The Kami are incapable of recognizing anything that is not them. They see the beginning of time as the moment of their conception. When they speak of the universe they mean themselves, all else is the Void. They are the embodiment of the “Creative Energy”. That which is not part of their collective, only becomes noticeable once it has been transformed by the “Life Giver”. They are symbionts/pararsites that mutate the “Void” into “Life”. In short, they infect existing life forms and eventually gain dominance or possession over them.

Atys is the key to the Kami ability to fuse with other life. The Greening, the transformation of Atys into a living planet, opened a pathway for the “Life Giver” to manipulate existing life forms with the “seeds of existence.”

“From the bowels of the green planet…”, the core, the pre greening land mass, is where the Kami were brought forth. Endowed with the desire to transform all things not associated with the “Creative Force” they were incapable of dealing with the goo. The goo destroys/limits the ability of the Kami to dominate a life form, but the goo also damages the infected life form apparently to the point of destruction. The goo can remove the influence of the “Creative Energy” that even death can not remove, (which is why we respawn).

Homins while touched by the “creative force” are not controlled by the “fragment of consciousness”. We have free will. Homins are the bridge between the “Void” and “Creation”. We are life forms that can use the “Creative Energy” and not be dominated by it. We are the Void and the Energy. We are creatures of both worlds. Resilient to both the Goo and the “Consciousness”. Resistant, not impervious.

The Kami want us to save them from the threat of the Goo. Once the threat is destroyed, they will attempt to transform all of us, into them.

The Kami are a part of Ma-duk, they claim dominion of all the resources of Atys and argue that the planet’s natural resources are in a fragile balance. Their goal for Homins is to transform all of us into becoming one with their collective.

“Your destiny is linked to the life of Atys”, another reference to the inevitable death of the great plant? The Kami can not stop the goo without Homins and do not want to risk a Karavan led mass evacuation of the Homin populace. So they claim the Karavan are foreigners and as such should be destroyed. Remember, Homins are not native to Atys either.

As far as the Karavan stealing resources, has anyone ever seen or heard of the Karavan demanding tribute or payment that has exceeded the demands made by the Kami themselves?

It is through service to the Kami that one gains favor. One of the rewards is the most interesting line in the entire passage, “teleport through the corridors of time.” Is it possible that the Kami themselves were once Homins who have been sent back in time in order to “recruit” more Homins?

To the Kami ‘eternal bliss’ is through praise and service to an entity that only appeared after the swarming and the fall of the homin races.

The Karavan are fellow followers of Jena who state that they have been chosen to guide Homins and prepare Homins for the eventual death of Atys. A fate they see as imminent and unalterable.

The Karavan hint that the Kami are using Homin lives and souls to repair “festering” plants. They warn that “faith in Her must prevail” in order to be saved when the planet is no longer able to sustain homin life. I do not think this is just a reference to spiritual faith but also to our physical being. Part of the Kami “religious” experience is transformation. Their goal is to remove all genetic code that is not a part of their collective. In short, if Homins become too Kami like, we will no longer be able to be separated from Atys and survive.

Atys: A demigod who was turned into a giant pine tree.

Karavan: Persian Pilgrims

Kami and Ma-duk: It is a big ole pdf, check out words 172 and 189 on the word list if you decide to look at the whole thing.

Jena: Simple word play on Genesis.

Goo: Runaway nanobots

Kitin: Armored bugs

Matis: Look familiar?

Zoari: Ancient religion

Fyros: I think it is just cause they like to burn things but the name could be tied to Former Yugoslavian Republic of Slovenia (FYROS) and they just liked the sound of it.

Tryker: Really couldn’t find anything, maybe something to do with Elias Tryton?

Enjoy the links.

A great aqueduct was built, 20 feet in width and 500 miles in length, connecting the northern desert to the southern lakes. It is said that it took four and half years to build using the labor of 10,000 Trykers and their Fyrosian overseers. The route went through the lands of the Matis and so that area too became pacified by the Fyros.

