Difference between revisions of "Mhun"

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==Overview==
==Overview==
The industrious Mhun hail from the vast mines of [[Moghedu]], an immense network of caverns stretching between the Mhojave Desert and the underground tunnels of Azdun. Long at odds with their neighbors, the brutal Goblin slavers, the average Mhun knows a hard life, fighting wars and forced by their racial leaders to toil in the mines, whilst evading attacks from the bloodthirsty vampires of nearby Bloodloch who have long seen the Mhun's home as an easy buffet for their insatiable hungers. Still, despite - or perhaps because of - these hardships, the Mhun prove to be resilient and persistent people, surviving against harsh odds and holding heavy loyalty to each other. Physically, Mhun are very similar to Humans, although they tend to be leaner and smaller, their movements more agile and lithe, and their skin pale, tanning easily to dusky tones when above-ground.
Most Mhun in the present day hail from the vast mountainhome of [[Moghedu]], an immense network of caverns stretching far beneath the Siroccian Mountains. Prior to the year 422 MA, Moghedu lay instead in the Mhojave Desert, which most Mhun consider to be their ancestral homeland. Between the years 422 and 457 MA, Moghedu was ruled by a brutal Mhun theocracy, and those who grew up during its rule were accustomed to constant telepathic surveillance and mandatory acceptance of Mhun religious doctrine. Even following the establishment of monarchy by Queen Nesvenai, Moghedu remains ruled by a rigid caste system and a preference for Albedi faith, where opportunities for advancement are limited and non-Mhun in Moghedu are discriminated against particularly harshly.


The Mhun are a race of underground dwellers who are distant cousins of humanity. Roughly of human size, they are a bit weaker, but more agile. [[Moghedu]], their ancestral home, is southwest of the great [[Mhojave]] desert. Their harsh living environment has forced them to be survivors and though they command perhaps less respect than the other races, they are wily, clever opponents. Mhun rarely hold leadership positions, as their first loyalty is generally to their race, rather than to their guild or city.
There is historical precedent for such attitudes, however - prior to the revolution which occurred in 422 MA, led by the Great Mhunna Nesventesh, the Mhun were persecuted and hunted by many, serving as a source of blood, food, and other materials for the residents of Bloodloch, and sentiment against them was common in all other parts of the world. In spite of this long history of oppression and its lingering effects in the world at large, Mhun have proved to be a resilient and persistent people, surviving against harsh odds and holding strong loyalty to one other. Physically, Mhun are very similar to Humans, although they tend to be smaller, thinner, and weaker, with dark skin and angular features.


==Racial skills==
==Racial skills==
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==Roleplay==
==Roleplay==
The Mhun's racial heritage of struggles and oppression give players lots of freedom to play a character who has been disenfranchised or has fought against the odds. Humble origins, scrappy pluck or even browbeaten submission all work great with the Mhun background - many "good" organizations make an effort to protect the low-ranked Mhuns from oppression and attack, so a Mhun finding his way to Enorian is a natural fit. Conversely, Mhuns also make an intriguing choice for a vampire character, and some players choose to play a Mhun who has fallen into temptation or embraced the role of oppressed becoming the oppressor, turning to nearby Bloodloch for a home. Mhuns also offer a good fit for anyone interested in making a character who is interested in geology, be that a Teradrim embracing the Earth, or a jewelcrafter entranced by gems.
The Mhun's racial heritage of struggles and oppression give players lots of freedom to play a character who has been disenfranchised or has fought against the odds. Humble origins, scrappy pluck or even browbeaten submission all work great with the Mhun background - many "good" organizations make an effort to protect the lower-class Mhun from oppression and attack, so a Mhun finding their way to Enorian is a natural fit. Conversely, Mhun also make an intriguing choice for a vampire character, and some players choose to play a Mhun who has fallen into temptation or embraced the role of oppressed becoming the oppressor, turning to Bloodloch for a home. Mhun also offer a good fit for anyone interested in making a character who is interested in geology or craftsmanship, making the Teradrim or crafters of various ilks another obvious choice.


