So I put this in the brainstorming section but I've pretty much fleshed this idea out so here it is.
This is the introduction of the Ruuk Astir as it could exist in the Expanse. Geographically, it belongs in the east.
The Ruuk are tall, furred creatures with long arms and large eyes dominated entirely by vibrantly-colored irises. Their empire, the Ruuk Astir, had existed since the dawn of humanity before it crumbled. The cities of old sparkled like gems under the Eastern sun.
But as the history states, the Astir fell as its members drifted into a fatalistic apathy that sucked the life out of their empire and left it crumbling. Today, only four of the Old Cities remain, and they are not nearly so great as they once were.
Things, however, have begun to change. Tamren, a human who found his way into the hands of a Ruuk family, was bestowed with the authority to reunite the Ruuk after he made plain that despite his upbringing, he rejected the notion that a nation should lie down in the face of destruction. With the title Firnastir, or Emperor, Tamren has begun to reintroduce the Ruuk into international politics. Perhaps the Ruuk will return to their former glory.
And now, for the historical narrative.
((An excerpt from Ruuk history found in Tamren Firnastir's profile))
No one knows with certainty when the Ruuk first inhabited the Eastern Plains. What is known is that in the youth of Artafae, the Ruuk shared fire and steel to bring them out of the stone age, and as early history passed, the Ruuk introduced them to the written word and to governance and the secrets of farming and hunting and the art of the blacksmith. They helped the Artafae begin forming true governments, and mentored the early kings of the Artafaen Empire when they had united the lands. They even accomplished the amazing feat of sharing the Ruukish language (albeit in a simplified form) with a choice few Artafaens intelligent enough to learn it.
The Ruuk people were artisans, scientists, and philosophers, and their work created wonderful, amazing things. Ruuk steel could fit a wide range of hardness, and included steels that were the perfect balance between edge-retaining and edge-receiving, used commonly in swords and tools. Ruuk artwork and stories were renowned for their incredible beauty, with statues of all sorts of animals, including startlingly lifelike Ruuk and humans in their most beautiful forms. Legend says that a famous Ruuk sculptor was commissioned to make a statue of the queen of one of the pre-Artafaen states, and he made it so beautiful that the queen grew jealous of it and went mad. Ruuk scientists discovered many wonderful things, including concrete, air conditioning, clockwork, and extremely advanced mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
The vast Ruuk territory to the east was ruled by the Astir, or empire, and the Firnastirgallen, or empire-king-emperors, who ruled wisely and guided the nation through allegiance with the Artafae and more wars than a Ruuk could count on all his fingers and toes. Ruuk wealth and wisdom approached impossible heights, and the opulent cities of the empire glimmered like a jewel under the Eastern sun.
But it was not to last. The Ruuk had received visions that their empire was to end, and end it did. But not by the sword or by famine, but by apathy. When a great philosopher, Entenas'Kildammen Ethendil'dainruuk Ruukgilvarren'uusqaz, told the masses that the empire would fall, the Ruuk responded not by shoring up defenses and coming together as a people, but by abandoning hope and effort and sinking into crippling apathy. The ancient cities wasted away, the treasures were sealed away, the formulas and smithing techniques locked away in their parchment tombs. The last Firnastirgall declared the empire fallen and went into exile with a group of Ruuk nobles.
To this day, the Ruuk have wandered Tayro Mata aimlessly, forming a few colonies but mostly living in human cities in quadrants set aside for them and mostly locked away. They do very little except to trade with humans for food. There are some who remember the olden days and yearn for the old empire to return, but most remain hopeless. They live primarily in four main colonies in Tayro Mata: Onodain in the north, Onlon'klaid-acsayuukdain in the west, Eren'fayeldirdain'saddocsir in the south, and Endirosdain'saddocsir near the Artafaen capital of Diros.
((A note: Tamren's profile mentions the nationality of Artafae: They're a group of humans who live within the Astir's borders, but they also have been deeply isolationist until Tamren began his travels.))
