves on Seprilli, are quick to point out that there has never been a conclusive shred of evidence that any city ever stood on the area where the Rift now lies, and indeed the wily, pragmatic Lesterin people seem very quick to deny that their culture ever dabbled in such dangerous fare as the higher mysteries. But the stories of the city’s fall are as important as the tales of Ancestors, parents frighten children with the thought of the evil Man-Shades of the Magic City who possess their Spine Slugs and suck the living matter from inside their skulls, and there is a merchant on every corner of Irnakk’s Tooth claiming to sell lost talismans from the Silver-Jewel-from-Stars. The story’s detractors also seem incapable of offering a suggestion of what may have been built over the Rift if not a city. Certainly, it has not always been there. The Rift itself appears to be nothing but a large, particularly narrow canyon through southeastern Zakaz, with stalagmites and crags dotting the ashen ground. Here and there one may find the ruins of old fortresses or ziggurats buried underneath the sands of time, or with new rock outcroppings sticking through ramparts or portculli, as if the Rift is slowly assimilating the structures into its mass. These are not, as many a zealous tour guide would insist, remnants of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, for the truth would scare any who were mad enough to tour the Rift right from the canyon. Truthfully, much in the way much of the rabble flocks to Lesteri;Dak, many Skakdi have seen the Rift as a potential trap for an opposing army or as a good start to fashion themselves as a warlord to be feared. Such Skakdi are fools; without exception, every attempt to occupy or settle the Rift has ended in calamity, and the most recent settlement there ended four centuries ago with the death of Warlord Nuxukann the Grinner and his chiefs within his own fortress. Those who arrived to sack the fort found the chiefs dead with their eyes gouged out, vision powers having run amok to the point where blindness was preferable to more torment. The Grinner himself was still clinging to life, though his mind had been addled and his element of Ice had been used against him and trapped him in an oubliette of his own making. The warlord died babbling, but whatever pleas or warnings he may have been trying to get out were incomprehensible - all of his famous teeth had fallen out from their roots, thick black blood and ash clotting the gums. There is no vegetation as far as the eye can see in any direction, even by Zakaz standards. Animals flee it or die, having gone rabid and been put down at the hands of their masters. And there is Antidermis everywhere in the Rift. It seems to bubble up everywhere, from natural springs in the ground that seem to spout like blackish-green mockeries of geysers to within the very rocks. More than one Skakdi has angrily broken off a chunk of rock the size of a spear to use on a rival, only to shriek in horror as viscous Antidermis runs down from the inside of a hidden geode and ravages them like gangrene. Executions for the most heinous of crimes are committed here, as only prisoners who commit crimes which mock both Skakdi both living and Ancestral are taken to the Rift and dropped into Antidermis to slowly dissolve, torn apart body and soul by corruption over several agonizing minutes. Seprilli (Seh-pree-lee) - Seprilli is a curious little island to the southwest of Zakaz, left separate during Irnakk’s fabled haphazard construction of Zakaz in order to symbolically leave behind his race’s past as the Skathi. Instead, Seprilli found a second life as a port city and makeshift home for the Lesterin, who found themselves in the unenviable position of having swapped homelands with the race they once utilized as submissive bruisers. It is an irony many Lesterin have rubbed in their faces by the Skakdi. Irony exists everywhere on Zakaz. As a booming port in its own right, Seprilli is technically under the rule of the Skakdi, though they prefer to leave it alone out of a sense of haughty and ancestral pride. The Lesterin have de facto dominion of the island to themselves, along with a race of powerless bruisers known as the Kaiakans who will often be hired as mercenary help for jobs the Lesterin are not physically capable of. While there is a Skakdi population on Seprilli, they are shunned for their birthplace, looked at almost as a subspecies of the mainland Skakdi. Such Skakdi are forced to take the surname Seprillian, to mark them for who they are, and have historically been regarded as misfits who are better suited to lives on the seas and rubbing shoulders with the Lesterin. This outlook has changed somewhat in the last century, thanks to the meteoric rise of Warlord Malnak Seprillian, who seized a large chunk of territory on the mainland by utilizing the nautical knowledge he gained growing up on Seprilli and using the river delta as a launching point for his conquest. Many veteran warriors, however, still view the Seprillian Skakdi as lesser, and it will likely take many more conquests like those of Malnak in order to bring the minority the recognition they crave. Section IV: Technology The technology of Zakaz will be familiar to anyone who has seen a Skakdi on Mata Nui. Rudimentary firearms abound, mostly powered off by a substance that the Skakdi refer to as Najin (or “deathly light” in their tongue) dust - which any citizen of Mata Nui would recognize as Stralix Powder. There are no Madu fruit on Zakaz, depriving Mata Nuians of their favorite homegrown explosive, but there is oil aplenty to be mined in the south of Zakaz and from Seprilli, which helps give the Lesterin a degree of importance in trading affairs. Thanks to the machinations of a particularly fidgety inventor named Avak, a sonic-powered motorbike has started to pick up traction (no pun intended) on Zakaz over the past century and a half as a mode of transportation over the living mounts of centuries past. Though outlandishly expensive and mostly a prized possession for status-obsessed warlords, enough time has passed that inventors without Avak’s avant-garde flair have started to reverse-engineer the machines, and several prototypes of dubious functionality can be easily acquired on the Zakaz black market - for anyone willing to shell out. Skakdi on Zakaz may have two pieces of Foreign Technology, see Character Creation. Section V: Forts Small, defensible fortifications dot Zakaz’s landscape relics from mercenary bands past and present. Though not pretty or even always structurally sound, such a fortified camp is one of the first steps on an aspiring warlord’s path to real power. Some of these are old structures moved into after their previous tenants were evicted by violence or otherwise vacated, while others are recent construction purpose-built by the groups holding them. Often they’re built around a particularly lucrative cache of gear… For one week after the beginning of the arc applications will be open for such a fort. Design it, including its owner, location on the map, what it looks like, what it contains, and how many brave mercenaries call it ‘home’. The staff will compile a randomly generated list of loot placed at each one specifically to encourage other players to wrest control from its original owner and take their prize. This is Zakaz, things happen. Similarly these forts are not protected by the usual guidelines regarding player-established locations. If someone decides the best way to get in is to reduce the place to rubble, they can. Nor are its NPCs safe from attacking PCs. That said, the same rules that apply to any fight apply here. You are not infinitely superior to NPCs, and they are under the owner of the fort’s control as much (and with the same privileges) as Guard NPCs are under their Akiri. Any forts created after this application deadline will have to be created IC and over time, while these approved forts will exist at the start of the game. Section VI: Skakdi Language Glossary Criebe:Dii: “gods of the weak-seeded” - historic name for the inhabitants of the Spineless Bay. :Dii (ah-dee): “king of glorious legend” or “god” - most important honorific in the Skakdi language, used for revered Ancestors of the species such as Irnakk:Dii. ;Dii (dee): “king of all on world” - second most important honorific in the Skakdi language; used for revered Ancestors of a single family line, but can also be used to denote warlords or warriors of high honor without fear of dismemberment Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru: “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves” - entity of Skakdi superstition thought to exist in the depths of Kvere;Ivi. Heu:Nii: “mongrel without his own fate” - a Skakdi insult. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k): “Lesterin’s Crown” (roughly) - the ring of mountains, cliffs, etc that encircle Zakaz. Kino-Ur: the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee): “Kvere grave” - Zakaz’s central lake. Lesteri:Nii: "mongrel who once wore the skins of Lesterin" - the derogatory insult for most Lesterin in contemporary Skakdi culture; also doubles as a backhanded compliment towards the Lesterin ancestors they sacked, though doubtless the Skakdi miss the irony Mata:Nii: “mongrel who kneels for another” - a favorite Skakdi insult, derived from a demon god and blood magician worshipped by the Lesterin :Nii (ah-nee): “mongrel” - a derogatory suffix. Nakihl (nah-keel): “hated dead-men” - native mystics. Najin (nah-jeen): “deathly light” - explosive powder, known to Mata-Nuians as Stralix Powder. Sarke: “to make a fool of oneself” - Zakaz’s combat sport. Silva;ria;Dii: “Grand Performance for the Gods” - the ritual through which a Skakdi may be recognised formally as a warlord. Valin;Xalt: ceremony to recognise a dead Skakdi for Ancestral worship. Zakaz: “the end of all worlds” - island home of the Skakdi.

