Cynic's Meru - All Fluff and no Flavor

[Cynic]

Pamb-uh
"So you think I'm small, let me show you my small teeth then?"

The Pamb-uh as a people are not to be trifled with which is what most of the other races around Meru have found out as time has passed on. Over and over they have fought the rest of the races and over and overthey have won.

The Pamb-uh were the only race that already existed on Meru already while all other races seem to have been brought onto the plane by one way or another. Originally living as an idyllic happy-go-lucky race in civilised clumps of burrow-like dwellings (see: Shire) until the coming of Panchama, Khorung-uh, and the Mahd-uh. In what was to be a series of wars, the Pambu were thinned out and their homes were razed to the ground. They were soon forgotten by pretty much all. Within twenty years, they learned to take to the sides of underhangs of mountains like bats and here they lived and from here they fought and from this point on they won.


Originally an idyllic society that thrived on gardening and tea-time practices, since the wars, slowly they went to having a rigid society of scientific curiosity. Each member was required to be tested upon. After several repeated generations of botched testing, a general consensus was reached that rather than endure testing on an actual member of society, the neonatal egg would be tested upon in specific ways for 15 generations. Time is measured in testing cycles. So this is testing cycle 8,453 with each cycle lasting 1 Sigilian month.

And for their 3/4th of a meter long snake-like metal bodies bodies, they learned to hit hard and with precision. Their movement is odd and peculiar. As they stick to one surface, they seem to build a magnetic charge and release it and almost burst and hop to another surface and tumble on to another. This in itself causes their movement to be slowed but it also allows them to move both horizontally and vertically given a surface to
stick to.

--
Mechanics

• Small
  30'' movement walk and 40 climb
  magical beast (snake and hobbit)
  change shape to hobbit (use halfling)
  darkvision 60'
  +4 strength & +2 wis & +2 con, -2 int & -2 cha & --2 dex.
  proficiency in heavy armor and extra limberness while wearing it +10 speed while wearing heavy armor.
  secretes lv/3 poison of ability mod of choice (chosen when character is made) and are not effected.
  +3 starting hit die (2d8, 2+int mod * 5 skill points, +3 fort, +3 bab)

~~~

Meru
These Mountains are wide and have been cracked by my histories deep. But what long mysteries wind my rivers and whose hands are these, I ask, strangle my muddied streams?
. ~
Meru exists within the Planescape cosmology as yet another prime world that has been lost gobsmack between here and the middle of god-knows the middle of no-where. Getting to Meru is not a big problem. You just need to find a portal. In fact, there are quite a few bit of trade portals that lead to Meru. There is trade that happens on Meru within secret corridors and out in the open. Everyone knows this. But for the simple folk to get out of Meru, that's definitely not going to happen.

There are no portals that lead out of Meru. Planar travel out of Meru is only do-able through mid to high level spells. Why this is so is not entirely clear. The few who have tried have not come back. Very few who have grown powerful enough to leave have come back. Whether they just grew tired of the gods-ridden place or if something keeps them away, it is yet to be seen. The ones that did come back are bedraggled and have been found dead in a pile of their food, in a bush somewhere, fallen off their horse, killed in a duel -- you get the picture.

For some odd reason, high level players from this prime aren't appreciated.
~~

It's a start. I've got some more stuff written up for this backwater prime in the planescape cosmology. I"ll start posting as I get a chance.

[JonSetanta]

Very nice. Also great that you didn't tie in major default races like "Elves regard Pamb-uh as X but orcs and dwarves treat them with Y", that's really an awful thing and yet so many do it.

The last 2 paragraphs of Pamb-uh had me going lolwut but after a second reading it made sense. Mostly.

The excessively-mediocre tone reminds me of the Lowlife RPG. Well, then again not like Meru is a joke, but I doubt the phrase "everyone knows this" would apply universally.

How long is a Pamb-uh in inches?

