God Name: LiesseiL
Title: The Opener of Minds, The Great Dream Maker, The Watcher of The Lines
Gender:None
Alignment: Neutral
God Appearance:
This deity's appearance is a bizarre otherworldly disc of golden metal with features, suspended over a simple ragged robe which is supported by seemingly nothing. It's hands are simple metal discs with prongs that are almost always stained red with the blood of many. Set in the main disc which is it's head are two sockets, one of which holds an eye which drips with blood almost as though it is always crying while the other socket is empty save for a key suspended from a string.
It rarely ever decides to come down to the waking world but when it does it has no real preferences, taking whatever form it needs to don in order to urge the path to it's desired outcome.
Personality:
It watches The Lines, that much is certain. Little is known about it overall but it could be argued that it has no emotions, only a distant goal beyond understanding. The truth that none are truly aware of is that both sides of the argument are correct in some sense. While it does have a goal which is not entirely clear even to itself it does have some emotions, just not emotions most would deem regular or even sane sometimes.
It's strongest trait is it's curiosity. It is fascinated by the various possible branches and seeing which future becomes the present is it's number one priority. When it does choose to intervene and alter the path The Lines follow by manipulating mortals indirectly it's almost always just to open up more possibilities or urge the path towards more interesting outcomes. The other notable feature which can be remotely considered a personality trait is that it does not like being seen which is why it has established the Penumbra where it resides.
While not outright cruel to it's subjects it cares little for them, only really helping them to further it's own machinations. They spend a great deal of effort trying to interpret it's desires, a task which leaves more questions than answers.
Opinion of mortals: "Their existence creates a far greater number of branches to The Lines."
God’s Domain:
Lasei's outer dream jungle
Lasei's inner dream jungle
The towers of Penumbra
LiesseiL's domain is the realm of dreams known as Slumberland, a world which coexists alongside the physical world that serves to host the dreams of all creatures that sleep. Locations and entities born from both memory and imagination exist within a chaotic ever shifting landscape that shapes itself to accommodate the minds that come here. The exception to this shifting chaos is the Thouhoom jungle, home to both the people of Lasei and their deity LeisseiL who has made the jungle it's home for the current time.
In the center of it's domain are three massive pitch black towers that form a triangle around the very center of it's domain. These towers emit a powerful field known as the Penumbra, a pitch black mental curtain over the area within the borders of the three towers in Slumberland which effectively conceals what transpires there in both the waking world and the world of Slumberland from the minds of all who observe it from outside be they mortal or otherwise.
The waking world's capital of Lasei, the city of WakekaW, is located at the center of the Penumbra while Slumberlands capital of Lasei, the city of SlumulS, occupies the exact same space in the world of dreams. These two cities are vastly different from the other despite being each other's reflection as the Laseians tended to erect structures that would be impossible to build in the waking world through their advanced control over lucid dreaming.
Avatar Name: VosksoV TcheovoehcT
Avatar Appearance:
Personality:
VosksoV is a very serious individual who concerns himself with the wishes of his deity first and his people second. Little else matters to him besides those two prerogatives. He is highly pragmatic and has few ethical concerns, especially when it comes to his goal. Whatever his task may be he'll lay down his life if that is what's needed of him just like he did before when he crossed back into the world of the waking through the Dream Gate and collapsed, now nothing more than corpse.
Despite his cold nature however he does show a great deal of respect towards his deity's domain, perhaps even something many would call love. When he is within Slumberland he is home.
Divine Gifts:
- He is dead. Not undead, just dead. Even in death he dreams, awaiting the day as foretold in his prophesy when the kingdom would slip from The Great Dream Maker's favor. Should that day come he shall return to life and venture forth to make what's wrong right again.
- Because he is a Dream Walker who has crossed back through the Dream Gate he now possesses the ability to rend a temporary rift which connects the waking world with the world of dreams, allowing him to cross between the two and even bring items both to and from Slumberland.
Psychic Abilities:
- He can communicate telepathically and even read another living being's mind. The weaker the mind he's trying to read is, the deeper he can delve into their thoughts and memories.
- He possesses telekinesis.
- He can augment his physical capabilities for short periods of time.
- He possesses limited pyromancy.
Spells Known:
This is his weaker field. He knows some illusion spells but mostly dabbles in spells that scry out locations or can detect and identify magic.
