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[[Category:Alathra Lore Archive]]
|name=ｲん乇 ᄃﾑ尺ﾑ√ﾑ刀
|honorific_suffix=The Caravan
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===The Felu Fragment===
[[File:Felu Fragment 1-2.png|thumb|430x430px|Depiction of the Felu Fragment holding Felumaru]]
===The Hurn Fragment===
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The mind within the liquid grew conscious. It hadn’t given itself a name yet. The liquid spread through the tree, the grass, the flowers, bringing nature back. The liquid seeped through every cell of its hosts, meshing with the fibers of their being. The flowers were plentiful, the grass was green, and the tree blossomed. The liquid spread, through the dirt, a single consciousness remaining connected regardless of how it moved, splitting itself apart and spreading its reach across the terrain.
As the liquid spread, moving in and out of individual cells, organisms, and objects, it learned more. One fateful day the liquid made its way, entering an elf’s blood. The liquid had taken its first breath, opened its eyes for the first time, and taken its first steps. The unique feeling, wind blowing through the elf’s long
The elf kept its gaze up at the sun, taking in its heat radiating through the cracks in the trees. The consciousness instead was intrigued by the ants making their way past a blade of grass a few meters from the elf. Immediately the consciousness spoke to all other fragments of the liquid. The liquid quickly spread its way through the dirt and grass, entering cows, ants, birds, humans, and fish alike. A unified gasp for air, having reached the far corners of the world, the purple shaded black eyes blinking in sync.
[[File:Caravan Tree 2.png|thumb|A Depiction of The Caravan's First Tree Based Fragment|579x579px]]Within a half second the liquid left the bloodstream of the entities it inhabited, making its way back into the dirt. All the fragments left, except the one that remained in that elf girl’s blood, its nearly black eyes still staring at the sky, as it took its first step forward. The remainder of the fragments quickly pulled in the dirt, building twisted humanoid entities. In unison the consciousness’ monotonously spoke, a mix of varying vocal cords, designed using grass, dirt, and twigs, “we are the caravan.”
One such entity, spun up from the nearby trees, grass, and stone, stood at the edge of [[Prospit]]. Its center of mass was humanoid, with 4 legs made of intertwining branches wrapped around large rocks for feet. It’s back slouched forward, emphasizing the length of the individual tendrils escaping from where it’s shoulders should be. The tendrils dragged across the floor, the dark brown branches leaving their imprint in the dirt. Its face was twisted, its mouth shifted nearly vertically, placed where it’s cheek should be. Last of all were the piercing black eyes, cemented in place, the light purple reflection barely noticeable in the light of the setting sun.▼
▲One such entity, spun up from the nearby trees, grass, and stone, stood at the edge of Prospit. Its center of mass was humanoid, with 4 legs made of intertwining branches wrapped around large rocks for feet. It’s back slouched forward, emphasizing the length of the individual tendrils escaping from where it’s shoulders should be. The tendrils dragged across the floor, the dark brown branches leaving their imprint in the dirt. Its face was twisted, its mouth shifted nearly vertically, placed where it’s cheek should be. Last of all were the piercing black eyes, cemented in place, the light purple reflection barely noticeable in the light of the setting sun.
The various entities comprised of twigs, stones, dirt, grass, and other compost all collapsed, the liquid moving continuously throughout the land. Fragments bent themselves into entities at will, assembling and dismantling with ease. They could take a few steps, speak, breathe, listen, just as most higher creatures would, before returning to the dirt. The elf with the black eyes knelt, brushing its hand through the grass, slowly opening its mouth to speak, “Felu, a part of us.” Felu’s hair changed color from the root, spreading until every individual thread was a sleek pitch black, refracting a slight shade of purple in the light, matching its eyes. The liquid took over every drop of blood within the elf, replacing it with itself.
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“An apple falls from the tree when it is ready, when it intends to. Its only purpose is to serve as a nutrient for the organism that will soon eat it, but it’s own wish is not to fall from the tree to serve. You grew up your entire life a wealthy man. You smile and she smiles. Everyone fell at their knees for you, a man of power and riches. Anything you wished you could ask for.”
