Liavek 1 (12 page)

The Red priests function largely as counselors: "What shall I do, 0 scarlet one, so that the conflict between the person I am and the deed I must do (have done) will not destroy me?" An effective priest knows exactly how "good" or "evil" a person is, and knows how to counsel that person in behaving consistently with his or her present self, with a secondary goal of weaning that person to a path of "good." A professional thief who finds a lost child will not get the same advice as a doctor.

The Book of the Twin Forces
is the most commonly known collection of the writings of the Red Faith.

The Scarlet Guard is a mercenary force almost as large as the Levar's Guard. The duty of the Scarlet Guard is almost exclusively to protect the wealthy temples and monasteries of the Red priesthood, though they have come to supplement the Levar's Guard in the palace since His Scarlet Eminence became Regent.

The Black Faith, or the
Kin of One Path
, believe in an Absolute Goodness, and that only by always choosing honesty can one achieve a heaven that is kept for those who are truly good. They also believe that contact with evil or with compromise will corrupt, so their order is primarily a monastic one. Their temples are open one day a week for instructing any who come seeking truth. They are led by a council of five elders.

The White Faith, or the
Church of Truth
, sees the universe and all promises of heaven as cruel lies, and seeks to accept or escape an endless cycle of rebirth. These "anti-Illusionists" believe the only choice worth considering is that of self-interest. They do not hire guards, for all White priests are magicians. Most White priests carry a device of string and wood called a Sharibi puzzle attached to their belts.
The Book of Oblivion
is the most ancient collection of writings of the Church of Truth.

The Pardoners
, a sect of mendicant priests who will intercede with any god on anyone's behalf, have a modest hostel in Liavek. Most people like them but consider them a little crazy; few actively disapprove of them. They are the jacks-of-all-trades of the priesthoods, and often come from those who left or were cast out of other faiths.

The Way of Herself
is more a path to enlightenment than a belief in a deity. "Herself" refers to the teacher-saint who founded the religion. Practitioners of the Way kill only out of need. Food is considered good reason, but gluttony, especially overindulgence in meat, is contrary to the Way. Self-defense is also considered good reason.

Whenever practitioners draw or are offered water, they pour a libation onto the soil to symbolize the principle that anything given to the earth returns multiplied. Other humans also rate good treatment according to the Way. It encourages sensitivity, patience, and kindness toward believers and nonbelievers.

The Green priests, or
The House of Responsible Life
, are an order of suicides, and an offshoot of an older and more sinister church that concerned itself largely with death. The original Green priests had preferred to kill others; the first members of the new order applied the old order's collection of exquisite, exotic, or painful methods to themselves.

The Green Order has a formidable bureaucracy to delay, give advice to, or screen out altogether those candidates who hope to escape their legitimate responsibilities, or who have otherwise unworthy motives for suicide, or whose families are likely to raise a fuss. The order thus finds itself being the only organized body in Liavek that attempts to prevent suicide.

15. Tichen

The Tichenese Empire has reached its greatest geographic expansion, extending to mountains in the west, the Great Waste in the south, the ocean in the east, and the ice lands in the north. Tichen is famed for its schools, which are governed by centuries of tradition, and its crafts. It is the largest city in the known world. Though Tichen has been conquered several times in its distant past, its conquerors have always been absorbed into Tichen's culture.

Tichenese are, for the most part, a very dark people with wiry hair and broad noses. Their navy is not very good, but their army is immense, so none of the southern cities openly play pirate with Tichenese vessels.

16. Ka Zhir

The city of Ka Zhir, located across the Sea of Luck, is Liavek's primary trade rival. The Zhir are related to the S'Rians, and so are slightly smaller and slightly darker than most Liavekans. Their speech is more guttural. Ka Zhir controls much of the kaf, sugar, copper, and woodworking trade from the lands around it, which are noted for jungles and volcanoes. Slavery is permitted in Ka Zhir. The ruler of Ka Zhir is King Thelm; his heir is his eldest son, Prince Jeng.

