Open [Scholar's Forum] Nuit are Neighbours, Not Threats

[Tsaba]

24th Summer, 513AV

Tsaba cleared her throat and wandered towards the peristyle, resisting the urge to pull her hood up further and look even more strange in the Summer heat. There were people there, but how many had come for the speech and how many just happened to be about? She'd told people, left flyers... she wasn't sure what else to do. But maybe it wasn't a topic that many people were interested in. Maybe nobody cared about Nuits, and were happy to think of them as monstrous, soul-devouring graverobbers.

Which was the problem. Big crowd or small crowd, it didn't matter. If she could inform just a few people, change just a few minds, then it was worth it.

She stepped forward. Tsaba had taken extra care with her appearance that day, combing her hair neatly and making her face look as human as possible. Hopefully it was enough. She pulled her hood down and looked out over the Forum.

It was time to begin.

[Leila]

Leila had a flier in hand, wandering around the Old Quarter looking for the Scholar's forum. Tsaba, one of her classmates, was hosting a speech on Nuits there, and Leila was lost yet again. The University was so confusing sometimes. She thought back to the first time she met Tsaba, when she walked into her shop asking about preservatives. She mentioned that she was a Nuit, and Leila hadn't bothered to ask what that actually was. But now she was giving a speech on Nuits, so Leila thought it would be interesting to learn more about her classmate. She was moving from one building from another, the frustration on her face evident, until she saw a man walking the opposite direction holding the same flier she was. Leila turned and decided to follow the old man, finding his long grey hair amusing. He looked to be a professor, in his strange robes. But he did at least look like he knew where he was going. He led her through some columns to a grassy clearing, and Leila saw a few other people mingling about. She saw Tsaba standing up front and Leila tried to catch her eye, waving at the sickly woman. Leila now found herself standing about awkwardly, waiting on this event to get started.

[Calen]

* CALEN * Nodding politely, Calen gave what he assumed was an appropriately enthusiastic goodbye before beginning to walk away. As he walked, Calen fiddled about with the drawstrings on his rucksack, ignoring the incredibly irritating sensation of his lute slapping against his back with each step; he was beginning to regret having slung the thing on his back before walking over to the university. When he had adjusted his bulging rucksack into a slightly more comfortable position, Calen began to fiddle with his clothing, smoothing out a few wrinkles in his brown cotton shirt and his wool pants. After a few moments, it became clear to Calen that he was fighting a losing battle and so, with a sigh he abandoned his pursuit and began to make his way towards the Scholar's Forum, interested if there was anything of import going on. Choosing to stand just a fair distance from a small pocket of whispering students as they discussed something or other, Calen looked over all of those who appeared to have made their way to the same area. Some seemed to be waiting for something while the rest just seemed to be going about their business. In his experience, that meant something was about to take place. It was at that point that Calen took note of a sickly looking girl who he assumed was steeling herself for some sort of announcement. "Well, this is going to be interesting eh?" Calen asked the oddly familiar red-haired girl to his left.

[Aron De Soto]

Aron had seen the flyers around the Old Quarter. They were proposing an interesting point of view. Nuits, in Aron's opinion, were like the snake people. Far away monsters he had never seen nor would he like to. If a Nuit, however, was leading this talk then he would be quite interested indeed. He looked at the gathering around him. Mostly students, young pups who had no idea of what the world would be like for them in a few years. He definitely stood out. He was not as old as some of the professors, yet he wasn't a student. The slaver was looking for prey. Young idealistic minds tended to be gathered to these sorts of things. He raked over a few vagabonds who were drawn by the smell of opportunity. Pickpockets. He had no interest in selling pickpockets. They were expensive, foul-mouthed little beasts that took a lot of time and effort to train to be accommodating slaves. Aron already had a Kelvic he had been working with. He felt ambitious enough to try and take on another project. Two at the same time had always been dangerous; but if he was looking to expand his business a few well- fed academics could give him a leg up. Or...a Nuit, if he could find one. The undead would cater to some very odd tastes, after all. Learning about them couldn't hurt. From what little he knew, they were spirits that haunted the bodies of the dead. "Zombies." he mumbled under his breath. He shifted, waiting for the talk to begin.

