Mumewin Letters 7 (part 1)

(Date unspecified)

(The following text was nigh unreadable and has been copied here to be more legible)

Friends and fellow Mumes,

As mumes, we have mislabeled the idle "all Life as sacred" to be enlightened, but after last night, I now know otherwise. There are somethings on this world that should not be. The wolves in the woods south of Annalow city claw, bite, and rip into such a category. After I tell of my experience, or describe (blotted out) thing that came from the woods this morning, I still shall never again have peace. Mandra help me, I cannot purge that night from my soul.

(trails off)

(Writing become clearer here)

Chumkin and the local tavern here has donated the necessary alcohol I need to finish my report, but by the Living Goddess, I wish these memories would flee. They hurt to recall, as if looking at a festering wound on a fellow mume, I burn my eyes every time I think of it and know that no sleep will rescue me from my terrible knowledge. By duty alone do I continue, for I must be willing to do my every part to help save the world from the scourge that infests Mash'ta like a rotting disease.

The beginning was at the very tavern I write this letter in. Below at the tables, I readied what supplies I needed for a stealthy observation of the beasts. A heavy, but brave borc named Davite also expressed some curiosity for the wolves, but he knew the legends and stories as well as I. With his hands, he offered to me for protection, figuring he would be enough to stomp down on the occasional attack if the chance came, but he trusted his nimble quietness enough not to disturb my study by distracting the wolves with our presence.

Another offered, as well, but two people was more than we needed for such a mission as mine. Now, I thank what fortunes there was that Davite joined me, but morn his loss with such regret that no whip or needle could match the pain.

We gathered just enough food for two nights, and I wrapped the bane-weed around two small clubs, one for Davite and myself, and put them in sacks. Then we were off. The Effee Forest was rich during mid-day with the chirps and chitters of happy creatures following daily business as if there were no darkness in these woods. The trees were nothing if not deceptive.

Mumewin Letters 6

Dear Friends of the Library of Annalow,

We've been here three days now, which was how long it took to even speak with the farmer kin. T'was a mume girl who braided her white hair in two on the side. She kept a straw of gray-wheat at the edge of her lips while she talked and told me this:

"The wolves ain't nuth'n we cain't handle what with a heavy club and sum' of Daddy's bane-weed. We grow it all 'long the fences 'n such that we don't need ta' worry 'bout no wolf kin."

I asked about the Bane-Weed.

"Sher! It's a weed like 'ta grow here in the forest. Mah' Great Great Gran'pap found a spot o' the forest where none of them wolf kin show up. That's where he started the farm on the east side've the Big Silver*. So since he been planting the food we gotta eat and trade with the rest of Elexia, he been line'n the fence posts with 'em. Wolves of no kind can stand the smell of Bane-weed. Donno why. I kind'a like it m'self. Here, smell."

The flower I was given looked like monkshood. The anaviated has been using these flowers as a form of poison throughout history, and the light blue devils have been known to be toxic by mere touch, but here in Elexia this family stumbled on what seems to be a non-poisonous variety. The smell still wasn't pleasant.

I purchased some of these flowers from my new friend and wrapped a club with them. Tomorrow, I shall venture into the woods to watch the wolves.

Yours,

Professor Steven Mumewin

*Silver River?

Mumewin Letters 5

16th of the First Spring, 2,001 (ADZ)

To you, my firends,

Elexia is the proverbial small village, where social connections are tight. There is even a farm run by a rickety old mume and his family who somehow hold their own against the Dread Wolves successfully enough that the sheriff has never been on their farm. They are not wholly approachable, which is a pity because their record at defending against the beasts is unbroken.

The rest of the village knows well the wolves, and when I asked they said the best bet with these studying these creatures was through a spyglass from outside the woods, preferably on a hill 10 leagues west of the forest. Chumkin got a good luagh out of that, especially when I inquired as to the location of this hill. It must have been some shared joke about world tourists.

Elexia is kindly and quaint, just large enough to require a local sheriff. What at the mill, I asked and discovered the law here is simple (if you'll pardon the local dialect):

"1. Don't take what ain't your's.

