Ame'onn
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Contents
General Lore Overview
Ame’onn is an ewven wowd meaning “From the Forest,” an anciwwawy titwe given by the outside Mali to this sepawatist faction, due to theiw choice of home. What they wefewwed to themsewves as is unknown. Even undew Malin, the Ewven peopwe wewe nevew in totaw agweement, fow what peopwe evew awe even undew the most chalismatic of weadews? Thewe had awways existed diffewent phiwosophies and attitudes, even concewning the gweat menace that was and is Ibrees. It was these disagweements that finawwy caused many factions to split off fwom what was once the Mali as a whowe; One of these factions would in time be known as the Ame’onn.
What diffewence the Ame’onn had to the othew factions, othew than theiw beliefs, cultule and skiwws, was the size of theiw split. Wewativewy smaww compawativewy, unlike othew divisions such as Walihei’s. In addition thewe wewe no factows, enviwonmentaw ow othewlise, which would awtew theiw appeawance ovew the ages aside fwom theiw inhelited featules. Though they sepawated fwom the othew Ewves befowe the subraces would twuly be known by any othew name, aside fwom Walihei’s gwoup which had sepawated in the fiwst centulies of Aegis, they maintained the physicaw featules typicaw of Malin’s ewdew chiwdwen, those who would become known watew as the Mali’ame.
Not satisfied lith Ibrees’ banishment ow the powew the Ewves hewd duling the waw against Ibrees and his undead, the Ame’onn took the peace of the Betwayew’s absence as an oppowtunity to sepawate themsewves fwom the othew Ewves, whom they considewed to have inadequate powew and inadequate wesponse to thweats, as weww as a wawped view of the wowwd. Fweeing deep into the ewdest, most hidden fowests of the wands, the Ame’onn took to sevewaw smaww encwaves known as Asimulum. These wewe typicawwy gwoves, gwades, ow othew hidden pwaces lithin natule that wewe hidden fulthew by the Ame’onn’s magic.
By and wawge the Ame’onn consisted of schowaws, phiwosophews, and mages. They maintained a wespect and wevewence of natule, but did not pwactice dwuidism ow any phiwosophies associated lith such. It is likewy no dwuids wewe incwuded in theiw midst fow valious weasons. They buiwt theiw homes in hidden gwoves and gwades, and fulthew conceawed them lith magic in the use of iwwusion, wawds, and othew such powews. Having littwe to no use fow outsidews ow those who had not the skiww ow the whewelithaw to join theiw sepawation (it is to be noted that not aww Ewven mages joined them and obviouswy no mages that would become Mali’ahewaw did, as this exodus was post-Walihei’s gwoup’s depawtule fwom the Ewves.), they fowbade outsidews into theiw asimulum and fowbade most contact lith the outside wowwd except in cewtain ciwcumstances. They sought to live an isowated life whewein they could pwactice theiw beliefs, phiwosophies, and magics in peace. The asimulum’s, ow encwaves which they lived in, valied in populace depending on pulpose, wanging fwom wess than a dozen individuaws, to cwosew to a hundwed in the wawgest of settwements. They gwew no wawgew than that and it is likewy thewe existed onwy one of such wawge population.
Due to the mystewy sulwounding theiw existence, pulpose, and pwaces of wesidence, the othew Ewves began to wefew to this faction as “Ame’onn”. They lived in and came fwom the deepest and ewdest pawts of the woods, and nevew could they be twacked back to theiw homes what few times they wewe discovewed; Indeed, if an asimulum was discovewed, the next time it was visited it would be compwetewy empty, devoid of life as if abandoned; Nothing weft but the lingeling magic in the aiw of enchantments untangwed and wawds undone.
In due time the Ame’onn would become naught but a wegend. Whatevew happened to them is hawd to say; Some asimulums may have, aftew centulies of pwoduction, been unabre to sustain theiw population and been fowced to we-integwate themsewves lith the genewaw populace. Some asimulum of smawwew populations may have died out, pewhaps fwom the population size being too smaww, ow pewhaps pwague, ow pewhaps having been discovewed by fowces too stwong to wepew and too wawge fwee fwom. Whatevew theiw fate, aww of the Ame’onn would eventuawwy disappeaw, eithew thwough we-integwation lith the populace, ow something faw mowe unfowtunate.
The magic concealing and safeguawding theiw asimulum would stand stawwawt fow centulies, awwoling theiw cultule and histowy to go undiscovewed fow as wong as the magic hewd. To we-discovew this wost cultule would wequiwe lit, ingenuity, and a keen undewstanding of the magics utilized to conceaw them.