Cuch-Cokvaim-Skak:Dii - Your Guide to the Beast-Men-Gods of Zakaz Table of Contents: I. History II. Traditions and Culture III. Locations IV. Technology V. Forts VI. Language Guide Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz: The Once-Silver Zakaz, Now Meaning - End of All Worlds In the Time BEFORE Time ------------- Paradise! All was Many, which All was its own Paradise. GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui forged His world in His image, forging many Paradise, each in His Image, which each bore his Perfect Face. Which each bore his LOVE. LOVE was what GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui gave the LESTERIN, chief among GIFTS. To his children, he gave GIFTS to CHANGE THE WORLD (fire ta) (ice ko) (water ga) (air le) (earth onu) (stone po) (darkness of kuta) GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui held back (darkness of kuta) from his children. But they sought it anyway? Why? The Lesterin were good CHILDREN, and did not seek the (darkness of kuta) but abused their GIFTS. LESTERI|NII, FAN LESTERI:NII We abused our GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui’s gifts. We were so so so, so wrong. So sorry we were wrong. We abused our GIFTS, chief among them the gift of SKATHI our Servants, and in return they brought THEIR GIFT THE SWORD to us. IN THE TIME BEFORE TIME---------- The Skakdi were lifted up from dirt. But not by GREAT SPIRIT. Not by Mata Nui. (Who gave Skakdi GIFTS?) They molded dirt as they were molded, seized (darkness of kuta) for themselves, and from Mata Nui’s face they built ZAKAZ. Then they ate Mata Nui’s face from ZAKAZ, leaving just ZAKAZ behind. Once paradise, no more; once Image, no more; once peaceful, nevermore. ZAKAZ IS ZAKAZ. ZAKAZ MEANS ZAKAZ - THE END OF ALL WORLDS. FAN|SKATHI. SKATHI LORLI SKAK:DII. And they will be(,) forever. As we learned. As will you. To know Zakaz, you must know the Skakdi. They created each other. In the Time Before Time, there was no Zakaz; instead there lay an archipelago of near-a-dozen islands, populated by the Toa-cousins known as Lesterin. The Lesterin were a nimble and clever people, skilled merchants and crafters, but not physically strong enough to build glorious Zakaz with the strength of their own backs. Their naval prowess was unmatched, and their travels had brought them into contact with new species on wild new lands, but they had no heart and will, and would drag no treasures, gods or glory back to the grand ziggurats of Zakaz. For thousands of years, the civilization they had raised was the centerpiece of a great mercantile power, capitalists, or here meaning, those who connived against others for the benefit of their handful little islands. From their chief little island, Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean, further horizons dazzled their eyes, ever-seeking competition with the cunning Vortixx Mata Nui had birthed to the North. As their ambitions grow Their clan-weaknesses become apparent Both built atop ⤋ the backs of Skathi. They came from an island to the southwest of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, denizens of a nameless port which Great Spirit Mata Nui paid no particular attention. The Skathi were strong, but they were foundations themselves, and were not thought of as beings with particular aspirations or capabilities. A weak race, merely strong; powerless and easily vassalized, underneath Lesterin they labor; Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean blossoms under Mata Nui’s watchful eye. Lesterin and Vortixx alike hold Skathi in contempt. They were bred like beasts, treated as little more than slaves. Of course, the Lesterin would not view themselves as slavers. When accused They said They were but children. Mata Nui’s children. The Skathi, fury-fueled, cried “No.” “We are not ones To be dominated by Children.” Mata Nui’s children did not enslave, though the truth writ on souls underneath their skins wrote different stories. The Skathi shed their skins forever to become the Skakdi, Beast-Men-Gods, and shed the Lesterin’s skins forever to show the slaves ⤊ beneath. The Skakdi conquest of their former rulers was their first, and like many first times, it was quick and brutal. With their newfound power they stole island by island, sacked city by city, leaving charred ruin and smoke and salt in their wake. Within a year had Silver-Jewel fallen to golden nightmare, when Great Irnakk:Dii seized the shores of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan and, bellowing, dragged the shores in his wake, drowning the great capital In His Glory’s tide. The Skakdi lacked the fleetness of Lesterin upon endless ocean, and improvised; for the first time in their history, they were allowed to build for themselves, dragging all the Lesterin Isles together into jagged-jigsaw Zakaz. The last piece was Great Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean and apple of Great Spirit’s eye. When all the pieces were together, Great Irnakk:Dii stood at the precipice of old and grand Kvere and bellowed thus: “VELON RAL IRNAKK” I am Irnakk. “IRNAKK LANTE” Irnakk hungers. “FAN:DII BALOM SKAK:DII” No Gods, but for the Skakdi. And golden-nightmare bent low to devour silver-jewel whole, swallowing city and town and merchant alike. The cities, he drank like wine. The towns soaked the wine like bread and kept his mind sharp. The merchants did not go to waste either. Their flesh soothed his stomach. Their blood slaked his thirst. And their bones he spat into the ocean, for the Skakdi had begun life as builders, and knew that every great work needed a foundation. They named their home with the broad brush of irony - Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz, or, Silver-Jewel-at-End-of-All-Worlds, for it was the end of their lives as Skathi, and a silent promise to all the people of the world. Nothing would ever be built on Skakdi land again - and all the land the Skakdi saw would be theirs by right. Section I: History Once a submissive, near-slave race of the dominant Lesterin culture, the Skathi people rose up in the Time Before Time to seize the lands of the merchant-princes and build a homeland of their own. Though the cause of their ancient uprising is probably as simple as a matter of the fierce pride endemic to their species, the actual methods of the Skakdi’s sudden rise to power are shrouded in mystery - and perhaps even more sinister than their later actions, for it is well agreed upon by scholars of other races that the Skathi were a powerless race under the Lesterin, without elemental capability or the vision powers that they later became known for. Some theorize that Seprilli perhaps had free-flowing Antidermis similar to that of the Rift, though such deposits have never been found and the theory is disregarded by most who point out that according to the Skakdi creation myths, the Antidermis within the Rift was not discovered until long after the Skakdi’s rise to dominance. Another implausible, and even darker, tale comes courtesy of the blood-mystics of Zakaz, who teach their neonate occultists that the great Warlord Irnakk:Dii, first of the Ancestors and boldest of his eon, put six, then three, then two, then three of his one-hundred-and-eight wives to the sword, and from their blood and bone powder he drew a demon’s face and formed a compact with it for the Skakdi’s powers. Whatever the case may be, the Skakdi enjoyed centuries of uninterrupted prosperity after the fall of the Lesterin merchants. In time, Warlord Irnakk:Dii died and was consumed in memory of his greatest triumph, the ravenous sack of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan; his blood and bone powder fueled his line, and from the sixty-six young wives the old Golden Nightmare kept at the end of his life, forty of them gave him sons in the nine months after his death, and of those forty, thirteen became Ancestors in their own right after their deaths. The Lesterin had been put in their place, but not extinguished, and provided valuable trade goods to the Skakdi for the sole purpose of surviving as second class citizens. Even the Vortixx to the north were being handled with a surprisingly deft hand. It was a golden age. But betrayal is in the hearts of men and women of all races, and nowhere is betrayal found in more abundance than Zakaz. It began centuries ago, with a Vortixx delegation into Irnakk’s Tooth during a weapons deal with a local warlord. Under the cover of the starless, moonless Zakaz night, seven mercenaries stole away from their barracks and crept down the mountain. Seven ebon shadows dipped into the holy, vital waters of Kvere;Ivi, hoping to discover the great treasure zealously guarded by the Lesterin and Skakdi of old. None of the seven returned, but clearly they had tampered with something - for the next morning, all known Vortixx had become one with the higher mysteries, and the Skakdi as a race had been effectively hamstrung. One of their two vision powers had been taken away from them completely, leaving many warriors feeling as good as blind without their full arsenal. In addition, the full force of the elements they once wielded had been dampened and restricted, leaving the emasculated Skakdi to team up and display what once would have been magnificent elemental displays they were capable of on their own. No Skakdi had dared venture into the water, knowing well the traditions and fearing retribution from the disturbing force named Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru (or, “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves”) so no one knew quite what the Vortixx had found or what had been done when they reached it - save all but the oldest mystics, whose knowing glances and colorless pallors in the weeks after the failed Vortixx expedition did all of their speaking for them. As news spread that the once-unstoppable berserkers of the Skakdi culture had been unmanned, any hopes of territorial expansion beyond Zakaz in the birth of a grand Skakdi confederacy quickly crumbled, in lieu of finding a way to return their powers to them and grant their species the full broth of power their Ancestors had been offered and had gladly supped from. For centuries, all attempts at restoring the Skakdi to their former glory failed...until six cast-offs, pestilence in all its living forms, from all corners of the island, none of whom contained any particular merit to their society, managed to restore their powers. Section II: Traditions and Culture Those who have encountered Skakdi from other lands have a skewed perception of what it is to be Skakdi, seeing them as chaotic beings with no guiding principles or moral compass. In reality, the species is bound by a certain alien sense of honor, at least insofar as respecting themselves and other Skakdi as gods awaiting ascension. Indeed, all beings are allowed under the Skakdi umbrella, so long as respect is paid to the Ancestors and the Skakdi species, which is recognized as the apex species under the Skakdi’s brutal philosophy. The Ancestors are a vital part of Skakdi culture, and serve as the closest thing the famously agnostic race has to a pantheon. Though there are close to two dozen Skakdi who function as universal Ancestors, many bloodlines on Zakaz boast multiple Ancestors of their own further along their family lines, who they worship less fervently but more frequently than the race’s major ancestors like Irnakk:Dii and Nektann:Dii. The suffix :Dii is the highest honorific in the Skakdi race, and is not meted out without great societal consensus when it comes to that Skakdi’s achievements. More often the honorific ;Dii, meaning “king of all on world” as opposed to the “king of glorious legend” of :Dii, will be awarded to an Ancestor worshipped by one family tree. The difference in punctuation is small, but Skakdi have been known to kill when their Ancestors are somehow demeaned, or mantled above the accomplishments of other Ancestors; worse still are those outlanders who confuse :Dii and :Nii, meaning “mongrel.” The worst insults in all the Skakdi tongue are “Heu:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel without his own fate,” eclipsed only by “Mata:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel who kneels for another.” When a great Skakdi dies and is being considered for Ancestral worship, there is a ceremony known as the Valin;Xalt, where his blood and bone is mixed up into a paste which the deceased warrior’s wives must imbibe in and use as a soap. After cleansing themselves with the paste for thirty days, at least six wives should be proven to be with child, or each wife must have killed five Skakdi apiece and returned their skulls to the shrine where the initial Valin;Xalt took place. This proves that the Ancestor lives on in Kino-Ur, the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. It is the Skakdi’s belief that a true Ancestor retains his identity in Kino-Ur, and that one day the Ancestors will help marshal the shades of all Skakdi and ride out from Kino-Ur back into the world, where the armies of the dead will seize the mantle of the living, and all the world will be theirs. There is no strict governmental structure on Zakaz. The entire island’s population is mostly rabble, conscripted into the army of any one of the island’s various self-proclaimed warlords. The title of warlord has somewhat lost its meaning in recent centuries. In the days of old, warlords were few but powerful, raised up by deed and ritual. Any formal warlord was forced by the mystic men of Zakaz to undergo the ritual of Silva;ria;Dii, or the Grand Performance for the Gods. This ritual is two-sided; first, beneath the watchful eye of all his people, the Skakdi must spend ten minutes underneath the waters of Kvere;Ivi with only a single Air Bladder to pop in times of panic. Though use of the Air Bladder is allowed, tradition states that since great Nektann:Dii submerged himself for the full ten minutes while breathing in the waters of the dead, a warlord made of true steel will tough it out without requiring the air. Then the Skakdi must venture to the southeast of Zakaz, to the Rift, before the eyes of six of his most devout followers. There he will be fed an overdose of a miraculous cactus that grows in the Spineless Bay, which offers wondrous healing powers in small doses but overwhelms the senses and induces sheer panic if too much is consumed. The exact dosage varies, but generally it will be enough to leave the Skakdi blinded and unable to use his powers. He will then be led to the edge of the Rift and jump down with all his strength. The test is simple - hit the ground without being impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, and if you are impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, just will yourself to survive. The ceremony of Silva;ria;Dii is intended to prove that there is no foe in our reality or any other that cannot be faced down by a Skakdi without fear in his heart. Unfortunately, as several cunning Skakdi have picked up on over the centuries, the ritual is very prone to sabotage; more than one prospective warlord has been pushed into the Rift while still struggling to retain his senses of sight and sound, and met a gruesome death on the end of a stalagmite. In addition, the rite of Silva;ria;Dii has been invoked less than a dozen times since the Vortixx’s invasion of Kvere;Ivi, usually by traditionalist warlords looking to gain favor with the older generations. These days, any Skakdi with even a small mercenary company who occupies one of the many ruined forts that litter Zakaz’s landscape can call himself a warlord, and such demesnes rise and fall without fanfare every year. The only real organized sport on Zakaz is Sarke, taken from an archaic Skakdi verb for “to make a fool of oneself.” It is, simply put, combat sports. Fight clubs are a mainstay in almost every building on Zakaz that has four walls and a roof, and sometimes even those are optional if a large circle can be drawn in the dirt and a crowd is there. There are only two rules in Sarke: never cry, and keep your opponent alive. This way, one’s honor and the camaraderie between Skakdi are safely preserved, and the disorganized, no-holds-barred structure has taught many a Skakdi inventive new techniques during Sarke that have kept them alive on the field of battle - sometimes even against another Skakdi they know from the ring. To interrupt a duel in Sarke for any reason is rightly considered a slight by both combatants; the tale of Herbak, the bumbling referee who stopped a Sarke championship before a Skakdi was ready to submit, is well-known among the "athletic" circles of the island. One of the slighted combatants, future Ancestor and "the Lion of Sarke" Crokk, decided to exercise his prodigious talent for violence on each of Herbak's limbs before he was floated out to sea, still breathing and protesting. Some say he managed to float all the way to safety at Seprilli. Some joke that he stopped early. Finally, no discussion of Skakdi culture would be complete without discussion of the occultists. There have always been those on Zakaz with sharper minds than reflexes, and in a society where the clever and intellectually capable are mocked and belittled, alternative methods of proving one’s worth to the Skak:Dii ideal are required just to stay alive. For such men and women, the past provides more answers than the barbarous present, and many have gone to great lengths to comb through old Skakdi legends for knowledge or locate the teachings of long-dead Lesterin mystics. The Nakihl (Nahk-eel), or “hated dead-men” in Skakdi, are the only long-standing organization on the island, a loose amalgamation of philosophers, mystics, and demon worshippers who attempt congress with what they believe to be two other worlds, layered above and below our own, that house all spirits both altruistic and sinister. It is the prevailing belief of the Nakihl that their power was forged in a compact between the old Skathi generals, led by Irnakk:Dii, and one of these unknowable forces, and that somehow the concordat was broken by whatever the scheming Vortixx did beneath the crystalline surface of Kvere;Ivi centuries ago. While the mainstream Skakdi belief is that their original powers will return after they have conquered enough land for the Ancestors to marshal their hosts, the Nakihl tend to believe that only by returning the balance to whatever bargain was struck by the Skathi of old can the full might of the Skakdi be returned. This approach to Skakdi might has not won them many fans among the people of Zakaz. In fact, the Nakihl fortress to the north of Spineless Bay has been sacked five times by angry warlords seeking to purge the taint of the Nakihl’s bloody magic from Zakaz; but after every purge, survivors crawled out from the woodwork like rats, and in no time the Nakihl have been restored to the same state they were in before the raids. The last assault on the Nakihl was over four centuries ago, when the band of mystic men were led by a Lesterin, of all things: a Lesterin named Ahk’rei:Nii, who played with corpses of the dead like puppets and led many of his followers willingly into Kino-Ur. An army united under four separate warlords, led by Warlord Ga’Rokk:Dii the Gunslinger, marched through the Burning Steppes and battled hungry Tahtorak in order to reach the Nakihl conclave and slay Ahk’rei:Nii. It is said that the four warlords who stormed the conclave found the Lesterin in his ceremonial chambers, practicing a ritual to kill half the Skakdi where they stood and reanimate them to fight the other half; it is also said that when Ga’Rokk:Dii drew his famous silver Launcher and removed Ahk’rei:Nii’s head from his shoulders, the occultist actually continued with his ritual as though he had been stung by an insect, head futilely trying to reform itself from the slush that the Skakdi warlord had made of it. Ahk’rei:Nii’s body was taken and burnt once, outside the fortress, before the ashes were scattered into the Burning Steppes to be immolated again, just to be sure. Nonetheless, rumors of Ahk’rei:Nii’s survival still haunt children’s nightmares to this day, leading them to wonder if the evil Lesterin will appear in their dreams and try to lure them to Kino-Ur with promises of great adventure. Section III: Locations Irnakk’s Tooth - Though no larger than a Koro, Irnakk’s Tooth is probably the closest thing to a true city and capital the Skakdi possess on the Zakaz mainland. The settlement of Irnakk’s Tooth is built into the side of a mountain of the same name, that the sages claim to be one of the great Ancestor Irnakk:Dii’s teeth left behind after the Skakdi people feasted upon Lamo-Lyco-Oshan. The current village upon the Tooth is said to be erected from the gnawed-upon, discarded bones of the former Lesterin trade capital Kvere (Queh-reh) - and while no doubt meant as a grandiose boast, it appears that here, at least, Skakdi mythology has a hint of practical truth hidden beneath the bombast, as there are certain buildings spread throughout the settlement that display Lesterin or even Vortixx architectural philosophy. Though no warlords occupy Irnakk’s Tooth full-time as ruler, and none have been brave enough to try for over two centuries, several of the island’s most dangerous and prestigious warlords do have manses that are occupied during parts of the year. Similarly, although outlanders are not as common a sight here as on Seprilli, it’s not unheard of to find mercenaries on the Tooth seeking employment with a mercenary company or warlord. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee) - Fittingly, even the most beneficial landmark on Zakaz doubles as a scar on the landscape. The lake that keeps most of the inhabitants of Zakaz alive, if perhaps not always well-hydrated, was originally situated underneath the capital city of Kvere, used as an underground retreat and natural hot spring that would keep the city warm for the Lesterin merchant-princes during winter months. Now the lake is known only as Kvere;Ivi, or Kvere Grave in Skakdi tongue, for the city that sunk beneath its depths when the Skakdi rose up in the time before time. Caverns which once rested underground are now blown open and ripped asunder from the lakebed, buried within diving distance of the surface of the lake and jutting above its crystalline surface in some places. Though the penalty for outlanders defiling the lake is technically death, this law is not strictly upheld - mostly because few who are foolish enough to plumb the depths of Kvere;Ivi searching for treasures ever return, and even fewer surface again intact. Notably, those foolhardy explorers or treasure hunters who try to mount expeditions are never able to recruit locals. The Skakdi fear going into the water. The Spineless Bay - The Spineless Bay was named by Warlord Nektann:Dii nine hundred years ago, during his short-lived conquest of all lands north of Irnakk’s Tooth. Before Nektann’s arrival, the unnamed river delta that comprised western Zakaz was for the most part a rare oasis on the island, occupied by Lesterin traders and a few Skakdi who had found themselves incapable of fighting battles through infirmity, lameness or meek hearts. Nektann, contemptuously referring to the inhabitants of the western brook as Criebe:Dii, or ‘Gods-Of-the-Weak-Seeded,” had the valley razed as he swept across it, famously declaring that there would never be a place on Zakaz for living Skakdi to sit on their hands and contemplate the flora. Nektann was killed before he could realize his full ambitions, but before he died he had turned the northern half of the delta to cinders and his army had permanently christened it the ‘Spineless Bay.’ Within a couple decades, the still-flaming carcass of the northern Bay had found itself occupied by new warlords - a gigantic species of Rahi known as the Tahtorak, which took comfort in its new environment and sought to migrate south. Only the gigantic flames that still burn on the steppes in the northern valley have halted the Tahtoraks’ advances over the century, leading to two differing legends - the prevailing fable being that the Tahtorak grew from the shed blood of Nektann’s men in the conquest of the bay, and the spirits of the Criebe:Dii kept the fires alight to prevent the rest of their weakling’s paradise from falling to the reborn army. The prevailing theory among the mystics of Zakaz is that the Tahtorak are children of a darker, unknown emissary, and that Warlord Nektann:Dii himself was reborn as the flames, keeping the Tahtorak contained before they run amok on his homeland. In the south of the valley, the lands Nektann never burnt, the name ‘Spineless Bay’ takes on an ironic second edge, for it is here that Zakaz’s largest collection of Spine Slugs lives among the wild. These parasites, which Skakdi use to try and replace a fragment of the rage that was lost to them in days long past, have always found the climate of the river delta palatable, and can be found in plenty the closer the delta gets to Kvere;Ivi. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k) Roughly translating to the mocking nickname ‘Lesterin’s Crown,’ or often just colloquially referred to as ‘the Crown,’ Lesteri;Dak is the ring of mountains, cliffs, and other jagged surfaces that encircle the island of Zakaz. Ranging from coastal cliffs and mild crags to the west and south to the seldom-scaled, mysterious mountains of the east, the Crown is said to be where the bits and ends of old Lesterin islands, fraying and torn from where they were torn apart by the Skakdi and stuffed back into the shape of Zakaz. Though inhospitable and bleak, the Crown does make for a good defensive position during a siege, leading some particularly daring warlords to erect fortresses there. Indeed, even some stray pockets of Lesterin settlement can be found towards the east, where old goat paths and mountain trails will be used by risky caravans and fugitives as a quick path to the sea. The Rift - On the southeast of Zakaz lies a deep gash that cuts through all of reality. In the Time Before Time, a mysterious Lesterin city named Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, the “Silver-Jewel-from-Stars,” was built on the patch of land that the Rift now lacerates. Lamo-Lyco-Cosa was an arcane, avoided city, populated by sages, occultists, and priests, dedicated to the mysteries of the Great Spirit Mata Nui and his mystics, and great care was taken in ensuring that no weapon forged within reality was allowed underneath its gates. Thus it was ensured that even despite the disagreements that often consume scholars, there were protections in place to keep violence from ever breaking out in the sacred city. So it was that the mysteries of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa remained a peaceful, if uncomfortable, fact of life for the surrounding Lesterin settlements. When the Skathi rose up in revolt over Lesterin rule of the islands, Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ignored all pleas for aid and fielded no defense of its own. Their mystics assured each other that the Skathi, as beings of this reality, were unable to break the physical or arcane barriers that protected the city, and that they could continue their work unimpeded. The Skakdi conquest lasted under a year, but the army underneath the walls of Silver-Jewel-from-Stars held out through the whole duration of the war, as the wise men within seemed uncowed by hunger, bombardment, or news of the fall of merchant prince after merchant prince. Until one day, the city did fall. Of course, whether or not Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ever existed is a matter of debate. The small handful of scholars remaining on Zakaz, as well as leaders of the Lesterin conclaves on Seprilli, are quick to point out that there has never been a conclusive shred of evidence that any city ever stood on the area where the Rift now lies, and indeed the wily, pragmatic Lesterin people seem very quick to deny that their culture ever dabbled in such dangerous fare as the higher mysteries. But the stories of the city’s fall are as important as the tales of Ancestors, parents frighten children with the thought of the evil Man-Shades of the Magic City who possess their Spine Slugs and suck the living matter from inside their skulls, and there is a merchant on every corner of Irnakk’s Tooth claiming to sell lost talismans from the Silver-Jewel-from-Stars. The story’s detractors also seem incapable of offering a suggestion of what may have been built over the Rift if not a city. Certainly, it has not always been there. The Rift itself appears to be nothing but a large, particularly narrow canyon through southeastern Zakaz, with stalagmites and crags dotting the ashen ground. Here and there one may find the ruins of old fortresses or ziggurats buried underneath the sands of time, or with new rock outcroppings sticking through ramparts or portculli, as if the Rift is slowly assimilating the structures into its mass. These are not, as many a zealous tour guide would insist, remnants of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, for the truth would scare any who were mad enough to tour the Rift right from the canyon. Truthfully, much in the way much of the rabble flocks to Lesteri;Dak, many Skakdi have seen the Rift as a potential trap for an opposing army or as a good start to fashion themselves as a warlord to be feared. Such Skakdi are fools; without exception, every attempt to occupy or settle the Rift has ended in calamity, and the most recent settlement there ended four centuries ago with the death of Warlord Nuxukann the Grinner and his chiefs within his own fortress. Those who arrived to sack the fort found the chiefs dead with their eyes gouged out, vision powers having run amok to the point where blindness was preferable to more torment. The Grinner himself was still clinging to life, though his mind had been addled and his element of Ice had been used against him and trapped him in an oubliette of his own making. The warlord died babbling, but whatever pleas or warnings he may have been trying to get out were incomprehensible - all of his famous teeth had fallen out from their roots, thick black blood and ash clotting the gums. There is no vegetation as far as the eye can see in any direction, even by Zakaz standards. Animals flee it or die, having gone rabid and been put down at the hands of their masters. And there is Antidermis everywhere in the Rift. It seems to bubble up everywhere, from natural springs in the ground that seem to spout like blackish-green mockeries of geysers to within the very rocks. More than one Skakdi has angrily broken off a chunk of rock the size of a spear to use on a rival, only to shriek in horror as viscous Antidermis runs down from the inside of a hidden geode and ravages them like gangrene. Executions for the most heinous of crimes are committed here, as only prisoners who commit crimes which mock both Skakdi both living and Ancestral are taken to the Rift and dropped into Antidermis to slowly dissolve, torn apart body and soul by corruption over several agonizing minutes. Seprilli (Seh-pree-lee) - Seprilli is a curious little island to the southwest of Zakaz, left separate during Irnakk’s fabled haphazard construction of Zakaz in order to symbolically leave behind his race’s past as the Skathi. Instead, Seprilli found a second life as a port city and makeshift home for the Lesterin, who found themselves in the unenviable position of having swapped homelands with the race they once utilized as submissive bruisers. It is an irony many Lesterin have rubbed in their faces by the Skakdi. Irony exists everywhere on Zakaz. As a booming port in its own right, Seprilli is technically under the rule of the Skakdi, though they prefer to leave it alone out of a sense of haughty and ancestral pride. The Lesterin have de facto dominion of the island to themselves, along with a race of powerless bruisers known as the Kaiakans who will often be hired as mercenary help for jobs the Lesterin are not physically capable of. While there is a Skakdi population on Seprilli, they are shunned for their birthplace, looked at almost as a subspecies of the mainland Skakdi. Such Skakdi are forced to take the surname Seprillian, to mark them for who they are, and have historically been regarded as misfits who are better suited to lives on the seas and rubbing shoulders with the Lesterin. This outlook has changed somewhat in the last century, thanks to the meteoric rise of Warlord Malnak Seprillian, who seized a large chunk of territory on the mainland by utilizing the nautical knowledge he gained growing up on Seprilli and using the river delta as a launching point for his conquest. Many veteran warriors, however, still view the Seprillian Skakdi as lesser, and it will likely take many more conquests like those of Malnak in order to bring the minority the recognition they crave. Section IV: Technology The technology of Zakaz will be familiar to anyone who has seen a Skakdi on Mata Nui. Rudimentary firearms abound, mostly powered off by a substance that the Skakdi refer to as Najin (or “deathly light” in their tongue) dust - which any citizen of Mata Nui would recognize as Stralix Powder. There are no Madu fruit on Zakaz, depriving Mata Nuians of their favorite homegrown explosive, but there is oil aplenty to be mined in the south of Zakaz and from Seprilli, which helps give the Lesterin a degree of importance in trading affairs. Thanks to the machinations of a particularly fidgety inventor named Avak, a sonic-powered motorbike has started to pick up traction (no pun intended) on Zakaz over the past century and a half as a mode of transportation over the living mounts of centuries past. Though outlandishly expensive and mostly a prized possession for status-obsessed warlords, enough time has passed that inventors without Avak’s avant-garde flair have started to reverse-engineer the machines, and several prototypes of dubious functionality can be easily acquired on the Zakaz black market - for anyone willing to shell out. Skakdi on Zakaz may have two pieces of Foreign Technology, see Character Creation. Section V: Forts Small, defensible fortifications dot Zakaz’s landscape relics from mercenary bands past and present. Though not pretty or even always structurally sound, such a fortified camp is one of the first steps on an aspiring warlord’s path to real power. Some of these are old structures moved into after their previous tenants were evicted by violence or otherwise vacated, while others are recent construction purpose-built by the groups holding them. Often they’re built around a particularly lucrative cache of gear… For one week after the beginning of the arc applications will be open for such a fort. Design it, including its owner, location on the map, what it looks like, what it contains, and how many brave mercenaries call it ‘home’. The staff will compile a randomly generated list of loot placed at each one specifically to encourage other players to wrest control from its original owner and take their prize. This is Zakaz, things happen. Similarly these forts are not protected by the usual guidelines regarding player-established locations. If someone decides the best way to get in is to reduce the place to rubble, they can. Nor are its NPCs safe from attacking PCs. That said, the same rules that apply to any fight apply here. You are not infinitely superior to NPCs, and they are under the owner of the fort’s control as much (and with the same privileges) as Guard NPCs are under their Akiri. Any forts created after this application deadline will have to be created IC and over time, while these approved forts will exist at the start of the game. Section VI: Skakdi Language Glossary Criebe:Dii: “gods of the weak-seeded” - historic name for the inhabitants of the Spineless Bay. :Dii (ah-dee): “king of glorious legend” or “god” - most important honorific in the Skakdi language, used for revered Ancestors of the species such as Irnakk:Dii. ;Dii (dee): “king of all on world” - second most important honorific in the Skakdi language; used for revered Ancestors of a single family line, but can also be used to denote warlords or warriors of high honor without fear of dismemberment Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru: “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves” - entity of Skakdi superstition thought to exist in the depths of Kvere;Ivi. Heu:Nii: “mongrel without his own fate” - a Skakdi insult. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k): “Lesterin’s Crown” (roughly) - the ring of mountains, cliffs, etc that encircle Zakaz. Kino-Ur: the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee): “Kvere grave” - Zakaz’s central lake. Lesteri:Nii: "mongrel who once wore the skins of Lesterin" - the derogatory insult for most Lesterin in contemporary Skakdi culture; also doubles as a backhanded compliment towards the Lesterin ancestors they sacked, though doubtless the Skakdi miss the irony Mata:Nii: “mongrel who kneels for another” - a favorite Skakdi insult, derived from a demon god and blood magician worshipped by the Lesterin :Nii (ah-nee): “mongrel” - a derogatory suffix. Nakihl (nah-keel): “hated dead-men” - native mystics. Najin (nah-jeen): “deathly light” - explosive powder, known to Mata-Nuians as Stralix Powder. Sarke: “to make a fool of oneself” - Zakaz’s combat sport. Silva;ria;Dii: “Grand Performance for the Gods” - the ritual through which a Skakdi may be recognised formally as a warlord. Valin;Xalt: ceremony to recognise a dead Skakdi for Ancestral worship. Zakaz: “the end of all worlds” - island home of the Skakdi.

