The Diverse

[Marcus Delamurr]

First may I just say this is not finished, I'll be adding to it as I go on. Feedback welcome.

Height Varies Widly
Weight Varies Wildly
Lifespan 30-40
Major features Varies Wildly
Abilities Slight resistance to offensive magic
Population 2000
Homeworld Zaiden
Reputation Barbaric Bloodthirsty Savages



The Diverse are tribes of uncivilized mutated Humans living on the world of Zaiden. They are the offspring of Djed-contaminated wizards with unrefined magic. They were originally native to ancient Mizahar but were exiled to Zaiden by Sylir, the god of peace and civilization. Their world is in a constant state of warfare and strife, with opposing tribes warring against each other. The Diverse may be summoned to Mizahar by summoners and negotiated with to do what they do best – Killing.

History

The Diverse were the offspring of early Alahean wizards. Contaminated with wild, raw Djed there magic became contaminated and their spells ended up morphing their bodies into gross, deformed shape bearing little resemblance to the magician before. On top of this the only similarity each transformation had was that the Diverse (as they came to be called due to the diversity of the race) had no access to Djed. This was caused by raw magic, because the magicians did not know entirely what they were dealing with they ended up harming themselves drastically in the process.

The small group of Diverse set up a small settlement in Northern Alahea away from the race they once were. They inhabited places away from humans at first but when they became Diverse it altered their minds as well, making them lust for blood. Due to this, they began to raid small towns and villages close to them, killing all in their path and taking what they could. At first this was ignored as just some raids but it soon became a problem for Alahea as more and more settlements were lost. The Diverse were spreading and their numbers multiplying quickly, united under one leader. In the end a small force of Alahean wizards came to put a stop to them.

The wizards, now with more mastery than the wizards the Diverse were, could control their magic and use it effectively. However, what the magicians didn’t know was the Diverse gained some resistance to magic when they lost their magic and this tilted the battle in their favour, allowing them to wipe out the wizards. As this went on the Diverse grew and grew until the Alaheans did not know what to do. They decided to reach out to the divine. Asking the temples to pray to their Gods for a way out. All the temples did this and one God, Sylir, answered. The God of peace and civilization could not allow this assault on his domain to continue.

Sylir’s chosen marched to the main camp of the Diverse, blessed with the power of their lord they strived to rid the world of the Diverse for evermore. They fought for many days with lots of casualties on both sides, the Sylir Priests fighting with their Gnosis as well as their maces which they were proficient at, whereas the Diverse fought with anything they could get their hands on, from old swords to claws that had been part of their mutation. However, the superior numbers of the Diverse began to tell and Sylir knew he had to take direct intervention. He went to Aquilas, the God of travel, to see if they could work together to transport the Diverse to another world. Working together they formulated a plan and with both of them summoning their powers they made a gate that sucked the Diverse out of Mizahar and onto the world of Zaiden.

On Zaiden, there was no enemy for the Diverse to fight so they soon split off into different tribes, fighting each other since there was nothing else. Since they were transported there Zaiden has been in a constant war, with tribes battling tribes to sate the bloodlust within each Diverse. However, over time they have managed to construct crude weaponry for themselves if they were not gifted it through mutation. These ranged from spears to wooden swords, specially hardened until nearly as strong as steel. Even now they yearn to go back to Mizahar, where the blood was sweetest and the prey numerous. This is why they are often willing to work in the service of Summoners, hopefully breaking their bonds and wreaking havoc on the population. Since then they have never been united and have always been in separate tribal settlements attacking each other.

Society
Social Structure

The Social Structure in Diverse society is quite simplistic. Put simply, the stronger the are the higher in the social structure you are. There are 6 major tribes on the world of Zaiden each having a population of roughly 300 Diverse, along with a few small minor tribes. Every Diverse is in one of these tribes for anyone who wasn’t would be dead within days. The main tribes are named: Zaidaren(The first clan named after the world they found themselves on), Balurumm, Craduran, Gangrox, Kkarull and the Staruckk. Each of these tribes have similar social structures but there are a few differences within each. The biggest, strongest, most mutated Diverse is generally the Tribal Leader, who controls what their tribe attacks, however even they don’t exercise full control over the Diverse because they are impulsive and when the bloodlust fully takes them nobody can control them. Underneath him, are his 2 war advisors and the war commander. Generally some of the more intelligent Diverse, they utilize rudimentary tactics to advise the Chief what should be done. The War Commander is in charge of the training of the Diverse, however the training they receive is very rudimentary, mainly just teaching them to handle a weapon. Then there are Cromms who are in charge of squads of five normal Diverse. However, there are the Chietlans, the elite fighters of the Diverse, led into combat behind the Chief himself, acting similar to an honour guard. They protect the chief in battle. This is the structure of the War side of their society.

In the running of the tribe, it is the women Diverse that reign supreme. The wife of the Chief is in charge of everything in the tribe, from food storage to making sure proper religious festivals are upheld. Under her are the wives of the honour guard, each specializing in looking after one part of society. For example, one would be in charge of food storage, another in charge of water storage and so on. Generally there are 6 wives of the honour gaurd working at one time, however each has a tunure of no more than 2 years. Each respectively in charge of: religion, food, water, children, tools of warfare and general crafting (such as clothing).

At the bottom of society live the slaves. Those Diverse that instead of a mutation enhancing their strength have been cursed with a negative mutation. Generally small and weak things, they are the slaves of the rest of the Diverse. Treated like dirt they are used to help the tribe in any way they can from delivering water to the camp to target practise for the Diverse. They live in small settlements to the side of the tribe and they go into the tribe as a whole to work. They have no command structure of themselves and are totally reliant on their masters.

[Tarot]

Thank you for this badly needed writeup. A few points, though:

1) I think the Diverse are even older than Suvan and Alahea. The fundamentals of magic as people know it today were laid out by the first Alahan queen, Akavalashi around 8000 BV. Therefore, we are talking about wizards who lived before that date, when magic was much more obscure and less refined. People don't know much about those times as they are pre-writing (Protohuman), but you can imagine stone and bronze age people trying to handle magic and doing a very poor job of it.

2) The Diverse were not mutated by their own magic while they lived - think Darwin, not Lamarck. They are a genetic mutation like the Kelvics. Sure, overgiving in morphing can turn you into a monster, but you probably wouldn't be able to pass that condition to your offspring. What really happened was more along the lines of wild Djed radiations caused by a lot of sloppy casting. It affected pregnancies and caused Diverse births, many of whom were undoubtedly killed on the spot. However, if a community was in a tight spot, they would allow the Diverse to live or maybe the mutation did not show until puberty. They slowly built their numbers that way, until they became a problem.

3) Resistance to magic is something I have always found very silly, so you just don't see it in Mizahar. If I conjure a rock, it's going to hurt like a natural one! Now, you can suppress someone from using Djed, and you can absorb it with Leeching or Glyphing, but passive resistance to magic is basically unheard of. This balances the fact that magic in Mizahar is not as almighty as in other settings. Likewise, you sure you want to prevent these guys from using magic? Wouldn't it be more fun if they still used those sloppy, dangerous magics of old?

4) You should ask Goss about this, but I just can't see the god of peace sending his people to war! I was thinking he'd just exile the Diverse to prevent a war. Nice touch with Aquiras, though!

5) I like what you have about their society, but you should probably talk about their biology, too. You can use the playable races and their articles as a measuring stick for what these writeups usually contain.