The Origins of a Shaman

(This log was created by Okk and originally submitted to Cordir's website.)

It is noon on Cearn the 27th, the month of Celebration, in the year 2397.
TFC started up at Tue Feb 22 09:07:15 2000
The system time is Sun Feb 27 19:56:56 2000

By a Crackling Campfire
[Exits: east south west]
You are greeted by the low murmurs of talking and the occasional loud *pop* of the campfire everyone is huddled around, but can tell that this is no happy occasion deserving of any celebration. The people here are merely carrying out their inevitably boring lives, sharing stories they have each heard a million times, but sharing them again nonetheless, as well as engaging in trivial small-talk that, in reality, does little to help their predicament.
(Invis) (Magical) (Glowing) A ward has been placed to keep heavy fog at bay.
(Purple Aura) Kaye is resting here.
A warrior is here, practicing battle stances and weapon swings.
Chanting over the campfire coals, a tribal elder sits comfortably here.
An adventurous seafarer looks out to the horizon and sees...fog.
The captain here has retained his stern face but not his confidence.
A demon slayer stands here, having absolutely nothing better to do.
Kyb Keyotay is here humming a little ditty to himself.

whois kaye
1 player.
Elf [ Ra:21 Cl:25 ]Kaye the elf, Shaman's Apprentice *Life's Blood*

Okk says, 'Would you like to learn something today, Apprentice?'.

Kaye says (in common), 'Yes, I would'.

Okk says, 'okie'.

Okk says, 'Well, I suppose you can't know anything without knowing the creation story'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Are you going to keep looking at these guys?'.

Kaye says (in common), 'I am done, Spirit'.

Okk smiles happily.
Okk says, 'It was dark like this'.
Okk says, 'Dark like this in the beginning'.
Okk says, 'There wasn't really anything that we know, back then'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'At first, there was only the Eternal'.
Okk says, 'Little I shall speak of Him, but more of what came of his workings'.
Okk smiles happily.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'The Eternal, the Great One, created a plane of existence below him'.
Okk says, 'In it He placed a single being'.
Okk says, 'This being was one of only thought, idea, and intention'.
Okk says, 'Now, we only call him "the Elder"'.

Kaye says (in common), 'so it was He that created "the Elder" first?'.

Okk nods.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'The Elder knew of Himself, and what He possesed'.
Okk says, 'He could create most anything, should he have desired'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'But He was wise, and he saw His only lacking'.
Okk says, 'Out from the darkness, the Elder said,'.
Okk says, '"I need purpose"'.
Okk says, 'Interesting, no? That such things remain true for any being, and all need purpose, or are nothing'.

Okk says, 'The Elder said,'.
Okk says, '"Let me be many, and not one. Let there be individuallity and individual thought"'.
Okk says, '"Each of Mine, as a part of Me, shall hold kindred with all others"'.
Okk says, '"There shall be loneliness, companionship, leadership, and cooperation"'.
Okk says, '"And above all, each shall exist for another, to help another"'.
Okk says, '"That shall be purpose"'.

Kaye smiles happily.

Okk says, 'This purpose has remained over the endless ages. Only those who deviate from it truly suffer'.
Okk says, 'The Elder wished this so...'.
Okk says, 'And it was so'.
Okk says, 'Thus, the Elder destroyed His own existence to create another'.
Okk says, 'The spiritual'.

Kaye says (in common), 'was the Elder called other names?'.

Okk says, 'Fragments of the Elder's knowledge and consciousness formed into single beings, those we now call spirits'.
Okk says, 'The Elder is the Elder'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Did you presume otherwise?'.

Kaye says (in common), 'no'.

Okk says, 'Each spirit formed a part of who the Elder once was, so each held a kindred with all others'.
Okk says, 'Much knowledge was lost, but in all the spirits combined, there was little lacking'.
Okk says, 'Each provided companionship, leadership, and cooperation'.

Kaye says (in common), 'and what of loneliness?'.

Okk says, 'Each lived for the other and existed for another, and they had purpose'.
Okk says, 'There was seldom loneliness, together'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Loneliness is simply the force which compels one to return to his purpose'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Still, the spirits were also wise, and they still saw a lacking'.
Okk says, 'They said,'.
Okk says, '"We need challenge"'.
Okk says, 'So the spirits meditated over the problem, and came up with a solution'.
Okk says, 'They said,'.
Okk says, '"Let us have a world, a world where we can be separate, yet interact"'.
Okk says, '"Let it have rules and laws limit our actions, so success will come only through strength of intention and mastery of ability"'.
Okk says, '"Let there the earth, sun, moon, and stars"'.
Okk says, '"Let there be the sky, the air, fire, and water"'.
Okk says, '"Let there be green things, insects, beasts...and men"'.
Okk says, 'The spirits decided to make this so'.
Okk says, 'And it was so'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'And so their world was created, and matter, energy, spance, and time existed for the first time'.
Okk says, 'With them came the physical laws to bind them'.
Okk says, 'The spirits looked'.
Okk says, 'They saw the heavens, the elements, the land and all things living'.
Okk says, 'Thus, they created for themselves the plane of existence called the material'.

