Urtelem

Urtelem
Parchment painting of an urtelem - c. early Bronze Age (Urtelem in MS Paint Oil Brush)
Essence (Creators)	Teknall
Lifespan Range	200 to 900 years
Adult Height Range	1.8 to 2.2 metres (~5'11" to 7'2")
Adult Weight Range	8,000 to 13,000 kilograms (~17,637 to 28,660 lbs.)
Habitats	Galbar; all land areas with exposed stone, wandering herds.

The Urtelem are creatures of stone which were made by Teknall to inhabit and protect Galbar. Found in most places on Galbar, the urtelem have the ability to discern the intent of those around them and instinctively attack any being who bears violent intent. Originally, the urtelem were little more than beasts, but through the joint efforts of Jvan and Teknall the urtelem have developed sign language, a mathematical form of writing, and a peaceful and widespread culture.

Sculptors are frequently found amongst urtelem herds, and urtelem are the primary caretakers of Lensling groves. Urtelem herds inhabit many hain villages, a relationship which protects the hain. Through migratory habits numerous urtelem herds are involved in trade. And, as per their design, the urtelem put up fierce resistance against any hostile forces marching through their territory.

Physiology

Urtelem resemble boulders with limbs. Made from rough stone, urtelem stand about 2 meters tall and just as wide, with a pair of stocky arms and legs and a thick head with no apparent neck. The stone from which an urtelem is made from depends largely on its diet, since urtelem eat stone and dirt which in turn provide sustenance and material for their bodies. Additionally, urtelem, especially older urtelem, may also have flecks of ores or even gems on their bodies, and some have moss and lichen growing on them.

These large creatures typically weigh 10 tonnes, and are extremely strong and resilient, although their movements are slower than most creatures of flesh. For greater mobility, urtelem can curl up into a ball and roll along the ground, and they often do this when charging enemies.

For sustenance, urtelem eat stone, dirt, minerals, and Lensling crystals. Their digestion is slow, so an urtelem herd often spends much of the day ruminating. An urtelem's body is very different in composition to creatures of flesh, but they do have specialised arrangements of active minerals which serve as organs, although the functioning of these 'organs', and the rest of an urtelem, is mostly magical rather than physical. This solid state anatomy makes urtelem even more robust, unable to bleed and unaffected by accelerations which would kill fleshy creatures. Urtelem still require air to breath, though.

An urtelem can slowly regenerate from any injury which doesn't kill it. Immune to disease and very hardy, and with foodstuffs so universally available, most urtelem will live out their full lifespans, which range between 200 and 900 years depending on diet, which determines the composition of their bodies. Reproduction occurs by a fusion of two (hermaphroditic) adults, followed by fission a day later into the original adults and a tiny newborn (often referred to as a 'pebble').

Urtelem possess two remarkable abilities beyond their physical form. The first is their innate ability to perform geomancy, at least to a limited extent. All urtelem have the ability to glide through solid earth over relatively short distances, leaving no trace of their passage. This ability is often used to navigate obstacles, avoid predators, or ambush enemies. (It has been observed that waterlogged, marshy soil can block an urtelem's earth glide ability.) Their innate geomancy abilities have also been used to write text in the ground and to construct small structures of stone, by gently moulding the stone into shape and realigning the crystal structure. Beyond this, should an urtelem gain the ability to perform magic, they would be exceptional geomancers.

The other ability is the capacity to intuitively identify whether an entity is violent or aggressive in nature. This empathetic ability is tied to a deep instinct to destroy such aggressors. Docile creatures and beings are not hindered by urtelem, but any who come with intent to cause harm will have to face the weighty wrath of an urtelem herd.

Interactions

In general, urtelem are peaceful guardians. Most people will feel safe and protected among the stone folk, for an urtelem tolerates no hostile beings within its territory, so any beings which remain must be peaceful. In contrast, urtelem will attack hostile beings on sight, such as marauding bands of Ogres or the vicious Ashlings. Such beings learn to either avoid urtelem or be prepared for a tough fight.

