Dumu

The Folk of the Mounds.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Elementals

• Alignment: Aetherial

• Energy: Anumun

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Anything natural

• Habitat: Mounds

Origins

Generated from the primordial essence of the world, the very first children of Mother Shem.

Description

The dumu, called the Folk of the Mounds by some, stand between seven and nine feet tall on average. Their skin is usually a deep, dark blue, green, grey, brown, or violet, with darker whorls of black throughout their skin. Their hair is a contrasting and lighter hue of any other color, shifting to white as they age. They are anthropomorphic elemental energy with faces that seem human save for their hooded eyes that are shadowy sockets with small pinpoints of light for pupils and the dark mark on their foreheads that have a small, reddish orange, fiery ridge within it. Their lower bodies usually end in human legs, but some have animalistic features, including arachnid lower bodies, centaurid lower bodies, or simply hooved feet and furry legs.

Procreation

Dumu have three distinct reproductive categories (see Gender below for more): a womb-bearing person, a seed-giving person, and an egg-bearing person. The latter two combine their gametes and insert them into the former, who gestates the fetus until they are born.

Powers

As Mother Shem’s first children, the dumu have the ability to sense anumun, the primordial essence of the world. If they are near it, they can control it with a touch and with gestures, spinning it into any natural, unliving substance at will. They can process anything natural - anything untouched by technology - in their stomachs, so natural poisons and venoms do not harm them, and they are generally unaffected by bacterial diseases. Viruses and prions are considered unnatural and can harm them.

Elemental Affinity

All dumu have an affinity for another form of aether, but never viridian aether, birtimane, or genesis. This affinity gives them extra powers:

• Ashar: healing breath

• Bailaohu jinghua: metallic bones

• Bijalee: weather sense

• Conflueverant: water-breathing

• G'hothaaul'ugots: fungal communication

• Hamasat al-sahra: internal water recycling

• Hasken fure: flower scent

• Hvittdogg: cold resistance

• Ikehua lyua pele: volcanic sense

• Kazaddarean: rockfish

• Kiiric yihi: flight

• Kuvva: magnetic aura

• Lahab al'qalb: heat resistance

• Livadi: grass control

• Lunar aether: lunar empowerment

• Ma'dhahabi: solar empowerment

• Nzwara murazvo: animal communication

• Parfum de marais: swamp communion

• Poarta: soulsight

• Prasinofos: plant communication

• Qeernariji: astral position

• Sonic aether: hearing bonus

• Temporal aether: time sense

• The bright: light aura

• Tmakikan: nourishing touch

• True shadow: shadow aura

• Tykva vlast: taiga communion

• Vegrandis: microbial communication

Affinities can change as the dumu has new experiences in life. Major life events can alter their affinities, such as falling in love with someone with a different affinity, having a child, completing a major work, or special ceremonies for life milestones such as coming of age. Children are born with their womb-parent’s affinity but can change rapidly throughout their early life as they find themselves drawn to different activities or objects.

Weaknesses

Brown aether, slitna, and ibbissu harm them more than others.

Nations

There is one nation of the dumu left on Shem - the others evolved or died out long ago - called the Namluulu. They dwell in mound cities near the World Tree.

Culture

The Namluulu live in a matriarchal culture in a mound city near the World Tree. This city of mounds is called Dul. Dul is a cluster of earthen mounds shaped to house small groups of dumu. In the center of the city is a massive mound, called the Unu, which serves as a temple and surrounds the pools of anumun from which the Namluulu say they were born.

The city is made up of six communities, each one with their own sets of elemental affinities:

• Antasurra: the Antasurra are a community who focus on aethers of earth and stone, metal and caves, including the dark of the caves. They have the deepest interiors of their mounds and the highest exteriors, and they decorate with gems and metal veins, using very little light.

• Atum: the Atum are a community who focus on aethers of water and ice, swamp and island, moon and microbe. They practice witchcraft and keep running streams within, around, and on their mounds. They also have great masses of bacterial cultures that they use in folk medicine.

• Imi: the Imi are a community who focus on the winds, the skies, and weather. Grasslands and deserts are also their domains. They keep the interior of their mounds open and airy, with many windows and passages out. The exteriors are grassy on the slopes and sandy on the top. They also design them so sound carries well throughout.

• Izi: the Izi are a community who focus on flame and sun, time and space, light and magnetism, and death itself. They are the most mystical of the communities. They have great firepits and observatories that allow them to commune with the cosmos.

• Til: the Til are a community who focus on aethers of living things and of life in general. They have shaped the interior of their mounds to be full of fungus, and the exteriors are covered in vibrant plant life. They are friends with all animals.

These communities have their own elders (namabba), and from them, they elect three elders each to liaise with the other communities, forming an informal council called the Abbauru who keep the entire city running. The elders make small decisions, but any important decision is brought back to the communities for a full vote.

