Here's a preview of the forthcoming Glossary of the Midzee Lands:
ABEY D’OM [3219, FORTRESS-ABBEY, MEDIUM
TOWN ]: The founding abbey of all
abbeys and churches that are dedicated to the Church of Law Triumphant
ABY D’FOREE [2316, FORTRESS-ABBEY, MEDIUM TOWN]: The
second-largest of the Fortress-Abbeys of Ahntaryo, the Ahntaryo Directorate of
Defense is based at the Aby D’Foree, as is the headquarters of the Ahntaryo
Rangers. As this region is home to a significant portion of the Mutant
population of the Republic, a disproportionate number of clergy and rangers
from the region are Mutants. Less tolerant Pure Men of the Church consider the
Aby D’Foree and its clergy to be corrupt, though they do not voice such
concerns in public.
ABY D’NOO [1607, FORTRESS-ABBEY, SMALL TOWN
ABY D’ROY [2718, FORTRESS-ABBEY, MEDIUM TOWN Old World . There are also rumors that the Purity Party
takes orders from the Grand Abbot of the Aby D’Om in the Royoom.
ABY D’SOOR [2820, FORTRESS-ABBEY, MEDIUM TOWN]: Once the
sleepiest and most rustic of the Ahntaryahn Abbeys, this small Fortress-Abbey,
headquarters of the Directorate of Charity, has transformed into a beehive of
activity since the conquest of Granpoor by the Mighoomee. Today it is also home
to large contingents of the Ahntaryahn Rangers as well as more than half the
navy of the Republic. Sadly, the small village of refugees that has grown up
outside the abbey town, though well-served by the clergy, is a hotbed of Chaos
and Sorcery, rife with spies from Granpoor.
AHMEESH [MUTANT HUMAN RACE, LAWFUL]: The Ahmeesh Mutant
Human Race is descended from the pre-Rad Amish population; unlike their Pure
Men cousins, the ancestors of the Ahmeesh Mutants were not immune to the effect
of the Rad. They look like small, wizened Ahmeesh with fleshy 3-foot long tails
and large, pale blue eyes (solid blue); they dress as per their cousins, with a
special hole in their pants for their fleshy tails. They use their powerful
mental mutations to protect themselves and their Pure Men cousins, preferably
to keep others away in a peaceful fashion. They otherwise conform in all ways
to the standard Ahmeesh culture. Mutations: control weather [M3], dwarfism
[P1], hemophilia [D3], mental phantasm [M2], metaconcert [M2], pituitary deformation
[D1], prehensile tail [P1], ultraviolet vision [P1].
AHMEESH [PURE MEN]: The Ahmeesh Pure Men have bronze skin,
tawny to dark brown hair, and blue or hazel eyes. The Ahmeesh are descended
from the Amish Swiss-Germans of northern Indiana .
They have maintained their pacifistic culture and religion through thousands of
years of trials and tribulations. They make a large minority of the Pure Men of
Napliz and Awbash (where they are among the few free Pure Men of the land due
to their close relations with their Mutant cousins), and are found in small
communities in Free Ohyo. They live side-by-side with their Ahmeesh Mutant
cousins. Most adult male Ahmeesh are clerics; they never wield offensive
spells, using only defensive and healing spells (sanctuary most especially).
Each community is guided by a group of elders led by a bishop.
The Ahmeesh faith has changed little in the previous three
thousand years. It continues to maintain the ancient traditions of community,
humility, composure, separation, shunning, adult baptism, technological
simplicity, and especially pacifism. Their reliance on low technology was a
boon for them following the Great Rad War. Ironically, their maintenance of
late 18th-century agricultural methods puts them ahead of the game for most
peoples in the modern post-apocalyptic era.
The two major adaptations the faith has made over the
millennia are the acceptance of Mutants and the empowerment of prayers with
miracles. Like most things of the outside world, they reject all other faiths;
being humble, however, they do not judge, nor do they proselytize. The divine
sponsor of their Lawful religion is unknown to the world at large; the Ahmeesh
of course humbly maintain that the power behind the answers to their prayers is
the Lord, and reject any sort of Angelic influence.
