End of Empires - N3S III

Texts of Urut Behaatur- Utugian pahvet (a type of scribe of some sort)

The wind's song was not sung for a day, and the plants remained still and you could hear a fish swimming out past the coast. His descent from the heavens was not seen but felt. One could be asleep and his night visions would tell a story which he didn't think he would think. Broken branches and patches of dry ground were scattered about and a god was about. This god didn't speak with word but with thought. The local villagers called him Durumsuhay'Mbatayun (The Head Speaker). He bore a cloak of a color that was not native to the jungles and his skin was not like the earth. The words he told through mind were not decipherable, rather they brought the fire of emotion to spark.

He left and nothing was the same. The villagers were making things for him. They had never been so motivated. Soon the chief began speaking highly of this god and the Central Chief of Utugia, Kofaso Timbi, was notified and this left him in a state of puzzlement. The earth which has served the Utugu was now being brought under the shadow of a god who descended from the sky. Maybe he was greater than the earth herself. What will happen?
 
I'm still in it.
 
Farea is reporting for duty. Diplo response coming (hopefully) tomorrow.
 
Nope!
 
I'm here, I'm here. Just need a bit of time to get a better look.
 
The Satar Lexicon

sword - shaim
shield - exal
wheel - lath
scroll - atam
arrow - itas
spear - ithras
star - vana

snake - athex
horse - ele
dog - kul
wolf - shav

black - xul
red - vesa
silver - trax
blue - hen

man - eta
humanity - etai
hand - tegh
bone - xevh

[personal possession] the - ta
[object] the - nal
to/from - ven
here - sin
in/at - ev
why - takh
[plural suffix] - -ai

above - nah
below - devh

high - ha
new - shim
bright - tes
strong - vala
wise - sefa
evil - xek

moon - Aresha
wind - tephas
sky - era
sea - vesh
earth - keph
fire - shal

army - ksa
city - aliot
fortress - sarion
market - hekel
court - rath
university - sefashim

journey - kaphai
vision - avai
law - ephexas
life - atan
death - vex
wisdom - sefa

god - vata
Redeemer - Vaxalai
Praetorian - Argashim
prince - sartas
captain - vatakasa
lord - tarkan
oracle - ras
servant - kasa
slave - nath
shaman - kapha
warrior - talik

??? - exatas
aspect - arga
lay - tela

Etymological Notes:

1. Vatakasa 'captain' literally means 'god-servant,' more appropriate on the surface to a religious position than a military one. In the context of Satar culture however, it makes perfect sense.
2. Tarkan 'lord' was originally the Satar word for 'friend,' and it still carries that connotation, but it applies more closely to a trusted lieutenant entrusted with power. Note similarities to Latin comes.
3. Kapha 'shaman,' literally means 'journeyman' or perhaps 'wanderer'. Note similarities to the word 'kaphai,' and the monastic position 'kaphet-ha,' an attempt to institutionalize the shamanic practices in a more warlike form.
4. On the two forms of 'the,' in Satar Language. "Aphas the Sword." Aphas-ta-Shaim. "Aphas, [the] Prince of the Sword." Aphas, Sartas-ta-Shaim. Or, "Xephaion, [the] High Oracle of Magha." Xephaion, Rasha-ta-Magha. Compare to "The city of Magha." Nal Magha-aliot. "Magha, the city of Prince Atraxes." Nal Magha-ta-Atraxes, Sartas-ta-aliot. Literal trans. "The Magha of Atraxes, Prince of [this, his] City."
5. Rath 'court' not in the sense of 'courthouse,' more in the sense of 'space,' or 'field,' has connotations of rulership like 'the king's court,' but are more centers of mythic power rather than concrete political power.
6. Ven 'to/from', dependent on placement. "From the city of Magha," Ven nal Magha-aliot. "To the city of Magha," Nal Magha-aliot ven.
7. Sin 'here', when combined with nal, describes a specific object of which there are many. Compare "The horse," Nal ele, to "This black horse," Nal ele xul sin.
8. In describing objects with proper syntax, the name of the object comes first, then any adjectival qualities, then its positioning. "The strong black horse in Magha," Nal ele vala xul-av-Magha. Literal trans. "The horse, strong, black, at Magha."
9. Ev, a temporary locational qualifier, comparable to ta, a permanent locational qualifier. Elikas-ev-Magha means that Elikas is staying in Magha for a time. Elikas-ta-Magha means that Magha is Elikas' home and an essential part of his being.
 
Expanded the vocabulary and added some more notes. Iggy, I'm going to do your accent thing soon; I've been practicing my Satar accent as I walk around school and drawing weird stares.

Please don't ask me what exatas means, as I'm not a Satar and I couldn't properly tell you. :p
 
Cool stuff, Thy.

@anyone: I'm nearly out of my particular hellhole of thesis-related work, so I'll update stats fairly soon.
 
OOC: Update your damn stats already. :p

The Lay of the Unbowed

Part the First: The Satar, The Shield, The Fire-Light
Part the Second: The Accanon, The Out-Caste, The Sea Lord

Part the Third: The Moon, The Scroll, The Challenge

Did you, forget, that to the plains you owe a debt,
Your walls, of stone, have caused you to be overthrown,
So trust your spears alone.


-Third Call [Call of the Vithana], Karapeshai Tela [The Lay of the Unbowed]

---

Being a warlike people, foreigners have often ascribed to the Satar and their Vithana cousins a lack of subtlety. This is true even among my own people, who might claim to know the Satar the best; for so often unwary Accani even believe that they control the Satar, guiding their passions into forms which can be more useful for the Exatai, and the benefit of Talledi our God. But it is the Satar who rule us, rather than the reverse. When the first Accani to meet with the Satar asked Atraxes why he wore his mask at all times, the Satar responded simply, “I do not bare my naked genitals before your eyes. Do not bare your naked face before mine.”