Cuch-Cokvaim-Skak:Dii - Your Guide to the Beast-Men-Gods of Zakaz Table of Contents: I. History II. Traditions and Culture III. Locations IV. Technology V. Forts VI. Language Guide Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz: The Once-Silver Zakaz, Now Meaning - End of All Worlds In the Time BEFORE Time ------------- Paradise! All was Many, which All was its own Paradise. GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui forged His world in His image, forging many Paradise, each in His Image, which each bore his Perfect Face. Which each bore his LOVE. LOVE was what GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui gave the LESTERIN, chief among GIFTS. To his children, he gave GIFTS to CHANGE THE WORLD (fire ta) (ice ko) (water ga) (air le) (earth onu) (stone po) (darkness of kuta) GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui held back (darkness of kuta) from his children. But they sought it anyway? Why? The Lesterin were good CHILDREN, and did not seek the (darkness of kuta) but abused their GIFTS. LESTERI|NII, FAN LESTERI:NII We abused our GREAT SPIRIT Mata Nui’s gifts. We were so so so, so wrong. So sorry we were wrong. We abused our GIFTS, chief among them the gift of SKATHI our Servants, and in return they brought THEIR GIFT THE SWORD to us. IN THE TIME BEFORE TIME---------- The Skakdi were lifted up from dirt. But not by GREAT SPIRIT. Not by Mata Nui. (Who gave Skakdi GIFTS?) They molded dirt as they were molded, seized (darkness of kuta) for themselves, and from Mata Nui’s face they built ZAKAZ. Then they ate Mata Nui’s face from ZAKAZ, leaving just ZAKAZ behind. Once paradise, no more; once Image, no more; once peaceful, nevermore. ZAKAZ IS ZAKAZ. ZAKAZ MEANS ZAKAZ - THE END OF ALL WORLDS. FAN|SKATHI. SKATHI LORLI SKAK:DII. And they will be(,) forever. As we learned. As will you. To know Zakaz, you must know the Skakdi. They created each other. In the Time Before Time, there was no Zakaz; instead there lay an archipelago of near-a-dozen islands, populated by the Toa-cousins known as Lesterin. The Lesterin were a nimble and clever people, skilled merchants and crafters, but not physically strong enough to build glorious Zakaz with the strength of their own backs. Their naval prowess was unmatched, and their travels had brought them into contact with new species on wild new lands, but they had no heart and will, and would drag no treasures, gods or glory back to the grand ziggurats of Zakaz. For thousands of years, the civilization they had raised was the centerpiece of a great mercantile power, capitalists, or here meaning, those who connived against others for the benefit of their handful little islands. From their chief little island, Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean, further horizons dazzled their eyes, ever-seeking competition with the cunning Vortixx Mata Nui had birthed to the North. As their ambitions grow Their clan-weaknesses become apparent Both built atop ⤋ the backs of Skathi. They came from an island to the southwest of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, denizens of a nameless port which Great Spirit Mata Nui paid no particular attention. The Skathi were strong, but they were foundations themselves, and were not thought of as beings with particular aspirations or capabilities. A weak race, merely strong; powerless and easily vassalized, underneath Lesterin they labor; Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean blossoms under Mata Nui’s watchful eye. Lesterin and Vortixx alike hold Skathi in contempt. They were bred like beasts, treated as little more than slaves. Of course, the Lesterin would not view themselves as slavers. When accused They said They were but children. Mata Nui’s children. The Skathi, fury-fueled, cried “No.” “We are not ones To be dominated by Children.” Mata Nui’s children did not enslave, though the truth writ on souls underneath their skins wrote different stories. The Skathi shed their skins forever to become the Skakdi, Beast-Men-Gods, and shed the Lesterin’s skins forever to show the slaves ⤊ beneath. The Skakdi conquest of their former rulers was their first, and like many first times, it was quick and brutal. With their newfound power they stole island by island, sacked city by city, leaving charred ruin and smoke and salt in their wake. Within a year had Silver-Jewel fallen to golden nightmare, when Great Irnakk:Dii seized the shores of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan and, bellowing, dragged the shores in his wake, drowning the great capital In His Glory’s tide. The Skakdi lacked the fleetness of Lesterin upon endless ocean, and improvised; for the first time in their history, they were allowed to build for themselves, dragging all the Lesterin Isles together into jagged-jigsaw Zakaz. The last piece was Great Lamo-Lyco-Oshan, Silver-Jewel-on-Ocean and apple of Great Spirit’s eye. When all the pieces were together, Great Irnakk:Dii stood at the precipice of old and grand Kvere and bellowed thus: “VELON RAL IRNAKK” I am Irnakk. “IRNAKK LANTE” Irnakk hungers. “FAN:DII BALOM SKAK:DII” No Gods, but for the Skakdi. And golden-nightmare bent low to devour silver-jewel whole, swallowing city and town and merchant alike. The cities, he drank like wine. The towns soaked the wine like bread and kept his mind sharp. The merchants did not go to waste either. Their flesh soothed his stomach. Their blood slaked his thirst. And their bones he spat into the ocean, for the Skakdi had begun life as builders, and knew that every great work needed a foundation. They named their home with the broad brush of irony - Lamo-Lyco-Zakaz, or, Silver-Jewel-at-End-of-All-Worlds, for it was the end of their lives as Skathi, and a silent promise to all the people of the world. Nothing would ever be built on Skakdi land again - and all the land the Skakdi saw would be theirs by right. Section I: History Once a submissive, near-slave race of the dominant Lesterin culture, the Skathi people rose up in the Time Before Time to seize the lands of the merchant-princes and build a homeland of their own. Though the cause of their ancient uprising is probably as simple as a matter of the fierce pride endemic to their species, the actual methods of the Skakdi’s sudden rise to power are shrouded in mystery - and perhaps even more sinister than their later actions, for it is well agreed upon by scholars of other races that the Skathi were a powerless race under the Lesterin, without elemental capability or the vision powers that they later became known for. Some theorize that Seprilli perhaps had free-flowing Antidermis similar to that of the Rift, though such deposits have never been found and the theory is disregarded by most who point out that according to the Skakdi creation myths, the Antidermis within the Rift was not discovered until long after the Skakdi’s rise to dominance. Another implausible, and even darker, tale comes courtesy of the blood-mystics of Zakaz, who teach their neonate occultists that the great Warlord Irnakk:Dii, first of the Ancestors and boldest of his eon, put six, then three, then two, then three of his one-hundred-and-eight wives to the sword, and from their blood and bone powder he drew a demon’s face and formed a compact with it for the Skakdi’s powers. Whatever the case may be, the Skakdi enjoyed centuries of uninterrupted prosperity after the fall of the Lesterin merchants. In time, Warlord Irnakk:Dii died and was consumed in memory of his greatest triumph, the ravenous sack of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan; his blood and bone powder fueled his line, and from the sixty-six young wives the old Golden Nightmare kept at the end of his life, forty of them gave him sons in the nine months after his death, and of those forty, thirteen became Ancestors in their own right after their deaths. The Lesterin had been put in their place, but not extinguished, and provided valuable trade goods to the Skakdi for the sole purpose of surviving as second class citizens. Even the Vortixx to the north were being handled with a surprisingly deft hand. It was a golden age. But betrayal is in the hearts of men and women of all races, and nowhere is betrayal found in more abundance than Zakaz. It began centuries ago, with a Vortixx delegation into Irnakk’s Tooth during a weapons deal with a local warlord. Under the cover of the starless, moonless Zakaz night, seven mercenaries stole away from their barracks and crept down the mountain. Seven ebon shadows dipped into the holy, vital waters of Kvere;Ivi, hoping to discover the great treasure zealously guarded by the Lesterin and Skakdi of old. None of the seven returned, but clearly they had tampered with something - for the next morning, all known Vortixx had become one with the higher mysteries, and the Skakdi as a race had been effectively hamstrung. One of their two vision powers had been taken away from them completely, leaving many warriors feeling as good as blind without their full arsenal. In addition, the full force of the elements they once wielded had been dampened and restricted, leaving the emasculated Skakdi to team up and display what once would have been magnificent elemental displays they were capable of on their own. No Skakdi had dared venture into the water, knowing well the traditions and fearing retribution from the disturbing force named Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru (or, “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves”) so no one knew quite what the Vortixx had found or what had been done when they reached it - save all but the oldest mystics, whose knowing glances and colorless pallors in the weeks after the failed Vortixx expedition did all of their speaking for them. As news spread that the once-unstoppable berserkers of the Skakdi culture had been unmanned, any hopes of territorial expansion beyond Zakaz in the birth of a grand Skakdi confederacy quickly crumbled, in lieu of finding a way to return their powers to them and grant their species the full broth of power their Ancestors had been offered and had gladly supped from. For centuries, all attempts at restoring the Skakdi to their former glory failed...until six cast-offs, pestilence in all its living forms, from all corners of the island, none of whom contained any particular merit to their society, managed to restore their powers. Section II: Traditions and Culture Those who have encountered Skakdi from other lands have a skewed perception of what it is to be Skakdi, seeing them as chaotic beings with no guiding principles or moral compass. In reality, the species is bound by a certain alien sense of honor, at least insofar as respecting themselves and other Skakdi as gods awaiting ascension. Indeed, all beings are allowed under the Skakdi umbrella, so long as respect is paid to the Ancestors and the Skakdi species, which is recognized as the apex species under the Skakdi’s brutal philosophy. The Ancestors are a vital part of Skakdi culture, and serve as the closest thing the famously agnostic race has to a pantheon. Though there are close to two dozen Skakdi who function as universal Ancestors, many bloodlines on Zakaz boast multiple Ancestors of their own further along their family lines, who they worship less fervently but more frequently than the race’s major ancestors like Irnakk:Dii and Nektann:Dii. The suffix :Dii is the highest honorific in the Skakdi race, and is not meted out without great societal consensus when it comes to that Skakdi’s achievements. More often the honorific ;Dii, meaning “king of all on world” as opposed to the “king of glorious legend” of :Dii, will be awarded to an Ancestor worshipped by one family tree. The difference in punctuation is small, but Skakdi have been known to kill when their Ancestors are somehow demeaned, or mantled above the accomplishments of other Ancestors; worse still are those outlanders who confuse :Dii and :Nii, meaning “mongrel.” The worst insults in all the Skakdi tongue are “Heu:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel without his own fate,” eclipsed only by “Mata:Nii,” meaning “a mongrel who kneels for another.” When a great Skakdi dies and is being considered for Ancestral worship, there is a ceremony known as the Valin;Xalt, where his blood and bone is mixed up into a paste which the deceased warrior’s wives must imbibe in and use as a soap. After cleansing themselves with the paste for thirty days, at least six wives should be proven to be with child, or each wife must have killed five Skakdi apiece and returned their skulls to the shrine where the initial Valin;Xalt took place. This proves that the Ancestor lives on in Kino-Ur, the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. It is the Skakdi’s belief that a true Ancestor retains his identity in Kino-Ur, and that one day the Ancestors will help marshal the shades of all Skakdi and ride out from Kino-Ur back into the world, where the armies of the dead will seize the mantle of the living, and all the world will be theirs. There is no strict governmental structure on Zakaz. The entire island’s population is mostly rabble, conscripted into the army of any one of the island’s various self-proclaimed warlords. The title of warlord has somewhat lost its meaning in recent centuries. In the days of old, warlords were few but powerful, raised up by deed and ritual. Any formal warlord was forced by the mystic men of Zakaz to undergo the ritual of Silva;ria;Dii, or the Grand Performance for the Gods. This ritual is two-sided; first, beneath the watchful eye of all his people, the Skakdi must spend ten minutes underneath the waters of Kvere;Ivi with only a single Air Bladder to pop in times of panic. Though use of the Air Bladder is allowed, tradition states that since great Nektann:Dii submerged himself for the full ten minutes while breathing in the waters of the dead, a warlord made of true steel will tough it out without requiring the air. Then the Skakdi must venture to the southeast of Zakaz, to the Rift, before the eyes of six of his most devout followers. There he will be fed an overdose of a miraculous cactus that grows in the Spineless Bay, which offers wondrous healing powers in small doses but overwhelms the senses and induces sheer panic if too much is consumed. The exact dosage varies, but generally it will be enough to leave the Skakdi blinded and unable to use his powers. He will then be led to the edge of the Rift and jump down with all his strength. The test is simple - hit the ground without being impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, and if you are impaled or dissolved in Antidermis, just will yourself to survive. The ceremony of Silva;ria;Dii is intended to prove that there is no foe in our reality or any other that cannot be faced down by a Skakdi without fear in his heart. Unfortunately, as several cunning Skakdi have picked up on over the centuries, the ritual is very prone to sabotage; more than one prospective warlord has been pushed into the Rift while still struggling to retain his senses of sight and sound, and met a gruesome death on the end of a stalagmite. In addition, the rite of Silva;ria;Dii has been invoked less than a dozen times since the Vortixx’s invasion of Kvere;Ivi, usually by traditionalist warlords looking to gain favor with the older generations. These days, any Skakdi with even a small mercenary company who occupies one of the many ruined forts that litter Zakaz’s landscape can call himself a warlord, and such demesnes rise and fall without fanfare every year. The only real organized sport on Zakaz is Sarke, taken from an archaic Skakdi verb for “to make a fool of oneself.” It is, simply put, combat sports. Fight clubs are a mainstay in almost every building on Zakaz that has four walls and a roof, and sometimes even those are optional if a large circle can be drawn in the dirt and a crowd is there. There are only two rules in Sarke: never cry, and keep your opponent alive. This way, one’s honor and the camaraderie between Skakdi are safely preserved, and the disorganized, no-holds-barred structure has taught many a Skakdi inventive new techniques during Sarke that have kept them alive on the field of battle - sometimes even against another Skakdi they know from the ring. To interrupt a duel in Sarke for any reason is rightly considered a slight by both combatants; the tale of Herbak, the bumbling referee who stopped a Sarke championship before a Skakdi was ready to submit, is well-known among the "athletic" circles of the island. One of the slighted combatants, future Ancestor and "the Lion of Sarke" Crokk, decided to exercise his prodigious talent for violence on each of Herbak's limbs before he was floated out to sea, still breathing and protesting. Some say he managed to float all the way to safety at Seprilli. Some joke that he stopped early. Finally, no discussion of Skakdi culture would be complete without discussion of the occultists. There have always been those on Zakaz with sharper minds than reflexes, and in a society where the clever and intellectually capable are mocked and belittled, alternative methods of proving one’s worth to the Skak:Dii ideal are required just to stay alive. For such men and women, the past provides more answers than the barbarous present, and many have gone to great lengths to comb through old Skakdi legends for knowledge or locate the teachings of long-dead Lesterin mystics. The Nakihl (Nahk-eel), or “hated dead-men” in Skakdi, are the only long-standing organization on the island, a loose amalgamation of philosophers, mystics, and demon worshippers who attempt congress with what they believe to be two other worlds, layered above and below our own, that house all spirits both altruistic and sinister. It is the prevailing belief of the Nakihl that their power was forged in a compact between the old Skathi generals, led by Irnakk:Dii, and one of these unknowable forces, and that somehow the concordat was broken by whatever the scheming Vortixx did beneath the crystalline surface of Kvere;Ivi centuries ago. While the mainstream Skakdi belief is that their original powers will return after they have conquered enough land for the Ancestors to marshal their hosts, the Nakihl tend to believe that only by returning the balance to whatever bargain was struck by the Skathi of old can the full might of the Skakdi be returned. This approach to Skakdi might has not won them many fans among the people of Zakaz. In fact, the Nakihl fortress to the north of Spineless Bay has been sacked five times by angry warlords seeking to purge the taint of the Nakihl’s bloody magic from Zakaz; but after every purge, survivors crawled out from the woodwork like rats, and in no time the Nakihl have been restored to the same state they were in before the raids. The last assault on the Nakihl was over four centuries ago, when the band of mystic men were led by a Lesterin, of all things: a Lesterin named Ahk’rei:Nii, who played with corpses of the dead like puppets and led many of his followers willingly into Kino-Ur. An army united under four separate warlords, led by Warlord Ga’Rokk:Dii the Gunslinger, marched through the Burning Steppes and battled hungry Tahtorak in order to reach the Nakihl conclave and slay Ahk’rei:Nii. It is said that the four warlords who stormed the conclave found the Lesterin in his ceremonial chambers, practicing a ritual to kill half the Skakdi where they stood and reanimate them to fight the other half; it is also said that when Ga’Rokk:Dii drew his famous silver Launcher and removed Ahk’rei:Nii’s head from his shoulders, the occultist actually continued with his ritual as though he had been stung by an insect, head futilely trying to reform itself from the slush that the Skakdi warlord had made of it. Ahk’rei:Nii’s body was taken and burnt once, outside the fortress, before the ashes were scattered into the Burning Steppes to be immolated again, just to be sure. Nonetheless, rumors of Ahk’rei:Nii’s survival still haunt children’s nightmares to this day, leading them to wonder if the evil Lesterin will appear in their dreams and try to lure them to Kino-Ur with promises of great adventure. Section III: Locations Irnakk’s Tooth - Though no larger than a Koro, Irnakk’s Tooth is probably the closest thing to a true city and capital the Skakdi possess on the Zakaz mainland. The settlement of Irnakk’s Tooth is built into the side of a mountain of the same name, that the sages claim to be one of the great Ancestor Irnakk:Dii’s teeth left behind after the Skakdi people feasted upon Lamo-Lyco-Oshan. The current village upon the Tooth is said to be erected from the gnawed-upon, discarded bones of the former Lesterin trade capital Kvere (Queh-reh) - and while no doubt meant as a grandiose boast, it appears that here, at least, Skakdi mythology has a hint of practical truth hidden beneath the bombast, as there are certain buildings spread throughout the settlement that display Lesterin or even Vortixx architectural philosophy. Though no warlords occupy Irnakk’s Tooth full-time as ruler, and none have been brave enough to try for over two centuries, several of the island’s most dangerous and prestigious warlords do have manses that are occupied during parts of the year. Similarly, although outlanders are not as common a sight here as on Seprilli, it’s not unheard of to find mercenaries on the Tooth seeking employment with a mercenary company or warlord. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee) - Fittingly, even the most beneficial landmark on Zakaz doubles as a scar on the landscape. The lake that keeps most of the inhabitants of Zakaz alive, if perhaps not always well-hydrated, was originally situated underneath the capital city of Kvere, used as an underground retreat and natural hot spring that would keep the city warm for the Lesterin merchant-princes during winter months. Now the lake is known only as Kvere;Ivi, or Kvere Grave in Skakdi tongue, for the city that sunk beneath its depths when the Skakdi rose up in the time before time. Caverns which once rested underground are now blown open and ripped asunder from the lakebed, buried within diving distance of the surface of the lake and jutting above its crystalline surface in some places. Though the penalty for outlanders defiling the lake is technically death, this law is not strictly upheld - mostly because few who are foolish enough to plumb the depths of Kvere;Ivi searching for treasures ever return, and even fewer surface again intact. Notably, those foolhardy explorers or treasure hunters who try to mount expeditions are never able to recruit locals. The Skakdi fear going into the water. The Spineless Bay - The Spineless Bay was named by Warlord Nektann:Dii nine hundred years ago, during his short-lived conquest of all lands north of Irnakk’s Tooth. Before Nektann’s arrival, the unnamed river delta that comprised western Zakaz was for the most part a rare oasis on the island, occupied by Lesterin traders and a few Skakdi who had found themselves incapable of fighting battles through infirmity, lameness or meek hearts. Nektann, contemptuously referring to the inhabitants of the western brook as Criebe:Dii, or ‘Gods-Of-the-Weak-Seeded,” had the valley razed as he swept across it, famously declaring that there would never be a place on Zakaz for living Skakdi to sit on their hands and contemplate the flora. Nektann was killed before he could realize his full ambitions, but before he died he had turned the northern half of the delta to cinders and his army had permanently christened it the ‘Spineless Bay.’ Within a couple decades, the still-flaming carcass of the northern Bay had found itself occupied by new warlords - a gigantic species of Rahi known as the Tahtorak, which took comfort in its new environment and sought to migrate south. Only the gigantic flames that still burn on the steppes in the northern valley have halted the Tahtoraks’ advances over the century, leading to two differing legends - the prevailing fable being that the Tahtorak grew from the shed blood of Nektann’s men in the conquest of the bay, and the spirits of the Criebe:Dii kept the fires alight to prevent the rest of their weakling’s paradise from falling to the reborn army. The prevailing theory among the mystics of Zakaz is that the Tahtorak are children of a darker, unknown emissary, and that Warlord Nektann:Dii himself was reborn as the flames, keeping the Tahtorak contained before they run amok on his homeland. In the south of the valley, the lands Nektann never burnt, the name ‘Spineless Bay’ takes on an ironic second edge, for it is here that Zakaz’s largest collection of Spine Slugs lives among the wild. These parasites, which Skakdi use to try and replace a fragment of the rage that was lost to them in days long past, have always found the climate of the river delta palatable, and can be found in plenty the closer the delta gets to Kvere;Ivi. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k) Roughly translating to the mocking nickname ‘Lesterin’s Crown,’ or often just colloquially referred to as ‘the Crown,’ Lesteri;Dak is the ring of mountains, cliffs, and other jagged surfaces that encircle the island of Zakaz. Ranging from coastal cliffs and mild crags to the west and south to the seldom-scaled, mysterious mountains of the east, the Crown is said to be where the bits and ends of old Lesterin islands, fraying and torn from where they were torn apart by the Skakdi and stuffed back into the shape of Zakaz. Though inhospitable and bleak, the Crown does make for a good defensive position during a siege, leading some particularly daring warlords to erect fortresses there. Indeed, even some stray pockets of Lesterin settlement can be found towards the east, where old goat paths and mountain trails will be used by risky caravans and fugitives as a quick path to the sea. The Rift - On the southeast of Zakaz lies a deep gash that cuts through all of reality. In the Time Before Time, a mysterious Lesterin city named Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, the “Silver-Jewel-from-Stars,” was built on the patch of land that the Rift now lacerates. Lamo-Lyco-Cosa was an arcane, avoided city, populated by sages, occultists, and priests, dedicated to the mysteries of the Great Spirit Mata Nui and his mystics, and great care was taken in ensuring that no weapon forged within reality was allowed underneath its gates. Thus it was ensured that even despite the disagreements that often consume scholars, there were protections in place to keep violence from ever breaking out in the sacred city. So it was that the mysteries of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa remained a peaceful, if uncomfortable, fact of life for the surrounding Lesterin settlements. When the Skathi rose up in revolt over Lesterin rule of the islands, Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ignored all pleas for aid and fielded no defense of its own. Their mystics assured each other that the Skathi, as beings of this reality, were unable to break the physical or arcane barriers that protected the city, and that they could continue their work unimpeded. The Skakdi conquest lasted under a year, but the army underneath the walls of Silver-Jewel-from-Stars held out through the whole duration of the war, as the wise men within seemed uncowed by hunger, bombardment, or news of the fall of merchant prince after merchant prince. Until one day, the city did fall. Of course, whether or not Lamo-Lyco-Cosa ever existed is a matter of debate. The small handful of scholars remaining on Zakaz, as well as leaders of the Lesterin conclaves on Seprilli, are quick to point out that there has never been a conclusive shred of evidence that any city ever stood on the area where the Rift now lies, and indeed the wily, pragmatic Lesterin people seem very quick to deny that their culture ever dabbled in such dangerous fare as the higher mysteries. But the stories of the city’s fall are as important as the tales of Ancestors, parents frighten children with the thought of the evil Man-Shades of the Magic City who possess their Spine Slugs and suck the living matter from inside their skulls, and there is a merchant on every corner of Irnakk’s Tooth claiming to sell lost talismans from the Silver-Jewel-from-Stars. The story’s detractors also seem incapable of offering a suggestion of what may have been built over the Rift if not a city. Certainly, it has not always been there. The Rift itself appears to be nothing but a large, particularly narrow canyon through southeastern Zakaz, with stalagmites and crags dotting the ashen ground. Here and there one may find the ruins of old fortresses or ziggurats buried underneath the sands of time, or with new rock outcroppings sticking through ramparts or portculli, as if the Rift is slowly assimilating the structures into its mass. These are not, as many a zealous tour guide would insist, remnants of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, for the truth would scare any who were mad enough to tour the Rift right from the canyon. Truthfully, much in the way much of the rabble flocks to Lesteri;Dak, many Skakdi have seen the Rift as a potential trap for an opposing army or as a good start to fashion themselves as a warlord to be feared. Such Skakdi are fools; without exception, every attempt to occupy or settle the Rift has ended in calamity, and the most recent settlement there ended four centuries ago with the death of Warlord Nuxukann the Grinner and his chiefs within his own fortress. Those who arrived to sack the fort found the chiefs dead with their eyes gouged out, vision powers having run amok to the point where blindness was preferable to more torment. The Grinner himself was still clinging to life, though his mind had been addled and his element of Ice had been used against him and trapped him in an oubliette of his own making. The warlord died babbling, but whatever pleas or warnings he may have been trying to get out were incomprehensible - all of his famous teeth had fallen out from their roots, thick black blood and ash clotting the gums. There is no vegetation as far as the eye can see in any direction, even by Zakaz standards. Animals flee it or die, having gone rabid and been put down at the hands of their masters. And there is Antidermis everywhere in the Rift. It seems to bubble up everywhere, from natural springs in the ground that seem to spout like blackish-green mockeries of geysers to within the very rocks. More than one Skakdi has angrily broken off a chunk of rock the size of a spear to use on a rival, only to shriek in horror as viscous Antidermis runs down from the inside of a hidden geode and ravages them like gangrene. Executions for the most heinous of crimes are committed here, as only prisoners who commit crimes which mock both Skakdi both living and Ancestral are taken to the Rift and dropped into Antidermis to slowly dissolve, torn apart body and soul by corruption over several agonizing minutes. Seprilli (Seh-pree-lee) - Seprilli is a curious little island to the southwest of Zakaz, left separate during Irnakk’s fabled haphazard construction of Zakaz in order to symbolically leave behind his race’s past as the Skathi. Instead, Seprilli found a second life as a port city and makeshift home for the Lesterin, who found themselves in the unenviable position of having swapped homelands with the race they once utilized as submissive bruisers. It is an irony many Lesterin have rubbed in their faces by the Skakdi. Irony exists everywhere on Zakaz. As a booming port in its own right, Seprilli is technically under the rule of the Skakdi, though they prefer to leave it alone out of a sense of haughty and ancestral pride. The Lesterin have de facto dominion of the island to themselves, along with a race of powerless bruisers known as the Kaiakans who will often be hired as mercenary help for jobs the Lesterin are not physically capable of. While there is a Skakdi population on Seprilli, they are shunned for their birthplace, looked at almost as a subspecies of the mainland Skakdi. Such Skakdi are forced to take the surname Seprillian, to mark them for who they are, and have historically been regarded as misfits who are better suited to lives on the seas and rubbing shoulders with the Lesterin. This outlook has changed somewhat in the last century, thanks to the meteoric rise of Warlord Malnak Seprillian, who seized a large chunk of territory on the mainland by utilizing the nautical knowledge he gained growing up on Seprilli and using the river delta as a launching point for his conquest. Many veteran warriors, however, still view the Seprillian Skakdi as lesser, and it will likely take many more conquests like those of Malnak in order to bring the minority the recognition they crave. Section IV: Technology The technology of Zakaz will be familiar to anyone who has seen a Skakdi on Mata Nui. Rudimentary firearms abound, mostly powered off by a substance that the Skakdi refer to as Najin (or “deathly light” in their tongue) dust - which any citizen of Mata Nui would recognize as Stralix Powder. There are no Madu fruit on Zakaz, depriving Mata Nuians of their favorite homegrown explosive, but there is oil aplenty to be mined in the south of Zakaz and from Seprilli, which helps give the Lesterin a degree of importance in trading affairs. Thanks to the machinations of a particularly fidgety inventor named Avak, a sonic-powered motorbike has started to pick up traction (no pun intended) on Zakaz over the past century and a half as a mode of transportation over the living mounts of centuries past. Though outlandishly expensive and mostly a prized possession for status-obsessed warlords, enough time has passed that inventors without Avak’s avant-garde flair have started to reverse-engineer the machines, and several prototypes of dubious functionality can be easily acquired on the Zakaz black market - for anyone willing to shell out. Skakdi on Zakaz may have two pieces of Foreign Technology, see Character Creation. Section V: Forts Small, defensible fortifications dot Zakaz’s landscape relics from mercenary bands past and present. Though not pretty or even always structurally sound, such a fortified camp is one of the first steps on an aspiring warlord’s path to real power. Some of these are old structures moved into after their previous tenants were evicted by violence or otherwise vacated, while others are recent construction purpose-built by the groups holding them. Often they’re built around a particularly lucrative cache of gear… For one week after the beginning of the arc applications will be open for such a fort. Design it, including its owner, location on the map, what it looks like, what it contains, and how many brave mercenaries call it ‘home’. The staff will compile a randomly generated list of loot placed at each one specifically to encourage other players to wrest control from its original owner and take their prize. This is Zakaz, things happen. Similarly these forts are not protected by the usual guidelines regarding player-established locations. If someone decides the best way to get in is to reduce the place to rubble, they can. Nor are its NPCs safe from attacking PCs. That said, the same rules that apply to any fight apply here. You are not infinitely superior to NPCs, and they are under the owner of the fort’s control as much (and with the same privileges) as Guard NPCs are under their Akiri. Any forts created after this application deadline will have to be created IC and over time, while these approved forts will exist at the start of the game. Section VI: Skakdi Language Glossary Criebe:Dii: “gods of the weak-seeded” - historic name for the inhabitants of the Spineless Bay. :Dii (ah-dee): “king of glorious legend” or “god” - most important honorific in the Skakdi language, used for revered Ancestors of the species such as Irnakk:Dii. ;Dii (dee): “king of all on world” - second most important honorific in the Skakdi language; used for revered Ancestors of a single family line, but can also be used to denote warlords or warriors of high honor without fear of dismemberment Geym-Kino-Kir-Laru: “Our-Unknown-Abyss-Beneath-the-Waves” - entity of Skakdi superstition thought to exist in the depths of Kvere;Ivi. Heu:Nii: “mongrel without his own fate” - a Skakdi insult. Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k): “Lesterin’s Crown” (roughly) - the ring of mountains, cliffs, etc that encircle Zakaz. Kino-Ur: the great featureless abyss that the Skakdi believe all beings return to after they die. Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee): “Kvere grave” - Zakaz’s central lake. Lesteri:Nii: "mongrel who once wore the skins of Lesterin" - the derogatory insult for most Lesterin in contemporary Skakdi culture; also doubles as a backhanded compliment towards the Lesterin ancestors they sacked, though doubtless the Skakdi miss the irony Mata:Nii: “mongrel who kneels for another” - a favorite Skakdi insult, derived from a demon god and blood magician worshipped by the Lesterin :Nii (ah-nee): “mongrel” - a derogatory suffix. Nakihl (nah-keel): “hated dead-men” - native mystics. Najin (nah-jeen): “deathly light” - explosive powder, known to Mata-Nuians as Stralix Powder. Sarke: “to make a fool of oneself” - Zakaz’s combat sport. Silva;ria;Dii: “Grand Performance for the Gods” - the ritual through which a Skakdi may be recognised formally as a warlord. Valin;Xalt: ceremony to recognise a dead Skakdi for Ancestral worship. Zakaz: “the end of all worlds” - island home of the Skakdi.

