note from the author- These are books that I have written for PlaneShift while on the team. They were intended for (or were) ingame books. I am retracting them from the official game, though, due to issues I will not talk about here. That makes them 'fan' stories, no longer official, and thus go here for you to enjoy. Look for more from my collection soon.Song of the Lemur
A History of the Lemur
Book one
Scribed by Aruisia Xant-Areth
As history was given birth in the lands of Yliakum, the Lemurs were the only race to be graced by the light of the Crystal. They did not have the need to grow into a population, as they were created near fully matured by the will of Laanx. They worshipped and loved Laanx and Talad equally, despite the fact that only Laanx had placed her hand in their creation. The Lemurs were an extremely intelligent people who dedicated their lives to the study of beauty and its recreation in all forms of art. They would often plead to Laanx and Talad to walk amongst them, and gaze upon them in the silent admiration of Laanxâs faultless beauty, and Taladâs powerful form. They chose to live a simple life in the shadow of their gods, though Laanx had often offered them more. âWhat more could we want,â the Lemurs would say as one voice, âwhat need have we for mighty structures and great devices when we have your love and beauty?â Laanx would accept their words, fearing to fracture the Lemurs' seemingly perfect happiness. The Lemurs saw that this saddened their goddess, so in their eighth year of existence, they prayed to her to create a great auditorium for them. She was overjoyed that her people asked this of her, so [she] drew pure white quartz from the ground to construct an enormous auditorium. The wondrous structure formed a pure white flower open to the sky, surrounding a huge, black-granite dais placed in the centre to honour Talad.
The religion itself was as serene as the people. In the early days of the dual religion, joy, happiness, and serenity were valued above all else. War and fighting were completely unknown. Jealousy and anger were mere wisps of fleeting imagination. Drifting song could be heard dancing in the wind at any hour, singing praises to the two gods and the wondrous world they had created. In the year after the creation of the auditorium, the structure became the âtempleâ in which the Lemurs would sing worship to their gods, oft forming choruses of thousands. A loose religious structure began to form in the ranks of these choruses, thus creating the very roots of the Laanx religion. Laanx herself would often lend her crystalline voice to the chorus. No Lemur could claim a dry eye as her song rang through the land. Even Talad himself would cease his mighty works of creating vast spreads of fertile farmland to bathe his ears in the pure sound.
One fateful day in the tenth year of the Lemurs' existence, the winds grew silent, the Lemurs' song came to an end, and paradise shattered. A great gathering of Lemurs formed to sing praises to Laanx and Talad. Laanx had spoke to them, telling of a great thing Talad would do on that day. They waited for this moment to come, as they had prepared a song dedicated to Taladâs greatness. It was to be their finest work ever written. Silence was all that was to be heard as they waited. The Crystal began to brighten. It pulsed slowly in the rocky dome high overhead, though soon started gaining in speed and intensity. The Lemurs felt no fear, for this was their godsâ work, who had always protected them from all ill. Slowly, their upright faces began to show worry, rather than reverence. Every eye of every Lemur in the entire realm turned towards the Crystal just as it poured forth a blinding flash. They cried out as one as fear finally rushed into them. Another cry rose in a voice the Lemurs knew well. Fear turned to despair, for it was their beloved Laanx whose pain-filled cries shook the very air. The cries of Laanx soon became stone cracking shrieks, striking all those who gathered in the great auditorium completely deaf, and damaging the ears of all others to the point of becoming tone deaf for the rest of their lives. The ground rumbled and heaved, tossing the frail people to the ground as even the dome around the Crystal shivered and cracked. Slowly, everything went quiet as the dust settled. Silence once again fell on the land, for not even the weeping of the people could be heard.
