Serpent, Eye, Key: A Micro-Setting

Suggested listening.

 

The land of Tinen is a land of wind and dust, of deep cloudless blue skies, of high-towering granite massifs and green-studded hills of brown earth. It is ruled by the great golden Eye of the Sun—and yet, look what gathers on the horizon, on the frontiers. From the peaks of this country, or so it is said, you could once see even to the ends of the earth. Now all that can be spied is an endless, roiling sea of gray fog. It is the great Serpent, the Enemy, the Rattler, the foe of mankind. In ages beyond the grasp of memory it descended upon the world, choking all to death and wrack and ruin. Now, in this latter age, the Four Clans of the Tinián and a tiny persistent shard of the once-great Empire of Kashkhorshid are all that remain, the Serpent and its beasts kept from their throats only by the Sun—but the Eye cannot gaze in all places at once, and the fog is cunning and insistent. 

 

Some generations ago, amidst these dire and ever-worsening circumstances, the Tinián began to draw courage from an unlikely source: tales of Heroes from some foreign and mysterious land, sold on by the River Traders, a strange and tight-lipped yet peaceful folk who safely traverse the fog via unknown means. These stories grew immensely popular, for they told of courage and love and the triumph of good over evil. Yet it availed naught. The Serpent's grasp ever tightened, until at last, in the days of our mothers' mothers, a great billow of gray roared down the river Dian-Met and forced its way over the Mother, last and greatest defense of Tinen. Those were desperate times, and still the sages sign of the heroic deeds done in hopeless defiance of mist and monster. The greatest of those acts, then, belongs to the sorcerer Sujatha, who put her trust in the Sun and attempted the impossible: to summon forth the Heroes, in whose existence none truly believed. Miraculously, it worked. Those eleven true souls strode out from that dim cave whence they were drawn into the bright light of the Eye, with Keys that are Blades shimmering forth from their breasts, and by their bravery the land was saved.

 

Now, some two hundred seasons later, eight of the eleven Heroes are dead. Their Keys have passed from their great hearts out into the world, from whence their power might be summoned by any with the will to find it. Still, as the days of glory fade, beasts stalk the borders and the fog seeps in again, tireless and unrelenting. New dangers, too, await: for a thousand seasons, the First of the Othmiani, that mighty clan, has been the King of the Tinián; the titles are synonymous. Yet now King Sriyana has suddenly sickened and lies on his deathbed—with no clear heir. The Four Clans scramble for position and great strife threatens, even as the Rattler sneaks and surges across the Mother again. Will this age bring at last the long-delayed death of the world?

 

Languages

• Tiniá: The consonant, halting, hierarchical language of the Tinián people. All player characters speak one of four mutually intelligible dialects, belonging to the Four Clans of Tinen—the imperious eastern Othmiani, the stout southern Kasihwa, the isolated western Bizhete, or the gregarious northern Nirhayeta. Taking another dialect as a language means you can speak in that dialect with an accent good enough to pass as a member of that clan.
• Peace Talk: An ancient and elegant hand language, once widely used as a lingua franca across the world. Now, there are precious few others to talk to, but Peace Talk is still used as a language of diplomacy in both Tinen and the Jashmid Valley (you can't hold a weapon and sign at the same time). It is also used as a language of ritual and tradition in Tinen. Lizards are expected to know Peace Talk. Greeting Tinián people and Kashkhorshidim in Peace Talk confers +1 reaction, even if they don't understand it.
• Kasihwa Talk: The Kasihwa Clan has a high rate of congenital deafness (~5%), so they have their own precise, delicate hand language, known by many members of the clan. It was born separately from Peace Talk, and they share few similarities. Signing to a Kasihwan in Kasihwa Talk confers +2 reaction if they also understand it.
• Kashkhorshidi: The harsh, poetic language of the Kashkhorshid Empire, or rather, what little remains of it. Its usage is strongly enforced by the Empress and proudly maintained by her people, determined to keep their culture alive in the face of all adversities. Still, Tiniá is fairly widely spoken in the Jashmid Valley, and its use slowly but inevitably grows.
• Alvarian: A secretive, closely held language spoken by the River Traders, the Blue People, who the Fog does not harm. Little is known of them, and they strive to conceal what they can from the people of the world for unknown reasons. Very few Tinián people and Kashkhorshidim speak Alvarian, but some have learned it by long effort and close contact. It is fluid and spoken very rapidly.
• Warning: The granular, sibilant speech of the Serpent and the Fog Beasts which inhabit its grey reaches. It whispers constantly and nonsensically in the ears of any who venture into those depths until it is progressively overcome by the rattling that precedes the strike of fangs and venom. Fog Beasts use it more coherently to coordinate their attacks, toy with their prey, falsely negotiate, and generally cause dismay and panic. Coyotes often learn it, that they might better understand their deadly foes. +1 reaction with Fog Beasts if you speak Warning back at them, but it only delays violence, not averts it.
• Chazet: An eons-old language, now only known from inscriptions in the ruins deep below the mountains of Tinen and high in their peaks. It is the only written script known to the people of the world, circumscribed as they are, and its spoken form is lost—no one knows how to pronounce the words. Once largely the province of scholars and sorcerers, use of the script to record Tiniá and Kashkhorshidi is spreading gradually (with invented correlation of characters to sounds).

Virtues

The Tinián value the virtues of:

• Contemplation: Think before acting, always.
• Affiliation: Clan politics and family structure are impenetrably dense. They are also all-important.
• Etiquette: Everyone must be treated as befits their station and relation. Never err.
• Saccharinity: Fog Beasts seek negative emotion. Always be positive and kind, to the point of grating.  

