Hastur of Elhalyn
29-01-2004, 03:33
I would like to open up a new area for NationStates fantasy nation RPers, based on Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover novels featuring the lost human colony of Darkover and the telepaths of the Comyn.
I'm thinking of starting it at the point when the "lost colony," living at a very pre-industrial technology level (medieval culture, etc.,) is "rediscovered" by spacefarers.
If you are interested in fantasy-based nations RP, please check out the summary/Fact Book posted below.
There are two ways to participate--as a Domain or nation on Darkover itself, or as spacefarers "discovering" this interesting world. Please telegram Hastur of Elhalyn to establish a nation in the Darkover Region, or to indicate interest in being spacefaring discoverers.
I will bump this thread periodically for a few days to see if interest develops, and, if so, will start another thread based on the response.
If You Already Know Darkover
Darkover is based on the fantasy novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley. For those familiar with the novels, the starting point for current RP is just prior to the Rediscovery. The RP will (more or less) use established Darkover history up through that time, but no actual book characters or events from any time fifty years or so before Rediscovery onward.
All of the characteristics of Darkover—the comyn with their laran gifts, the Towers, the Domains, the outlying Drylands, the vanishing and endangered nonhuman races, the Compact, the cristoforos at the Monastery of Nevarsin, the Order of Renunciates, etc., will adhere to the conventions established in the books. Only laran powers based on the books will be allowed, and Godmodding with laran will result in ejection from Darkover and subjection to the Ultimate Laran of Ignore.
If you are already familiar with the world of the Bloody Sun, you may join the Darkover Region by telegramming Hastur of Elhalyn for the password. If you don’t know the books, you’re welcome to join, but please read the Overview thoroughly, and consider checking out a book or two from the library to enhance your RP.
Darkover Overview
Darkover’s Unique Heritage: Laran
The world of Darkover was already inhabited by several races of sentient nonhumans when a lost colony ship from Earth crash-landed there. It is believed that contact and early interbreeding with the most advanced (but, sadly, dying) of these races, the chieri, as well as exposure to psychoactive substances in native flora, were responsible for awakening the telepathic gifts known as laran in those Earth colonists already predisposed to a high level of psychic talent or receptivity. The most common of these gifts (practically universal in anyone who has any laran at all) is the ability to communicate telepathically with others so gifted.
In their basic state, laran skills are limited—weilders of laran are not supermen or uberbeings. Few of those gifted with laran have more than the basic telepathy (and that not always very strong) and possibly the tendency to another ability or gift. And without a matrix jewel, the ability to use any gift is extremely feeble. Laran, while an inborn genetically-linked trait (it seems closely linked with the gene for red hair,) does not manifest itself at birth. Rather, as an individual passes through puberty, the abilities become active, sometimes accompanied by a debilitating (occasionally fatal, but usually mild and temporary) process known as threshold sickness.
It was the discovery of the matrix jewels—blue crystals of unfathomable structure and nature—that brought laran powers into the realm of real utility. By “keying”—linking one’s consciousness—to the crystal, a laran-gifted individual can channel and amplify the basic laran to the highest level of which s/he is naturally capable.
The common thread among matrix-enhanced laran skills is related to the ability to sense and/or manipulate various types of molecular or energy structures. This includes affinities (the ability to sense and/or manipulate) certain natural forces and substances (think dowsing or ‘finding’,) kinetic abilities, healing ability based on sensing cellular structure and activity, etc.
At some point it was discovered that a group of matrix-assisted telepaths, their consciousnesses linked and channeled through an individual known as a Keeper (one with a special talent for such channeling and manipulation) could achieve almost unlimited power in the exercise of a wide variety of laran abilities. A vast, complex, and powerful laran-based technology evolved.
Darkover Historical Summary
Over centuries the colonists forgot their Earth heritage and spread out over the largest inhabitable area of the planet. As laran powers developed and the genetic nature of their transmission was comprehended, the families in which the gifts ran strongest began to purposefully breed to enhance the strength and variety of laran and fix it in genetic lines. In combination with the powerful developing technology of the Towers (where linked circles of telepaths could channel incredible forces,) this brought about disaster—the development of laran-based weaponry, the madness and instability of highly inbred, powerful families, and the basic human drive toward power and conquest produced the Ages of Chaos, a time of unrestricted laran warfare that nearly wiped out human life on the surface of Darkover.
