Tala stands at around 5 foot 8 inches, with round, dark brown eyes, shoulder-length, and wavy, dark brown hair, parted at the middle and usually held back in a ponytail with some piece of cloth. His face is a bit rounded, his nose not too tall, and his ears are usually showing, unless he does not tie up his hair. He weighs around 140 pounds, has a toned physique, and his skin is of tan color.
For his top, he has on a sort of collarless doublet made from rough cotton that opens in front dyed dull red and half sewn together with abaca. For the bottom wear, he has on pants cut slightly below the knees and made from the same fabric as his doublet. For his feet, he wears simple sandals made from abaca rope.
Tala usually wears an assortment of gold ornaments, but during his travel, he rarely has anything on for obvious purposes. He has on, however, his hunter’s necklace, composed of claws or talons of significant creatures he has hunted down. He also has woven dyed abaca bangles with colorful beads embedded.
Appears in turns ???.
The fifteenth day of the third month of the year [roughly 19 years ago from the current year] was an auspicious day for the house of Datu Aman; the day had finally come when the nation-state of Bukid has been awarded by heavens an heir to the throne.
Two months before, the Datu celebrated his fiftieth birthday, but after three wives and siring twelve offspring, he had still yet to have a son. He had consulted every shaman in the seven nations, undergone every ritual they had prescribed, and followed even the vaguest of superstitions. He had almost reached the point that he had given up all hope, but news soon came that his fourth wife was found to be carrying another child of his. After nine months of anxious waiting, every prayer and every effort had finally paid off: he had been given a son.
The whole nation rejoiced and the capital held a festival that lasted for a week. Every man, woman, and children from all over the nation came to see the heir to the throne. However, while most received the birth of the Lakan as good news, some people did not. People who were to have benefited the most were the issue of the nation’s heir was not resolved.
Years passed quickly and the young Lakan, who was given the name of Tala, or Star, in their tongue, grew up and became a fine young boy. Being the only heir, the Datu made sure he was properly groomed for the position, making him undergo all sorts of training, from academics, to politics, and even the arts of war.
For the young prince, however, everything was just too much. His father, though wishing only for his well-being and his future, came off as just being strict. Every single time he could, he would escape from the palace and just play around, like any other normal kid of his age. He loved the forests, and he would often spend most of this free time wandering inside the forests and running with the wild animals there.
The only part of his daily routine that he enjoyed was his hunting lessons. Hunting was also a ritual, preaching the sanctity of animals, and shows how humans rely on nature for its own existence, but for the young Tala, it was the time to run free and play.
It was only on his eighteenth year when his father’s health began deteriorating that Tala began to consider his role to fulfill more seriously, especially with some of the nobles becoming more visible in their desire to take the position with the Lakan’s apparent disinterest and unpreparedness. After almost a year of battling illness, his father finally succumbed, and after a month of mourning, Tala was crowned the Thirty-Sixth Datu of Bukid.
Almost as if to add to his loss, the shamans of the Raja’s court received another prophecy on the same day Tala was crowned. It came, as it always did, in a riddle:
The night draws ever closer, the Zioth is at hand.
In the land which has been completely overcome
Resigned to peace, prepared for war,
An ancient plague contained.
All the Datus were convened and the matter was discussed. It spoke of the ancient legend of death and destruction, and it would be happening in twenty years. It also spoke that to learn about the events that would lead to it, one must travel to the lands of across the mountains to the West.Most of the Datus and even the Raja himself was reluctant to take action about the prophecy. Not when the nomadic tribes to the north have rallied under a ruthless warlord and have started harassing the northernmost borders of the Seven Nations and the Kingdom of Lagos to the east has shown military aggression to all nations on its borders.
Most of the Datus and even the Raja himself was reluctant to take action about the prophecy. Not when the nomadic tribes to the north have rallied under a ruthless warlord and have started harassing the northernmost borders of the Seven Nations and the Kingdom of Lagos to the east has shown military aggression to all nations on its borders.
Regardless, they could not ignore the shaman’s words, and so they decided to send a representative to travel to the west and investigate the prophecy. It was decided that one of the Datus would be sent. However, nobody really knew how long the trip would take, and nobody knew much about Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai… other than its supposed belligerence, and furthermore, it was common knowledge that the Raja was old and a new one would be elected soon, so every one of the Datus did not want to be selected save for Tala. It was then decided that he would be the one sent to Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai….
Seeing the whole trip as an opportunity rather than a task, he wholeheartedly accepted it and prepared himself. Bringing only himself, his gear, and his trusted hawk Lawin despite the insistence of his retainers and his mother to bring along some of his men, he bid his mother goodbye and set off into the west.
The first part of his journey outside the Seven Nations was largely uneventful, due to him having maps and knowing which routes to take. After two months, he reached the port town of Baras and took a ship to the southern coasts of Ostmark to a little town called [insert town name here]. There he looked for his mother’s uncle, a merchant by trade and who has made a fortune by running secret trade connections between some of the kingdoms of the east and Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai….
Tala stayed with his grandfather, working under him while learning the language and culture of Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai… as suggested by his mother; perhaps not a bad decision that he heeded her words. Being merchants, his grandfather traveled a lot and had a lot of connections from all across the Empire. That meant he heard news from all around the lands, and that helped him a lot with his mission.
Among the news he heard was the Plague of Morenthplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Plague of Morenth (678-699)
After Drannenveldt, the leadership of the House of Morenth grew a bit frantic. They saw that the Jarramites, due to their commercial power, had a small measure of official tolerance, and they came up with their own plan to get a bit for themselves., when the Morenthiansplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigMorenth
Morenth's theology revolves around the simple idea that the entire universe belongs to him, and humanity is barely worthy to bask in his radiant presence. Those who refuse to acknowledge this simple, self-evident fact heretics, and deserve punishment or death. There is no repentance for heretics ravaged the land, murdering Polinakasplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigPolinaka
This religion has been dead for three hundred years, since the Plague of Morenth, that bloody period when the followers of Morenth completely wiped out the Polinakas.
