Delkari

Government: Minarchist
Capital: Baitam
Borders: South- Rukilia, North- Quenardya, East- unknown, Southwest- unknown, West- unknown, Northwest- unknown (little orange yellow nation on the big map that hits both Quenardya & Rukilia)

Geography

History

Delkari is a nation started by refugees.

Rukilia has gone through several expansionistic phases, growing it's country into its current size over time. About 500 CR, during one such phases, the city of Delkari didn't like the idea of becoming servants to the Naga.

The Delkarians, while respecting the aedra and daedra, followed a different philosphy.

Mostly an Universalist philosophy, they do believe in re-incarnation. While the daedra found a way to trap souls in the Hells, once a soul passes through the Veil they are reborn into the natural world to learn all the aspects of Truth.

The major difference is that the Truth is not the Truth of the Universe… but the Truth of the Self.

The Truth of the Self is represented in the image of the Floating Flame, the balance of Passion with Reason, the Spirit and the Body.

And to learn the truth of one's self, you could not be bowing down to another. So one night, called the Night of Freedom's Fire, the Delkari packced up their belongings, set the city on fire behind them, and fled into the mountains of the north. They found a nice spot on a small plateau in the mountains that provided what they need- security against the naga, a place to grow food, a nearby river that went out the Central Sea (not quite into Rukilia, but a little too close for comfort), and a pass up into Quenardya.

Delkari Today

Delkari is rich in natural resources, but the Delkarian people realized early on that they couldn't just squander that richness and open themselves to needing assistance from Rukilia. They do facilitate some trade, but their biggest export is art. One of Delkari's natural (and renewable) resources is a plant called flame weed (akin to the real life stinging nettle, Urtica dioica), which is a component of a number of different alchemical potions and the fiber is used in various fabrics. There is also a puppeterring art that is very intricate and well respected.

The capital city of Baitam is the home of the martial art of Vadkalan, which was developed after the Night of Freedom's Fire.

They have a fairly unique government. Partially by virtue of a small population that can and wants to maintain the system, they have very minimal government institutions.

In most nations, this might not work, but the strong personal ethical focus of Vadkalan and its prevalence in the culture makes it possible for a primarily minarchist state to exist.

Military service is not mandatory, but many Delkarians join the military for at least one tour of service to contribute to the security of the country as a whole.

Relations with Other Nations

Delkari does it best to be neutral and cordial with its neighbors. They remain wary of Rukilia, but realize that it is not always a justified fear. They work well with Quenardya, but realize that they cannot be as friendly as they may want to be as to maintain a neutral stance.

As the other neighboring nations are not defined at this time, unless they are being antagonistic, Delkari will not be the aggressor (partially due to practicality, partially due to their general focus on self-growth and realization and a distaste of imposing will and restrictions on another).

Author's Notes

Delkari is a combination of Indonesian elements and Southern Indian (Kerala specifically).
Geography is like Romania, with the envrioment, flora, and fauna of Indonesia, minus many of the bad enviromental issue.

Sources Rukilia Tide of Mist

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalari

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalaripayat

I've not modified this information much, so while it's in the Wiki…. there is still a lot of outdated information in these basic imports. The stories that have been (and will be) published on the podcast feed further mold the universe (which is just so cool…), but conflicts with the original Bible.

So if you look at a number of the new pages, there are notes all over the place that things need to be confirmed/updated by the powers that be.

Indar is ex-army (a special forces equivalent team)… so I asked how the army is set up and run because that may give me more clues onto how Indar was affected by his training. And there's not much information on it, so we get to build it.

I am not very versed in the workings of any military, beyond what military/action sci-fi I've read and some friends who've served in just about every branch of the US military there is. I'm certainly willing to learn/read…

What direction I got from Chris was that the feel would be somewhere between modern US & UK, with naming conventions leaning towards the UK style. If we take what I did in Tide of Mist before knowing this, there would have to be at least some minor changes in the naming from UK convention.

~Mildred

1.) The Curse is most likely to go "wrong" if a person loses his/her protective amulet. Without Kyia's direct intervention, the version of the Curse that a person gets is totally random.