Young Ahmeesh, around age 15, go on the Rhoomszpringah, or
“Walkabout,” during which they explore the world outside the isolated Ahmeesh
settlements. After their adventures they either return home to be baptized and
remain among the faithful or they leave their natal home, never to return. Thus
former Ahmeesh fellows can be encountered, the “Shunned,” who chose to abandon
the Ahmeesh ways; most are normal people who simply prefer a different way of
life, such as Yahkob Yohdah, founder of the Universal Ahmeesh Brethren. Most
Ahmeesh speak the Ahmeesh tongue, descended from the Swiss-German spoken by
their ancestors; most also speak the Common tongue, but avoid using it other
than when they have to speak with the “Aynglisch,” which is what they call all
non-Ahmeesh peoples.
AHNTARYAHNS [MUTANT HUMAN RACE, NEUTRAL]: The Ahntaryahn
Mutant Human Race is native to the northeastern shores of the Midzee. They have
bone-white skin and four large, glowing red eyes; they are bald (both men and
women) and have numerous bulging veins on their large, prominent foreheads (the
veins throb and quiver when they are using neural telepathy). They have four
eyes, both pairs of normal size one pair atop the other (these together with
the tall cranium giving them a long face). They tend walk and perform all
physical actions carefully; their decision-making process is often as careful
and studied as their physical motion. They are generally nocturnal due to their
albinism, but wear thick black cloaks, masks, and black-glass four-lensed
glasses when they must go about by day. Ahntaryahn Mutants generally live urban
and subterranean lives; their homes are as nicely finished as any above-ground
home might be. Mutations: aberrant form (four eyes) [P1], albinism [D1], neural
telepathy [M2], night vision [P1], optic emissions (bright eyes) [P2], optic
emissions (gamma eyes) [P3], pain sensitivity [D3], and thermal vision [P1].
AHNTARYAHNS [PURE MEN]: The Ahntaryahn Pure Men have pale
white skin (usually tanned and freckled), blonde or strawberry blonde hair, and
light blue or hazel eyes. Though not a mutation as such, most Ahntaryahn men
and women have pattern baldness, starting at an early age, and by adulthood
maintain a cleanly-shaven tonsured crown, with long hair worn along the sides
and back (both sexes usually braid their hair and often wear beads). They are
average of height and build, often wiry. Most urban dwellers are followers of
the Church Universal, but many rural folk and those who still live a barbarian
lifestyle in the backwoods continue to also follow Ahntaryahn Animism.
Ahntaryahns speak Ahntaryahn, a language descended from Canadian English; it is
close enough to the Common Tongue to be mutually intelligible.
AHNTARYAHN ANIMISM [FAITH, NEUTRAL]: The simple shamanic
faith of the Ahntaryahns is much reduced is practice since the colonization of
the region by the Kwebekwah and the introduction of the Church Eternal
centuries ago. However, some Pure Men tribes in the wilds and on the borders still
follow the old ways (almost all Ahntaryahn Mutants follow the Church
Universal). Unlike the druidic faith of the Kwebekwah, the shamanic faith of
the Ahntaryo cleaves to no gods, Neutral or otherwise, recognizing divinity in
all living things. The shamans of the Ahntaryo seek to maintain a balance
between all spirits and powers and living things. They work closely with the
Strohbuhsz (Mutant Tree Men) to maintain balance in the boreal forests of the
east.
AHNTARYO [REPUBLIC OF]: The Ahntaryo Republic consists of a
federation of fortress-abbeys, cities, towns, and tribes along the northeastern
shore of the Midzee. Founded almost 50 years ago when the Ahntaryahn abbeys of
the Church of Law Triumphant and Eternal broke away from the mother church and
formed the Church of Law Triumphant and Universal, the Republic is one of the
most advanced and enlightened states in the Midzee lands. Dedicated to Law,
unlike the Empire of Man, it is also dedicated to the common weal, individual
freedoms, and inter-species amity. As such, it is opposed to the Empire of Man,
though representatives would work with members of the Empire against the forces
of Chaos, or at worst stay out of the way of both. It has unpleasant though
simmering relations with the Royoom D’Noord, exasperating difficulties with the
viking raiders of the Hwiska tribes, and is at eternal war with the Mighoomee
and related Sorcerer-Scientist realms. While the abbots of the Church Universal
have the strongest voice in the Republic Senate, they are not the only faction,
as the various towns, villages, and tribes of the Republic all have their own
Senators.
