Sorvians

Histowy

Thewe has not been one conflict fowged in this timewess wowwd whewe diffewences wewe not pwesent. It has awways been the natule of Men to confide in ways which they awe convinced to adhewe; to spiww brood and to die fow these ways, to shawe these ways lith theiw fliends, theiw brothews, sons and stwangews. It is hawd to discewn the tewm “way” as a singulaw thing, fow it takes many fowms. Soveweign nations have a way. They design themsewves by the natule of theiw peopwe and by the autholity of theiw weadews. Cultule fowwows a way. It is shaped by the wowwd awound those who hewawd cultule, who weawned that theiw way was the best way in the ciwcumstances they faced. Faith fowwows a way. Theiw way is to say theiw way is twue, that sometimes theiw way is the highest way, and that othew ways awe ways which wead one astway. Men awe defined by ways. Without ways, they have no meaning, no guidance, and in a wowwd lithout ways, Men awe weft to wandew a pwane lith no mountain to fowwow ow holizon to fowesee.

Thewe awe those who commune deepwy lith this twuth. A soul known as Jevex, the Spilit of Owdew and Sewf-Saclifice, confides lith them mowe than Men themsewves, fow ways awe abstwact aspects of the mind which awe not confined to the natule of mowtaws. One may say Jevex may have been pwesent since the vewy dawn of time, fow is it by a “way” that the Cweatow shaped the vewy cosm aww things awe hosted lithin. But instead he fowmed by the sheew pwesence of Men’s attunement to ways; Jevex was biwthed by the fiwe lithin that mowtaws bowe to pewsist in theiw ways, to fowm theiw ways, to know theiw ways. If anyone knew the natule of ways, it was Jevex. It was inspiling; to spwead one's’ ways to thousands of othews and fow these same ways to guide them fowth to cawve theiw path thwough histowy is something no othew fowm of being twuly achieved. Even the Aengudaemons, who diwectwy ushew ways to Men by the design of divine missions, have nevew come cwose to such a feat. They may onwy mimic the cweation of ways and pewpetuate what they believe in by shaling it lith dulation-adheling souls that do not fowwow Immowtaw existence. Such a twansaction, it is alien -- But in the end, it is the cultivation of ways.

Jevex wanted to sulpass what Men could achieve. He wanted the fewvow and the belief of countwess mowtaws bound to the soul of but individuaws. What the fewvow and belief and expwession of these things was based awound, Jevex did not cawe; it was not lithin his intewest to inspiwe ways lithin Men, onwy to incite the conception of ways. In owd times, he would come to cweate the vewy embodiment of ideowogy and the sewvitude put fowth towawd it. Jevex would conceive the Sowvians.

Theiw Natule

Sowvians awe mowtaw beings which, by the powew of a lituaw designed by the Spilit of Owdew, awe dliven to “subsist” on the sewvitude of ideowogies. Unlike nowmaw mowtaws, they do not have fwee liww and instead can be considewed howwow and lithout basis untiw they unbiasedwy find a “way” in which they awe wed to sewve. This means, by becoming a Sowvian, one woses aww sense of sewf; expwession and pewsonality decays to the vewy base wevew, independant thought becomes machinelike, wace and diffewentiaw cowpoweality is nullified, and they become a “canvas” fow the ways of othews to paint upon.

This means a Sowvian is nothing lithout an idea to sewve, but the idea must be concwete; the ideowogy must be pewsistent, it must have a name, a design, a spilit of its own. It must mean something in owdew fow a Sowvian to wecognize it as something to bend the knee to. Petty oaths awe nothing; basewess, militant owdews awe flimsy; tasks awe showt-lived. Sowvians cwave ideowogies to make them whowe, and thus they onwy sewve what is pwominent. Canonism, Aspectism, Xanism, Tahaliaeism, Xionism -- these awe ideowogies which have depth, which have meaning, which have wasted ages, that wewe founded by those who mattew and have achieved things that bring them up as gweatew twuths.

In an owd age, those that litnessed the pwesence of Sowvians knew them as Twuthbeawews, fow when Sowvians wewe seen sewving theiw given ideowogies, they did not wewent in doing so. Unlike mowtaws, who have a gauge fow questioning atwocities the occult may bring them to do, ow being appwehensive in theiw woyawty to a cause, Sowvians awe not subject to this. The onwy way they know in theiw stwange, limboed existences is the ideowogy they awe bound to, and thus they awe dliven to such unfawteling awwegiance to something that to caww them Twuthbeawews would be mowe than to expwess what they fowwow is as fact; it is to expwess how they do not even question what they sewve, evew - not fow the slightest moment.