Children among the Namluulu are raised by the whole community, though there is a tendency for elders to be most involved. Children are raised free and somewhat wild until they are sixteen years old, at which time they are sent to the Unu for a year of special schooling and washing in anumun. Before this, their elemental affinity tends to switch up every few months as they explore the world around them, usually within the cluster common in their community. After this year of washing, their affinity becomes more fixed, only changing with major events.

After a year of learning in the temple, the children spend the next eight years being trained in the tasks and roles of the community. Everyone learns the basic needs of the community - food preparation, making clothing, shaping mounds, caring for the sick, caring for the young and elderly, basic arts and crafts, and cleaning - so that all important work is shared between them. Specializations are encouraged with those who want to do so, allowing them to focus on esoteric arts, religious rites, and/or defense of the city, but only after they are adults.

When a Namluulu reaches the age of 25, they are considered an adult. They are taken to the Unu and perform a series of coming-of-age rituals that involve washing in anumun, making vows to serve their community, and performing intricate dances honoring Mother Shem herself. Once they are adults, they are allowed to vote in community matters, have children, travel and visit other parts of the world, and take up specializations in their community role.

Some common specializations include the é-ĝar, the shapers of the interior of mounds; muladim, the preparers of raw food; maaz, who perform ritual dances; the uzu, who are primordial healers; guul-baar, whose voices command anumun; sudaq, who tend the mounds and forests around them; nugig, who use sex magic in their witchcraft; zusú, those who use anumun to teach about the stories and lore of the world; niimdirig, sailors who use anumun; and the šubal, who use anumun to take animal forms.

The Unu is run by the mahra. The mahra are witches who use bowls of anumun to generate living objects and beings via special rites. They are attuned to the cycles of the world itself and consider themselves direct servants of Mother Shem. The mahra are religious leaders and consulted by the elders of every community. They tend the anumun pools and protect them, but they do not police access to them - anyone may come in and use them at any time. However, if someone threatens the pools, they are empowered to kill in defense of them.

Among the mahra are ancient elders focused on the mystical Puzzle of Elements, a mystery said to hold the answers to all the secrets of the universe. These mahra are called ĝiš-kars, and they are secluded in a special chamber in the Unu where they use beads dipped in anumun to attempt to solve the Puzzle. They are honored in the community and sought out for wisdom by those with heavy questions to solve or discuss, though they only communicate through a small slit in the door to their chamber.

Other specialized mahra include the hasutum, who protect the newts who dwell in the Unu and are infused with anumun. These newts are considered sacred, and killing one is a capital crime.

Each community has their own art, music, and traditions, but there are commonalities between them all. Every triple full moon, everyone gathers in the Unu for a full night of washing in anumun. Every equinox and solstice they gather in the Unu for festivals sharing their arts and crafts, having feasts, and communal dancing. The arts and crafts of each community tend to reflect the elements they have affinities for:

• Antasurra: the Antasurra craft with gemstones and metals, shaping them into jewelry, and with shadowweaving, metallic or stone sculptures, mosaics, and obscurography.

• Atum: the Atum craft with ice for sculptures, swamp and island plants for living displays, mirrors for lunar light effects, bacterial cultures for colorful designs, and great water structures. They also work with obsidian, moonstone, and shells.

• Imi: the Imi craft with grass for woven baskets and matts and blankets, with sands for colorful sand art bottles, with clouds for cloud blankets and rugs, with lightning for electrical displays, and with sound for music and performance.

• Izi: the Izi craft with gold, magnets, meteorites, and crystals, with fire and light. They make sundials and clocks, crystal sculptures that capture the light, magnetic devices, fire performances, and models of the cosmos. They also create funerary accouterments and keys.

• Til: the Til craft with living things and naturally dropped articles such as seeds, fruits, and pinecones. They also take parts of naturally deceased animals and turn them into objects using bone, skin, horn, antler, and so on. Living plant or fungal installations, especially blooming flowers or colorful mushrooms, are common, but they also use dried flowers and mushrooms and leaves. They also work with silver.

Esoterica

Dumu are wielders of anumun and all aetherial energies, though birtimane, genesis, and viridian aether are rare. They can use celestial and poiounemonic energies, though they rarely do. Infernal energies are possible but forbidden culturally. Shebvic, paradoxical, and nommic energies are rare as well. Ambrosial energies, especially faith-based, are common.

Religion

The Numluulu worship Mother Shem as their progenitor and mother goddess. While the mahra tend the Unu, the great temple at the center of the city Dul, and while they are considered religious leaders, the actual rites and rituals of worship are led by galluses and ninisibs.

Galluses are transgender priestesses and ninisibs are non-trans priestesses. The galluses are considered the most holy because of their relative rarity, while the ninisibs are common enough that they do most of the work of the temple. Those who specialize in singing the praises of Mother Shem are called the darinur.

Among these priestesses, every few millennia, an éšša (EH-shha) arises. This is a priestess who has an experience of religious ecstasy after drinking anumun that does not end. These beatificers become so consumed by the power of Mother Shem that they can directly channel her energies and speak with her voice.