Hain

For a long time urtelem herds have coexisted with hain villages. Back in the days where urtelem were little more than beasts, Stone Chipper spread the knowledge of how to 'tame' urtelem, although the term 'taming' is a stretch. 'Taming' involved feeding nearby urtelem herds with choice rocks, thus encouraging the urtelem herd to remain in that area. In return, the hain receive protection from marauding hordes and vicious beasts.

Urtelem herds are still found cohabiting hain villages, willingly guarding them. To allow these guardian herds to migrate, other herds will come to replace them.

Sculptors

Sculptors have been found under the protection of urtelem herds since before the urtelem learnt sign language. While the Cult of Jvan are often rejected by hain, djinn, and other mortals, the protective and gentle nature of the urtelem meant that exiled Sculptors could find safety, shelter and companionship among the stone folk. This was the primary reason that the urtelem were taught sign language, so they could communicate with other mortals, such as the Sculptors. Most large herds of urtelem will have a Sculptor among them, who can act as a translator between the urtelem and other mortals. In most cases, the Sculptors and urtelem can be considered allies. Sculptors are often referred to as Makers, Singers or Dancers by urtelem.

Urtelem Sculptors do exist, and are accepted like any other Sculptor.

Elementals

Elementals often refer to urtelem as mockdjinn, in reference to their superficial similarity to earth elementals. Other than this, no significant interaction between elementals and urtelem had been observed until urtelem gained the knowledge of magic. At this point, urtelem gained the ability to fight hostile elementals as they do for any other hostile being. Elementals may regard urtelem magic with disdain, perceiving the Winds of Change they use to power their spells as "stolen godly power", which is technically accurate.

White Giants

White Giants are an interesting case in an urtelem's picture of friend and foe. White Giants are typically peaceful and docile, so are not attacked by urtelem. But urtelem do not constitute 'natural' life, so their presence drives White Giants into an aggressive frenzy against the urtelem. In response, urtelem will typically flee rather than fight, often hiding underground to avoid White Giants. With their geometrically adept minds, urtelem herds are able to plan their migrations to avoid contact with the predictably roaming White Giants.

This response of conflict avoidance is applied against any beings which become hostile because of the presence of urtelem.

Lenslings and Undead

Urtelem are the primary caretakers of Lensling groves and play an active role in their propagation. Lensling groves are major meeting points for urtelem, and are often planted near villages which urtelem guard. Urtelem will implant willing undead with a lensling shard, providing the undead with a peaceful conclusion to their undeath and spreading the lensling infection. Immature lenslings may be found wandering with large urtelem herds. For the urtelem, aside from helping others, they find lensling trees to be extremely nutritious, much more so than regular rocks, and are easier to harvest. Lenslings thus provide an urtelem analogue of agriculture.

Civilisation

Urtelem are not commonly observed within the walls of cities, probably because the slow and migratory culture of the urtelem does not fit with the hustle and bustle of city life. However, they do perform trade, recorded as being notable in Alefpria, providing labour and obtained goods and commodities from afar in exchange for tools and devices made to their stocky proportions. Additionally, the large populations of cities and nations means a proportionately large population of undead, so urtelem will often maintain large lensling groves near cities and take some undead to sustain other lensling groves along their migratory routes.

While urtelem are fearsome fighters, and can still be useful for defending civilised territory, they can not be used as beasts of war or mercenaries. They fight to defend and protect, so rare is a war for which urtelem can be convinced to march out and attack. A warring city will at best drive away all local urtelem, and at worst incur the wrath of the urtelem.

Culture

Urtelem society is constructed from herds, generally up to 60 individuals in size, led by elder urtelem referred to as matriarchs. Larger herds could occur, but generally only if there is some event to warrant such a gathering. Interactions within and among a herd are peaceful.

Urtelem are hermaphroditic, so the concepts of gender that other races have are foreign to them. For the purposes of writing, though, lacking gender-neutral pronouns, older urtelem, especially matriarchs, tend to be referred to as 'she' while younger urtelem, especially children, tend to be referred to as 'he', although these are not hard rules. Urtelem may be known as 'Stonemen', regardless of age or position.