2. Don't hurt none more than they ask for.

3. Don't be a dick."

I asked the sheriff, a large woborc, what she thought of the Annalow law of "no edges larger than one's hand," and she pointed as rule number 2 and went back to work. I say back to work, but it was at the mill they she was helping at. The Even the Sheriff helps with the wood production in this town, as did everyone except the inn-keep as far as we could tell.

There is also a local Dryad here. How rare. When I knocked on her tree, I found her shy, shrinking from my investigation. The locals here generally disregard her presence as protest from tree-kin, but welcome her as a plant doctor. Ched Lumberer, the mayor and owner of the mill, said they look after the trees here because "They're our live'n."

I'll keep an eye out for wolves.

Yours,

Professor Steven Mumewin

Mumewin Letters 4

15th of the First Spring, 2,001 (ADZ)

To my esteemed colleagues at the Great Library of Annalow,

We've procured a raft at a discount from the father of a local whore Chumkin met. I shudder to think of the negotiations, but the raft is firm and will hold all six of us. Junior sat at the front, helping to navigate no doubt, and swiftly gulped up small fish curious enough to check our bow, while I and the others rowed upstream toward our next stop, Elexia.

I've been watching the woods and regarded the eyes that peer out from behind the brush. They are not friendly, tho they are welcoming. Inviting us to a feast we would not desire. Chumkin nodded to my words of worry, and the help became restless. It was not an easy night.

Legends I've heard from the slaves back home that this forest was home to the Dread Wolves who brutalized the rabbit population before they became anaviated. Again of this forest, I've heard that even all but the bravest Wild Effee would not enter this place, for fear of the evil intelligence of the wolves here.

This morning, Junior let out a Kuaw-kuaw-kuaw, waking us to the presence of a wolf who somehow jumped aboard. The borc on watch had fallen asleep and let us drift too close to the river's shore. His ravenous and yellow teeth snapped at me and mine, but pulled back, startled to the load squawks of the Ibis. The wolf was quickly knocked into the water by what oars that could be grabbed and Junior was well fed that day.

After a long two days of rowing, we've finally arrived at Elexia, a lumber village and welcome stop on the Silver River in the heart of the Effee Forrest. I shall have to study these wolves next.

Yours,

Professor Steven Mumewin,

Mumewin Letters 3

12th day of the First Spring, 2,001 (ADZ)

To my esteemed colleagues at the Great Library of Annalow,

For 2 and 3 bits* I have purchased a Sky-Blue Carrier Ibis, able to fly long distances with a load up to a full pound in weight. He's a strong bird, average in size (roughly a foot tall), and he greedily eats any fish I put before him. I will call him Steve Jr. I imagine Chumkin must still smell of the sea, because the first things Junior did was to try eating him. Ah, to watch a long friendship begin.

The Ibises here are strange and semi sentient birds that spend most of their time either looking for fish and frogs in the marsh of the river's delta or grooming themselves and their tree nests. They are all Carrier Ibises, I've discovered, and they all decorate the bushy trees surrounding Gustwind. To look at them, you see just their eyes, beak, and feet devoid of feathers, giving the illusion of them wearing long curve-billed masks. All of them have wobbly necks, like a crane, the shorten and push out in feathers when they perch.

I call them semi sentient because I've talked to the locals about their behavior. The Ibis here seems to know the common tongue (Ixxarian) and plot and plan to steal fish, berries, and anything edible from the merchants, and only the merchants. The flock together like bandits at the docks and market, and the town guard eye them not with contempt, but uneasy dispossession. While not violent, they are wily birds as I've come to learn with Junior, but a bit of kindness yields, I think, a grand loyalty.

Or I'd like to believe, as Junior is eating us out of our grant gold. Here I was worried about Chumkin's whore habbit.

Yours,

Professor Steven Mumewin,

*Short hand for two pieces and 3 bits. Basically 13 bits.

