Shattered Norns Supplement -- Background (Part Three)
Copyright 1992 by Stephen R. Marsh
Notes:
The Running Ones, Tiev Gnack and Tsung Pathet (Tiev Manat)
all are a recirculating group of fixed int chaos spawn bound
(more or less) to the world and slowly being forced from it.
They tend to be tied to local Gnarls and the False Moon Shadows.
Those individuals with free int have broken the cycle and
are capable of passing out of the world at death (either back
into chaos or onward, depending on what patron, if any, they have
chosen by their patterns). Many are drawn back into rebirth,
generally retaining 1d6% of prior memories.
Generally the Tsung Pathet are headed towards chaos, the
Tiev Gnack onward.
For comparison, the Ice Trolls are a locus for bringing
chaos creatures into the world. Dominated by the False Moon
Shadows in their semi-life, when slain their substance drains
back into chaos. They are not fully alive as we understand life.
The Tiev Lae were once a division of the Fey Folk. They
followed the Hound into chaos, seduced by the Couranth and S'-
Baal's lies. At the start of the long night they rebelled
against Upharsin. Decimated and dominated by the Worm and A;-
baath, they now often bind/follow those paths for power but not
after any manner of real worship.
It is possible for those of the Tiev Lae who die to be
reborn into their own family lines with 10% or more of their
memories intact. Most seek rebirth in order to escape the rend-
ings that await them in what they have done to their portion of
the fey folk dreaming.
Some risk the rent dreamings. Others attempt to escape the
Tiev Lae pattern by seeking and facing the judgment of the Hound
which sometimes returns them to life, sometimes rends them and
sometimes send them on. Those who escape their taints appear to
be fey folk, complete with proper blood lines (at Intensity 5).
The Neth Tiev were a race of men. Their founder and protec-
tors sold out to Upharsin for false iron and a place in the world
they thought Upharsin was creating. In his apparent triumph,
Upharsin abandoned them as food for his other servants as he had
no need for builders.
Hard and tainted, they are not twisted. Their rune mages
have bound avatars of the twisted lord Om''loch to serve them in
battle and the Kraken to serve them at sea.
As a race they seek independence and dominion. They are not
interfertile with the manlike races (though they would be if
freed from magnethi taints). Those groups that have freed them-
selves from chaos have either passed back out of the world or
have joined with the dwarves.
The Couranth often serve Twisted Shadow and the Raven Lord
as one might suspect. While it is not commonly understood, the
Couranth, the high folk and the nature spirits are one folk (just
as the fey folk, humans and dwarves are one folk). Obviously,
the great majority did not follow Upharsin, just one Kadoch
(albeit a large one, with its related septs and a number of
adopted lines).
Tekel, Upharsan and S'Baal are generally followed by indi-
viduals (especially the Kar Manta and those who traffic in the
forces of deep chaos). A few Couranth serve or follow one of
these directly. Such contact causes a loss of sanity and free
will, eventually twisting and binding the follower into nothing.
More Notes
Men, Dwarves and the Fey Folk can be broken into two groups.
Men and their variants are the first group. Dwarves are men
modified by an elemental rune. A transition variation of Dwarves
can be found in female nature spirits. Fey Folk are men modified
by a form rune or a power rune.
Fey Folk of man modified by power rune are rarely seen and
have mostly withdrawn to isolated areas and the dream realms.
The transition variation of these Fey Folk are the male nature
spirits.
Notable in the gaps among these are the Tiev Lae who were
the Hound's Fey Folk.
The two man+ races (normal fey folk and dwarves) are inter-
fertile with men (who have no second rune connection to create a
conflict) and with those who share the same elemental or form
rune. They are not interfertile with those who have a different
second rune.
The High Kindreds and their variants are the second group
The High Kindreds are similar to these groups but are beast
modified by elements and beast modified by power. Beast comes
before Man, but neither replaces the other. The Couranth sought
to take both places.
Beast and Man are both forms of another rune. The transi-
tion cases (male and female nature spirits) sit in the bridge of
the two runes as do some dream echoes (such as isolated cases of
lychanthropy often found in the Tiev Lae).
Genetically all of the kindreds appear to share the same
material. The High Kindreds seem to be a human/avian cross.
Dwarves, Elves and Men are quite close as are the nature spirits.
Magically the races appear as permutations of element, form
and power worked against the master rune containing man and beast
as sub-parts. There is a good deal of economy or simplicity in
the actual forms. The Couranth seem to have all of the man rune
severed out of them, making them distinct -- but also sterile.