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5th Movement - Orania

This chapter is based on ideas from Clinton, Josh and Harald on the forums, and the Finnish edition of Clinton’s book. Onomastics from various Internet sources.

Far to the north of Maldor the ancient, west of the untamed Qek lie the plains of Oran. Bound by mountain chains twice and edged by the Sea of Teeth, the plains open up in slowly rolling grasslands that range from the southern deserts through the trackless steppe to the lush savannah of the northern reaches.

The plains of Oran are the home to an indigenous culture of horse nomads, stargazers and falcon-wielders, people whose sparse transhumance belies their love of the sky. Amidst this Spartan existence lies Kalderon, the great urban hub of the Skironite lands, the last colony of ancient Maldor. The civilized and primitive are tangled in an impossible relationship on the plains.

Orania is an isolated land that has little to do with the rest of Near. Few foreign ships dock on the Boulder River banks today. Their overland trade with the Gorenite highlands sustains a fascinating hybrid culture that turns inward, content with its relative geographical isolation. Once there were two peoples here, now nobody knows if the Kalderonite can be separated from the Skironite.

The Lost Colony

The Oran of today is dominated by the great city-state of Kalderon, a great hub that attracts the tribes from its farthest reaches. Even the primitives from Qek and Khale come to see Kalderon the Great with its walls the like of which are all but unknown in the northern Near of today.

The myth of General Kalder and the birth of the city is a matter of great national pride to the citizens even as the city itself grows dry and vacant with the lack of trade. The patrons and free men of the city live among the signs of the past, carrying a great awareness of their Maldorian heritage. In many ways they consider themselves more of the Empire than the far Maldor itself and its feudal, lawless present.

The continuing existence of Kalderon after the Time of Shadow is predicated on the support and cooperation of the barbarian tribes of the waste. This is the wisdom of Kalder, the mythic founder of the colony: Maldor would win this land not with force of arms, but by proving itself to the tribes. The Skyfire cast the original vision aside, but Kalder is still credited with the survival of the colony where others perished: the natives proved just as instrumental to the survival of the colony as the colony became to the survival of the tribes.

Kalderonite Crunch

As the back story suggests, Kalderonites are essentially Maldorite culturally. It’s not a bad idea to assume that they have essentially similar crunch, except for the feudal social material Maldor proper has developed. For example, Kalderonite legions are definitely MILITARY UNITS in the Maldorian sense.

Note that the Servitors (as per the SECRET OF THE SERVITORS) are visible in Skironite lands at night; anybody can make a STARGAZING (R) or ASTROLOGY (R) check to have the Story Guide pick planets equal to the check result that the character manages to spot.

Venerable Senate

Kalderon is ruled by a senate of elders, which votes for its own replenishment (only citizens are eligible) and imbues magisters to deal with individual matters. The power of the senate is reined in by popular assembly, which may convene at will and set binding decrees for the senate. The senators themselves are lofty figures rarely seen in broad daylight, a custom which developed during the Shadow. As the story would have it, the senate consists almost exclusively of elves, which are adored and feted by the city at large. In truth a majority starts on their way to goblinhood as soon as they are elected.

The modern Kalderon exists in a precarious balance between the tribes, displaying the majesty of old Maldor and sharing freely of the literary heritage in the hopes of pacifying the tribes and affirming its alliances time and again. The Legion of Kalderon is a superior fighting force, but it pales in numbers to the hordes that ride the plains.

Recently the Ammeni houses have opened trade enclaves in Kalderon to sell slaves and buy metals. The heirs of old Maldor have their differences, and the patricians of the city are undecided; the City has been isolationist in nature ever since the Darkness receded, satisfying itself with unifying Orania into something resembling a nation. Should this change, nobody knows how far the untested navy and oldfashioned Legion could cast their shadow.

Horse Lords and Crop Women

The tribes of Oran, although split into a multitude, share a distinct heritage, lifestyle and beliefs. Although the tribes are many and self-governing, they mostly live in peace – a tribal chief is more likely to bring his grievance to Kalderon, and another more likely to heed the magistrates, than either would be to flout the reverence the Horse Lords hold for the Sons of Kalder.

The greatest rift between the tribes concerns, not surprisingly, Kalderon itself. There are those who still hold the memory of the land before the Empire came, and even if the Empire has long gone, Kalderon yet remains. Tribes that detest the influence of the newcomers in the timeless life of the plains have long migrated to the far inland reaches of Oran, away from the coast and easy reach of the legion of Kalder. While these Traditional tribes are able to know peace, they do not obey the laws of Kalder: caravans from Goren are attacked, herds taken by the strong from the weak and so on.