Carrier Ibis (Creature)

Fit: 0 Awr: 1 Crv: -1 Res: -1 Luk: 2 Dis: 3

Athletics(Novice), Fishing (Proficient), Pick Pocket (Novice)

Mumewin Letters 1

9th Day of First Spring, 2,001 (AZD)

To my esteemed colleagues at the Great Library of Annalow,

This is my last letter to be written here for the archives as I make my way out into the open world south of Annalow City and into the wilderness on a trek to the hidden Felf Kin town of Alexture. I have with me 5 men, including one "Salty" Chumkin, who seems the most reliable of Mumes to be found at the Docks below our great community. Indeed, Chumkin was instrumental in the recruitment of other sailors as they tend to understand the club over the word. We also have enough provision for the team of 6 men and a map I have procured from a devilish gentle borc whom I trust.

The goal of my expedition, of course, is to make connection with the library in Alexture in hopes to consult, index, and possibly copy or exchange books with our own collection in mind. My secondary task will be that of exploration on species in the local area. As you all know, I've become hyper-fascinated with the local wild life and endeavored to make my own observations.

Wish me luck, Ladies and Genital mume, I shall need it.

Yours,

Professor Steven Mumewin,

Steven Mumewin (Professor)

Fitness: 0 Awareness: 1

Creative: 1 Reason: 2

Heart Magic: -1

Luck: 5 Discipline: 4

Skills: Athletics (Novice), History (Proficient), Investigate (Expert), Literacy (Proficient), Melee (Novice), Music:Recorder (Novice), Navigation (Novice), Stealth (Novice), Survival (Proficient)

"Salty" Chumkin (Sailor)

Fitness: 3 Awareness: 0

Creative: 1 Reason: 0

Heart Magic: -1

Luck: 4 Discipline: 5

Skills: Bluff (Novice), Brawling (Expert), Firearms (Novice), Gambling (Proficient), Intimidate (Proficient), Melee (Proficient), Riding (Novice), Sailing (Novice), Stealth (Novice)

Time in Mash'ta

Have you noticed that I've been keeping track of time in Seasons, instead of years? This is an Annalow trait, because all the different countries and races in Mash'ta call the months something different, but all agree there is a sumer, fall, winter, and Spring. Since so many cultures travel through the great city, Annalow refers to months as First Spring, Second Spring, Third Spring, First Summer and so on. For such an imaginative race, this seems against character, but it was the only way to keep visitors and citizens on the same page.

In Mash'ta, days have exactly 24 hours. There are no leap-seconds. Luna, the Main moon completes it's 8 phases in exactly 30 days, and Cruithne, the second and smaller moon, completes it's 8 phases in exactly 720 days, or two years. Weeks are called a "Hand" of days, consisting of Five days, and called by fingers, the Thumb through the Pinky. Each month has 6 hands, or three pairs. At night, there are 9 constellations, one for each God, and the sun rises in each house of each constellation exactly every 2,222 years. This is called an "Age." When the sun has risen in all 9 ages, it's called a procession, or 19,998 years. This is how long Mash'ta's star system takes to revolve around its galaxy. We are in our first eon as Mash'ta is only about 13,000 years old. Felf-kin believe that Mash'ta will die when it reaches 1,000 processions in ages.

(Note, Cruithne is known as Earth's Second Moon. No joke, Google it!)

Only the Felf, Ixxar, and Crynt astrologists really understand the rhythm of the planets in Mash'tas solar system, of which there are 6 additional planets, but they do complete perfect rotations around the sun every 1,111 years, aligning and doing crazy things to Mash'ta weather patterns.

This could give rise to questions about if the sun revolves around Mash'ta (of course it does) and if so, do the other stars have world that orbit so perfectly as Mash'ta (of course they don't)? All I have to say on the subject is Mash'ta was built, not grown like our Earth, so time was divided with divine precision.

Let's talk about Roll Playing Part 3

Why is your game about Exploration and Philosophy?

I have to keep reminding myself that this is the setting for a game and not the game itself. I've made games in the past, none with any success, and I'm done trying. So what we have control over isn't the mechanics of the game, but the setting, and Annalow is ripe for this for two reasons.

Alpha: Because we can apply differing, even opposing philosophies to the races, themselves.

Beta: Because we can have differing factions within and around the city hold opposing yet valid views.