It was Varzil the Good who convinced the Towers to rebel against the bloodthirsty rapacity of the warring Domains, and cease to create laran weapons. At the same time, Varzil and the Hastur Lords worked to bring about the great truce and swear all Darkovans to the Compact—which states that no one will wield a weapon which does not bring them into arm’s reach of their enemy. The devastated lands had peace, and the small remnant of Tower telepaths became centers of a much more limited technology, training the laran-gifted in arts such as healing, mining Darkover's scarce metals using telekinesis, etc. The Towers also functioned as communications centers, passing messages telepathically across long distances to one another, and the repository of historical records and accumulated written knowledge.
The Ages of Chaos had taken a severe toll of the gene stock among the telepathic families, and they declined in numbers and vigor. While they retained hereditary lordship over their vast domains, it has devolved over the years to a very loose level of control, with a multitude of free Cities, Merchant Guilds, smaller fiefdoms and territories being virtually self-governing. The Comyn (the families of the telepathically gifted) lead more through the enormous prestige and tradition they embody than by dynamic conquest and control. Many groups, (see special populations) do not consider themselves subject in any way to the dictates of Comyn, although the Comyn Council is probably the closest thing to a planetary government.
For centuries, Darkover has been a fairly peaceful, pre-industrial world. It is thinly populated, the largest cities having fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. The numbers and influence of the Comyn are slowly declining, the Towers are small oases of a higher culture, something like the monasteries of the Dark Ages. But humans of a later wave of spacefaring are making their way toward the Bloody Sun and Darkover will not remain in its peaceful isolation for long…
Darkover: The World
Darkover is a cold world, due to the dimness of its sun, although there is an equatorial desert belt inhabited by the marginal populations known as the Drytowns. The habitable continent is bounded at the north by the vast mountain ranges known as the Hellers. Below the mountains and melding into their foothills are the Kilghard Hills, which in turn decline into the Plains of Valeron. The only large body of water near human-inhabited areas of the planet is the Sea of Dalereuth. Winters are long and severe, especially in the mountains, and the weather (with four moons to complicate it) includes monumental storms.
Native flora and fauna usually have cold adaptations, including coloration changes, dormancies and hibernations, and exceptional cold tolerance. Fauna include the chervine, a horned, quadripedal mammal domesticated for riding (and sometimes food,) the rabbithorn, a rodent-like mammal with stubby horns, timid but prolific (and a preferred game animal,) and the huge scavenger birds known as “sentry birds” or kyorebni.
In the mountain areas, the banshee, a large, swift avian carnivore, senses prey by body heat and emits an eerie cry with sub- and super-sonic elements that paralyzes its prey.
Drytown (desert) region fauna include the large, clumsy-looking quadripedal mammal oudrakh, analogous to a camel but larger, used as mount and beast of burden by the Drytowns populations.
The flower known as the Golden Bell, (cleindori or kiriseth) contains a powerful psychoactive, hallucinogenic drug. It can be distilled to create kirian liquor, sometimes used to combat threshold sickness. In the spring when the fields of flowers release its pollen, they create the phenomenon known as the “ghost wind,” when unwary creatures passing nearby inhale the pollen and are affected by the drug, which releases inhibitions.
Non-humans of Darkover
Darkover’s sentient nonhuman populations have not fared well over the centuries of human colonization, as one might expect.
Catmen
A bipedal felinoid race, the catmen are territorial but not social, and while frequently in conflict among themselves for the wilder regions at the margins of the Drytowns and plains, they will also form alliances and attack humans they believe are threatening their territory. They appear to have a primitive laran. Their population is fairly stable, but small. They occasionally trade with Drytowners.
Trailmen
This anthropoid, semi-arboreal race is fully upright and bipedal when on the ground but has been known to brachiate in their native tree cities. They average about 5 feet in height and are furred, although lightly on the face and hands. They live a primitive, semi-nomadic gathering lifestyle, and prefer to avoid humans. They are vegetarian, not aggressive but can fight fiercely to protect one another. Their numbers seem to be in decline as humans slowly encroach on their forests, but they may simply be moving to regions uninhabited by humans.
Kyrrii
Bipedal, anthropoid humanoid, covered with pelt of long grayish fur. It has long prehensile fingers and a face like a masked monkey with green, glowing eyes. Kyrrii can give off mild electrical shocks, not unlike some Terran fish.
