Post by Rachel North on Apr 25, 2013 15:09:43 GMT -5
It is the year 2869 C.E.
Time has done little more for humanity than to let it grow until the Earth could carry no more. Humanity was on the verge of destroying itself, numbering now only in the millions rather than the billions it used to be. The world has plummeted into a world of ice and snow, blizzards raging for weeks at a time instead of just days. Many of the humans left have taken to seek refuge in the icy mountains, tunneling their way through the stone and rock to make cavernous, labyrinth type cities which only the citizens of such a place can navigate, even if they too have some confusion. Humans now have a much better resistance to the cold, being that even with their caverns underground, the cold still seeps through the cracks in the walls and through the entrances. Yet this also means they cannot stand heat as well as they used to hundreds of years ago.
And there are some who can handle the heat, yet cannot stand the cold. These have made their way deeper into the cavern cities, creating upper and lower halves of the city, and also a hierarchy among them. The heat-adapted humans, called sua bejia, are at the lower end of the spectrum, being forgers of metal, stone and rock art, furniture and architecture, clothes makers, builders and farmers for the cold adapted humans. The cold adapted humans, called iotz bejia are the warriors, the nobles, the merchants, the jewelry makers, librarians and priests, ruling over everyone else.
People now, instead of just having normal eye colors, have eyes that are more vibrant, more suited to seeing in the dark, bleak or dim-lighted caverns of their home. Green, blue, grey, brown, hazel, amber, even the rarity of purple, yet now there’s another eye color thrown into the mix. An eye color that glows with an inner light, brighter and more vibrant than any other. Gold, one of the most ancient signs of wealth, prosperity and powerful, ancient magic. Magic which humans now possess yet cannot fully control. A magic which kept horses, dogs, cats, birds and other animals alive to adapt to the changes to their environment. The very few people born with such eyes are treated differently than every other person, though what treatment they get varies from city to city. Such people are called ure bejia, or gold eyes. Simple, yes, but effective nonetheless.
Kin possess such eyes, golden as the sun. She's attuned to the ancient magic, that which lives in all of nature. A nature which has turned cold, ruthless, and unforgiving. And as we all know, nature cannot be tamed. It will fight back and it will be free, even if it has to bring all of its force down to one single point. And it certainly would for its new umea. One out of the few million left in the world that would be able to wield its power, yet there were more. But they were only a handful, scattered across the planet, likely never to know their anabai and arebai. They may never know their patron, nature itself personified, their ama.
There are creatures called iun txaurai. Dogs the size of horses which have been changed throughout the times and have adapted to their new environment. Their name only really applies to their dark coloring, storm grey, black, and other such coats with many various markings and patterns. Unlike the dogs of before, these ones have lion-like tails and, while built strongly like draft horses, look more lean though in terms of muscle and figure if it weren't for the feathers near their paws like those on many drafts, though in their case it would've been hooves. They, like camels, can go days without food or water, though only because they've adapted to living off of snow and meat, rather than being the herbivores they once were known to be.
They have the paws of wolves, the claws are like like cheetahs yet the paws itself are like a snow leopard in that they allow the dog to stay above the snow. They also have sharp teeth and glowing eyes, and manes that stretch from their head to their hips. They're mainly scavengers, living in large family packs of thirty or more, the males often striking around the pack they've been born into, while the females seek out a new herd once they've come of age, yet will stay with the herd they've joined for the rest of their lives. They've got excellent sense of smell and direction, navigating thousands of miles if they had to.
These dogs are extremely loyal, and are also very parental. They are in no way tame, as no human adapted to the cold has dared to brave the storms and predators outside of their cavern cities in order to find them. No sua bejia has ever been outside of the city. No iotz bejia has ever wanted more than their city could provide. There wasn't a fuss about rebellion. Not anymore. The sua bejia have long since accepted their "lot in life" and choose not to question their own treatment.
Kin was born a sua bejia. Gold eyes like the sun, born in a city known as Badezeko deep within zilareco menia, the only mountain around for miles that has silver ore running in its veins. She grew up hiding her eyes with a simple magical illusion to keep other people from knowing about her. Only other sua bejia did, and they did not tell anyone else. It was like a secret the everyone knew and could talk about with just their eyes and body language, everyone but the iotz bejia. Kin gets caught up with a bunch of soldiers one day, her illusion breaking, when she flees to outside the cavern city and ends up meeting one of the iun txaurai. She befriends the dog, the dog being a victim of being separated from its pack after a strong storm. They live out in the wilds for a while, even though Kin can’t stand the cold very well, the horse helps her and they find places to warm up from the cold with her magic.
The iotz bejia from her home are on the look out for her, but won’t find her anytime soon. She’s miles away and they would normally chose not to venture out of their safe, secure city. Safe and secure, only until riots from the sua bejia start to break out. As an ure bejia, Kin feels more at home in the open, outside where the wind will toss her into the air as a game and her and her horse could understand what the other felt and wanted using simple gestures and sounds. Being where her ama lives when Kin had thought that her ama died when she was little.
Such is her life for the next few months, yet her father is now in trouble from the mayor of the city, whose accused him of going against his city by keeping Kin’s eyes a secret. Iotz bejia finally venture from their homes to form a perimeter, in case Kin ever decided she wants to come home. Which she did, but decided not to for the next half year. The dog she’d met had been a txaurume, a puppy. Though now he had grown, and even though he wasn't a full adult by far, he was three feet already at the shoulder. He'd be an adult at around ten years, his aging slowed down from now on. Kin had named him Uric.