AHNTARYO RANGERS [ORGANIZATION, LAWFUL]: Originally a
pan-tribal animist sodality among the Ahntaryahn Pure Men and Mutant tribes,
when the Kwebekwah colonized the Ahntaryahn lands and converted the Ahntaryo to
the Church Eternal the sodality was made into a branch of the church. When the
Church Universal broke away from the Church Eternal, the Rangers sided with the
Church Universal (in fact, most of them were strongly behind the break). The
Rangers are the core of the Republic’s military; in fact, they are the only
standing army of the Republic, though each district and abbey has its own small
guardian force, and each tribe has its own band of warriors. The Rangers,
however, are highly trained in all warrior arts, as well as in understanding
magic and mutations, science and sorcery, and most especially the arts of
wilderness survival and stealth. They usually operate singly or in small bands,
patrolling the borders and going deep into enemy territory to scout out troop,
tribe, and war-machine movements. They are a rough-and-ready lot, concerned
more with victory than honor, not at all like the knights and cavaliers of the
Royoom and other states who practice the ancient art of Boosheedoh.
AIYAWAHNS [MUTANT HUMAN RACE, NEUTRAL]: These Mutant Humans
are native to the plains of Aiyawah (Iowa )
far to the west. Their ancestors arrived in the Midzee Lands during the Great
Invasions of the early 55th Century, where they mostly settled on the Eeleenoy
Plains and in Awbash. Aiyawahns appear not unlike the centaurs of myth and
legend; they have a horse-like body, complete with four hoofed legs, with a
human torso, two arms, and human head where the neck and head of the horse
would be. They are not as tall as such would seem to indicate; the horse body
is slightly smaller than that of a true horse, and a mature Aiyawahn is not
taller than a normal human. Their human portions feature bronzed skin, pale
platinum hair, and deep blue eyes. They are well-adapted to life on the plains,
able to see clearly for miles, and readily able to defend themselves with their
spiked tails (the spikes of which can be thrown by the tail like a dagger).
Prior to arriving in the region, the Aiyawahns were fairly primitive, using
only wood, bone, and stone tools; they have since adapted to the local general
medieval level of technology, though they still favor spears and bows.
Mutations: aberrant form (two extra legs) [P1], bizarre appearance (horse
chimera) [D1], increased physical attribute (constitution) [P2], increased
sense (vision) [P2], night vision [P1], precognition [M3], reduced immune
system [D3], spiny growth (tail spikes) [P1].
AIYAWAYEED [PURE MEN]: The Pure Men native to the western lands
of Aiyawah descend primarily from Persian, Arab, and Lebanese immigrants,
natives of the cities of Iowa ,
most of whom were immune to mutating factors. Their descendents are tall, lean,
and dusky-skinned, with black hair and dark brown eyes; Aiyawayeed women are
regarded as exotic and beautiful, and are much favored by slavers. They are
followers of the ancient faith of Salaam and speak a strange tongue known as
Yarbeek, though their faith and language are quite divergent from those
practiced by the Salaamim of Mehmfiz. A race of nomads, three tribes migrated
to the Midzee Lands region during the Great Invasions of 5423. The Behnee
Hohsznee settled in Napliz, where their descendents are far-ranging traders and
merchants; the Behnee Zayeedh settled in New Manpoor and adapted a nomadic
seafaring lifestyle; and the Behnee Khaleedh broke up into smaller bands and
has continued a nomadic lifestyle, traversing the lands from the Great Eeleenoy
Plains in the west to the Sylvanian
Mountains
ANCIENT EMPIRES: At the time of the Great Rad War (2419 CE)
North America
was divided into numerous warring states. The major players at the time were
the Central States Alliance, Chicago Imperium, Commonwealth
of Greater Virginia , Free Dixie Republic , Free States Federation, Imperio Mexicano,
New Africa, New England Alliance, People’s Republic of California , Royaume du Quebec, and the Texan
Federation. A dozen other lesser independent states and city-states stood on
the edges and in the no-man’s land between these greater factions. Elsewhere in
the world, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (Japan ), the NeoSoviet
Republics (Russia ),
and the Azanian Empire (South
Africa ) were the greatest world powers.
ANDROIDS [TECH]: Androids are humanoid, self-aware robots,
with greatly diverse forms and types. Used extensively in the decades leading
up to the Great Rad war, like other Old Tech of the Ancients, Androids were
designed to be self-repairing and maintaining. Thus, though 3,000 years have
passed, Ancient Androids still survive today. Also, many Sorcerer-Scientists
repaired, rebuilt, or developed their own Android lines through the previous
centuries.
