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2nd Movement - Qek

Fluff adapted from Clinton’s book and the Finnish edition of the same. Crunch mostly original.

Qek is the northernmost known land in Near, and one of the most forbidding. Filled from coast to mountain with thick rain-forest and jungle, Qek is a place of mystery and legend. It is the borderlands of the world and the north coast of the Sea of Teeth.

This hot jungle-land might well be left alone, were it not for the copious amounts of jewels found in its caves. There are no cities, no centers of civilization, only the smallest of villages along the coastline.

The people of Qek live among the jungle in small family units. Short, thin, and brown, the Qek (as they call both themselves and their land) hunt wild birds, boars, and reptiles and gather wild fruits for their sustenance. The people of inner Qek are generally unknown to outsiders; the families along Qek’s shores that live on fishing are the few that generally speak with non-Qek. The boats of these people are legendary - small one-man kayaks made of jungle wood that they use to surf on top of the waves of the Border Sea, easily outrunning any other ship.

The Family is a Breathing Thing

The only real unit of people in Qek is the family. Families live together, carving out a small bit of land to call their own, although there’s no real land ownership. Three generations usually live together: a husband and wife, some of their parents, and their children. Generally, as sons and daughters grow to maturity, they leave and form new family units; as one half of a couple dies of old age, the other will live with one of their children.

Qek has no government, but each family unit is part of a larger family unit. Within the larger family unit, families defer to the family they grew up in when they meet. In distant relations, the older family is deferred to, although they often choose another to make decisions. There is no clan-type structure in Qek: there are no clumps of unrelated people at all.

All that Glitters is Trouble

The Qek do trade with the people of Khale and the nomadic tribes of Oran, exchanging wild fruits and cocoa for tools of metal, which they do not have the craft to make themselves. In addition, Qek is known for its precious gems. The people of Qek find these stones useless except for tools (they tip their own spears with diamond, which slip through armor as if it were butter, for example) and they are often traded for goods or services. Men from other countries that do not respect the sanctity of Qek often attempt to sneak into the country and smuggle out gems and cocoa pods, although few return.

Apart from outsiders, the people of Qek have to contend with the APES as well. Apes are these furry goblins that live in various places in the jungle and the more hospitable slopes of the Wound of Heaven mountains. The problem with apes is that the Qek do not understand their language, if they have any, so there is much unnecessary strife with the “jungle people”, as the Qek ironically call the beasts. As a matter of fact, many of the apes do not have a language at all: the Qek goblins run the gamut from human-intelligent to completely animallike, but generally speaking they are all content to gorge themselves on fruit, intelligent or not.

Stories Without Letters

The Qek have no written language, at least not since the Year of Shadow. Because of this, their art revolves around painting and oral storytelling. A great majority of their art is utilitarian in nature: ornately carved spears and staffs; beautifully crafted clay jugs; shields painted with intricate camouflaging patterns. Without cities, traditional sculpture is almost unknown, although carved frescos in rock are relatively common, used to tell ancient stories.

The music of Qek is unearthly, and most outsiders have a hard time appreciating it. Their language is made up of a multitude of hard consonants, which lends a guttural quality to it, whether spoken or sung. In addition, the music has no traditional rhythm, instead alternating between discordant rhythms frequently. While a large part of their music – all based around stories – is sung, it is sometimes accompanied by a CHURANG, a guitar like like instrument made of dried innards strung across a hollowed-out armadillo shell.

Qek’s jungles are full of succulent fruit and spices, and are used liberally to season their food. A speciality that has reached out to be eaten elsewhere in Near is wild boar glazed with mango and cocoa, a plant native only to Qek. Cocoa (in the modern day, chocolate) grows in huge pods within Qek’s jungles, and is used to make a hallucinatory beverage called araka of dried cocoa pods, fermented bananas, and hot chilies.

Everything That Breathes Dies

The people of Qek do not speak of religion: they worship no single entity nor have organized worship. They do, however, have a strong belief in the idea of spirits.