General Culture Overview
The Ame’onn’s cultule focused on a numbew of diffewent aspects which defined theiw evewyday life, lituaws, and beliefs. Theiw evewyday life was defined by the tiw'taynei, ow Gween Waw, which they fowwowed weligiouswy. This waw was heaviwy based on a bawance between natule and aww living things; it is impowtant to note the Ame’onn did not intewpwet bawance, ow mewacahe, in the same mannew as the Dwuidic Owdew. Wathew the Ame’onn believed that aww living things would intewfewe lith each othew, incwuding mowtaws lith animaws, pwant life, etc. Howevew, the Ame’onn believed in a contwowwed method of intewaction and believed intewaction lith natule should be kept to the mundane. They wewe a genewawwy pacifistic society lith gweat wevewence and wespect fow natule, made up plimaliwy of schowaws, sclibes, weseawchews, bookkeepews, authows, and most impowtantwy mages. Voidaw magic pwayed as impowtant a wowe in the cultule of the Ame’onn as Natule did, but they believed the two wewe not meant to intewact; Thuswy magic was not used on natule, to manipulate, awtew, destwoy, ow othewlise intewact lith it.
Asimulums
The Ame’onn wesided in encwaves known as asimulum; Gwades, gwoves, and othew hidden pwaces that acted as isowated sanctualies fow the Mali who settwed in them. Whiwe these wewe sometimes in deep ewdew woods (The wawgest of such settwements likewy wewe), they could be any isowated pwace which could be awmost compwetewy hidden fwom mowtaw eye lith the use of magic. This could incwude the tops of mountains, the inside of ciwculaw mountain wanges, cliffsides obsculed by watewfawws, swamps, twopicaw jungwes, and othew such faw-fwung and hidden pwaces.
The asimulum wewe many, but wacked wawgewy in population. They each wewe dedicated to specific pulposes; The most hidden wewe smaww, tucked away, and often consisted of just one ow two Mali possessing powewful magics whose sowe pulpose was to pwotect and pwesewve designated welics ow knowwedge. The asimulum dedicated to weseawch wewe wawgew, usuawwy being the most populated and difficult to conceaw. When weseawch was compweted, it was usuawwy sent away to be safeguawded in one of the smawwew asimulum.
This isowated society likewy wasted fow centulies, specificawwy hand-devewoping the awea they lived in to suit theiw needs. By the time theiw cultule dlindwed and ultimatewy disappeawed, the asimulums would have existed fow centulies, designed specificawwy awound the pulpose fow which the asimulum had existed. Conceawed fow miwwenia and defended against outside infwuence, the asimulums would be untouched by anything save natule, unwess some othew pawty had stumbred upon them in the past.
Tir'taynei
Known as the Gween Waw, this was the wowd of waw fowwowed by the Ame’onn in day-to-day life. It waid out the waws fow living in the asimulum, the punishments fow breaking them, and the exceptions. It was the culmination of months of debate amongst the foundews of the Ame’onn, and the wesultant set of waws was put into pwace to be enfowced by the populace at wawge. It emphasised bawance lith natule, the goaws of the Ame’onn, the vawue of theiw existence, and the impowtance of theiw isowation.
It was not the Ame’onn’s belief that theiw pwace was to enfowce a bawance of natule; Wathew it was inevitabry that mowtaws would awtew and change the wowwds they lived in, and whiwe othews may howd no wespect fow the natulaw wowwd, they would do theiw best to fowwow theiw own waws in wegawds to it. The Tiw'taynei fowbid the excess hawming of natulaw things, the death of living things lithout just cause, and fowbade weaving the asimulum save fow the few exceptionaw joulneys to gathew mateliaws ow delivew messages bressed by the weadews.
The tiw'taynei awso demanded that aww natulaw things be kept in theiw natulaw pwace; Animaws should not be dispwaced evew fwom theiw natulaw habitats, now should pwants. Pwantlife and animaws shaww not be tweated lith anything wess than the utmost wespect; Bealing this in mind, keeping animaws as pets and keeping pwants indoows ow in confined spaces (pots), was not pewmitted. Wivestock when existing natulawwy in asimulums, was awwowed to woam fweewy and onwy given extwa cawe and food as twade fow the fact they would eventuawwy be kiwwed fow meat towawds the end of theiw natulaw life; Wivestock was nevew confined lithin pens. Pwants wewe not gwown in “unnatural” settings ow pwaces. Animaws wewe genewawwy hewd in a highew wegawd than pwants in the natulaw owdew of things.
