(4th Edition, Year 642)
Family Names in the Holdings:
Within Nessantico,
lineage follows the matrilineal line. A husband might, in rare
cases, retain his own family name (especially if it were considered
higher in status than his wife’s), but the wife can never take his
name. In the vast majority of cases, however, the husband will
legally take on his wife’s family name, thus becoming a member of
that family in the eyes of Nessantico law—the husband will continue
to bear that name and be considered to be part of that family even
upon the death of his spouse, unless and until he remarries and
thus acquires his new wife’s name. (Divorces and annulments are
rare in Nessantico, requiring the signature of the Archigos, and
each divorce is a special situation where the rules are sometimes
fluid.) Children are, without exception, given the mother’s family
name: “One always is certain of the mother,” as the saying goes in
Nessantico.
The prefix to a
family name can change, depending on the relative status of the
immediate family within Nessantico society. The prefixes, in order
of rising status, are:
• none
• ce’ (keh)
• ci’ (kee)
• cu’ (koo)
• ca’ (kah).
One of the
functionary roles of the Kralji was to sign the official family
rolls every three years wherein the prefixes are recorded, though
the Kraljiki or Kraljica rarely determined any changes personally;
that was the role of the bureaucracy within Nessantico known as the
Gardes a’Liste.
Thus, it is possible
that the husband or wife of the ci’Smith family might gain status
in some manner and be awarded a new prefix by the Gardes a’Liste.
Husband, wife, their children and any surviving maternal parents
thus become cu’Smith, but brothers, sisters, and any cousins would
remain ci’Smith.
Royalty Succession Within The Holdings:
Various countries
within the Holdings, not surprisingly given the variance of
customs, have various rules of succession within their societies.
This is especially true when those countries are independently
ruled. For instance, in East Magyaria, the closest male relative of
the previous ruler who is also not a
direct child of that ruler is named as the successor. However, with
the ascension of Nessantico and the Holdings, those countries
within Nessantico’s influence tend to follow the lead of the
Kralji.
For the royal
families of Nessantico, title succession is normally to the
Kralji’s children by birth order regardless of gender. However, it
is possible for the Kralji to legally designate a favorite child as
the heir and bypass earlierborn children, if the Kralji deems them
unfit to rule or if for some reason they fall out of favor. This is
an uncommon occurrence, though hardly rare throughout history. For
the Kralji, it means that his or her children will tend to curry
favor so as to remain in good graces or perhaps to unseat one of
their brothers or sisters from being named the
a’Kralj.
The Ilmodo and Spellcasting:
Some people have the
ability to sense the power that exists all around us: the invisible
potent energy of the Second World that surrounds us. In the
Nessantico-controlled regions of the world, usage of magic has
always been linked to religious faith, all the way back into
prehistory. The myth of Cénzi extends deep into the historical
mist, and it is the followers of Cenzi who have always possessed
the power to manipulate the Ilmodo through chants and
hand-motions.
The chanting that
binds the power of the Ilmodo is the “Ilmodo language” that all
acolyte téni are taught. The Ilmodo language actually has its
linguistic roots in the speech of the Westlands, though neither
those of the Concénzia Faith nor the Numetodo realized that for
centuries. Those of the Westlands also take power from the Second
World via the instrument of religion, though through a different
god and mythology, and they have their own name for the Ilmodo:
X’in Ka
The Numetodo have
taken the most recent path to this power: not through faith at all,
but essentially by making a “science” of magic. The cult of the
Numetodo first arose in the late 400s, originally from the Isle of
Paeti, and spread mostly west and south from there, sometimes
reacting violently with the culture of Nessantico and the Concénzia
Faith.
However the power is
gained, there is a necessary “payment” for spell use: using spells
costs the wielder physically; the greater the effect, the higher
the cost in exhaustion and weariness for the caster.
Different paths have
resulted in different abilities—for Concénzian téni, there is no
“storage” of spells—their spells take time to cast and once
prepared, they must be cast or they are lost. However, the téni of
the Faith have the advantage of being able to cast spells that
linger for some time after the casting (see “The Lights of
Nessantico” or “The Sun Throne of the Kralji”). Téni who cast
spells quickly and effectively are unusual, and have in historical
times been suspected of heresy.
The Numetodo, in
contrast, have found a way to cast their spells several turns of
the glass earlier (though such spells can’t be stored
indefinitely). Like all users of this power, they “pay” for it with
exhaustion but hold the power with their minds to be released with
a single gesture and word. Their spells are generally longer and
more arduous to create (even more so than that of the téni), but do
not require “faith”—as is required by both the path of Concénzia
and the Westlanders. All they require is that the spellcaster
follows a “formula.” However, any variation from the formula, even
small, will generally ruin the spell.