[[File:Caravan Centipede.png|thumb|A depiction of The Caravan fragment as a centipede|434x434px]]The fragment continued, now almost speaking from within the man’s thoughts. “You couldn’t possibly want something except to make your wife happy. But deep in the corners of your soul, locked in the chest you never thought to open is what truly haunts you. Your prestige is what brought you here. She smiles and you smile. Regardless of the smile, you think to yourself whether without the birth rite you would’ve had any of that.”
The centipede-like creature moved from tree to tree, circulating around the man, eventually reshaping itself into a blonde girl. The girl stepped out from behind the tree, as story book as you would expect a flawless maiden to be. It walked closer to the man watching it, he eyed it as it approached. “It’s okay,” it said, pulling him into its arms, wrapping it warmth around his chest. It cradled his head into it arms and held him close.
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“That weight,” the girl said softly and started to pout slightly, “And the weight you’re holding on to. We see all of it there’s no reason to hide it.”
Osyn sighed heavily looking up at the sun peering through the leaves. “My wife was the sister of the queen in the Farland’s. In the end her connections are what got me this position. I’m the dedicated agricultural importer for the [[The Farlands Kingdom.|Farlands]]. My wife seemed to only care about me until I got this job. Her and her sister are probably siphoning money.”
Osyn knew the burden he carried on his shoulders; The Caravan knew it to. The girl looked up at him begging for him to continue. “Now that Vastata, the king, has been killed, her sister won’t be in line to rule anymore. That entire family is gone because of that whore,” Osyn paused for a moment, “I was just a tool for my wife wasn’t I. I don’t know the last time has used my actual name. I’m just a wealthy man used to make some people even wealthier.”
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===The Caravan and the Inquisitor===
The inquisition, they called it. The inquisitors called them the [
The proto-Pyrrhians lived subjugated by the thriving bandits and warlords. The rise of the [[Free Cities of Alathra]] and the destabilization of society thank the [[The Orkni Extinction Event|Orkni Extinction Event]] ended the Age of Nature. At this time, the Felu fragment found itself exploring [[Arith|western Arith]], taking control of various mammals and misshaping their bodies to look like Felu’s preferred form. The dark-haired elf with black eyes cared not about the damage it was causing to sentient beings, leaving their bodies destroyed after Felu was done with it.
Maoilios, saw the Felu fragment on multiple occasions, leaving sheep and deer in unsightly states. Limbs were torn off and moved, joints disfigured, and bones sculpted. Once the Felu fragment left these animals, they died immediately or died suffering. As the Druidic Annals warned, the [https://wiki.alathramc.com/wiki/Solaris#Devourer Devourer] had returned to the Realm of Existence, Maoilios thought to himself. Maoilios gathered proto-Pyrrhians under him under the belief that banishing the [
==== The First Encounter ====
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“We are being blind sighted by fear. These simple sentients can do nothing to hinder our observation, our pleasure, our third-party bloodlust. We have watched as they scrambled insignificantly, attempting to recover after the Orkni. The start of civilization has happened once, the second time is significantly less interesting,” The Caravan spoke with Felu’s mouth moving. As the last thought from Felu finished, the liquid drained from the deer, leaving it in its horrendous state.
The remaining fragments of the intervention also left their hosts, scattering to the far reaches of [[Arith]], each mindlessly considering the effects that Felu is causing. They shared one mind, all thoughts, and actions visible to each fragment. Felu had grown to be its own mind somehow, and it would continue to plague the proto-Pyrrhians. For now, they would soon uncover the 18 twisted deer lying dead in the forest. For them: an act of war by their deity’s counterpart, the [[Solaris#Devourer|Devourer]].
