Editing Setting:Tabula Gloria/Vosagar/The Wodamen

The '''Triolite''' stories of a barbaric people to the very south of the continent drew the attention of one '''Ruti Corva''', a privateer captain often hired by the Empire for various tasks. His lust for the unknown in a world when even distant '''Animar''' was well mapped drew him to this particular challenge. He would set off from '''Port Endeavor''' with the Emperor's funding and his blessing. One year later, he would make it to the land of the Wodamen, a place which would come to be known as Vosagar.

=A Structured Society=
Corva would sail along the southern coast of '''Weylos''', past the mouth of the '''Ponban River''', and would land just south of the '''Narsum Cas'shren''', presumably the biggest challenge were he to travel by land. Landing on the stretch of land between the marshlands and the subcontinent, he would come across rather shy tribesmen of many eyes and many arms, hiding from Corva and his crew seemingly out of fear. He would explore further west to the islands of '''Conto''' and '''Basta''', discovering more barbaric peoples there. Before he would set foot into the subcontinent, Corva would continue his way around the verdant coast, spotting the otherwise elusive '''Huweysh Isle''' of the '''Eighth Master Monks''' along the way. Finally, he would pull his ship on the coast, where he was not met by the roving warriors of the Triolite legend, but of an equally inquisitive people, hardy and husky though they may have been.

The people called themselves the '''Mota''' and their coastal land of fertility, the '''Mot'''. Through the next couple of months, Corva and his crew would slowly decode some of the Mota's language of rough consonant and long vowel sounds. The stories that emerged from the rugged language were both interesting and terrifying at the same time. The Mota first tell of their role in the society, farming and raising cattle in order to pay a tribute to their masters on the volcanoes, who they called the Wodamen. Every new moon, the Wodamen would descend from their perch to collect half of their subjects' harvest to live off of for the month ahead. The Mota's lands were also used to construct crude shipyards and ports, serving as bases for which the Wodamen could set off through the shallow coastal waters to loot and plunder nearby peoples and villages. The Mota would not say of the fate of those who do not comply to the Wodamen's will, such a fate probably too much for them to bear.

=Spiraling Inward=
Continued study of the Mota and the occasional visit by the Wodamen led to more information about the Wodamen's society. Further inland from the tree-lined Mot lies the dusty dunes and sporadic oases of '''Elk'''. Roaming these lands are the '''Elkel''', strange horned creatures much like the ungulates of the mainland, if not for the humps upon their backs and splayed toes to better negotiate the shifting sands of their domain. These creatures were spotted in the Mota village in which Corva stayed, suggesting that they were beasts of burden for them, and likely the Wodamen up on high as well. Traveling further inland from Elk, one would have to make it through rough hills and growing crags, ascending upon the almost completely dry and blazing mountains of '''Gar'''. It is here where the Wodamen construct their permanent huts of stone, showing productivity of their own by mining copper and tin to construct their armors with, and bore into underground springs so that they do not die of thirst.

Deep within Gar is the volcanic region of '''Vos''', a truly perilous place in which Mota and Wodaman alike consider the home of the gods. The trek from the mountainous Gar to the dizzying and blazing heights of Vos is dangerous for even the hardy Wodamen, though a necessary trip for the warrior people. On the lava-streaked slopes of the twin volcanoes there - '''Vosei''' and '''Vosam''' - are rich deposits of obsidian, the material sharpened and fashioned into deadly and effective tips for their spears. In the tight valley between the volcanoes lies an unnamed ziggurat of equally unknown origin, a structure surprisingly not ravaged by the lava on the slopes. It's almost as if the lava actively avoids the structure. Vos is truly a place in which most men would die and even most adventurers find daunting, the Wodamen visit regularly, an example of their strength and fortitude.

=The Call to Holy War=
Usually the Wodamen only visit the Mot in order to gather their supplies from the Mota or to sail off for adventure. However, a Wodaman had come by just to take a break from the toil of their land, if only briefly. Speaking with the rust-skinned beast of a man, Corva described to him the thunderous shouts which emanated from deep within the volcanoes of Vos, a sound amplified likely by the valley in which the ziggurat was situated. At that description, the Wodaman gave out a hearty guffaw before going into a little more about their culture. The ziggurat is the home of the Vos, the God-kings, beings who had taught the people to become more than animals, to become men - a state in which he called '''Woda'''. He then pulled out from his bag a helmet adorned with a crest of Elkel mane and the images of two figures bearing the most snarling, vicious grins that could be imaginable, accurate depictions of the God-kings.

The Wodaman would then describe the shouts as orders from the gods, orders in which they would follow, be they to seek new resources in Gar and Vos, or to set sail to plunder elsewhere. It is a skill that the Wodamen were honing over the generations, slowly but surely sharpening their minds for the day in which the ziggurat would give the final order for the Wodamen to leave Vosagar to engage in a bloody holy war and bend the whole world to its will. The Wodaman wasn't engaging with Corva out of an indulgence of his cultural curiosity. He was simply issuing a friendly warning to him about a battle to come!

=A Haunting of Thunder=
Though laughable the concept of barbaric Wodamen taking over the world, especially with the might of the Empire of For'Channar only rising and the Nation of Animar as stable as it is, Corva couldn't help but to hear the shouts of Vos, even as he and his crew departed from the Mot coastline. Along the Weylosian coast, through Port Endeavor, along the Emperor's Road, and all the way back to Tabula Gloria, the explorer and his crew could not get the shouts to stop from echoing through their minds. Perhaps they were indeed the words of God-kings, the premonition of holy war everlasting. Even as they were welcomed back into the capital's walls with endless cheers and given a hero's honor, the shouts would not end. Even as Corva made his way to the Royal Palace to be knighted by the Emperor for his accomplishments, the thunder would not cease. It had to end, and it had to end now!

As the Emperor held out his sword to render Knightly honors upon Corva, the explorer could only reach out and grasp the Emperor's hands with a tremble, before plunging himself upon the blade. The court was shocked, running to pull Corva off of the Emperor's sword, wondering why such an illustrious man would do such a thing to himself. And though they managed to extricate the blade from Corva's bosom, the deed had been done. The explorer's life vanished from his glassy gaze as his blood pooled on the fine marble of the throne room floor. By the end of the decade, the rest of Corva's crew had met similar fates of self-destruction, also unable to ward off the piercing howl of the Wodamen's call.

[[Category: Tabula Gloria]]