Other priestesses are sometimes chosen for their intense piety and power to become eresìkiin. They are called directly by Mother Shem to be her attendants, serving her manifestation directly. They usually leave the city and go to the World Tree to serve her, but if they ever return, they are considered utmost holy.

Everyone in the city partakes in religion, but it is largely unstructured except during times of festival, celebration, or special rites. Seasonal festivals, equinoxes and solstices, triple full moons, triple new moons, and harvest feasts are commonly combined with religious rites. Sacrifices are made to Mother Shem in the form of offerings of arts and crafts. Most dumu engage with their faith in their everyday life, making small offerings and prayers, but they only engage with major rituals at big life events. It is simply woven into their daily life.

Gender

Gender among the Namluulu is complex. There are three distinct reproductive categories among them biologically - šenumun (providers of semen), nunuz (providers of eggs), and šà-tur (bearers of wombs). Those born with these are assigned these as genders as birth, but gender fluidity is common and encouraged, with transitioning physically to other genders being very possible with the magic they have available. Dumu do not often change their bodies, but when they do, they are considered sacred. However, many choose to live as different and uniquely defined genders without changing their bodies.

There is no marriage among the Namluulu. Because reproduction requires three people, it is almost always intentional, but sex is common between consenting adults. As such, it is almost always known who the parents of a child are, but this is not considered the basis of a family - family is something assumed throughout the entire community. There are often emotional bonds between biological relations that are described differently within the language of the Namluulu, but these are considered equal to the wider community connections. The utmost relationship a person has is their emotional (not biological) connection to the elders of their community.

The only sexual taboos that exist among the Namluulu are based on age (age of consent is eighteen between people who are underage, 25 between adults), consent, and relationship. The latter is the complex part - biological relations are forbidden from having any kind of sex. Members of the same community who are not biologically related may have sex, but they may not reproduce with one another. Reproduction is only allowed between members of different communities, meaning all three parents must be from a different community.

Economy

The Namluulu have a matriarchal, non-class-based economy. They mostly get by on barter.

Military

The Namluulu have specialized warriors among their communities who exist solely to protect their city from attacks from outsiders. They welcome all, but any attacks on the city will be met with magical violence. The bulk of their military are mundane warriors who wield spears and bows, but there is a core of the military made up of magical warriors:

• The eme-gir are wielders of weapons generated from anumun. They are the elite core of the warriors.

• The e-ur are eme-gir who use heavy armors generated from anumun. They are the last line of defense of the city.

• The lu-ua are eme-gir who ride massive lizards called megachirella. They are the elite cavalry who ride out to meet any attackers.

• The kišib are sacred martial artists who defend the Unu itself.

• And the zurdal are non-male transgender warriors who are mahra warriors who also defend the Unu.

Language

The Namluulu language is based on Sumerian.

Occupations

Some common specializations include the following:

• Darinur: singers who praise Mother Shem in the Unu.

• É-ĝar: shapers of the interior of the mounds.

• Eme-gir: wielders of weapons generated from anumun. They are the elite core of the warriors.

• Eresìkiin: priestesses chosen for their intense piety and power to become attendants of Mother Shem herself

• Éšša: priestess who had an experience of religious ecstasy after drinking anumun that does not end.

• E-ur: warriors who use heavy armors generated from anumun. They are the last line of defense of the city.

• Gallus: transgender priestesses of Mother Shem.

• Giskiri: shapers of plants..

• Ĝiš-kars: mahra secluded in a special chamber in the Unu

• Guul-baar: singers whose voices command anumun

• Hasutum: mahra who protect the newts who dwell in the Unu and are infused with anumun.

• Kišib: sacred martial artists who defend the Unu itself.

• Lu-ua: warriors who ride massive lizards called megachirella. They are the elite cavalry who ride out to meet any attackers.

• Maaz: those who perform ritual dances

• Mahra: witches who tend the anumun pools in the Unu.

• Muladim: preparers of raw food

• Namabba: elders

• Niimdirig: sailors who use anumun to shape ships.

• Ninisib: non-trans priestesses of Mother Shem.

• Nugig: mahra use sex magic in their witchcraft

• Šubal: mahra who use anumun to take animal forms.

• Sudaq: rangers who tend the mounds and forests around them

• Uzu: primordial healers

• Zurdal: non-male transgender warriors who are mahra warriors who also defend the Unu.

• Zusú: those who use anumun to teach about the stories and lore of the world

Outside View

The dumu are considered an extremist cult by most who know of them, assumed to be incestuous and engaged in evil witchcraft.

Notables

• Ašama, Dumu Manifest, Aeonian, who is entwined in the branches of the World Tree

• Ninella, sacred gallus who achieved inmortality by drowning in anumun and being reborn

Estimated Populations

• Namluulu: 3 million

• Other: 1 million

Sample Stats

PRO 8
ATH 8
STR 11
AWA 11
WIL 9
PRS 8
STH 7