Okay People this one will take a while, get a drink and sit back to read this one.
This is Zhuza Tehlo Huva Kareem, or simply Zhuza and enforcer of the Orggel
The picture was done by http://striderden.deviantart.com/ and used with permission
Orggel (Or-gel)
The Orggel are a minor political and social group of elemental mages that exist in Negav. They started as a group of people who found their way into Felarya by a vanishing land and decided to stay for the access to elementals and the magic effects of the soil. While the Orggel tend to segregate themselves, they are still more accessible than the ruling class of mages in Negav, allowing them generally interact in their local communities in positive ways. They are frequently employed to do tasks for the various factions in Negav, mostly as guards and prospectors for miners in the Ascarlin Mountains or explorers going too far away lands.
The Orggel method of gaining magic is fairly unique, they are elementalists who bond crystals to their bodies in combination with special tattoos to imbue themselves with magical powers. An Orggel elementalist usually starts out with a single elemental jewel that is embedded into the skin of the mage, becoming a living part of his body. The choice of gem is very specific in order to make sure that it will graft onto the mages body, along with tattoos that are added to control what form their magic abilities will take. The process of mastering their magic is not easy and can take years to fully complete. Each type of new gem requires them to learn how to master their new abilities. Gems cannot be added one after another, as it would be too stressful to the mage and could kill them. Often years pass before their bodies have adjusted and are safe enough for the next gem to be added. An Orggel elementalist who has been adding gems to themselves for a hundred years might have 7-9 gems bound into long interwoven tattoos.
The first few gems that an Orggel elementalist incorporates are always elemental jewels. As the Orggel elementalist advance in their art, they start to incorporate gems that might be opposed to the elemental jewels they already posses (such as fire and water) or non elemental gems such as dryad amber, the reason for this is that it diversifies their magical abilities. It isn't uncommon on the other hand, for an Orggel to focus on one or two element only. The more elemental jewels of a singular type that an Orggel elementalist has, the stronger their abilities using that element are, and the greater ease with which they wield it. It should be noted that non elemental jewels are harder to incorporate and generally don't bestow as much power as an elemental jewel would. Indeed, many times magic stones and or cabochons of magic metals are used instead of normal elemental jewels, this grants them unique magical abilities that go way beyond the normal elements forms. One type of gem of note, ascarlin, is particularly hard to incorporate and adds less power than it might to a magic item that it is embedded in, it is usually added to enhance the powers of all the other gems that a Orggel elementalist might posses to a small degree, or to increase the power of a single jewel greatly.
The Orggel style of elemental magic tends to include less studying than many forms of magic, instead the Orggel elementalist tends to meditate a great deal, occasionally spending great deals of money for tailored potions made to assist them in attuning themselves with the gems they have bonded too. Overall the longer an Orggel spends between imbuing new gems give him more time to master what he can do with them, where as the more gems of a singular type the more power he has in an element and less focus he has to put into maintaining spells of that type. The down side of focusing too much on a single element or two is that it can be difficult to obtain a single elemental jewel type consistently, forcing them to give away all the others that they secure to others in hope that they can get the kinds they want.
The other key factor to Orggel elemental magic is their tattoos, they are the other factor that determines how an Orggel's powers manifest. The tattoos themselves are not applied in the normal fashion and tend to be changed and become more elaborate as more stones are added. The tattoos are painted on in ritualistic ceremonies and themselves can only be done by special functionaries within the Orggel community who specialize in this process. Part of the glue that holds the Orggel society so close together is that one cannot complete the process of adding gems or tattoos to themselves. Each tattoo is made from a paste consisting of metallic powder and lotions kept secret at all cost. When the painting is done and the ritual finishes the tattoos turn into neat, usually metallic looking tattoos that are crisp, colored, line art, running up and down the Orggel's meridians. Visually their tattoos are distinct and an unrobed Orggel is easy to spot, their liner and geometric tattoos that follow a specific style. The tattoos are key to how the magic granted by the gems manifest and how the gems interact. One other important part of the process is where the gems are place on the body, finding the right meridian or chakra to place the gem upon can wildly effect the end results.
A good example would be a fire elemental jewel on the back of an Orggel elmentalist's hand, up on her forearm could be an ascarlin, the two main ways she might utilize this is to simply incorporate the ascarline to effect all her gems to small amount or run an orichalcum (alchemical gold) laced tattoo around the ascarline, down the meridians, and around the fire elemental jewel to just increase the fire elemental jewels destructive power to a significant degree. An example of how placement could affect the magic a gem produces would be a piece of dryad amber place on the wrist might be for healing magic, where as one placed over the heart would be to grant a permanent magic effect simply making the Orggel elementalist harder to kill.
