Tales of the Reachmen: Life and Darkness

by Sorindaale of wherever she was born or calls home, amateur scholar

I was fortunate (or perhaps unfortunate) enough to live in the Imperial City during the time of the Longhouse Emperors. Though the Reachmen were quite cruel and their ways were quite alien to me, I developed a sort of friendship with one shaman who was eager enough to share knowledge of his people with me. Well, he was eager providing so long as I gave him a bottle of mead and a good meal each time I asked for a new story. Reachmen do not give things away so easily, not even their stories.

The first of these transcribed tales is one about the religious beliefs of the Reachmen.

“Each clan reveres their own gods for their own reasons. Necessity shapes belief when you must fight for your own life and the lives of those in your clan each day. Therefore there are clans who believe in the coldness of Molag Bal, and there are some who believe in the warmth of Mara. There are the revelers who worship Sanguine, and the pariahs who cry out to Malacath, and so on. But we all share two Gods, for each clan is told the same story by the revered Hagravens.”

“Hircine is Life. He is a part of each of us, the part of our mind that compels us to fight, to hunt, to survive. He gives us all so much, He sends beasts from His Hunting Grounds for us to hunt, He teaches us the magicks that let us control the world around us, He tests us so we may better ourselves and become stronger. We see Him in everything, in every leaf of every tree, in every beast great or small, in every gust of wind, in every storm. Hircine is the World, He is who we owe so much.”

“And then there is Namira, who is Darkness. When we die, She is our guide to the Darkness. She is who embraces us in death, She is our fear. But we do not mistake Her as being cruel or unkind, for She is also the bugs that eat our flesh when we die. She is what ensures the cycle of life goes on. She is the fire that burns the forest. Although the fire kills and destroys, it brings new life, it ensures the second generation will grow stronger than the first. She is a part of the natural cycle of the world, but is also detached from it, which is why She is the Darkness behind the World...”

“You must hide your disdain better, elf. I see it in your eyes, do not think me foolish enough to not notice. I know you see the beliefs of my people as nothing more than barbaric thoughts created by uncivilized wild-men with no real understanding of the world. I scoff at that, and scoff at you. Remember this the next time you see our magicks, see the way we bend the world, see how we bend the minds of beasts. We know more of this world than you do, for we understand what it is. We have been told the truth, and this is why we can do what we do. But do not look so scared, I would not hurt you in your own home. We may not follow your customs, but we are not so brutish that we would hurt a person who so graciously let us come to their own home. Pour another drink, and perhaps you’ll get another tale from me...”