[Cynic]

3/4 th of a meter would be umm.... approximately 30 inches me thinks. They are relatively small tiny critters.

As for not having the usual Elves and dorks, yeah, I'm not terribly fond of them myself.

I can see where the last two paragraphs would just spring up on you like that. I'll put it through the wringer again. The basic gist was I trying to get a slight jab in at Tolkien's Hobbits (with the gardening and tea-time comment) but I failed horribly.

I might expand the write up on the Pamb-uh (translation - snake) a litlte more when I get some time.
~

My initial intention was to get a setting that was tied down in a very specific part of Hindu Mythos. But, I realized that I wasn't particularly interested in that. I'm more cosmopolitan than that myself. So I drew names from one particular language of the Indian subcontinent and I've gone as far as drawing on their folktales but that's where it stops. I still throw in jabs at what I consider to be my betters.

[Cynic]

I've always despised the idea that Humans are always the ideal to live up to in any fictional universe. They are always the ones who are able to do anything. They are generalists. They can pick up anything. But if you look at us as a species, the one thing that we do very well most of the time is specialize and we specialize very well. When we do have generalists we call them Renaissance men, these people we hold in high regard. With that in mind, I decided to take the humans back to a much earlier time. As you will see.

Before anyone asks a small rubric for conversion from metric to English. I had to look it up myself. I suck at English measurement since I was mostly raised in India till the eight grade.

1 meter is approximately 3 1/3 feet which is 40 inches as pointed out by Maxus

100 Kilograms is approximately 220 pounds.

~~

Khorung-uh
No, sir, I didn't do this. Ye-ye-yes, I'm sure, I didn't do this. I didn't do this. NO. I SAID I DID NOT DO THIS. LEAVE ME ALONE.
The Khorung-uh (Humans) have long been the ones to keep a low profile in comparison to the others. While they don't normally tend to start anything, they happen to have a tendency to finish everything that they are involved in even if it was not originally initiated by them. Now this is not to suggest that all things inadvertently started by the Khorung-uh or involving the Khorung-uh have to be finished. If something that would show extreme detriment to the Khorung-uh, then it is a different story, of course. They will appease every party in every which way possible. They cower just like their name suggest - chittering monkeys. But when cornered, they act like a cornered animal reaching into a backup reserve of strength and then they are a fierce animal indeed. For this reason, the other races do not try to push the Khorung-uh too far. But they will push them.

Khorung-uh society is a curious thing. While they are clumped across the mountains and linked by criss-crossing settlements that are surprisingly well-connected and well-maintained, there isn't even a nominal figurehead for the entire Khorung-uh society. Throughout their history, there have been maybe four or maybe five notable kings or queens. The largest one was Empress Ambika. Starting as an adventurer, she roamed the planes and came back and decided to band together the Khorung-uh. In fact, she had them well enough together and was on her way to creating a good society for them. But the Panchama ruler of the time, whose name is now forgotten long forgotten to the annals of history, pushed Ambika a little too far, and like every other member of her race, she lashed out and almost leveled the Panchama and the Yena, who were profiting heavily from both sides (selling machines of war and treatises of peace at the same time.) No one knows how, but one day, Ambika just disappeared, and somehow just like her death, the Khorung-uh were quieted down as well. Often when kings or other Khorung-uh figureheads pop up, they are quickly disposed by the other races who seem to have recognized the dangers of what happens when you have an entire race that when cornered can demolish you. Rather than taking such risks, they have minimized it by keeping the Khorung-uh power minimized. Of course, such knowledge is not known by many.

Khorung-uh range around 1.65 meters tall and have two shapes in general. In general they have good use of tools because both shapes have opposable thumbs. The taller of the two is one that resembles that of Homo neanderthalensis but of a brown color. The other is that of the common brown Baboon.

Khorung-uh Adventurers are those who often break away from the mold. While they still can hold some love for their culture, a fundamental difference of not having an immediate and absolute response of only "FIGHT" during the fight or flight evocation is what separates the Khorung-uh adventurer from the normal Khorung-uh.