What nearly all the tribes share is the way of life they call PURDA, the segregation. Scholars of Kalder speculate that purda originates with the Time of Darkness when the tribes secluded themselves in communal cave shelters, shelters in which they lived segregated by gender, only finally coming out to breed during the tail-end of the Darkness. The eunuchs claim that purda has always been with the tribes, making them what they are.

What the purda means is no more or less than a full separation of the spheres of male and female life. The males of the tribes are nomads, warriors and Horse Lords, ruling the plains, while the tribe’s women and children live in villages or towns founded in the more fertile parts of the plains, such as at large cienega or river valleys. All other things are divided accordingly: herd animals are male issue, plants female; trade male, storage female; bright colors male, earth hues female; wind instruments male, stringed ones female and so on.

The Cycle of Seasons

The purda is regulated by the annual transhumance, falling on different days in different parts of the plains. In the most traditionalist tribes the genders meet only twice a year: once in the fall for the culling of herds and courtship of the most accomplished males, once in the spring for a general revelry and initiation of boys into men. Even the most radical tribesmen would blush at the thought of coming uninvited to a women’s town outside the allotted times

Summer is a time of farming for the women, while men go out and take the herds to the distant parts of the plains, to the highlands and other inhospitable places. Therein the men make war on Violators and trolls, competing for the right of courtship in fall. The herds winter in the low country, nearer to the town, wherein the women spend the off-season working on crafts. Some tribes break purda in between the fall and spring celebrations, but most don’t.

Sexually the Oranides are alien to most of Near: while the romantic culture, stories and songs of both sexes celebrates heterosexual pairing, everyday practice among the herdsmen and in the towns tends towards casually homosexual. Familial relationships in most tribes are fleeting at best; responsibility between genders is communal, not personal, and there is no stigma if a man chooses to court a different woman in a different year. Tribesmen traveling to other lands often find them prude and shameless at the same time.

A distinctive part of the purda are the EUNUCHS, men riven of their genitalia and allowed to conduct trade and other coordination between the male and female communities. Another grey area in the dualism of purda are transsexuals: when children are initiated as adults, they are in principle free to choose an initiation into either gender. Such manwomen and woman-men are considered members of their adopted gender in all ways, sexual mores included. Even adults can change sex later in life, at least if they’re willing to undergo the rites again, including the ritual castration that man-women undergo.

The purda separates Oranides from other peoples on a fundamental level. Even towards their allies in Kalderon it is the great unspoken issue: as little as the Kalderonites are willing to execute purda on their own are the tribesmen willing to let go of their tradition. All tribes, excepting the most traditional, have come to accept that other people have different ways: foreigners are usually classified and dealt with as children, free of the purda as they know not better.

The Skytribes Fall Free

Aside from the laws of segregation, a central identity element for the tribes of Oran is their shared reverence of the Sky as a divine element. It is said that the great mountains are seen everywhere in Oran, and the birds that fly the endless sky are more numerous than the stars of old. Even as the stars have dimmed there isn’t a village without a Stargazer, or a herd without a Falconier. Unlike the Purda, this is a tradition that has been embraced whole by Kalderon: the tribal divinities have become the most popular of the cults in the secular city, and the tribal knowledge of the sky has been combined with Kalderonite astrology.

Unlike all other elements of life, the reverence for the sky crosses the purda, perhaps because the sky rites are such a large aspect of the biannual celebrations. Crop Women call to the sky for rains or warmth while Horse Lords sing of destiny; both use the same tunes. This sky ritual magic is called BLESSINGS; they are like normal Secrets, except gaining them can be a bit arduous. Blessings are gained among the Skironites in various communal rites, the most powerful and oldest of which require the participation of both genders, if not multiple prior initiations for the initiate; only the most able should be eligible, but in Kalderonite tribes it is often the most influential who are initiated.

A central tenet of the Oranide religion concerns the coming of the mythical beast, HIPPOGRIFF; it is believed that this cross-breed of eagle and horse comes from its mountain lair at the call of the true song of the Horse Lord. Flying is considered a holy act by the Oranides, flying with the winged horse doubly so. The greatest heroes are supposed to fly over the Roof, to land in the Great Steppe beyond, the ancestral homeland of all Oranides.

Actual Play

I’ve never played! When I last was in Kalderon, I didn’t have all this stuff to play with. Like, for instance, Purda – nothing even close to that, we just had lots of classical statuary the nomads had a tendency for breaking. And insofar as I know, others have not had the full majesty of Kalderon to tool around with either, so we’re breaking completely new ground here.

