Tebul

Tebul

Danger: Normal (or High, depending on your size)
Inhabitants: Giants, Giant Desert Elves, jaqa, humans, nekos, xeroca, yishk


Tebul is the name of a region in the Akaptor Desert, being named after the main giant city. The sand dunes here give way to plateus and tall standing mesas, the rare few oasis, and gnarled wicked looking trees standing in a charred black husk. There are numerous yishk burrows near plateus and mesas, making it dangerous to travel near such places, even for shade. Tebul at one time had many great cities, both of giants and humans, but over the years war, illness, and the Curse of Tebul, whittled the number down to the Three Cities. One can still see the ruins of the others cities, sprawled out and slowly being scoured back into the sands of the desert.

The Curse of Tebul is a great sandstorm that is always blowing somewhere in Tebul. It can take months for it to get to a city, but when it does, it only 'storms' there for five hours at the most. But that is enough. The winds of the Curse would be enough throw a ninety foot giant across the streets of one of the Tebuli cities! Not only that, but inside these storms are tiny fragments of glass which can get into lungs and seriously harm them. The places safe from the Curse are the cities, abandoned yishk burrows, and in one of the few underground human/neko towns.

The Three Cities of Tebul are;

Gashi-Urqa
City of Scholars

Hachul-Urqa
City of Merchants

Tebul-Urqa
The Capital

also, a fourth city, Usali, is still inhabited, but is widely considered a holy city and thus is left alone, unless someone decides to visit.

The giant people of Tebul are rather... different. Not only did they actually form cities, learn that walking around naked in the extremely hot sun is the worst possible thing you can do in a desert, and culture, they are all actually religious people! The people of Tebul follow Sja, the Mother, the One. She long ago spread her word, and thus the people follow it. Sja is a peaceful religion, and while people do fight, there has not been a war in many centuries.
However, this still won't stop them from snacking on the humans and nekos... the women atleast. (Men aren't allowed to, given the scarcity of humans and nekos, Sja's law dictates that only women who are pregnant, or grieving a death, are allowed to eat them).

Because of the relatively infertile soil and the sands, Felarya's effect is noticably lessened here. There is illness, and epidemics have wiped out cities before, and the healing factor is greatly reduced. Adventurers still try to claw their way here, mostly because of the fantastical treasures rumored to be hidden within the ruins!



Tebul History
Tebul has a long and rich history. Even in the Three Cities you can find a past painted and displayed vividly, and a colorful culture in a place dominated by the sky and the brown orange of the sand.

Tebul's early history is shrouded heavily in myth, but leading Tebul scholars in Gashi-Urqa agree that the first settlements were built near (now dried up) oasises and in efforts to gain protection from the Curse of Tebul. The first settlement that developed into a metropolis was Surqua.

Surqua was a place of trade, knowledge, and magic. It was also the first place to have a regular calender, based on the Curse of Tebul and the moon's phases. The population was a staggering 600,000 people. Somehow though, this great city fell into the sand, without any knowledge as to why. Scholars still debate on why it fell and where exactly such a large population disappeared to.

Other cities grew, and fell, but none would ever reach the greatness of Surqua.

Well recorded Tebul history begins with the founding of Usali and Tebul-Urqa, both built at roughly the same time. Usali was at first a simple town, and grew very slowly. Tebul-Urqa, along with fifty other cities, grew and continued to grow, until finally war broke out during a fifty year drought over the ownership of the rare few oasises. This war, known as the Five Generation War, raged terribly until only thirty cities remained. A truce was called, and Tebul-Urqa's new ruler, Saei Reush, manipulated the conditions so that Tebul-Urqa would end up on top. Indeed, it did, and for many years, the cities were enslaved in all but name. Culture stagnated, science and magic were only practiced in extreme secrecy, since Reush feared any such advancements could topple his power, anyone who was found to practice such would be executed. Tebul-Urqa was a corpulent and decadent place besides this, while the many other cities began to die out.

A sickly young woman from Usali somehow started a religious awakening, spreading the word of Sja. In a few short decades, Saei Dulh the great grandson of Reush was fighting off a revolution led by the woman, who is known now as Ashalimaya('She who set many Free' in a now dead language that used to exist alongside Common Tebul). After years, Ashalimaya and her rebels managed to defeat and end the Saei regime.

Ashalimaya caused many turning points in Tebul history. First was the wider acceptance of magic and science, second was the general migration of scholars to the small and relatively far away Gashi-Urqa to study in a less populated enviroment. Many bankers and merchants then moved their commerce to Hachul-Urqa, decentralizing the trade.

