The Literary Minds of
J. B. Garner
A Guide to Gaia
42nd Edition
The Folk of Gaia
Though this guide tried to chronicle the width and breadth of the thinking Folk created during the Rebirth, the vastness of creation made this a nigh-impossible task.
The awakening of magic and the spirit of the planet tried to join the essence of Old Humanity with every animal species on the planet. While some Folk died out and some species proved unviable when blessed by Gaia – the common chicken, fish, most hooved animals and herbivores, reptiles, amphibians, and almost all insects, for example – there remain a vast array of Folk across the length and breadth of the planet.
When it comes to the manner of love, sex, and reproduction, the underlying base of Old Humanity that all Folk share allows for the potential for interbreeding. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s physically possible or safe, given the range of sizes and forms among the many species of Gaia.
In the case when a child is born of two different types of Folk, the children take on the characteristics of either the mother or father with no real understanding of which species will be dominant. It’s not uncommon for a mixed couple to have children conforming to both of the parental species.
However, it’s important to note that while interbreeding and interspecies couples are possible, it’s a practice that is looked down upon by most of Gaia’s cultures.
The most outstanding exception is the Walled City and its Protectorate. Aligning with the principles of freedom set by the City’s founder, all manner of Folk and all manner of relationships are openly welcomed there.
The City’s open-mindedness has spread into the rest of Aardsland to a degree, making interspecies couples somewhat more accepted. But even so, that milder prejudice tends to direct such Folk straight to the Walled City’s gates.
Old Humanity
The original species that inhabited the entire world – all other Folk share characteristics with the Old Humans.
Most Folk follow the structure of their bodies, with two arms, two legs, and a head. All Old Humanity died in the Collapse or during the tumultuous years of chaos afterward, leaving the animal hybrid Folk to inherit Gaia after the Rebirth.
Note that for the following entries, all are hybrids with their original animal species and Old Humanity.
Canid
Among the most common Folk in both Aardsland and the Walled City, there are a vast array of Clans under the Canid banner, encompassing various breeds of dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals, and coyotes. Canids have fur covering their bodies, canine ears, sharp teeth, and an incredible sense of smell. Most Canid-dominated cultures prize loyalty, law, and order, though taking these as universal traits should only be done at one’s peril.
Feline
Joining Canids as among the most common folk in the Walled City, Felines were formed from a wide variety of smaller Old Humanity domesticated feline breeds. Much like Canids, Feline Clans formed among breed lines and form the ruling families of Felis Tai, a vast empire across the Orb Sea from the Walled City. Felines tend toward stricter hierarchical structures in their cultures. Felis Tai and Aardsland remain constant rivals, but the passage of Felines isn’t restricted in the Walled City. What happened to the larger species of felines is myth and rumor, with tales of Great Felines ruling some distant mountains and untamed reaches.
Ratiri
All arguments to the contrary, any scholar knows that the Ratiri far outnumber any others. Not only does the combination of Old Humanity and rats and mice give the Ratiri tremendous fertility, they share an amazing heartiness far beyond their small sizes. With their large populations, any government where the people wield power gives the Ratiri an outsized influence on the land, and the rat Folk show an incredible unity with their fellows beyond most kinds of Folk. It was this outsized influence and unity that led to the Ratiri declaring themselves an entirely separate Folk from the Rodenta, though this remains a hotly contested argument to this day.
Rodenta
The various Rodenta Clans are all the rodent species except for rats and mice. Most Rodenta consider the Ratiri to be just another Rodenta Clan, and it’s not uncommon for arguments on such matters between Rodenta and Ratiri to end in insults, arguments, fistfights, and a nasty bite or two. Much like Ratiri, the Rodenta Clans are large in population, but lack the deep loyalty the Ratiri do between Clans.
Avian
Unlike the Hive, Avians have no wings and can’t fly like their ancestors. In this respect, they are much closer to Old Humanity. There are some notable Avian exceptions that didn’t prove viable during the Rebirth – chickens, turkeys, and a few others. Still, Avian Clans are well-adapted to the cold and thin air of higher altitudes, and many Avian cultures dominate the heights of mountains and great hills around the world. It’s not uncommon to find Avian families among the higher Levels of the Walled City, as Avian traders come down from the Skylark Mountains far to the north and settle in the Walled City.