[Castor Riley]

Castor ran towards the Scholar's Forum, wanting to get there before Tsaba began her speech. He'd promised Tsaba he'd try to make it, seeing as his shift ended right about the time she planned to start it. He weaved through the crowd inexpertly, and bumped a couple of people along the way. He shouted a quick sorry to those people, without actually stopping to see that everything was actually all right. When he arrived in the Forum's central square, he was relieved to see Tsaba, still making preparations to begin. He tried to stand in a position where she'd be able to easily spot him, if she looked his way, hoping to give her some support with his presence, though he wasn't sure she really needed it. He knew this subject was one that she'd taken a great interest in since coming to the mainland and Castor felt a bit embarassed in his part in kindling that interest with his initial reaction to her. Still, he had come a long way since then, and now found himself hoping her efforts to dispel the misconceptions about her race would succeed and reduce the distrust and racism found in many human-nuit interactions. He took a cursory glance around him, recognising Leila in the crowd. He was about to call over to her, but he saw that she was with another man. He wondered if she was on a date. She was certainly a lovely young lady, with the most caring spirit he had ever known, so he could certainly understand that she would have a love life. He didn't want to intrude, so he just kept standing where he'd been and turned his attention towards Tsaba. If she happened to look his way and notice him, he would flash her a smile as a show of support.

[Tallis]

It was a beautiful summers day, perfect for the event that he was about to attend. Tallis straightened out the charcoal grey shirt he was wearing and swept the hair out of his deep-blue eyes. The darker coloured shirt brought out the pale whiteness of his skin, clearly marking him as a scholar. That was fine though, he would blend in where he was going. Picking up the flyer, Tallis headed out of his cottage which was just south of the affluent West Street, and headed towards the Old District, and the University of Zeltiva. The white tower of Priskil loomed above the streets and marked the spot where Tallis had spent four years of his life. Although he was no longer a student of the university, he would always remember the place. The Scholar’s Forum was just up ahead and he could already see a few people walking there. It appeared that the title on the fliers, “Nuit are Neighbors, Not Threats,” had garnered more interest than he had expected. Tallis was bumped into by a man with a rather interesting gait, a sort of fast walking with awkward bursts of speed and choppy turns. The man had haphazardly thrown out an apology before speeding forward, and now Tallis was the one following him. When he’d caught up, the man had already taken spot near the center of the gathering crowd. Tallis decided to stand on his left. There was a wonderful view of the peristyle here. Standing between the massive white pillars stood a rather old woman. This must have been the Nuit. The speedy man on his right seemed to be staring intently at the Nuit, almost as if willing her to look at him. Tallis couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know her? She is the speaker right?” Perhaps he could learn a little bit about this Nuit before she’d even introduced herself.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba stepped forward. She scanned the crowd, briefly meeting Castor's eyes, and relaxed a little. She ignored the gaze of an unfamiliar man who seemed to be sizing her up -- she had to expect that, she was here to change minds.

You know what to say. You memorised the words. Just act like you're reading it out.

"Thanks for coming, everyone. My name is Tsaba. It means 'alive'." She'd simplified several things in the speech, but not, she thought, enough to be actively dishonest. "And I'm a Nuit. I'm also a student at this university, studying Earth Sciences, ans a scribe, restoring damaged Library documents." After some thought, she'd decided that connecting herself to magical study was unnecessary. "A lot of people I've met since arriving in Zeltiva don't seem to know what a Nuit is; or, if they do, their view is inaccurate. There are a lot of myths about us, a lot of scare-mongering; and I think that's partly our fault, because a lot of Nuit like to keep to themselves, and nobody's really tried to correct that. So that's why I'm here today; to set the record straight.

"The first thing to talk about, I guess, is, well, what is a Nuit? The truth is that we are human. Well, I suppose any sentient race could theoretically be one, but every Nuit I've ever met is human. A Nuit is somebody whose soul outlives their body. Over time, of course, our bodies do wear out, and we have to move to new ones.

"This little detail appears to be where most of the anti-Nuit sentiment comes from. It's only natural for people to find dead bodies, at least dead bodies of their own kind, to be quite off-putting. But Nuit are not dangerous. We do not, as the myths seem to say, steal souls, or kill people, or eat babies. Most of those things would be physically impossible for us. Compared to humans, Nuit are incredibly safe -- I've never known a Nuit to kill a human, unless you count turning them into a Nuit, which is a completely voluntary process by the way and not some curse that we go around inflicting on people by biting them or stealing their souls or some equally ridiculous myth." She paused long enough to skim the crowd, note that nobody was actively trying to assault her or start a riot, and continued.

"The reason that people don't know much about Nuit, I think, is that we tend to be quite insular. We have little need for most of the things humans need. We don't go to war over food and land -- we don't need it. The only thing we need from other races is bodies -- and we don't kill to get them. Wouldn't it be a little difficult to get away with murder, if you dragged the victim's body everywhere with you? Nor are we graverobbers." She shook her head. "This body was paid for and imported to Sahova when its previous owner was finished with it. It wasn't ghoulishly dug out of a cursed grave at midnight.