EDIT: changed the names of the Achoot to the Panchama - added in the metric-English rubric

[Maxus]

1 meter is approximately 3 feet which is exactly 36 inches.

~~

Actually, 1 meter is something like 3 and 1/3 feet--40 inches.

[Cynic]

1 meter is approximately 3 feet which is exactly 36 inches.

~~

Actually, 1 meter is something like 3 and 1/3 feet--40 inches.

Ahh, I was just being imprecise with my english. I was just saying 3 feet is exactly 36 inches rather than saying that 1 meter is exactly 36 inches. I had just rounded down. But I have editted the prior post with the information.

[Cynic]

Yena
What? Don't touch the merchandise? Yes? That's for sale. No, I won't throw in the boy in for free. But I will let you get both for a great deal -- can't beat it. Come in let's talk in the back, too many ears over here. I've got these great paak from the Tipu States in just yesterday. Shh, I know it's not legal to trade in buckwheat! Ayah-- what a fool!

Their very name goes back to a folk tale told to children about how when grandfather coyote and grandmother Hyena gave birth to mother Dog, she wouldn't say a word. But when mother Dog finally gave birth to her child, she looked at Grandfather Coyote and said Yenna, wennam -- What do you want for him? From then on in, the Jackal, her children were called Yena. Somewhere along the way, that first question of their mother's was bred as a cultural trait into them and it was emphasized.

Even though the story goes that the Yena were first used as a bartering tool, this has often been used as a harsh taunt by mothers to their children. Are you going to be like that stupid child that mother dog had to sell away. They strive to be perfect at business. It is their essence of their life, and their religion -- what religion there is. At times sweet, at times harsh, at times loving, at times ranting and raving against your mothers, the Yena have somehow cornered the market on pretty much every single good and service on Meru. They do not produce anything nor harvest anything. But they are the perfect middleman. If anything has to be sold or . You go to the Yena. If anything has to be bought, you go to the Yena. They are the guilds. They are the mobs.

There are three essential principles for the Yena.
• You are the sum of your possessions.
     Ergo - keep your possessions safe and do whatever it takes to get more possessions.
• Nothing is bad for business when it comes from your mouth.
     If it comes out bad, blame it on the winds, fate, but never yourself.
• If it is business do it.
     If it gets in the ways of business, take care of it.
     If you have qualms or queasiness to do this directly, hire someone to take care of it.

Code: Select all

 AUTHOR'S NOTE: For other essential principles on how to play a Yena, occasionally refer to Ferengi' rules of acquisitions. While this is not requisite to play a Yena, these sometimes humorous and contradictory rules can be used as a slight reference point. Make no mistake,a Yena is not a Ferengi though. 

The Yena have two forms. The bipedal form resembles a hairless golden Anubis-like figure standing about 2 meters tall. The other is that of the common Jackal (use Hyena.)

The Yena adventurer is for all things just like all members of his society. He keeps with all social mores and often realizes that one does not need need to be a businessman to be a businessman. That is, they push back the secondary principle of their three principles to the background as they take adventuring on as their lives. While some may develop morals and values, this is often shown at duress and some may even go to great lengths to show it. The others that do develop it and don't show it but do happen to have it shown, they know in the deepest of deep hearts that money can solve it in some fashion or another.

[Cynic]

Panchama

Did I burn your hand, oh that must have been your fault then? Try me -- Brahman

I shall sweep these floors and I shall get into the gutters and wipe them well. That is my lot. That is my lot. What else is there? Something I hope - Sudra

I am molded as you want me to be molded, Oh, state. Tell me. - Kshatriya


The third race is that of the Panchama or the Fifth Ones. No one knows where they come from and often times what they even look like.