Ideas

Ideas - Orania

Kalderon is like Constantinople, a great remainder of a greater culture. I really adore it out there on the western edge of the Sea of Teeth with my settingdesign senses; the northern Near is so sparse of culture without it, and the Ammeni need a counterbalance of some sort in the area to get a good sea battle going. This way there’s some place where the Qek and Khaleans and such can meet in a tavern without the tavern being in the middle of a jungle somewhere.

The political process of Kalderon is complex, dehumanizing and essentially modern. This does not mean that it is necessarily evil: not only can a politician hold onto his morality by being willing to curtail his inculcation into the system, but even were he to turn into another politician, that implies nothing about the nobility of his goals.

A Skironite character, on the other hand, faces two obvious questions: his relationship to Kalderon, whose gates are never closed, and his relationship to the Purda. The questions are related, but not entirely.

Winning Blessings is a necessary step in becoming a Skironite hero, but that might require accomplishments or political influence itself, depending on the nature of the given tribe’s priests. The similarities with Kalderonite politics are not incidental.

Oranide Names

Names - Orania

Kalderonites use basically Maldorian names, they’re just more classical in form. Feel free to add classical suffixes like -us/ius to taste. They’ve taken lots of influence from the Skironite nomads, of course, but you can take care of that yourself.

Kalderonite Male

Adiran, Estes, Fabian, Janus, Klaud, Leonius, Macarius, Nemo, Ossian, Pacius, Quentin.

Kalderonite Female

Adorna, Fabia, Faustine, Innocentia, Julia, Kalare, Laura, Marina, Narda, Octavia, Palma, Quintessa.

Kalderonite Places and Things

Herenia, Albusium, Skeretis, Lamia, Vormium, Rasis. Kalderonite names are mostly used for places inside Kalderon proper. Most places on the plains use names loaned from Skironites.

The tribes use Turkic language, I think. Definitely something from Central Asia, perhaps by the way of some other area.

Skironite Male

Peecha, Dafa, Chora, Tark, Jamaa, Dhayr, Sahih, Mardood, Sa-Peter, Khilaaf, Khushi, Dilkap.

Skironite Female

Matruka, Hua, Ilsa, Waseela, Zamana, An’jaam, Qadesha, Phelaa, Jagna, Kishti, Nilam, Shamaen.

Skironite Places

Langoor, Peeth, Taeed, Peechay, Hairaan, Chaara, Baajaa, Naanbai, Baalkani, Ghubaara.

Cultural Strengths

Cultural Strengths - Orania

Typical Ability SPECIALIZATIONS for Oranides include herding, farming, knowing the waterholes, fighting during the rains, understanding Kalderon, understanding traditionalists, finding the Wedge constellation, recognizing rain clouds, rowing, political pay-outs, inciting crowds, protecting caravans,

Typical Pool CONDITIONING for Oranides involves getting lost on the plains, participating in Kalderonite orgies, having born under auspicious stars.

Typical Ability ENHANCEMENTS for Oranides originate in classical training manuals, lover’s tokens, initiations, traveling to Qek and back.

Typical Ability SYNERGIES for Oranides: none

Typical Ability RETRAINING for Oranides: none

Typical EQUIPMENT for Oranides depends: tribesmen have bows, initiation regalia, horses, spears, staffs, herds, hero bands, musical instruments, bark writing. Tribeswomen have farming tools, pottery, initiation regalia, storehouses, homes, drainage systems, covens, musical instruments, scrolls. Kalderonites have swords, armor, spears, draped clothing, rings, architecture, streets, sewers, ships, books, politicians, military units, trade caravans.

Abilities - Orania

Kalderonite

Law (R)
Kalderon is one of the last societies in Near to be truly ruled by a civil law that is punctually followed in drawing the line between right and wrong. This Ability is useful in knowing the old imperial laws and applying them to cases, although SPEAK (R) is still needed to make the case convincingly.
Diplomacy (R)
“The art of living with others” is a cornerstone of Oranide life. The magistrates of Kalderon put great stock to understanding their friends and enemies, and inventing means of avoiding needless strife. Life is difficult enough as it is.