2.) People choose their desired form by submitting an application form to the Citadel and then waiting for it to reach Majestrix Kyia's desk. During the wee hours of the morning, when her staff is asleep, Kyia sets aside some time to find the people whose applications have reached her and adjust the weave of the Curse around their individual bodies. Once this has been done, one of Kyia's staffers processes the forms and sends back a notification to the person that their desired version of the Curse is ready. The amulet can then be taken off (if it's the over-the-shoulders kind) or removed by a doctor (if it's an implant).

3.) There is no single Theriomorph culture. Theriomorphs, like most Keepers, are divided more by class/social status than by race or ethnicity. Within social strata, though, there are certain patterns that emerge among theriomorphs:

Nobility: The oldest and greatest noble houses of Metamor were all present in the Valley when the Curse was first laid, and struggled for years to defend the Keep against the Dark Wizard Nasoj and various other threats. Because of this, the houses have generally adopted the forms of their heroic ancestors: House Brightleaf are foxes, House Matthias are rats, and House Hassan are horses and other equines. They have to periodically "out-cross" mundane members of their families to the members of other houses, so as to preserve their genetic diversity and stave off feralism (see the notes in the wiki). The nobles are proud of their forms because they embody the memories of their honored ancestors. They may display some behavioral traits associated with their forms — the Brightleafs are known for being clever and slightly crazy, Matthiases for being crafty, bold and prolific, and Hassans for being faithful and hard-working — but for the most part they act like nobility anywhere else in the Empire.

Upper Class Commoners: The rich non-nobles generally only choose to take on the theriomorph variant Curse if they can obtain some advantage from it — e.g., a businessman might take on the Curse to attract a wife from a noble family. There isn't much of a cultural tradition of theriomorphs in this social class.

Middle Class: The theriomorph curse at the middle-class level is mostly a vehicle for social interaction. Think of the Elks Lodge or the Lions Club in our world — and then think literally. Middle-class furballs tend to play very seriously with the imagery of their chosen animals, with lots of ceremonies and weekend excursions out to the woods and the like. Once they get back to their daily lives, they generally leave the animal-related stuff back at the lodge.

Street Rats: At this level of the City, "pack mentality" becomes a very literal reality. Gangs of all types are common on the Street, and it's not uncommon for them to be modeled on wolves, lions, and other pack-hunting predators. (Bulls are also sometimes used for their strength, ferocity and purported sexual prowess, even though they're herbivores.) The pack IS the day-to-day reality for these people; they don't have a "normal life" to go home to. As a result, these tend to be the most animalistic theriomorphs in their behavior and social structure.

1. How would a curse go wrong?
2. How does a theriomorph choose their animal?
3. What is the Theriomorph culture like?

A fungus-fed colony would be more amenable to co-existance with Metamor as a whole as the colony would not be activly hunting for ready sources of available food… living or dead.

I would imagine, also, that these ants would be highly detested by vampires and other undead since the ants would see them as 'dead' and attempt to make them into fungus chow. ;D

If you're looking at Bees you've got different problems as a sizable hive would require prodigious quantities of honey-making materials and flowers would simply be far, far too small to provide the required amounts.

Wasps would seek specific prey types and this would eventually lead to direct conflict with Metamor's citizenry.

Theriomorphs based on the eusocial insect species would definitely be … interesting. :) The thing is, eusocial insects are hyper-aggressive to anyone they aren't directly related to. With the exception of a new queen and drones that are occasionally born after the queen mates with a drone, virtually all of the offspring are sterile female workers. That's why they work together: the only way for them to pass on their genes is to help their queen succeed. If they run into the members of another hive or colony, warfare is immediate and intense. Even the new queens born to a queen have to either overthrow her or flee far away once they come of age.

There have been individuals in Metamor's past who have been changed into insects, and one of them was a male ant. We've never had a queen show up, though, so the eusocial hive thing never got started. Now that Kyia has partial control of the Curse, I think she'd want to avoid giving people varieties that would be likely to lead to open conflict.

