EVENTS

You notice it by a more cheerful attitude around the campfires of the city guards. You notice it in the smiling faces of the children running around. You notice it by the eager Yubos pawing in the dust, fattening up for the winter. You notice it by many things. Atysmas is coming!

Come to the new Lutrykin Atysmas Village at 8h - Holeth, Floris 6, 2nd AC 2596(*) for Atysmas Story Telling! The Lutrykin Storyteller will host the gathering. Come tell us a tale, or just come to listen to the amazing stories told by other assembled homins. Enjoy a beautiful Atysmas gathering with a mixture of funny, contemplative and inspirational tales and poems. Let all inhabitants of Atys be part of your fantasy and share an Atysian story.

We are looking forward to a delightful evening with you and your favourite stories.

(*) [OOC] Tuesday, 26 December 2017 20:00:00 UTC (7 years ago). [/OOC]

The torn mask
Tale of Atysmas (2017)

You know that we traditionally wear red and white clothes for Atysmas but do you know why?
This is a story as told to me in the Jungle.

Once upon a time there was a Kwai who had lost faith in the Kamis and had chosen to live among the Matis in the church of Jena. Nevertheless, he had remained very much loved, surrounded by friends from the four nations because he was also very kind, always ready to help his neighbour. His mask reflected his inner serenity, without any mark.
One day our kwai falls asleep, tired, at the corner of a fire in a secluded place in the city of Yrkanis. When he wakes up, he feels a little shaky, not as usual but without being able to say why. Returning to the center of Yrkanis, he senses on him the glances of the homins he meets. He feels it as fear or anger. His mask is pulling him more and more and he looks for a smooth enough surface to be able to examine it. Horror! He falls on his knees and tears flow on his mask, but without erasing the marks that zebra it from one end to the other, red and white scratches, marks of treachery and infamy. In vain, he tries to erase them and, covered with shame, he locks himself in his helmet refusing to remove it whatever the circumstances.
Here he is, wandering on the bark, miserable, locked up in his helmet, unable to feel the sweetness of the wind and the rays of the day star on his mask.
Between you and me, I think that the hardest was still not being able to drink beer in charming company at the bar but well, it is a story about Zorai not tryker.
But in spite of these marks, he remains a good homin and one day he sees himself questioned by a Zoraï at the entrance of the Kitin’s Lair in Almati. She lost a very precious pendant in there and needs help finding it and here they are, facing the dangers of the place side by side. After many fights, they arrive in a secluded and quiet room where changing lights create wonderful drawings on the walls. The show is striking and full of happiness, the pendant is there!
The joy of the Zorai warms the heart of the so sad kwai.
- Ari'kami Kito, you are such a good homin. But why don't you take off your helmet? Nu would like to be able to thank you and engrave your features in my memory.
- Shikyo-ne, kai'bini, don't ask me that.
- But why, the place is quiet and the lights are so beautiful. Please, show me your mask!
Without a word, the kwai tilts his head to remove his helmet and raises his eyes towards the homina. Tears of shame flow over the mask without a sound.
- Oh! The homina's eyes widen and her hand extends towards the mask until she touches the marks.
- Ne, I can't believe it, you are too kind to wear these marks. What happened?
He puts on his helmet and tells his story.
- But you must certainly not hide these marks! exclaims the homina. If you hide them, you're right about whoever did them. If you put them out in the open while remaining yourself, you resist the threat and are stronger than him. Believe me, you're not what those marks would mean.
The way back is calm and just before leaving the Zorai turns to our homin:
- Please, trust me, remove your helmet and walk proudly. I will follow you.
Galvanized by the words of the wise Zorai, the kwai removes the helmet and goes back to the others. The first encounters are difficult but the presence of Zorai reassures and the kindness of the kwai ends up triumphing over the last reticence.
Atysmas is here and the kwai multiplies the good deeds so much so that these red and white marks visible between all are greeted with joy and even hoped for.
For this reason, the homins who do not wear masks have become accustomed to wear red and white on their clothes for the period of Atysmas.

The light of fire
Atysmas tale (2017)

Once upon a time there was a young tryker girl who was happy in her family. Rippie Be' Loppy, that was the name of our tryker girl, had peacefully grown up in the lakes but she had joined a family who believed that hominity was more important than sap or faction. As a result, in her family, she rubbed shoulders with all the saps and opened herself to the treasures of friendship. One day she danced with a zorai, the next day she trained with a matis... Life seemed to go smoothly as so much joy of living filled her house. The head of her house was a tryker too. Rippie loved her leader, whom she considered to be her elder sister. Sometimes she could see her close herself off since she had experienced terrible things, even before the Kitins ravaged the surface of Atys. In those moments, Rippie was always there to help her elder sister and they just had to find their other family members to shoo away the darkness with laughter and joy. Nothing seemed to affect them.

However, little by little, one after the other, the members of the house became rarer and then eventually disappeared because life is so made that nothing is immutable.
One day, Rippie and her elder sister were the only ones left. Rippie tried to keep the joy alive, but sometimes the heart was no longer there and without the laughter of others, it became more and more difficult to keep her sister’s demons away.
This fateful day arrived, when far from Rippie's friendship, the head of the house lost her temper. Harassed, feeling overtaken by her demons, the chief joined the blackest of the blacks, severing bridges with hominity and abandoning the reins of her house.
Rippie felt guilty that she hadn't been there and searched, in vain, for her elder sister for a long time without thinking about taking care of herself. She became a true savage and lost her habit of talking to homins.
Exhausted and inconsolable, Rippie returned to Avendale and made the terrible decision to leave her house, which reminded her too much of how happy they had been.
She wandered for a long time without stopping because in each place the flood of her memories threatened to overwhelm her until, one day, she came upon a crying child.