Chieri
An ancient, probably once dominant race of tall, longlived, hermaphroditic humanoids with telepathic abilities. Although apparently nearly immortal in lifespan, they breed extremely seldom and very few remain. They are highly intelligent, entirely nonaggressive, and avoid humans.
Ya-men
There is some doubt about the actual sentience of these tall (2 meters or more) bipedal pseudo-avians. They are rarely seen, although occasionally ghost winds bring them into contact with humans, or extremely severe winters drive them to forage in human territories.
Darkover: The Culture(s)
Thinly populated, and with limited communications, Darkover has many subcultures and special population groups (see below,) but the general culture in the most populous cities and plains of Valeron is similar to medieval latinate European feudalism, with minor lords holding fiefdoms from more powerful lords, up through the six great Domains of the Comyn (the “Seventh Domain” of Aldaran is located in the Hellers and traditionally ‘outcast’ from the plains culture due to some long-forgotten historical feud, possibly a refusal to sign the Compact.) In the Cities, craftsmen and merchants form Guilds, which can amass considerable power.
The mountain culture of the Hellers and the Kilghard hills is more similar to the early Celtic culture of clans and chieftains, with a Teutonic overtone. Family and clan are all-important, and the laws and customs vary considerably from the plains culture. While the mountain folk are far more puritanical in their view of sexual mores, they are also considerably more egalitarian in their gender relations. Some clans and lands are held by female family heads, and women often hold small farms or businesses on their own. This is believed to have evolved from the need for men to spend large amounts of time hunting and traveling long distances in the mountains.
The culture of the Dry Towns is almost independent of the Comyn taint, and some hostility exists between the groups. However, the Comyn family of Ridenow was believed to originate in the Dry Towns, and their domain of Serrais abuts the Dry Town territories, and some commerce exists. The Dry Towns culture is extremely misogynistic, with women regarded entirely as chattels. It is still customary for a Dry Town girl, upon coming of age, to be invested with ceremonial chains on her wrists, and jeweled, highly ornamented bracelet/chains are items of status adornment among wealthy Dry Town women. “Towns” is misleading, as the culture is nomadic or semi-nomadic, with groups and families moving from one area to another depending on where food and water may be available according to the season. Some Dry Town chieftains have residences in several places. Raiding commerce caravans and other forms of banditry are common and considered semi-legitimate business enterprises.
Special Populations/Groups
Among the various peoples of Darkover, several groups have evolved with anomalous, “special” status, and an individual is free to seek and join these groups if s/he has the desire and the qualifying abilities or characteristics.
The Order of Renunciates
Most of Darkover’s cultures are highly patriarchal and regard female independence with disfavor. However, the Order of Renunciates has won privileges not accorded to women in other cultures. By “renouncing” the life of home and family in common Darkovan cultures, women who enter the Order can win control of their own lives and destinies. They generally live communally in Houses of the Order (when not traveling,) and are free to follow whatever profession they wish. Many become mercenary guards or guides, and there is a lucrative business as travel escorts for the Ladies of the Domains among Renunciates skilled in arms. They also engage in healing and midwifery, and provide an alternative to the male-dominated craft Guilds for women skilled in smithing, tanning, woodworking, etc. Renunciates may take “freemates” (a limited, usually temporary, form of marriage,) but if they do so with men, they must leave the Houses of the Order for the duration of the marriage.
Cristoforos and the Monastery of Nevarsin
An early colonist who was a Catholic priest became a hermit in the mountains, and is believed to have written the “Book of Burdens” that is the foundation of the cristoforo faith. The monastery is all-male, and monks take vows for life. Monks engage in the spiritual disciplines of mystic austerity and achieve high levels of autonomic control of the nervous system, allowing them to sleep naked in the snow, etc. The monastery also has a school for the sons of noble Darkovans, teaching them to read and write. The cristoforo religion professes nonviolence, and thus carries a taint of effeminacy or unmanliness among the nobility who profess the more common faith of the Hali’imyn (a pantheistic syncretism of traditional legends, etc.) However, the high level of learning available at the monastery induces some Lords to send sons (especially younger sons) to be educated in the skills of reading, writing, mathematics, etc., that will enable them to be independent of the usually more-literate middle classes and minor nobility who supply stewards (coridoms) and estate-managers.