The dawn of urtelem culture came with the development of language. In order to allow Sculptors and Urtelem to communicate, the urtelem were taught sign language, which presented a more sophisticated means of communication than rocky grunts, and one which could be learned by fleshy creatures. Urtelem sign language is a language of intricate motions, readily interpreted by the geometric minds of urtelem but requiring more training for other races. Urtelem sign names are often long and prosaic, although shortenings exist for ease of communication. The sign name of Jvan is Spiral Palms, and the sign name of Teknall is Calloused Hands.

Urtelem also possess deeply mathematical minds, which developed simultaneously with sign language. Urtelem comprehend the precise geometry of what they see intuitively, and have heightened coordination. For leisure urtelem construct, share and solve geometric riddles and other problems.

Near the time of sign language, the urtelem began to use baskets and water to sort soil, dirt and gravel into separate layers of minerals, in a process analogous to cooking food. Different minerals have different tastes and nutrition, so urtelem will prefer to vary their diet of stone. In large gatherings, carts of many different minerals are often brought to provide a feast.

Still WIP

Magic

Urtelem were taught a version of Belruarcian Magic by Teknall, at a point in their history within living memory of the Realta attack. This system of magic was defined using the Spiral Script, and as originally taught it contained a paradigm and series of postulates upon which magic could be analytically derived. The construction of new spells became an exercise of similar kind to solving mathematical riddles for the urtelem. Given sufficient knowledge and energy, virtually any effect possible for Belruarcian Magic to achieve can be performed with this magic.

To cast a spell, it must first be written down in Spiral Script. As is typical for Script, these spells have complicated geometric forms. Larger shapes define where the spell takes place, and fractal patterns of Script provide higher-order corrections. For a function common in many spells, that function can typically be represented by a common pattern of Script. While not necessarily optimal, spells or spell components can readily be combined simply by connecting the written spells in an appropriate manner.

Once the spell has been written, it must be provided with energy for it to have effect. While there are many possible sources of energy, two are in common usage by the urtelem: their own natural strength, and the Winds of Change.

From their own natural strength, urtelem perform work themselves, which gets translated by the spell into the desired effect. For many applications, a spell will have one or more empty palm-sized circles in the earth, into which an urtelem can insert their hand and push into the earth. The work provided by the urtelem is absorbed by the spell, to be used as appropriate for the spell. This method is particularly effective for geomancy, since urtelem have a natural affinity for geomancy, and for any other spell which involves moving things, although it may be used for other applications, or as a trigger for spells with alternative power sources.

While using their natural strength is reliable and easily controlled, it can be slow and tiring compared to other methods of powering spells.

Winds of Change is another power source which can be used to power spells. It is energy from Zephyrion which blows around Galbar. While technically finite, the divine amounts of energy in the Winds of Change means that it is essentially a limitless source of energy for mortals such as the urtelem. The only limitation is how quickly it may be collected.

To collect Wind, a pattern of Script called a harvester is used. A popular design is a web of energy-collecting circles all interconnected with a single central circle, although if the Winds are particularly strong they might affect spells which don't have harvesters too. Larger harvesters collect more Wind. One drawback is that the strength of the Wind varies over time, so a harvester won't provide a steady influx of energy. Another is that there is no way to disable a harvester short of erasing it, so a harvester without an appropriate outlet will continue to accumulate energy until it overcharges. The effect of overcharging is variable, although it typically involves explosions.

While the Winds of Change are typically a greater power source than manpower, it still takes quite a while (generally days) to charge a large amount of energy into a spell.

This system of magic may be learned and applied by anyone fluent in Spiral Script. It is also possible to copy spells verbatim without understanding them, and the same effect will occur.

Applications

Urtelem magic is peculiar in that it must be written down to take effect. As such, usage of these spells needs to be prepared beforehand, and in standard applications it is often difficult to change the location of the spell once written. Spiral Script is generally too intricate to improvise at a moment's notice.

Listed below is a representative list of applications of urtelem magic, although it is not comprehensive.

