Prak_Anima wrote:Which is why I like the Vashar. They want to kill the gods (yes, I'm an uber-militant atheist that faps to anything related to killing god blah blah blah as pointed out by someone I used to talk to online). They could be like Luthor in the Man of Steel storyarch that got reprinted actually titled Luthor, wanting to kill the gods because they think belief and worship demean sentient life, that the gods treat sapients as children.
But they're not. They're two year olds who rape each other in a pile of shit crawling with maggots.
It wouldn't be that hard to take the core of them (brutal, revenge-obsessed, freedom-loving libertarians who are more violent towards their own people than towards strangers) and make something interesting out of them.
The First Man
If he had a name, it was Man. He needed no other because there were no others of his kind. The gods made him to serve them and he did so without question for thirty times three-hundred years. He loved his creators. He toiled at their command. He venerated them every waking moment. He even worshiped them in his dreams. Their whims were the beginning and end of his world and he was happy, at first.
Over time the First Man grew lonely. The gods had each other for companionship. The animals had companions. Even the demons in the Abyss had companions. Yet he was all alone. And so it came to pass in the First Man asked the gods to give him a companion.
The Wise One heard his plea said that the gods should create a Woman in the image of the goddesses. But the other gods were filled with rage and would not hear him.
"Are we not good enough for you?" they asked their Man. "Don't you love us?" "Is our infinite grace insufficient for you?"
Cowed, the First Man fell to his knees and professed his love to his creators. "You are more than enough" he said. "You're are all I'll ever need." In his heart he felt sadness. He didn't understand the emotion then, for he had never felt it before, but it would grow.
For thirty times three-hundred years he toiled for the gods. He venerated them. He worshipped them. But every day the sadness grew in his heart.
Vasha
One day, while tending the fields of ambrosia that stretched from shore-to-shore in the before-age as was his duty, the Man found a woman. By the standard of Second Men, she was ugly beyond imagining. To simply look upon the Obyrith would shatter the soul of a lesser being, but the First Man was more perfect than the imitations that came after him. Rather than being repulsed by the demon as an inferior man would be, he felt compassion.
"I am Vasha," she said. "I have been overthrown by my evil slaves and cast up into the harsh light of the gods. Now I shall surely die."
Her wounds were great and her poison life-blood spilled out into the ground. It withered the divine crops and created a dead-zone where nothing would ever grow again.
The Man knew that she would die if he did not save her. He also knew that the gods would want her to die. Her very existence was anathema to them and she undid their works simply be being.He knew this, and he acted. For the first time in his long life he called upon the gods power to serve his will alone and her wounds were healed. The gods knew immediately.
"Slay her," they commanded him. "She is evil. She will bring ruin to all of our works."
He refused. They raged.
"Slay her." "No." "Slay her." "No." "Slay her." "Never."
The gods tried to smite the First Man, but Vasha hid him in the dark places where they cannot see. As the gods rage above them, they grew to love each other.
For three years the gods unleashed their fury upon the Earth and for three years the two loved each other in their hiding place. The Wise One intervened and calmed his siblings and they returned to Heaven unsatisfied.
The First Man remained in hiding for another three years and when he came out he carried three horns. " I repent! he cried. I have slain Vashar and brought her horns as tribute. Please forgive me."
"See," the Wise One said to his brothers. "I told you that he'd come back."
The gods accepted the demon's horns and forgave their wayward creation, but they made him suffer a terrible penance. The gods agonized him for three years and three years more before they allowed him to return to his duties.
He served the gods faithfully for another thirty-three years and then disappeared. "Where did he go?" the gods asked. "Where is our Man?"
"Demons are vile things," The Wise One said, "but they understand revenge. One of her kin must have unmade him in anger." The other gods saw the wisdom in his words and agreed. Then The Wise One went to stoke the Divine Fire, lest his siblings see that an Ember was missing, while the other gods went back to their bickering.
Eventually the gods forgot about the Man, all but The Wise One who saw the Man steal the Ember but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut.
The City That Was
The First Man used the stolen Ember to burn an layer of the Abyss. In the blink of an eye, the Divine Fire reduced infinity to ash. From that ash the First Man and his mutilated demon bride constructed the City That Was. For three-hundred times three-hundred years it was a paradise where no one suffered and all were happy.
It couldn't last. The gods discovered their creation's treachery and he could not hide from them. His soul was destroyed and so was his wife. The City was returned to ash. Some of the First Children escaped the destruction and hid, Vasha taught them about the secret places where the gods cannot see. Then the gods decreed that all created things shall die in time and the First Children began to wither in their hiding places.
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Suffering[
The Vashar believe that existence is suffering because the gods are dicks. They also believe that death is suffering because the gods are dicks. And undeath is just more of the same. The concept of unjust suffering forced on the Vashar (and all people) by cruel and capricious gods informs every aspect of their culture.