The Towers
Originally reserved for the children of the noble houses of the Comyn, some Towers in the last few centuries have liberalized to the extent of accepting anyone with laran, regardless of bloodline. With the old family gifts waning and dying out, the Towers need telepaths to maintain the Circles that permit long-distance communications and other activities. Because of the nature of the psychic activities they encompass, Towers are physically isolated from population centers where the presence of non-telepaths or telepaths not attuned to the Tower Circles’ rapport can impede their functions. They often have nonhuman servants. The process of learning telepathic techniques, the unique technology of matrices, and integrating into the group rapport demands complete commitment and a long period of study and practice, and Tower Circles become very close-knit.
The Comyn
The seven families of the Comyn are traditionally held to descend from a common Hastur ancestor, and the Hasturs of Elhalyn retain a ceremonial “kingship” (with no real political power) based on a semi-religious status. The great Domains of the Comyn represent the traditional spheres of influence for each family.
Hastur of Elhalyn
The oldest line of Hasturs has degenerated and all but died out. Early interbreeding with chieri is probably responsible for both the longevity and the high incidence of sterility in this family. The traditional Domain of the Hasturs is the area of the Plains of Valeron once believed to be the original site and demesnes of the Lake of Hali, a semi-liquid, breathable gas that permitted higher awareness functions. It was destroyed in the Ages of Chaos. They are also the guardians of the rhu fead-- the Holy Place of the Hali’imyn faith. The traditional laran gift of the Hasturs the ability to see “possible” futures, that is, a precognition that can distinguish consequences of various actions, without reliably showing the future course of events. The Elhalyn are one of only two Domains that may appoint a female representative to the Comyn Council.
Hastur of Hastur
A slightly more vigorous sept of the Hastur family, the Hasturs of Hastur hold Thendara and the surrounding plains as their Domain, except for Comyn Castle, which is the seat of the Hasturs of Elhalyn. A Hastur of Hastur usually functions as Regents of Hastur when the Hastur of Elhalyn who fulfills the hereditary kingship is a minor, is enfeebled by age, or otherwise incapacitated. The laran gift of the Hasturs is the “living matrix”—the ability to perform without a matrix many laran functions at a high level. Allied/related minor Houses include the di Asturien, the Alar, the Castamir, and the Syrtis
Alton
The Alton family Domain encompasses plains up to the edge of the lower Kilghards, the family seat of Armida is in a valley. The horses bred at Armida are believed to be the best on Darkover. The Alton family laran is a very powerful form of telepathy that can “force” rapport even on untelepathic, unreceptive, or even unwilling minds (truly powerful Altons can often force rapport even through the “shield” of another telepath.) Allied/related minor Houses include the Leynier, the Syrtis, and the Lanart.
Ardais
A plains Domain. The Ardais have some chieri blood. Their laran is the ability to catalyze the awakening and/or development of telepathy in those who have latent or dormant telepathic abilities. The Ardais are allied/related to the Morays.
Aillard
The Aillard gift is mysterious. The Aillards do not discuss it. It is known to be exclusively sex-linked to females; this may be why the Aillard women enjoy a higher degree of autonomy and control of their own destiny than most noble Darkovan women. The Aillard is the only domain other than Elhalyn which may be represented in Comyn Council by a woman.
Ridenow
The Ridenow are the “youngest” Domain, accorded Comyn status and a seat on the Comyn Council only at the close of the Ages of Chaos (depressing the pretensions of the ‘upstart’ Ridenow was the casus belli for many of the conflicts at that time.) Their Domain is closest to the Dry Towns, its seat is Serrais (one branch of the family is known as the Ridenow of Serrais.) Their laran is telempathy—the perception of feelings; many Ridenow can also communicate telepathically with nonhumans. They are allied/related to the Dellerays.
Aldaran
The Aldaran, whose vast Domain includes parts of the Kilghard Hills and the Hellers, were originally one of the Comyn families, but were “banished” or “outlawed” sometime near the end of the Ages of Chaos, for some disagreement now forgotten (possibly an unwillingness to swear the Compact.) They are not represented on the Comyn Council. Their laran is precognition—they can sometimes see reliable future events, although rarely fully or in any detail. The Aldaran have many related and allied minor Houses, including the Storn, the Rockraven, the Darriell, and the Scathfell.
