I have edited my post for Ouranon to include an image of the Goddess, a paragraph about the economy, and the Kaos demon (Nyx the Three-Faced). Now for the Saint and Human bios.
Ouranon:Saint:
Name: Eileithyia
Appearance:
Occupation: Patron Saint of Scholars, Philosophers and Mystics. In Ouranon she is often called "the Architect," because it is she who designed the Sphere.
Age: 512
Bio:
When Eileithya was a girl, what is now Aramazd and Teohuaca (see below) was governed by an imperial monarchy that sought to consolidate the worship of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit, Nilo, and Taphe (see below) under the control of a strict, ascetic, male-only clergy. The Imperium had been founded as an effort to bring unity and peace to the Crescent Land which, due to its shape and difficult terrain, tended towards political fragmentation and internecine warfare. By Eileithya's time, the Imperium had degenerated into a brutal tyranny and lost the blessing of the Gods.
Eileithya was a bright and insatiably curious child. Her family was wealthy, and sent a son to study under each of the three priestly Orders so that they could earn high station in the Imperial administration. Ya'sa-u, her eldest brother was the one who went to the Academy of the Order of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit in the Spires. He was lazy and not terribly bright, but he found that Eileithya would do his homework gladly--and accurately. Together they found ways for her to listen in on his classes. Myrhhiddyn, the foremost of the Sages and Saint of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit noted this with a twinkle in his eye. He covertly took Eileithya under his wing and initiated her into the secret Mysteries, even though this was forbidden under the penalty of death. She also gleaned what knowledge she could from her other brothers about their areas of expertise, social order (the Order of Nilo) and engineering (the Order of Taphe).
When she was 17, Myrhhiddyn died and was replaced as Foremost of the Sages by a Sage who favored a rival family. Ya'sa-u was caught cheating, and Eileithya's secret was exposed. She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to execution. The escalating conflict between the two powerful families brought the Imperium to the brink of civil war. Meanwhile, the dark-skinned Teohuacans, dwellers in the mountains and deserts chafed under the rule of the light-skinned Imperial ruling class. Hoping to solidify his rule with a display of strength, the Emperor decided to have Eileithya executed publicly in the capital. Eileithya was tied to a stake and set alight. But as the flames closed around her, they turned to silvery white. Her bonds were vaporized, but her flesh was unharmed. As the tongues of white flame curled into Fibonacci spiral fractals, the voice of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit spoke from the flames, proclaiming Eileithya to be her new Saint.
The appointment of a female Saint directly undermined the Imperial clergy. In a desperate ploy, the Emperor called upon Ara to send the Guard and restore order. The Guard did indeed come and restore order--by abolishing the Imperium. The Crescent Land was placed under a provisional government ruled by the Saints of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit, Nilo, and Taphe. During the Three Saints Era, the land was divided between the Aramazdi and Teohuacan peoples, and arrangements for trade and travel were made. For a time, the worshipers of Seshat-Na'iith-Mah'iit lived in the Spires, cities carved into a set of tall, slender rock formations that stood over the old Imperial capital. However, this arrangement was not wholly satisfactory, as it carried the stigma of a claim to Imperial hegemony. Eileithya's people refused to scatter among the Aramazdi and Teohuacans, and they did not want land of their own. The Spires were the temple of their goddess and also the prime habitat for the silkspiders that were already key to their economy.
With help from the Saints of Nilo and Taphe, Eileithya developed a resolution to the conflict. Her people would abandon the Spires and the Imperial capital to live in a new aerial city, Ouranon. Over succeeding decades, she and her people worked out their structure of governance as they built their new city. At the same time, the other Saints and their peoples established human governments for Aramazd and Teohuaca. When Eileithya was 124, Ouranon was launched and the Three Saints Era came to an end.