Zakaz Map Regions | Locations | Blank The Island: Seprilli (Seh-pree-lee) is a curious little island to the southwest of Zakaz, left separate during Irnakk’s fabled haphazard construction of Zakaz. A mountain island, its geography and sea-encircled position make it less arid than its larger neighbour, being colder and more open to the winds and rains of the southern sea. Its terrain is rocky: mossy crags border most of the shoreline, cut deep by swift rivers. A taiga covers much of the mountain’s highlands, most notable for the towering Khacha trees, whose red wood and flame-resistant sap give rise to the finest of Lesterin ships. The mountain’s upper slopes are cold and craggy, and the summit is capped with a year-round blanket of snow, said to be the last vestige of the shimmering winters of Lamo-Lyco-Oshan. As a booming port in its own right, Seprilli is technically under the rule of the Skakdi, though they prefer to leave it alone out of a sense of haughty and ancestral pride. The Lesterin have de facto dominion of the island to themselves, along with a race of powerless bruisers known as the Kaiakans who will often be hired as mercenary help for jobs the Lesterin are not physically capable of. While there is a Skakdi population on Seprilli, they are shunned for their birthplace, looked at almost as a subspecies of the mainland Skakdi. Such Skakdi are forced to take the surname Seprillian, to mark them for who they are, and have historically been regarded as misfits who are better suited to lives on the seas and rubbing shoulders with the Lesterin. This outlook has changed somewhat in the last century, thanks to the meteoric rise of Warlord Malnak Seprillian, who seized a large chunk of territory on the mainland by utilizing the nautical knowledge he gained growing up on Seprilli and using the river delta as a launching point for his conquest. Many veteran warriors, however, still view the Seprillian Skakdi as lesser, and it will likely take many more conquests like those of Malnak in order to bring the minority the recognition they crave. Roughly half the island’s population lives in the town of Seprilli Port (called Jukvere, meaning “New Kvere”, by some locals, though it hardly compares to the capital of legend), a vibrant port town built onto the bowl-shaped slopes of a natural harbour. The rest inhabit a scattered collection of settlements devoted to fishing, logging, mining, and other productivity. Near the mountain’s peak, the Kaiakans inhabit the Eyries: a small number of traditional villages dug into the rock. The island’s terrain is unsuitable for most crops, so the shoreline is dotted with fishing boats and seaweed farms. A steady stream of trade ships sails in and out of the Port in all but the harshest weathers (or the rare occasion that a Skakdi war fleet pays visit). Lesterin guru: @Ghosthands Other locations: The Eyries: the home of the Kaiakan clans, a handful of villages on the upper slopes of Seprilli's central mountain, the peak of which is known as the "High Eyrie".

Zakaz Map Regions | Locations | Blank The Mountains: Lesteri;Dak (Less-teh-ree-dah-k): roughly translating to the mocking nickname ‘Lesterin’s Crown,’ or often just colloquially referred to as ‘the Crown,’ Lesteri;Dak is the ring of mountains, cliffs, and other jagged surfaces that encircle the island of Zakaz. Ranging from coastal cliffs and mild crags to the west and south to the seldom-scaled, mysterious mountains of the east, the Crown is said to be where the bits and ends of old Lesterin islands, fraying and torn from where they were torn apart by the Skakdi and stuffed back into the shape of Zakaz. Though inhospitable and bleak, the Crown does make for a good defensive position during a siege, leading some particularly daring warlords to erect fortresses there. Indeed, even some stray pockets of Lesterin settlement can be found towards the east, where old goat paths and mountain trails will be used by risky caravans and fugitives as a quick path to the sea. The Tooth: Though no larger than a Koro, Irnakk’s Tooth is probably the closest thing to a true city and capital the Skakdi possess on the Zakaz mainland. The settlement of Irnakk’s Tooth is built into the side of a mountain of the same name, that the sages claim to be one of the great Ancestor Irnakk:Dii’s teeth left behind after the Skakdi people feasted upon Lamo-Lyco-Oshan. The current village upon the Tooth is said to be erected from the gnawed-upon, discarded bones of the former Lesterin trade capital Kvere (Queh-reh) - and while no doubt meant as a grandiose boast, it appears that here, at least, Skakdi mythology has a hint of practical truth hidden beneath the bombast, as there are certain buildings spread throughout the settlement that display Lesterin or even Vortixx architectural philosophy. Though no warlords occupy Irnakk’s Tooth full-time as ruler, and none have been brave enough to try for over two centuries, several of the island’s most dangerous and prestigious warlords do have manses that are occupied during parts of the year. Similarly, although outlanders are not as common a sight here as on Seprilli, it’s not unheard of to find mercenaries on the Tooth seeking employment with a mercenary company or warlord. The Rift: On the southeast of Zakaz lies a deep gash that cuts through all of reality. The Rift itself appears to be nothing but a large, particularly narrow canyon through southeastern Zakaz, with stalagmites and crags dotting the ashen ground. Here and there one may find the ruins of old fortresses or ziggurats buried underneath the sands of time, or with new rock outcroppings sticking through ramparts or portculli, as if the Rift is slowly assimilating the structures into its mass. These are not, as many a zealous tour guide would insist, remnants of Lamo-Lyco-Cosa, for the truth would scare any who were mad enough to tour the Rift right from the canyon. And there is Antidermis everywhere in the Rift. Other locations: Zarrava: an anarchic pirate port on the northern coast, ironically one of the few places where Skakdi and Lesterin can be found living side-by-side. Fortress of the Nakihl: the home of the Nakihl occultists, nestled in the remote western spur of the northern Crown, reachable only by passage of the mountains or the Burning Steppes.