==The Origins of the Mhun==
==The Origins of the Mhun==
As told by Bhahren:
As told by Nhusema Odreyeb, the holy text of the Mhun:


Ever have we suffered, and grown strong from our survival.
Earth beneath, at first, only darkness was. The gods the Mother made, and the Mother earth beneath
 
grew. She up rose, and tall She was, tall enough to mountains shadow. She womb of was abundant, and
It was the time of the great unknowing. All was ignorance and instinct, and
many children She did birth so that they within the lush Iviofa and beneath the sun fought and  
some practiced cruelty without knowing what they did. Some of those with
danced. The children of the Mother beautiful were.
cruelty practiced upon them died in protest. Some protested, with neither
language nor understanding, and found freedom. Some sensed the safety in
The skies and earth the children hated, and the gods, Makers of Mother the Keepers of sky and earth
submission, and these were our forefathers.
fought. The fight of great length was, and much blood upon the ground was spilled, until out from
 
the earth and out from the skies the gods were driven, so that only Mother to protect the children
Imagine a young fox with a newly-caught rabbit, devouring leisurely. When the
was there.
wolf comes, hungry and lazy, it has merely to snap at the fox and soon it has a
rabbit of its own. The fox leaves, half-fed and frightened. In time, the wolf
And to the children a name Mother gave: Earth-Ones, Teshen, and beautiful they were, their skin like
may follow the fox when it is hungry, for this is an easier way to feed. All
stone, their eyes like gems. Yet Mother remain upon the earth could not, so within the earth she
the while, the fox grows strong from the hunt, and labors because it sees
herself buried, and she the bones of the earth was, and to this day it is said: the seed the gods
naught else it can do.
Mother with filled, these the earth's gems are, these and all other things precious which up the
 
earth yields. From Earth, to Earth - entesh, untesh - for Earth our Mother is, and Mother embraces
So it was with us, in all things. The other mortals kept us fed and safe as it
us when we to Mheribus return.
pleased them, and for them we worked and bled. For uncounted years did this
continue, and we grew faster, and learned more quickly than the others, not
The Earth-Ones fought. Some Mother so loved that they upon Iviofa could not bear to remain. Yet one,  
through Divine will but through our own toil. We labored on, later constructing
the wisest, the greatest of Mother's children, to the other children said: 'Of the Earth we no
great temples and mines for the benefit of others. There was no God to speak
longer are in whole, but Sky as well; for look! We upon Water ourselves sustain, and upon us does
for us, no Goddess to rescue and soothe. We were unloved, and depended only on
Fire burn so that our skin darks, and the Air our bones fills.' Some to the wise child hearkened,
one another.
and to this child Cherektesh a name was given: Great Mother - Great Mhunna.
 
As we lifted the heavy stones, we grunted, "Mun." As we cried at night from our
'Eight times I will die,' the Great Mother the children told. 'You all will suffer, for that you
wounds, we whimpered, "Mun." And later, as we railed against our captors, as we
choose Iviofa and not Earth. At the end of this time, know; you will be rewarded, for the soul of
were different and a stronger people, we cried "Mun!" in tortured pride. We are
Mother I will carry forth, and you will know; the Keepers our gods are not, and our gods to us will  
the Mhun, and those who would drive us as animals again will come to learn
return.' The Great Mother's years many were, and then he died.
regret.


== Mhun Culture and History ==
== Mhun Culture and History ==
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Mhun culture particularly emphasizes group loyalty; in the face of the inhospitable desert, with oppressors and attackers on all sides, the concept of Mhun identity very quickly transcended mere racial affiliation. Mhun who broke with their brethren, or went to serve the enemy, were shunned by the Great Mhunna, and intermarriage was forbidden by one of the first edicts in the early Epochs. This stance, more commonly violated by escapees and adventurers than common Mhun, has gone a long way toward preserving a distinct Mhun culture.
Mhun culture particularly emphasizes group loyalty; in the face of the inhospitable desert, with oppressors and attackers on all sides, the concept of Mhun identity very quickly transcended mere racial affiliation. Mhun who broke with their brethren, or went to serve the enemy, were shunned by the Great Mhunna, and intermarriage was forbidden by one of the first edicts in the early Epochs. This stance, more commonly violated by escapees and adventurers than common Mhun, has gone a long way toward preserving a distinct Mhun culture.