Hero: Priest King GhodohG
Rank/Reason: Priest-king of WakekaW
Personality:
GhodohG is the erudite leader of the capital of Lasei, a figure that most Laseians respect not because of his title but because he possesses both the power and wisdom one would associate with a great king. An already powerful psychic at birth he was found when he was but a young scholar and chosen to smoke IesseI and undertake his vision quest. As one of the scarce few survivors of his generation's trial though he may not have been accepted by the Dream Gate few can claim to be his equal in psychic might. Given that his specialty is emotion manipulation he is the kind of person that most people find agreeable. Even his natural aura makes him difficult to dislike.
Regarding personality he is fairly even tempered and difficult to agitate. He possesses a great deal of gravitas, speaking with a strong authority that is hard not to get swept up in. It's no small task managing the more fiery personalities amongst the priest-kings but he finds his ways of balancing the whims of his fellow rulers while still maintaining the mask of neutrality and fairness, all while benefiting his town when meetings regarding resource distribution arise.
Outside of politics he is a fairly intellectual individual who appreciates knowledge for knowledge's sake. It comes as no real surprise to most of the people who know him that he is also a wizard with knowledge of a host of spells not ordinarily appreciated by most Laseians. If there was one flaw to make note of for GhodohG it's that he is fairly reserved, preferring to seek non-violent means to a situation over violent ones. Despite his more pacifistic tendencies he is still a Laseian, fully capable of being ruthless in almost any scenario.
Hero: Master SetheS of The Hidden Eye
Rank/Reason: Head of The Hidden Eye
Personality:
SetheS is the head of the sect simple known as The Hidden Eye. He and his team oversee matters that require subterfuge and careful investigation. His specialty is concealing his presence from the minds of others, able to hide from the mind's eye so as to evade detection. His standard fare of business is investigating any illegal trade of psytanium to foreigners both outside and within the jungles of Lasei. As the precious metal is forbidden from leaving the jungles any who would covet this precious metal of the Laseians shall soon receive a visit from SetheS.
His unit is one of three sects which oversee the defense of Lasei and it's people.
Hero: Master MorkroM of The Golemind
Rank/Reason: Head of The Golemind
Personality:
MorkroM despite his sheer physical prowess was and still is more of an engineer than a warrior. Though he has trained and fought plenty what earned him his position was his genius invention of the Mind Core. The Mind Core serves as a house for a psionicist's mind and psionic power, allowing the occupant of the Mind Core to extend their energy through psytanium cables which allow them to power any number of devices connected to the Mind Core.
MorkroM founded the Golemind, a sect dedicated to using their Mind Core powered bodies known as golems to defend Lasei from invaders, acting as both a military and almost literally as a living wall. While always vigilant the Golemind are as much architects, engineers and scientists as the are behemoths of stone and metal. Most of the Golemind, MorkroM included, can be found constantly trying to invent new tools to incorporate into both themselves and the lives of Laseians in general.
Despite being huge and incredibly strong MorkroM is a patient man and a steady thinker, always willing to ask first then kill only if necessary. For a Laseian he's a model for patience and understanding. One weakness of his though is that his pride of his work is quite strong and his tolerance for ignorant slander of his creations is low.
Terrain Preference: Jungle
Name of Kingdom/Empire: The Kingdom of Lasei
Capital: WakekaW/SlumulS
Palindrome, the core of SlumulS
The very center of the kingdom both in the world of waking and Slumberland. Known by two different names, one is host to the great temple where the great priest-kings decide important matters regarding their kingdom and try to keep their people in line with their deity's will, a will which they have little to no insight as to what it may be, while the other is an otherworldly city of strange physics and dream logic. At the core of the dream city of SlumulS is Palindrome, a massive structure which no one but the dream walkers have ever seen inside. What goes on inside is a mystery to all but the dream walkers leaving many Laseians to speculate just the true nature of Palindrome. Whether or not Palindrome and the three towers of Penumbra have a direct connection with each other is also speculated.
Major Cities:
A standard Laseian city
LokoL - LokoL was founded around the mine that currently extracts and refines the majority of Lasei's psytanium supply. A majority of the Laseian's industry is focused in this city, supplying the rest of the kingdom with materials and tools. Despite being the most industrial of the Laseian cities they make the extra effort to not pollute their environment or destroy any of the vegetation around it as the jungle is rooted deep in Laseian heritage and none of them would appreciate having their ancestral territories destroyed for any reason. Considering that a majority of Laseian food is gathered from hunting the prey that live in the jungle while their medicine and other such supplies is gathered from the plants the city of LokoL walks it's careful balance of industrial complex and jungle garden with the aim of sacrificing neither.
ThicihT - This major city is the most populous of all the Laseian major cities, serving as the core of Laseian culture. While other cities hold more significance in other ways be they religious or practical they were not designed with serving the people as their core design principle. This city was built for the sole intent of providing a community hub for the people to gather, trade, do business and other assorted matters. This city hosts the biggest Laseian festivals of them all and is located near the most historic monuments of Lasei. Most importantly the city is nearby the Laseian burial site, the Tree of Memories.