Zakaz Map Regions | Locations | Blank The Lake: At the center of Zakaz lies Kvere;Ivi (Queh-reh-vee). Fittingly, even the most beneficial landmark on Zakaz doubles as a scar on the landscape. The lake that keeps most of the inhabitants of Zakaz alive, if perhaps not always well-hydrated, was originally situated underneath the capital city of Kvere, used as an underground retreat and natural hot spring that would keep the city warm for the Lesterin merchant-princes during winter months. Now the lake is known only as Kvere;Ivi, or Kvere Grave in Skakdi tongue, for the city that sunk beneath its depths when the Skakdi rose up in the time before time. Caverns which once rested underground are now blown open and ripped asunder from the lakebed, buried within diving distance of the surface of the lake and jutting above its crystalline surface in some places. Though the penalty for outlanders defiling the lake is technically death, this law is not strictly upheld - mostly because few who are foolish enough to plumb the depths of Kvere;Ivi searching for treasures ever return, and even fewer surface again intact. Notably, those foolhardy explorers or treasure hunters who try to mount expeditions are never able to recruit locals. The Skakdi fear going into the water. The Bay: The Spineless Bay was named by Warlord Nektann:Dii nine hundred years ago, during his short-lived conquest of all lands north of Irnakk’s Tooth. Before Nektann’s arrival, the unnamed river delta that comprised western Zakaz was for the most part a rare oasis on the island, occupied by Lesterin traders and a few Skakdi who had found themselves incapable of fighting battles through infirmity, lameness or meek hearts. Nektann, contemptuously referring to the inhabitants of the western brook as Criebe:Dii, or ‘Gods-Of-the-Weak-Seeded,” had the valley razed as he swept across it, famously declaring that there would never be a place on Zakaz for living Skakdi to sit on their hands and contemplate the flora. Nektann was killed before he could realize his full ambitions, but before he died he had turned the northern half of the delta to cinders and his army had permanently christened it the ‘Spineless Bay.’ Within a couple decades, the still-flaming carcass of the northern Bay had found itself occupied by new warlords - a gigantic species of Rahi known as the Tahtorak, which took comfort in its new environment and sought to migrate south. Only the gigantic flames that still burn on the steppes in the northern valley have halted the Tahtoraks’ advances over the century, leading to two differing legends - the prevailing fable being that the Tahtorak grew from the shed blood of Nektann’s men in the conquest of the bay, and the spirits of the Criebe:Dii kept the fires alight to prevent the rest of their weakling’s paradise from falling to the reborn army. The prevailing theory among the mystics of Zakaz is that the Tahtorak are children of a darker, unknown emissary, and that Warlord Nektann:Dii himself was reborn as the flames, keeping the Tahtorak contained before they run amok on his homeland. In the south of the valley, the lands Nektann never burnt, the name ‘Spineless Bay’ takes on an ironic second edge, for it is here that Zakaz’s largest collection of Spine Slugs lives among the wild. These parasites, which Skakdi use to try and replace a fragment of the rage that was lost to them in days long past, have always found the climate of the river delta palatable, and can be found in plenty the closer the delta gets to Kvere;Ivi. Other locations: Tahto;Vaa: a lone mountain directly north of the Burning Steppes, said to be the breeding ground of the Tahtorak. The Warrens: a network of tunnels and disused mines beneath the Southern Badlands, repurposed by the Broker as his base of operations.

