Fantasy Beast Souls Lore & Rules

[SilverFlight]

Interest check
Main Thread
OOC
Characters
The Notes​

• Rules & Structure
• Gods of Taman
• Land of Taman
• Creation of Taman
• Tribes of Taman

• You have a lot of flexibility when choosing the origin of your character, example: a bear character doesn’t have to come from the kingdom, he could belong to a tribe, another species could also have an influential position in the kingdom and even be blood-related to the royal families. A bear could come from either the kingdom of Byernheim or Cuahuteh seeing as bear species irl can naturally be found in these habitats, try to stick with realistic habitat type. A bear would not likely come from Thuehir, the desert kingdom.
  
  Though cross-tribe relationships are common hybrid animal souls cannot exist, the child always takes the animal form of the mother or the father and can only take one, not both.
  
  Regular animals of all kinds exist, however in most cultures the animal form one takes is sacred and the mute animals that go on wings or four legs are never killed by one of their tribe, so a person from the wolf tribe will never kill a wolf unless they are forced, deer tribe will not hunt deer, it is considered a cursed act and completely taboo.
  
  Ages will be on a human scale regardless of the animal form your character can take.
  
  There are two animal forms a person can take: their anthro form and a full animal form. They have a choice to use any or all forms, though the four-legged form is the most difficult to master. All characters are born human and can only transform (and act called ‘Stepping’) at about the age of 12. Many cultures have a ceremony for this coming of age.
  
  When your character shifts into an animal completely their weapons and armour as well as small personal items can stay with them. Armour becomes part of their fur or skin and adds protection, their weapons strengthen their teeth or beaks.
  
  You will write your character name and which form you are in at the top of every post to help the other players keep track.
  
  Your character can come from anywhere in the world and be any vertebrate animal (i.e. no insects, cephalopods, crustaceans etc.) though you’ll need to make an excuse for them being in Xiong-Shi for the start of the thread.
  
  No mythical animals permitted, though recent extinct ones are allowed, like the quagga, the thylacine etc. If you really want to play a sea creature I will allow it but keep in mind that you won’t be able to use your animal form for pretty much all of the thread, so there isn’t much point.
  
  This is a literate thread but the minimum will be one paragraph, I am willing to take on a lot of budding and less-experienced writers as long as they make an effort to meet the post min and keep up a good quality. Please write in third person past tense always, generally like a novel: ‘He decided to’, not ‘I decided to’ or ‘he decides to’.
  
  There will be absolutely no auto-hitting, bunnying god-moding or whatever you want to call it in this thread. You can write an attack but it is up to the other person to write if/how they were hit by it.
  
  I really want this to be active on a daily basis so if you’re a weekly person, please reconsider putting up a profile, you will likely get left behind.
  
  Please use the profile outline I have provided. I must approve your profile before you may start posting.
  
  I know things happen and people have to drop the thread, or they get bored and want to leave, this is perfectly fine and you should not feel guilty regardless of the reason, but it helps me a great deal if you let me know what’s going on, whether you just need a break of whether the rp is not shaping up to be what you expected and you want out. You will not be judged, you will not be prevented from rejoining if you change your mind, you will not be excluded in any way, so please tell me if you are leaving or pausing.
  
  This is a medieval rp. The most advanced weapons are the bow and arrow, and perhaps the occasional siege tower. Gunpowder is just being created in the area akin to China however it is used for fireworks only, its darker purpose has not yet been dreamed of.
  
• 
  
  There is an animal deity for each species and it embodies the spirit of the animal and the qualities the people of that animal value most. Example: The lion values unity, courage and pride, the eagle values foresight, inner strength and self-betterment etc. Your own character can pick and choose the traits that are most important to them and reflect them in the way they consider or worship their deity. Not all people are religious and the way people see their gods differs with tribe and region.
  
