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The talans
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Their life |
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| They are the inhabitants of Adelpha. They are the only civilised people among the rest of the other species. Their average height is 1m90 (6.2 feet) and they look alike lizards although they walk on two legs. Their hands and feet have only two "fingers". This detail and the particular shape of their skull are the only differences in term of physical appearance compared to us. To finish, their skin colour is brown. |
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During his first journey to Adelpha, Cutter only met men: all the women live on the island of Kizaar, which is located off-coast of Okriana. Every hundred moons, men go to the island and have to prove themselves so the women can choose their partners. The happy winners stay three more moons on the island and the rest go back with the children old enough for their conversion.
The original language of the Talans is the agazork by opposition to the agakamôn ("language of the gods"), which is the English. We can think that the education of the Talans and the transmission of the traditions is done trough oral means. Talans are very respectful of the traditions and everything ancient is surrounded by mysticism. There is only one religion (the cult of the Yods) and no Talan is atheist. But there are many versions of some myths (Origins, Oogoobars, Ancients etc...) and each one has its adepts.
Even if they don't have a strong family life, the Talans honour their ancestors. A perfect example of this behaviour is the "family bracelet". It’s a metal ring where are engraved the name of the members of a family. When the eldest dies, the bracelet goes to the next (man or woman). Death for the Talans is not a taboo subject (they say "reintegration"). When a Talan dies and he didn’t achieve his life’s goal, his hazadess (his soul) leaves his body and goes to accomplish his last will.
| The Talan technology is rather primitive. All the machines are mechanical and the energy is supplied by the physical strength of the Talans, which would correspond to the antiquity period on Earth. But few tries to control the elements appear, like the "kaful" (windmill) of Zoran and the machinery he made for the bridge of motazaar (which works thanks to the energy of the underground lava). |
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The essence |
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The essence is a rather surprising concept. Indeed every Talan, while he is still a child, has an essence sleeping deep into him. When they reach a certain age, Talan children go to the Well of the Essences (in Shamazaar). During the ceremony, the child is converted by getting close to the mysterious energy which is continually released at this place. His essence is revealed to him. For the records, the first talan (sorry First Talan) was converted simply by wanting to look at the bottom of the well.
There are four different essences : Fae, Eluee, Gandha et Ka. Each will define one or several casts and those casts will made the backbone of the Talan society. The life of each Talan is conditioned by his essence and none will think about changing his cast. Everybody has his role to play. Here are the four essences explained:
Fae (fire) – The Talans having this essence are more of the violent type. They are either hunters or warriors (which includes the Dolotai guardians and Kroax soldiers) but they all have a particularity: if they don’t die by fighting, their hazadess will be tormented. To solve this problem, the Fae Talans who feel their end coming, go to Okasankaar et specially the Darosham to die in the flames inside the building. What sounds horrible to us is deliverance for them.
| Ka (air) - The Ka Talans are only one cast and have a particular name: they are the shamaz. They are the spiritual and religious guides of the Talans. They have as well the power to concentrate their essence to heal the others. This particular status make them be respected by everybody. |
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Gandha (soil) - Gandha Talans belong to the lower class. They are very dedicated to their work: fishing, mining and farming. Merchants belong to this cast as well (some are rather greedy with the zorkins – the Talan currency).
Eluee (eau) - Thanks to Geo for this part. In this essence, you find all the Talans who have a creation work. Are included the artists (like the ‘musicians’ ) and the helidium sculptors. A last class of Eluee Talans is the recreators: One of them (Hune in Okriana) tells their story:
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"We use our essence to feel the way an object had been made. By touching it, we guess which material is used in the object and we can manufacture it again with another material. Before Kazar came, the first recreator, Vebet, fought the will of the Shamaz by recreating the objects of the Yods. Those were objects found in Okaar many thousand moons ago. When Vebet touched them, he felt the same materials that you can find on Adelpha. That troubled him and he spent many moons learning how to recreate them. The Shamaz were against because they thought these objects were holy. The fact that some Talans recreate them raised too many difficult questions. But it was for this reason that Vebet wanted to discover their secret. Before conquering the power, Fae Rhan started to reveal the incredible secrets of those objects. Vebet and others, who were looking for answers, were very interested. Then Fae Rhan used them to build strange weapons. They didn’t know they were making weapons. They believed that Fae Rhan was showing them the way to make these fabulous tools like the Yods. But it wasn’t the case. With the weapons made by the recreators, Fae Rhan quickly, gained the control of Adelpha. Vebet tried to prevent him, but..." |
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