Mandra's totally on the same page with me on this. Great opposing philosophy makes for great conflict and growth that comes from within that. The exploration of the city is easy enough, with the Marf Catacombs in the plateau and the districts on the surface and in the docks. Let's start, then, with the nine races by basing them on some basic personality archetypes for flavor:

Borcs (Bear Kin): Wariors. Champions of hard work and brave in the face of all conflicts. Oversimplifying, but honorable.

Crynt (Crow Kin): Wise Men. Fill a mind with knowledge as a canvas with paint. There is so much truth to learn, but the biggest surprise is how everything is part of one thing.

Dryads (Tree Kin): Mothers. The planet suffers because the Anaviated work against the natural cycle of life and death. They must nurture and protect life. (Ironically the protection of Death)

Felfs (Fox Kin): Scholars. Curious and exploring the nature of time, truth, life, and the crevices of the world. These are the born philosophers that ask that enduring question: Why?

Ixxar (Dragon Kin): Fathers. Stern and stubborn, believing their way is the most beneficial. They know what's best for everyone's prosperity so they should be in charge because they're clearly smarter than everyone else. Worse yet, they might be right.

Marfs (Mole Kin): Soldiers. Tho ugly and misunderstood, they work in terms of duty. The rules are already set and following them is more important than their morality. Without law or duty, the world would fall apart. Slow and enduring, like tectonic shifts.

Moblin (Mouse Kin): Tricksters. Liars and deceivers (not the same thing). There is no truth of the world because the world is wholly subjective. Might as well have fun teaching everyone this.

Mumes (Mandra Kin): Artisans. Creative and expressive also emotional. The highs are really high and the lows are really low, but everyone can relate. Expresions must be perfect, even at the cost of practicality.

Tame Effee (Rabbit Kin): Servants. Like Marf, they have their loyalties, but work to make everyone happy. Everyone else is more important than them, which means someone needs to look after them.

Wild Effee (Rabbit Kin): Liberators. Anarchy and freedom. Not only should everyone be allowed to choose, they should be made to choose. DOWN WITH OPRESSION!

Worry not about stereotypes and being shoe horned into a certain race by personality. Jungian Archetypes have a tendency to shift and overlap like masks. Also, like dogs and cat, all races have room for individuality. After all, what about the Dryad who thinks the world owes them something? Or the no nonsense Mume who's big in accounting?

At least this is a start.

Money in Mash'ta

Most races have their own style of coin, but because of it's ease of use, they all tend to be a mimic of Ixxar economics. Ixxars have 4 denominations of coins, each coin having a certain mixture of gold and another metal for base, separated in multiples of Five.

The Bit: Smallest form of coin, a bit is usually the size of a thumb nail made with 10k gold. In Annalow, a bit will buy you a simple meal. Another bit will get you a pitcher of beer to go with it. Other places may go as far as three times that, depending on the strength of their coin. Annalow is a very rich city-state, being a center for trade.

The Piece: A Piece of gold is about the size of a bottle cap, made of 12k gold. It is always used to denote 5 bits. A middle class merchant in Annalow earns about 18 pieces of gold a month.

The Horn: These are about as big as a US Quarter, but thicker and made of 14k gold. Horns are used mainly by banks and merchants to transfer high loads of currency in small packages. They are worth 5 pieces or 25 bits. Horns, by the way, in the Norther Borc lands are Actually Horns from a stag.

The Crown: These heavy coins are the size of a thick US Half-Dollar and are made of 18k gold. Crowns are so called because usually only royalty sees money in such a big denomination. They are, of course, worth 5 horns, 25 pieces, or 125 bits. Some military will receive annual pay in crowns, but the coins, themselves, are a rare sight. It's like finding a one-thousand dollar bill.

After the Crown, gold is simply kept in ingot form of 24k gold. There are pure gold coins, but no one has used them for thousands of years, and when found, they tend to get melted down into ingots anyway.