The deaf Lemurs in the once great auditorium stood to see nothing but broken stone in all directions. The land itself was changed and buckled; creating high hills and low valleys where once was fertile field. But their eyes cared nothing for the land. Laanx, their goddess and creator, lay seemingly lifeless on the centre stage within easy view of all those eyes. Fear beyond anything ever before or after that moment filled the Lemurs. Only a few could summon the courage to approach their beautiful goddess. To their great relief, Laanx began to move. They started to call joyously to her as she stood slowly, despite their deafness, but their voices fell silent as her face turned to them, scarred and disfigured beyond recognition. Laanx saw the horror in their faces, and formed a mirror out of the air to view herself. It is claimed that the Lemurs who witnessed this were lucky to have been deaf, or the cry Laanx let out in that moment would have killed them instantly for the sheer sorrow it held. She fled blindly from them, ripping her dress to cover her face as she stumbled over the broken terrain. Without thought, the deafened Lemurs followed her. They thought nothing of their own plight. Their goddess needed them, and that was all that mattered. Talad called to the fleeing Laanx and her people, pleading for them to come back, but neither heard nor responded.
Days passed as the Lemurs followed Laanx through the new hills of the land. They began to notice stone forms pushing their way out of the soft soil, or breaking out of boulders cast up by the land. They ignored these as not important compared to Laanxâs needs. Other Lemurs who had not been deafened completely tried to tell those who followed Laanx of Taladâs great sorrow, and the new race he had created. However, they could not hear Talad, so could not feel his sorrow. They continued following and trying to comfort Laanx as she sunk deeper into despair, much as a child would do for a crying parent. Finally, they vanished into the Stone Labyrinths, never to be seen again by those they left behind. The Lemurs who could hear Taladâs pain knew they could not leave him alone either, so they remained behind to comfort him and watch his new people, which came to be known as Kran. Thus, the Lemurs parted ways, not to meet again for many generations. Snow fell for the first time in Yliakum history on that day, causing some Lemurs to still call snowflakes "Laanx's Tears" in remembrance of the day they say Laanx's heart froze.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
note from the author- This next story had been written and waiting to go into the game for close to three years now. It is time for you to be able to read it. Enjoy. The Long Dark
A History of the Lemur
Book Two
Scribed by Aruisia Xant-Areth in the year of 508AY.
We now continue from my last book, Song of the Lemur. In this installment, we will follow the path taken by those who left Yliakum to follow Laanx.
The Lemur lived, had children, grew old, and died following Laanx in the countless years the god wandered the Stone Labyrinths. Though at first they kept to the original structure of dual worship, the harshness and suffering of the journey forced a change in their way of life. With the change in Laanx also came a change in the people. As the entire elder generation of Lemur who followed Laanx were deaf, or near deaf from the backlash of Talad's spell, all the songs of the past were lost to their children. The very language of the race was nearly lost as well, but for the resourceful ways of the Lemur. Knowledge was passed on, but many of the beliefs faded or became twisted. Unlike the first Lemur who followed both gods, the next generations began to blame Talad for the woes of the people. They did not understand how their elders gave up all that they had, and followed Laanx for the love of their god. In the depths of darkness, the new generation drifted further from their original beliefs until the religion no longer resembled the kindness and love of the first Lemur.
Creatures ran thick in the caves, forcing the Lemur to learn the ways of sword and spear. At times, they used their new skills on each other, inflicting pain, suffering, and war on their own people. The religion adopted these new practices as well, ruthlessly crushing any resistance to the new beliefs. Laanx was now believed to be the one and true god, and Talad to be a foolhardy usurper who destroyed Laanx's grace to increase his own powers. Hate began to burrow itself into the hearts of the people. They no longer followed Laanx for reasons of love and kindness, but in hopes of some great revenge in the future, after which they would regain their rightful place in the light. To show their willingness to fight for the as yet unresponsive Laanx, they began the practice of killing beasts in sacrifice to their god.
