Editing Primordial Evolution Game/Western Legends (section)

==N'olai becomes a shaman==

The Shaman summons N'olai to his hut. There he explains the young hoppa the situation. He tells N'olai that his time is up. The shaman is old, over 38 years of age. Tribal hoppa's life span is usually around 40 years. The shaman must pass down his knowledge of the Scent Way, the Soul Wind, legends, tales, myths, everything he knows. For not even telepathy can decipher the fickle currents of the Soul Wind, one needs knowledge for that.

His top student, the one that the Slizer killed, was supposed to take up his mantle. Now it can't be done, and time is running out for the Shaman. He can perhaps expand on N'olai's training, but he can't make him a Shaman fast enough. The shaman has a plan however. He might be able to use telepathy to transfer his knowledge to N'olai swifter. It is the only way to ensure that all that must be known is preserved.

Meanwhile, the tribe sends scouts to cross the river once more. Others ready themselves for a hunting trip. The maiden is organizing the foundation of another Hrass field.

The Shaman strains hard, and soon N'olai found information seeping into its brain... N;olai lets the information in, like the river rushing into the plains. Within instants, new concepts in Shamanism became known in N'olai's mind, obviously transferred from the Shaman. After an hour of intense data-transfer, N'olai had received the Shaman's body of knowledge, and both were severely exhausted. The Shaman pulsed a message to N'olai: "And now, the legacy will be continued..."

The next day, the Shaman died of natural causes.

The death of the shaman comes abruptly for the Nad'lun. Although the atmosphere within the tribe had been rather tense during these last few month, the shaman was still beloved by the majority of the tribe. He had guided the Nad'lun with great wisdom for decades, and his sudden passing leaves the tribe in shock.

Again, do the Nad'lun stay awake deep into the night. A grand funeral pyre is lit and the body of the shaman, along with his belogings are placed in it, so that his spirit may once again merge with the soul wind. There is no dancing this night, the Nad'lun stand and watch silently, as the fire burns away their former leader.

N'olai, is the one to lit the pyre and thus assume the role of the next shaman, although some of the elder, more experienced herders are rather skeptical about his merit for this mantle.

The next day, is still a day of mourning, but the Nad'lun still continue their duties. Hrass is harvested, hoppas herded and the scouts move out to the unknown territories past the river, in search of new grazing land.

The amulet that was grafted to the shamans head is uncovered by N'olai, beneath the ashes of the pyre, virtually unharmed. Many of the Nad'lun had already forgotten about this thing, as the shaman had only exposed it once. This discovery sends his mind in motion. This amulet had set these events in motion in the first place. Where did it come from? What is it?

Suddenly, a sense of dread fills him. He carefully puts the amulet into his pouch, afraid of touching it, and carries it to the shaman's former hut. There he starts digging through the memories and knowledge the shaman transferred, for clues about the amulet.

N'olai stared at the amulet and became fixated with a slight touch. The day had burned away, and the amulet was missing. N'olai only noticed much later, the amulet was fixed firmly to him. The world was visible to him, even with his eyes shut. In the dark, asleep, the Scent Way was with him always.