Drinks of Annalow

Leaf Juice

We've talked about Leaf-Juice. Very simple, really. Long ago, the Borc had a superstition that if you take the leaves from this certain tree and boil it, then strain out the water, the shape of the leaves would leave a secret message that could only be read by someone who trained to read them. These messages told the borc about their love life, how well a competitor is doing, the relationship of children, and so on. As such, the tree was called a Rumor Tree.

It didn't take long for the Borc to also realize just how good the Leaf juice was to drink and it was served hot in great mugs, or mixed with fermented sugar to make it bite back. Annalow does not share the same freezing weather as the northern lands, so they prefer to chill the juice in their pantries and basements. Sometimes in ice-sheds.

Noon Beer

It's basically fermented Grey Wheat. No one is sure who first thought of letting wheat just sit and rot for a while in a bucket of water, but someone did and it was delicious. Beer is as old as the Ixxar and all races except for the Mume and the Effee claim they invented beer. Noon Beer is a lighter brew mixed with ice from the north. It's also called Chilled-Hot beer. Even tho it goes down cold, it hits one's stomach like a fire-bomb.

Bean Juice

This was an invention of the Felf, and no felf can live without it. One cup in the morning and perhaps one at night. They cultivate Cave Beans, which grow on vines in the ceiling of caves to the west of the Shrinking Mountains. It takes a year to grow and harvest, rather than a season like most crops. But the Felfs love it, so take great care of their harvest. They then grind the beans up to a pulp and boil it in a special pot that keeps the bean pulp out of the finished juice. The effect is a full and warming flavor that mixed will with any kind of cream or sugar. That's right. It's basically coffee.

Annalow has found it's own love for Bean Juice, as well, again serving it chilled, but always freshly brewed. If it sits chilled too long, the grinds at the bottom spoil the taste.

Note: If you find yourself running a game in Annalow and want to add some flavor, do what I do. Take a normal everyday drink, like tea, and just mess with it until it's got a fantasy flair. Annalow is a trade city, after all, and sees food and drink from all over Mash'ta.

p.s. This was supposed to be posted yesterday.

Mume Rules

For the Active Exploits Take Two Game.

Linky

Here are the starting abilities and aspects for Mume Race.

Fitness: 0

Awareness: 0

Creativity: 2

Reasoning: 0

Mental Magic: -1

Luck: 4

Discipline: 4

Spread 4 points among the above stats. You start with 4 Novice Skills, 3 Proficient, and 1 Expert skill.

Mumes are the stand in for Humans, but are not humans themselves. There is some variation to their look, but most have dark skin, bright eyes of any color (even strange colors like purple, gold, or pink), and dark blond to white hair. The Mumes in Jerrow and Annalow are used to tropical atmosphere, so tend to dress very lightly, choosing thin fabric or nothing. Traveling Mumes that have seen the world dress more practically.

Because of Annalow, Mash'ta tends to view Mumes with hesitant curiosity. The city was taken by force, it allows slavery, and it's citizens are rather promiscuous. So the default view of Mumes are that they are sex-crazed tyrannical slavers. Mumes rarely fit this image, usually being caught up in their own thoughts about fashion, style, or art. Mumes obsess over culture, you see.

Remember that only female mumes (womume) who are affiliated with the Church of the Living Goddess are trained to use Mental Magic, but all mumes have some small capacity. Because of how closely they guard it, however, the Mental Magic ability may not increase unless trained by the church. They are called "Heart Mage" as official name or "Sensate" in unofficial circles.

All magic requires physical contact to work. Here's a list of what Mental Magic is capable of and the difficulty for each act.

Diff- Effect

0/1- Sense of general emotions and sensations

2- Detailed readings of the target's thoughts

4- Limited Control over emotions and sensation of the target.

6- Control over Specific thoughts, but the effects do not last longer than 3 days

8- Permanent control over specific thoughts and emotions of the target.

A tricky note about all magic: There is no action without an equal and opposite reaction and that remains true of magic. There will be debates over what is lost from the heart mage when a target's mind is changed, or worse, what is added. An example is if a heart-mage wants to ease the pain of another, they would take the pain onto themselves. I foresee much argument in the future.

[Note: Crap, I forgot yesterday. Spent the day with my wife and it slipped my mind. 10 Days off left.]