Vox

Living, elemental sound.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Insubstantiates

• Alignment: Aetherial

• Energy: Sonic Aether

• Lifespan: 200 years

• Diet: Echoes

• Habitat: Canyons and caverns

Origins

The first sounds ever made on Shem resonating with the vibrations of life.

Description

Living sound, vibrations, only visible when interacting with visible matter; voxes take up about the same volume of space as an average human. They can control their shape, insofar as they have one, to some degree if they wish to, often forming anthropomorphic forms by drawing the vibrating air together. Usually, however, they are amorphous, conscious vibrations in the air.

Procreation

Voxes reproduce asexually. When they generate enough volume as a being, they bud off a new vox or multiple voxes.

Powers

Voxes are living sound. They build size and volume by absorbing other sounds that echo within the areas they dwell - they can only consume echoes, not original sounds. Many sounds echo in ways that others cannot perceive, a bird’s trill echoing off a branch infinitesimally or the click of a bug’s foot against a leaf on the forest floor nearly silently bouncing off the crack in the leaf. Voxes can absorb these if they can perceive them, which they can as living sound. It takes thousands of these to make the vox grow.

Any sound a vox produces will echo as well, and they can consume these echoes. But in order for this to be worth it, the echo must be more substantial than the original sound, which is extremely rare. Therefore, voxes find places that amplify sound to dwell in - usually echo canyons, caves, and special buildings.

Possession

If a vox fills solid matter with their vibrations, they may possess and shape it, sometimes using it as a surrogate body if need be. This lasts as long as they wish or until the material is vibrated to pieces.

Sound Control

Voxes can control the sounds generated by other things, as long as the sounds are either unaligned or aetherial (celestial, infernal, and poioumenonic sounds are much more difficult to influence). Some sounds that may seem mundane - a person singing a beautiful song, a story being told, a command being given - are actually aligned - beautiful song may be euphonic, stories may poioumenonic, commands may be infernal. Context matters, including the purpose and source of the sound.

To a vox, sound is as solid as stone is to a human. Their control of it is “manual” in that they do so by bodily interacting with it, their living sound touching it and moving it by wrapping around it. If they choose to consume it, they surround it entirely and absorb it. If they choose to control it, they handle it and alter it by altering its shape and speed (pitch and rhythm, frequency and volume, amplitude and intensity).

Weaknesses

Brown aether and cacophony can harm them. Euphony will alter them. Arcane shadow will weaken them. They can be trapped within certain materials if those materials.

Nations

There are dozens of nations of voxes around the world in obscure corners, but there are six notable ones:

• Bekkanke: a nation of voxes in a massive cave in the Grottos underground. The original nation.

• Eilig: a nation of voxes in a canyon in the Kerupene region of Jesenranu, living near river rapids and rushing waters.

• Krunuche: a nation of voxes in deep, jagged canyons in the Hollow.

• Masek'kike: a nation of voxes in deep caves in western Palhur [Mammoth Cave], friends to the Howasi [Shawnee] nation.

• Rsketeket: a nation of voxes in narrow tunnels in the Hypogaeum.

• Xyzetet: a nation of voxes in deep corners of the Low Mines.

Culture

The Bekkankes dwell in a massive cavern, one of the titular Grottos of that layer of the Subterranean Realm. They have carved out a massive ring of grooves within the cavern, which has also been shaped by them, to create the world’s most perfect echo chamber. They keep subterranean livestock for the richness of their sounds, encouraging them to growl, screech, low, chirp, hiss, and so on for the voxes to feed off of.

The city-state, called Calund, is about the size of Texas. The outer reaches of it are used for the livestock, with a drainage system that would be the envy of the world, if the world were aware of it. The inner circles are where the voxes dwell. They rest in small cells that are clustered around circular grooves. Each circle is its own community.

The city is run by a council of elected individuals. Among them are always an architect or designer of canyons and caverns, an expert on livestock, and an esotericist who commands sonic aether skillfully. The rest of the council is made up of anyone who may run for it, so long as they are adults.

New voxes are budded off regularly. They are cared for by their immediate parent for the first several weeks of their lives, then the whole community takes to caring for them. They are not given a name until they are first heard by the whole community. They harmonize with the new vox until it gives them the name it will be known as, its core vibration. Once named, the child is given years of freedom and care until they are about ten years old. Then, they are taken under the tutelage of older members of the community who teach them all the skills and lore of their people.