The Dasaka Master Reference Post (DMRP) The Dasaka are the BZPRPG's Toa, Turaga, and Matoran of Psionics. They come from the Kentoku Archipelago, and as such their society and culture are very different from those of the Toa of Mata Nui. Below you'll find all you need to know about Dasaka history, culture, powers, and more. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Definitions Kentoku Society & History Three Virtues Castes Gender Imbalance Menti Powers Clans Individuals of Note Visual Aspects of Culture ~~~ 1. LIST OF DEFINITIONS Dasaka (DAH-suh-kah): the species equivalent of Toa, but also an umbrella name for the species as a whole. Dasaka individuals can be learned in up to four disciplines of the mind depending upon rank and experience. Dashi (DAH-shee): the species equivalent of Matoran, but also the name for the working class and the title for those in that class. Dastana (Dah-STAH-nah): a relatively new clan that is a conglomeration of merchants and businesspeople. Datsue (DAHT-soo-ay): the species equivalent of Turaga. These are revered elders who exist outside the social hierarchy. Generally retain some of the disciplines of the mind. Fursic (FURR-sick): an old and powerful clan with a history of insubordination. Kentoku (ken-TOE-koo): the archipelago of islands on which Dasaka society lives. Menti (MEN-tee): the warrior class, and the title for those in that class; descriptor for a being trained in one or more psionic disciplines. Ringti (RING-tee): the artisan class, and the title those in that class. Rora (ROE-rah): the empress of the Kentoku Archipelago; almost always a Datsue individual. The next in line to be Rora is known as the Chojo (SHOW-joe). Saihoko (seye-HO-koh): the merchant and nautical class, and the title those in that class. Can be abbreviated to "Hoko," an offensive term. Toroshu (toh-roh-SHOO): a member of the nobility with command over a clan. Second only to the Rora in terms of authority, though oftentimes the military clout of a Toroshu will be stronger than that of the Rora. Toroshu are usually Dasaka individuals. Umbraline (UMM-brah-lean): an ancient clan currently in charge of the Dasaka Empire. ~~~ 2. KENTOKU SOCIETY & HISTORY Civilization on the Kentoku Archipelago is a highly regulated matriarchal machine. From the Rora, the empress, down to the lowliest Saihoko fisherwoman, every Dasaka knows her place and her duty within the machine. Law is strict, but usually benevolent. Tradition and respect are highly valued. Society on the Archipelago is defined by bloodlines, which supersede almost everything else. Dasaka owe loyalty to their families, and as such society is divided into interrelated clans – made up of one or more families, each led by a female Toroshu – all vying for power. Blood bonds, courtship, and fleeting alliances define the political game among the notable clans, a game that is played beneath the watchful eye of the Rora. In the ancient past, though, the Archipelago was without a presiding empress. The Dasaka clans of ages ago were like prides of lions: wild, and led by warring males. Impulsive, quick to anger, and with little regard for the lives of their female soldiers, the warlords battled over everything from lands to mere swords. Though the warlords were strong - their mental powers were unconstrained by the modern disciplines - their haughty pride blinded them to the growing discontent of their subjects. Unified by the First Mother (who, legend has it, was in fact the Great Spirit Zuto Nui, descended from the sky) the Datsue elders of all the clans of Kentoku met in secret and arranged the overthrow of the males. There followed a revolution, and the first sovereign Council of Datsue assumed power. For a good while, a Datsue Council presided over all the clans. The peace that endured under the rule of the Datsue was uneasy, though; bad blood between the clans still ran deep, and the lieutenants of the old warlords were not without ambition. Using the Datsue's frailty, scholarly tendencies, and military impotence against them, these lieutenants turned the opinion of their clans against the Datsue Council, and cooperatively staged a coup. Thus, the first Toroshu came to power. Though they had scorned the Datsue's leadership, the Toroshu kept in place many of the Datsue Council's innovations that benefited them, including the subjugation of males, and the separation of the Menti Disciplines. It wasn't long before the Kentoku Archipelago was again split by war. The War of the Sea (so named because it was bottomless) was waged across generations, and many honorable clans perished in the struggle. When peace was finally reached, the remaining Toroshu decided to elect an empress, one who could act as arbiter for their future disputes and prevent such a war from ever happening again. The impartial matriarch of Clan Umbraline, seen by most of the Toroshu as wise and calm, was chosen; the ambitious Toroshu of Clan Fursic, whose armies had won the war, never forgave the insult to her family. The rule of the Umbralines has continued ever since. Punctuated here and there by Fursic uprisings and attempted coups, and the occasional inter-clan war, the age of the Rora has been one of prosperity upon the Kentoku Archipelago. ~~~ 3. THREE VIRTUES The Dasaka, like the Matoran, hold three virtues paramount. The Dasaka’s virtues, like the Dasaka themselves, might seem at a glance to be a warped reflection of what exists on Mata Nui. The Dasaka do not, in fact, revere the Great Spirit Mata Nui; they venerate a completely different Great Spirit, Zuto Nui, and they fear her sister, the evil Zataka. Zuto Nui's three virtues, the central pillars of Kentoku society, are as follows: Order – Always respect your place on the social ladder, in the family, and in the clan. Never go against the caste system or cause entropy in society. Power – Strive to be better than you are, stronger than you are; become as powerful and resilient you can become. Always act to improve yourself and your clan. Honor – Make your actions reflect positively on your clan and your fellow Dasaka. Give elders, betters, and teachers the respect that they are due. Be humble, be courteous, and be courageous. ~~~ 4. CASTES When it comes to loyalties in Kentoku society, family ties are superseded only by the Archipelago’s long-standing caste system. There are four castes in Kentoku society: Menti, Dashi, Ringti, and Saihoko. Menti (Warrior Class: mostly Dasaka, and the rare Datsue) The warrior caste of society, and the highest tier. While this entire caste is generally referred to as “Menti”, within this caste there are three further ranks: Rora, Toroshu, and Menti Warrior. At the very top of the Kentoku hierarchy is the Empress, the Rora. While the Rora retains unassailable authority in name and prestige, she has little actual military power, that resting chiefly in the Toroshu below her. In essence, the Rora is a figurehead of the Dasaka species, not its true leader. Nevertheless, what the Rora says carries much weight, as she can bestow punishments or rewards upon anyone she wishes. The Rora acts as an arbiter of inter-clan disputes. Immediately below the Rora in terms of political power are the Toroshu. They are the generals and the diplomatic heads of their respective clans. In practically everything, especially in war, Toroshu hold absolute power, as all Menti warriors are instructed to obey their Toroshu before all else. Under a Toroshu is generally a web of nobility and lieutenants. Menti warriors, the soldiers and guards of the empire, answer directly to their Toroshu both in peace and wartime. Menti warriors are trained in particular disciplines of combat to become deadly soldiers, the muscle of a Toroshu's power. A handful of Menti warriors serve the Rora directly as peacekeepers and guards on Sado. Dashi (Worker Class: generally Dashi) The second tier of society, the Dashi class is comprised of farmers and other manual laborers. Great value is given to those who work, so the simple farmer and peasant are the next-highest rank after the warriors and nobility. According to Kentoku ideals and work ethic, farmers are superior to artisans and merchants because they produce the food that all the other classes depended upon. The Dashi also make up the majority of the population, and therefore represent the near entirety of the workforce and taxable income. The lives of Dashi are simple and safe; it’s seen as extremely dishonorable (and impractical) to slay a Dashi. Ringti (Artisan Class: generally Dashi, and occasionally Dakasa) Third tier of society, the Ringti class is made up of skilled workers. Although artisans produce many beautiful and necessary goods, such as clothes, cooking utensils, weapons, etc, they are considered less important than the farmers. Even skilled weapon makers and boat wrights belong to this third tier of society on the archipelago. The artisan class lived in its own section of the major cities, segregated from the Menti (who usually lived in the Toroshu's castles), and from the lower merchant class. They usually live comfortably, as imperial quotas and tariffs regulate the supply and demand for goods, and a profit is almost always turned. The Dasaka individuals in the Ringti class are usually crystal smiths, who use their abilities as Mindarms and Soulswords to craft fine crystal objects, such as buildings and weapons. There is a specialized school in Sado that trains crystal smiths to apply Menti powers to delicate tasks. Ringti inventors are treated with fickleness by society. The Menti leaders are generally adverse to technological advancement, as it goes against tradition, but some of the more shrewd ones are willing to disregard this pride if a truly useful invention, such as the submersible, is created. Ringti generally have thick skin against critics, and so will celebrate these victories rather than wallow in their rejections. Saihoko (Merchant Class: generally Dashi) Merchants occupy the bottom rung of the Dasaka’s feudal society: traveling traders, shopkeepers, and even sailors are placed here. Merchants are ostracized as "parasites" that profit from the labor of the more productive peasant and artisan classes, and despite their essential role in society, most other Dasaka revile them. Not only do merchants live in a separate section of each city; the higher classes are generally forbidden to mix with them, unless on business. Nonetheless, many merchant families are able to amass large fortunes through their hard work and business sense, and force their ways into higher castes. It is common to insult someone by calling them a “Saihoko”, or even “Hoko” for short, representing the lowest of the low. Datsue (Outside class system) The Dasaka species equivalent to the Turaga exist as a general rule outside the caste system, having lived a long time and now retired from their previous careers to become respected advisers and holy women. Their elder status earns them freedom within the Archipelago, and they are free to pursue whatever they wish. While they are an integral part of the traditional Kentoku hierarchy, Datsue are simultaneously above and separate from it. They are the keepers of the history and knowledge on the archipelago, and the ones that perform the spiritual and symbolic ceremonies important to the Dasaka. The Datsue serve those who seek understanding and counsel. They help prepare new Menti for their training and give sage counsel to the young as well as the old. In times of great crisis, it is the Datsue who act as judge and jury, ferreting out the dishonorable and administering justice according to the ancient laws. Most Toroshu work in tandem with a Datsue, relying on the elders as advisers. ~~~ 5. GENDER IMBALANCE Female/Male birth rate – about 40:1 Because of the imbalanced gender ratio on the Kentoku Archipelago, males are rare; as such, they are highly prized within society as both reproducers and aggressive warriors. After a male is born, the Toroshu of his clan isolates him at a young age, sending him to Sado to be trained as a fierce Menti warrior. After extensive training – males are almost always taught in two disciplines of the mind – they are generally assigned as companions or bodyguards to high-ranking females. Only familial First Sons, the eldest males of prominent clans, escape such duties. Ironically, males have virtually no rights save those defined within their specialized role in society; male Dasaka are, due to their value, perhaps the most completely controlled by the caste system. The birth of a male in a family can instantly gain that family status; conversely, the death of a male prior to his apprenticeship will cast a family into the deepest shame. Most females will never have offspring, this task being either regulated to those higher in the caste system or saved as rare gifts for acts of service or bravery. To mate and bear offspring with a male is considered a great honor. ~~~ 6. MENTI POWERS Menti warriors fight using different psionic powers. To limit their warriors' strength as individuals (advancing the virtue of Order) and to turn their Menti warriors into specific tactical weapons, the ancient council of Datsue split Menti training long ago into several different disciplines. The discipline or disciplines a Dasaka will study depends upon her pre-existing affinities and aptitudes – tested at the beginning of her training – and on her rank in society. While no discipline is inherently better the next, students of each tend to believe their practice is the superior one.The higher on the ladder of power one ascends, the more schools are open to be learned. All Menti are trained in at least one school. With more experience and military rank, it is possible for Menti to attain a second discipline. Powerful, exceedingly rare Menti known as Battlemasters are proficient with three; only the heroes of legend were rumored to have been able to use all four psionic powers. The disciplines are as follows: Soulswords, Sighteyes, Mindarms, and Willhammers. Soulsword Discipline (Psychophysical Energy) Allows the user to harness psionic energy and, to an extent, use it in the physical world. A rudimentary and less precise Soulsword ability is to take psionic energy and whip it at foes, most often as a blunt attack. Fully experienced Soulswords, however, can form and mold the same raw psionic energy into a physical weapon, breaking the barrier between mental and physical attacks. The psychophysical weapon produced is made of shimmering, dripping and solid energy, and it can be used in lieu of a normal physical weapon. Soulsword students, however, must choose only one weapon shape to study, as an incredible familiarity with that weapon is essential to its effective use. Soulswords may only summon ONE psychophysical weapon at a time. Sighteye Discipline (Illusion) Allows the practitioner to create and maintain illusions that can fool all five senses. Sighteyes can make their enemies believe anything they wish by overriding the sensory receivers of that enemy's mind and replacing those feeds of information with fictional information. A Sighteye's illusions are utterly convincing when maintained properly, so much that they can fool the deceived into believing almost anything. A highly trained Sighteye can make themselves basically invisible by replacing their appearance, scent, sound, and etc. with other sensory perceptions. A Sighteye, however, cannot fully eliminate an enemy's senses, only change what they are sensing. Sighteyes can target multiple minds at once, though the more sets of senses they are fooling, the more energy it will take them to do so successfully. Mindarm Discipline (Telekinesis) Allows the practitioner to moving objects by mental force. This schools trains in the art of manipulating physical objects with the mind, and Mindarms are able to lift, push, pull, shove, or throw objects using only their mental prowess. Simple actions, such as throwing objects in battle, are very basic and take little concentration for a Mindarm. More delicate or complex motions, however, require more finesse and focus to be done correctly. Objects in motion, such as projectiles, also take far greater skill to manipulate than static ones. The larger an object that a Mindarm is trying to influence is, the more rapidly it will tire them to move. Limited levitation is possible to advanced Mindarms, who have the ability to lift and toss themselves in a controlled manner. Willhammer Discipline (Mental Entry) Allows the practitioner to see into, enter into, and interact with the minds of other beings. A Willhammer can thus press their will upon others through honeyed thoughts, sheer force, or other forms of mental deception. Willhammers can project emotions, words, images, and subliminal thoughts into their minds of choice, and are as such the only Menti able to converse telepathically with non-Menti (such a conversation occurring inside the mind of the subject). Since Willhammers can more or less see what the subject of their power is thinking, they generally understand the best way to convince others to follow their will on a case-by-case basis. Willhammers can only affect one being at a time. Mental entry is, in its nature, a one-sided negotiation of wills; as such, it does not work automatically. Its power can be resisted if the entered mind has an abnormally strong will or sense of self. Ideatalk (Telepathy) A minor discipline that allows the practitioner to communicate with other Menti. It is the first skill taught to every Dasaka during their training; as such, all proficient Menti have the ability to "speak" with one another via thought. Telepathic communication basically works like a radio: an individual will project the words/images they wish to communicate onto the mental plane, where others can selectively pick up the “transmission” with mental plane access. Every Menti (indeed, every sapient being) has a different "feel" on the mental plane; this is how when multiple Menti are communicating at once, they can distinguish different streams of consciousness from one another, or sense approaching beings on the mental plane. Telepathy grows more difficult and less accurate as distance increases. ~~~ 7. CLANS While there are dozens of families and clans that inhabit the Kentoku Archipelago, three stand taller than the rest: Clan Umbraline, Clan Fursic, and Clan Dastana. It is these three monolith clans that carry the most political clout, and the actions they take affect all other families in the Empire. Most minor clans loosely ally themselves to whichever of the three leading clans best represents their interests. Clan Umbraline The Umbralines can trace their history, ancestry, and bloodline back to the creation of the Empire, and have held power for a long time. They are staunch defenders of the old ways, a voice arguing for conservative stability in an otherwise tumultuous political scene. Despite making up a minority (albeit a large one) of the Dasaka population, the Umbralines are unquestioningly the most influential of the clans; the current Rora, Yusanora, was the Umbraline family’s matriarch before her ascension, and although her current position separates her from the management of her clan, her favor is still felt. The Umbralines contribute a majority of the Willhammers to the Menti ranks (as this is their clan discipline). While not always adverse to change, the Umbralines are highly conservative, more willing to rely on tried-and-true customs and technology than new inventions and ideas. Umbralines tend to be the diplomats and mediators of the empire. Clan Fursic The Fursics are an old clan with a long history and an even longer list of grievances. Their family has had a grudge against the Umbralines for as long as anyone can remember; they’re resentful of the Umbralines’ power, and frustrated after several failed coups – attempted in the past – by members of their family (which more astute Fursics always try to distance themselves from, calling such acts of infidelity to the Rora “ancient history”). Though less populous than the Umbralines, the Fursics have twice as much land at their disposal, which is ironic since they do not have the numbers to properly care for and defend such vast territory. The Fursics provide to the Empire with many Sighteyes, as this is their clan discipline. Many Dasaka outside the family are convinced that it is through deception and cheating that the Fursics have come to amass and cling to such power within the Empire, even despite their notoriety. Fursics tend to be the informants and spies of the empire. Clan Dastana One of the youngest Clans to come to power, and one of the most unusual, the Dastana Clan are more of a confederacy than one single family. Originally a group of Saihoko, this family became so wealthy and powerful through their shrewd mercantile business and inventions (notably among these, the submersible) that over time they gained enough influence to buy their way into the upper clans. This above all else is the reason that other clans universally despise the Dastana. Nevertheless, there are few that would dare touch them: the Dastana hold the purse strings of the empire. They are neither the most populous nor militarily strong of the clans, but they control the merchant and artisan castes, and therefore hold the majority of the money in the Empire, forcing everyone to put up with them. The Fursics despise the Dastana, while the Umbraline remain cool, if not friendly, with them. The Dastana have, over the last few centuries, provided many Mindarms – their clan discipline – to the Empire, cleverly mated into influential families, and performed acts of political subterfuge (to rival even those of the Fursics) on their road to power. The Dastana tend to be the merchants, artisans, inventors, and moneychangers of the empire. Minor Clans Clan Ageru: This medium-sized farming clan contributes a very significant proportion of the Archipelago's food supply. The majority of the Ageru's civilian population are Dashi harvesters, who work and live on the clan's swathes of fertile land on Odaiba. The Ageru's prolific harvests give them a certain degree of political clout; an army, after all, marches on its stomach. The Ageru are an old clan; historically, they have almost always been firm supporters of the Umbralines and the Empire. Ageru philosophy puts a lot of emphasis on the old ways of honor, tradition, and dutiful service. Besides food production, Clan Ageru is also known for producing talented Soulswords; members of other clans are known to joke - though rarely within earshot of an Ageru Menti - that these Soulswords' skill can be credited to all that time around scythes and sickles. Agerus' discipline and skill earn them no small amount of respect; an officer is always happy to have an Ageru Soulsword under her command. Clan Leader Clan Daikura: The Daikura have devoted themselves to preserving knowledge of the Menti disciplines and passing the sacred knowledge on to successive generations. It is the Diakura who chiefly preside over the School of the Mind at the Yards on Sado, where all Menti are trained in the psionic disciplines. Since they own no land here (the school itself is a part of the Imperial Palace, and so is owned by the Rora; the Daikura, legally, are only its custodians), the Daikura must hold lands elsewhere in order to be recognized as a clan. Their territory is confined to a valley on the lower slopes of Mount Koshiki; it is a fertile area, and its farms produce abundant crops, fertilized by the old volcanic soil. At the head of the valley is their castle, Tarakona. Politically, Clan Diakura is conservative, though not quite as much as their Umbraline associates. They honor the virtue of Power most among the three, as could be expected of those who study the magical disciplines of their race. The Daikura have no clan discipline, since they must have members who are masters of each discipline in order to give instruction in them all. Clan Leader Clan Eiyu: An old clan of small size, the Eiyu have been, since their inception, a clan dedicated to melding philosophy and combat. Located primarily on Odaiba, their home there is a modest castle surrounded by enough farmland to sustain themselves and, if harvests are good, to take a little to market on Sado each year. The Eiyu's relative insignificance in most areas - economic, militaristic, and agricultural - would have confined their clan to obscurity long ago, had it not been for their distinguishing philosophies. The Eiyu are some of the most prominent scholars and philosophers on the Archipelago, and their theories about unity across the Mental Plane have led to the creation of their clan's most prized skill: the Twin Souls. The Twin Souls is a training method between two Menti Warriors wherein the discipline of Ideatalk is so heightened that the two practitioners, incredibly familiar in each others' minds, can respond together in battle with the speed of instinct. The Eiyu are, in their own words, scholars first, and warriors second. They never seek out a fight, though they are more than willing to defend themselves, and others, if need be. Clan Leader Clan Herupa: Clan Herupa is reputed for providing advisers, assistants and bodyguards for the other clans. Clan Herupa’s penchant for providing loyal subordinates to other clans has given them a respect of Order and Honor beyond that of other minor clans. The Herupa are based close to the southern end of Oki in a small complex large enough to hold the few Herupa families that live there. During the early stages of life, Herupa children are raised like anyone else in the Menti caste, and upon reaching a mastery of their skills as warriors, they are withdrawn from Sado and taken back to the Herupa compound on Oki. It is there they are trained to act to not only defend their masters, but to give aid and advice should they be required to do so. Upon completing this training, Herupa Menti offer their services to a master, who agrees to house them, treat them with respect, and pay them a set wage for their duties. In return, the Herupa clan member will then swear utmost loyalty to her new master, and serve that master for life. Herupa who betray their oaths of loyalty are invariably executed by their own clan in return for their treachery. Clan Leader Clan Hogo: This small clan serves as loyal retainers of the Rora's line, considering it their duty to protect the authority of the Rora and the treasures that lie within the Imperial Palace. Traditionally, the Hogo have tried to stay aloof of inter-clan disputes, the better to concentrate on this sacred duty. However, the Hogo's current Toroshu has taken a greater interest than her predecessors in the activities of the other clans, and for the first time in ages, she is directing the Hogo to become more involved in politics. As such, the Hogo are currently suffering a quiet crisis between those who wish to remain out of clan politics and those who fully support their Toroshu's actions. Although supposedly a neutral clan devoted to the Rora alone, the Hogo are most prone to taking the side of the Umbralines, seeing the Fursics as treacherous vipers. They are, though, slightly less conservative (or more pragmatic) than the Umbralines, and are willing to tolerate the Dastana for their contributions to the imperial treasury. I love you, Hubert. Clan Leader Clan Kinzoku: A small clan hailing from Iki, it is notable for being the primary provider of metal to the Empire. While metal is indeed rare in the Kentoku Archipelago, over half of its known metal materials are provided by this clan. Additionally, they are also one of the few clans that have the knowledge of shaping metal. While most of its members are crystal smiths, there are a few individuals that are trained in metalworking. Those individuals are given the title of Master Metalsmith; this title is earned after passing a smithing test to determine if the individual’s skills are up to the clan’s standards. Originally an offshoot of Clan Mamoru, the history of Clan Kinzoku began when some of its members began a new mine on Iki. They soon found that the crystal ore being brought out of the mine also had metal ore consistently mixed into it. These Mamoru miners quickly separated themselves from their clan to safeguard their discovery. Within a few years, the newly formed Clan Kinzoku rose to notability for its inventory of metal ore. The clan became an important provider of metal weapons and armor, both ceremonial and practical. The clan also provides metal components that are needed for construction projects. Unfortunately, with the arrival of Zataka and her Rahkshi in the Archipelago, this clan has all but been wiped out save for a few lucky individuals who were able to escape the slaughter of their people. As such, this clan currently has no Toroshu or First Son, and is likely to go extinct in the near future. Clan Leader Clan Kyoshi: A clan that began as an offshoot of the Dastana, Clan Kyoshi is known for its natural philosophy and scientific knowledge, its members boasting knowledge in everything from medicine to mathematics. The clan is mostly made up of Ringti scholars who were once renowned across the Archipelago for their discoveries. However, the clan withdrew from the public eye due to political infighting, and with the coming of the Rahkshi, the once fractured clan has now all but shattered. The clan’s holdings on Oki have been overrun and their libraries lost, with the clan’s surviving members seeking refuge on Sado and Iki. In the wake of the Rahkshi invasion, their Toroshu suddenly abdicated, their First Son disappeared without a trace, and no clear successor has emerged from what remains of the clan's Menti, leaving Kyoshi a clan with no leadership, no direction, and - unless a miracle happens - no future. Clan Leader Clan Mamoru: The Mamoru are a clan dedicated to mining and shaping Crystalline Protodermis. The Mamoru reside principally on Iki - where they mine a majority of their marketable crystal - but also hold small settlements around the Archipelago near other mineral sites. Many Mamoru Dasaka choose to live below the ground, as they feel this brings them more in touch with the earth; other clans usually refer to such practices as "mine madness." The Mamoru do little to discredit these impressions; in fact, thrill-seeking young members of their clan notoriously entertain themselves by jumping straight down long mine shafts with only bouncy cords to save them from the mortal plunge. A fairly old clan, the Mamoru tend to favor the clan in power, as much of their crystal is bought for Imperial projects. Menti from this clan are typically disciplined either as Soulswords (to mine the crystals out of the earth) or Mindarms (to carry the mined crystals to the surface to be sold), and very few are trained for combat. Clan Leader Clan Mashtet: This insular clan, hailing from a small island north of Odaiba and Kozui called Hanaloi, was known in its heyday for providing the Empire with lumber. Most famously, Mashtet artisans utilized both the Mindarm and Sighteye disciplines to create their signature artwork: Mashtet carvings, precisely carved crystal, inlaid in wood, imbued with semi-persistent illusions which had to be renewed by a Mashtet carver annually. But, several years ago, the Mashtet compound was discovered completely empty. There were no signs of a struggle, nor any clues as to where the Mashtet people had disappeared to. Not even Mashtet clan members that were elsewhere within the Archipelago at the time of the mysterious event, such as training Menti or traveling Saihoko, can imagine what happened. Most of these Mashtet strugglers mourned before being absorbed by other clans. The number that have remained publicly Mashtet can be counted on one hand. Thus, Clan Mashtet is also known colloquially as the Lost Clan, and their old homeland Hanaloi is considered haunted. Clan Leader Clan Plangori: Made up of mostly dye artisans, Clan Plangori is a large but fairly weak clan based on Odaiba. Their village is located in the heart of the jungle, far from the prying eyes of other clans. They are known for creating the sumptuous dyed fabrics that adorn rich residents of Kentoku, and the less advantaged on special occasions. They also are the only Ringti who can produce the deep, superb colors that adorn the royal family. Though Plangori is an ancient clan with ties to Umbraline, their nature requires them to keep a neutral stance, as it is to their advantage to gain sponsorship from as many clans as possible. In addition, because they are so insular they are beholden to Saihoko to sell their work. The few Plangori Menti are trained as either Sighteyes or Willhammers, and are largely responsible for guarding the clans secrets from other Menti. The remaining members of the clan include Dashi, which breaking with tradition are often hunter-gatherers, and a few Saihoko merchants, who though generally looked down on have done very well for themselves. A few Plangori Saihoko act as clerks throughout the islands, taking orders from important clients and displaying the clan’s newest and most expensive works. Clan Leader Clan Roku: Clan Roku builds and maintains the Kentoku Archipelago's infrastructure. Roku architects and builders are widely viewed as the best in their fields, and the standards to which they hold themselves are quite strict. The Roku pride themselves on more than their craftsmanship, though; they also proudly uphold the three virtues of Zuto Nui, considering those to be the strongest foundations of all. Though Clan Roku's size is considerable for a minor clan, it is nevertheless seen as nonthreatening in the scheme of inter-clan relations. The Roku are known for their neutrality in political affairs; they are roughly split even between conservatives, who trust tried-and-true stabilities, and liberals, who seek to create a more beautiful universe. The Roku's scattered politics are enabled in part by the sporadic, constantly shifting dispersion of their clan, as their work requires members to "island-hop" for most of their working lives. Only a few Roku maintain their clan's ancestral castle on Iki and the University of Structure in the Towers of Knowledge on Sado. Clan Leader Taajar Culture: The Taajars are a nomadic people distinct from the Dasaka's dominant 'Imperial' culture. They live in fenced villages in isolated areas of the Archipelago, where they usually reside in wooden longhouses. Taajar warriors are highly trained in physical weapon combat - a rarity for Menti warriors - and bear exotic blades and armor; because of their temporal fixation, however, Taajar warriors are usually less practiced with Menti disciplines than their Imperial counterparts. The Taajar are primarily a trade-oriented people; a great deal of them live in tents outside cities or clan holdings to barter more easily. This affinity for trade, however, has relegated almost all Taajars to the status of Saihoko in the eyes of Imperial Dasaka. Other areas Taajars specialize in are the breeding of animals and glassblowing. They have their own language, Vulgar Taa, and are quite proud of their past. The Taajars have learned to live within the Dasaka Imperial caste structure, and can speak fluent "Common." In antiquity, the Taajars were a large barbarian hoard, who were defeated by the Dasaka in battle, and saved from destruction by the Rora. Since then, they have maintained a strict policy of neutrality in Kentoku affairs. Culture Creator Clan Vilda: One of the small clans on the island of Oki, the Vilda took it upon themselves long ago to protect Kentoku's endangered flora and fauna. The Vilda care little about the politics of the Empire so long as their arrangement with Sado stands: in exchange for supplying and caring for the Imperial Gardens' rarer specimens, Clan Vilda is given any foods or materials they cannot obtain on their own. The Vilda count among their number prodigious Willhammers who use their talents to communicate through images and emotions with animals. Many Vilda Willhammers form relationships with companion birds; they enter the minds of these birds and see through the animals' eyes, using this ability to scout surrounding areas for possible dangers. It is widely believed that that the Vilda practice strict breeding policies; individuals from the Vilda clan are amongst the most beautiful in the Empire, to the anger of many envious Fursics. The current Vilda Toroshu wants to make the clan wholly self-sufficient, should the opportunity arise. Clan Vilda's beauty, efforts to preserve nature, and general absence from the sullied world of politics have made them rather admired and appreciated by most other clans. Clan Leader ~~~ 8. INDIVIDUALS OF NOTE UMBRALINES Yumiwa (you-MEE-wah), Rora of the Empire Rayuke (ray-OO-kay), Umbraline First Son, Imperial Executioner, and brother of Yusanora Desdemona (dez-duh-MOE-nah), Yumiwa's sister Ayiwah (AY-wah), Commodore of the Rora’s nautical forces Yusanora (you-sa-NOR-a), deceased, former Rora of the Empire FURSICS Nera (NEE-rah), Fursic Matriarch, Toroshu, and a Battlemaster Kuno (COO-noh), Fursic First Son Sesseta (Sess-SEE-tuh), Nera's sister DASTANA Arsix (ARE-sicks), Dastana Toroshu, Jasik's twin sister Jasik (JAH-sick), Dastana First Son, Arsix's twin brother Sheika (SHAY-kah), The Dastana's hired Battlemaster (???) Yomiken (yoh-MEE-kehn), deceased, former Dastana Toroshu OTHER Hanako (HAN-ah-koh), Yumiwa’s handmaiden, a Herupa Inokio (inn-OH-kee-oh), First Son of Clan Korae, tutor of Yumiwa, a Battlemaster Ikori (ee-KOHR-ee), Kuno's handmaiden, a Herupa Nurora (new-ROH-rah), Toroshu of a small and respected family, leader of the first expedition to Mata Nui Tsura (t-SUE-rah), Datsue with a motherly temperament and a wry humor, was on the first expedition to Mata Nui Nihi (KNEE-hee), Menti warrior who was chosen for the first expedition to Mata Nui, an Eiyu ~~~ 9. VISUAL ASPECTS OF CULTURE Vezok's Friend has done several artworks of the Kentoku Archipelago and its denizens, which should serve as good indicators as to the general nature of appearances in Dasaka society. The Kentoku Archipelago Kentoku Map Dasaka Classes Yumiwa Kuno Ayiwah Dasaka Formal Attire Kanohi Dragon Submersible Dasaka are all various hues and balances of blue and gold. How blue vs. how gold they are, what hues they are, and that sort of thing does not denote/align with caste. The visual way castes are distinguished is by their apparel; where high-ranking Menti will wear rich fabrics and intricate crystal armor - ceremonial garments - Saihoko generally clothe themselves in pragmatic water/windproof ponchos and the like. Colors worn by Menti are usually those of their clan. Almost all cloth Kuno owns, for instance, is dominantly red, because that's the Fursic color. The Umbraline color is officially purple, and the Dastana wear various tints of yellow. Minor clans usually have to settle for two-color schemes in their regalia, since single colors have almost all been taken by older and more powerful ones. The Rora and her family can wear whatever colors they wish, to reinforce the idea that they are separate from and above clan politics. White and black, though, are usually not among these colors. Here's what white and black generally represent in Dasaka culture, and how they're used: White: light, age, honor, sky, wisdom, discipline, Zuto Nui. This color is seen as female. Black: darkness, youth, power, sea, beauty, strength, Zataka. This color is seen as male. Unaccented white and black garments are traditionally only worn by their respective genders, and only worn for occasions of great ceremony such as the passage of power, the union of two individuals, or the eulogy of one who has died.