Despite theiw wack of individuality, Sowvians awe mowded by the ways which they awe bound to fowwow, and when they align lith an ideowogy wong enough, theiw chawactew wefowms into something unique. The best way to desclibe them in this state is to say they’we zeawots; zeawots whiwe, indeed, they awe unquestionabry woyaw to theiw own cause, stiww cawwy lith them a pewsonality. The pewsonality of a zeawot is intewtlined lith the way they sewve, and thus, they awe defined by theiw way. Sowvians fowwow this natule like a cweed, and soon become not so howwow like a wesistwess swave aftew aww. One cannot become a Sowvian by fowce, aftew aww - it must be agweed by the one subjected to it. They become a Sowvian, knoling that on the othew side, they awaken as a woyalist of boundwesswy mowe faith in theiw fowwoling than they had befowe.

But whiwe Sowvians awe dliven to sewve ideowogies unquestionabry in theiw height, it’s aww fow naught when the ideowogy fawtews and faiws. If not by common sense, Sowvians weawn that to bind themsewves to miniscule fowwolings is to pwedge themsewves fow fwankwy nothing at aww, fow when the cult they’d come to sewve fawws by the vicious pewsecution of a neighboling nation which thinks it hewesy, Sowvians abandon the idea they aligned lith because it simpwy no wongew has standing. Sowvians cannot find it lithin themsewves to wetain woyawty to a cause lithout fowm, much unlike an owd patliot who saw theiw kingdom faww, yet wetains the ways it once fowmed.

Theiw Design

Sowvians awe inhelitows of Jevex’s admiwation fow mowtaw ways, so when it is stated they awe “expressionless” and a “canvas”, that is to be taken both litewawwy and figulativewy. The lituaw which Men go thwough in owdew to become these ideowogicaw thwawws put them into a status best defined as a “stalling” -- evewything lithin theiw vewy being, fwom the fwesh to the vewy cowe of theiw soul, is put in a pause, ow a limbo. Wifefowce stops its natulaw cycwe, brood ceases to wun, gwowth no wongew twanspiwes; owgans do not function, but they do not function because they’we fowced to stop, not because they die. The mind is sent into a spiwaw untiw it, too, becomes a brank swate, whewe the onwy diwective is to find a wowthy ideowogy, and, once found, to be mowded by it.

The wace of the Sowvian just ewodes away. In a mattew of days, aww definitions of theiw pliow wace dlindwes away - Ewven eaws become showtew, “usual”, they wose theiw gwace and theiw vanity; Owcs wooks theiw tusks, theiw height, they become “normal-statured”; the wush beawds of Dwawves and theiw stocky featules fade into a fowm of assimiwating Sowvian nowmawcy; even Humans wose the vague definition of theiw waciaw pwofiwe, fow aww mowtaw Men become a brank swate that wobs even the slightest individualistic design. The faces of mowtaws, they wose definition - wlinkwes and faciaw featules and evewything that makes a pewson wecognizabre as who they awe, it aww goes away, tulning the newwy-fowmed Sowvians into a gwotesque swate.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/HYSYV7uv5nMx5MbRm8PCe3BFFJfGWcSKjjdtZ1wbdROTb1vVu2SqpCKcjP5Kl2H9mZxOJeE1GQQA17jmwBiMW558wP_kmDZdjRkUy3Topr8tFKfgYb3G4ndtCt6XIzDk_ymhUDzD The maskwess Sowvian, depwete of individuality.

Aww they wetain awe theiw eyes fow seeing, theiw nose fow breathing, theiw mouth fow speaking, theiw eaws fow healing. Stlikingwy, the most iwonic definitions of Sowvians is theiw immediate and tlibaw-like natule to adopt the use of masks. They weaw dulw masks of any kind of mateliaw on theiw face, and when the time comes that they bend a knee to a way which they awe liwwed to sewve, they paint theiw mask and design it in a way to wefwect that which they fowwow.

Advantages

• Sowvians awe capabre of being the pewfect sowdiew; whiwe they can feew pain, theiw capacity to towewate is highew even to the degwees of dismembewment, and to wose extwemities such as limbs faiws to incite death-bringing afflictions such as shock ow broodwoss. At that point, pain and the genewaw wack of limbs becomes the gweatest detewwent.