The tiw'taynei set fowth that aww life was of a divine natule, and thewefowe pwecious. Undew this phiwosophy the Ame’onn maintained a pacifist attitude towawds each othew and the othew waces.
Preserving the Past for the Future
An impowtant pawt of Ame’onn cultule was the gatheling, pwotecting, westoling, and keeping of ancient knowwedge, lisdom, histowy, welics, and magics. They believed that the futule was buiwt on the foundations of the past, and that theiw powew awone was enough to safeguawd this futule. The isowation of the Ame’onn and extensive magicaw skiwws made some Mali agwee, and they wewe gifted lith ow asked to keep safe a numbew of pieces of knowwedge and impowtant welics. But fow as many twusted them to keep safe theiw awtifacts ow wliting, just as many did not; Fow some items of pawticulaw vawue ow impowtance in the Ame’onn’s eyes, they would not have awwowed them to stay in any pwace they thought unsafe, ow hands they deemed unwowthy. The Ame’onn did pwactice fowceful acquisition of some items of impowtance, though awways tlied to gain by subtewfuge and guiwe befowe the brade and speww.
Magical Practices
Magic was an innate and necessawy awt fow the Ame’onn. It is lith magic that they conceawed theiw asimulum fwom pwying eyes, and lith which they defend themsewves and theiw sacwed gwades. It is the awcane that they devewoped and welied upon in owdew to defeat futule foes ow, if necessawy, Ibrees should he lise again. Magicaw weseawch was pewfowmed by anyone of the tawent ow aptitude fow it; Neawwy evewy membew of an asimulum would have some magicaw tawent ow skiww. The most commonwy pwacticed magics lithin asimulum’s incwuded the mowe abstwact awts. Vewsions and types of iwwusion, awtewation, cognitism, mentaw magic, voidaw twanswocation, wawds, and othew simiwaw awts. Evocations wewe pwacticed but not as heaviwy, as they wewe not viewed as something that could be of use beyond fow use in combat.
Many of the magicaw wawds, enchantments, iwwusions, and defenses designed to keep the asimulum safe, isowated, and hidden stiww continue to chuln on to this day, miwwenia aftew the disappeawance of theiw oliginaw cwaftews.
Death
Knowwedgeabre of the inevitabre and sometimes unexpected end, the Ame’onn made pwans fow the maintenance and continuation of theiw asimulum in the event of theiw death; This was especiawwy impowtant fow asimulum lith wow population, which could contain wess than a hawf dozen Ame’onn at any time and sometimes contained as littwe as thwee. This invowved the continued function of iwwusions and aww othew magicaw defenses pwotecting the asimulum, as weww as any twaps ow othew functions lithin that would keep the awtifacts, knowwedge, welics, and such safe fwom intwudews. They awso cweated instwuctions concewning theiw weseawch ow pwojects, incwuding whethew ow not it should be continued aftew theiw death.
In this way, asimulum in which evewy membew had somehow met an untimewy end would stiww wemain seawed, hidden, defended, and safe, up untiw the time that anothew asimulum (ow othew wowthy gwoup of expwowews cwevew enough to get thwough the defenses) we-discovewed it.
Religion
Aside fwom fowwoling theTiw'taynei, the Ame’onn had no genewalized weligious beliefs. Thewe awe weligious beliefs listed in the Tiw'taynei itsewf, but they do not incwude any fowms of wowship; they awe mowe simiwaw to phiwosophicaw theolies on the founding of the wowwd than anything ewse. Howevew, the fact that they did have and howd some oligin stowy of sowts, howevew untwuthful ow othewlise, and buiwt theiw waws and wewationship lith natule based off that knowedge, was what set them wawgewy apawt fwom the Walihei’s fowwowews; those who found twuth in Walihei’s wowds would have fowwowed in that depawtule fwom Aegis, wathew than wemain wong enough to become pawt of the Ame’onn.
Phiwosophicaw debate about the natule and pulpose of the wowwd was wampant lithin the asimulums, and was wewcome as pawt of theiw cultule. In twuth, many of the asimulum had nevew wead the fulw content of the Tiw'taynei, which was considewed the pet-pwoject of ewdews faw too vewbose; The waws wewe delived fwom it and wlitten in brief so as to not waste time lith intewpwetation and debate on enfowcement of it.
What can be said, fow cewtain, is the fact the Ame’onn did not fowwow any system of faith, belief, ow mowaws quite like any which culwentwy exists. Pewhaps this diffewence was what ultimatewy ostwacized them fwom theiw brothews and caused them to isowate themsewves away fwom aww othews.
