Gutanoth - Oops, should've noticed the complete opposite traits. I've changed them with the magic of Runesmith, she's still listed as clean-shaven, but the personality should be a bit more true to life.
1st Granite 675 - Morning"Please! Pilgrims! Pilgrims, please-" in vain Ibruk was trying to calm the Dwarves. After the refugees had arrived the entirety of Nomekast had gathered at the dining area to discuss what would happen. The refugees had brought in another Elf, but not only that, a Dwarf who acted like a Goblin and treated the Elf boy following her as a slave, a crazed philosopher who had torn his eyes out, a Human, what was apparently a Human but seemed mutated, and a Kobold. This had never happened in living memory. Each race kept to their own, occasionally you might get a Human living amongst Dwarves or even a Goblin outcast amongst Humans. But this wasn't just a single Human or Elf, this brought the non-Dwarven population up to a Goblin; three Elves, a Kobold, and two Humans, along with a Dwarf who might as well have been a Goblin, seeing as she did not even speak Dwarfish. That meant every sapient race now lived under Nomekast's stone roof. At the best of times Elves living amongst Dwarves was enough to cause a riot in a Mountainhome, but
three of them, along with
Goblins and Kobolds? Bax had been tolerated, but he had had to earn his place, helping to slay a troll and several forgotten beasts, and Fori had earned her place looking after the farms.
"Please! Listen!" Ibruk tried again. Reg's voice could be heard over the hubbub,
"We let them live here and we'll soon find ourselves enslaved or murdered in our beds! Mark my words! The kind of wounds I've seen Gobbos inflict to the innocent, or the bodies of brave soldiers chewed by Elves-" He had found a few people who agreed with him amongst the refugees, two or three. The noise of the crowd was suddenly cut off when one of Kadzar's priests slammed her copper spear on the table, making a loud noise that silenced them all, it was Nish, lover of the farmer Sibrek who had been killed by Mysterydrip the giant cave spider, and in solace had espoused Ibruk's doctrines with a fanaticism that almost rivalled Kadzar's.
"Master Ibruk is trying to speak, show respect." she growled. Ibruk nodded to her,
"Thank you Nish. My friends and fellow pilgrims, what are we accusing these refugees of? Of daring to escape from their doomed homes? Of daring to seek a better, more pious life here at the gods' chosen place? Who here can honestly say we'd have survived without Fori's farming skills? Who here can honestly say that Bax has not risked life and limb as often as our own militia, slaying unholy beasts sent by devils? If we had turned them away, would we have been the better for it? It is not up to us to choose who among the righteous we harbour, for the Gods have sent them all to us, so let us accept them and grow stronger for it. Dark days lie before us as the gods destroy this sinful world and then rebuild it anew for us, the righteous, the pious, the holy."
"Are you suggesting Kobold thieves and Goblin scum are
holy?" Reg cried incredulously.
"What does birth-race matter? The gods are the gods, no matter what name different races call them they are still the same deities."
There was a murmur of agreement, both from Ibruk's supporters (and the more pious Dwarves among the refugees) and from those that agreed with letting the other races live here and remain here, even if they did not agree with Ibruk's reasoning for it. Reg threw his hands up in rage,
"Are you deliberately trying to kill us all!?" he shouted angrily.
"We don't need the other races to do that. The Nothing and monsters in the caverns seem all-too-happy to do it for them." Rion said, leaning on his axe, "Now if you don't mind, some of us just want to eat breakfast, so if you're going to argue, do it somewhere else."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
NoonLoral Treesinger looked out over the vast cavern the Dwarves had colonized and lived in the past three or so years. He was pleased to see the great abundance of plant life, these Dwarves hadn't choked the natural world as many of their kin did. But looking up he could only miss the wide open sky, with the moon and the stars shining down on the forests. Standing on the bridge into the caves he looked down, and saw the large farms down below. If nothing else, he would be able to help out there, though he had heard there were a great many of creatures that could be hunted within the caves, though the Dwarves seemed reticent to opening the bridges out into the wide passages, citing giant cave spiders and forgotten beasts that had ravaged them before. With his bow slung over his back, he decided to go down and have a look round.
He passed the temple and dining area, having already been introduced to them, and took a cursory look into the communal bedroom and the food stockpile, along with Tarran's unfinished cottage. Then he went down to the farms. He thought he saw a child working there, picking up a few plump helmets, but upon seeing the ears and skin he realised it was the Kobold that had escaped into Nomekast shortly after his own refugee group had. The Elf approached the rodent-like creature, supposing he might as well introduce himself. When the Kobold looked up from taking the plump helmets and saw Loral he jumped back, eyes wide with surprise, dropping his harvest.
"Calm down." Loral said in what he hoped was a calming voice, "I'm not going to hurt you." he wasn't sure if the Kobold could understand him, after all, nothing like regular speech had really ever been observed in Kobold society. He pointed at himself,
"I'm Loral. Loral." he said slowly. The Kobold nodded at this, relaxing when he saw the Elf was not one of those pointy-eared self-righteous ones that had razed his home. The rodent-like creature indicated itself, with a thump of the chest,
"Xenos." it said. Loral nodded,
"Pleased to meet you." he said. Xenos nodded, but said nothing more. Shrugging, Loral left with a goodbye-nod, leaving Xenos to pick up his plump helmets.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"So hoo here iz da shmot guy?" Meinhard asked Shin, stopping her in the hallway.
"The
what?" she asked, staring up unimpressed at the tall, bluish green-skinned man,
"Da shmot Dwarf. Da one with da brainz." the mutated Human repeated, tapping the side of his head for emphasis, "Hy have to give dese to da shmot Dwarf." he continued, indicating the leather scroll case that held the schematics of his previous employer's work.
"Well there's Torvold, he's
'shmot' I suppose, and then Reg is
'shmot' in medical knowledge, Urist is
'shmot' in mechanical matters and-"
"No, no," Meinhard said, holding up a finger to interrupt her, "Hooz the shmotest?"
"Just give it to Torvold." the architect said exasperated, walking off and leaving the Human behind. Meinhard scratched his head,
"But ver's Torvold?" he muttered, "If he's da shmot Dwarf he should have a lab."
As it happened, Torvold was the next person to stride down the hallway, plans tucked under one arm. Meinhard recognised what was on those plans, schematics for various devices, just as Dos Panzermench's own plans had on them.
"Hey!" he cried out, stopping Torvold, "Are hyu da shmot Dwarf Torvold?"
"Smart?" Torvold raised an eyebrow, before letting a rumbling laugh, "I'm more than smart, my tall friend! For you see, I have developed-"
Meinhard interrupted him, holding the scroll case out,
"Hy vas given dese by Dos Panzermench, the shmot guy at da court ov da Vimsical Convederacies."
Torvold took the case curiously, unscrewing the top and pulling out all the various plans and schematics Dos Panzermench had thought up and worked on. His eyes lit up and a manic smile grew on his face as he read them,
"Why, these are really quite amazing! And if I modify this with...yes!" the Dwarf gave a loud round of laughter, reaching up and clapping the Human on the shoulder, "Thank you for getting this to me, it seems your employer had some very...interesting ideas, ideas that may be very useful..."
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Topic: [Community] Nomekast - At War with Nothing (Read 180214 times)