NEWRP Inkmen

NEWRP Inkmen:

Calligraphists and Painters. This larger category is named after the fact that both Arts utilize ink as the base resource for them to work. The Guardian Spirits of Inkmen are some of the fanciest out there. Calligraphist Spirits have an air of elegance and refinement afforded only to the wealthiest of the continent, and Painter Spirits are incredibly colorful and flashy in every feature.

It is often that these spirits are regarded as assistants, either providing paper to write, or a canvas. Some Calligraphist Spirits function as 'Readers' who read aloud the tales spurned by the Calligraphists. It is difficult to bring forth new ideas as a Calligraphist or a Painter in combat. The time it takes to draw a properly detailed and powerful story or painting, makes this impractical.

However, both sides can invoke their Spirits to 'auto-fill' the rest of the story when a general skeleton of it has already been placed. A lot of Inkmen spend time to promote their ideas, through their works. This allows both their Defender Spirit to grow more powerful their stories to become more well known. It increases the ease with which they are reproduced.

There do exist a few major groups of Painters and Calligraphists, as well as certain ideals and concepts that are alluded to in their art.

1. The Seven Sacred Stories.

Unlike the Painting of the Sky, this ideal is shared between Painters and Calligraphists, although support of them has been more on the side of Calligraphy. There is no real confirmation that there are only seven sacred stories, it was simply that the Calligraphists enjoyed the alliteration of it. To this day however, seven are held as the 'true' Sacred Stories. It must be noted, that only general details of the stories exist to the day. The actual tales are far more detailed. The first four are rather early stories, while the later three are of the Kandhrak period.

 - The Journey of Vaan: The story detailing the descent of Vaan from the northern ranges, into the lands of Soma. Surprisingly, the three facilities existed even as Vaan descended,making their creation a total mystery. Vaan then taught the Somans how to write and speak in the Primordial Language, basic principles of art, philosophy and morality, telling them to spread it further on the land. Vaan himself took to it that he shared his knowledge as much as he could. Vaan disappeared just as he appeared, in mysterious circumstances. Many await his return.

 - The Painters of the Sky: A painter story, from Orimman. Originally, the Orimman believed the sky to be a vast, featureless ocean, until seven legendary Painters used it's water as ink, and colored it with their feelings. Rage created storms, hope made the sunlight and longing the stars, love shaped the moon and serenity the clouds, sadness colored rain and joy made snow. Thus, the sky was painted. A story largely relegated to pure myth for many ages, until the appearance of the mysterious Luna, and her painting of the skies over Morphe, into the everlasting night of the full moon.

  - The Snake-Speaker: A tale of old Xoac. The oldest recorded writing in Mistanne history, and quite bizarre at that, it speaks of a Xoac hunter, Mirahuc whose village was attacked by a large lion. Mirahuc defended the village bravely but in the process, damaged the Ocamalac that defended the village. For that he was cursed, and was told to seek a mysterious 'Sage Ancient' in the jungle who would life the curse, lest Mirahuc die. After many adventures, Mirahuc finds the Sage-Ancient, a gigantic snake of ages untold, who tells Mirahuc many secrets as well as undoes his curse. Unfortunately, the details on these secrets are lost to history.

   - The Law of Ishmelem: A saga detailing how a mysterious figure, slowly descends into Ishmelem. On her way, she encounters multiple figures, each helping and hampering her. At the end of every encounter, she recites to herself what happened, albeit the details are as with every other story, lost. Once she is done with her encounters, the mysterious figure takes up a golden crown, the only thing left in the cavern of Ishmelem. She put it on, and then from the earth built a tall pillar, writing what she had learned as laws of Ishmelem, before disappearing into the sea. Everyone who came after, had to obey the laws in the pillar.

   - The Catacombs of Kandhrak: A relatively 'young' sacred story, said to be one of the last texts written in the Primordial Language. In the Catacombs of Kandhrak, dwells a mysterious man, who guards a doorway into the bowels of the earth. Every new year, he leaves the catacombs for one day. At one point a young street rat saw the man leave and snuck in. He found the door, but in the absence of the guardian, the door shook violently, and a fearsome creature seemed to be behind it. The story has the young child escape, only for curiosity to take him many years later,sneaking into the catacombs again. This once, the creature behind the gate, takes him.