All the time smelling of cooking essences and herbal remedies, they are a heady race indeed. The one problem every one that is not a Panchama complains about is that of overpopulation. They breed like pigs and no one knows where they come from. The little that is known about the Panchama society is that it is a caste based society. Panchama in itself means one that is made-of/lives-of/works-on refuse. Well that is the working definition. The literal definition would be the Fifth Caste although this is not known by many as well.

The Caste system is knifed up into three sections each of which are called Purity Fragrances. These are called Purity Fragrances One, Two, and Three. You are born into your Caste. The way this works is odd because it is neither through marriage nor through lineage nor the stars. The Caste system seems to be an arbitrary placement that is decided dependent on which of three castes comes knocking on the doorstep on the date of the Panchama's birth.

At what is considered Purity Fragrance One is the Brahman - The Priest. They wear the long flowing white robes with the sacred thread of burning incense around them flowing from left shoulder up crossway down to right hip and then meeting behind the back at the left shoulder again. This loop does not harm the white robes even though it burns intensely and those who have accidentally bumped into the Brahmans in the Marketplaces have been burned and while cases have been fought in battle grounds and in the courthouses and noblehalls for these slights, the brahman somehow always seems to win. He smells of Cardamom, and Saffron. It is curious that when a child is chosen to become a Brahman, the parents curse him even if the parents themselves are Brahman. They stand about 1.8 meters tall and seem to almost be untouched by the filth that might surround them. This might be an effect of the white robes that they wear or just their general purity.

The second purity fragrance is the one of the Kshatriya - the warrior. They are seldom seen outside their quarters or barracks. But when they are seen, they will make sure that there is a reason. It might be as simple as that they have an itch to go pick a fight or something as dire as a war. But even their itch for fights is often thought through and tactically thought and then they are a gleaming blade of fury. Not much else is known about them except some say poppy seeds or Ginger or turmeric or black pepper is their odor. All this is conjecture. They stand at about 1.5 meters tall and weight about 136 kgs. They stoop under the very weight of their heavy training. Their training seems to be never-ending. They train. Then they rest, gorge, train again, and fall. Over and over it goes for them.

Purity Fragrance three belongs to the Sudra - the Refuse. The hypocrisy of the Panchama is that they have a refuse caste when the name of their own race means- Of The Refuse. The Sudra are the ones who are seen the most in their cities and all over the other cities. They clean the garbages, the streets, the rooftops, or any other menial job is theirs to do. You will see them doing the laundries and pushing the animals of labor around. They are the most stooped at almost 1.3 meters and their bones protrude. Their skin reeks of pungent garlic which is everywhere. You will see them and coming and oftentimes their smell will overpower even the smell of the most keen scented of creatures. For this reason, the Yena hate them, they irritate them. The Sudra seem to take some innocent yet devious pleasure in being there at every point to dust the streets in front of a Yena house or place of business or some such.

There are whispers that all is not as it appears on outside for the Panchama. Of course, all is not as it appears for everyone.

Like all the other races, it has been said that even the Panchama have a secondary form but this has not been seen by many. When they are out and about, they walk in a humanoid form with a long elongated face. Those who have adventured or would have such knowledge often mistake them for Bodaks except for the skin coloring and their innate intelligence. Their skin is always oily and dependent on caste is the color of whatever the different fragrance would be. The Brahman is a pure Saffron with flecks of green. The Kshatriya is probably the color of poppy seeds or turmeric or black pepper or ginger. But again conjecture. The Sudras, oh the sudras are the color of albino white garlic. It is odd that the ones who clean the garbages are the ones who seem so fair.

Of their other forms, the ones who have seen it often mention that they are seen in one of two shapes. That is not the same person in two shapes but different people have seen different Panchama in one of these two shapes. The first is that of a 1.8M long Caterpillar with the color & scent markings of their caste. The other is a 1.4M wing spanned Moth with the same color & scent marking of their caste.

