Aerligian

Those whose tongues hold the truth.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Metahumans

• Alignment: Celestial

• Energy: Waarheid

• Lifespan: 70-120 years

• Diet: Common mortal fare

• Habitat: Subarctic to northern temperate coastal lowlands and rolling hills

Origins

Humans who inscribed their True Names on their tongues and found it passed on to their children.

Description

Aerligians have the same range of appearance as humans, with a copper-tinge to their eyes and red highlights in their hair no matter the rest of its color. They call these highlights "sparks." Their tongues have intricate patterns that look like dark, inky tattoos on them. These are their True Names.

Procreation

Aerligians reproduce sexually as humans do. They can reproduce with other aerligians, metahumans, and humans, and the offspring will follow the birthing parent, though non-aerligian offspring will have some remnants of aerligian truth-telling powers. Procreation with other species requires supernatural intervention.

Powers

If an aerligian places both of their hands against the skin of another and wills it, they can force another to speak true. Doing this is exhausting for the aeriligian and the target and does not last longer than a few minutes except with the most powerful aerligians.

Tongues

When an aerligian speaks, their True Name is affected by it. If they speak of someone else or something unrelated to themselves, their True Name reacts neutrally, but if they speak of themselves, whether they speak truly or falsely, their True Name reacts as if it were true. Thus, if they lie about themselves, it becomes true. This does not mean that they may speak themselves into Divinity, however, because if they speak falsely of themselves in a manner that is greatly distant from their truth, it will instead simply rip themselves apart. Furthermore, if they speak falsely of themselves, it reduces the amount of waarheid - the energy of truth - that exists within them, weakening themselves overall. Thus, they cannot speak themselves into a strength they do not have.

It is a contradiction. If they speak falsely of themselves, it becomes true, but their truth diminishes. This is the inherent paradox of the aerligians. If they, however, speak only truly of themselves, the inherent truth within them, the waarheid that they embody, becomes stronger, and they gain powers based on their honesty and sincerity.

If an aerligian speaks a knowing lie, even if it is not about themselves, their tongues grow clammy and cold, which feels unpleasant, but is not debilitating. If they speak a knowing truth that is difficult to speak - speaking truth to power, admitting something that will have negative consequences, etc. - their tongue feels warm in their mouth, and they feel a mild frisson of pleasure.

An aerligian can identify anything they consume if they hold it long enough in their mouth before swallowing if it is edible (edible meaning that it has nutritional value to them, as opposed to merely being digestible). Inedible things (limited by size or digestibility) are engaged the same as any normal item in the mouth.

Senses

Aerligians are adept at knowing when someone is speaking truth or lies. They can often understand the nuances of subjectivity in what others are saying very easily.

Weaknesses

Bedrog causes them deep trauma. If they tell too many lies, the waarheid within them weakens and can eventually kill them.

Nations

There are four nations of aerligians:

• Feldish: the original nation in the coastal realm of Feldaers.

• Lummish: a nation on a small island in the Indigo Sea that got separated many Ages ago.

• Oblesh: a nation inland that migrated due to internal conflicts.

• Ulush: a nation that rejected the truth and seeks to abolish their True Names.

Culture

Aerligians come from a coastal country known as Feldaers. As honesty is a highly held cultural value, there is a constant struggle internally for a certain level of respectability from leaders, which has led to violent conflicts. Though religion is a major part of the lives of the Feldish, there is a deeply held principle that the church be separate in terms of personnel from the government. This often leads to conflicts between the two and debates on where the line is. Furthermore, in early times, the Feldish were in more separated communities, and individual communities often engaged in sea-raiding for survival in harsh winters. The descendants of these early raiders still have great power in the coastal regions. Craft unions also exist as a political force, especially in the cities.

The country is democratic. In the smaller coastal communities, descendants of the raiding lords who once led the Feldish survive. These they call herrer (herre, sing.), and they all come from an ancestral claim, though these claims account for nothing but local bragging rights. Each community elects their leaders. They have more progressive values, value radical honesty, and believe themselves servants of the community first. They hold their physical prowess to be an important value as protectors of the community.

The culture of these communities is much more focused on the sea, fishing, and festivals celebrating the tides, the seasons, and the bounty of the sea. The church has sway here, and thus many of these have been altered to fit the newer religious traditions, but in some places, the old folk traditions survive. Clothing, art, music, and food are all less influenced by religion in these areas. Every herre's family has an ancestral weapon passed down as their symbol, usually some kind of axe, spear, or mace.

The craft unions (smiths, carpenters, masons, boatwrights, etc.) formed in the big cities where craftsfolk needed some political protections from the laws of the nobles, back when noble families had sway. They have many unions, but every union elects a leader who represents them on the national worker council. This council lobbies for changes in law or leadership. They hold their own special holidays for all crafters, one day for each major union. Each union is named for the patron saint of their craft and has ties to the church. Unions have their own specialty schools which recruit from church schools, taking on apprentices and matching them with masters.

The one place all groups come together is the legal courts, where matters of law are decided by dommere (dommer sing.), or elected judges. These judges have cultivated their innate powers to the point that they cannot speak falsehoods even if they try, and they can sense truth from others with sharper insight than any. The dommere recruit from all corners of society based on the skill of the speaker. The dommere give up any title they had before, ancestral claims, etc. when they join the courts. They are few, but they are respected above all for their powers. Every dommer makes a vow on their own True Name to interpret the law with severe honesty.