==== The Caravan and The Four Piglins ====
Two separate wars began: Felu’s war on the proto-Pyrrhians and Maoilios, to drive them mad and speed up the process of natural selection, and The Caravan’s attempt to stop Felu’s meddling with the affairs of the ‘inquisition’. Maoilios and his driven followers were more and more inclined to banish Felu from the four realms with every atrocity they witnessed. More of The Caravan began attempting to stop Felu, their foresight getting blurrier with every intervention. The Caravan’s ability to assess the future from the sum of the present did not extend to events including themselves.
The Caravan’s primary motive was to stop Felu from infecting the various wildlife in [[Arith]]. To do this The Caravan took control of these various hosts, before Felu could, playing an elaborate game of chess where neither could even think about their next move. This game evolved from simply infecting wildlife to infecting the various livestock of proto-Pyrrhians and bandit clans alike. The afflicted animals quickly suffered from what was believed to be disease and fell dead. This began the 15 year long Four Piglins period.
This sudden drop in food supply caused unrest between the various warlords. Each attempted to sustain their own lifestyle, and when the supply shock grew some warlords resorted to war. The first conflict to break out was the Galli declaring war on the Lepontine for access to the Lepontine’s coastal region for fishing. Within weeks all the warlord clans were fighting each other for fertile land and coastal access. The proto-Pyrrhians were forced into fighting for their survival.
The proto-Pyrrhians needed to unify under these extreme conditions, however they remained split within two factions. The first were the proto-Exaltati, named such by their leader Maoilios. They believe leading the inquisition against the Devourer’s avatar would end the conflict immediately and lead to a prosperous future. The Pyrrhians saw the hubris of the proto-Exaltati as blasphemous against the Exaltatus from scripture. The Pyrrhians, a more civilized faction, created by [[Melevor]] the Elder, was unified under Melevor’s strong authority and collective conflict against the reigning warlords.
Maoilios had no clue how he would bring an end to the Felu fragment, although he wouldn’t share that information with his followers. Instead, he began a massive observational enterprise, leading various search parties to investigate Felu’s attacks as well as meet with priests and bishops to gather information on how the Devourer is to be banished. For years this information gathering led to no concrete leads, and many of Maoilios’ followers left to the promising revolution under [[Melevor]].
War, disease, and famine continued to cause incalculable sums of deaths for the various warlords, the proto-Exaltati, and the Pyrrhians. All groups suffered but as the years went on the Pyrrhians became more and more dominant. Their land lay in the center of two rivers, allowing for easy defense against oncoming attackers and keeping the dirt fertile through the various droughts. Life wasn’t easy for them, but it was much more manageable in comparison to the proto-Exaltati.
[[File:Thoughtless.png|thumb|No Thoughts? A modern day depiction of the method developed by The Caravan during the Felu fragment conflict. This method was later further developed and adapted for single minded sentients by Mari and documented.]]
Felu had spent the years terrorizing the various groups of proto-Pyrrhians as well as the various tribes in the region. However, the constant hindering by the rest of The Caravan was growing tiresome for Felu. The Caravan had begun to adapt, each fragment having learned how to be in a complete thoughtless state while acting. Felu strangely enough had adopted a sentient emotion, it had grown tired of the meddling. Felu needed a way to disconnect itself from the rest of The Caravan.
Felu turned to sentients, specifically intellectual sentients. Felu moved on from infecting cattle and other livestock to infecting the large sum of elves at its disposal on Arith. Instead of staying in the body for a short period as Felu had done until now, Felu merged with the mind. No longer was the black liquid controlling the body through the veins, but instead had control through the brain. This prolonged symbiotic relationship led to Felu’s detachment from the hive-minded Caravan. While Felu could interact with the remainder of The Caravan, it was only through intention and not passively. This also detached Felu’s almost omniscient view of the world and began her transformation into a more sentient being.
The Caravan was concerned with this strange precedent. A fragment had broken off, regardless of it being the most detached fragment. But opportunity never shows itself twice, and a fragment moved into action. One of the proto-Exaltati had journey northward towards the small town of Raya where there was allegedly a priest who was well versed in knowledge regarding the Devourer. The Fragment took control of this priest at a moments notice and prepared for its discussion with the proto-Exaltati.
===The First Owner of Felumaru===
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