   - The Chronicle of Khef-Khud-Menem: A grand epic, detailing the legendary conflict between Khor-Arkun and the Councilmen of the city. It centers around a number of figures that partook in the fighting, brave warriors, hunters, nobles of renown fighting for victory. The scale of the Arts unleashed, as the two cultures clashed against one another, the battle of ideas was nothing ever seen before. It is believed that apart from the cataclysm, this very conflict was so harsh that the Primordial Language was threatened with extinction, as the intensity of fighting made sincere words impossible to be spoken and listened to.

    - Bor of the Fields: A 'continuation', into the reign of Khor-Arkun II. The tale of a legendary hero, who journeyed from  the ruins of Khef-Khud-Menem, to the far north. Many adventures, meetings with bandits, monsters, ancient makes and all sorts of trouble ensued, as Bor reached the furthest north, and returned bearing a powerful Idea, the embodiment of his journey. Some called him a 'supreme Gardener' whose rein was over the most common grass, earning the name 'Bor of the Fields'. As he returned, he staged a campaign that devastated the war effort of Khor-Arkun II, and earned Bor a place among Orimman legends.

2. The Primordial Language.

A mysterious construct. Brought forth from the north, the birth of the Primordial Language is assumed to be Soma. Records of the matter are confusing. Stories speak of Vaan descending from beyond the mountains and bestowing it's knowledge to all of the world. However, Bor of the Fields uses completely different characters in the Primordial Language, in a section that is (only assumed!) to relate to it's origins.

A modern theory on such origin, brought forth by exploration further up in the Norther Ranges, posits that the Primordial Language was spoken by a race of pale-skinned humanoids, with radiant eyes and hair and several sets of wings. This mysterious species has been labelled as the 'Progenitor Kin' and is assumed to be related to the species of Fi.

The relation of the Primordial Language to the Xoac and Orimman languages remains unknown. Linguistic study has unfortunately not evolved to the level where roots of current dialects can be found. While most of the world speaks a convenient watered-down variant of Kandhrak's adopted Primordial Language derivative (that lacked it's outright supernatural abilities, however was quite close in pronunciation) and thus understanding is not difficult in most matters, how these all evolved, and whether there are traces of different source languages is a big unknown.

It is said that the more people refuse to listen to one another, the less possible it is to communicate in the Primordial Language. A strange idea, however one few can dispute.

3. Spontaneous Inking

An unique art, that only the greatest Inkmen are capable of. It is attested to in the legend of the Painting of the Sky: the ability to either color ink merely by channeling one's willpower and emotions, or alternatively to produce new 'words', to shape a character that names a concept or idea, and make it recognized as 'real'.

It must be noted, that Calligraphists need a conduit for ideas (language) and thus writing meaningless words and symbols looks more like they are trying to emulate Painters in a lame way.

With Spontaneous Inking, Calligraphists can 'codify' a core concept of their stories into a single word. Something like making a specific word out of 'Forbidden love that is fated to end in tragedy' or 'Conquering villainy by abstaining the use of force and allowing the supporter's of one's idea to rise to arms in their stead'. It must be noted, that a 'word' for such concepts may exist in one language, but not in another.

The way to obtain it has been lost, and it's current possessors deem it a dearly held secret. However, it is known to have a tie to Defender Spirits and their growth.

4.  Teram's Circle

The perfect circle. A construct that is sought by both Calligraphists and Painters: the ability to draw a perfect circle in a single stroke. It is considered humanly impossible to do so, however it is still something sought after in this very day. Depictions of the ancient, unobtainable idea of Teram ('all' or more accurately 'everything' in Vaana) show him with such a circle for a head, which is often lit ablaze for new year's celebrations.

It is thought that managing such a task, will allow one to call upon the great spirit of Teram, as one's Defender. However, nobody has been able to prove this. These have been cases of people claiming they drew a perfect circle, yet much doubt was shed due to lack of evidence that they both did it on their own, and in a single stroke.