The Westlanders,
following what they call X’in Ka, must perform the chants and hand
gestures much like the téni, but they can also “enchant” an object
with a spell (something neither téni nor Numetodo can do), so that
the object (e.g.: a walking stick) manipulated in a particular way
(e.g. striking someone) can release a spell (e.g. a shocking jolt
that renders the struck person unconscious).
In all cases and
whatever the path of the spellcaster, the spells of the Second
World tend to be linked to elementals in our world: fire, earth,
air, and water. Most spellcasters have an ability sharply stronger
in one element and much weaker in the others. Rarely does a
spellcaster have the ability to handle two or more elements with
any skill; even more rare are those who can move easily between any
of the elements.
The Ranks of Téni in the Concénzia
Faith:
The téni are ranked
in the following order, from lowest to highest:
Acolyte—those who are receiving instruction to become
one of the téni—generally, the instructions requires tuition be
paid to Concénzia by the students’ families. The Concénzia Faith
brings in both male and female students to become téni, though
realistically the classes tend to be largely male, and there are
fewer women than men represented in the higher ranks of the téni.
(There have been only six female Archigi in the long history of the
Faith.) During the acolyte period (typically three years), the
students serve within the Faith, doing menial tasks for the téni,
and also begin to learn the chants and mental discipline necessary
for Ilmodo, the manipulation of the universe-energy. Typically,
only about 10% of the acolytes receive the Marque of the Téni.
There are schools for acolytes in all the major cities of
Nessantico, each presided over by the a’Téni of the
region.
E’Téni—the lowest téni rank for those brought into
the service of the Faith. The acolytes who receive their Marque
are, with exceedingly few exceptions, awarded this rank, which
denotes that they have some small skill with Ilmodo. At this point,
they are generally tasked with menial labor that requires the magic
of Cénzi, such as lighting the city lamps, and are expected to
increase their skill and demonstrate their continuing mastery of
the Ilmodo.
O’Téni—an e’téni will be awarded this rank, generally
after one to five years of service, at which point they are either
put in service of one of the temples, administering to the needs of
the community, or they are placed in charge of one of the
téni-powered industries within the city. This is where most téni
will end their careers. Only a select few will pass this rank to
become u’téni.
U’Téni—u’teni serve directly under the a’teni of the
region. An u’téni is generally responsible for maintaining one of
the temples of the city, and overseeing the activities of the
o’téni attached to that temple.
A’Téni—the highest rank within the Faith with the
exception of that of Archigos. The a’téni each are in charge of a
region centered around one of the large cities of the Holdings.
There, they generally wield enormous power and influence with the
political leaders and over the citizenry. At times, this can be a
contentious relationship; most often, however, it is neutral or
mutually beneficial. In the year of Kraljica Marguerite’s Jubilee,
there were twenty-three a’téni in the Faith, an increase of three
from the time she ascended the throne. Generally, the larger and
more influential the city where they are based, the more influence
the a’téni has within the Faith.
Archigos—the head of the Faith. This is not
necessarily an elective office. Often, the Archigos designates his
or her own successor from among the a’téni or even potentially a
favorite u’téni. However, in practice, there have been “coups”
within Concénzia where either the Archigos died before naming a
successor, or where the right of the successor to ascend to the
position has been disputed, sometimes violently. When that happens,
those a’téni who aspire to the seat of the Archigos are locked in a
special room within the Archigos’s Temple for the Concord A’Téni.
What happens there is a matter of great speculation and debate. One
will, however, emerge as Archigos.
The Creation of Cénzi:
At the start of all things, there was only Vucta, the
Great Night, the eyeless female essence who had always existed,
wandering alone through the nothingness of the universe. Though
Vucta could not see the stars, she could feel their heat, and when
she was cold she would come to them and stay for a time. It was
near one star that she found something she had never experienced
before: a world—a place of rocks and water, and she stayed there
for a time, wondering and dreaming as she walked in this strange
place, touching everything to feel its shape and listening to the
wind and the surf, feeling the rain and the snow and the touch of
the clouds. She hoped that here, in this strange place near the
star, there might be another like her, but there were no animals
here yet, nor trees, nor anything living.