Spirits have three forms, the ROHO, the SASHA, and the ZAMANI. The roho are the spirits of the living, the animus that gives them individuality and vitality. These are bound within the bodies of people, animals, and plants. People and animals have the strongest roho, while plants have the oldest roho.

The sasha are the “living dead”. Those who have died that are personally remembered by those still alive are sasha. Memories from stories do not count: someone who met the person while alive must still live. These spirits have a will of their own and remember their name, and they are said to hover close to earth, watching those who knew them. Their will can be bent by changing the memories of their human tethers.

The zamani are the true dead, those long dead and forgotten. They do not remember their name and their own will is the longing for final rest, in the oblivion above the earth.

Nobody’s Been to Every Valley

The jungles of Qek are basically impenetrable and largely unknown even to their inhabitants. The native Qek may however increase his chances in the wilds by listening to his parents and to the spirit of the terrain itself. Geographical knowledge is not codified in maps in the featureless jungle; instead, the people memorize and share long path-songs that list distinctive landmarks and other important knowledge about the lay of the land.

The earth spirits are considered similar but distinct to spirits of living things. The two are connected, however: a person can sometimes perceive the land correctly, and by doing so, name it. The end-result is called a KNOT, or simply a “place”.

Knots make up the geography of Qek, which is otherwise indistinct and homogenous to human eyes. Knots are connected by PATHS, which in turn limit AREAS; in this way the jungle gains a topography people can understand and perceive.

Jungle Landscape

The Story Guide of a campaign is of course responsible for the geography, but some suggestions might be helpful, being how most Story Guides are used to having a wide variety of environments to work with. In the Qek jungles new places are sort of a big deal, but also simple to introduce.

The Coastline

There are some landmarks that are so major as to constitute entry points into the web of knots I draw. The coastline is probably the most important if your campaign is going to deal with people coming from the rest of Near.

Knots near the coast can be found pretty easily over the water, assuming that they have any visible characteristics. This means that the Qek do not create paths or knots out on the atolls they visit to collect bird eggs and whatnot. After finding the right place a stranger might or might not notice the paths developed by the jungle residents.

Actual Play

The way I play it, Qek is all about the HEART OF DARKNESS. Even the natives are scared shitless by the jungle, which is quite foreboding, considering that Near does not know serious inhuman threats. Still, animals make believable antagonists, and the jungle can be difficult for other reasons, as we’ll see in the next chapter.

The most difficult part of Qek play is getting a handle on minimalism, as far as the Story Guide is concerned. You need to accept that your story will tell about these seven or so people variously related to each other, and about the jungle, and about these crazy, lily-white (metaphorically speaking, although the highest class Ammeni are white) colonist/explorer/Ammenites who’ve set up a trading post on the coast.

That trading post is important, because that’s how you get cultural interaction going. Qek has always been the most marginal of the lands of Near due to how a character from Qek is always the outsider. It’s even true to a degree in their land.

Qek Names

Names - Qek

Qek names are short, Aztec-sounding, or perhaps South American aboriginal. I haven’t divided them by gender, although the Qek themselves do; I recommend picking a name that sounds good to you.

Personal names

Ahexotl, Camaxtli, Cocoza, Ecatzin, Guacra, Hobnil,Huemac, Itzcoatl, Maxtla, Mutex, Ocelopan, Rimac, Pusca, Tangaxoan, Tlaloc, Yaotl, Zoltan, Atzi, Centehua, Chantica, Cusi, Itzel, Ixchell, Malinche, Metztli, Nhutalu, Ocllo, Quispe, Runti, Tlaco, Xoco, Ysalane, Zafrina.

Places and things

Qek name things and places very simply, using descriptive language. It’s best if we do the same. They also have a tendency towards using the name of a person prominently for anything that person owns, lives in, uses or makes. So somebody might have “Chantica pottery”, or live in “Rimac place”.

Cultural Strengths

Cultural Strengths - Qek

Typical Ability SPECIALIZATIONS for the Qek involve rapport with particular animal species, specific types of traps or hunting tricks, familiar places, knowing how to handle individual people.

