This is a page that contains information about the world that doesn't fit specifically on any other page. Much of it is information about the world that can be useful to know. The rest of it is disinformation or misinformation. Pick which is which.
In a world with no gods and no basis for them, people still require some belief in a power outside themselves -- for words of comfort, joy, revenge and the like. The mythology around the notion of fate has become very convoluted over the centuries and fate has been seen as everything from a foe that must be fought to the last lover everyone meets. No one is sure what fate is -- or even if there really is some fate set out for people to spend their live(s) fulfilling but the mythology below explains it somewhat.
Slowly the mortals turn and everywhere
A thousand, thousand mirrors turn with them;
Looking around, bewildered, they stare,
Desperate to find a door but all round them,
Their reflections move and mocking laughter dares . . .
- from Songs of Wonder (Author Unknown)
The idea of fate in the lands of blood is typically seen as a path set out for ones life. .Many believe that people live multiple lives fulfilling their path, or at least trying to. Whether you become other species (or even if reincarnation is serial or not) is generally a matter of hot debate among people. However, the general consensus is that fate is the mother of your life path or purpose, a guiding point to what you could become but not what you have to. Often portrayed as a female figure pregnant with child, fate can be seen as kind, just, cruel, cold, unyielding and the like. Calling a woman fate is generally an insult linked to the least kind aspects of fate. Some Blood claim that their power allows them to make their own fate, or that the Blood or beyond fate. Like everything else, this is a matter of personal choice.
Some people even believe in a dark master that rules the entire world with an evil familiar creature that dictates our lives and even the dark master must bow to its wishes. Such stories are often ignored and laughed at.
Slowly the spider weaves it webs
And draws the people to it, one by one,
And more and more flies come to lie in it
But what if the web should become too full?
Will Order die and Chaos rise again?
Or will the future be our own to choose?
Or will the hole widen and we get dragged
Past those we call fools, still clinging to it,
To Darkness’ insane centre?
- An old proverb or philosophical musing or writings of a nut, depending who you ask.
While everyone has a fate, what do you call the fate of friends? Of groups of people, families, nations? Generally speaking, this inter-weaving of fates is seen as destiny. It is often considered stronger than fate, mostly due to its more general nature. You can say “He looks fated to die today” and people will nod and agree that the man who entered the dockyards unarmed is in trouble. However, if one says “The nation of Verdi is destined to fall” it has a larger impact, and as such is often heeded. Due to the fact that groups mentioned in destiny tend to involve wars, death and other fun occupations, destiny is often seen as male, or as an older female relative of fate. In its male aspect, destiny declares wars and feats of death and valour. The female aspect is seen as an evil witch, or an overall godmother. Some claim that destinies are forged by linking fates together, others that fates are bound into a larger destiny. Like many such questions, the answer is not readily available.
Yet the mirrors can crack and break
And all reflections be lost in the glare:
So now mortals can make
Their own luck and dare to accept the dare!
- The last verse to Songs of Wonder believed to have been written an hour before the authors death.
Sometimes personified as the chooser, the power of choice and free will tends to be very strong in any notion of fate or destiny. Exactly what people can choose and why they can make choices differs from individual to individual. Many scholars claim that this power is just an illusion, or only accessible to those with magic who can break or change their own fates. Regardless of these debates, most people believe that what they choose matters, if only to justify or explain things that happen to them that would make fate entirely evil. Most people assume that what they do matters to an extent Its generally a good assumption to make.
Words said by story tellers by the fire,
Words preserved from mouth to mouth;
Words written down on crackling parchment,
Words of love and loss, death and life:
Words of good and words of ill
Are all part of what will be.
- the first prophecy known to The Order.
Prophecy is something else entirely. Some claim that prophecies are a way of making fate necessary, or of making ones fate harder to change or break. Precisely what constitutes a prophecy depends on who you ask. Most prophecies are first spoken then written down at a latter date, which often makes literal interpretations or translations of prophecies a very chancy thing at best. People have fulfilled prophecies, broken them, ignored them or burned the speaker at the stake over the centuries. Reactions to them tend to vary widely, and most people are sceptical about prophecies since they seem to be worded to occur after the fact and many prophecies have been fulfilled multiple times and often by people not aware of the prophecy in the first place.
In the lands of blood, demons are an accepted part of the world. Attempts to purge them from ruins and the north have all met with failure since the demons seem to have no concept of surrender and fight to the death when they are pressed. Some of them reportedly can fight beyond it. The powers and abilities of demons tend to vary wildly but the general consensus is that there are a lot of them, they breed fast, and you fight then at your own risk. Many demons will attack small groups of people or caravans for food, weapons and, in a few cases, fresh meat. And that’s not the animals brought along for food and sacrificing.
No, this is not about PCs having sex, but it might have got your attention. This is a quick look at races views on the sexes in general. To whit, women and men aren't equal. If pressed, the fact that women bear children makes them superiour to men might be admitted by people but not necessarily. In the world just after the demon war, reproduction was very important to species survival. In 500 years it hasn't changed that much, but women can be warriors and fighters just as readily as any man can. What once once a necessity due to low populations is now an accepted fact. It is also accepted that a woman will settle down later, or at least bear some children during the course of her life. It is also accepted that men will try and have children, since inbreeding among a race tends to produce harmful effects -- just look at the elves. This is all playerss really need to know regarding how people vies the sexes.
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