At age fifteen, they are sent to nearby communities for further education and training. This repeats until they are 24 or so. Usually by this age, they have chosen a role in the community. If they choose one early, they must still study and learn until 24. Once they are out of training, they begin working with a veteran in the role they have chosen, if there is one, and serve the community. If they seek a role that is not perceived to serve the community, they must go before the council and make their case. If the council approves, they lead the way in the new role. If the council disapproves, they may return to make the case again in three years; in the meantime, they work where the council sends them. Most are sent to something the council deems similar to their desired role. Anyone the council cannot find a place for are sent to care for livestock.

Every six days, the whole community gathers to create complex sounds together. Some create music, but most create “sculptures” of sound that have palpable form, a tangibility that even other mortals could perceive. The vibrations become so intense, they take on colors. This event, called the tezekane. Every six years, the entire city-state comes together for one that causes earthquakes above and below them.

National Cultures

The other notable vox nations vary in their cultures:

• Eilig: the most well known nation of voxes in the world, they are aligned closely with various other beings in the Kerupene area, and they play a role in the crowning of the cynings, or the “strong-voiced kings”, of the area.

• Krunuche: a similar nation to the originals, the Krunuche do not have the structure to create echoes the way the Bekkankes do. The Hollow is too large and open, and so they create canyons within it that capture sound better. They keep different livestock, and have developed a more feudal economic system.

• Masek'kike: their alignment with the Howasi means they share much of the same culture, but their role within that culture is one of guides and protectors when the Howasi enter the vast caverns there.

• Rsketeket: the Rsketekets are strange and obscure, known for their interest in specific kinds of sounds, almost to the point of obsession. They are mocked by other voxes for being shrill.

• Xyzetet: a nation who find ways to make metal sing. They control a part of the Low Mines that other beings fear to enter out of superstition.

Esoterica

Voxes are beings of sonic aether and command it in ways no other mortals can. They can wield other forms of aether, assuming it can be wielded by a body made only of sound. They can also wield poioumenonic and celestial energies in a similar manner, though they cannot wield euphony or arcane shadow. They can only wield infernal energies at a great cost, and they cannot wield cacophony. Unaligned energies are possible, though bodily nommic energies are complicated - Raesian energy is only possible if they possess solid matter to take the place of bones, and humors and blood are impossible.

Religion

Voxes worship Volvebatur, the Divine Vibration, the thrum of the universe. They believe that all that exist are echoes of this original sound, created when all of creation came into being. They consider Volvebatur is as much a concept as a living being, and they engage religion with in a philosophical manner.

Gender

Voxes are all without gender and find the concept baffling.

Economy

The original vox nation is matriarchal and classless.

Military

Every vox community has a handful of voxes who are capable of creating sounds that break flesh, bone, and armor as a means of defense against the dangers of the subterra or nearby nations who threaten their territory. Among vox nations above ground, they sometimes work with other mortal beings to give them vocal abilities that aid in battle.

Language

Their original language is just made up nonsense with sharp or hard consonants.

Trade

The Bekkankes trade quarried stone and other raw materials for livestock.

Occupations

Other roles within the Bekkanke communities include the following:

• Architect

• Builder/shaper

• Caretaker

• Councillor

• Echo farmer

• Etching artist

• Guard

• Livestock handler

• Messenger

• Quarrier

• Sanitation

• Sound sculptor

• Stone sculptor

Outside View

Those who are aware of voxes believe them to be spirits or elementals (which is not entirely inaccurate). They are often portrayed by oppressors as dangers, the sort to lure miners or quarriers into deep caves and kill them, evil spirits who cause cave-ins, etc. Others know them to be guides and artists and revere them.

Notables

• Ouaouraaka’awooawammm, Vox Manifest, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Bekkanke: 50 million

• Eilig: 1 million

• Krunuche: 10 million

• Masek'kike: 1 million

• Rsketeket: 10 million

• Xyzetet: 5 million

• Other: 3 million

Sample Stats

PRO 8
ATH 10
STR 10
AWA 8 Hearing 14
WIL 8
PRS 9
STH 7