Ursine
Ursine Clans are made up of various breeds of bears and their related cousins, large and small, and found throughout the whole of Gaia, from deep mountains to forests to the frozen reaches near the poles. Most of these Clans are larger than other Folk and these Ursines are prized warriors, guards, and laborers, but a surprising number find themselves drawn to less violent pursuits. One commonality among all the larger-sized Ursine Clans is a strong instinct toward solitude, only being close with their partners and immediate family. Those few that spurn this instinct express themselves in a diametrically opposite manner, often gaining reputations as gregarious socialites. In contrast, the smaller Ursines, such as the Raccoon and Ring-tailed Cat Clans, are numerous, gregarious, and active participants in their communities, particularly in the Walled City.
Pinny
Pinnies are similar to the Cetaceans in that they had high sentience before the Rebirth. They differ in that the Pinny Clans – Seals, Sea Lions, and Walruses – were already more adapted to life on land than the Cetaceans. Pinnies are far more common than the other aquatic Folk in general and within the Walled City. While Pinnies do enjoy water, they are less dependent on immersion than Cetaceans. Pinnies are incredibly common in the Nest of the Broken Coast to the east of the Walled City, and one of their number, Elder Falforath the Toothy of the Walrus Clan, rules there.
Hive
A merging of bee and Olden traits, the Hive lean far more on their insect traits, including four arms, a partial exoskeleton on top of their internal bones, and working membranous wings. But the differences go beyond the physical. Each Hive cluster shares a communal mind with that cluster’s Queen, leading those communities to live an odd parallel but separate existence to those governments that allow them to settle in their lands. The Hive is extremely rare in the Walled City, with only three known clusters, one in Westwater Harbor and two on opposite sides of the Fifth Level.
Ape
Scholars often debate whether apes and other primates felt Gaia’s touch or not. Some argue that they were natural subjects for Her grace, being so close to Old Humanity while still being of the pure wilds, but others think that Gaia passed over the apes for just that reason, fearing they would quickly walk in Man’s footsteps. This should be an easy debate to answer, but there have been no verified sightings of fully sentient primates of any kind in the known lands. Much like Great Felines, rumors of their existence in hidden valleys and misty jungles run rampant to this day.
Infernum
Infernums come into existence when an unborn child’s mother is exposed to quantities of crystallized Evil. Infernums are even rarer than Celestines, as crystallized Evil has a tendency to cause disease and death to living creatures. Even if the mother survives the exposure, it’s even rarer for the unborn child to live as well. In these very rare circumstances, the child will appear primarily as they should, but with a smattering of unusual physical characteristics associated with demons and creatures from the Pit. While these features might grant some unnatural abilities, most Infernums lead a terrible life, reviled by most decent Folk due to an unfair association with the Unseen and the Pit.
Muskie
The Muskies encompass a large range of mustelid species, including wolverines, badgers, beavers, otters, weasels, ferrets, skunks, and many more. Prominent in the Walled City are Badger Clan, Otter Clan, and Ferret Clan, though that is far from a complete list of City denizens. Of particular note, Badger Clan controls Warrens –underground dens – scattered across the world. As these are the source of vast amounts of mineral wealth, many Folk have the impression that all Badgers are wealthy beyond measure, a patently untrue fact.
Cetacean
Dolphins, porpoises, and whales were already sentient creatures before the Rebirth, so their changes were almost entirely physical, a more extensive change than for many other Folk. This greater physical change allows the Cetacean Clans to become comfortable both on land and in the water, though the Whale Clans, in particular, still live primarily in the seas. Though all Cetaceans can live full time on dry land, they still prefer to spend a good amount of their time in water, something which in the Walled City is done through trips to the harbors or a good, long soak in a large bathtub, public or private.