Laanx took no heed at all to his people in this time. He cast off his female past and manifest himself as male, though no mortal has ever been given the true reason. Great philosophers have proposed that he saw his female guise as weak and vulnerable, and so culled it from his being. Wise men claim he was repulsed by the scars his beautiful female form had suffered, and could not bear to retain it. Women often scoff at both of these, and know that Laanx did this to himself to denounce and destroy anything Talad had loved in him, thus causing the other god great sorrow and pain. Followers of Laanx will tell you her anger and spite for Talad and her disfigurement caused her to choose to distance herself from Talad and manifest as male, thus bringing about the quest for the true path which delivered Laanx's followers his religion. Whatever the true reason was, the people saw this change in him and drew it into their own lives. Where there had once been equality in status, men now claimed the positions of power and leadership in their religion. All of this was beneath Laanx's notice, as he had become obsessed with writing his Book of Names. Though he would not finish it for two hundred years to come, this book was to become the foundation of his entire religion.
Near to the year of two hundred, though the time cannot be certain, Laanx came into a colossal cave, told in Lemur legends to be far larger than Yliakum. The cave was so great in size that the Lemur could not see the stone over their heads, nor the far walls, even with the brightest of fires. It was so broad that they travelled for days before coming to a great lake in the center. The Lemur saw good fish and other water creatures they could feast on, and rich fertile soil they knew would grow abundant crops. The Lemurs believed Laanx had lead them to a new home and shouted praise and thanks to their god. In order to pay proper homage to Laanx, they began selecting sacrifices from amongst the finest of the beasts that they had captured in the Labyrinth. In this moment, Laanx finally did take note of his people. He looked at what they had done, and was impressed by their faith and ingenuity. They had learned war in His name. They had survived by hunting the beasts of the caves, and had even started herding and training some of them. He looked upon his people, and finally saw them as worthy of his attention. He gave them many powerful and useful things to brighten the cave and make the lake and its shores a place to live. The Lemurs multiplied rapidly, built the ten towns of Kadaikos, and became a prosperous and numerous people.
These towns were controlled utterly by the harsh rule of the new religion as Laanx placed his hand directly into matters. Four priests, called Diats, ruled each city. This custom finds its origins in the choruses of the mother religion, which can still be seen being practiced to this day by some of the Lemur who stayed with Talad in the division. There were four leaders of the vocal song, one for each voice range, and so the new structure followed suit. As song was not passed down, this tradition evolved instead into the form of government and religious hierarchy. There was one head Diat, called Diat Pryam, who would have been the lead singer in the past, and three lower Diats; Noctar, Vestru, and Ogan, who followed and advised the Diat Pryam. Each of these handled a certain part of the religion and government operations. Each lower Diat had many priests to serve them, who would run the individual temples or carry out whatever other duties were required of them. In honour of Laanx becoming male, these leaders were always male as well. Other branches of the religion were formed based on the music of the past as well. Sempetor now handled weapons, rather than the musical instruments, and became the law-keeping arm of the religion. The rule of the temple was strict, and often brutal if the laws and ways were not followed. Every person had their place in this way of life, as was custom from the wanderings in the caves. Stepping out of these roles was often punished severely.
Laanx enjoyed and encouraged this strict order, but also felt the need for chaos. Out of this desire came the twisted inner workings of society. The stringent hierarchy of the people gave each station certain rights and power. Families, houses, trades, guilds, sections of the cities, and even individuals within these groups would use trickery and maneuvering to try to gain rank and station over the other groups or even others in their own group. Every group had these stations, from butchers and street sweepers to the rich and powerful in the temple itself. Trust was a commodity sold as often as bread. This mirrored the chaos Laanx felt within himself, and made him content for a time. Thus, the second incarnation of the Laanx religion was born.
This concludes our look into this section of the Lemur history. The next installment will span the time from the leaving of Kadaikos to the joining with the Xacha in Xant Laan and the rediscovery of Yliakum.
note from the author- I never got the chance to write the third book, and likely never will. I hope you enjoyed these, though.