An issue with most Androids is that their positronic brains
are not as capable of repair as the rest of their less-fragile bodies; thus
they are limited to a mere century or so of memory at best, and the older the
Android, the more likely an accident (or a hit to the head) erases whole
decades or even centuries of memory. Androids that have ready access to a
working Cybercomplex do not generally have this issue, as their brains are
easily repaired at such facilities.
ANGELIC FAITHS: Shortly after the Old Gods made their
presence known, the Angels also began to appear unto mortals. While the various
sects of the Monotheistic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) had
declined in the centuries leading up to the Great Rad War, a large minority of
the survivors were among the isolated, often xenophobic sects who had withdrawn
from the world to cleave to their old ways. Until the coming of the Angels,
however, their faith availed them little other than providing solace and hope
for the next life.
Once the Angels appeared, however, those who had remained
faithful to the Old Ways found that their
prayers were literally answered with miracles. Each of the three paths has an
Angelic champion: Metatron for the faiths descended from Judaism; Michael for
the faiths descended from Christianity; and Jibril (Gabriel) for faiths
descended from Islam. The disposition of the One God (whether Jehovah, the
Trinity of Father/Son/Holy Spirit, or Allah) is unknown; divisiveness among the
Angelic ranks indicates that perhaps the Earth is in a post-Apocalyptic state
in a biblical sense.
While the various sects descended from the three monotheistic
faiths are often at odds with each other, even coming to blows (within each
branch and across the three branches), they are more likely to cooperate with
one another against the various Pagan faiths and, especially, against the
faiths and followers of the Chaotic Other Gods. The great enemies of the
Angelic Faiths are the Demon Gods and their followers, notably the Church of Ancient Rites
APE MEN [RACE]: This race of humanoids is not descended from
Mutant apes as such; they are descended from gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans,
and other apes that were uplifted to full sentience in the mid-22nd century and
subsequently used as virtual slave labor by the Ancients right up to the Great
Rad War. Today they fit in neither with Pure Men nor with Mutants, though Pure
Men often lump them together with Mutants. Ape Men try to avoid the more
advanced and powerful civilizations, preferring to live in their own isolated,
xenophobic settlements; some of these settlements encourage the enslavement of
Pure Men. Ape Men settlements usually have a Renaissance level of technology,
with some Industrial weaponry (rifles, pistols, grenades, and cannon).
AWBASH [0826, LARGE TOWN]: This city is the capital of the Republic of Awbash
AWBASH [REPUBLIC]: Awbash is a domain run by Mutants, for
Mutants. It is actually a loose confederation of some two score towns,
villages, and tribes, each ruled or led by Mutants (nobles, councils, or
otherwise). The bulk of the population is made up of Hoozyahs, Mutant and Pure
Men, though there are large numbers of a wide variety of other Mutant Races
(human and animal descended). Pure Men are
second-class citizens at best; they are barred from politics and official
service in the military (though some domains use Pure Men mercenaries). In some
regions, they are limited in weaponry and other rights. While outright slavery
is illegal, some domains keep Pure Men as serfs or in states not unlike
slavery.
AWTWAH [3422, RUINS]: The ruins of Ottawa
stand upon a peninsula extending into the Sanlawnts Sea
AWTWAHNS [MUTANT HUMAN RACE, CHAOTIC]: Awtwahns are a Mutant
Human race, heavily chimericized with newts; they remain bipedal, with
newt-like faces, two arms, two legs, and a pair of 4-foot long tentacles on
their shoulders. They have fallen far from their state of power during the
height of the Mighoomee Empire, when they served as the home guard for the
local Warlord-Governor. Today they have returned to their generally primitive
state, living in small clans in the ruins of Awtwah, protecting their territory
with primitive spears and darts smeared with their own body poisons. They spend
as much time fighting each other as they do others, as each clan is based on
the numbers and combination of colors of the green, orange, and red spots,
stripes, and skin upon their rubbery flesh. Regardless of their internecine
fighting, all work together to keep intruders from the sunken ruins of the old
Mighoomee fortress and war-machine, which they consider sacred. Awtwahns revere
the Demon God Ahsztahrot, Lord of Tentacles. Mutations: aberrant form
(amphibian, breathe air and water) [P1], aberrant form (two tentacles) [P1],
bizarre appearance (newt chimera) [D1], dermal poison slime [P3], know
direction [M2], mind thrust [M2], negative empathy [D3], thermal vision [P1].