  Ameta & Tule
  
  These deities are the king and queen of the beast gods, they represent the sun and moon respectively. Tule is associated most often with water, justice and order and Ameta with fire, vengeance and chaos but there are many differences of interpretation among the kingdoms and tribes. Their original interpretations have been eroded by time. An example: To the plains dog folk of the Simbali tribelands Tule, the moon Goddess represents the balance of life and death, she has dominion over the water, the rains and the stars and keeps order. Ameta represents growth and fertility but also fire and chaotic destruction.
  
• 
  Byernheim
  
  The North belongs to the Bear folk and their walled cities are home to a multitude of Northern species, bird or mammal, but there are many still who live in tribal nations in the surrounding land. More often than not there is a tentative peace between the kingdom and the tribes, broken only when the kingdom pushes out of their territory for more resources.
  
  (Think medieval England/further northern Europe, the tribes would be native North American or Inuit, Celtic or the Hun culture.)
  
  Spoiler: Nothern Forest

  
  
  Simbali
  
  The west is home to vast plains dotted with high mountains. These lands are ruled from a city huddled about a vast river that stretches right the way through Simbali. The short, square buildings are made of clay and red brick, painted white to reflect the harsh light of the sun. The Lion tribe rule here, however they have forged strong alliances with the most powerful tribes in the region: The Leopard, Elephant and Rhinoceros.
  There are still many more tribes out in the plains, though animals of all shapes and sizes have adapted to the city life.
  
  (This city resembles the cities of North Africa, Egypt and a bit of Rome, the tribes in the region are African)
  
  Spoiler: Western Plains

  
  
  Xiong-Shi
  
  The Eastern land is home to a variety of habitats, from high, snowy mountains to the vast, grassy steppe, from lush bamboo forests to lowlands rich with fertile soil. There are a great many who live here, guided by the wise council of the Panda emperor. Many people choose to make Xiong-Shi their home, though most that reside here become part of the empire and there are very few tribes left to their own devices.
  
  (This will be mainly inspired by Imperial China but will include inspiration from a few other Asian imperial cultures as well.)
  
  Spoiler: Eastern Highlands

  
  
  
  Cuahuteh
  
  This is a Southern land of deep jungles and towering rainforests. The cities are hidden beneath vast swaths of forest, their buildings made of wood and either on the forest floor, else built high within the canopy. This land is the richest in terms of diversity, the sky city in the canopy is ruled by the Avian, the bird folk, their leaders are the Eagles. The ground city is ruled by the Tiger, who build great stone pyramids high in the mountains by their home. Most people live within contact of these great cultural hubs, though they are not bound by alliance and many live apart from them for most of their lives.
  
  (Think Mayan or Aztec culture or Southern Asian cultures.)
  
  Spoiler: Southern Jungle

  
  
  Thuehir
  
  This central land is an unrelenting desert land. No sedentary kingdoms grow here, but it is ruled by the largest of the nomadic tribes, the snake. Peoples here must travel with the rains and the fruiting of the trees, crossing seas of sand and cracked, dry earth peppered with cacti. Only the hardiest people live here: the Desert Fox, Cobra, Viper, Hawk and Sand Cat.
  
  (The nomadic cultures of Arabia are most akin to the dominant tribes, though the native American peoples of the Southern US and the aboriginal people of Australia also provide influence to some.)
  
  Spoiler: Central Desert

  
• 
  The fire blazed in hearths all over the world, long ago, this story was told; a story which is now almost forgotten. It is still spoken by those who remember, weathered by time, but no matter how the stories of the animal gods have been bent or shaped by each clan that holds them, this story is the same throughout Taman. Settle down then, and let me rest these old bones by your hearth…and I will tell you…
  
  
  Once, long before anything, two souls existed separately in the inky nothingness. Who knows how long they drifted, unaware in the pitch. They were the God and Goddess Ameta and Tule and finally, when they met the nothingness exploded into a thousand fires. Together Ameta and Tule found inspiration in each other’s company, they decided that the loneness of their cold black world was far too bare. Agreeing on this they decided to create life. Ameta pulled great rocks together and moulded them into the bare earth, into great mountains and low ravines, sprawling sands and gaping canyons. Tule called the heavens to deliver her water and poured it from her celestial pitcher onto the soil. She filled the scars in the land with water and the deepest parts were submerged beyond even Ameta’s furious glow.
  