Human:Name:
Lliira of Laulainen Icosa
Age: 17
Occupation: un-Assigned
Appearance:
Bio:
Lliira was raised as a member of Laulainen Icosa, one of the thirty-member social substructures of Ouranon. Like any good Ouranese child, she strove to do her best as a student. She did well in her scholarly studies and mystical practice, but was not able to stand out in those areas. She excels most in dancing, martial arts, and flying her Kitestaff. A Kitestaff is a light, hollow rod of Structural Silk (a type of spidersilk that is self-adhesive, and woven into desired shapes. When its adhesive dries, Structural Silk becomes a light, strong, solid form). The user presses a contact that opens the rod. Spinning it in a swirling motion, the user unfurls the silk parasail stowed inside. The user can then mount the rod like a trapeze, controlling the parasail with a pair of kite strings with handles, and by shifting their weight. On the ground, the Kitestaff (with the kite furled inside) can also be used for defense.
Lliira is quiet even for an Ouranese. She is shy, and seeks solitude often enough to be noticeably eccentric by her people's standards. She has not yet received an Assignment, and she begins to worry that there might be something wrong with her. She is also curious about the strange ground-dwelling peoples below, but she tries to keep this to herself.
Teohuaca:The Teohuacan people live in a loose federation of cities and towns in the mountains surrounding the inner circle of the Crescent and the deserts and beaches that comprise the outer circle. They live in a kind of uneasy symbiosis with the nation of Aramazd, which controls the rainy, foggy foothills of the central mountains.
The Highland Teohuacans are master stonemasons. The exquisite precision of their megalithic architecture is unparalleled in Itova. Their cities are constructed of gigantic diorite blocks carved into three-dimensional interlocking shapes and fitted together with the precision of a Swiss watch. Most of their crops are grown on artfully terraced fields on the steep slopes of the ancient supervolcano that formed the Crescent. These terraces capture rainwater, prevent flash-flooding, and create micro-climates tailored for each set of crops. On the inner wall of the Crescent, the throat of the ancient volcano, the Teohuacans have cliff-cities carved into the living rock and built inside dormant lava-tubes. These cities specialize in mining and heavy industry, powered by geothermal energy and the wind-vortex that swirls around the within inner circle of the continent.
Though they tinker with
self-trimming wing-sails,
rotary sails, and submersibles, the Teohuacans do most of their sea trade via the Rovani, with whom they have a friendly relationship. The thin soil of their mountains does not support many forests, so apart from a few fast, powerful warships to defend their harbors against pirates, Teohuaca prefers to leave maritime activity to the master shipwrights and sailors of Rovan.
The difficult terrain of highland Teohuaca makes roads difficult to build and maintain. The long arc of the Crescent adds to the challenge of overland travel, as every long journey between cities means "going around." The Teohuacans employ a variety of transport systems to solve this problem. Along the rim of the ancient volcano, catapults launch gliders and large cargo sailplanes that use the wind-vortex to soar to sky-ports elsewhere on the Rim. A network of aerial ropeways and zip-lines link the rim to cities on the outer slopes. Some of the inner cliff cities are linked to outer slope cities by cable-driven tunnel railways. For trade with other nations, the Teohuacans employ airships, orinthopters (canvas and reed aircraft that fly by means of mechanical flapping wings crafted in imitation of birds), and spiralcopters (a more developed version of Leonardo da Vinci's corkscrew helicopter).
To people of other nations, Teohuacans seem to have a peculiar fascination with transport. The Lowland Teohuacans take this to a whole new level with their unique Walking Villages. Constructed of bamboo reeds, pneumatic hoses, and ribbed "wings" to capture the wind, villages of nomads travel across the deserts and beaches between oases and caravanserai's, bringing trade and tales. A "Walking Village" is a caterpillar-like construction consisting of walking structures like
these joined together by a "suspension bridge" that carries a village of tents.
God: Name: Taphe, "The Artificer," "The Mind of Kyros" Taphe is revered as the aspect of the Creator responsible for the design of the created order. He is also the patron deity of human inventiveness. Among the Desert Teohuacans his first Saint, Idrys the Dreamweaver is honored almost as a goddess in her own right, and is the patron of shamans and storytellers.
[OT: Out of time for now; more to come soon]