Octopian
Of all the mollusks touched by Gaia and the magic of the Rebirth, the Octopians are the only ones believed to continue to be viable. Like the Cetaceans and Pinnies, Octopians were sentient before their uplifting, but unlike them, they changed much less in the process, primarily modifications to enable Octopians to live on land and sea alike. Octopians still prefer to live near water, though their reputation for having vast knowledge and wisdom means many inland communities try to cater to them.
Boar
The name Boar is something of a misnomer, for they encompass all manner of pig and swine hybrids. This is considered a matter of great pride among the Boars, who eschew the traditional concepts of Clan among their own wandering nomadic tribes, though scholars differentiate the Boars along those lines. It’s highly suggested to never say so to a Boar’s face, for even the calmest Boar trader might be insulted to the point of violence. While Boar traders and travelers come through the Walled City infrequently, the largest concentration of Boars exists far east of Aardsland in the Tusk Empire.
Celestine
Celestines come into existence when an unborn child’s mother is exposed to quantities of crystallized Good. Even then, there is only a slim chance such a child will be born as Celestine. For the most part, such children resemble their expected heritage of birth, only with various minor characteristics that are associated with the celestial and angelic creatures. These might be subtle, such as whites and golds in the child’s coloration, to the extravagant, like functional angel wings. How this affects the social, emotional, or spiritual ramifications this could have on the child’s life is varied, though Celestines are treated, in general, far better than Infernums.
Monster
Though not truly Folk, it’s important to take a moment to discuss what are commonly known as “monsters” though scholars prefer the term “wild hybrids.” When Gaia channeled the wave of magic unleashed by the Collapse to uplift and create new life, great streams of that transformative miracle ran wild, beyond even Her control. That led to many strange and unique combinations of animals, without the guiding hand of the planetary spirit. Many of these hybrids died out quickly, their newly merged bodies unviable or unable to reproduce, but quite a few survived and eventually bred true. Monsters are very rare in the Walled City proper, outside of the occasional menagerie or traveling monster show, but a prime example that can be viewed most days are the Imani Griffon Riders, seen from their Proving Grounds on the Fifth Level.
The Divinities
Ascended versus Eternal
There are two general types of gods – the ascended and the eternal. Ascended deities were once mortal but accomplished acts of such legend that they underwent apotheosis. Eternal deities seem to have always existed and tend to have wide ranges of worship.
Regardless of this divide, there is no seeming difference in power or control over their divine purviews.
Gaia
The first and foremost of eternal deities and the only one that was also revered during the time of Old Humanity, Gaia is the spirit of the planet itself. Gaia is the most universally revered divinity in the world, as only the most deluded or irrational can deny Her presence or influence over their lives. It was Gaia’s will that channeled the unleashed magic of the Collapse to bring about the Rebirth of life on Her planet. Most iconography depicts Gaia as an Old Human felle with a full figure, lush green hair, and shifting skin colors, though some cults in distant regions venerate Her in the form of the dominant local Folk. This practice is considered heretical in the formal churches, but Gaia seems to grant the prayers of all Her worshippers regardless of their practices.
Myrien
Considered by some scholars to be the most unusual of the eternal divinities, Myrien’s very existence as the god/goddess of beauty seems impossible. So many elements of what we commonly call beauty consist of cultural constructs and Folk-related quirks. However, further study explains that the beauty the god/goddess embodies combines elements of traditional sexual attractiveness filtered through the lens of each Folk and the concepts of inner beauty, something conceptually entwined with Nym’s teachings of purity. Myrien can appear as any kind of Folk to their worshippers but is always represented at the height of physical beauty. Myrien is often worshipped by those seeking love, success at giving birth, and artists, though the attention of the second and third is split with Nym and Nita the Skilled respectively.
Nym
Often cited as Nym the Pure, this eternal goddess represents purity, hope, and sacrifice. Nym is considered the highest of the divinities that are elementally Good, and she stands in direct opposition of The Unseen and the creatures of the Pit. Nym is a study of contrasts, a being that has been the source of great joy and succor while also asking the greatest demands of her servants and faithful. Of special note, most religious scholars place Nym as part of a central triad of eternal divinities worshipped almost universally throughout the world, with The Unseen and Zain the Dealer. This leads to many pondering if, at some point in the ancient past, Nym also represented the aspects of life now controlled by The Skilled.
