Taiga Mage

Those who can command tykva vlast by drawing it out of pinecones, needles, or boreal tree bark. They are hosts to the spirits of autumn and wardens of the taiga winter.

Autumnal Power

Tykva vlast is the aether of autumn, boreal forests, the falling leaves and their changing colors, petrichor and the wake of summer storms, thanksgiving before the coming of winter, the liminal fall months, conifers, and the taiga. It generates naturally in the autumn, within the taiga, or within certain plants, and it can be communed with and channeled by taiga mages who have communed with the autumn itself.

Autumnal Communion

Very similar to Green Communion, autumnal communion requires heightened mindfulness of all things autumnal. The smell of petrichor is symbolic of the end of summer (as it comes often after storms common in the summer months). The fallen leaves and pinecones and their crunch and snap. The snap of cold in the air. The smell of cinnamon and hot cider. The apple harvest and the sweet colors of the leaves. A communion with these means feeling and seeing and smelling and knowing all of this, and meditating upon it for a month, until falling into a deep sleep on Samhain (or cultural equivalent) and meeting the spirits of autumn or the taiga, who will determine the worthiness of the candidate. If one is not an enemy to the forest, one may be granted the ability to sense tykva vlast and to channel it.

Petrichor

Petrichor is the smell of the earth after a rain which comes at the end of a dry period, which symbolizes the coming of fall after a hot summer. The smell of petrichor tells a taiga mage the tykva vlast is growing within the forest and will be ready to be channeled soon.

Tools

There are several objects a taiga mage may use to channel tykva vlast:

Pinecones

The commonest tool is a pinecone, which are common in the taiga and other boreal forests. They contain excessive amounts of tykva vlast once they have fallen, and they can both unleash it and become a beacon of it. A pinecone which has been tapped by a taiga mage may erupt into bright orange "cold flame" and be used as a weapon as well (and, of course, mundane pinecones make a handy weapon if thrown, to some extent).

Pine Needles

Fresh fallen pine needles can be taken by a taiga mage and formed into a bed. If they sleep there on Samhain (or equivalent), they will be much more likely to have the potent dreams of autumnal spirits. If they have already completed their communion, these beds allow them to retain autumnal powers through the night.

Dry Leaves

Much as a dendrologer can use fresh leaves to draw and channel prasinofos, so can a taiga mage use dead, dry leaves for tykva vlast, often using them to create taiga guides and direct their powers.

Changed Leaves

Leaves which have changed colors, especially turning into the bright colors of autumn, are very rich in tykva vlast and work better than merely browned leaves.

Dry Branches

A dry, fallen branch can be wielded as both a club and a staff by a taiga mage, channeling potent energies, so long as it is not cut or otherwise carved.

Bark

Much as dendrologers can, taiga mages can turn their skin to bark with a bit of actual bark to use as an anchor.

Pumpkin Lamp

Taiga mages often grow pumpkins in order to use them as lanterns, filling them with the cold autumnal fires. If arranged, these will offer protections to the house or other shelter they surround.

Soup

A taiga mage can make soup from autumnal vegetables that will be rich in tykva vlast and allow them to remain warm for days without extra protection.

Taiga Fauna

The animals of the taiga are all friends to a taiga mage who protects their forest well. As such, most taiga mages have alliances with bears, tigers, mooses, lynxes, beavers, martens, owls, ravens, eagles, squirrels, leopards, and more.

Feasts

There are three feasts during a taiga mage's autumn: the harvest festival at the start, Samhain or its equivalent in the middle, and the feast to mark the end of autumn. The first is a passing of the torch from summer to autumn and involves the invocation of the taiga mage's powers. The second is the height of their powers and the night new taiga mages are made. The last is when the Holly King arrives to bring the winter, and the start of the waning of their powers.

The Holly King

The Holly King (as opposed to summer's Oak King) is a winter Aeonian who ushers in the new season and rules through the dark, cold months. When he arrives, he brings the Wild Hunt, and all taiga mages of all nations or species must pay tribute to him or be caught up in the Hunt for seven years (or forever). Tribute requires a crafted object or food, usually, but a taiga mage who wishes to keep their powers until the following spring must make blood sacrifice (either their own, an animal's, or in extreme cases, a mortal victim's).