KeklelkeK - The most controversial of the Laseian cities, this city is the only city that lies outside the Penumbra as well as the only one that will actually trade with non-psionic entities. The trade isn't all that good considering that Laseian's are mostly self sufficient and don't really see the need in importing anything they already have. They are interested in acquiring various herbs and reagents which might boost or otherwise benefit their minds and psychic abilities and most important of all, they will eagerly trade for psytanium. This cities population is still mostly Laseian but it's the most racially diverse of the Laseian cities. This all has lead the other priest-kings to debate the lax policies that this city's priest-king supports.
Major Sites
The Tree of Memories - The tallest tree in the jungle, this tree is one of the most important sites in the waking world for Laseians. At first this tree was just like any other tree, albeit taller than all the rest. In older Laseian traditions it was customary to tie their fallen relatives to the trunk of a tree using it's vines. The thorns of these vines would bleed the body, causing the blood to run down the tree and absorb into it's roots. It was symbolic to represent the rejoining of their people with nature. They revere their jungle almost as much as they revere the god of dreams as it is practically the whole world to them.
Of course, the most popular place to honor their dead was the tallest tree in the forest. At first, the blood of dozens ran down the face of the tree. As their population grew the blood of hundreds had dyed the bark of the tree red, the roots soaking up much more. As time marched on and their people continued to expand it eventually got to the point where thousands of their bodies were tied to the tree. Some of the bodies were so old that the tree had grown around them, enveloping them in it's trunk as it grew around them. It's roots drank so much of their blood that the latent psychic energy in them started to affect the tree. As more bodies fed the tree it started developing strange psychic powers. Eventually it started doing more than just drinking the blood of the dead. It started drinking their memories and soon after their consciousnesses.
The tree which had bones and corpses strapped to it's trunk as well as hanging tied within it's thorned vines started serving as both a graveyard and an afterlife as the consciousnesses of those buried could live on within the tree, imparting their memories to their kin. Laseians started discovering that if they slept beneath the canopy of the now massive tree they could relive the memories of their ancestors, learning what they learned in their lifetimes. They realized the importance of this development and now it is their most sacred site in the waking lands, more important than even the temples of LiesseiL. At this current date it's branches now reach up into the clouds, It's trunk is a kilometer thick and it's roots reach deep down, holding the fault line in the tectonic plates together which prevents earthquakes in their section of Pandeum. It would be a troubled time for the land should this tall psychic tree of corpses ever die.
Society:
[People]
Typical lower class Laseian in mask
Typical middle class Laseian in mask
Typical female upper class Laseian in mask
Typical Laseian child in mask
The Laseians - This race of pale carnivorous humanoids were the first race to be shown their psychic potential. Those of them who possessed the latent talent needed could exert their minds over matter, producing a wide range of effects which gave them an edge over the other harsh races that exist within their jungle. As time passed they soon discovered that their abilities were deeply connected with another realm, the realm of Slumberland. Within this realm they could explore and learn while they were asleep and then hunt and survive while they were awake. While they are a young race their people were the fastest to build up a kingdom as they had twenty four hours to get things done instead of just twelve like others had.
While they were growing well enough on their own it was only a matter of time before they discovered LiesseiL, the one who built Slumberland and who gave them their abilities. Upon meeting it they worshiped their new found deity and sang endless praise to the one who they owed so much thanks to. It cared not for their words for it had a purpose in revealing itself to them. In an instant it taught them the art of lucid dreaming and planted within their minds a schematic. To please their god they did exactly as they were expected to do and created Palindrome. Once this great temple of unearthly dimensions and magnitude was built LiesseiL chose the most promising psychic of them and he was allowed within before the doors were shut, permitting no one else inside.
After completing that they were gifted another task from the great one eyed disc itself. This time they were asked to build it three towers at very precise coordinates and given highly complex blueprints outlining every exact detail. Knowing they were serving one as great as he who built this magnificent second world which they cherished they did just as he asked once again, never straying from a single detail as they used their minds to build the three towers. Upon completion of these towers a great shadow enveloped the land, enveloping the land in a great darkness which hid all inside from the eyes of all outsiders. This delighted the Laseians as they were predators who saw darkness as safety,something which hid them from larger threats and left their prey unaware of their presence until they pounced. Much like last time however three of their most promising psychics were chosen and they entered the towers, never to be seen or heard from again.