The Panchama adventurer is strange. To the real world he does not exist. Every once in a while, a story-master will make up stories about them but to the general public they are but stories. But the real Panchama adventurer is always a Kshatriya. Because they are not seen in the public much, they are chosen by the state to go out on whatever errand and for this they are given a set of sealed herbal remedies that waft out into the air slowly. Until they can keep the herbs fresh, they are allowed to adventure. After that, they are to come back. And there has never been a time, when they have not come back. And since a Kshatriya is not known very well in the outside world, it is often safe to send them out on businesses that involve everything from intrigue to simple things such as trade to researching knowledge. Thus, the Panchama adventurer is the state's most valued asset but the most treasured secret.

[Cynic]

Mahd
-insert appropriate quote-

There is not an easy way to describe the Mahd. They are the only race on Meru on which much information is not gathered despite their long reign on Meru. Originally revered by the Vanara and the Yena as Gods, they fell out of favor a long time ago. It is theorized that once they were maybe a race that had an inkling of what may have been Godhood. It is said that they had tapped into the Astral or the Green or one of the many realms that lie in the mysterious cosmos that no longer matter to the common folk of Meru anymore. Their power waned as their attention to their followers waned. There was a time when their magics were huge and complex and hung heavy in the air out of them. As their power waned, their rajahs and ranihs realized that they had to draw it in and this drawing is what created the Mahd as they are today. Originally they were as they stood in their bipedal form. These days, the magic is a heavy reminder of the old days and they carry it as a deep sorrow and a shame in their backs. In fact, that is why they are known as the Mahd - The Ox.


Mahd culture is strange. As the old stewards of the world, they are often looked at as the ones to lead any initiative and this causes a heavy sort of resentment within the Mahd community because unfortunately while they have tried and tried for answers to problems for the other races, they have failed. They have tried in the last fifteen generations to help the Vanara openly (while helping to put down a figurehead occasionally) and also to be helpful to the Yena in any way possible. But their old way of magic is no more. While intrinsically, they are more powerful than the other existing races when it comes to magic, they frustrate themselves because their histories are rife with stories of how their very essences were dripping with magic and how this was a drug of sort. Even though they are many generations removed, they hanker for these days and spend their days in misery.


But that does not mean that the Mahd are not active or that they just sit there. They try to do what they can to survive and exist as the diplomatic race for the rest of the races. This is often not seen in the best of lights by any of the other races. Most of the younger Mahd often get exasperated with the attitudes that the other races hold toward the Mahd's offerings of diplomacy and governmental assistance but as they grow older, they learn to adapt and they also fall into the same old ways as their mothers and their grandmothers. The others hold aloof of the Mahd for several reasons. The Vanara keep wary of them. The Yena still trade but raise their prices and are haughty. and the Panchama don't really care one way or another but since they are aloof to all, it doesn't affect their behavior to the Mahd in this sense either.


The Mahd have two forms and both forms can speak without the aid of magic. Their primary form is that off the Ox (A/N: use Bison) which stand about 1.8 meters tall and stretch about 2 meters in length. They weigh a little below 400kg. The secondary form is that of a pitch-black human form with completely black eyes with no white in them. This form stands approximately 1.8M tall. Both forms hold sagging humps that hold their magics.

The Mahd adventurer is out for knowledge most of the time. It is intrinsically tied into their past. There are many routes that this can take the Mahd adventurer. She can be out to try to retain some information on how to help/hurt others with her remaining powers of left-over magic. She can be out to try to regain the glory of her old civilization for herself/race. She can be out to destroy what remains of the glory of her civilization because she is deadest on being normal. There are many paths on why a Mahd adventurer actually leaves home, but almost all have to do with knowledge, whether this is for the retrieval, use, destruction, or gathering of knowledge or some other use of it, it is up to that particular Mahd.

[JonSetanta]

The Panchama seem delicious. I must try some with pav bhaji.

If you threw some stats in here these various beings would be ready to go as-is.

[Cynic]

made my first mechanics for the pambuh. tell me what you think. blah.