Map of the Domains
http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/16929/Darkover1%20copy.jpg
I'm thinking of starting it at the point when the "lost colony," living at a very pre-industrial technology level (medieval culture, etc.,) is "rediscovered" by spacefarers.
If you are interested in fantasy-based nations RP, please check out the summary/Fact Book posted below.
There are two ways to participate--as a Domain or nation on Darkover itself, or as spacefarers "discovering" this interesting world. Please telegram Hastur of Elhalyn to establish a nation in the Darkover Region, or to indicate interest in being spacefaring discoverers.
I will bump this thread periodically for a few days to see if interest develops, and, if so, will start another thread based on the response.
If You Already Know Darkover
Darkover is based on the fantasy novels of Marion Zimmer Bradley. For those familiar with the novels, the starting point for current RP is just prior to the Rediscovery. The RP will (more or less) use established Darkover history up through that time, but no actual book characters or events from any time fifty years or so before Rediscovery onward.
All of the characteristics of Darkover—the comyn with their laran gifts, the Towers, the Domains, the outlying Drylands, the vanishing and endangered nonhuman races, the Compact, the cristoforos at the Monastery of Nevarsin, the Order of Renunciates, etc., will adhere to the conventions established in the books. Only laran powers based on the books will be allowed, and Godmodding with laran will result in ejection from Darkover and subjection to the Ultimate Laran of Ignore.
If you are already familiar with the world of the Bloody Sun, you may join the Darkover Region by telegramming Hastur of Elhalyn for the password. If you don’t know the books, you’re welcome to join, but please read the Overview thoroughly, and consider checking out a book or two from the library to enhance your RP.
Darkover Overview
Darkover’s Unique Heritage: Laran
The world of Darkover was already inhabited by several races of sentient nonhumans when a lost colony ship from Earth crash-landed there. It is believed that contact and early interbreeding with the most advanced (but, sadly, dying) of these races, the chieri, as well as exposure to psychoactive substances in native flora, were responsible for awakening the telepathic gifts known as laran in those Earth colonists already predisposed to a high level of psychic talent or receptivity. The most common of these gifts (practically universal in anyone who has any laran at all) is the ability to communicate telepathically with others so gifted.
In their basic state, laran skills are limited—weilders of laran are not supermen or uberbeings. Few of those gifted with laran have more than the basic telepathy (and that not always very strong) and possibly the tendency to another ability or gift. And without a matrix jewel, the ability to use any gift is extremely feeble. Laran, while an inborn genetically-linked trait (it seems closely linked with the gene for red hair,) does not manifest itself at birth. Rather, as an individual passes through puberty, the abilities become active, sometimes accompanied by a debilitating (occasionally fatal, but usually mild and temporary) process known as threshold sickness.
It was the discovery of the matrix jewels—blue crystals of unfathomable structure and nature—that brought laran powers into the realm of real utility. By “keying”—linking one’s consciousness—to the crystal, a laran-gifted individual can channel and amplify the basic laran to the highest level of which s/he is naturally capable.
The common thread among matrix-enhanced laran skills is related to the ability to sense and/or manipulate various types of molecular or energy structures. This includes affinities (the ability to sense and/or manipulate) certain natural forces and substances (think dowsing or ‘finding’,) kinetic abilities, healing ability based on sensing cellular structure and activity, etc.
At some point it was discovered that a group of matrix-assisted telepaths, their consciousnesses linked and channeled through an individual known as a Keeper (one with a special talent for such channeling and manipulation) could achieve almost unlimited power in the exercise of a wide variety of laran abilities. A vast, complex, and powerful laran-based technology evolved.
Darkover Historical Summary
Over centuries the colonists forgot their Earth heritage and spread out over the largest inhabitable area of the planet. As laran powers developed and the genetic nature of their transmission was comprehended, the families in which the gifts ran strongest began to purposefully breed to enhance the strength and variety of laran and fix it in genetic lines. In combination with the powerful developing technology of the Towers (where linked circles of telepaths could channel incredible forces,) this brought about disaster—the development of laran-based weaponry, the madness and instability of highly inbred, powerful families, and the basic human drive toward power and conquest produced the Ages of Chaos, a time of unrestricted laran warfare that nearly wiped out human life on the surface of Darkover.