The history of the Mhun is a long, sad tale - oppressed by Dwarves, Rajamala, Goblins, and Humans, freedom has at once been the highest ideal in their minds, and yet the most unattainable. Mysteriously bereft of Divine patronage, they have invented their own form of polytheistic worship, one that seems to derive meaning from the desert heat and the deep stone and only grows stronger in suffering. Their spirits number seven in all:
The history of the Mhun is a long, sad tale - oppressed by Dwarves, Rajamala, Goblins, and Humans, freedom has at once been the highest ideal in their minds, and yet the most unattainable. Long thought to be mysteriously bereft of Divine patronage, the Mhun system of worship, which prioritized seven Spirits, was thought to be an invention by an envious race. Recent times have revealed, however, that the Mhun held Albedi faith in the distant past, and their ill-remembered Spirits were in fact gods of Albedos. The Mhun consider seven of these deities to be primary in traditional practice:
 
Laasen, associated with stone and earth, whom the Albedi call Aechros; Promentesh, associated with labor and crafts, whom the Albedi call Ilimos; Mheribus, associated with hardship, darkness, and death, whom the Albedi call Muadi; Lokhanni, associated with wisdom and ingenuity, whom the Albedi call Odravh; Haddeneh, associated with wealth and bounty, whom the Albedi call the Faceless God; Cheshehe, associated with cold, damp, and the waters, whom the Albedi call Ohlsana; and Mhuinnah, the mother and nurturer, whom the Albedi call Dejaani.


Laasan, the spirit of stone and earth; Promentesh, the spirit of labor and crafts; Mheribus, the spirit of hardship, often referred to as 'the endless darkness of underground and death'; Lokhanni, the spirit of ingenuity; Haddeneh, the spirit of wealth and bounty; Cheshehe, the spirit of the cold and the damp; Mhuinnah, the nurturer spirit.
These Gods - or spirits, as they were called - were, until a few centuries ago, represented materially by the Great Mhunna (literally, 'Great Mother', in a gender-neutral sense), high priest and a leader of the people, who held sole religious and political authority over all Mhun. The Great Mhunna is considered a position inherited by reincarnation; that though the Great Mhunna has possessed multiple embodiments, they are the same soul, returning again and again. Thus, in Mhun history, there were points at which the Great Mhunna ruled alone, and points at which the caste-leaders ruled by consensus.


These spirits were, until a few centuries ago, represented materially by the Great Mhunna, a high priest and a leader of the people, who held sole religious and political authority over all Mhun. The death of the last Great Mhunna had no replacement come forward, to the end result that the Mhun mostly manage themselves according to centuries of long, unbroken tradition; there are some actions, like banishment or certain functions of worship, that cannot be performed without a Great Mhunna. Many Mhun await the coming of a new Great Mhunna who will lead the Mhun out of slavery for good.
There are some actions, like banishment or certain functions of worship, that cannot be performed without a Great Mhunna. The last Great Mhunna, Nesventesh, fulfilled the promise of freedom from slavery. Once she departed, governments arose to replace her - first a theocracy founded in her name, and now a monarchy whose Queen, Nesvenai, is the niece of Nesventesh and her closest living descendant. The Queen has thus been accorded most of the authority typically associated with a Great Mhunna, though she does not possess the same religious significance.


Curiously, as a result of this close intermingling of religious practice with racial identity, any being who converts to the Mhun faith is considered a member of the race by most other Mhun, and accordingly forsaken by the Gods from then on. One individual who undertook such conversion was [[Dorin Silverbeard]], who lived out the last of his days as a practicing Dwarven Mhun. Mhun who remain loyal to their race, even if they reject the polytheistic faith common in Moghedu, are still considered Mhun; those who turn against their own kind are considered banished, although there is no Great Mhunna to officially pronounce it so.
Curiously, as a result of this close intermingling of religious practice with racial identity and culture, any being who converts to the Mhun faith is considered a member of the race by most other Mhun, and accordingly forsaken by the Gods of Sapience from then on. One individual who undertook such conversion was [[Dorin Silverbeard]], who lived out the last of his days as a practicing Dwarven Mhun. Mhun who remain loyal to their race, even if they reject the Albedi faith common in Moghedu, are still considered Mhun; those who turn against their own kind are considered banished by the Queen's authority.


[[Category:Races]]
[[Category:Races]]
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