For a while they reveled in the darkness gifted to them by their deity's divine inspiration. With it they prospered, hunting within the darkened jungle became easy and their population started to expand. They learned that when they wore a mask they became what their mask represented in their dreams. Soon, everyone was wearing a mask and it became central to their culture. To this day men, women and even children of the Laseian jungle all wear masks at every point in their life. The only time they ever remove their masks is when they eat and when they bathe.
For a long time they waited for more gifts from their god, more advances to their civilization which would set them beyond all others. They waited and waited but heard nothing. They started to wonder why their deity remained silent. They started to feel lonely, almost abandoned even. They had done so much as it had asked and now it would leave them. They started to become weary of waiting. Before they became too despondent their leaders received a vision of a cavern deep within the jungle mountains. Deep within these caverns they were shown a miraculous ore which echoed their psychic energy. Like wolves to the lamb their people were drawn to this mysterious ore and built their very first mine with which to extract this ore with.
This mine held a wealth of rare ores beyond compare. Gold as well as silver were both plentiful and gemstones could be carried out by the cart-full but all paled in comparison to the true treasure they sought. Rarer than all rare nonmagical substances was the mineral that would soon come to be known as Psytanium. This was rather strong psychoreactive metal that when refined acted as a conduit for psychic energy. From this metal they were able to construct wondrous tools capable of performing feats previously impossible to them. This discovery jumped their technological state from a large primitive tribe to a relatively advanced civilization. They built entire cities from massive blocks of stone all cut flawlessly and assembled together despite being seemingly impossible to move given their size.
Along with tools they also made marvelous weapons. Spears that can return to their owner's hand when thrown, Machetes that are as thin as paper and can cut like glass yet are covered in telekinetic sheathes which make them as hard as a steel broadsword, metal claws that with every cut can drain it's victim's will to live, blow darts that can drill their way into a victim's body and tunnel up towards their brain and much more. Of course they have transportation in the form of metal discs which could channel it's rider's telekinesis and fly around at a speed it's rider's telekinetic strength can sustain.
On top of all that they are capable of making prosthetic limbs from psytanium. These limbs can replace normal limbs of theirs and function no differently than their original limbs did, even so far as to simulate the sensory feedback of touch and temperature that a real limb would provide. They can also add limbs too, such as an extra set of arms, a variety of different tails or even spider legs to help with climbing. Psytanium was also invaluable in surgical procedures as they had tools which could make the most delicate cuts possible as well as psytanium hearts with which to replace damaged or otherwise faulty hearts with hearts that performed just as well as their organic counterparts.
Between the sheer number of powers available to them and all these marvelous items at their disposal many would think that these people would have little trouble against the likes of everyone else. Unfortunately a drawback of psytanium is it's rarity. Given that it's about as commonly found as magical metals such as mithril and orichalcum it is not something they can just work into everything of theirs. The Laseians sit upon the largest known psytanium mines currently known and they still constantly crave more. Because of just how rare it is while being so valuable it is only really distributed to the upper tiers of their society, the lower class citizens forced to make due with regular metals.
Of course the ore's discovery was only overshadowed by one other event, an event so colossal in magnitude to their race that it forms the center of everything regarding them: The last request of Liesseil.
Their leaders once again received visions of a blueprint, this time an archway that was to be built in both Slumberland and the waking world, both of which had to be built in the exact same spot so that they overlapped completely. With the fervor of purpose once again they built the arches as they were shown, no different in any way. When the gate was complete they awaited the result, unable to predict what may happen. They waited, then they waited longer, they were confused after waiting for so long. They knew their deity often took it's time in parting with information but that couldn't help their curiosity much. Still, they waited in full hope that something would come of this design.
And then something did. A promising young psychic Laseian received a vision of a particular plant located up in the mountainous part of the jungle. This species of plant would soon be named IesseI, the sacred moss. It was a rather thick dark green species of moss which had minuscule light pink flowers that grew from it. The young psychic sought out this plant and then smoked it, inhaling the fumes in the hopes that it would bestow him with something good. What followed was a hallucinogenic journey which had threatened the young psychic's life numerous times as he was in a delirium, hardly able to defend himself even with potent psychic powers. He eventually found the revelation he had been searching for in this quest of his, opening his mind far greater than any other Laseian's was. His psychic powers were magnitudes more powerful than the others, making him the greatest of them all. Of course while the visions of the IesseI had faded the vision he was given by The Great Dream Maker had one last step to be completed.