When utilizing magic the Orggel describe their style more as an art with few hard set rules. While there are volumes of books dedicated to the subject, each and every Orggel has to experiment to master their own magic style. Unsurprisingly this becomes more and more important as they advance and their gem sets and tattoos become more and more unique and more time and effort has to be spent calculating how to properly integrate new stones to the desired effects. Orggel elemental magic has been described more as shifting their weight, or dancing than memorizing formula or praying for assistance from gods, over all it seems to have the most in common with leyline magic in how effects are achieved. From the Orggel point of view, they conquer magic and make it a part of themselves, it becomes their own by right of might and force of will. They are a fount of magic and not just someone who taps into it or borrows magic from some other source like a deity. While others would point out that they gain their magic from their gems, they retort that the gems are a part of them much as your arms are a part of you only they "earn" theirs.
In the end Orggel form of elemental magic is expensive, and this tends to be one of its limiting factors, elemental jewels are hard to get and thus expensive, to say nothing of the elixirs they imbibe or the cost of the materials for their special tattoos. It is because of this, the Orggel also tend to support many of their members becoming alchemists or learning additional forms of magic. The ties that the Orggel help forge within their local communities as well as associations with hopeful adventurers tend to get them first dibs on alchemical components coming in from far afield in Felarya. A returning explorer might find themselves beset by the Orggel looking to see if they brought any rare plants or animal parts back from their explorations and a good amount of money can be had by the explorer who has the forethought to collect the less obvious treasures of the land. The wings of fairies tend to be one of the most sought after components, given the difficulty in acquiring them has made them difficult to ever get enough fairy wings.
Culturally speaking, the Orggel could be considered both insular but social at the same time. The Orggel tend to marry within their own community, only occasionally including outsiders who have proven useful and wishing to join them. While they tend to be reserved and come off as arrogant they are taught to help others from a young age, this makes them more philanthropic than they might otherwise be to those who actually need their assistance. Within their own sub culture they have their own council and are self policing, complete with their own laws that they must follow in addition to whatever laws that of the laws of the general populous. In a neighborhood there might be two or three families living in an area, helping to protect the area as well as occasionally bringing food to their neighbors that accept them in addition to using their powers to do repair work for little cost to those who take the time to stroke their egos or accept them into the local area. They are also known to protect those who live in their area from threats' such as thugs, nemesis, or hostile threats, and should the threat be too big for the local group to deal with they can call on the larger Orggel community for help.
In Negav they are known to be opponents to the Ps'isol Magiocrats, but they are tolerated for a number of reasons. The biggest reason for this tolerance is that, openly, they are only vocal in their opposition, and when called on by the Magiocrats they still do as asked. This relationship has fluctuated through time, it was originally fairly amiable, but after the Magiocrats came to power it soured. Still over the years this relationship has improved some but has never approached what it once was. Historical issues of contention has been the perceived creation of Nekomura as a means to rid Negav of Neko’s and the laws preventing non giant predator races from taking up residence in Negav, while nether law directly affected them they opposed them because they depended on trade with those races. Their mind set is such that they really didn't care that they were non humans, they were simply more outsiders, much most of the people they live around. At various points the Magiocrats have repressed them to lesser or greater degrees, and over time the Orggel have gathered enough allies that it has made it harder and more dangerous to oppress them. The current method that the Magiocrats are using is to ignore them and simply deny them positions of authority, however this has fallen short in one area. The Vishmitals have forged an unofficial alliance with them, the two groups adding each other where needed. The two groups generally do not mix and mostly try to not get in each other's way, however if one group requests the assistance from the other, they can expect to get it with little to no fuss, and discussion can be expected afterwards.
One of the things the Orggel are best known for is monster hunting, specifically elemental hunting. While the Orggel have been known to attack fairies for their wings and naga for their scales, elementals are their favorite targets. The effect that the powers have on an elemental, or their relatives, can be devastating. Even if they do not possess the same elemental jewel as the elemental they face the jewels bound to an Orggel elemetentalist can exert a destructive influence on the spirit of an elemental. Blasting away the body that an elemental has made for its self the Orggel weakens the spirit until the can "exorcise" the elemental and force the spirit to crystallize into an elemental jewel. The crystals also seem to "resonate" when elementals or their relatives are close, giving the Orggel a way to detect when they are close, but only when they are within about a hundred meters and elemental relatives at distances less than that. This makes the Orggel such proficient elemental hunters that is often rumored that elementals are not affected by the eye of Isolon, but do not approach Negav out of fear of the Orggel themselves.
The Orggel have their own style of dress that tends to make them stand out in a crowd, to say nothing of their gems and tattoos. Their dress tends to be a form of complex and somewhat concealing robes, vaguely reminiscent of the kind worn by nuns or catholic priests, plain black robes with stark color contrasts draped around them at key points. These colors and styles usually depict what elements they have powers over and to what extent, the more accomplished the Orggel, the more complex the robe. Individually an Oggel skin tone ranges from olive to pail with little consistency, their hair typically black or brown, but less common colors crop up, usually from blood lines introduce into the Orggel. A notable genetic trait most Oggel share is their eyes while green, blue, or purple tend to be so pale as to be almost white. They have their own accent, but its most prominent in older members, it has been fading with resent generations, but they maintain their own complex alphabet.