Once again, she had returned to the lakes, attracted by this sweetness that she aspired, in spite of everything, to regain. There she heard crying, tearful but restrained tears as if the crying homin was afraid to attract attention. She, who had cried so much, could not resist the sobbing and, approaching without making any noise, she discovered hidden in a grove of Bambú, a little girl dressed in rags and tatters. Fearing that she would run away, into one of the cloppers on the beach, Rippie jumped over and grabbed the girl to hug her. The little girl began by struggling with all her strength but, visibly exhausted, she quickly let herself go into Rippie's arms and sobbed more and more until finally she fell asleep.
Rippie stayed there for long hours, waiting for the little girl to wake up.
When she opened her eyes, Rippie smiled at her and opened her mouth to ask her name and what she was doing there, but she hadn't spoken for a long time and all that came out was a croaking noise that made the little girl laugh. Rippie could only squeeze this little body against her while they were both shaken by a tearful laughter. Rippie had found a reason to live.
Rippie and the little girl were going through Atys in all directions. Rippie spoke, taught, showed, the little girl listened, learned and trained. In the evening, they fell asleep under the vaulted sky and the roots of the canopy. If one had grief, the other was there to comfort her. If one was happy, the presence of the other strengthened that joy. The yubos followed them wherever they went. Even the cloppers were hesitant in front of such a good mood.

One Atysmas morning, feeling a presence, Rippie wakes up suddenly and sees in front of her an unknown homina. She looks around for the little one but cannot see her anywhere and she pales. The homina in front of her smiles gently and with a very soft voice tells her:
"Don't look for the little girl anymore, Rippie. You took her under your wing and taught her without asking anything in return. She has fulfilled her destiny. To reward you, I will offer you two things, first you will never forget these moments of happiness and will always be able to draw consolation for going forward, then I will teach you to light campfires in which the images of friendship will shine. Those for whom you will light them, will be appeased from their torments."
The homina rises and offers Rippie a lighter which seems to diffuse a soft glow.
"Take it, Rippie, and sow joy on Atys"
And the homina disappears.

Since then, Rippie has been travelling down the Atys paths. She knows every nook and cranny of it and reveal its beauty for all those who want to make a little way with her. At the end of the day, she lights the campfire and the homins who accompany her believe they hear a child's laughter and see a smile that warms their hearts in the flames.
And one day, one by one, her brothers and sisters will cross the campfires and return to the house…

The power of Goo

A Karavaneer's tale

Friends, listen to my story!

At that time homins did not know Kamis yet. However, Kamis were alive and watched Atys, biding their time. Jena was still their Supreme Kami.

So, one of them was observing homins. He had settled quietly in the middle of a Fyros village and had taken the look of a well's rim. Every morning, a young homina was coming to draw a bucket of water for preparation of the first meal. Her name was Ulynarus, and her wakening had put her in a good mood. While pulling on the rope that held her bucket, she was singing simple rhymes in a soft and warm voice, deeply troubling the Kami. He was waiting more and more eagerly for this moment every day.

On one evening, a young hawker entered the village. Smooth talker and crowned with the halo of exotism his activity provided, he easily seduced the beautiful Ulynarus. Her morning singing became even deeper and happier.

For three days and three nights, Ulynarus stayed by her prince, deaf to the warnings of his entourage, living a moment of intense happiness. When he left, she wanted to follow him, but, with a brutal word, he told her that he did not want it. He liked the isolation, and the change of homina in each village. He thanked her for the good times passed in her company, assuring her that he would keep an imperishable memory of those, said goodbye to her, and left without looking back.

Ulynarus' liveliness ran dry. No more singing in the morning at her coming to the well. Friends and family tried to comfort her, and said that time would fix things. Another homin would some day replace this lost love. Everyone in the village was sure of that, and patience was called for.

But the Kami knew nothing of all that. After some days without singing in the morning, he tried desperately to understand what had happened. Listening to conversations, spying on the beauty more than ever, he at last understood.

One morning, the well's rim disappeared. Racing at the speed of fire pushed by the wind, the Kami quickly found our merchant, responsible for Ulynarus' mutism. He invoked his power of death and threw it on the unfortunate homin. Gnawed from the inside by the first manifestation of the Goo, he became insane and incoherent and died in a few days.

Learning this, Jena went into deep anger.

"What? I charge you with great responsibilities, namely watching over Atys, and I provide you with the means to assume them! And with those, what are you doing? Instead of protecting, you destroy! You are not worthy of this power!"

She deprived the Kamis of the power of death and threw it away, to deal with it later. She wanted to banish this little Kami, but he fomented a revolt and took power over Jena who then found help from the Karavan. But all of this is another story.

Know that so arose the Goo, the great plague of Atys, and Ma-Duk.

And, for those who wonder what happened to Ulynarus, she comforted herself quickly and had a happy life in her village, married to the homin who came to rebuild the well's rim. Her early singing rang out for decades into the future.

Friends, my story is over.