Polinaka's theology is much the opposite of Morenth's. Polinakas believe that there are gods in everything, and that only the actions of Man can bring order to the universe. They believe, for example, that the sun rises each morning only because Polinakas pray for it to rise each night. Spring comes only when Polinakas p…, and causing both civil and international war. This got his attention because of its reference of a plague, something that was contained in the prophecy, so he decided to pursue this clue.
Upon further questions and travels, he eventually found that the Morenthiansplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigMorenth
Morenth's theology revolves around the simple idea that the entire universe belongs to him, and humanity is barely worthy to bask in his radiant presence. Those who refuse to acknowledge this simple, self-evident fact heretics, and deserve punishment or death. There is no repentance for heretics were eventually pushed back, and confined to Maelbourgplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigMaelbourg
[This map is obviously missing a lot. There aren't huge open spaces in Maelbourg.]
Maelbourg is a walled town in the Barony of Huerten, with a population of approximately six thousand. Its primary exports are textiles, wool and coal, the last of which it acquires from deposits in the nearby hills. The land on which the town sits was added to maelbourg index, Huerten and Haelbourg, Elgony. He also learned that of the two, Huerten is the one prepared for war and the barony is required by the king to maintain a large contingent of knights, in case of war with Terradiaplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Free States of Terradia
Terradia is a region to the southwest of Rang, separated from that great kingdom by the Koril Mountains. Most trade and travel between the two regions is done through waterways, as they are much more passable than the Koril Mountains. Terradia is bordered on the south and west by the Great Sea (or the Heirului Sea, as it is called in most of Terradia), and on the east and north by the Koril Mountains., but the border has been peaceful for a while now.
Feeling that this was what the prophecy meant, he bid his grandfather farewell and set off for the barony of Huerten. Having a difficulty still with the culture and the language of Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai…, Tala stayed mostly along the forests and woodlands, where he was most comfortable.
In times where he did stay in villages, his enthusiasm and good-natured demeanor would often get him into trouble helping out random villagers with their problems, ranging from menial labor to dangerous missions such as rescuing kidnapped children from bandits. But it was nothing for him, in fact he reveled in the freedom to be able to fulfill his childhood dreams of being the hero like those stories his mother told him at bedtime. At times though, he cannot help but feel discriminated for being an outsider, being called names such as a barbarian or uncivilized.
After a few months of adventures, Tala finally reached Huerten. He reached the city of Huerten first and began inquiring about Melbourg. There he learned that the city somehow locked itself inside its walls. Despite this, Tala proceeded to Melbourg and upon reaching it, found the news to be true. He spent a few days trying to find ways to get inside, but being an outsider didn’t exactly help; he was always looked upon by suspicion.
Perhaps a sign from the ancestors, an earthquake happened, shaking the city, causing panic and turmoil. Using the confusion as a distraction, Tala finally managed to sneak in through the walls where the guards were busy attending to other matters.
Finally inside Melbourg, the next phase of Tala's journey has begun.
Tala is a care free person, always seeking for the easiest way out. He is smart and is rather wise for his age, able to form his opinions on matters, regardless of what society dictates. He is open-minded, capable of adapting and changing to what he deems fit and applicable for himself, though when he has opinions that he holds to be true, he sticks to them very adamantly. He also possesses the eternal curiosity of a child, always seeking to find new things to do or to know.
Tala is not religious in that he strictly adheres to every single thing taught by the shamans, but he does believe in the core principles of spirits and respects his culture. He does not bother to do with the complicated rituals unless it is something official, or in the presence of other people of his kin.
Traveling in the different provinces of Rangplugin-autotooltip__default plugin-autotooltip_bigThe Kingdom of Rang
Overview
Rang is a huge kingdom, covering more than a million square miles, and extending from the Great Sea to the Ice Sea. It dominates the area politically, militarily and religiously. Rang is a monarchy, led by King Diure LXIV, but its immense size weakens the central government. Most feudal lords manage their lands independently, and only answer to the king in the loosest sense. The king does have several pockets of power, such as in Huerten, which allow him to maintai… and encountering different cultures and religions is something of a very exciting experience for him. He is rather adaptable to these different ideas, but only in the sense that if the thought is sound and would appeal to his senses and logic, even if it would contradict most of his previous beliefs, he would consider them to have their own worth and earn his respect.
The legend about the coming of the Zioth is something which is very intriguing to the young Datu, though since he has nothing on it but what the prophecy says and word of mouth, he can’t really put anything into it. Although he agrees he has to see the mission through to the end, if only not to regret if it is indeed true in the end.
Tala stands at around 5 foot 8 inches, with round, dark brown eyes, shoulder-length, and wavy, dark brown hair, parted at the middle and usually held back in a ponytail with some piece of cloth. His face is a bit rounded, his nose not too tall, and his ears are usually showing, unless he does not tie up his hair. He weighs around 140 pounds, has a toned physique, and his skin is of tan color.
For his top, he has on a sort of collarless doublet made from rough cotton that opens in front dyed dull red and half sewn together with abaca. For the bottom wear, he has on pants cut slightly below the knees and made from the same fabric as his doublet. For his feet, he wears simple sandals made from abaca rope. Tala usually wears an assortment of gold ornaments, but during his travel, he rarely has anything on for obvious purposes. He has on, however, his hunter’s necklace, composed of claws or talons of significant creatures he has hunted down. He also has woven dyed abaca bangles with colorful beads embedded.