Kentoku Map The Archipelago: The Kentoku Archipelago is a volcanic island chain situated to the far east of Mata Nui. The archipelago is comprised of five large islands with dozens of smaller ones scattered between them. Most of the islands of the archipelago are within sight of a few others and, despite the straits separating them, are easily accessible by bridges or quick ferries. While each island has its own unique climate, the general feel of the archipelago is wet and temperate; the volcano that birthed the Kentoku islands is long dormant. The majority of the islands' original terrain is flat grassland with rolling hills; where Dasaka civilization has not permeated, these calm natural landscapes are visible. On the archipelago, metal ores are exceedingly rare and valuable, but crystalline protodermis is in abundance; as such, most Dasaka structures and machines are made up of wood, stone, and manipulated (or “grown”) crystal. Many of the islands' native flora and fauna have been long since driven to extinction, or else domesticated, leaving very little wildlife on the archipelago. The five islands of note are: Sado (SAY-doe), despite being the smallest of the main islands, is capital of the empire. Over the centuries, Sado has been incessantly urbanized to accommodate the ever-growing city and Imperial Palace; at this point, almost all of Sado is covered with towering, elegant crystalline structures. The only undeveloped land still visible on the island is a small strip of sandy beach that runs along a third of the island. Centrally situated, Sado is next to Odaiba and within sight off all other islands save Kozu. From a distance, Sado looks like a complex gem, and its structures are oriented to catch the sun at all times of day and shine it back up into the sky, creating beautiful patterns against the clouds. Its central location to the remainder of the Kentoku Archipelago has left it vulnerable to attack from the Rahkshi and sea Rahi, but not quite vulnerable; Sado is the jewel of the Dasaka civilization, and every Dashi, Menti and Datsue remaining on the island works in service of protecting it, in ways big or small. Oki (OH-kee) is the most biologically diverse island in the archipelago, as close to a jungle as is possible in this climate, though severely lacking when compared to Mata Nui’s Le-Wahi jungle swamp or Ga-Wahi river delta. As most of the islands are deficient of animal life, this island is the largest remaining home to dozens of near-extinct plants and animals, the only other known specimens being in captivity in the gardens of the Imperial Palace. A thriving population of minor clans lives on Oki; they are generally ambivalent towards the politics of the empire, unless the sanctity of their island's natural beauty is brought into question. The Umbraline Clan hailed from Oki, but it was among the first of the major islands to fall under the Rahkshi invasion, and most of the Umbralines in their ancestral demesnes have fallen deathly silent. Odaiba (oh-day-BAH) is the largest of the five main islands, its landmass almost equivalent to the other four largest islands combined. Home to over a dozen minor clans, it is the breadbasket of the empire. Most of this island is involved in food production; fields, pastures and orchards sit on the island's gently rolling hills, dominating view and banishing most native flora and fauna. Odaiba's most interesting feature, however, is Mount Koshiki (Ko-SHE-kee), the largest and most intimidating mountain within the archipelago. In antiquity it was an active volcano, but now it is an extinct mountaintop, home to one of the few native creatures that pose a threat to the Dasaka: the Kanohi Dragons. The crater atop Mount Koshiki is a poisonous, stagnant lake heated by geothermal gases. It is said that the invaders came from an eruption atop Mount Koshiki itself, and to summit the mountain today only invites peril for any Menti daring enough to try. Iki (EYE-kee) is terribly devoid of plant and animal life, even by Dasaka standards. This little island makes up for its barrenness in wealth of natural resources, most importantly crystalline protodermis and other precious minerals. Ores and gems flow out of this mining island, shipped from its many docks to the Imperial Palace to be refined and crafted; these sea-lanes are the lifeblood of the Dasaka economy. Not surprisingly, Iki is the Datsana Clan’s home island, and it is from here they were able to launch themselves not only into the imperial economy, but into politics as well. It is said that the Dastana managed to beat the Rahkshi back from Iki in their attempt to relieve the beleagured defenders of Sado; while their presence in the Imperial Palace partially verifies these claims, in truth the Dastana left defending their homeland are stretched thin and vulnerable, far too small a garrison for the vital sea-lanes and resources they protect. Kozu (KO-zoo) is unique in two ways: it is the only island not directly visible from the Sado, and it is now serves as Clan Fursic's graveyard. A small, visually unremarkable island out of sight from Sado, the Fursics were left reeling from the death of their Toroshu, the arrest of their First Son, Kuno, and several Battlemaster-related betrayals and plots. This left what little resistance the Rahkshi found there to be mopped up easily - but, by the same token, the darkness itself hangs lightly upon Kozu, and were it more strategically significant the odds are decent that the Dasaka would be able to reclaim the island. The Imperial Palace: More of a city than anything else, the Imperial Palace is the jewel of the Kentoku Archipelago. Taking up most of the island of Sado, the city is hexagonal in shape, with six distinct sections forming the outer ring and the Imperial Residences at its center. Made almost entirely of crystalline protodermis, The Imperial Palace is a place of sheer beauty as well as defense, the only locale never to have been conquered by an opposing force in wartime. Lightstones line its elegant crystal corridors and glow both during the day and at night; it could be said that this place never sleeps. Local landmarks include: The Imperial Residences: Located in the center ring of the Palace, this is where the imperial family lives, works, and presides. Spacious bedrooms, meeting halls, living quarters, and the Throne Room all are located within. Many of the spaces within have been converted into enormous war rooms, bustling with Menti warriors and strategists conferring on how to defend Sado and make a push to reclaim other key islands in the Kentoku Archipelago. Towers of Knowledge: The educational center of the empire. Home to the most prestigious of schools, the finest of museums, and the best libraries, these towers stand as the tallest pinnacles of the palace. Past, present, and future all collide here in unusual harmony; the silence of studying and research is at home next to the bustle of active discovery. The Dasaka's archives are also stored here, the annals of their entire cultural memory recorded within. Some crucial records - genealogies and histories of the Roras of Clan Umbraline chief among them - were saved by the fleeing royal fleet or disseminated by looters, but for the most part these great histories remain untouched. The Coliseum: The social center of the empire, it is here where all the major sports and other spectator events take place, everything from Paoro to gladiator combat to theatrical performances. There is always an event going on here, and considering the myriad of inns and eateries bordering it to accommodate the constant influx of Dasaka, it is the premier meeting and gathering place on Sado - and, under periods of Rahkshi siege, the only fortress large enough to protect the large civilian population left behind on Sado. The Yards: Military stronghold and training facility. Here is where young Menti warriors go to be trained in the art of psionic and physical warfare. There are schools, training grounds, and instructors dedicated to each discipline stored within. In addition, the palace's docks are located nearby, so the Imperial Navy has its base of operation here as well. Besides the Imperial Residences, this is the most heavily guarded and fortified place in the entire empire. Menti are being trained almost to the point of exhaustion by harsh Dastana mercenaries and veterans of the Fursic Wars and Rahkshi sieges, and the Yards now bustle with activity day and night. The Wards: The massive apartment complex of the palace. Here is where most of the population of the palace lives and sleeps when not working, making it by far the largest section of the city. Most rooms are sparse if not comfortable, clean, and airy, and usually have two to three rooms, depending on the need. The wealthiest and most influential citizens occupy the penthouses on the top levels. Few Menti warriors live here, as their bunks are either in their barracks or other assigned areas per their duties. The Markets: The economic center of the empire. Anything and everything is either produced here, sold here, or can be otherwise acquired here. More money and trade goods pass through this section of the empire than all the other islands combined, making the ideal place to do business. The Dastana, a mercantile clan from birth, were uniquely suited to keep the Markets bustling; without their protection, the entire Kentoku Archipelago, already reeling, would have likely descended into anarchy. Still, their supply lines are constantly harried by bizarre, infected Rahi and Rahkshi, and the atmosphere in the Markets is tense, with haggles as likely to end in brawls as deals. The Gardens: The massive park that takes up a large swath of the city. From a distance, the elegant layered gardens seem to hang in the air unsupported. A place of beauty and serenity, the gardens are valued therapeutically as places to seek peace and enlightenment. The rarest of plants, endangered species, and cultivating greenhouses spot this place; the gardens are proudly home to a large collection of flora and fauna that are extinct elsewhere on the archipelago. Once, these gardens were sealed off to the lower castes, the jewels of the nobility; now they serve as makeshift refugee camps and packed healing centers, bustling with injured Menti or Dashi who fought to defend their home against the Rahkshi. Dastana Twins players: @Haman Karn: A Magical Girl and @Palm

The Wahi: Po-Wahi is the Stone region on Mata Nui, located in a large desert with many canyons. The desert is a large, rocky expanse, located in the north of the island. It consists mainly of the Motara Desert, canyons, plateaus, and rocks. The area has a coastline as well, where Leva Bay is situated. As the Koro has industrialized so has the rest of the Wahi. Roads and Iron Mahi railways crisscross the region, avenues of trade that carry the denizens and their belongings between the various settlements or other Koros. Important regions and landmarks include: Motara Desert: A mostly empty desert covering the vast eastern portion of Po-Wahi. The occasional wild herd of solitary Rahi can be found here but the main points of interest are the various rail lines that allow for fast and safe passage across the wastes. Tiro Canyon: A large canyon in Po-Wahi. Leva Bay: A bay located off the northern coast of Po-Wahi. The coastal settlement of Ostia is located here. Trading ships can often be seen navigating its waters, although those who wish to ply these currents should take care — the more remote nature of the waterways has resulted in a lower priority for Sentinel patrols, resulting in higher pirate activity. The Po-Wahi Quarry: A large, canyon-enclosed area of Po-Wahi, it is here that the Po-Matoran mine stone for their famous carvings. In it can be found six large statues of the First Toa’s Kanohi, and these statues serve as doorways to the various sections of the quarry, unlocked by means of small keys emblazoned with the symbols of the Elements. Of late the quarry has expanded in both size and function. Deep pits and tunnels have been driven into the hard stone of the Wahi. Metal and stone pour forth in large quantities to feed the ever-growing industrial needs of the island. Despite the increase in size however, the denizens have always been sculptors of high repute and skill. The entire work zone is filled with decorative sculptures in a dizzying array of styles and forms. The Path of Prophecies: A road flanked by carvings, leading to the village of Po-Koro, created by the Po-Matoran Carver Hafu soon after the Matoran established the village of Po-Koro. At the road's end is the entrance to Po-Koro, which is carved into the mouth of a large Matoran head. Forsi: Formly little more than a military outpost, Forsi has exploded in size due to the ideal location it holds for trade between the Koros of Water and Stone. Like all of the Stone towns it has both an Iron Mahi station and a large radio complex that is capable of sending and receiving messages over great distances. Ostia: A port settlement built into the cliffs along Leva Bay. Like all Po-settlements it is connected to the others by an Iron Mahi railway and powerful radio station. Deep clefts have been cut into the walls. Support columns make sure that the various tiers of the town remain stable. Lightstone sconces set periodically into the rock provide illumination within the otherwise poorly lit interior. Heavy duty lifts provide the primary method of travel between the various levels, although spiraling ramps and stairways exist as backup means of transportation. While the town is far from lawless it does have a higher crime rate than any of the other Po-settlements. Pirates have to spend their coin somewhere and while any known criminals who show up are promptly arrested, it is often hard to pick out specific identities while fighting someone on the deck of another ship. The many backstreets and taverns in the port give ample areas for hidden deals and dubiously legal meetings to take place. Blackrock: An old fortress of the Brotherhood of Ak’rei’an. In the past, a combined force of Ga-Koro Marines and Po-Koro Sentinels drove the Brotherhood from this place. Battle damages, as well as sandstorms and stone pilferers, reduced the dormant Blackrock to ruins. After being eradicated from Darkmine in Onu-Wahi, though, the Brotherhood has returned to Blackrock and started to reconstruct the crumbling place. As they were working to rebuild a group of adventurers followed them and launched a second assault. The aftermath of the explosive battle left the former fortress as little more than scattered rubble and empty foundations. The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. It exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. A fortified Sentinel outpost has been constructed over the opening and armed with a myriad of lethal defenses. While passage is allowed within the Dark Walk, it is watched carefully and those entering and leaving are recorded. The Koro: Led by Akiri Renaka Lichtgheist, Po-Koro lays nestled in a canyon valley in the northern part of the desert. What was once a humble village has exploded in a myriad of ways. It now fills the entire canyon at the end of which it once nestled. The old village has primarily been given over to space for administration offices, while a second and third layer have been constructed outside the old walls. Each one is separated from the others and the outside by a large wall of steel-reinforced stone. The middle section is mostly residential while the most recently-created zone is industrial. Each zone has shops and restaurants scattered throughout, what they specialize in often depending on which section of the Koro they have set up in. A multi-Koro effort has seen the entire city turned into a fertile oasis. Water from deep underground rivers flows up and irrigates the rich imported soils. A variety of plantlife from across the island have been planted everywhere, their colors and fragrances existing alongside cooling fountains. All together they turn the koro into an island of pleasant if busy life in the midst of a wasteland. Ecological changes are far from the only transformations that the town has gone through either. The growing size has prompted the construction of an internal tram system. Miniature versions of the Iron Mahi roam the districts, carrying people to their varied destinations in ease and comfort. A matured version of the inter-Koro telegram system exists within Po-Koro as well, allowing private citizens to contact each other from the comfort of their own homes. A generous amount of space has been set aside within the industrial sector for the new Onu-Po Academy. Bright minds from both Koros meet here. Old designs are refined and new ones created. It should be noted however, that not all knowledge is shared between the two groups. Certain technologies have been deemed state secrets and restricted from exportation. Akiri player: @Silvan Haven

The Wahi: Onu-Wahi is the region of Earth on the island of Mata Nui. Although Onu-Wahi does include surface areas, very little of the outside was ever developed. The prominent features of Onu-Wahi are mainly located underground, connected by tunnels carved long ago by the Onu-Matoran and other more sinister things. Dangerous Rahi, some of which are largely unknown, lurk in the dank underground caves of the region, which not even the bravest Onu-Matoran have fully explored. Some natural tunnels carry seeping water from the surface, filling several of the Wahi’s caverns with frigid subterranean lakes. Local landmarks include: The Great Mine: An expansive mine network near Onu-Koro where Onu-Matoran miners and prospectors toil to excavate its precious resources. Its shafts, which reach deep into the earth, provide many of the raw materials used in other villages across Mata Nui, such as Protodermis and various metal ores. The mine also includes the Marn Tunnels, annexes to the Great Mine around the Wahi. Cavern of Light: A lightstone mine in Onu-Wahi. The main supply of lightstones for the island is located here. Its entrance is located in a tunnel network connecting Onu-Koro to Ta-Koro and Le-Koro, and the cave itself is only accessible with a special key. Papa Nihu Reef: An archipelago of rocky islets that spread out over the waters outside Onu-Wahi. The mainland shoreline is composed of dark beaches and blank landscape, and the islets themselves range in size and shape but remain mostly desolate, save for the occasional rookery of birds. Onu-Koro Highway: An old tunnel connecting Ko-Wahi to Onu-Koro. Members of the Ussalry regulate the end in Onu-Koro to weed out undesirable travelers. Le-Koro Highway: A tunnel connecting Le-Wahi to Onu-Koro, similarly guarded. Darkmine: The cavernous former lair of the necromantic Brotherhood of Ak’rei’an, this system of gothic caves, which branches off from an abandoned underground highway, was cleared out by the Ussalry in the recent past. It is now an Onu-Koronan fungi farm. The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. Exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. The Koro: Led by Akiri Nuparu under the motto "Ever onwards to Prosperity", Onu-Koro is located in a huge cavern in the middle of Onu-Wahi. It is a massive bubble in the earth with ceilings that vanish into the darkness above and walls littered with well-guarded gateways. The Koro is the central hub of a network of highways and tunnels that link it with the other parts of the island and with its mines. It consists of huts made of dark stone interwoven with a maze of metal pipes transporting water, gases, and even objects, around the Koro. A cool stream cuts down the middle of the village and is bridged by several pedestrian walkways. The village is lit by lightstone streetlamps and the glow of forges. The center of the village has a main marketplace where tinkerers sell small ornaments and gadgets. The middle rings of the Koro are residential, peppered with other establishments like stores and eateries. Engineering plants push up against the village’s crowded edges, always bustling with activity. The smell of metal and the smoke of production fill the cavern of Onu-Koro as foundries built there smelt mined ores and turn them into machines. The industrial gases and other wastes are siphoned off to the surface through ducts high in the roof of the village. Nuparu now occupies the great hut once used by Turaga Whenua and directs the village’s progress with clear vision. The clever hands of Onu-Koro manufacture technologies of progress for the entire island; but they keep as many inventions secret as they sell. Nuparu is very careful about which technologies the Koro releases, controls trade with a stern hand, and places great importance on security. This lead to the expansion and technological armament of the formidable Ussalry, housed at its three stables around the village. The Ussalry defend the Koro and the Wahi around it and, due to the great influx of money and trade of materials, they consistently patrol Onu-Koro’s borders and check everyone and everything going in or out. The highways connecting Onu-Koro to the island at large have been greatly expanded to accommodate the movement of technologies, and are always patrolled by guards and escorts. Recently Akiri Nuparu has pursued a more equitable distribution of Onu-Koro's considerable and still-growing wealth. Citizens of the Koro are guaranteed an allowance of the basic necessities of life regardless of station, work or species. Also of note is the construction of the Onu-Koro Academy: the Onu-Koronan branch of the newly-formed research alliance between Onu- and Po-Koro. Brilliant minds are being searched for to add to this burgenoning R&D hub, and technological achievements in the two Koros go back and forth through this institution. Akiri player: @Geardirector