The idea that the sensory organs of the face were somehow intimate and private seemed so strange to our ancestors, but is so naturally accepted by us today. We revile the maskless peoples as having no culture, as if masking was an Accan invention to begin with. While the Rutto have had mask-culture since the ancient days (more support for my claim the Satar and Accani are brethren,) the gift of the mask was not extended to all until after the Great Tribute to Atraxes-ta-Vaxalai.

Even the beggars in Alma with their wooden masks, seeing Satar riders cantering through the streets, say, “Thank the sky-God that they wear masks like civilized men.” How far, indeed, we have come.

But to return from the hill to the mountain; this question of subtlety. If the Satar truly are an unsubtle people ruled by their passions, why do they conceal their emotions behind a mask?


-Axilias-ta-Alma, The Third Exatai

---

The Redeemer held court atop of the corpse of a dead empire. It was a tableau, he realized, that would be made into murals. The restoration of the lost tribe, saving their wounded god from death. The host of three peoples overcoming the barbarian north. Unless we are the barbarians. He admitted, considering the sack of an ancient and beautiful city of men, that it was a valid argument.

They had claimed the palace of some lord. Quem, they called them. Someone had broken the windows of colored glass and torn down the wall hangings. A few Satar men-at-arms were busy making holes in the wall so that the Redeemer could feel the wind, which was necessary in order for the building to be holy.

The lord himself lay writhing at his feet. Limbs bound, he thrashed like a snake.

As his men grew amused at the barbarian’s impotent rage, Jahan noticed that “satharī” was one of the words he spat most frequently, followed by what could only be the most vile curses in his tongue. “Good!” Jahan roared. “They know who we are!” And they heaved with laughter, as he knew they would. One of his tarkanai strode forward sneering, and slammed a spearbutt into the man’s ribs, transforming his curses into whimpers.

Jahan motioned to him to cease before the beating became too brutal. These evnai were a proud nation unused to defeat. But pride could be tempered into something…useful. One of the simpering men from the akano was asking him something about tribute, and he called over his oracle Seikar to advise him. “Find this…quem’s enemies in this city,” he said softly to Seikar. “His debtors, his rivals. Give him and his property over to them. Then bid them come to me.”

The quem was dragged from the room as his servants watched with wide eyes.

The Redeemer shivered despite himself, as the chill autumn breeze flowed in thorough new-made holes. This was a cold, wretched, barbarian land. It was perfect.

---

The mask was covered in elegant silver engraving, the interlocking runes that spelled ‘scroll’ etched across the border. Two green eyes took in the scene.

He saw the Accans in their bulky armor, bows slung behind their backs, shortswords at their sides. They were in small groups talking quietly amongst themselves, unassuming. Their hair was sandy brown compared to the jet black hair of the Satar and Vithana. Accan eyes were also lighter, blue and blue-green. There was also a coterie of Accan indenture-scribes given as a gift by the High Families of Alma, translating the Vithana-accented trade-Satar of the Redeemer into the hieratic Atractid Satar of government, and into Accan as well. They were also here, he suspected, to gain control of Jahan’s new bureaucracy.

The Satar and the Vithana occupied opposite sides of the hall, while the Accans were closely arrayed around the Redeemer’s dais. Despite the campaigns of the last fifteen years, the oldest warriors still remembered the days when the Vithana were hated enemies that constantly raided the Gap of Phalen. Some of the bad blood had been washed away, but not all. The princes were not at all reconciled to the idea of a barbarian warlord leading them.

Avetas approached the dais, walking slowly between the lines of men.

The Redeemer’s cronies parted to let him through.

“Prince Avetas-ta-Delphis,” Jahan rumbled.

“Jahan of the Moon,” Avetas replied, simply.

There was silence in the hall. Avetas had addressed the Redeemer by his princely title alone. The Accan scribes were retreating into the shadows as surreptitiously as possible.

The tarkan who had beaten the quem before, an uncultured enforcer by the name of Narrak, spat at the floor dangerously close to Avetas’ feet. “Your disrespect endangers you, ketris.” [1]

“As do your three wives, in the eyes of Taleldil,” Avetas simply replied. Narrak snarled, but before he could throw himself at Avetas, the Redeemer’s hand clapped down on his shoulder.

“The ire of a servant,” Jahan intoned, “lies in defending his master.” The calm tone of the Redeemer lessened the tension in the room, but only slightly. Elikas-ta-Tisatar was not here, but the other princes in the room (some newly acclaimed) looked ready to come to Avetas’ aid, if he called for it. The Vithana looked equally ready to try and stop them.

“So tell me, my young sartas,” said Jahan to Avetas, “What have I done to deserve such disrespect?”

With all the dignity of a Satar prince ancient in lineage, Avetas replied, “Your men have violated the sacred laws of Atraxes. They have committed rape in the sack of this city, and taken more than the allotted number of slaves. They have stolen great treasures, and burned the sacred places of these people. Your tribe made themselves monsters…and they have done so with your consent.”

Absolute silence in the hall.

“Against those who have no exatas, anything is permitted.”

“And a Redeemer who has fled, rather than accepting noble death on the field of his defeat, has no exatas.”

“Karhat was not a defeat, but a lesson from Taleldil.”

“Jahan-ta-Vaxalai, Sartas-ta-Aresha, you face the battle challenge.”

---

The scroll, unfurled, before the dais, and Jahan's world

Would shake, would shake, as scroll-prince did his challenge make

Exatai was at stake.


---

[1] Satar (and by adoption, Vithana) word for pheasant. Derogatory term used by Vithana to refer to Satar.
 
Top Bottom