Skironite

Archery (I)
Tribesmen supplement their diet with hunting, in which they use short bows suitable for horseback. Archery is also the tribe’s favourited discipline when they go to war; it is one of the three manly skills.
Wrestling (V)
Skironite tribesmen are masterful wrestlers, using submission techniques as well as close-range strikes after breaking the opponent’s guard. Wrestling is the second manly skill.
Horsemanship (I)
The most important skill of a Skironite man is the care, training and riding of his horse. The Ability is most of the time a support for others Abilities, although the Skironites tend to synergize it with all sorts of things.
Falconry (I)
The Horse Lord skill of taming and training hunting birds. Despite the name, feel free to go fantastic with the large eagles some tribesmen work with. The Ability is useful for recognizing birds and interpreting their flight patterns as well as hunting with birds and such.
Stargazing (R)
Stars are nowhere as visible as they are on the plains through the winter night. Knowing the stories and lore of the constellations is today a Crop Woman task, while men use these skills to orient themselves on the dark plains at night.
Cloud-reading (R)
The Skironite Crop Women can read the sky for signs. The most important purpose for this is in predicting the weather, but other things might be seen as well: the Ability may replace PRAY (V) in SECRET OF PROPHECY.
Female Rites (R)
Skironite women give birth when the men are away, in rites that are severely restricted from male knowledge. The Ability is useful for knowing about reproduction, midwifery, contraception, abortion and treating women’s and children’s diseases.

Secrets - Orania

Kalderonite

Secret of the Senator
The character has been voted into the Kalderonite Senate, which enables him to use SPEAK (R), DIPLOMACY (R) and other appropriate Abilities to control the arms and treasury of the state. As long as he remains human, each scene during which he makes an Ability check to participate in the Senate he has to check RESIST (R) against his own check; failure compels him to lose a piece of human crunch (regaining Advances) or gain a piece of crunch from another species appropriate to the character (going into Advance debt if necessary). The gained crunch has to be the mandatory Secret of the species (changing the character’s species permanently) if he already has more Advances invested into the species than his RESIST (R) check’s value.
Secret of the Magister
The character is an officer of the Kalderonite civil service. The powers of his office are termed in a senatorial degree, which is created by a LAW (R) check made into an Effect that describes the office and is maintained however long the magister needs those powers. The character can draw bonus dice equal to a suitable office’s value to issues of authority, but not against a higher-valued applicable office. He can only be prosecuted for his actions in office by stripping the office from him, which requires overcoming the Effect. In fact, casting the office in doubt would probably be necessary to get a Kalderonite to even manhandle the magister, such is their respect for the civil service and the laws protecting it. Career civil servants often hold multiple offices simultaneously, shedding and obtaining them freely; the player decides when to allow the Effects to lapse and when to seek new ones.
Secret of the Office
When the character’s office aligns with a Servitor present in the sky, he does not need to make a check in fulfilling his duty at all: he can just use the value of his office directly. Cost: 1 Pool appropriate to the replaced Ability.
Requirement: SECRET OF THE MAGISTER
Secret of Citizen (district)
The character knows a specific district of Kalderon very well. He can use its power for the citizen cost and gains a bonus die on any checks where knowing the district is useful. Other characters can enter the district and use it as well once at least one character in the game has this Secret, but only by paying the full cost.
Bazaar District
The Bazaar of Kalderon is a debilitated and lazy place, but it is large and full of old, slow merchandise. Characters can buy almost any equipment here: a BARTER (I) check establishes the quality of item the character can afford. The details of the item are established in half by the player and the Story Guide. Characters can also sell equipment: the character regains the Advance and gains a free Effect equal to equipment quality in trade.
Citizen Cost: 2 REASON if buying a magical item.
Full Cost: VIGOR equal to the number of Bazaar citizens in the game to enter or leave. Citizen cost and 1 INSTINCT per Imbuement on bought items.
Knife Street District
Life is cheap on the alleys around the Street of Knives and Knaves. Any Harm caused here is increased one level, to a maximum of MORTAL (6). Making any Ability check costs; characters who can’t pay in Pool pay as Harm equal to the Pool debt.
Citizen Cost: no cost.
Full Cost: VIGOR equal to the number of Knife Street citizens in the game to enter or exit the district. 1 INSTINCT per check.
Senatorial District
Most senators of Kalderon move in to live near the Senate; it almost seems that they live in there. Characters in the district can speak to senators and use the SECRET OF THE MAGISTER.
Citizen Cost: 1 INSTINCT per social check.
Full Cost: VIGOR equal to the number of Senatorial citizens in the game to enter or exit the district. Citizen cost and 1 REASON per check.
Secret of the Lictor
The character has a bought, assigned or inherited right to carry weapons in Kalderon. He can enter or leave any district brought into the game for no extra cost.