Of course, Kyia can only alter the Curse if she knows that someone is going to let him/herself be changed by it. It is entirely possible that someone could have had an unfortunate accident, lost or damaged her suppression amulet, gotten trapped in the bowels of the city, and then been changed randomly into a bee, termite or ant queen. Since queens can produce their workers asexually, it is quite possible that she could birth an entire colony that lived in secret in the lower parts of the city — or beneath it. And if she or her workers ever smelled a drone — perhaps created by another accidental Curse — they would have an obsessive need to bring him to the queen at all costs…

I was curious if the minority status of them would mean they would live in some sort of commune together or be fiercely divided by their species or how strictly they all carry their queen, worker, soldier social structure. I was thinking of pitching a short story on this, but I'd like some collaboration on how they could fit in and of course your blessings before I got into it.

Actually, that's not the case anymore. Kyia has gained the ability to control which form of the
Curse people receive, so the pedomorph variant is almost extinct. Only about 2% of Metamorians
still choose it.

I didn't know this… I knew that magic had been developed to hold the Curse at bay, but no way to directly control its manifestation.

Best not listen to the podcast, then. ;-) Not pornographic, but we've definitely had some erotic
episodes…

Erotic is creative license… Vivid descriptions of acts an anatomy is pornography, and it can be found pretty much any and everywhere. That's why I have always pushed to keep it out of Metamor. As I am only peripherally associated with MK2K I really don't have a lot of room to lay that law on this Realm.

I'm as twitchy about the use of Pedomorphs as you are, just realistic in that 30% of the population (that's been cursed, or whatever term is used for those who have allowed themselves to be cursed) is a pedomorph.

Actually, that's not the case anymore. Kyia has gained the ability to control which form of the Curse people receive, so the pedomorph variant is almost extinct. Only about 2% of Metamorians still choose it.

Malger would understand the necessity of controlling the services of the Sensates guild to prevent undue exploitation of the hole that would exist if that sector of the population was not given the same services as everyone else (after all, consider that the animorphs have Sensate guild members… which itself smacks of zoophilia).

Perhaps, but animal-people have a longstanding heritage in fantasy and SF. I'm really not too worried about people accusing me of bestiality because I have cat-people and wolf-people in my stories.

I could see ARs being licensed to serve other ARs exclusively, but I don't think the Guild would stick its neck out any further than that. Way too much risk of somebody getting hurt with AR/adult pairings, especially if you throw fangs and claws into the mix.

One of the things I greatly enjoy about Metamor is it's overall PG to mild R rating, so I would not expect any manner of outright pornographic material being generated by the many, many writers that have come to the World concerning any aspect of the Curse.

Best not listen to the podcast, then. ;-) Not pornographic, but we've definitely had some erotic episodes…

Malger would understand the necessity of controlling the services of the Sensates guild to prevent undue exploitation of the hole that would exist if that sector of the population was not given the same services as everyone else (after all, consider that the animorphs have Sensate guild members… which itself smacks of zoophilia).

Ergo, while represented and accepted as members of the various guilds (legal and not), their visual use need only be touched upon in surface context. One of the things I greatly enjoy about Metamor is it's overall PG to mild R rating, so I would not expect any manner of outright pornographic material being generated by the many, many writers that have come to the World concerning any aspect of the Curse.

A: There are citizens of Metamor who are pedomorphs and they should have similar types available to them within the sensualist guilds. Granted, pedomorphs do not have the physiological perogatives to seek out sex, but their mental perogatives remain.

B: Trained sensualists of that age-type can be immeasurabe aids to finding and capturing criminals who exploit children (not only through the sex trade) as a good bit of the training is very close, harsh, and effective personal protective martial arts. They can also serve as therapists working with exploited children.

They are not, however, typically allowed in guilds outside of Metamor. Within Metamor agemorphs are strictly regulated in 'adult' industries.

Also, pedomorphs make excellent undercover law enforcement in all aspects of society.

After a hundred years of internecine struggle, Lom's economy was ruined and its people were burned out on war. Talia urged integration with the Empire, and a plebiscite passed the measure by a three-to-one margin. Today most of the former Dynasty's territory is owned by Talia's Syndicate through a set of shell corporations; those areas that are not run by the Syndicate are lightly populated and administered by an Imperial governor.

The Dragon Federation has its own territory, and has no need or desire to involve itself in the affairs of the "lesser" races. The dragons' numbers are small and they breed infrequently, so they keep to the mountains and find plenty of food for themselves. Those who choose to live among mortals usually do so by taking on human or Elven form, which they can maintain indefinitely.

Metamor would be a close second, but it's awful crowded for most Dragons.