By: Brianna Lee Hubler
Copyright © 2022 Brianna Lee Hubler. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Although the Elvish Elemental Bonds greatly influence the everyday life of Katheer communities, as descendants of the Elfera, the Katheermor maintain a handful of unified traditions, which create the consistent, overarching culture of their race. These traditions are rooted in respect for the Elements; they sprouted from Elferan culture and/or blossomed from global, magical conflicts. The Elements of Alshowna (Mind) and Inthrithe (Bond) support these traditions, and belief in predestination is as central to Katheermor culture as the Elvish Elemental Bonds.
Prophecy and Predestination
The Katheermor are Legendborn, which indicates they adhere to Patriarch Legendroe. Legendroe—the Element of Legend—is the Scribe of Prophecy and the Maker of Heroes. Before the Rest of Longing, he wrote the prophecies of those who would come after. He fashioned a realm of many halls and shelves, known today as the Hall of Knowing, where he stored the scrolls containing those prophecies. Shortly after Legendroe dreamed his children and their children into existence, Legendroe’s will compelled an Elferan man (Takiar, the Elferan philosopher) to break into the Hall of Knowing, decode his scroll, retrieve the scrolls of those he cared for, and then return to his home realm. Recognizing these scrolls as Legendroe’s handwritten will for his people, Queen Shadenia of the Elfera enacted the practice of presenting the scrolls to Elferan newborns and urged her people to assimilate to the scrolls’ contents.
Like the Elfera, the Katheermor believe their purpose in life is to fulfill what Legendroe has written. Failing to accommodate Legendroe’s will—defying one’s purpose—is a grievous, moral error with potentially world-altering repercussions. Each individual’s destiny, be it good or evil, great or lowly, is a thread in the beautiful, delicate tapestry Legendroe has woven of the multiverse; pulling on or snipping a single thread threatens to unravel the whole and/or distort Legendroe’s benevolent design to suit Patriarch Chaosis’s malevolent machinations.
Some elves choose never to open their scrolls, fearing that knowing their destinies will tempt them to stray from Legendroe’s path, which had they not foreseen, they never would have abandoned. Others believe each elf must face his or her destiny to accept it, that it is better to endure the stages of grief prematurely, so nothing distracts in the deciding moment. For example, if one’s destiny is to sacrifice one’s life for a loved one, the prepared Katheer will not hesitate, but the unprepared might. Thus, elves attuned to this second philosophy open their scrolls and study the riddles within, until they have interpreted their destinies.
Regardless of which predestination philosophy individual Katheermor adhere to, the Katheermor share the contents of their prophecy scrolls with only a select few: to protect themselves from sabotage. Whether a Katheer reads his or her scroll or maintains its seal, he or she strives to fulfill what Legendroe has written. Highest honor and sincerest trust have been bestowed to those permitted to read the scrolls of others. The most notable of these trustworthy allies are the guardians.
The Guardians
Supporters have a reputation among humans as luxury nuisances. Humans assume they are both lesser and less necessary than those they support. The Katheermor emphatically disagree. Among the Katheermor are those known as valstrimardai (guardians), whose destiny compels and binds them to someone, something, or somewhere else. Valstrimardai dedicate their lives to their wards, for they share a unique, magical connection to those they shelter and protect. This unique connection is often similar to a parent-child relationship or master-apprentice relationship, but the bond can be equally similar to that of a deep, long-lasting friendship, like what humans might call: brothers (or sisters or siblings) from other mothers. The magical bond is strong enough to end the lives of guardians in place of, or alongside, the lives of their wards. Should the offspring of a ward need protection after the death of the ward, the bond may disconnect from the dying ward and reconnect with the living heir. The life of a guardian is a life of service without shame, and the self-sacrificial nature of guardians is highly praised among the Katheermor.
However, these sacrifices can take their toll on the well-being of guardians. Katheermor royalty and the especially chosen are the most likely humanoid wards to be assigned guardians. The personality of a guardian’s ward influences the treatment his or her guardian receives. Immature wards sometimes struggle to make themselves aware of their guardians’ suffering. Guardians are born either before their wards or at the same time as their wards, but never after their wards’ births. Once it is discovered that a Katheer is valstrimard (guardian) of another, the valstrimard Katheer devotes his or her life to his or her ward. If the valstrimard is a minor, he or she will be taken from the household of his or her birth and placed in his or her ward’s household. An older valstrimard might surrender pursuit of true love to ensure he or she is ever available to meet the needs of his or her ward. Valstrimardai born ahead of their wards are privileged with retrieving their wards’ scrolls from the Hall of Knowing and presenting those scrolls to their wards at their wards’ First Birth ceremonies. Lathen, Valstrimard eirst zelth Valentrokadai (Guardian of the Dragon Realm), was a middle child torn from his family at the age of ninety-six to set right the many wrongs the dragons of Interrealmeus suffered. When called, he was no more mature than a twelve-year-old human, but he detached from his parents and siblings, and devoted his life to the dragons and their realm. Guardians face a life demanding, difficult, and distressing, but also rewarding. Much good comes from those willing to place the needs of others above their own.