The Holy city of Karavia, built upon the site where the Matis first met and learned from the Karavan was situated half way along the aqueduct. Three generations before the Fyros had conquered Karavia displacing the Matis from their holiest sites.

The Karavan themselves remained, ever watching, but took no action with inter-Homin conflicts. However, the Fyros had fallen so out of favor with the Karavan, the teleportation unit within the city was no longer open to them.

Meanwhile, Aniro III, second son of Danido the Decrepit, had united the Matisian houses under one banner. Their cause, retake the holy city of Karavia. The Matis marshaled their forces and laid siege to the heavily fortified but lightly manned city. Their plan was to trap and eliminate the legions that would come to reinforce the most important link to the great aqueduct using the city as bait. Those legions never came. The great fire of Coriolis ravaged the Fyrosian landscape and created an impenetrable barrier to the relieving armies. The Fyrosian occupation of Karavia was quickly and brutally ended.

The Matis killed or enslaved all they came across. Refugees from the area fled to Zoari lands only to be denied entrance and cut down or captured in the shade of the seclusionary walls. Thousands of Trykers were enslaved and scattered throughout the Matis territory. The Trykers could do little in response, lacking a military and the Fyrosian legions recalled to protect the desert. The Trykers were in dire need of a hero.

Loria, a daughter of the Beachcomber tribe managed to free a group of Trykers from slavery. While she only saved a handful, it motivated the entire Tryker race to stand up for themselves. The Lake Lands would now defend their own.

The Treaty of Karavia was signed and an unsteady peace lasted until 2481, the year it all ended.

I think it has been seven months that we have had control of Loria Stronghold. For seven months we have been stewards of over 25% of all the OP resources in the lake lands, seven months of uninterrupted continuous control. That put some big, big targets on our foreheads. Today, we finally got hit.

We will continue to stay targets. Not for what we control but for what we believe in. The old ways are ridiculed, said to be obsolete, and sadly for many tradition and history is not only dead, it never existed. We, however, will never forget. Our faith in Jena is what defines, binds and guides us.

Today we have lost. We have lost a place. In the years to come, the lands we fight over will be canopied by layers of new life, new dreams and new ideals. It is not the land that matters. It is not the victory or the defeat. It is what remains that matters. What is left behind. Ideals, thoughts and dreams, these will outlive the sunlit ground we walk on. It is from our ideals that the new lands will blossom.

Eventually all of the present surface will be covered once again in shadow, hidden from the light. Do we allow the comfort of shade to blind us from the coming darkness or do we take the heat? It is a continuous struggle, whether to give in or to stand fast. What will we do?

We are Aeden Artisans.

Long, long ago another spark gave birth to our sun and released our ancestors from the clutches of the Dragon. With a new sun, a new planet arose. Rock and salt became leaf and bark. The great greening affected everything. The seed became a part of all Homins and all Homins became a part of Atys. The seed is the tie that binds us, the source of our magic, the key to our respawning.

During the struggle between light and darkness that created Atys, the Dragon was beaten but not defeated. Its coil utterly disrupted sent forth microscopic particles to cover the now living and growing planet. In the same action that birthed the seed, the corruption that is the Draconic Ashe took form.

The Great Tree absorbs the ashe, filters it from the air and slowly transfers the corruption towards its rhizome, the Core. The great fire disrupted this process unleashing eons of Ashe. A new Era was born from a spark. The Dragon, in essence, had been freed.

I have gotten close to a 1000 bark from Kali and Nayari for range fighting for this weekend, so all you launcher folks, bring the big guns.

Riv put this together. I think it is worth looking at.

Your beauty is fulfillment.

Your Glory is so secure.

You are the flames of fashion fire

impossible to not admire.

A symmetry of Perofection,

A hymn to space and time,

Your visage is so imperofate

It can only be divine.

My love for you is so complete,

A willing slave am I

To the master of the Lakelands

Legend, Luminary, Hero

PERO!, PERO!,PERO!.