It was Varzil the Good who convinced the Towers to rebel against the bloodthirsty rapacity of the warring Domains, and cease to create laran weapons. At the same time, Varzil and the Hastur Lords worked to bring about the great truce and swear all Darkovans to the Compact—which states that no one will wield a weapon which does not bring them into arm’s reach of their enemy. The devastated lands had peace, and the small remnant of Tower telepaths became centers of a much more limited technology, training the laran-gifted in arts such as healing, mining Darkover's scarce metals using telekinesis, etc. The Towers also functioned as communications centers, passing messages telepathically across long distances to one another, and the repository of historical records and accumulated written knowledge.
The Ages of Chaos had taken a severe toll of the gene stock among the telepathic families, and they declined in numbers and vigor. While they retained hereditary lordship over their vast domains, it has devolved over the years to a very loose level of control, with a multitude of free Cities, Merchant Guilds, smaller fiefdoms and territories being virtually self-governing. The Comyn (the families of the telepathically gifted) lead more through the enormous prestige and tradition they embody than by dynamic conquest and control. Many groups, (see special populations) do not consider themselves subject in any way to the dictates of Comyn, although the Comyn Council is probably the closest thing to a planetary government.
For centuries, Darkover has been a fairly peaceful, pre-industrial world. It is thinly populated, the largest cities having fewer than 100,000 inhabitants. The numbers and influence of the Comyn are slowly declining, the Towers are small oases of a higher culture, something like the monasteries of the Dark Ages. But humans of a later wave of spacefaring are making their way toward the Bloody Sun and Darkover will not remain in its peaceful isolation for long…
Darkover: The World
Darkover is a cold world, due to the dimness of its sun, although there is an equatorial desert belt inhabited by the marginal populations known as the Drytowns. The habitable continent is bounded at the north by the vast mountain ranges known as the Hellers. Below the mountains and melding into their foothills are the Kilghard Hills, which in turn decline into the Plains of Valeron. The only large body of water near human-inhabited areas of the planet is the Sea of Dalereuth. Winters are long and severe, especially in the mountains, and the weather (with four moons to complicate it) includes monumental storms.
Native flora and fauna usually have cold adaptations, including coloration changes, dormancies and hibernations, and exceptional cold tolerance. Fauna include the chervine, a horned, quadripedal mammal domesticated for riding (and sometimes food,) the rabbithorn, a rodent-like mammal with stubby horns, timid but prolific (and a preferred game animal,) and the huge scavenger birds known as “sentry birds” or kyorebni.
In the mountain areas, the banshee, a large, swift avian carnivore, senses prey by body heat and emits an eerie cry with sub- and super-sonic elements that paralyzes its prey.
Drytown (desert) region fauna include the large, clumsy-looking quadripedal mammal oudrakh, analogous to a camel but larger, used as mount and beast of burden by the Drytowns populations.
The flower known as the Golden Bell, (cleindori or kiriseth) contains a powerful psychoactive, hallucinogenic drug. It can be distilled to create kirian liquor, sometimes used to combat threshold sickness. In the spring when the fields of flowers release its pollen, they create the phenomenon known as the “ghost wind,” when unwary creatures passing nearby inhale the pollen and are affected by the drug, which releases inhibitions.
Non-humans of Darkover
Darkover’s sentient nonhuman populations have not fared well over the centuries of human colonization, as one might expect.
Catmen
A bipedal felinoid race, the catmen are territorial but not social, and while frequently in conflict among themselves for the wilder regions at the margins of the Drytowns and plains, they will also form alliances and attack humans they believe are threatening their territory. They appear to have a primitive laran. Their population is fairly stable, but small. They occasionally trade with Drytowners.
Trailmen
This anthropoid, semi-arboreal race is fully upright and bipedal when on the ground but has been known to brachiate in their native tree cities. They average about 5 feet in height and are furred, although lightly on the face and hands. They live a primitive, semi-nomadic gathering lifestyle, and prefer to avoid humans. They are vegetarian, not aggressive but can fight fiercely to protect one another. Their numbers seem to be in decline as humans slowly encroach on their forests, but they may simply be moving to regions uninhabited by humans.
Kyrrii
Bipedal, anthropoid humanoid, covered with pelt of long grayish fur. It has long prehensile fingers and a face like a masked monkey with green, glowing eyes. Kyrrii can give off mild electrical shocks, not unlike some Terran fish.