Inam Wallmaker
An ascended god, Inam Wallmaker was a great Canid leader shortly after the Rebirth in the region that is now claimed by the Protectorate of the Walled City. Historical accounts tell us that Inam was the first among his people to codify law and provide structure post-Rebirth. Common tales cite that it was Inam’s divine power that raised the City. However, continued research leads us to believe that, while Inam did found the City, he didn’t do so with the wave of a divine hand. In fact, the act of turning the City from trading outpost to the sprawling metropolis is today is what led to Inam’s ascension into godhood. His purviews include cities, civilization, and law, and he stands as the patron god of the Walled City as well as its first High Alpha.
Nita the Skilled
The purview of The Skilled is an odd one. All those divinities that have held this title are ascended beings, but unlike most ascended divinities, The Skilled don’t gain the true immortality of other gods and goddesses. This is especially odd, as The Skilled is the god of life and hard work. The end result is a living god, one that has vast power and lives for many years, yet still has an attachment to the cycles of life and the cultures of the world as they evolve. The current holder of this title, Nita, a Cetacean male of Porpoise Clan, is the twelfth Skilled in post-Rebirth history.
The Unseen
Cited by most as being the diametric opposite of Nym, The Unseen’s form is as obscured as its true name. The Unseen’s purview covers corruption, temptation, and hunger, as well as the strongest divinity representing elemental Evil. The Unseen has no traditional depictions or commonly accepted iconography, though dark shapes and hungry flames are common motifs. Most Folk only associate with the cults of The Unseen if they are particularly ambitious, vile, or foolish. The Unseen stands with Nym and Zain the Dealer as a commonly understood triad of eternal divinities.
Zain the Dealer
Perhaps the most universally worshiped divinity across the world, most Folk, even if they dedicate their faith to another particular god or goddess, also pay some service to Zain the Dealer. An eternal divinity, the last part of the ancient triad, Zain the Dealer represents death, luck, and fate. When a Folk dies, it’s said their soul moves into the afterlife to play a game of cards with Zain, and their success at this game of chance determines their fate in the afterlife. Whether this is true or not is a subject of debate among sages to this day, but it leads to many common figures of speech, such as “a fair deal” to stand in for the concept of good luck.
Time and the Gaian Calendar
The Gaian calendar is a solar calendar splitting three-hundred and sixty-five days into twelve months, varying from thirty to thirty-one days each. To maintain the calendar’s alignment with the equinoxes, an extra day is added every four years to Secundian, the second month.
Years are measured according to their number after the Rebirth, marked as PR or Post-Rebirth. While some scholars also try to date events or artifacts from before the Rebirth, such things are hard to measure due to the massive upheaval of Gaia and the damage done by the collapse. Still, such dates are marked either BC, Before the Collapse, or PC, Post-Collapse.
In order, the months of the Gaian year are Prima, Secundian, Tertriva, Quatarian, Qunita, Sextavian, Septia, Octavian, Nona, Decavian, Elva, and Hanavian. Dates are written in the format of day-month-year, such as 14 Nona 710 PR, though informally, it’s a common habit to drop the PR designation.
Each Gaian day is twenty-four hours long, and each hour consists of sixty minutes. The Gaian clock is counted by two sets of twelve bells. From five bells in the morning to five in the evening the time is read as “daybells” and from five bells in the evening to five in the morning the time is read as “darkbells.”
Magic and Magical Things
Alchemy
Alchemy stands at a crossroads of magic and science. While it’s certainly not true sorcery and hence requires no innate magical talents to practice, alchemy’s study of natural magical substances, their mixing, and their compounding, can create supernatural effects. Apothecaries, doctors, surgeons, and even practicing sorcerers study the alchemical arts to further their professions.
Golem
Golems are inanimate objects animated by various bound spirits. While the term usually evokes the idea of an animated statue of some kind, golems can be anything from a self-operating piece of machinery to a horse golem pulling a carriage. While golems can seem to have free will, even simulating sentient Folk, they are not truly alive, as golems don’t possess actual souls. However, from time to time, there are fears of “living golems” as a result of outlawed necromancy in the Walled City.