Since valstrimardai face such difficult lives, and sometimes do not receive equal support from those they protect, they are capable of manipulating their bonds and taking control of their wards. Visra, the guardian bond spell, means tug. The spell tugs on the tether that links guardians to their wards like an invisible, ethereal leash, but it is only uttered by guardians for their wards’ benefit, or for the greater good. Wards eventually learn the reverse spell, Arsiv, which means clip, and allows wards to take control of their guardians should Visra be misused, but most guardians are unwilling to teach Arsiv to their wards, until their wards have earned a considerable amount of their trust and reached a reasonable level of maturity. Thus, a guardian might use Visra to stop a toddler-aged ward from stumbling into the sea and drowning, and the toddler-aged ward would be unable to counter the tug inland from the shoreline. An older ward might use Arsiv to stop his or her guardian from preventing him or her from entering a dangerous realm where the ward must complete a prophetic trial.
The guardian-ward bond is honored in every Katheer sect. Valstrimardai are invaluable members of Katheer society. In rare situations, when guardian and ward are opposing sexes, sexually mature (i.e., at least one-hundred-twenty-eight-years old, if Katheermor), and reasonably close in age, a romantic relationship may blossom from the closeknit, nigh inseparable bond they share. However, romantic relationships create additional conflicts for guardians and wards, which many Katheermor would argue are not welcome among the challenging gauntlets Legendroe has prepared for the royals and the chosen to endure. Thus, opposing sexes are rarely assigned a guardian-ward bond, romantic guardian-ward bonds are unlikely to occur within regular society, and the most likely avenue for such a relationship is in the direst of times.
Destined Weapons and the Mandatory Twenty-Four
Since the Katheermor are elementally bound, magical entities, they inevitably find themselves in the midst of magical conflicts and devastating wars. Whether it is the War of Eternal Divide: the never-ending conflict between the forces of Light and Dark, or the War of Extermination: the culling of magical races from the natural world, war will disrupt the lives of each and every Katheer. For the Elfera, the presentation of destined weapons to their wielders at First Birth ceremonies promised the commitment of the Collective to the well-being of its newest members and offered tools for craftsmanship, performance, self-defense, and sparring. For the Katheermor, the need for a weapon attuned to one’s destiny was less creative, more practical, and indisputably vital.
Only a handful of blacksmiths, tailors, bookbinders, and jewelers learn the secret skill of crafting sentient weapons attuned to individual destinies. Each of these artisans descend from Geirohlet, the original, Elferan blacksmith, but Geirohlet’s descendants are scattered about the sects of the Katheermor. There is at least one descendant of Geirohlet available to each of the Elvish Elemental Bonds, ideally so no Katheer child is without a maker for his or her destined weapon. These specialized artisans place their hands upon the scrolls of Katheer newborns, and from this short contact with Legendroe’s written prophecies, they receive a limited vision of each child’s predestined talents, without opening their scrolls or otherwise disturbing Legendroe’s seals. Once the shape, style, and purpose of a child’s destined weapon is determined, an artisan will craft it, and then present it to the child at the child’s First Birth ceremony. A predestined mage might receive a tome, jeweled ring, pair of gloves, wand, staff, etcetera, as his or her destined weapon. A predestined warrior could receive any of the classic martial weapons, or a pairing of items, like a sword and shield or a bow and arrows. The only limitations for the crafters of destined weapons are those of the prospective wielders’ abilities and styles.
The most important function of destined weapons in Katheer culture, besides companionship, is preparing young Katheermor for the Mandatory Twenty-Four. From the age of eighty to the age of one-hundred-four, which for the Katheermor are the preteen years, Katheer children undergo specialized combat training. They learn the martial and elemental strategies and skills needed to succeed in battle against aggressors among the Katheermor and across the realms. They develop an understanding of their personalized combat styles, become more proficient with their destined weapons, and frequently discover the uses of their individualized, magical amulets (their additional gifts of First Birth). When they complete the Mandatory Twenty-Four, they graduate, and are free to decide whether they wish to continue to advanced combat training or leave the bootcamps and contribute to other facets of Katheer society. Graduates are sometimes drafted when especially large groups of soldiers perish on the battlefields. But drafting is rare, as the primary function of the Mandatory Twenty-Four is defensive: It ensures Katheer cities are nigh impenetrable to outside forces.