Chieri
An ancient, probably once dominant race of tall, longlived, hermaphroditic humanoids with telepathic abilities. Although apparently nearly immortal in lifespan, they breed extremely seldom and very few remain. They are highly intelligent, entirely nonaggressive, and avoid humans.
Ya-men
There is some doubt about the actual sentience of these tall (2 meters or more) bipedal pseudo-avians. They are rarely seen, although occasionally ghost winds bring them into contact with humans, or extremely severe winters drive them to forage in human territories.
Darkover: The Culture(s)
Thinly populated, and with limited communications, Darkover has many subcultures and special population groups (see below,) but the general culture in the most populous cities and plains of Valeron is similar to medieval latinate European feudalism, with minor lords holding fiefdoms from more powerful lords, up through the six great Domains of the Comyn (the “Seventh Domain” of Aldaran is located in the Hellers and traditionally ‘outcast’ from the plains culture due to some long-forgotten historical feud, possibly a refusal to sign the Compact.) In the Cities, craftsmen and merchants form Guilds, which can amass considerable power.
The mountain culture of the Hellers and the Kilghard hills is more similar to the early Celtic culture of clans and chieftains, with a Teutonic overtone. Family and clan are all-important, and the laws and customs vary considerably from the plains culture. While the mountain folk are far more puritanical in their view of sexual mores, they are also considerably more egalitarian in their gender relations. Some clans and lands are held by female family heads, and women often hold small farms or businesses on their own. This is believed to have evolved from the need for men to spend large amounts of time hunting and traveling long distances in the mountains.
The culture of the Dry Towns is almost independent of the Comyn taint, and some hostility exists between the groups. However, the Comyn family of Ridenow was believed to originate in the Dry Towns, and their domain of Serrais abuts the Dry Town territories, and some commerce exists. The Dry Towns culture is extremely misogynistic, with women regarded entirely as chattels. It is still customary for a Dry Town girl, upon coming of age, to be invested with ceremonial chains on her wrists, and jeweled, highly ornamented bracelet/chains are items of status adornment among wealthy Dry Town women. “Towns” is misleading, as the culture is nomadic or semi-nomadic, with groups and families moving from one area to another depending on where food and water may be available according to the season. Some Dry Town chieftains have residences in several places. Raiding commerce caravans and other forms of banditry are common and considered semi-legitimate business enterprises.
Special Populations/Groups
Among the various peoples of Darkover, several groups have evolved with anomalous, “special” status, and an individual is free to seek and join these groups if s/he has the desire and the qualifying abilities or characteristics.
The Order of Renunciates
Most of Darkover’s cultures are highly patriarchal and regard female independence with disfavor. However, the Order of Renunciates has won privileges not accorded to women in other cultures. By “renouncing” the life of home and family in common Darkovan cultures, women who enter the Order can win control of their own lives and destinies. They generally live communally in Houses of the Order (when not traveling,) and are free to follow whatever profession they wish. Many become mercenary guards or guides, and there is a lucrative business as travel escorts for the Ladies of the Domains among Renunciates skilled in arms. They also engage in healing and midwifery, and provide an alternative to the male-dominated craft Guilds for women skilled in smithing, tanning, woodworking, etc. Renunciates may take “freemates” (a limited, usually temporary, form of marriage,) but if they do so with men, they must leave the Houses of the Order for the duration of the marriage.
Cristoforos and the Monastery of Nevarsin
An early colonist who was a Catholic priest became a hermit in the mountains, and is believed to have written the “Book of Burdens” that is the foundation of the cristoforo faith. The monastery is all-male, and monks take vows for life. Monks engage in the spiritual disciplines of mystic austerity and achieve high levels of autonomic control of the nervous system, allowing them to sleep naked in the snow, etc. The monastery also has a school for the sons of noble Darkovans, teaching them to read and write. The cristoforo religion professes nonviolence, and thus carries a taint of effeminacy or unmanliness among the nobility who profess the more common faith of the Hali’imyn (a pantheistic syncretism of traditional legends, etc.) However, the high level of learning available at the monastery induces some Lords to send sons (especially younger sons) to be educated in the skills of reading, writing, mathematics, etc., that will enable them to be independent of the usually more-literate middle classes and minor nobility who supply stewards (coridoms) and estate-managers.