  Next they created the plants and trees, so many types and all different in different parts of their new world. Ameta created good crop plants, that would give their new lives sustenance, and Tule created medicines in still more, allowing them to recover from illness. Then, when their new world was ready they created life. The first were the insects, the earth-shapers; the crawling, slithering things that lived in the soil and under the bark of trees, then the fish, a rainbow of them in the blue waters Tule had called. Next came the reptiles, then the small furred creatures and finally great beasts like the lion and the bear. Ameta and Tule sat back once their final creation had walked, still blinking into its new land, and gave praise to each other, but Tule was not yet satisfied. She thought she could create a creature even better and asked Ameta to help her. Ameta felt insulted that their fine job did not satisfy Tule, why should they improve on an already perfect world? He refused to help.
  
  Tule looked on their beautiful land with sadness, because she could not create anything else without Ameta’s help, so, she decided to add to what was already there. Tule took the souls of two each of their animals and breathed on them. She gave them some of herself and gave them new forms after her own image. These blessed souls became aware of themselves, and they could take three forms: a human, after the likeness of the goddess, their soul forms, the four-legged beasts such as their mute kin, and a third that was half-way between both, that way they could be divine in image and always wear their true souls.
  
  When Ameta discovered what his defiant partner had done he flew into a rage. She had changed their beloved creations without his knowledge or consent and he demanded then that she destroy them. Tule could not bear the thought of eradicating her new peoples, she refused. Furious with her answer Ameta went down to earth with the intention of creating a force that would take care of this task. He saw what Tule had done with the beasts and the birds and turned his head to the earth-shapers, the insects and spiders. They did not have true souls however and when he touched them they were not enlightened. They became giant but remained almost mindless, monsters that devoured everything in their path, not just Tule’s blessed.
  
  This attempt failed Ameta tried again, forgetting that without Tule he had no ability to create true life. He poured as much of his strength as he could into these new beings, so much so that he shrank down to almost nothing. His creations he made in his own image, but they were completely soulless. They ravaged the land, seeking out any and all blessed and consuming them in their unrelenting fire.
  
  Tule begged him to help her stop them but even as he realized the error in what he had done, he was too weak to stop them. Tule turned to their now burning world and knew what she had to do. She summoned the waters, all the waters over the entire earth and with them she swept up all of Ameta’s dark creatures, his giant insects and soulless men and pushed them all out to the ocean and far away. Tule used the last of her strength to push them right off the edge of the earth and then, she retreated into the heavens.
  
  To this day Ameta and Tule have no strength left to touch our world as they did in the dawn of time, and to this day they will not speak to each other or to the people of their world. They do not share the same time in the sky, Tule took the night, and Ameta the day and they look on their world in silence.
  
• This tab is for you!
  If you develop your own lore around a specific group, tribe or family you can write about it and I will put it here to help others better understand your character. As long as it follows the general outline of the world there's a very good chance I will accept it.
  
  The Vulpine Order
  
  The Vulpine Order is an organization made by fox tribes and clans from all over the land. It's purpose is to preserve order and security among all fox tribes. Although it's ways are truly not known by the outside, it's members are known for becoming leaders and great warriors. They are known on the surface for being an honest and honorable group, but they do partake in some shady, under-the-table actions to ensure the wrong people don't come to a position of power. The training to become a member is rigorous, but the true initiation is a little more extreme. It's a branding (I'm assuming you know what I mean by branding). The brand is placed on their right shoulder. The symbol branded is the head of a fox.
  
  - @WolfSpirit