The Orggel family structure is notably different than most other cultures around them. Within the Orggel culture "marriage" are handled very different than they are in most other known cultures. A marriage is a temporary "joining" for purposes of alliances, finance, and having children, typically a it lasts no more than 10 years at most by tradition. Still complications can arise and children naturally make things more complicated and are the key factor that might cause one to last longer than normal. Normally after a family joining is concluded the father will keep any daughters and a mother any sons to raise, while the other parent is allowed to have contact with the child, the contact is expected to be kept to a low level after the child is 10 years old and until the child is considered an adult. It is considered in appropriate for a child to be raised by a parent of the opposing gender and should it become necessary a relative of the opposing gender will be selected to raise the child as their own. This low birth rate, combined with their higher than desired attrition rate keep their population growing only slowly and make them less powerful as a group than they might be but given the focus of quality always comes before quantity that they follow its considered and acceptable situation.
A child will be educated by a mix of both male and female instructors on various topics, and are given a rigorous education on a wide verity of topics, including moral issues. The classes are small, sometimes as few as 4 children, but they are given careful and individual attention as education is considered an important keystone of the culture. Indeed, the Orggel support education in general for everyone, and an Orggel in Felarya isn't considered an adult until they are 30 years of age. Although they don't live or grow up any fast than normal humans, and are educated during most of that period and not treated as a full adult until then. This is one of the reason that they are less prevalent and powerful a faction than they would otherwise be, but that works just fine for the Orggel, as they tend to emphasize quality over quantity being important.
While an Orggel might specialize latter in life as in regards to what he might do, all are given very well rounded educations early on and for far longer than then most people. It is hammered into them that each and every Orggel is a special and important person, that they need to master themselves and magic, prove their worth, but also at the same time that they are all a part of the Orggel society and that it is their job to protect and nurture it. Over the 30 years that they are considered non adults, the elders tend to get to know them, and those that are not up to snuff are weeded out, one way or another if need be, but in practice this is extraordinarily rare. The more likely event is that they will work with the errant child until they fit in, though some times the child wish's to leave and they go their separate ways. All of this is before your first "elevation", or the first jewel you are implanted with, then you become and adult and there is no turning away from your people. After this point in their life, or sometimes a few years before it, they frequently take classes at the Isolon University, but rarely are allowed to teach there because of the Magiocrats influence.
An Orggel is named with three names, their paternal and maternal are from their inherited family names, the same gender surname will be their second name. Their first name is chosen by their parents, with approval of their local council. So for example, a girl named Ella Mithra Vanth would have a maternal name of Mithra and a paternal name of Vanth. The first time an Orggel bonds an elemental jewel he is presented to his peers with a celebration and presents a new adult name. The new name is added to the beginning of his name, bringing his total number of names to four. For example Ella Mithra Vanth, who was commonly called Ella early in her life would add a name such as: Tereen, making her Name Tereen Ella Mithra Vanth, or simply Tereen. This name is selected usually by the Orggel himself, but he must first present it along with a few other options for evaluation before his first jewel is bonded to him for judgment. The new adult however usually gets the name he wishes, the presentation is more a formality to ensure that he or she does not chose a name that might be regretted later. The fifth, and final name is added to his name once the Orggel has achieved "greatness" in some way, such as being elected to the council of elders or having achieved notable status in some other way. This name is not the same as the others, it is just a simple honorific added to his adult name, but is considered of importance to anyone who has achieved it, to not use it when addressing an Orggel so named is considered an insult.
After an Orggel becomes an adult it common to go out and try to prove themselves at some point. They tend to set out first as guards for mining jobs and elemental management, then range out a bit farther and farther, this is the most dangerous point in their lives, but it is also what sets the stage for their positions later on in life. The more adventurous ones tend to win out with more wealth and power later in life, conversely many who try this quick path simply die. The main target of course are new elemental jewels that they focus on bring back to the community, while other treasures are useful of course, but don't have the same pull to them. The Orggel are known to send some of their younger and ambitious members to assist the adventures guild. The upside of this for the community is that they have a good idea of what is out there in Felarya from the perspective of one of their own. Many other communities have been discovered and in an effort to not put all of their eggs in one basket as it were, they have started a few new enclaves in other cities.
On occasion outsiders are allowed to join their society, this is usually when people actively petition to join, this can take over a decade however. This usually happens when child hood friends with Orggel children wish to become a part of the group, such children are generally appreciated when they show their dedications to the Orggel culture and are well rewarded for their efforts. Marriages into the Orggel or interbreeding with non Orggel are rare but happen, and are frequently sticky affairs, such children are quickly evaluated by the council and the parents are expected to comply. Outsiders wishing to have jewels bound to them in the manner of their elementalists are many, but rarely granted. Usually it's an honor granted to those who have come to the aid of the Orggel repeatedly or have delivered more than a few elemental jewels and alchemical components to them cheaply. Those that are granted such an honor rarely managed to learn much about the process and frequently must learn to master their new gems with only minimum assistance.
---with thanks to AJ for all the editing he was willing to help me with.
Subject: The Orggel 
Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:08 pm
