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So_Keher 07-11-07, 05:35 PM

This is a section of my campaign setting I am currently working on that details the never-aging race of the vesa. I am definitely making the vesa the center of my setting, but I might remodel their culture a bit and expand it beyond the forest I originally planted them in. Perhaps the small forest village is just that, a small forest village. Possibly remove the stuff about children being planar, that's a little far fetched. I want their civilization to be small though, and inexperienced in the affairs of other places. That is why adventurers are so important. Music will still be important, with bards remaining the favored class, although I believe I will have to heavily modify classes to fit with their race. Making their small society very personal and descriptive ot players is very important to me, so I will also spend time developing some NPC's and their personalities/services if I can. Also, I am having a hard time describing what how they appear. The characters from Eternal Sonata are a bit like what I am aiming for but it is hard to put into text. ANY help is great and please be rough! Thanks. The Vesa Believed by most to be a thing of legend, the Vesa are very much alive and real. Their origin (and sometimes their very existence) remains a mystery to the outside world. For reasons unknown, the vesa stop physically aging very early in their development, always appear similar to a child no older than 7 or 8 years of age. The Hidden Valley of the Vesa Tucked deep within the quiet Maple Woods (known in hushed voices as ‘the wood’ to the vesa) lies a shallow basin which, unlike the rest of the Woods, is only sparsely populated by golden maples. Closer inspection of the maples reveals their leaves to be hard and crystalline. The air itself seems to be golden in hue, causing everything to seem to glow as if one was in a dream. As one enters the valley, the land drops down into a basin covered in soft emerald grass like a huge carpet. Dotting the landscape are dozens of miniature golden maples, each complete with its own rope ladder descending from the boughs. These are the homes of the vesa. Entrance into the home is made through a small hole in the floor with a rope ladder that can be drawn up at night or in times of danger. The branches of these trees naturally wind together to create a small cavern within the boughs, covered outside by the golden crystal leaves. Inside, the floor is almost completely flat, and the walls weave and intertwine with branches. Windows and doors are created where the branches part and then join again later to complete the wall. Furniture is hand-carved from the wood of dead (natural) trees from the edge of the clearing and it is always very simple but never crude. Bed frames are made from wood as well but are covered in soft furs or piles of the supple grass covered in a hemp fabric. Swirling runes can be seen carved into the trunks of the maples as well as in furniture and other pieces of vesa architecture. These runes are (so far as anyone knows) more for artistic reasons than anything else. At the center of the valley is a small shallow lake (only knee-deep at most for the vesa), at the center of which lies an enormous Tree with clear crystalline leaves that reflect the sun’s light in a myriad of colors across the lake’s surface. All around the tree, on the grass and in the lake, vesa dance and frolic together in seeming bliss. Even in the Tree, dozens of of the vesa run and play along its enormous branches, which are sometimes thick enough to create small platforms where they sit in groups and sing or play instruments in gay tunes that rest upon the ears as light as a feather. The Maple Woods The Maple Woods is densely forested sliver across a large expanse of Tiabela. It runs largely from southwest to northeast, but widens at the center, forming a shape (if seen from the top) similar to a leaf. The Woods are seen as a formidable barrier to the vesa, and few have ever dared to explore it, and even fewer have returned. It is inhabited mostly by monstrous beasts and insects but rumors told in guarded whispers tell of stranger foes that lurk beneath the branches of the Woods. Most of these stories are probably exaggerated, ghost stories to keep young vesa from running off into the Woods at night, but more often than not they contain more than a shred of truth. Any vesa who have returned from expeditions into the woods describe encountering many ruins between the trees. These largely overgrown remnants of a civilization past are made of great grey stone and are decorated with runes very similar to those of the vesa. Great round stone doors seem to lead deeper into the ruins but so far no one has been able to open them. Outside of the Woods The world outside of the Woods is a very different place. Surrounding the woods is a kingdom known as [name]. [name], like the other countries around it, is inhabited by the fabled “tall people” or “giants” and is crowned by a great castle atop a hill. To the north lies a range of blue mountains tipped with white caps of snow. To the east lies Belaro, a kingdom of fishermen and pirates on the eastern coast of Tiabela. Physical Description The vesa at first glance appear to be small children, perhaps aged 7 or 8 years, and stand approximately 3 to 3-1/2 feet tall. Looking closer, it becomes apparent that they are not children at all. Their skin is pale and unblemished, and never appears the slightest bit soiled. The vesa have large, almond-shaped eyes of almost any color, ranging from sapphire to emerald to amber. Their hair can also be many shades, but most have copper, light brown, or blonde hair. Male vesa wear their hair short but not cropped, and it always remains uncombed. Female vesa like to wear their hair long, around their shoulders, and sometimes adorn it with small flowers or crowns made of the leaves from their golden trees. All vesa have long but softly pointed ears. Attire The vesa dress very simply preferring loose, flowing garments in natural colors. Males most commonly wear a light tunic of simple cloth covered by a green or dusky brown (open-faced) over-tunic with light colored trousers or (depending on the length of the tunic) no trousers at all. Over the tunics they wear a wide sash of bright blue cloth tied with a thin hide or rope belt. Females wear pale blouses under simple dresses in green, brown, or blue and love to wear jewelry when they can. Clothing (usually the light under-tunic) is often decorated with symbols and swirling patterns in pale blue or tan. Vesa almost never wear shoes, preferring to go barefoot. However, members of a small defensive militia wear leather boots and gloves. All vesa who have taken part in the coming-of-age Spring Ceremonies receive a crystal leaf from the Tree. Each leaf is unique but except for one twin, which is given by male vesa to a female as a gift for being their companion (see below). Vesa wear these leaves on thin chains around their necks as pendants. The leaves provide a mental link between vesa companions, and by focusing on their pendant, vesa can tell where their companion is and if they are in trouble. Family After a male vesa has completed the coming of age (Spring) ceremonies, he is charged with gifting the girl of his choice with the pair to his amulet. If the girl accepts, it is like being betrothed in human culture. Such an event is usually celebrated between close friends and not the entire community, although it is announced and acknowledged by all. Children are a mystery to the vesa. Although they mate sexually like other species, the act is more of a bonding ritual rather than a method of procreation. Once a year, during the Summer Ceremonies, vesa females of the appropriate age enter into the Tree through a tunnel, whose entrance is a secret to male vesa or female vesa who are not old enough yet. They are gone for the entire summer season, and reappear with a small vesa child at the start of the Fall Ceremonies. This event is marked by tremendous feasting and music sometimes lasting several nights without pause. The truth is that vesa originate from another plane of existence. Inside the tree is a hollowed out cavern filled with the swirling runes found in vesa fashion and architecture except that these dance and writhe as if alive. The cavern is domed and the floor slopes down towards a natural wooden arch in the center, making the cavern almost a complete sphere. The wooden arch, also covered in runes, is a portal to The Paradise. Looking into the arch, one can see the reflection of fields of gold and scarlet grass continuing forever and hundreds of small vesa children wandering across the expanse. The female vesa enter the Paradise through this portal, where they find which child is theirs. The child itself is predestined for a certain vesa, and immediately knows when its “mother” is there for it. The children cannot leave the plane without their vesa mother. Religion The vesa are animistic, and believe in spirits contained within every living (and many non-living) creatures or objects. Above all, they revere the Tree, which they believe is the origin of their race and contains the life force of every living vesa. A small group comprised completely of females tends to the tree and prays to the spirit contained within it. Known as the Touched, these vesa are not chosen to become Touched, but are rather “called” by the tree every hundred years. New vesa who are thus “called” replace the former priestesses, who return to their everyday lives and forget completely of their time as priestesses of the Tree. Special Qualities +2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma, +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution. *Small-size. *Favored Class: Bard.