17. Gold Harbor

Gold Harbor is a trading town near the mouth of the Sea of Luck. There is almost no such thing as a typical resident of Gold Harbor; though the town is smaller than Liavek, it's even more racially and culturally mixed. It occupies an important strategic position, since it is halfway between KA ZHIR and Liavek-controlled Saltigos, and its neutrality is a pivotal point in the uneasy peace between the two nations. Gold Harbor is governed by a Mayor who is elected by Gold Harbor's wealthier merchants.

18. Ombaya

The little inland nation of Ombaya is located to the southwest of Liavek. Its people are as dark as the Tichenese, but very tall and slender. Ombaya is governed by a benevolent matriarchy, and the dominant religion is the Way of Herself. The tenets of the Way are demonstrated to good effect on the farms of Ombaya, which produce huge yields of vegetables, fruits, and grains—and the poultry is almost beyond belief.

Ombaya also follows the Way in its defense posture. It is a peaceful, neutral nation, but if threatened, it destroys its enemy in the most merciful fashion possible.

19. The Farlands

"Farlands" is the Liavekan name for the continent across the ocean where paler folk live. One of its more important countries is
Acrivain
, and there are a few Acrivannish exiles in Liavek, generally called Farlanders or, even less politely though perhaps not maliciously, "ghosts" by the Liavekans.

20. Other sapient beings

The
Kil
, or the sea folk, are mammals, not amphibians. The Kil are tall, and most of their skin is covered with a reddish brown pelt. Their hands and feet are webbed, and their faces are very broad, with deepset eyes and wide, almost flat, noses. Mating between human and Kil results in a sterile child. The Kil pity these halfbreeds, who have less skill in the water than sea folk do.

The Kil, when trading with humans, use their race and their sex as a last name. A male Kil is
a'Kil
, a female,
i'Kil
. Though the Kil have warred with humans, they have never warred with Liavek. Kil Island is forever theirs by treaty, and they seem to accept the encroachment of humanity along Kil Coast.

The
mountain folk
live high in the Silverspine. They have a name for themselves, but it is so long and so hard to pronounce that no human has yet successfully memorized it. Their hands and feet are very strong, with long, clawed digits. They are almost unstoppable climbers, and a membrane stretching from arm to torso on both sides enables them to leap and glide downward for short distances. They are astonishingly ugly by human standards, wrinkled, leathery, hairless, and grayish. They are mammals. Their language is rich and subtle, and their highest art is storytelling. The mountain people are shy and fierce, and humanity has only begun to learn about them. It may be possible for a human/mountain folk interbreeding to produce offspring, but that may never be tested, given how unsavory each race finds the other.

Trolls
are possibly mythical beings that choose an unwilling companion to torment, generally until the victim's death. It is said that only the victim can see and hear the troll, though some say it can make itself visible to whomever it chooses. Many people in Liavek do not believe in trolls, though "May you be ridden by a troll" is a common curse. It is rumored that cats and a few other animals might be able to see trolls, who may therefore avoid people who have such pets.

The
Bhandafs
are a fierce and independent people who may or may not be human. Their eyes are inhumanly catlike. Whether this is the result of genetics, or magic, remains to be learned.

Appendix 2: A Magicians Primer

Everyone born in the world has an attribute commonly called one's "luck," one's "magic," or, in Tichenese fashion, one's "power." This magic manifests itself on birthdays, and then only for so long as one's mother was in labor. During this birthday luck period, one's fortune will be unusual, either good or bad in tiny, quirky, often unnoticeable ways. It is customary for people who are content with their lives to stay indoors during their birthdays in hope of avoiding situations where a freak of chance may intervene in their fate. Except for birthdays, this luck period is a minor matter for the average person. For anyone who wishes to be a magician, it is crucial.