Cantomancy
Often thought of as a specialized field under vocamancy, cantomancy is the study of magical sound and music, though it crosses over with other fields of sorcery. Cantomantic spells can create sound and music, silence noise, focus sound into destructive vibrations, and conjure music that can alter minds and hearts.
Golemancy
A complex and specialized school of sorcery that touches on a wide series of studies, golemancy is the art of binding various forces to animate inert matter. While difficult to master, many modern conveniences rely on golemancers and their creations. Moving machinery powers many factories, golem horses revolutionized transportation, and golem servants make the lives of the wealthiest effortless.
Sympathetic Links
An important core precept of magic is the sympathetic link, connections between the sorcerer and the target of his magic. The stronger and more intimate the connection between the two, the less magical energy is required to bridge the distance and the more efficient in general any spell cast on the target is. Personal items create strong sympathetic links, while bits either shed or taken from the target’s body create even stronger links. The most powerful sympathetic links are those involving the soul of the target, though the necromancy needed to trap a bit of a soul is highly illegal in the Walled City.
Vocamancy
A fundamental sorcerous art whose basics almost every student learns, vocamantic spells create and control fundamental elemental forces. Fire, lightning, cold, force, wind, and sound, all are under the vocamancy banner. Many forms of battle magic are founded in vocamancy, and every army across the world fields vocamancer squads for just that reason.
Delinimancy
A broad magical field, delinimancers study sorceries that alter, control, and enhance the minds of themselves and others. Delinimancy, while legal in the Walled City, is a magical art often viewed with suspicion. No one wishes to suffer a delinimancer’s enchantments, for they can cloud the mind, control one’s actions, or alter or entirely remove a Folk’s memories. The most powerful delimantic arts, like the geasa, even cross over into necromancy, as they bind the soul as well as the mind.
Transmutomancy
A powerful and versatile sorcerous field, transmutomancy is the study of magical change. Transmutomancers can use their sorceries to shape physical objects, transmute one element into another, alter the properties of an object without changing its outward form, and so on. Transmutomancy’s one great limitation is that their enchantments can’t alter living matter, at least not without tapping into necromancy as well, something that is highly illegal in the Walled City.
Necromancy
Almost universally illegal throughout the civilized world, even the Walled City forbids the vast majority of necromantic practice. The magical study of life, death, and the immortal soul, only the “purest” of necromancy – magics used to heal the body – are legal, and even those are closely regulated by the Sorcereum. Darker necromancy can snuff out the life of a Folk, trap, steal, or destroy a soul, and turn corpses into undead monstrosities, the foulest use of the art.
Nullomancy
One of several sorcerous fields that concern the underpinnings of magic itself, nullomancers study how to unravel, nullify, and protect from magic at the base level, by affecting the magic itself. Many sorcerers learn elements of nullomancy for safety and protective purposes, such as making their laboratories proof against their magical experiments or to counteract miscast magic. The Sorcereum funds an extremely prestigious nullomancy program, both to train new members for their ranks and to further anti-sorcerous techniques to use in their work.
Industrial Sorcery
Industrial sorcery is an innovative modern discipline created by Packard Ussel I, a Ratiri sorcerer and businessfolk. The first successful process known for the mass production of enchanted items, it relies on what Packard calls "the magical production line," in which a series of highly specialized sorcerers apply a small part of the item's overall enchantment. This specialized approach requires very small amounts of mana from each sorcerer and multiplies the time and energy expended. As of this publishing, only certain specialty and luxury enchantments are mass produced for sale. But every year, industrial sorcery produces a wider range of cheaper enchanted objects.
Institutions of the Walled City,
Both Governmental and Independent
The City's Crier
The Walled City’s predominant broadsheet, City’s Crier can be found from the poorest corner of Westwater Harbor to the elegant newsstands in the Alphas’ Quarter. If there’s news to know or gossip to consume, one can find it in the Crier. Founded in the City’s fourth century by a crusading Octopian journalist, Krill Frezz, the City’s Crier has never missed an edition, even during the Paper-Eater Plague of 683 PR.