The common aerligian is usually a worker or student, but they participate deeply in society. They hold to their religious beliefs, folkways, or what they were taught, and they hold their leaders accountable through a ground-up democratic process.

National Cultures

• Lummish: the Lummish live on a remote island in the Indigo Sea and practice an obscure religion that strives to never speak or even acknowledge anything but absolute, objective truth. As such, they almost never speak unless they are certain of objectivity.

• Oblesh: a nation inland that migrated due to internal conflicts in the days when aerligians were more violent and fighting a class war between feudal lords and the peasants. They went inland and found themselves enslaved or indentured to other, powerful nations. They are now part of multiple central Ranic countries where they are an oppressed nation.

• Ulush: the Ulush are the remnants of the old ruling class nations who tried to reject the power of truth and remove their True Names from their tongues. They now exist as an obscure nation that promotes rejecting truth and holding onto identities that run against the truth of who they really are - they reject, for example, embracing one’s true gender in favor of a binary, rejecting one’s national heritage in favor of assimilation, etc. - and many of them literally cut out their own tongues.

Esoterica

Aerligians are beings of waarheid, of the power of truth, and they are skilled wielders of it. However, they are not the originators of the kamatuuran arts, but instead, they originated the truespeakers. They are also known for their use of hair, ujjval aatma, euergasia, juaih, botshepehi, hegnh, euphotonia, and yahas. As a coastal nation, they also often wield conflueverant, bijalee, ikehua lyua pele, hvittdogg, tykva vlast, nzwara murazvo, and tmakikan. Shavev mashkalran and nommic powers are also common. They cannot wield bedrog.

Religion

The church is run by a hierarchy of elected bishops. The church has major influence over the culture of Feldaers. Though old folk festivals persist in remote areas, most of the country has left behind those in favor of the church-sanctioned festivals, ceremonies, and holidays. Clothing, art, and food are all heavily influenced by the church's teachings. Art is especially focused on revealing religious truth. The church recruits from the richer parts of the underclasses for their priests and bishops, although the occasional lower-ranking noble is recruited as well. The church also provides free school for all in every community or region that they can.

Gender

Aerligians know their True Names and therefore live their truth, which includes their true gender. They assign at-birth a binary gender, but once the child can speak, they know soon the child will reveal their true self. Therefore, there are many genders among the aerligians, and they are welcomed and cherished.

Economy

Feldaers is a socialist republic.

Military

The Feldish military is a volunteer-only, democratic force with elected officers. They have a strong navy. The entire populace is also trained and armed in case of invasion. The use of waarheid in their military is common - the bueskytte use it to make sure their missiles strike their targets (or smides, which are the siege-warrior equivalent). The melee warriors who use the same skill are called kriger. Certain unarmed warriors among the workers called langtand can turn into stoats, but they are not formally part of the military.

Language

Their language is based on Danish.

Trade

The Feldish trade with any country who will trade with them. Fish, mining, and materials made from livestock are the most common items traded.

Occupations

Common occupations include

• Bueskytte: archers and gunners who wield truth to hit their targets.

• Bundet (gitahi): those who change their genders via truespeaking.

• Dommer: judges who are very powerful sandttalers.

• Dørmand: truespeakers who can wield the power of truth to open doorways to other realms.

• Fortaler (advocate): truespeakers who protect others in the courts of law.

• Gåder (mga palaisipan): truespeakers who focus on the Puzzle of Names.

• Herre: workers with a claim to formerly being part of the noble ruling class before the revolution. They have no special powers, but they are proud of their pasts and usually have ancestral weapons of note.

• Hojttaler: truespeaking teachers.

• Iskolar: truespeaking scholars.

• Kriger: soldiers who wield pike and rifle.

• Langtand: unarmed fighters among the workers who can turn into stoats via zoanthropy.

• Mender: a powerful wielder of the truth who uses it to heal others’ Names.

• Modstand (paglaban): a member of the revolutionary organizations who fought to liberate Feldaers.

• Repræsentant: a truespeaker in the legislature.

• Saksi: witnesses to the truth, the faithful.

• Sandakkord: a truespeaker who plays violin in a way that resonates with objective truth.

• Sandsøgende (trueseeker): an investigator for the state who wields and seeks the truth.

• Sandttaler (truespeaker): those who draw power from and wield the energy of truth (waarheid).

• Smide: siege engineers who operate the same way bueskyttes do.

• Togmand: railroad engineers who use waarheid to keep the trains running straight.

• Urtelæge: an herbalist who uses honesty and other herbs to invoke truth.

• Vidnesbyrd (testifier): a witch who uses the power of truth to protect women.

Outside View

Aerligians are usually seen in other societies as unusual for their cultural honesty, but they are valued by those who believe in truth and honesty or those who seek to use those powers for gain. As such, aerligians are sometimes cautious of outsiders. This has led some to view them as aloof, but once they get to know someone, an aerligian will usually prove to be a close friend and confidant. Outside their own societies, they usually gravitate toward journalism, legal professions, or investigatory work. Feldaers, as a socialist republic, is often accused by other countries of being a totalitarian state that forces their version of the truth on everyone.

Notables

• Tanna Empfel, Twin Speaker, Aerligian Manifest, Aeonian

• Emil Haugaard, the Spinning Mask, Retainer of Alabaster Shield

• Talt Ord, High Dommer

Estimated Populations

• Feldish: 4 million

• Lummish: 20,000

• Oblesh: 2 million

• Ulush: 100,000

• Other: 1 million

Sample Stats

PRO 9
ATH 8
STR 8
AWA 9
WIL 9
PRS 9
STH 6