At the same time they believe that suffering breeds strength and that the endurance of unjust suffering is the defining trait of the Vashar as a people. At it's core, the Vashar civilization is one of stoic Martyrs who are expected to endure the worst pains and indignities for the greater good.
Unlike other races who are conventionally classified as evil, the Vashar do not torture their enemies. They see the endurance of suffering as a privilege, not a punishment. As such, they prefer to kill quickly and cleanly. They reserve the torture for their children.
Rites of Passage
The Vashar are not cruel and uncaring monsters. They truly love their children. But one cannot become part of Vashar society without enduring pain and humiliation. Ritualized torture is a part of most Vashar rites of passage. These tortures are highly regimented and have been refined over centuries of practice to be as safe as possible while still inflicting the maximum amount of pain and distress. Debilitating injury is rare and death unheard of. The adults justify it as a necessary experience for every true Vashar. The children, for their part, look forward to it even as they dread it. Each new torture brings more respect and privileges.
Marriage
The Gods created marriage for the Second Races but the Vashar had no trouble appropriating it as their own. Indeed, they had something resembling marriage in the City That Was, though it did not have a name and lacked formality.
Unlike the Second Races, however, they do not limit marriage to one man and one woman. They marry in all combinations. Men are allowed to marry men. Women are allowed to marry women. Polygyny and polyandry are both commonly practiced.
The ideal Vasharan marriage has three adults, two of one sex and one of the other.
Vasharan marriages are never exclusive. Even within polygamous unions, they see adultery as an ideal to be embraced. If for no other reason than to give the finger to the gods.
Reproduction
The Vashars place little value on biological paternity and maternity. They fuck freely and adopt freely. They even adopt the children of other races. Instead they emphasize a concept called spiritual parentage. They believe that a child's soul is malleable and that shaping a child's soul is more important than creating his body.
In keeping with this philosophy they practice partible paternity and maternity. Every man within a marriage is equally the child's father and every woman equally the child's mother. Biology alone confers no special rights.
Everyone who endures the necessary rites of passage is considered to be a Vashar adult, even those who aren't biologically Vashar. Abduction and adoption is a common part of Vashar warfare.
Relationships with other races.
As members of the First Race, The Vashar know that they are superior. This is as a much a fundamental part of their culture as the belief that the gods are evil. The Second Races are inferior creatures. They were designed to be slaves to the gods and their souls will break when exposed to the terrible truth of the universe. Through suffering, their slave-souls might be transformed into true Vasharan souls, but most are so indoctrinated that they don't want that. Killing them would be a mercy if not for the fact that the afterlife is controlled by the gods. Destroying their souls is a mercy.
The Vashar can and often do tolerate and trade with the Second Races, but the obliteration of the worshipers of the gods is a long-term priority for them. When the Vashar Crusade, they rarely leave survivors.
Laws
The Vashar have no formally codified system of laws. Instead they rely on common law and tradition. Minor disputes are usually settled by qualified lay judge while major crimes are handled either by a professional judge or an unruly mob, depending on the location.
As the Vashar believe that suffering is a privilege rather than a punishment, serious crimes such as rape (except during approved rituals and festivals) and pre-meditated murder usually carry the death penalty. A swift clean cut to the throat with a sharp knife is the preferred method of execution. Lesser crimes are generally punished with a monetary fine or proportionate compensation.
The legal protections provided to non-Vashar vary from community to community. In large cities most races have equal protection during peace time (all bets are off during a crusade), but there are still isolated communities where it's perfectly acceptable to kill a second man for pure entertainment.
Slavery is illegal in all forms. The Vashar has an innate racial abhorrence of the very concept.
Gender Relations
A great many Vashar folk heroes were highly capable females, including Vasha herself. But unlike the Drow they aren't controlled by a psychotic man-hating goddess. As a result Vashar society strives for gender equality. Men and women are considered equal in all respects. Women can become warriors. Men can carry children with magical aid.
Afterlife
Because the Vashar believe that the gods are malicious, they refused to go to any afterlife ruled by the divine. Ages ago, a powerful wizard created the Ilkanac , a giant soul-gem enchanted to trap the souls of all dead Vashar. The Ilkanac resides in the hidden Vashar city of Hetrot, the closest thing they have to a holy land. Vashar children are magically linked to the gem shortly after birth with distinctive enchanted tattoos. As the child grows, these tattoos are touched up and added to.
The Vashar believe that when the Great Crusade is finished and all the gods are dead, they can overturn the God's decree and be reborn into immortal bodies, as they once were. When that time comes all of the Second Races will either be converted into Vashar or destroyed.