The Towers
Originally reserved for the children of the noble houses of the Comyn, some Towers in the last few centuries have liberalized to the extent of accepting anyone with laran, regardless of bloodline. With the old family gifts waning and dying out, the Towers need telepaths to maintain the Circles that permit long-distance communications and other activities. Because of the nature of the psychic activities they encompass, Towers are physically isolated from population centers where the presence of non-telepaths or telepaths not attuned to the Tower Circles’ rapport can impede their functions. They often have nonhuman servants. The process of learning telepathic techniques, the unique technology of matrices, and integrating into the group rapport demands complete commitment and a long period of study and practice, and Tower Circles become very close-knit.
The Comyn
The seven families of the Comyn are traditionally held to descend from a common Hastur ancestor, and the Hasturs of Elhalyn retain a ceremonial “kingship” (with no real political power) based on a semi-religious status. The great Domains of the Comyn represent the traditional spheres of influence for each family.
Hastur of Elhalyn
The oldest line of Hasturs has degenerated and all but died out. Early interbreeding with chieri is probably responsible for both the longevity and the high incidence of sterility in this family. The traditional Domain of the Hasturs is the area of the Plains of Valeron once believed to be the original site and demesnes of the Lake of Hali, a semi-liquid, breathable gas that permitted higher awareness functions. It was destroyed in the Ages of Chaos. They are also the guardians of the rhu fead-- the Holy Place of the Hali’imyn faith. The traditional laran gift of the Hasturs the ability to see “possible” futures, that is, a precognition that can distinguish consequences of various actions, without reliably showing the future course of events. The Elhalyn are one of only two Domains that may appoint a female representative to the Comyn Council.
Hastur of Hastur
A slightly more vigorous sept of the Hastur family, the Hasturs of Hastur hold Thendara and the surrounding plains as their Domain, except for Comyn Castle, which is the seat of the Hasturs of Elhalyn. A Hastur of Hastur usually functions as Regents of Hastur when the Hastur of Elhalyn who fulfills the hereditary kingship is a minor, is enfeebled by age, or otherwise incapacitated. The laran gift of the Hasturs is the “living matrix”—the ability to perform without a matrix many laran functions at a high level. Allied/related minor Houses include the di Asturien, the Alar, the Castamir, and the Syrtis
Alton
The Alton family Domain encompasses plains up to the edge of the lower Kilghards, the family seat of Armida is in a valley. The horses bred at Armida are believed to be the best on Darkover. The Alton family laran is a very powerful form of telepathy that can “force” rapport even on untelepathic, unreceptive, or even unwilling minds (truly powerful Altons can often force rapport even through the “shield” of another telepath.) Allied/related minor Houses include the Leynier, the Syrtis, and the Lanart.
Ardais
A plains Domain. The Ardais have some chieri blood. Their laran is the ability to catalyze the awakening and/or development of telepathy in those who have latent or dormant telepathic abilities. The Ardais are allied/related to the Morays.
Aillard
The Aillard gift is mysterious. The Aillards do not discuss it. It is known to be exclusively sex-linked to females; this may be why the Aillard women enjoy a higher degree of autonomy and control of their own destiny than most noble Darkovan women. The Aillard is the only domain other than Elhalyn which may be represented in Comyn Council by a woman.
Ridenow
The Ridenow are the “youngest” Domain, accorded Comyn status and a seat on the Comyn Council only at the close of the Ages of Chaos (depressing the pretensions of the ‘upstart’ Ridenow was the casus belli for many of the conflicts at that time.) Their Domain is closest to the Dry Towns, its seat is Serrais (one branch of the family is known as the Ridenow of Serrais.) Their laran is telempathy—the perception of feelings; many Ridenow can also communicate telepathically with nonhumans. They are allied/related to the Dellerays.
Aldaran
The Aldaran, whose vast Domain includes parts of the Kilghard Hills and the Hellers, were originally one of the Comyn families, but were “banished” or “outlawed” sometime near the end of the Ages of Chaos, for some disagreement now forgotten (possibly an unwillingness to swear the Compact.) They are not represented on the Comyn Council. Their laran is precognition—they can sometimes see reliable future events, although rarely fully or in any detail. The Aldaran have many related and allied minor Houses, including the Storn, the Rockraven, the Darriell, and the Scathfell.
Map of the Domains
http://gallery.cybertarp.com/albums/userpics/16929/Darkover1%20copy.jpg