The Kashkorshidim value the virtues of: 

• Poesy: All things should be beautiful, always.
• Demonstrativity: Say exactly what you feel, at length, as floridly as possible.
• Conservation: The rest of the Empire may be lost, but we maintain its memory. Change nothing of the past.
• Mutability: Culture shouldn't transform, but people should. Adapt to your circumstances. 

The virtues of the River Traders and Fog Beasts are unknown. 

 

Classes

• Peccary: A fierce and mighty collectivist warrior society spanning all of Tinen, who are stronger together than they are separate. Only Tinián men may become Peccaries.
• Coyote: A secretive order of hunters, who never reveal their identities if they can avoid it and perform strange feats of endurance and speed. Tinián in origin, but now known in Kashkhorshid.
• Crow: Sorcerers, or perhaps priests, who worship and feed spirits in return for service, and transform themselves in search of power. Tinián in origin, but now known in Kashkhorshid.
• Lizard: Priests of the Sun and the River, who together are one. Lizards are initiated into an effeminate third gender, in imitation of their namesake. Only Tinián people may become Lizards.
• Paladin: Questing soldiers of the Empress, who draw might from service and courage from virtue. Only Kashkhorshidi women may become Paladins.
• Alchemist: Chemist-priests of the Sky, who brew strange broths of power and mutate themselves to match their circumstances. Kashkhorshidi in origin, but now known in Tinián.

Keys

Each player character begins play with one Key and the means to use it. Activating a Key reduces the wielder's max HP, and each Key also enables use of a specific method to restore one's own max HP.

• The Aspect of Blood is unlocked by the Key of Elissa, who lies in state in the Royal Palace—or did, before it was swallowed by the Serpent. Activated by drawing a particular sigil, and allows the wielder to physically empower themself or another: 1 max HP = +1 Str and Dex mod for 10 minutes, 1d6 max HP = +1 attack per round for 10 minutes. Max HP is restored by drinking human blood.
• The Aspect of Light is unlocked by the Key of Hanno, who lies unburied in a dry riverbed deep in the Fog. Activated by focusing on an abstract thoughtform, and allows the wielder to produce flame that burns indefinitely without heat: 1 max HP = starting a coldflame over the course of 10 minutes, 1d6 max HP = instantaneously causing whatever you touch to burst into coldflame. Max HP is restored by collecting starlight.
• The Aspect of Jade is unlocked by the Key of Jael, who is buried beneath a shrine in a remote mountain valley. Activated by using a tiny jade key (or more common in Tinen, turquoise), and allows the wielder to remove blight, illness or poison: 1 max HP = a person may save again vs an affliction, 1d6 max HP = removing a source of contamination entirely. Max HP is restored by dosing oneself with poison.
• The Aspect of Cloud is unlocked by the Key of Kabzeel, who flew into the sky and was never seen again. Activated by breathing techniques, and allows the wielder to leap as if they were a feather: 1 max HP = acrobatics and evasion, 1d6 max HP = true flight for 10 minutes. Max HP is restored by dehydration.
• The Aspect of Pebbles is unlocked by the Key of Melqart, whose bones are set in the throne of the Empress of Kashkhorshid. Activated by throwing a handful of pebbles in the air, and allows the wielder to cause devastation with rapidly accelerated tiny stones: 1 max HP = attack at +10 for 1d6 damage, 1d6 max HP = 3d6 damage save for half. Max HP is restored by descending in elevation.
• The Aspect of Knives is unlocked by the Key of Tanit, whose body was destroyed in the self-detonation which killed her and caused a mile-wide crater in the lowlands of Nirhayeta. Activated by stitching a small copper idol beneath your skin, and allows the wielder to heal wounds: 1 max HP = +1d8 HP or a minor wound healed, 1d6 max HP = a major or fatal wound healed. Max HP is restored by rapidly dumping accumulated waste heat, ideally into a heat sink of a lot of water.
• The Aspect of Roots is unlocked by the Key of Dido, whose body is used as an idol by a famous sorcerer. Activated by crushing a live insect in your palm, and allows the wielder to grow plants rapidly: 1 max HP = a dense thicket covering 300 square feet, 1d6 max HP = an impenetrable thicket covering 90,000 square feet. Max HP is restored by growing a garden.
• The Aspect of Nothing is unlocked by the Key of Batnoam, who is only remembered by his name, as all other stories and traces were removed from the world as if by a scalpel. Activated by scarring your skin with a blade, and allows the wielder to remove matter from existence: 1 max HP = remove 1 square inch of matter from existence, 1d6 max HP = a target of any size saves vs annihilation. Max HP cannot be restored, and when it is gone, you are annihilated.
• The Aspect of Bounds is unlocked by the Key of Eshmoun, who vanished without a trace sixty seasons ago, but is evidently still alive.
• The Aspect of Rods is unlocked by the Key of Arishat, who broods in her fortress at Zarihwan's Wall in the south.
• The Aspect of Crowns is unlocked by the Key of Baalat, who has not left the King's side since he fell ill, and was scarce seen without him beforehand.

This is, of course, my first entry into GLÅUGUST, for the prompt "Create Something Inspired By Kingdom Hearts Without Looking Up Anything About Kingdom Hearts." As you can tell, I know very little about Kingdom Hearts, other than that there are isekai'd Disney characters and keyblades. I interpreted these very generously. Hopefully, the remainder of my GLÅUGUST posts will be in this same setting, because that would be fun. We'll see.