Typical Pool CONDITIONING for the Qek is physical hardship, vision journeys, constant uncertainty and fear of the unseen.

Typical Ability ENHANCEMENTS for the Qek come from integrating famous sasha, rare jungle drugs, through experience with everything the jungle has to offer.

Typical Ability SYNERGIES for the Qek are animal styles with each other or common abilities.

Typical EQUIPMENT for the Qek consists of gem-tipped spears, body painting, rationed food, clothes with colorful feathers.

Abilities - Qek

Panther-style (I)
PANTHER-STYLE is what the Qek call spearhunting. The Qek do not have a separate conception of human-to-human combat; either they brawl with no serious intent or kill their enemy in cold blood like prey, attacking from hiding, disappearing into the jungle after striking at their enemy. Thus their hunting Ability is also what they use in war.
Spider-style (R)
This Ability is under-used among the coastal families, but interior women often excel: the Ability concerns traditional trap hunting and planning secure homesteads with steady supplies of clean water, defensible positions, paths for retreat and other necessities.
Seal-style (V)
Families on the coasts of the Sea of Teeth gain a signification part of their livelihood from hunting the creatures of the sea with their long spears and nets, used from oneman kayaks. This Ability is used to operate the kayaks in travel and hunt, and to swim.
Psychonaut (V)
The jungles of Qek are home to a fortune of mind-altering substances alongside other herbs and plants. A character with this Ability has experience in finding, preparing and using these riches to support selfreflection and shamanism. The Ability can also be used to amplify or control the influence of drugs on a person, and to recognize and treat different mental states resulting from drug use.
Gem-Cutting (R)
This Ability is used to recognize and work the many precious gems that can be found in the jungle. It is necessary for cutting gems into pleasing shape without causing flaws.

Secrets - Qek

Secret of Sudden Strike
When the character surprises his opponent in a physical conflict, the opponent is forced to use a Passive Ability in response. This can be used in extended conflict as well, provided that the character can obscure himself to to begin with.
Cost: 1 INSTINCT
Secret of Trap Vigil
As long as the character has a prepared trap or escape route at hand in a conflict, he can swap his own check result with the Effect value of such a trap by leading his enemy into it.
Cost: 1 REASON
Secret of Water-Lung
The character can hold his breath for as long as necessary in the scene with no Ability checks, but not indefinitely. (Remember: we’re not in the business of outright drowning important characters, so presumably you had some plan for how the underwater sequence is going to end.) If the scene ends with the character losing his consciousness and washing up somewhere or other such hi-jinks, the character may take a MINOR (1) Harm to get right up with no appreciable difficulty.
Cost: 1 VIGOR
Gem Imbuement
A piece of equipment made with gems gains its quality in bonus dice to any attempts at bartering it away. Also, if the gems are used for their hardness, as in Qek spears, the item has the SECRET OF SHATTERING.

Keys - Qek

Key of Astral Travel
The character is dedicated to the world of Terma and Akasha, seeking new perceptions by shamanistic means.
1xp: See things in an unusual light.
3xp: Take a drug purported to change your perspective.
Buyoff: Shirk away from an opportunity to see a situation from an altered perspective.
Key of the Family
The character’s family are almost the only people he knows.
1xp: Interact with your family.
2xp: Obey an elder.
5xp: Save a family member from death.
Buyoff: Abandon your family.
Key of Colonialism
The character has come to Qek to exploit the land, or perhaps to move in permanently.
1xp: The jungle is present in the scene.
2xp: Have trouble with the locals.
5xp: Get into difficulties with the different environment of Qek.
Buyoff: Go home.
Key of Precious Gems
The gems are desired by everybody.
1xp: There are gems in the scene.
2xp: The gems are fought over.
5xp: The gems change ownership.
Buyoff: Abandon the gems out of your own will.
Key of Travel (destination)
The character is going to a specific place.
1xp: Talk about your destination.
2xp: Proceed towards your destination.
5xp: Get off course and visit some other place.
Buyoff: Abandon your journey.