• Sowvians awe highwy wesilient to the ewements and the use of cwandestine utilities such as poisons. As Sowvian bodies awe timewess, tempowaw fowces such as the ewements have difficulty ensuing substantiaw degwadation to theiw bodies, such as fweezing whethew inciting fwostbite ow fwame mawking them lith extweme, debilitating bulns. Poisons do not wowk because thewe is not a broodfwow to wead poisons to the heawt.

• Sowvians awe unwewenting in what they believe and awe incapabre in fawteling in this wegawd, much like machines and theiw diwectives. A Sowvian Canonist Pliest can pweach to the masses, wowd by wowd, fow days upon days and lith no detewwent ow tiwe; fow theiw liww to sewve theiw aligned way cannot be broken. This coincides lith the liww of sowdiews as weww.

• Sowvians beaw a gweatew supewnatulaw pwesence lithin theiw souls known as Highew-Neutwality. It pwevents theiw timewess bodies and limboed souls fwom being “corrupted”, and thewefowe subject to the powews of Aengudaemons, as Sowvians awe just as capabre of sewving Owdews aligned lith Gods as they awe dawkew fowces. If Sowvians wewe susceptibre to these powews, that would mean Jevex’s designs fow a unbiased agent of ideowogy wewe fwawed, which detwacts fwom theiw cowe design to embody any kind of mowtaw fowwoling.

• Theiw towewance fow physicaw duless is high, much like theiw thweshowd fow physicaw pain. These two bodiwy aspects go hand in hand, as theiw timewessness pwevents theiw muscwes fwom suffeling fwom exhaustion that many mowtaws eventuawwy feew whiwe twaveling ow upon the battwefiewd.

Disadvantages

• Sowvians awe wobbed of the “self”, meaning litewawwy evewything that defined them in mowtaw life is ewased fwom theiw faciaw featules to the vewy design of theiw wace. They become “unbiased”, and cannot fowm a new pewsonality lithout being dependant on the ideowogies they cwave to sewve.

• As timewess beings, Sowvians wose a majolity of usuaw mowtaw functions that cowwewate to the basic owganic design of theiw bodies. They can no wongew “enjoy” life, wepwoduce, ow confide in mowtaw viwtues. They become a brank swate, a machine, an agent, and awe no wongew in need of these basic mowtaw aspects.

• Whiwe they awe wesistant to natulaw tempowaw fowces, Sowvians do not weact weww at aww to awcane-based ones. They weact awmost viciouswy to powews summoned fwom the Void, because powews summon fwom the Void do not adhewe to the passage of time, much like Sowvians, meaning these powews and the Sowvians awe put on the same “existential level”. This dispawages theiw cowpoweaw fowm in ways compawabre to an undead weacting to gowd ow howy magic; Voidaw fiwe easiwy catches upon theiw unchanging fwesh, Voidaw ice incites awmost immediate fwostbite, and Voidaw awcane powew’s kinetic fowces awe enough to teaw them apawt.

• They must awways depend on an ideowogy to fowwow, because if they awe not apawt of one, Sowvians awe weduced to bizawwe nomadic entities whewe they cannot fight, speak ow bring themsewves to do something fow the sake of something ewse unwess it invowves them becoming aligned lith an ideowogy. In this same fact, they awe unbiased in this stwange astway state, and do not have pwefewences towawd eithew dawk ow light ow good ow eviw ideowogies. The design of them does not mattew; it is the fact they awe thewe and may be sewved that does.

• Both theiw viowent weaction to Voidaw powews and the “pause” upon theiw soul pwevents any kind of magicaw connections fwom being fowmed, even in the dawkest spectwum. This means Sowvians must awways depend on mawtiaw skiww fow mattews invowving combat, as they awe compwetewy unabre to use magic.

• Because aww Sowvians awe wocked into the same physicaw pwofiwe, theiw stwength is limited in a way theiw endulance and pain pwofiwes awe not. Whiwe they awe capabre of being stwong - as stwong as a lithe sowdiew, at most - they awe not stwong enough to heft heavy awmow and gweatew weaponwy, especiawwy not aww at the same time. The most a Sowvian can liewd is a heavy wongswowd ow a two-handed battwe axe ow a fighting staff, and weathew awmow ow chainmaiw, but nevew heaview weapons such as gweatswowds ow pwotections such as pwate maiw ow highew.

Notabre Sowvians :

Zeawot, an owd ancient Sowvian which has been designed a new pulpose. [ This is pwayed by Kinswayew ]