• Geomancy and terraforming. Shaping earth and the terrain is one of the primary applications of urtelem magic. It has been used for applications from creating stone calendars to building bridges to forming walls. The rate of such transformations are relatively slow, although still much faster than mundane methods, with structures on the order of 10 metres taking a day or so to make.
• Fighting elementals. In particular, magic which harnesses the Winds of Change is especially effective at affecting elementals. As a solution to the Djinn Enigma, a common spell pattern is used for fighting elementals. The spell takes Winds of Change and manifests it as golden energy. This golden energy may be shaped into an appropriate form, and can be directed as a projectile or used on contact. This golden energy is highly destructive to the physical forms of elementals, although is generally harmless to other entities.
• Traps. Functionally similar to a landmine, a runic circle can be written with a harvester, accumulating energy over time. When stepped on or otherwise activated, the spell is triggered and discharges all its energy at once in a specified form, such as lightning or an explosion. A caveat is that if the spell is not given enough time to charge, it may not deal enough damage to the target, and if given too long to charge it may discharge spontaneously. However, provided the Script is not destroyed by the spell, then the trap is reusable. Also, since elementals are sensitive to Winds of Change, they can sense the presence of traps and other spells powered by Winds of Change, even if hidden.
• Artillery. Typically, this is functionally similar to a catapult, using telekinesis to hurl projectiles. In one design, the projectile is placed on a section of a polar grid, which specifies the angle and velocity at which the projectile is fired. A harvester charges up power. A palm-sized circle is used to trigger the spell, releasing only enough energy to fire the projectile.

Runic Defenders

Runic defenders are urtelem spellcasters. While, typically, urtelem magic is fairly static and immobile, it is possible to write Spiral Script on urtelem, and thus grant those urtelem the ability to cast and direct magic spells.

To become a runic defender, magic spells must be written onto an urtelem. Typically, a runic defender may have up to two spells they can cast, one for each arm, although spells can be attached to other parts of the body and given different activation conditions. These spells may be erased or rewritten.

The runic defender then requires a power source. It is possible for runic defenders to use their own bodily energy to power their spells, although this will result in them tiring quickly unless the spells have low energy requirements. As such, runic defenders are typically equipped with a harvester for accumulating Winds of Change.

The Winds are metabolised by the runic defenders into faintly glowing golden crystals which cover their body. These crystals slowly grow over days or weeks. When casting spells, these crystals melt/boil/evaporate and transfer their stored energy into the spell. The crystals, as physical objects, may be physically removed from the runic defender and used as an energy source for other applications. A sufficiently powerful djinni or spellcaster might be able to extract energy directly from the crystals without removing them from the runic defender first, although this typically requires physical contact.

While the power from the Winds of Change can make runic defenders quite powerful spellcasters, albeit with a very limited selection of spells, it comes with drawbacks. Growing the crystals is somewhat uncomfortable, and rapidly metabolising them to cast spells is a painful process. As such, only urtelem with a reasonable degree of pain resistance consider becoming runic defenders. Once the crystals are expended, the runic defender will have to either resort to their own physical energy or wait a few days to recharge before casting more spells. If the runic defender does not cast spells for a long period of time, the crystals could reach saturation and have unpleasant effects for the runic defender. Finally, the cycle of growing and metabolising the crystals subtly compromises the physical structure of the urtelem and thus shortens their lifespan. As such, runic defenders are typically only made as needed, and only from brave and willing volunteers.

The most common application for runic defenders is in fighting hostile elementals. However, other applications are possible, such as geomancy, or augmentation of physical movements. Additionally, some urtelem may choose to only cover part of their body (such as a single arm) with Spiral Script, giving them access to minor spells without facing the full extent of the drawbacks of being a runic defender.

An urtelem may stop being a runic defender at any time by expending all stored magical energy and erasing the Spiral Script on their body.

Hypothetically, other races with physical bodies can adapt this technique to themselves, tattooing Spiral Script onto their bodies. The effects of feeding Winds of Change into a fleshy creature is so far unknown.