From owner-jorune-l@lists.io.com Sun Oct 20 22:37 MST 1996 To: jorune-l@io.com Subject: Essay #9 - Thantier Content-Type: text Content-Length: 8416 COPYRIGHT 1986, SKYREALMS PUBLISHING This essay is a collection on design notes intended for inquiring garners. This material is not in its final form, and may appear significantly altered if and when eventually published. We provide these essays to give interested parties an opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes at SkyRealms publishing and to get a look ahead upon our coming releases. THANTIER.ORG BY: ANDREW LEKER FOR: DAVID ACKERMAN ABSTRACT: The beginnings of Thantier. THE HUMANS OF THANTIER The original humans in Thantier were among the luckiest of the Jorune colony. More humans survived the war with the shanthas along the Sea of Cerridus' northern coast than in any other part of the planet. Though their Earth-Tec resources were mostly destroyed, the Thantierian population quickly reassembled in the years after Leesh-Ebeeca. It was in the eleventh year after the colony's destruction that the human settlements joined together in a journey to Tan-Iricid, that island located in the middle of the Sea of Cerridus which they remembered was home to the thriddle race and the Mountain Crown, a fortress built of stone. Upon reaching the thriddle haven, these surviving humans began imposing their will upon these creatures. Although tolerated for a short Ume, the Thantierians quickly made enemies of their thriddle neighbors. Attempting to drive the humans from the island, several hundred thriddle were killed by the use energy weapons the humans carried. Although it remains a mystery of history to this day, somehow the Mountain Crown employed some technology at their disposal that drove the humans off the island. To this day the only description of this offense is recorded in the notes of Hoshi Go-Moi, a Tan-Iricid scholar of this era, "The sky erupted in a flame taller than a mountain. A Flame as bright..." Briefly then, the humans were driven from Tan-Iricid, and forced to return north to Thantier. Here they regrouped. Some lives were lost, and much of the Earth-Tec resource they took with them. Life settled down for a few years before the beginning of the cleash invasion. They poured into this human realm slowly at first, then in ever increasing numbers. The Thantierians were never able to ascertain where they came from, but one thing was for sure: the cleash would kill with little provocation. Soon, with human retaliation, they would attack on sight. In the following decades, the humans erected huge fortresses to protect themselves. None of these strongholds survive to today. A multitude of castles sprung up. Populations were ever increasing. During the first century of the wars the battles were small, more like skirmishes; then, later, the war took on new dimensions as the cleash came by the hundreds and then by the thousands. The struggle for survival imbedded the Thantierians deeply into the fabric of their lands. A new hidden valley would be the perfect location for a new castle. With such a leap in populations, the manpower necessary to create such large structures was available. As the Earth-Tec failed and the luxury of repair became impossible, new methods were found. The war with the cleash would continue for a thousand years, and leave the land in places ravaged. The Thantierians got used to digging into one place and staying for a long time, often cut off from other settlements. Through this they developed a strength of independence that they would never give up. It was less than two decades after they had driven the cleash from their lands that they made contact with the Burdothians. These humans had never battled the cleash, and lacked any understanding of such a foe. Although they complained of the crugar (which were not unknown to the Thantierians), these creatures were deemed a minor nuisance by comparison. The Thantierians would never consider the humans of Burdoth to be as strong or durable as themselves. They would never accept them as equals. Many of the castles still stand to today. They are often inhabited by the descendants of the families that built them and fought for them. The beautiful styles which developed during the Thousand Year War are preserved. The view of Thantier at a glance would be that she was just another area of human survival that would have done better had they not failed in Tan-Iricid, but in fact, of all the decimated colonies on Jorune, those of Thantier initially faired the best. At the time that her populace attempted to take the Mountain Crown, her Earth-Tec capability was still great. Had the gamble with Tan-Iricid not been taken, all indications suggest that Thantier would have been a pinnacle of human survival. With mostly distant warp-mappings to this realm, the inhabitants were rarely subject to shanthic assault. They would have survived with most of their Earth-Tec, and the ability to build back up to their original technological level. COPYRIGHT 1986, SKYREALMS PUBLISHING This essay is a collection on design notes intended for inquiring garners. This material is not in its final form, and may appear significantly altered if and when eventually published. We provide these essays to give interested parties an opportunity to see what goes on behind the scenes at SkyRealms publishing and to get a look ahead upon our coming releases. COLONY.ORG BY: Andrew Leker FOR: Miles Teves ABSTRACT: Early colonies on Jorune. EARTH COLONIES OF JORUNE The Earth colonies stationed themselves all over the surface of their new planet. At the time of the war there were several colony sites in what is now Burdoth, Lundere, the Doben-al, the Khodres, Anasan, Dobre, Jasp, Drail, and Thantier. Though humans survived at only of a few of the many colonies, a few hundred did survive, resulting in the large human populations on Jorune in 3500 P.C. DRAIL The humans of Drail faired poorly. Changes in their biology resulted in the creation of new human races such as the trarch. The harshness of the Drail jungles and barren wastelands were especially difficult environments. No semblance of terran society still exists in this south-western realm. JASP Those of Jasp have changed very little since the days of the colony. Their language is the closest to true English spoken on Jorune. The styling of their clothing and their habitations mimic the ancient Earth standards. Their racial mix is constituted mainly of Caucasians, of which, most are European. Medium to dark skinned people are also found, though they average a few inches taller than the lighter skinned inhabitants. THANTIER The humans of Thantier deserve special attention, which they will receive in following sections. Briefly, these humans were left relatively intact at the time of Leesh-Ebeeca, "The Dying Time" of the shanthas. They still wielded an arsenal of Earth-Tec, and they suffered few casualties during the shanthic assault. Had they not boldly stridden over to Tan-Iricid, planning to be the island's new rulers, they probably would have been the most successful humans on Jorune. They might have even rebuilt their civilization to a state comparable to that of Earth standards. However, after losing to the thriddle in an inexplicable defeat, they retreated back to the coast of Thantier, where they were faced with an invasion of cleash that appeared to come from nowhere. They battled the cleash for more than one thousand years, during which time their culture departed greatly from that from which they started. They survived only through there careful distribution of resource, their dedication, and their willingness to sacrifice. The resulting culture shares little in common with other human settlements on Jorune. Their racial mix is the most varied among the present realms. (facial hair is tolerated less with age) LUNDERE AND DOBRE The humans of Lundere and Dobre did not fair well. Small groups survived here and there, but they amounted to little in the long run. Eventually, humans from these eastern realms melded into groups of humans elsewhere. The exceptions to this will be discussed later under the topic of human settlements in non-human realms. THANTIERIANS IN KHODRE Few or none of the Khodre's human population is native. However, over the millennia, exiles from Thantier have been cast into the Doben-al, and many have made their way north to the Khodres.