Ever since, these cities have grown and shrank, and grown again. No war has happened since, although numerous skirmishes with marauders in the desert have occured, thus each three city keeps it's own militia.

sounds pretty populated for a dangerous desert-like area? is there some special mineral Tebul that makes it worth living in?

Archmage_Bael wrote:

sounds pretty populated for a dangerous desert-like area? is there some special mineral Tebul that makes it worth living in?

No. There is no 'special mineral' in Tebul. It's their home, they have no reason to leave it, having already coped with the dangers. Tebul is only as dangerous as any other desert. As long as you know when to hide, it's actually pretty safe. Anyway, it takes two months for anyone to reach a different city, they're pretty far spaced apart.

Here's the populations though;



Gashi-Urqa's population; 3,000

Hachul-Urqa's population; 4,200 (recently devastated from it's earlier number of 7,760 after some apothecary poisoned the waters when trying to get rid of his useless items)

Tebul-Urqa's population; 15,000

Usali's population; 300

ah, well sounds like you have some more on the giantess stuff too. I think that aspect of felarya is still rather void. People know that giantesses exist but nobody really expands on that :?

Quote :

ah, well sounds like you have some more on the giantess stuff too. I think that aspect of felarya is still rather void. People know that giantesses exist but nobody really expands on that :?

Not true at all. Giantesses are probably the third most common character species in Felarya, right after nagas and fairies.

Note: Being a common character race and a common race are two veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery different things.

Interesting place, love a desert that's not focusing on an Oasis / some mystical ore that would seemingly be no more attractive than any other thing on Felarya.

About the storms: If it can toss a 90ft Predator several (dozen) meters and is filled with glass shards, I think your lung's condition is the least of your concerns. Like being flayed to the bones in seconds.

Funnily enough, I spot this thread right after reading a book involving people summoning a Desert God to use Sandstorms to attack their foes. Odd coincidence.

Yah. Tebul's sandstorms move slowly, so you would hopefully be able to find shelter before it hits. The story Elyza, in the Stories's discussion, features one such storm.

I made the main inhabitants with an actual city giants because I'm kind of tired of them being portrayed as rather primitive naked or semi naked chicks running around stuffing their belly.

L'Ryn wrote:

I made the main inhabitants with an actual city giants because I'm kind of tired of them being portrayed as rather primitive naked or semi naked chicks running around stuffing their belly.

Well, it's good to find a break from the norm.

L'Ryn wrote:

I made the main inhabitants with an actual city giants because I'm kind of tired of them being portrayed as rather primitive naked or semi naked chicks running around stuffing their belly.

One hand, glad like Observer about this. So far only Dridders and Crimson Maidens really have anything beyond an "OM NOM" use in stories, and the former even then tends to be portrayed that way while the later's rarely seen in my experience

On the other, for the most part they aren't really beyond this. A couple Predator species will work in communities. A select few may keep and use tools (or even create their own). Now while it's bad to stereotype, in general that's how things are. It's like being upset that humans are often portrayed as food, or that adventurers will make foolhardy decisions.

Malahite wrote:

On the other, for the most part they aren't really beyond this. A couple Predator species will work in communities. A select few may keep and use tools (or even create their own). Now while it's bad to stereotype, in general that's how things are. It's like being upset that humans are often portrayed as food, or that adventurers will make foolhardy decisions.

Well yes. But keep in mind, when a bunch of people are together, advancements tend to happen. Now, Tebul aren't walking around with cellphones yet, you know.

I think you mistook my words for saying that I'm upset at how all giant preds are portrayed. I'm not, I just wanted something unique and with a somewhat described culture. We know little about the Crimson Maidens, and Dridder culture, if Dridder even have that much, and they all live in tribes, rather then cities, and as far as I can see, none of them have a religion (besides the predator trinity, but who has written about that?)

I'm not saying 'BLARGHFLARGHALWHYARETHEYALLSONEOLITHIC!?', rather that it would be repetitive and uninteresting if I created another tribe of people who live in huts/tents/caves/magical dew flowers and ran around only stuffing themselves or preparing for the next big battle.

tl;dr
I wanted a unique culture. Not created by 'normal' sized humans/elves/nekos/fairies

I like it. It's original and well thought-out. It fleshes out, in a credible manner, a part of Felarya that's mostly ignored. The lesser healing effect of the soil is a good touch.

And on the vore side, I like the idea of humans and nekos being rare delicacies that can only be eaten in certain circumstances.

Interesting idea. I especially like the part about the moving perpetual sandstorm ^_^

Finally, I got it's history up! Now to work on the actual culture. *head desk*

A very interesting history