The Guard Dogs
The first High Alpha Inami founded the Guard Dogs – often shortened to the Guard – as the Walled City’s military. As the Protectorate of the Walled City found its defense mostly undertaken by Aardsland proper, the purpose of the Guard Dogs turned inward, becoming the primary law enforcement force for the Walled City. Pledged by a binding oath to follow their Duty as laid out on The Articles of the Guard, Guard Dogs represent the line between the freedoms the Walled City provides and the laws codified by Inam Wallmaker. While the Guard isn’t considered a religious institution, they do share a strong relationship with the Inami church for obvious reasons. Despite these binding oaths, Guard Dogs aren’t incorruptible, as Duty can be twisted in unique ways, bent to near breaking, though compared to other city institutions, the Guard is more honest than most. The Guard Dogs are organized into four main divisions, a mix of which are found in each district. Mutts are the rank-and-file Guard members, both on the streets of the City and in the Guard offices. Sniffers are a specialized division focused on scientific and alchemical support for the rest of the Guard, including coroners and forensic investigators. Watchdogs are a mix of detective and leader, with each district Guard division overseen by a Chief Watchdog. Finally, the Sighthounds are the upper echelons of Guard leadership, a twelve-person council that reports directly to the High Alpha.
The Sorcerine
Founded by the Seventeenth High Alpha, the first Feline to hold the position in City history, the Sorcerine gathered a circle of civically minded sorcerers, predominately Felines, in an attempt to police the sorcerers of the Walled City. They proved successful and, since then, the Sorcerine has continued training, observing, and controlling all sorcerous activity in the Walled City. They do this through mostly benign means, such as funding schools, observing potential magical threats, and building the City’s magical defenses, but they also maintain an elite cadre, called the Glaring, that deals with magical crimes and rogue sorcerers.
Packard's Magical Emporium
The pre-eminent magical retailer and supplier in the Walled City, the Magic Emporium started as a meager enchanter’s shack run by the now-famous Packard Ussel I, a Ratiri sorcerer of incredible power but perhaps greater business sense. Packard focused both of those talents into creating a new revolution in the city, a form of magical production he called the “enchantment line.” By organizing teams of junior sorcerers each laying one spell of the several needed to make a magical good, the enchantment line revolutionized the speed and efficiency of creating mystical objects. Now, the Magic Emporium generates mass-produced magical trinkets of all kinds, while still doing extremely powerful custom work for the noble and wealthy.
Mikhail's Forge
Presenting the very opposite approach to commerce as Packard’s Magical Emporium, Mikhail’s Forge was founded by Mikhail Ravich, a Badger Clan master smith. Using his ties to the Warren of Djarta, Mikhail focused on expanding his humble blacksmith’s shop utilizing the finest of materials and the most skilled and talented artisans he could hire. It’s said there’s no finer metalwork done in the Walled City, and that level of skill has created a niche for the Forge in the City’s competitive economy. The Guard Dogs have an exclusive contract with Mikhail’s to arm and supply the Guard’s weaponry.
The Smokehounds
The only city organization considered more honest than the Guard Dogs, the Smokehounds are a highly trained group dedicated to squashing the most insidious threat a tightly packed city can face – fire. Using golems, sorcery, skill, and grit, the Smokehounds ensure that the Walled City isn’t consumed by flames every time a cookfire is left unattended, a stove knocked over, or a fire spell goes awry. It’s rumored that Smokehounds leadership shows extreme favoritism toward Canid candidates of the Dalmatian Clan, but this is highly unlikely to be true.
The Inami Griffon Riders
The Griffon Riders are elite clerics in the Wallmaker’s faith, supplied with griffons, normally untrainable monsters. Before his ascension, Inam considered the griffon a noble beast, an example of how many disparate things could create a greater whole. Thus, when he ascended, he gained divine power over the griffons. Only through his blessing can the flying creatures be tamed, creating one of the few organized aerial units in the world. Contingents of Inami Griffon Riders are based out of every major temple to the Wallmaker across Gaia, but there is no greater or grander group of them than in the Walled City, the seat of the god’s power.