As Vucta walked the world, wisps of her dream-thoughts
gathered around her like a mist, coalescing and hardening and
finally growing heavy from their sheer volume. The dream-thoughts
began to shape themselves, a white shroud around Vucta that grew
longer and more substantial as she walked, heavier and heavier with
each step until the weightiest part of it drooped to the ground and
snagged on a rock. Eyeless, Vucta could not see that. She continued
her walking and her thinking, and her dream-thoughts poured from
her, but now they lay solid where they had fallen, stretching and
thinning as she strode away from where they were caught. Vucta, in
truth was already growing tired of this place and her search, and
she desired the heat of another sun, so she leaped away from the
world and the shroud of her dream-thoughts snapped as she
flew.
Vucta’s dream-thoughts lay there, all of them coalescing,
and when the sun shone on the first day after Vucta’s departure,
there was a form like hers curled on the ground. On the second day,
the sun’s light made the dream-thoughts stir, and the form moved
arms and legs, though it did not know itself. The dream-thoughts
that were the yearning of Vucta gathered in its head, and from
Vucta’s desire to know the place where she walked, they made eyes
in the face.
On the third day, when the sun touched it once more, it
opened those eyes and it saw the world. “I am Cénzi,” the creature
said, “and this place is mine.” And he rose then and began to walk
about . . .
That is the opening
of the Toustour, the All-Tale. In time, as the creation tale
continues, Cénzi would become lonely and he would create
companions—the Moitidi—fashioning them from the breath of his body,
which still contained Vucta’s strong power. Those companions, in
turn, would imitate their creator and fashion all the living
creatures of the earth: plant and animal, including the humans. The
Moitidi’s own breaths were weak, and thus those they created were
correspondingly more flawed. But it was Cénzi’s breath and the
weaker breaths of the Moitidi that permeated the atmosphere of the
world and would become the Ilmodo, which humans through prayer,
devotion to Cénzi, and intense study could learn to
shape.
But the relationship
between Cénzi and his offspring would always be contentious, marred
by strife and jealousy. Cénzi had given his creations laws that
they were to follow, but in time, they began to change and ignore
those laws, flaunting themselves over Cénzi. Cénzi would become
angry with his creations for their attitudes, but they were
unrepentant, and so they began to war openly against Cénzi. It was
a long and brutal conflict, and few of the living creatures would
survive it, for in that past there had been many types of creatures
who could speak and think. Cénzi’s throwing down of the Moitidi as
they wrestled and fought would cause mountains to rise up and
valleys to form, shaping the world which had until then been flat,
with but one great ocean. The final blow that destroyed most of the
Moitidi would fracture the very earth, tear apart the land and
create the deep rift into which the Strettosei would
flow.
After that immense
blow that shook the entire world, those few Moitidi who remained
fled and hid and cowered. Cénzi, though, was haunted by what had
happened, and he wished to find Vucta and speak with her, whose
dream-thoughts had made him. Only a single speaking and thinking
species were left of all of Cénzi’s grandchildren, and he made this
promise to them, our own ancestors: that if they remained faithful
to him, he would always listen to them and send his power back to
them, and that one day, he would return here and be with them
forever.
With that promise, he
left the world to wander the night between the stars.
In the view of the
Concénzia Faith, Cénzi is the only god worthy of worship (Vucta
being considered by the Concénzian scholars to be more an
all-pervading spirit rather than an entity), and it is His laws,
given to the Moitidi, that the Faith has codified and now follows.
The gods worshipped by other religions within and without the
Holdings are those cowardly Moitidi who came out of hiding when
Cénzi left and have deceived their followers into thinking they are
true gods. The surviving Moitidi remain in mortal fear of Cénzi’s
return and flee whenever Cénzi’s thoughts turn back to this world,
as they do, reputedly, when the faithful pray strongly
enough.
The truth of this is
shown in that the laws of humankind, wherever they may live and
whomever they may claim to worship, have a similarity at the
core—because they all derive from the original tenets of
Cénzi.
The Divolonté:
The Divolonté is a
loose collection of rules and regulations by which the Concénzia
Faith is governed, the majority of which derive from the Toustour.
However, the Divolonté is secular in origin, created and added to
by the various Archigi and a’téni through the centuries, while the
Toustour is considered to be derived from Cénzi’s own words. The
Divolonté is also a dynamic document, undergoing slow, continual
evolution through the auspices of the Archigos and the a’téni. Many
of its precepts and commands are somewhat archaic, and are ignored
or even flaunted by the current Faith. It is, however, the
Divolonté that the conservative element within the Faith quotes
when they look at the threat of other faiths and belief systems,
such as that of the Numetodo.