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[Gotdamnmiracle]

A world weary man sits outside of a dark colored tent, whipping in the wind. His bones practically creak in the gale as he squats and has spits out a mixture of chewing tar, saliva, and phlegm. Only one noise can be heard over the constant din of grit pelting against skin and fabric, the cries of a woman in anguish. The man squints as a form begins to appear out of the twisting sand and limited light of a small camp fire a small distance away. As the form nears the man returns back to his full height and is revealed to be a gargantuan figure clothed in drab rags of unremarkable colors continuing forward, unhindered by the tide of the wind. Suddenly a new noise joins the chorus, the wales of a newborn. The man frowns as the massive figure moves unphased by the new noise.

The harsh voice of the old man calls out as the figure nears, only strides away now, "Do not do this!." The mans voice is dessicant and unstable with fear. The figure pauses for a moment, showing no emotion before continuing once again. "Please, no!" the wrinkled crone yells before moving into the way of the figure in a display of foolish courage and rage. The figure did not pause this time. The figure with a wide gesture and trailing strips of fabric strikes the gaffer out of the way, knocking him off balance and continuing forward.

As the figure enters the tent a womans voice is heard. "What ar- no stop! Help! Warriors! Taxca! That is mine! Sto-" The voice is cut off by the meaty noise of flesh being cut in a swift stroke.

The figure exits the tent, wiping the blade of his tomahawk on his flowing robed leg, leaving thick black strokes on the mud colored fabric in the fires glow. The obsidian of the blade twinkles in the farelight as it is replaced on the giant's hip. The monolithic figure now carries a wailing bundle in it's left arm and begins to speak in a deep voice, devoid of remorse. The creature adresses the injured old man in a voice heard long before the man was born and will be spoken long after he dies.
"Your tribute, Taxca. It lacked."
The figure turns to look at the man, now in the sand and among the dancing light and spinning sand the man just makes out a pale bone socket, empty of eye, before the figure turns away, striding off into the Ataf Dunes, or as some prefer, the Barren West, where tombs were blanketed and uncovered by swirling sands. A place absolutely alien and harsh.

The old man now sat alone, the only noise was the noise of grit hitting skin and fabric as it swirled.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

New game. It's an RPG but that needn't concern anyone. You won't see any stats anyway. It's going to be realism with a little twist of magic. Don't worry there won't be any fireball tossing and the history of Qanzatli will be revealed as the game progresses. You will also be able to choose a name, sex, and what you want to do with your character along with a lot of exploring of the world, or Qanzatli as it's called. And please feel free to join in at any time and provide feedback at me. Keep in mind, all suggestions should be realistic to the situation. All combat will be treated relistically, thus running away from certain situations might be best. For now however...

You wake up with halitosis from lack of food staining your mouth and sleep still in your eyes. The red stone walls surround you and there is a cloth curtain covering up a threshold on the far side of the room. On a shelf carved out of the stone sits your few possessions. The smell and noise of searing meat fills the room. Something is cooking outside of the cloth door.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Your inventory:
Nothing...

Hint: You might want to get dressed.

[Spinal_Taper]

Dress yourself in the blood of your enemies.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

Dress yourself in the blood of your enemies.

We're getting ahead of ourselves. Stick around though.

[Spinal_Taper]

Look for clothes?

[Gotdamnmiracle]

You stand up and stretch, hearing pops as you do so. You wander over to a wicker basket and open it up.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The basket contains:
A pair of ankle high leather sandles
a pair of loose fitting lenin trousers, brown
a sash, brown
a thobe, brown
a shawl

Examining the room you see:
3 waterskins
a satchel, empty
a veil, undyed
a pair of sunslits, chitin
a small ash effigy
a sleeping pad
a number of pots and baskets of various sizes, all are empty
a makeshift broom

You take the things out of the basket and get dressed, draping the shawl over your shoulders. Your stomach rumbles as you finish tightening your left sandle and return to a full stand. The room is filled by red light filtering in through the thin curtain, being wrinkled and twisted by a minor breeze. The scene is peaceful...

"Pupil! Get in here!"

[Spinal_Taper]

Scream "Hey dude, I'm naked! Gimme a minute!". Get dressed.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

You yell back "One moment, Master, I am dressing." A reply is yelled back.