The Wahi: The entire southern fourth of Mata Nui is green with the lush jungle and sprawling swamps of Le-Wahi. Riddled with marshes and shallow lakes, Le-Wahi also rises to the skies with huge, thick trees. Flocks of birds of all sorts sing from the branches; joined by the howling of other Rahi, the constant chatter of Le-Wahi is both enchanting and frightening. Many large and dangerous Rahi also inhabit the area, though the Gukko Force usually keeps jungle trails safe. Other landmarks of the area include: The Fau Swamp: A marshy area that extends through most of the jungle floor of eastern Le-Wahi. The swamp is full of sinkholes and thick mud, so only travelers with careful feet survive there — to say nothing of the dangerous Rahi and carnivorous plants known to inhabit the area. Kanae Bay: A large bay in southern Le-Wahi. It was here that Toa Lewa's canister washed ashore. Lake Pala: The largest lake in the Wahi. Pala-Koro, a former fortress settlement built by the Island Liberation Front, lies on its southern shore. Sacked during the latter days of Makuta's rule, only a shattered curtain wall and the rubble of a few huts remained after the assault, but the ILF have begun to rebuild. Xa-Koro ruins: What used to be the “seventh Koro,” a boardwalk city in the Kumu Islets that was a conglomeration of thieves and sinners, was sunk into the ocean (along with the Islets themselves) during the days of Makuta. Now, it is a treacherous submarine place to the south of Le-Wahi, full of secrets to be discovered by any brave enough to dive into the unstable, undersea ruins. Rockwall is a fortress under the dominion of Ga-Koro, located in the Kumu Seas. The fortress is built around the old Xa-Koro Lighthouse and contains the growing colony of Nokama Port. The Suva Nui: a tall, dark stone obelisk that towers in the middle of a clearing in the jungle of Le-Wahi. It defines the site of the Great Hive Battle, as the Suva Nui was contained within the Nui-Rama hive before it was razed. It is also the site where the Toa Maru were transformed from Matoran to Toa. The Suva Nui is an entrance to Mangaia. The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. Exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. The Koro: Led by Akiri Kongu, the village of Le-Koro hangs in the trees directly above Lake Kanae. The airy city, a sprawl of tree houses, consists of beehive-shaped huts and shops strung together by vines or branches. Walkways are carved into the thick wood and grafted on the tree trunks, making a network that weaves in the treetops and casts a neat glow at night. Some treetops were flattened to make room for plazas and Kolhii stadiums. Music rings from this village as drummers and flutists fill the air with joyful noise. Within the Koro, several complex systems of chutes, built by Onu-Koro’s engineers, wind and twist about the trees. These chutes run to and from different sections of Le-Koro, and can easily transport Matoran by a mix of air pressure and gravity. Smaller chutes are also used as quick delivery systems for letters and small packages. Each access point is a small “chute station” where the users might choose their destination and chute accordingly. The largest chute station is near the Le-Koro marketplace. The village of Le-Koro is more strictly presided over than in earlier days, and the only way into the Koro is through elevators accessed by a bridge in the lake, or through landing pads where the approaching traffic is screened beforehand. Those entering via elevators are questioned about their business coming to Le-Koro, and the elevators are operated from secure places in the treetop city. The chute system has very few openings on the ground. Le-Koro is the fastest trading Koro on Mata-Nui, employing air delivery systems which are much more efficient and timely than the trading methods applied by other Koros. This has made Le-Koro a valuable merchant partner, and they often work as a middleman for other villages' trade. Additionally, there is a strange sight in the sky: The Le-Koro Gukko Forces have been bolstered, their ranks have been padded by specially trained Nui-Rama fliers. The large insect-like Rahi has turned from enemy into powerful ally. Akiri player: @Palm The Kini-Nui: Kini-Nui is situated at roughly the center of the island of Mata Nui. On the surface, this area is a jungle of tall trees and chattering wildlife. The main superficial landmark is the Kini-Nui temple, an ancient structure that houses the Suva Kaita, one of the main routes into Makuta’s former lair, Mangaia. Though Makuta has not yet reclaimed his old domain, this region is still tense; not only is it the most likely place to run into Rahkshi and infected Rahi, Mangaia also bears an aura of dread that makes the backs of necks tingle. Local landmarks include: The Kini-Nui Temple: a dome-like stone protrusion from the earth with four large spires extending into the heavens at each corner, the Kini-Nui temple is difficult to reach. It resides in a clearing in the jungle, and in the middle of its upper platform is the Suva Kaita. The Toa Maru closed the Suva Kaita after their defeat of Makuta. The Amaja-Nui: A circular sandpit that was once used by the wise Turaga of Mata Nui to retell legends. It resides between a large, ivy-covered bust of a Matoran head and the Kini-Nui temple. Mangaia: Makuta’s former lair is a maze of dark passageways and huge chambers. It has several entrances: one below the Suva Kaita, one through the Suva Nui in Le-Wahi, and six long Dark Walk tunnels branching straight from a central chamber in Mangaia to the doorsteps of each Koro are some to name. Even though the dark artifacts that used to inhabit the chambers of the caverns – many of which were unspeakable horrors – have all been long since destroyed or cast into the sea by the Toa Maru, a distinct air of danger still lingers down here. Lights carried by those either brave or stupid enough to descend into Mangaia seem to have less effect in its passageways than in other dark places, though there are some chambers illuminated still by blood-red lightstones. Reports indicate that Rahkshi activity in Mangaia has increased since Makuta's return to the world. Though Makuta has not reclaimed it as the nigh-impregnable seat of power it once was, it is clear he has not forgotten it, and the Rahkshi that once roamed feral — dangerous, but directionless — have begun to move with purpose once again, no doubted guided by his dark will. Some have even begun to venture along the Dark Walks, though they have not yet engaged the Koro militaries guarding them in anything but the briefest skirmishes. Regardless, the Rahkshi presence in Mangaia makes it the most dangerous place on Mata Nui. The main attraction that compels surface dwellers to enter Mangaia is the ancient Vault that was once guarded jealously by Makuta himself. It was previously known to the island's most intrepid adventurers as a huge, impregnable doorway – with no hinges, seams, or keyhole – situated in the middle of the deepest level of Mangaia. But now the Vault is open, and “all the simplest power of the world" has, it seems, been revealed: the stone door is gone, replaced by a shimmering portal, a vertical pool of swirling multicoloured energy. The structure of the Vault itself was destroyed in the process of activation, leaving the portal suspended atop a rubble of quartz in the vast subterranean chamber. Rumour has it that this portal is linked to another at the heart of the Kentoku Archipelago, far across the Endless Ocean, though where such tales originated is a mystery, for none have yet passed through to the other side and returned to tell the tale...

The Wahi: Ko-Wahi is the region of Ice on the island of Mata Nui. It encompasses Mount Ihu, the largest mountain of Mata Nui, beginning in the north at the foothills of the mountain by Onu-Wahi and ending where the mountain merges into the Mangai Volcano, separated by the Tren Krom Break. The entire region is covered in ice and snow; the mountain is largely inhospitable, with only a few species of Rahi being able to successfully survive there. Among the more dominant features of Ko-Wahi are two massive glaciers, separated by a sturdy block on which resides Ko-Koro. The Drifts, massive, nearly featureless snowfields that experience almost constant storm, dominate most of the upper part of the mountain. The most hazardous section of the Drifts is known as the Wastes. Local landmarks include: Mount Ihu: A snow-covered mountain in Ko-Wahi, and the largest of several peaks in the region. The Drifts: Also known as the Wastes. A snowy region situated on Mount Ihu. Blinding blizzards come often, causing any who venture here to easily become lost, so Ko-Matoran use red flags to find their way. The North March: A pass on the bordering the Tren Krom Break on the Ko-Wahi side. There is a cable car to travel from the slopes of Mount Ihu to Ta-Wahi. Obsidian Outpost: A building constructed around the Ko-Wahi end of the cable car by a now-defunct mercenary group known as the 'Outsiders'. Previously used by them as a base of operations and means of extracting a toll from travelers, it now lies empty following the group's collapse. The Massif: A small village at the foot of a great stone half dome with a monastery at its top, the Massif is a place of solitude that some Matoran call home. Ihu-Koro: A small highland Koro, this is the main site for mining Rena ore. The Academy and Hospital: A center for learning and aid, this pair of complexes is home to several great scholars and scientists who are happy to give their experience for others. New Toa can go there to become better heroes and the sick and wounded can be healed at the hospital. The complex is located a short walk from Ko-Koro and is also connected to the village by an underground ice passage. The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. Exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. The Koro: During the days when Ko-Koro was led by Akiri Matoro, the Ko-Matoran built it into a veritable mountain fortress, a far cry from the humble monastic village from the days of Makuta. Tall walls, sprinkled with guard parapets, look out on the icy expanses around and define the village's edge. Massive bridges of ice, many of which are lined with small shops and tourist traps, span over a huge crevasse. These bridges connect the opposite walls of the village, and these walls are holed out for many more shops and living spaces. A central complex on a flat portion of the village, filled with domed huts not unlike those seen elsewhere on the island, serves as the Koro's trade hub. The towering Sanctum, once only a temple, was expanded into be a majestic citadel of ice that houses not only the ancient Wall of Prophesy but also living spaces and armories. The village is fueled by power siphoned from windmills that litter the extreme heights of the stronghold and other peaks of the mountain. These windmills power electric bulbs that light the village’s arches and buildings with white light at night. Wind electricity is also funneled towards powering an aural security system, consisting of a few large, crude microphones at the outskirts of the Koro that can be monitored from within the guard buildings. These allow the operators to hear approaching bodies even over the roar of icy storms. Ko-Koro has suffered more upheaval than any other Koro in recent months. Akiri Matoro was assassinated, and not long thereafter an army of darkness, led by the Dark Toa Echelon, assaulted and overtook the Koro. Their occupation was broken only through the combined efforts of the Toa Maru, military detachments from multiple Koro, and various other heroic forces, and the city still bears the scars from both the original attack and the liberation. A new Akiri, Tarkahn, has since been elected and now pursues an agenda of increased militarisation, vowing to prevent Ko-Koro from falling to invaders ever again. To that end, the city's defences are being steadily increased, and a policy of mandatory military training has been introduced. Trade and collaboration with the other Koros has also been ramped up to support these efforts. Akiri player: @The UltimoScorp

The Wahi: Ta-Wahi, located near the southeastern side of Mata Nui, is the part of the island in which the Ta-Matoran work and live and Toa Tahu once resided. The skies always have a dark tint from the volcanic ashes in the air, and glowing lava pools and streams illuminate the earth with amber light. Its landscape is mainly charred jungle, a molten wasteland defined by igneous canyons and the slow trickle of lava from the powerful Mangai Volcano above. Local landmarks include: -The Charred Forest: A section of Ta-Wahi that was burned to charcoal by the Makuta in one of his early attacks on the Matoran of Mata Nui. It is easy to get lost, so several of the locals have marked paths among the trees, which can be seen only by a practiced observer. -Mangai Volcano: A volcano near Ta-Koro, which is situated at roughly the center of the island. The lava flows from this volcano spread almost directly north to the sea, leaving ashen wasteland wherever they go. -Tren Krom Break: A deep ravine, containing a lava river where Ignalu surfing competitions are often held. Turaga Vakama named it after the legendary figure Tren Krom. The ravine separates Ko-Wahi and Ta-Wahi, and is bridged by an ancient cable car. It is to note that the Ta-Koro Guard occupied an outpost here to defend against the Rahi threat during the days of Makuta. The outpost was abandoned when Jaller was forced to fall back behind the city, but was reactivated after the fall of Ko-Koro as an additional defense against the occupiers. -Ta-Wahi Beach: The easternmost edge of the Wahi meets the sea with a relatively peaceful black sand beach. Seabirds fill the skies with their cries, and a jutting cliff to one edge bears an archaic telescope atop it, with which travelers can observe the heavens better than anywhere else on the island. A modest dock has been constructed in recent times to allow for the anchoring of ships and the easier passage of trade. -The Piraka Clubhouse: A bungalow built from scrap metal and driftwood, close to the stretch of beach where their stolen submarine made land, this was the hideout of the six Piraka. If the fence, the sign (“STAY OUT! Especially if you’re Reidak Thok Vezok”), and the dangerous aura don’t dissuade you from entry, then you would find the hideout long abandoned. -The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. Exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. An outpost of the Ta-Koro Guard has been constructed a short distance from its mouth to serve as an early warning. The Koro: Led by Akiri Jaller, Ta-Koro is a unique city, built in the center of the Lake of Fire and in the shadow of the explosive Mangai Volcano. The Koro, built on a protruding rock above the lava lake, is comfortable despite its relative smallness. The villagers of Ta-Koro are reassured by their location and the security it affords them; Ta-Koro is quite possibly the safest village on the island. Ta-Koro is incredibly hard to attack not only due to its high walls and skilled guard, but also because it is impossible to cross the Lake of Fire without the use of a movable stone bridge, the controls to which lie in the Koro’s highly guarded gatehouse. The architecture of the relatively small Koro follows a tactical mindset that has been adhered to even as it expands. Just inside the village walls are the shortest buildings, increasing in height steadily and nearly uniformly as one progresses towards the center of the village. Accordingly any invaders that breach the walls will be denied the high ground for their entire advance, and Ta-Koro Guardsman will be better able to observe and obstruct any attacking force. The Ta-Koro Guard’s administration is housed in the fortress-like building at the center, a location that has also become home to Akiri Jaller’s official office spaces. The great hall once used by Vakama now serves as Jaller’s abode but no longer is open to the public except by invitation or appointment. It is always occupied by a vibrant bonfire and the Wall of History, where legends have been engraved since before living memory. The village has a central courtyard lined with shops and apartments. The Ta-Koro guard will not stand crime in the streets; those who break the law are confined in Ta-Koro’s dungeons, carved into the volcanic rock below the main city and guarded strictly. With the help of engineers from Onu-Koro, Ta-Koro learned to harness the power of the volcano. A geothermal energy plant powers the entire village. Pumps located underneath the city are constantly absorbing lava and hot fumes from below, funneling them into a power plant’s generator. Electricity, new streetlights, and intra-Koro transportation – a steady monorail wrapping around the outer ring, recently repaired to working order after a sabotage attempt – are all fuelled by the power plant. The Ta-Matoran have also started to dig into the dangerous Mangai Volcano for precious mineral ores like iron, which they then smelt. With this influx of innovation and industry, Akiri Jaller has expanded the military might of the village and has stockpiled vast quantities of weapons in its armories. Rena ore, traded for with Ihu-Koro across the Cable Car, has been added to these reserves as smiths begin to experiment with the substance. Contact with Po-Koro, despite some tensions with the previous regime, has also given Ta-Koro access to the spreading telegram and radio networks. The scars of the Piraka’s attack on the village have been repaired but the site of the famous Lavapool Inn remains vacant. Whether anything will replace it has yet to be determined, but the people of the village treat the site as a place of remembrance and reminder. The vacancy is not the only change in place following the attack as more numerous, smaller outposts of the Guard have been placed strategically throughout the city to house Jaller’s Rapid Reactionary Forces. While the Guard has always provided for the Koro’s security, the RRF focuses its efforts on the detection and prevention of threats that have already passed beyond the village’s walls. In the peace following Makuta’s defeat, expansions into the Wahi have begun owing to the village’s lack of unused space, with small residences and businesses beginning to crop up outside the safety of its walls. Plans are in place, though not completed, to expand the monorail’s reach to these extra-Koro expansions. Akiri Player: Krayzikk

The Wahi: The most placid of the regions of Mata Nui, Ga-Wahi is a large and mostly submerged area located on the eastern side of the island of the island. It is dominated by the great Naho Bay, which takes up the vast majority of the region and is surrounded by towering white cliffs. Ga-Wahi's landscape is very diverse, featuring sandy beaches and sharp cliffs, green strips of thick forest near the sea and wide grassy plains further inland. Ga-Koro is located in this Wahi, floating in the southern part of the bay at the delta of the Hura-Mafa River. Local landmarks include: Naho Bay: Bordered by pale cliffs, this wide cove is home to Ga-Koro, Ga-Kini, and Ga-Suva, as well as several underwater caves. A large waterfall pours into Naho Bay, and the rock face of the falls is sculpted into the likeness of a Kanohi Kaukau. There is a peaceful cave behind the roaring waters. Hura-Mafa River: This river runs northward from the slopes of Mount Ihu into Naho Bay, emptying there bay by means of the Naho Falls. It is one of the largest rivers on the island, and serves as a speedy ferry for trade from Ko-Koro to Ga-Koro. Old Fusa Path: This pathway was created by the Matoran to serve as an inland access point to the beaches of Naho Bay, and ultimately to the village of Ga-Koro. Harakeke and Bamboo plants proliferate along the path. The Dark Walk: One of six large tunnels dug by Makuta’s Rahkshi during the final days of his rule. Large enough to encompass a walking legion, it runs directly from the doorstep of the Koro down into Mangaia. Exudes a definite aura of odiousness, and is generally avoided. The Koro: Led by Akiri Hahli, Ga-Koro is built on huge lily pads, held in place by thick stems that grow underwater (which have been reinforced by inorganic pylons), with segmented leafy walkways and bridges connecting the platforms. It’s built around a central plaza that is faced by the Akiri’s hut; the plaza also doubles as the main marketplace of the Koro. Huts are made of more lily pads and look like cabbage heads, though they are very sturdy. The Ga-Matoran, with the help of Onu-Koro’s engineers, maintain several underwater greenhouses that grow food, plants both medicinal and industrial, and other cash crops. Strategically protected by Marine sea forts, these greenhouses are equipped with state of the art oxygen filtration systems and solar panels, not unlike those used by the miners in the Great Mine. Armed Toa and a lock system that is designed to fool all but the Onu-Matoran engineers who designed it defend the gardens from saboteurs. Ga-Koro’s greenhouses supply most of the island’s food and medicine. In the months following the betrayal of the Toa "Arete," Ga-Koro adopted a stricter, more suspicious policy on strangers. Small ports and fortifications such as Nokama Port and Rockwall in Le-Wahi became commonplace as examples of Ga-Koro's foreign policy, and the Marine command structure was diversified so as to allow checks and balances between seasoned military and civilian officials, to prevent corruption or betrayal from within again. Several recent developments on the island have softened Ga-Koro's stance, however, and led to the more dovish policies of old. Ga-Koro contributed publicly and heavily to the retaking of Ko-Koro, providing declarations of support for the Ko-Koran resistance and offers of temporary Marine aid in rebuilding. Akiri Hahli enjoys perhaps the closest personal relationship with her village's Toa Maru protector, Toa Leah, who has a soothing effect on the sharp-tongued, clever Ga-Matoran. Perhaps most importantly, Ga-Koro established early and strong relations with the expeditionary forces of the Dasaka, a group of psionics-wielding warriors, merchants, and explorers from across the Endless Ocean. The Ga-Matoran have come to accept the Dasakan presence in their markets and on their beaches, establishing trade of metal and other resources that may prove essential upon the Dasaka's return. The Chiisai Ryuu, the Dasaka's submarine, is a mainstay in Ga-Koro's port, and housing and shelter has been established so the Dasaka have places to call their own outside their vessel, with more on the way in the event of further explorers - although notably, little architecture has been constructed with the elegant crystal the Dasaka seem to flaunt in their armor, weapons and ships. The Dasaka have used their good relations with Ga-Koro and the Marines to establish a sort of home base in the Koro while they explore the rest of the island. Akiri player: @Haman Karn: A Magical Girl

FAN;ARC BALOM SKRI;ARC NO ARCS BUT FOR ARC 3 Makuta has returned. Of course, to the beleaguered remains of the Dasaka Empire, now bifurcated with an endless ocean between its pieces, there was no Makuta to return at all. All the citizens of the once-proud Kentoku Archipelago know is that their islands have been besieged, their clans have been decimated, and their very way of life is under assault by creatures unfathomable even in their darkest tales of demons and phantoms. Clan Umbraline, first mothers and sisters of the Dasakan people, have fled across the waters - seeking refuge on an island they once eyed greedily. As for said island, the return of the darkness is possibly the last thing that can churn their hardy stomachs. The people of Mata Nui, finally recovered from the uncertainty of the Dasaka's arrival and the bloody war to reclaim one of their own villages from Makuta's forces, must now contend with the prospect of their oppressor's reawakening. The petty ambitions of his lieutenants have cost Makuta dearly and bought his adversaries some time; the Akiri, friends as hardened individually by conflict as they were weakened collectively, have finally joined forces as a united government once again, and the Toa Maru, heirs to the First Toa and vanquishers of Makuta, grow restless in pursuit of their destiny. But Makuta will not stay cowed for long. And far to the north of either island, a third - a landscape that revels in the conflicts that weary its counterparts, one torn apart and stitched together a dozen times over - roils in excitement at the thought of more turmoil. Somewhere, beneath its core, Makuta roils too. He is not alone in that. ***** Yeah yeah, you don't need my introduction right now. I'll have a speech planned later - and maybe a BZPRPG podcast? For now, just enjoy. And thank you. -Tyler

oh my god what is that. um the worst animated movie grandpa ever made? -Tyler

extraneous characters aren't a player issue, they're a service issue -Tyler

IC: Gabe the Hatmaster was struck down in Po-Koro. There were witnesses, but the Po-Koro Guard are accepting any other tips. -Tyler

bet. check your PMs -Tyler