It was the twelfth century after the cataclysm, though nobody was counting; the golden age of the world had been forgotten, and all the spirits the peoples knew were the manifestations of violence and destruction itself. All that remained of the old civilizations were small villages scattered across the broken land, each knowing the rest of the world only by the perils described, the peoples feared the supernatural, and all had forgotten the old gods, the only rituals being practiced now were to appease violent spirits, and so, the call of this new entity was often left unheeded...
The southern desert lands were home to the Turiok peoples, the dark skinned humans. The Bajalak were a Turiok tribe who lived of hunting and animal rearing, they were known for painting their bodies with a mixture of clay and blood, and were cursed with taloned fingers and large pustules on their back and shoulders, but despite their mutated hands, their marksmanship was remarkable. Askot was an elder of a Bajalak clan, he was approaching his fiftieth year and The Ache was taking over his bones, but was well respected among the tribesmen for his wisdom and his hunting skills. One night, an omen came to him in a dream...
He saw a naked child standing in a lush jungle, but a forest much tamer than the ones he had known. It was morning, and as the sun rose the child grew up and by noon it was already a beautiful woman. Around her the forest had changed into a village, but the clock didn't stop, and as the woman aged it got fatter and was becoming covered in jewelry, and around her stone buildings rose higher than the tallest trees Askot had known.
By dusk it had become a bloated old woman with her arms covered in golden bracelets, her ears so heavily dangling with gold that her lobes stretched bellow her shin, her body so covered in jewelry that one could see more the color of gold than the brown of her skin, and around her white stone buildings, themselves decorated with jewelry, covered the landscape... the floor itself was paved with stones smooth as the surface of still water... Then the night came, and from the forest of stone buildings savage beasts appeared and attacked the elderly woman. She stood still as the beasts devoured her flesh, and around her the buildings crumbled and were covered by the fierce vegetation Askot had known all his life.
The beasts feasted on the meat of the fat elderly woman until only a skeleton stood in the place of a woman, then, with bloated stomaches, the beasts lazily retired to the forest. The skeleton of the woman spent the rest of the night picking up scraps of flesh that had dropped from the beasts mouths, and covering her bones with these until it was again an old woman. This time though instead of a bloated body, there was barelly enough skin to cover her bones. It was then that she spoke, and when she spoke the words seemed to come from the earth itself...
"Askot of the Bajalak, I am again alive, although my strength is limited. I bear a child in my belly, and a new dawn approaches, but the world must be made safe before my daughter can succeed me. I cannot reveal myself, lest I awake the beasts and alert them of my presence, but I can inspire and empower the noblest souls. You must search these warriors and one day rally them against the beasts, but for now you must be secretive. Say farewell to your family and travel north. I will come to you again soon."
Askot did so. He told his people the lions had spoke to him in dreams, that they had demanded his flesh, or they would come down on his clan, and left his village with only his bow and knife, and only a little water and no food. Lest somebody suspect the true nature of his journey.
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Topic: Dream of a New Dawn - apocalyptic fantasy, freeform rp - LOOKING FOR 2 PLAYERS (Read 1846 times)