Although Katheer cities are secured from many external threats, internal conflicts sometimes arise. Dueling is the most popular way for trainees and graduates of the Mandatory Twenty-Four to settle such disputes. The Katheermor are competitive; they enjoy testing their abilities against the skills of others. Duelists show mutual respect with a bow and a spin, display trust in their opponents’ honor by turning their backs to one another, and then they separate to opposite ends of a field to begin a duel. Spectators may gather on the edges of the field, depending on the nature and location of the duel. Duels of three different natures occur within Katheer societies: Kehmon (a duel of friends), Kalinvaud (a duel of rivals), and Zalmehirk (a duel of deaths). Kehmon and Kalinvaud settle most everyday conflicts, such as who will court a mate favored by both duelists, who is the strongest or most cunning, who will be selected for which task, etcetera. Zalmehirk is reserved for the most serious, personal offences.
With the War of Eternal Divide raging, the Katheer monarchies prefer to let their citizens settle their personal disputes through the three duels, but the monarchies also cannot risk regularly losing soldiers to domestic squabbles. Thus, Zalmehirk conducted without reasonable cause, without the mutual consent of both duelists, and/or initiated with an unfair skills advantage for a particular duelist, is akin to murder and will be disciplined as such. However, crimes of murder and adultery eliminate the second and third checks, allowing Zalmehirk to be conducted on grounds of reasonable cause alone. Families are not to be disrupted by outsiders. The Katheermor are immortal and mature very slowly. Children are regarded as the most valuable members of society and are protected by entire communities of Katheermor whenever they are within city limits, even though the Mandatory Twenty-Four robs Katheer children of some of their childhood and sometimes places teenagers in perilous predicaments.
Climactic Amulets
Known to the outside world only as Elvish amulets, each Katheer is gifted an individualized, magical amulet along with his or her destined weapon. The amulets’ design is modelled after the Eternals (the Elements of the Norbayah, Imashteh, and Ecliyar), which manifested imperfectly after the onset of the Rest of Longing, exist primarily as willful gemstones, and are highly revered by the Katheermor. Raw magical energy is channeled into a fateful spell and contained within the primary gemstone the amulet showcases. Since devotion to the Eternals is alien to most mortal races, those races use the term Elvish to describe the amulets, for the amulets were crafted by elves and are normally seen hanging from the necks of elves.
The proper translation for the true name of these amulets is climactic. The name arises from the expectation that each Katheer will face one or more climactic moments on his or her journey to fulfill what Legendroe has written. The spell contained within the amulet will activate in these moments, either by the will of its wearer or by its own will. The amulets attune themselves to their wearers and will not submit to strangers, which discourages people from looting or stealing them from Katheermor. However, some opportunists sell fraudulently acquired climactic amulets for the monetary value of the amulets’ non-magical components. The magic within these amulets may rebel from the greed of strangers by cursing them, and if they rebel, it will happen suddenly and silently.
First Birth and Second Birth Ceremonies
Currently, the Katheermor mature one year every eight years. They reach sexual maturity at one-hundred-twenty-eight years but are not considered adults until they are one-hundred-sixty years. Monogamous marriages are permitted among anyone one-hundred-twenty-eight years or older. Cross-sect unions are sometimes permitted, but are forbidden among opposing Elvish Elemental Bonds. Katheer children born from cross-sect unions are called hybrids, as a union between differing elemental bonds almost always creates dually bound offspring.
Katheer pregnancy lasts twelve months. A pregnancy of the strongest of elemental opposites often causes irreparable damage to a female Katheer’s womb, allows her to carry her hybrid child(ren) to term, but prevents her from carrying any additional children. Anmorkatheermor and Zalirkatheermor consider mating with their elemental opposites a treasonous act, and they will publicly execute offenders. Most Katheermor are appalled at the very idea of mating with their elemental opposites, because they view it as violating the elemental order of the natural world. Even friendships are difficult and exceptionally rare between opposing elemental bonds.
Hybrids are not to be confused with half-elves, as half-elves arise from a union between an immortal Katheer and a mortal human. Societal acceptance of half-elves varies among the Elvish Elemental Bonds. Katheer children are discouraged from befriending mortals until they reach adulthood. If a ten-year-old human and an eighty-year-old Katheer were friends, the human would reach adulthood at the same time the Katheer would mature to the equivalent of an eleven-year-old human. The difference in rate of maturity between Katheermor and humans is likely to be distressing to both parties.
When Katheermor reach adulthood, they cease aging. Unless they are killed, they live indefinitely. Half-elves mature one year every four years, and sometimes age longer, but they maintain the immortality of their Katheer parent. Humans often feel that Katheermor do not ascertain the urgency of critical situations, since their immortality warps their perspective of time. Many Katheermor would argue humans lack the patience and wisdom immortality brings. Half-elves may argue their merged perspective is the most accurate, and may seek to mediate between Katheermor and humans in crises, even though individuals of both races are likely to shun them.
Closing
The above is a summarized anthropology of unified Katheer culture. It is in no way representative of anyone or anything outside of Interrealmeus. It also either excludes or alludes to many of the details found in “Katheermor: The E.B.B.,” and it frequently alludes to other facets of lore. The information is provided to help readers and role-players interpret and anticipate the perspectives of Katheer characters. Additional lore, including anthropologies for other races, will be posted on this site as the need arises.
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