Oasis

The chapter update will be posted up later tonight, so hang tight! Just a little thingy to tie you all over until I can finish up the chapter. Been super busy with birthdays and work lately. Blegh. 







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On the Races of Men: 

To begin to delve into the explanations of each race in the realm of Earthia, would be a wonderful and fulfilling activity— but time consuming to say the least. For there are many kin of Earthia, and many races, and to being to explain the Shifters of the Dark Forest, in of itself, would require a novella. Or perhaps the magical people of the north— who had become more akin to legend than to reality, and are so rare that information on them has become fleeting and relies solely on the word of mouth from the grey and wise. Even still, there are the many races of Elves— too grand and ethereal in their own right, deserving of libraries to begin to reach into their expansive culture. And it would be unfair to skimp over the history of the mighty Orcs, the Shades, the Goblins, the Dwarves, the Wolves of the Ranges, and so on and so forth. 

 

Resilience is the strongest attribute of their man's kind, for although you may also say they are clever with swords, and battle— war does not make life— the key is through adaptation and the resilience to persist in a world that is ever changing. The same could not be said of races who had been extinguished, who found the changing of the world uninhabitable, and so vanished with time. 



 

Indeed, it is now that we will begin to crack into the hull of the race of Men, specifically only single races along the east of Eathia's continent Mertia, for there are many in the kin of man, and they are often growing in number and expanding across Mertia, like water that tries to fill the container it is placed in.

 

Going forward, along the east coast of Mertia, towards the bottom of the great continent, their lives a race of people know as the Telmarie. They harbor the entirety of the land, but are known to prefer life on the shores, and the strongest of them secure their villages along the border of the sea. Rarely do they squabble, for they greatly respect balance and tranquility, and are spiritual beings. They keep to themselves, and hardly travel out of the comfort of their towns, and thus have become unaware to most of the industrial advancements of the rest of the world. Their weaponry is simple, and indeed, would be laughable if tested in war— which was to happen sooner than they would know. 

Many of the race of Telmarie were lithe in stature, tan, and shorter than most of the other races, as well as being more agile. They had a keen understanding of nature, and found themselves most content in small villages as opposed to the more frequently blossoming kingdoms. Their style of living was simple, though not inane, and they kept themselves distant from the affairs of more ambitious men. 

It is through the start of the War of Igenvard that they began to see themselves across the lands of Earthia, planted like coastal seeds into the landlocked nations that reaped them from their homes. They, at one point, were a common form of slavery, alongside other captured peoples from more further northern places, and strange beings from the west. 

 

They are gentle in voice and song, and the lulling of their language sounds almost poetic as the lapsing of their words roll off of the tongue. To foreign ears, it may sound like a continuous stream of merry phrases, or some sort of melody.



They are rarely large farmers, preferring small family gardens that are situated alongside their homes. The trade of fishing and crabbing is the most popular among Telmarie, as well as the craftsmanship of pottery. As it were for livestock, for not being large into farming, Telmarie people would only raise a humble crop of pigs, or a small breed of inland goat for meat, which would, like the gardens, be a family trade. Oxen were the only form of transportation, for being a sedentary lifestyle along the borders of the water hardly called for an animal like a horse- which would quickly become tender-footed, colic prone, or sparingly used in the sandy terrain. 

 

They are a peaceful people, which would come to change at the turn of the century with the start of the War of Igenvard. As mentioned briefly, Telmarie's are quite spiritual, and celebrate many holiday's that revolve around their main deities; Ivai'ell, Sali'ni, and the lesser goddess Beronia. They love ceremonies and celebrations, and whole towns may travel to neighboring villages to partake in festivities if the holiday is large enough. It is said they are a naive people, which is excusable because of their secluded nature, but have no problems adapting and finding balance in new situations. 

At the end of their lives, Telmarie are lain to rest in the ocean. Whole families will travel to the coast, if they live more inland, solely for the purpose of setting their corpses at rest in the sea. It is a great honor, second only to child birth, and marriage, and seen as an offering to the Gods so that they may maintain peace. 

 

There is much to learn from these people as they emerge in more places around the world.. Some new knowledge may turn out to be surprising for a race so humble, and once so secluded. Indeed, many questions that will be answered may only raise new questions; and so it goes with the race of men.