After making his preparations and gathering up the people to bear witness he approached the gateway they had built as according to it's wishes and stepped through. Reality rippled and he disappeared through the gate, never to be seen or heard from again. It was then that they all realized the gate's significance. Much like how LiesseiL had taken members before this gate was to take these psychics who have walked the path, survived and gained the power to pass on through. Anyone else who attempted to step through it would simply find themselves nowhere else but in the world of the waking, standing just past the gate where they had stepped through towards as nothing happened. Those who were to walk the path and enter the portal were thus named the Dream Walkers, those who would pass both mentally and physically into Slumberland and serve their deity for all eternity, a fate enviable by all Laseians. Sometimes, a Dream Walker who recently crossed the gate could be seen in their dreams walking towards either Palindrome or the three towers of Penumbra to join those that have entered before him or her. Every generation from that point forward the Laseians would pick the psychics with the most potential for psychic growth and have them smoke IesseI and undertake their vision quests. Most of them would die and even if they survived it wasn't always guaranteed that they'd be accepted by the Dream Gate, the gate into their deity's realm, and serve LiesseiL's wishes. For the time between the period after they succeed at their vision quest and the moment they pass through the Dream Gate they are exalted as demigods and treated to honors even higher than their leaders, the Priest-kings. Even those who fail to be accepted by the gate are held in high esteem by society, generally taking positions such as Priest-kings themselves.
Physiologically the Laseians are like humans but are different in a number of ways which reveal their true predator heritage. Their teeth are more akin to a shark's teeth by being up to a centimeter and a half long, being serrated and having another row of teeth constantly growing in behind their current teeth. Every year they shed all the teeth in their mouth and the ones behind them take their place, smaller teeth already growing behind the new ones. The jaws hinges open about fifty percent more than a human's can so they can fit their mouths around larger things which gives them a far more vicious bite.
Seeing as how the jungle is typically so thick that light rarely makes it through the canopy and the penumbra makes the entire zone it covers even darker their eyes are not dissimilar to a cat's eyes, capable of seeing in remarkably little light. Their arms and their legs are about ten centimeters longer in proportion to their height compared to a humans arm and leg length, giving them a slightly more gangly appearance in general. Their fingers are about a quarter longer than a human's and far stronger, allowing them to climb trees easier as well as being able to peel meat from the bone better. They typically have eighty percent less body hair than humans do but their hair grows out to at least three feet long if not longer and is typically fifty percent thicker.
[Economy]
The Laseians run off a hunter/gatherer society in a jungle that while dangerous is one of the largest sources of natural wealth in Pandeum. While having plentiful resources they do not consume a lot of it since their population is relatively small. Their trade is relatively small since they do not require much which gives them little reason to part with their wealth of gold, jewels, exotic plants, exotic animal parts and other such materials. They do trade for mind affecting reagents and substances but the largest source of demand for them is psytanium. Being a rare metal that has formed the backbone of their technological grandeur any source of psytanium will fetch a high price.
Getting them to part with psytanium or psytanium products however is extremely difficult. Almost no Laseian will part with psytanium at any price given it's value to them and the only legal sale of psytanium in Lasei is permitted only to other psychics. Given how almost all Laseian's keep in telepathic contact practically all the time it is nearly impossible to convince a Laseian to willingly part with psytanium to outsiders. Theft of psytanium from Lasei is dealt with by the Hidden Eye who's responsibility it is to hunt down and kill transgressors of their law while returning stolen psytanium to Lasei.
[Politics]
Laseian hierarchy is based on the strength of their psychic gift. They follow powerful figureheads simply known as the "Priest-Kings" who lead their respective cities as kings as well as the highest of priests of their order. After them the priests of LiesseiL basically basically serve both as religious counselors, governmental administrators and even teachers. A majority of a Laseian's position within this hierarchy is based upon his or her psychic strength, their talents for specific psionic fields often guiding the decision as to which role under which administration they are assigned.
Regarding the overall Laseian's feelings towards outsiders and thoughts on immigration in general they are surprisingly not judgmental of race despite their exclusionary policies towards all other peoples. Their bias is strictly tied to the presence of psychic potential within a person's mind. Much of their society and culture is founded around their natural affinity for the psionic spectrum, so much so that their native language is entirely telepathic. Given how most outsiders are fairly out of touch with their predator heritage without the psychic gift the division between Laseians and other Pandeum-dwellers becomes as vast as night and day.
Those who stray into the jungle without invitation are first plagued with omens, nightmares and hallucinations designed to deter outsiders from coming into their territory. Those foolish enough to persist are deemed prey and set upon by the Laseian's in enumerable ways. Even the weakest Laseian is a fierce hunter proficient in stalking from the shadows, biding their time in wait for the perfect moment to pounce.
Other: (WIP)
