Here, after finishing up with lectures, I finally have time to myself… lest for the different noises and smells that only Turhasi knows. (Yellow and Blue, all is true.)
Argh, I can't even practice the Great Play without my roommate, who is a total Koen, nagging in my ear about how I'm practicing "heresy from the Opaque." He says I should change to the "Great Light."
Damn Koens! Everything is a sermon with them.
Anyway, I still can't believe Mr. Keum gave us a project to give a brief study on Kerth and the Attuned. Not like I am one. (I wish.) But damn, of all people… Mr. Keum? That sleazy old perfectionist?
Tsu… let me not complain. I'm at the "Great" University of Mravos. Many have died dreaming just to get in here. Plus, I have the privilege of being exempted from the Culling as long as I'm a student. It has its ups and downs.
But my parents… I wish they were still alive to see me here.
CONCENTRATE! The project is due tomorrow! ~~Fuck him~~ (Wait, please, Mr. Keum, I didn't mean that). I don't want to get expelled.
DRAFT FOR THE PROJECT: KERTH & THE ATTUNED (Too tired and hungry to have different ones)
I. The Continent: Kerth
The Reality: It's not "great." The Culling exists. Started maybe 500-ish years ago? That seems logical because it fits in with Johatsu's period, he did make a lot of shit.
It is the only landmass in the world.
Emperor Johatsu (Carniem Empire): Ruled everything before the Dividing Sea.
Created the "One True Language." (Basically linguistic genocide, but don't write that in the final version).
Created our calendar.
Wistnan claims they are the "true" descendants of Carniem. The rest of the old empire is just a lawless free-for-all now. I'm never going back there.
The Vascals: They're getting pushier. I'm in Mravos (North), so I'm actually in the danger zone. Hehehe… all for education, I guess. (Wish the Coven of Wistnan was more renowned… at least they're further South. Lucky bastards.)
Speaking of Wistnan... Why do all nobles have a different skin tone than us? Is it evolutionary? To distinguish themselves from bottom-feeders like us? Why are they all clustered in Wistnan?
II. The Culling & The Amphictony
Why it happens: Overpopulation/Resources. No other choice because Kerth is the only landmass in the world.
The "Flood" Theory: People talk about other lands that sank, or ancient structures that don't fit our history. Just a dream, probably.
The Amphictony: Coalition of Wistnan, Nrigav, and Mravos. They run the Vanguard Lodge.
III. The Vanguard Lodge (The "Enforcers")
Hussars: Stationed in towns. Collect tributes, carry out the Culling, handle crime.
Cataphracts: The shields. They protect us from the Bleeding Hour (can also be referred to as the Red Dark or Bloody Mists or whatever some guy comes up with somewhere).
The Bleeding Hour also happens from some few hours into Dusk till Dawn. And it's been like that since we've been on Kerth.
Note: Inhaling the mist turns you into a Zhenren. That also reminds me... I need to clean my gas mask, even though I don't leave the building during the Bleeding Hour...
Who knows.
Side thought: Are Zhenren still conscious? Maybe I'll be the one to discover it.
Note 2: Some Zhenren aren't from the mists, found naturally in the wild and some have even been domesticated for labor.
Are they still the same Zhenren as the ones gotten from the mists?
Need to clear up that distinction.
Hehehe, if I do figure it out, it'll set me up for life.
Pioneers: The boat-people. Search for new landmasses. Officially "The Most Useless Body." Total waste of funds.
But they are being redirected to see if they can take land across the Dividing Sea, the Vascals' lands.
I mean... They started it.
Knimurai: The war-fighters. It's blurry if they belong to the Amphictony or individual nations.
IV. The Attuned
Names that they're known as all over the continent: The Blessed... even Wizards and Witches at some point. Official: Attuned.
Source of power: Known as Jā (officially).
The Affinities (The Five):
-Sarna
-Transor
-Qist
-Muter
-Confessors
Wait. I thought there were six? I'll have to check the library. I can't write about the rumors (summoning runes, etc.) unless I find proof. Only Turhasi knows if those fables are true.
End of Draft.
Okay, that's a decent structure. I just need to hit the library, confirm the Jā specifics, and finalize everything on a clean sheet of parchment before tomorrow afternoon.
Goodbye, beauty sleep.
Yay…