This is the introduction of the Ruuk Astir as it could exist in the Expanse. Geographically, it belongs in the east.
The Ruuk are tall, furred creatures with long arms and large eyes dominated entirely by vibrantly-colored irises. Their empire, the Ruuk Astir, had existed since the dawn of humanity before it crumbled. The cities of old sparkled like gems under the Eastern sun.
But as the history states, the Astir fell as its members drifted into a fatalistic apathy that sucked the life out of their empire and left it crumbling. Today, only four of the Old Cities remain, and they are not nearly so great as they once were.
Things, however, have begun to change. Tamren, a human who found his way into the hands of a Ruuk family, was bestowed with the authority to reunite the Ruuk after he made plain that despite his upbringing, he rejected the notion that a nation should lie down in the face of destruction. With the title Firnastir, or Emperor, Tamren has begun to reintroduce the Ruuk into international politics. Perhaps the Ruuk will return to their former glory.
And now, for the historical narrative.
((An excerpt from Ruuk history found in Tamren Firnastir's profile))
No one knows with certainty when the Ruuk first inhabited the Eastern Plains. What is known is that in the youth of Artafae, the Ruuk shared fire and steel to bring them out of the stone age, and as early history passed, the Ruuk introduced them to the written word and to governance and the secrets of farming and hunting and the art of the blacksmith. They helped the Artafae begin forming true governments, and mentored the early kings of the Artafaen Empire when they had united the lands. They even accomplished the amazing feat of sharing the Ruukish language (albeit in a simplified form) with a choice few Artafaens intelligent enough to learn it.
The Ruuk people were artisans, scientists, and philosophers, and their work created wonderful, amazing things. Ruuk steel could fit a wide range of hardness, and included steels that were the perfect balance between edge-retaining and edge-receiving, used commonly in swords and tools. Ruuk artwork and stories were renowned for their incredible beauty, with statues of all sorts of animals, including startlingly lifelike Ruuk and humans in their most beautiful forms. Legend says that a famous Ruuk sculptor was commissioned to make a statue of the queen of one of the pre-Artafaen states, and he made it so beautiful that the queen grew jealous of it and went mad. Ruuk scientists discovered many wonderful things, including concrete, air conditioning, clockwork, and extremely advanced mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
The vast Ruuk territory to the east was ruled by the Astir, or empire, and the Firnastirgallen, or empire-king-emperors, who ruled wisely and guided the nation through allegiance with the Artafae and more wars than a Ruuk could count on all his fingers and toes. Ruuk wealth and wisdom approached impossible heights, and the opulent cities of the empire glimmered like a jewel under the Eastern sun.
But it was not to last. The Ruuk had received visions that their empire was to end, and end it did. But not by the sword or by famine, but by apathy. When a great philosopher, Entenas'Kildammen Ethendil'dainruuk Ruukgilvarren'uusqaz, told the masses that the empire would fall, the Ruuk responded not by shoring up defenses and coming together as a people, but by abandoning hope and effort and sinking into crippling apathy. The ancient cities wasted away, the treasures were sealed away, the formulas and smithing techniques locked away in their parchment tombs. The last Firnastirgall declared the empire fallen and went into exile with a group of Ruuk nobles.
To this day, the Ruuk have wandered Tayro Mata aimlessly, forming a few colonies but mostly living in human cities in quadrants set aside for them and mostly locked away. They do very little except to trade with humans for food. There are some who remember the olden days and yearn for the old empire to return, but most remain hopeless. They live primarily in four main colonies in Tayro Mata: Onodain in the north, Onlon'klaid-acsayuukdain in the west, Eren'fayeldirdain'saddocsir in the south, and Endirosdain'saddocsir near the Artafaen capital of Diros.
((A note: Tamren's profile mentions the nationality of Artafae: They're a group of humans who live within the Astir's borders, but they also have been deeply isolationist until Tamren began his travels.))