"Move pupil! There isn't enough sunlight for this." What follows is a series of unintelligable mutters saying something about feeding your meal to the beasts.

You place on your clothing quickly, wrinkling your thobe and tying your sash around your waist.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

By the way feel free to ask about or "examine" anything you are unsure of or are curious about and I will provide you with more information.

[Dwarmin]

Head on out with as much dignity as we can muster. Which problem ain't much.

[Gotdamnmiracle]

You take a deep breath and move out into the main room. The room is filled with sizzles and pops and the smell of cooking meat. You spot the source, three slices of yellow flesh cooking on a flat dish warmed over a small fire. The room also has a number of seasonings in small glass bottles on small shelves carved in the stone. There are also a two baskets filled with fruit. A jug full of water sits on the floor. A large door of cloth red like the stone it is strung along the outline of the door toblock the outside from getting in, still however some wind manages to get past the dyed burlap. weights on the bottom keep the fabric in place so it doesn't become loosed in a storm. A number of ceramic bowls, plates and wooden eating utensils are soaking in a ceramic pot filled with dirty water. There is also a hatch in the floor that is closed.

You reach your hand ino the dirty chilled water and grab a wooden spoon and fork to serve yourself.

You sit down crosslegged and pull the meat off of the dish and on to your plate. Near you is also a bowl with slop made from ground and wetted kisp, a common cereal grain, it is served hot, normally and sometimes with alcohol. You eat quickly and finish your filling, if a bit bland, meal and punctuate it with a long pull from the bucket, leaving you stomach sloshing as you stand and sprint to get outside.

The sun is high, it is later than you thought, and strong today, luckily the sand is low and you can see pretty far. Outside you stand on a rocky outcropping of red stone. Your master says it is the best place for you and he because from a distance it looks like any other pile of rocks sitting in the sand.

You put your hand over your face to block the sun and you can see for miles, not that there is much to see, dune after dune, and the horizon with patch of grass ever so often.

"Where are you?" You yell out, unable to find your master.

"I'm in back, near the well."

You walk down off of your home and around for a few hundred paces to the well. As you walk by you pass a couple of your mahjs, Large quadripeds used for travel in the desert, they have short hair that is usually whit with black splotches and two horns that stand about a foot two a foot and a half off of their heads. The mahjs are tied up, chewing on bales of grass provided to them. You pass by the beasts and continue on to find a very tall figure wrapped in cloth standing completely upright near the well. In front of it is a large dish and in it's left hand it grips a large lizard, struggling to get away. It taps it's foot impatiently.

"Care to begin?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

 inventory:
A pair of ankle high leather sandles
a pair of loose fitting lenin trousers, brown
a sash, brown
a thobe, brown
a shawl, brown

[Gotdamnmiracle]

"Hm? Yes?" Your master grabs the lizard and snaps it's neck, ceasing it's movement and tossing it in the sand. Your master drops to to it's knee and pulls a puoch tied to it's sash off and empties it on the plate and wets it with it's waterskin. It also pulls off a small piece of cloth and tosses it onto the plate.

"Now raise it. Use all three of the simplest methods I've taaught you. We'll work on some of the more difficult ones when you get back. Well... Raise the little pest, first use the effigy."

You take the wet ash and begin to mold it into a small lizard. After an hour the mush begins to actually look like a lizard. "That will do." You place the effigy on the plate and begin to mumble incantations and focus your mind.

After a couple of hours with no change you master tells you to stop and says that it may be best for you to have some water and try the knot method. You agree and gulp down half of it's waterskin before tying a binding knot. You once again begin to muster up the focus and incantations. After a number of hours with no success your master returns. You hadn't noticed that he had left but when he arrives he says "You haven't raised it yet?!" It sighs and says "Try the circle I suppose." You nod, very tired by this point. You are also thirsty and haven't eaten since breakfast. You finish the waterskin and draw a circle in the sand, luckily the wind has died down this close to dusk. You step inside the circle and begin the incantations. After what feels like forever... "There you go!" You open your eyes to see the lizard twisting around in the sand.

"You see! It took all three methods for you to finally get it but there you go. If you were willing to spend a few more days or weeks doing that the creature would become more maleable and responsive. Beasts however are to dull to do anything with. They will usually attack you before you can get a word out."