Skironite

Secret of Initiation
The character can initiate others to the various Blessings known to the tribes. This always requires set numbers of worshippers, testing of the initiates, a minimum number of initiates, some of which are left out, drawing lots, several tribes, specific genders, specific politics (Kalderonite or Traditionalist) and other such constraints. In the fiction these demands depend on the specific theological history of the blessing, but for our purposes the player gets to concoct whatever demands he wants, backing them with a PRAY (V) check. Another priest can override with his own offer only by beating the prior check with his own or by waiting until the next season. The actual initiation ritual is conducted with MUSIC (I).
Cost: 1 REASON to establish the ritual, 2 to conduct it.
Weather Blessing
The character can control the weather with an appropriate Ability check: STARGAZING (R) at night, CLOUD-READING (R) at day. Larger weather events can take several days to arrive. The check result may be used as bonus or penalty dice in Ability checks as appropriate.
Cost: 2 VIGOR
Blue Light Blessing
The character masters the blue light, a fearsome Skironite combat magic. It gathers around him when he threshes his weapons, becoming especially potent when he jumps or otherwise gets off the ground. An enemy struck by the force suffers AGGRAVATED Harm, marked as such. Release the force at an enemy from afar with ARCHERY (I) or up close with WRESTLING (V). The force is completely drained when the character goes prone.
Cost: 2 VIGOR
Blessing of Kalder
This is the same as the BLESSING OF LOWDEN JUDGE, except use LAW (R) when nobody is lying and REACT (I) when somebody is.
Cost: 2 VIGOR
Hippogriff Blessing
A hippogriff from the mountains is attracted by the character. It is commanded with FALCONRY (I) and ridden with HORSEMANSHIP (I). Keeping the hippogriff in service for longer than you need it makes it sad; release it, and it will return to you.
Cost: 2 VIGOR
Requirements: a prior initiation to another Blessing.
Blessing of the Moon
The character can change his sex, becoming a member of the other gender. This may only be attempted when the Moon is full; use BRAWLING (V) to change into a man, FEMALE RITES (R) to change into a woman.
Cost: 2 VIGOR
Requirements: a prior initiation to another Blessing.

Keys - Orania

Kalderonite

Key of the Senator
The Kalderonite Senate is a world of its own, one that does not make allowances for humanity.
1xp: Participate in the political process.
2xp: Make a compromise.
5xp: The inhumanity of the Senate comes clearly to the fore.
Buyoff: Resign your seat.
Key of the Rabble-Rouser
The character is a Tribune of the popular assembly in Kalderon, responsible for safeguarding the will of the people against excesses of the Senate.
1xp: The will of the people is discussed.
2xp: The population assembles.
5xp: Benefit from your position.
Buyoff: Relinquish your position.
Key of the Constitution
The character genuinely believes in the Kalderonite social order. The constitution itself is not a written document, it’s “Customs of Our Ancestors”, a set of precedents.
1xp: Speak about a constitutional principle.
3xp: Defend the constitution against debasement.
Buyoff: Betray constitutional principles.
Key of the City
Kalderon is, all things considered, likely to be the greatest city remaining in the world.
1xp: A scene happens in Kalderon.
2xp: A new thing in Kalderon is revealed.
5xp: A new district is brought into the game.
Buyoff: Leave Kalderon
Key of the Lictor
The character has a duty as a peace officer in the city.
1xp: Interfere in a crime.
3xp: Fight to keep the peace.
Buyoff: Look elsewhere while crime is committed.

Skironite

Key of the Purda
Most Oranides come to possess this Key in their adulthood, as they come to accept their way of life.
1xp: The other gender is not present.
2xp: Avoid interacting with things pertaining to the other gender.
5xp: Interact with the other gender in the allowed way in seasonal celebration.
Buyoff: Flout the Purda on purpose.
Key of the Horse-Lord
The character is a leading, powerfully maleidentified man of Oran.
1xp: There are animals in the scene.
2xp: Carry male symbols prominently.
5xp: Win a battle.
Buyoff: Befriend a woman.
Key of the Crop-Woman
The character is an influential, unambiguously female woman of Oran.
1xp: There are plants in the scene.
2xp: Carry female symbols prominently.
5xp: Bring in the harvest.
Buyoff: Befriend a man.
Key of Gender Defiance
The character defies traditional gender identity.
1xp: Act contrary to your gender.
3xp: Refuse to fulfill your gender obligations.
Buyoff: Initiate into a set gender.
Key of the Eunuch
The character belongs in the advisory class of men who wield great influence in the Purda, being able to interact with the women regularly.
1xp: Others treat you awkwardly.
2xp: Benefit from your position.
5xp: Mediate a dispute between the genders.
Buyoff: Allow the Purda to be disrespected.