Kaye says (in common), 'is that where I exist?'.

Okk says, 'It is'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Little else there was to do but to descend upon the material to inhabit it'.
Okk says, 'This the spirits did. They abandoned the spiritual plane and came into this one'.
Okk says, 'Some took to the sun, the moon, the earth, and the stars'.
Okk says, 'Others took to the skies, the fires, the waters, the the air'.
Okk says, 'Still other took to the green things, insects, and beast'.
Okk says, 'Most took to men'.
Okk says, 'And thus, the spirits created what is known as "Life"'.
Okk says, 'For Life is the union of the spiritual and the material'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'This worked incredibly well'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Each strove to master abilities and control that which was around him, and, above all, to assist others in doing the same'.
Okk says, 'There came a period called the Golden Age, in which all things lived in harmony and cooperation with everything else'.
Okk says, 'Problems occurred, as problems will always occur, but together they were always overcome.'.
Okk says, 'There was challenge, and there was happiness'.
Okk says, 'Then, all this started to change'.
Okk says, 'Little is known of how it occurred, but it did nonetheless'.
Okk says, 'There was a breakdown of understanding between people'.
Okk says, 'Men began to forget who they were, and where they came from'.
Okk says, 'An overall degradation led to war, and hatred, and pain'.
Okk says, 'Beings were rapidly beginning to forget that they were spiritual beings. More and more they would succumb to the mere laws of the material'.
Okk says, 'Those who could, fled the material back in the long-forgotten spiritual plane'.
Okk says, 'When all got there and gathered, there were only twenty-eight'.

Kaye says (in common), 'so few'.

Okk says, 'Twenty-eight, where there once were countless billions'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'They pondered over what was to be done'.
Okk says, 'One spirit came forward and said,'.
Okk says, '"We shall throw open the gates between our worlds, and let our kindred come to us, in whatever repair. We must save our own, and now"'.
Okk says, 'All agreed, and it was so'.
Okk says, 'The gates were thrown open, but none answered the call...so far gone were they'.
Okk says, 'Then, the open gates were noticed by another breed'.
Okk says, 'Those beings who had become most corrupted and degraded, saw the gates and came through'.

Okk says, 'These twisted spirits touched the spiritual plane and gained power from it, though still dark and evil'.
Okk says, 'The twenty-eight quickly shut the gates, but not before many of these spirits came through'.
Okk says, 'They escaped away into some unknown place, and ever seek to plague us, now'.
Okk says, 'They are the Fel, the dark spirits'.

Kaye nods.

Okk tips a large jug of sweetwater in libation to Tal-Tikiri.
Okk drinks water from a large jug.

Kaye chuckles, evidently amused.

Kaye smiles at Okk.

Okk raises an eyebone.
Okk says, 'Another spirit came forward and said,'.
Okk says, '"There is no saving of themselves alone. We who are left must save our kindred"'.
Okk says, 'The spirits decided to re-enter the material and bring their kindred up from their corruption'.
Okk says, 'But spirits were needed to stay behind and guard the gates'.
Okk draws two overlapping circles on the ground.
Okk says, 'The first was known as Tal-Khat'.

Kaye nods.

Okk draws a smaller circle beside.
Okk says, 'The second was known as Tal-Terai'.
Okk draws another circle beside.
Okk draws a line through the third symbol.
Okk says, 'The third and last was known as Tal-Lanova'.
Okk says, 'And the twenty-five spirits decended once more upon the material world and took on material forms'.
Okk says, 'There, using their abilities and awareness, they worked to rebuild Understanding, and to reteach lost ability'.
Okk says, 'The most notable effort was a society called the Circle of Faces'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'While the Circle of Faces is gone, their work and their descendants continue to this day'.
Okk says, 'Back in the spiritual, there were Khat, Terai, and Lanova'.
Okk says, 'The three spirits formed what is called Tal-Tikiri'.
Okk says, '"Tal-Tikiri", from the secret language, means "The Great Spirits of the World"'.
Okk says, 'The term refers to the three'.
Okk says, 'Tal-Tikiri worked to keep the gates closed against the dark spirits'.
Okk says, 'They also, however, needed to create a way for freed spirits to return to the spiritual world'.
Okk draws a triangle on the floor.
Okk draws a circle within the triangle.
Okk says, 'Tal-Tikiri, using the material principles of the world, shaped a barrier to the material'.

Okk says, 'This barrier is called the Ward of Tal-Tikiri'.
Okk says, 'The Ward of Tal-Tikiri will only allow those who have attained spiritual freedom to pass into the higher world'.
Okk says, 'That is all'.

Kaye nods.

Okk says, 'Here this story ends, and yours begins'.

Kaye says (in common), 'How do I start, Spirit?'.

Okk says, 'You are an immortal spiritual being. You were once great'.
Okk says, 'Would you like to be great again?'.

Kaye says (in common), 'Yes I do, Spirit'.

Okk nods.
Okk says, 'Excellent'.
Okk says, 'Then come'.

(End Scene)