Powers

Some but not all powers:

• Taiga guides: much as dendrologers create guides out of prasinofos, taiga mages create guides out of tykva vlast, sparks of aetherial light that will show people the way through the forest.
• Pumpkin lights: pumpkins carved and hollowed and filled with burning tykva vlast become sentinels that will imbue any location with potent protections during autumn nights.
• Animal/plant speech: taiga mages learn how to speak to plants and animals at the start of every autumn.
• Shaping: shaping fallen and dried wood and leaves is done by channeling their autumnal energies through those materials.
• Chilling winds: the cold winds that usher in autumn speak to the taiga mage and may be asked to serve them.
• Autumn storms: autumnal storms often contain great blasts of tykva vlast, and powerful taiga mages may harness these to influence the storms.
• Chokeberries: autumnal chokeberries are almost pure tykva vlast and can be used as tiny missiles of aetherial energy if thrown at a target, or a quick boost if eaten.
• Decaying shamble: a taiga mage may create a shambling leaf monster out of fallen leaves if they spill their own blood upon a pile of said leaves, and the monster will enshroud and decay anything the mage wishes targeted.
• Color changing: taiga mages change colors like leaves, their clothing or hair turning different shades of bright autumnal leaves as the winter approaches. Each color gives them a different sense: red - sharpened olfactory; yellow - sharpened hearing; purple - sharpened touch; orange - sharpened vision; brown - sharpened taste.
• Bitter cider: cider made with autumnal apples, chokeberries, or other autumnal plants will give anyone who drinks them warmth and protections in the deep forest.
• Pinecones: see above.
• Pine beds: see above.
• Barkskin: see above.

Variations

Common variations include

• Chitatel'lista: a taiga mage who records the events of the autumn on large fallen leaves.
• Kukla ustasi: a formirovatel who makes dolls from fallen branches and old leaves.
• Formirovatel: those who shape fallen branches without breaking them to create wooden objects.
• Mizraklad: an archer whose bows and arrows are made with the skills of a formirovatel.
• Plotnik: a formirovatel who focuses on making statues and great wooden figures, such as wickermen.
• Sudnomontazhnyk: a formirovatel who uses old wood to build great ships for sailing in the Borean Ocean.
• Yelovvy: a taiga mage who also wields hvitt dogg, climbing tall boreal conifers to capture the cold air.

Razboynik

The razboynik are outlaws of the great taiga of Colesh who always have a taiga mage amongst them. These taiga mages shape wood and leaves into intricate hideouts for the bandits, who target enemies of the forests and unaligned travelers alike. A razboynik band will almost always have taiga fauna with them, and they will usually be very good at camouflage in the autumn. They will go to ground during spring and summer, but are usually active even through the bitter winters of the far north.

Related Occupations

Some other users of tykva vlast include

• Botanist: a polyesoteric botanicist who uses all forms of plant aether, including tykva vlast.
• Gamine: a (usually female) street urchin who serves as an autumnal avatar in urban areas.
• Hii Torekou: legendary "tree climbers" in eastern Palhur who wield all forms of plant aether and then some in their communion with the rain forests.
• Khodol: a ranger of the taiga.
• Travnik: an herbalist who supplements their work with tykva vlast.
• Vlastelin: a northern Ranic ruler who pays homage to the Holly King.

Persecution

Taiga mages are hated by the Vesturian nobility and merchants, who seek to conquer and control the taiga. They are also persecuted in other parts of Jesenranu for similar reasons, and many commoners even believe them to be allies to wild animals and dangerous things in the woods, and thus do not trust them.

Skills

Common skills include

• Cider brewing
• Pumpkin carving
• Gathering
• Gardening
• Cooking/baking
• Hunting
• Tracking
• Building
• Tree surgery

Stats

Modifiers from base of nation/species:

PRO /
ATH +1 in autumn, -1 rest of the year
STR +1 in autumn, -2 rest of the year
AWA +3
WIL +5
STH +3 in autumn, +1 in winter, -2 rest of the year
PRS +1 in autumn, -1 rest of the year