You nod tiredly and stand up, stepping out of the circle. The wriggling lizard finally catches it's footing and rolls itself over. The lizard immediately scrabbles over to your foot, hissing, and lunging, mouth wide open, latching onto your big toe.

You stomp on the creature, to no avail, it still hangs on. Your master grabs the effigy and crushes it. The lizard bite widens and it slips off of your kicking foot. The lizard begins convulsing in the sand as you pick up the knot and grab an obsidian knife your master offers you. You slash the knot in half and the lizard quits moving completely.

"As you continue practicing you will need to rely on fewer and fewer methods until all you need to do is carry a knot around with you. Speaking of which," It digs around in a pouch and hands you a knot of cloth soaked in dried blood, "Take this and begin packing your things. You leave in the morning. I need you to check something out for me. I'll get your mahj ready. I'll also prepare the thrall."

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

inventory:
A pair of ankle high leather sandles
a pair of loose fitting lenin trousers, brown
a sash, brown
a thobe, brown
a shawl

wounds:
A small bite on the foot. Effects none. Minorly annoying.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Sorry to have this part but this is a bit of a tutorial. If you aren't likeing the tutorial style of the beginning here I can just begin you off tommorow all packed up and junk or you can look around your home and pack up what you think will be useful.

[Spinal_Taper]

"Aiight. Just lemme peek 'round a bit."

[Weirdsound]

Go prep your stuff.

[exolyx]

"Aiight. Just lemme peek 'round a bit."s

[Yoink]

>Bow respectfully to the figure, then go and pack our few meagre belongings. Be sure to leave space in our bag for any shiny trinkets we may stumble upon on our journey!

[Gotdamnmiracle]

You bow to your master and turn to leave. You feel a bit light headed from the lack of food but happy you were able to raise the lizard. You are also happy he only made you raise a small lizard. Once he had said that to raise a human it may take days of fasting and meditating.

As you ponder this you wander up into your room and grab the satchel. You put your objects in the satchel and move to the main room where you pack some light provisions, Mostly fruit and some dried meats. As you pack you spy the hatch. You've been down into your masters study before but never without him present. As you begin to make your way toward the hatch a voice stops you.

"I've prepared the thrall and beast. As well as some things you may need."

You turn around and your master hands you a map a knife and a pouch. As you take them it continues to speak.

"I've marked the map on where you need to go. It is a tomb that has been opened up, an old one too. I need you to look around in there. Oh! And avoid people! I've told you how they treat our kind. If you absolutely have to deal with people however, make the thrall leave. Get rid of him, you can hide your knots and ash but they will know exactly what you are if they see that. The Tomb is the "X". Avoid the dots, those are towns, and the red line is the trade road, also to the east is the nomad lands."

You nod as you fasten the pouch and knife to your sash and open up the map.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I want to put in a map picture but I don't know how. Help please.

You see a few large dots, all with words under them, a red line attaching all of them and an "X".

You close the map and put it in your satchel.

"Are you ready? You seem well packed. You should return in no more than three days. Don't forget to sleep in the day and travel at night. Off with you now."

You walk outside and see your Mahj, with pouches and a water pot fastened to it's back along with a saddle. To the side, standing perfectly at attention is the thrall.

It has rotted a little since you raised it a week and a half ago but still retains muscle and a human likeness in most places. Thinking about it, you wish you had taken the time to mummify him but figure you can do that to the next thing you raise. You hop on your mahj and get ready for a long relaxing ride.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

inventory:
A pair of ankle high leather sandles
a pair of loose fitting lenin trousers, brown
a sash, brown
a thobe, brown
a shawl, brown
a satchel
an obsidian knife
a map
a pouch, full with ash
a pair of sunslits, chitin
a veil, undyed
a waterskin

Resources:
8 days provisions
10 days water
1 mahj
1 thrall

Once you finally get some distance between you and your home you decide to pull out your map to get a better idea of where you want to go.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Places discovered:

Cities:
Axhuyt, 7.5 days
Icnahta, 9 days
Akitl, 6 days

Tombs:
X marked tomb, 1day (These will be filled with the names of kings when you discover the tomb for real)

Other places:
Follow trade road, 29 days long
Explore Ataf Dunes
Explore Nomad lands

So, where do you want to go?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And here's where the game begins!