During the birthday luck period, it is possible to perform magic. It is not, however, easy. The study of magic requires years of practice, which cannot be achieved to any significant degree during the few hours each year of an individual's birthday luck. The solution is to transfer the essence of one's magic (one's "luck") from one's physical self into another thing or being. Then, so long as one is within three paces of the vessel containing one's luck, one can practice magic throughout the year. This transference, called
investiture
, can only be done during the birthday luck period.

Investiture is extremely difficult for novices. If a would-be wizard can't invest birth magic into a vessel before the birthday luck period ends, the luck is freed and the person sickens, and within a few days, dies. Therefore, magicians study the theory of investiture for years and practice tiny magics during their birthday luck periods until they are ready to attempt investiture. If the transference is successful, the serious practical study and eventual mastery of magic may begin.

A consequence of investiture is that a magician's luck is more predictable than that of other people, being slightly benevolent during the magician's natal anniversary and slightly malevolent for an equal period six months later on the midyear day. Every birthday, the magician's magic leaves the vessel in which it has been placed and returns to the magician's body for renewal. The magician must then reinvest it before the period of birthday magic ends. If this is not done, the magician will be without magic for the next year.

If the vessel of a magician's luck is lost or stolen, it may be destroyed by the magician's enemies during the ill luck hours of the magician's midyear day, thus destroying the magician's luck forever. The magician whose luck has been destroyed invariably sickens, but having already been weaned from luck, will usually recover, no longer subject to the yearly whims of fate—and no longer able to practice magic. If the vessel of luck is destroyed at any time other than the midyear period, the luck will merely be freed from its vessel to return to the magician's body at the magician's next birthday.

Master magicians who lose the vessel of their magic or who choose to spend a year without investing their power have one advantage over their nonmagical fellows. Being familiar with the use of magic, they can still use magic in very tiny ways during the five or ten minutes each day that correspond to the moment of their birth. But the magicians whose luck was destroyed during their ill luck hours and the magicians who chose to bind their magic (see below) cannot draw on this "birth moment" magic.

There are many schools of magic, each holding that it is best for learning the nature and use of magic. Though the schools vary in many ways, the following facts remain true:

1. It takes years to master magic, even after successful investiture of luck.

2. No magician can use magic if the vessel of magic is not within three paces, excepting master magicians, who can do very tiny magics without their luck nearby during the five to ten minutes of each day that correspond to their birth.

3. Magic must be invested outside of the magician's body. If the vessel of magic enters the magician's body (if an invested ring is swallowed or an invested sword pierces its owner), the luck is freed.

4. Magic can only be invested in a unified thing. If that thing is significantly altered, the magic is freed. If this happens during the magician's midyear hours, the luck is destroyed.

5. Magic can be invested in a living thing, but at great risk. Death of a living vessel invariably frees the magician's luck.

6. No magician can do magic directly on his or her vessel of luck, as it is the magician's source of magic—or perhaps it is the magician's link to the source of magic; opinions vary.

7. Only acts of an immediate nature can be done directly with words or gestures by a master magician. These include such things as levitation, mind reading, fortune-telling, conjuring fire, creating simple illusions, etc.

8. Major spells must be done through ritual. The key to ritual magic would seem to be the creation of an appropriate mood, and faith in the act being undertaken. Many magicians create their own rituals, which often involve the use of arts such as painting, doll making, and storytelling to aid in defining the desired result.

9. As magicians cannot create something from nothing, and as no magician's spell can last longer than a year (when luck returns to the magician's body), magical artifacts are rare. Only a major magician can create one, during the time of that magician's birthday luck, by permanently investing an object with magic, leaving the magician forever magicless. This process is called
binding
, to distinguish it from the temporary investiture. A magical artifact is almost impossible to destroy, and its destruction means the physical dissolution of its creator. However, the creator's death will not affect the artifact's existence.

Magical artifacts may be used by anyone who knows their secret, but they never have more than one magical function, for the process of binding demands intense focus of will.