"I came to Zeltiva to learn. You have such a bright, changeable, fascinating culture here; a wonderful mix of open trade and respect for knowledge. And I'm hoping that by casting off old prejudices and embracing a love of information, we can all learn more about each other. Are there any questions about Nuit? Anything I haven't covered?"

[Calen]

* CALEN * For the most part, Calen felt fairly disappointed when the sickly looking woman began to speak. It wasn't that she was unimpressive or anything of the sort, but that he'd been able to tell who was going to speak merely from a glance; Calen had truly begun to appreciate and anticipate surprises. Shifting the weight of his rucksack and his lute as he slipped them from his torso, Calen made his way to the nearest viable space and plopped himself down, intent on being comfortable as he listened. When it became clear that the topic was to hover around both nuits and the myths surrounding them, Calen physically perked up, suddenly finding this little speech that much more engaging. "Tsaba the Nuit..." he muttered to himself, shaking his head ever so slightly, more amused by his lack of incomprehension than anything else. In hindisght, the girl being a nuit really did explain quite a bit about what he was seeing; her sickly appearance, her obvious apprehension prior to her speech, the sense of urgency he was picking up from her. "Odd. I'd heard that Nuits were a magically endowed race, but she's only here to study Earth Sciences?" Calen found himself dwelling on that particular detail of the girl's speech as she carried onto the definition of the phrase 'Nuit'. Choosing to save his questions for whenever she asked for them, Calen began tuning into what 'Tsaba' was saying once more. As the nuit girl continued onto the discriminatory and racially insulting things that she had heard about her people, Calen found his throat suddenly irritated and coughed quietly into a fist, his features contorted into a frown, which was swiftly swept aside by a look of mild indifference. Absently, he began to drum on the thigh of his crossed leg, the only outward sign of his inner turmoil. When the topic suddenly shifted to the origins of Tsaba's current body Calen couldn't help but let out a guffaw of laughter, his mood brightening for a moment. For whatever reason, he found the admittedly morbid idea of someone slapping a price tag onto a corpse oddly humorous. When it came time for questions, Calen jumped to his feet and raised his hand, choosing to ignore the formality of the gesture and simply proceed with his question, unaddressed. "I'd just like to say, that was a very compelling speech. Though, personally, I found that last little bit where you praised the city a bit much, but, I digress." Taking a pause, Calen prepared himself for the asking of the question that had been bothering him for quite some time. "Is it possible for a nuit's body to retain any of the illnesses that their body may have possessed? For example, assuming a nuit chose to take over the body of an individual who died during the blight...could that newly reanimated corpse be used to spread the same sickness that plagued this city?"

[Aron De Soto]

Aron listened to the speech quietly, noting how nervous the speaker was. Unusual, sickly looking little creature. He swiftly decided that she would do very little for him in terms of slavery, and opted to make the scholar's forum she was conducting into a purely academic interest. After all, the undead were particularly fascinating. Souls that outlived bodies, and who traded, bought and sold the dead very much the same way Aron did with the living. Of course, not all Nuit could be so discriminating could they? Not all Nuit could just afford to buy a new body...some had to be driven to the point of desperation, and Aron imagined that graves would start to look very tempting by that point. He waited for the other man to ask his question, then raised his own arm. He felt a bit like a schoolboy, but that was the whole point of the forum. To learn. "Madam, you seem to be very eager to convince us that the Nuit are harmless creatures. I can see myself you look barely healthy enough to harm another woman let alone a full grown man. But surely not all Nuit are so well taken care of that they can casually stroll to the market to buy a freshly dead corpse without trouble from the locals? Surely some must become desperate, because of the lack of the dead or their finances. Surely then...some of the gravestones must look fairly tempting. In my experience, madam, rumors have grains of truth in them more often than not." Aron said, raising his voice to be heard above the crowd. He smirked at her. He did not have a very high opinion of the Nuit to begin with.

[Tsaba]

Tsaba addressed the younger-looking man's question first. "Medicine is not my area of expertise," she said slowly, "but I was raised by a healer, and I'd have to say that I very much doubt it. In fact, a lot of my father's efficiency in providing medical care was probably based on the fact that he wasn't spreading diseases between patients. Many illnesses are carried in the blood and breath, which Nuit have no need of, and thus we would not make great carriers. But it isn't a topic I have investigated to any great degree... you are the first person I have ever heard suggest such a thing." The very concept of using Nuit as... as plague weapons... what kind of mind came up with that? Or perhaps he was suggesting that somebody might choose such a body by accident, and was concerned for public safety. Either way, humans were known to bear human plagues, and to her knowledge, Nuit weren't.

The aggressive older man's question was slightly trickier. "I have never known a Nuit to use such tactics, and one would be quite remiss to allow themselves to get into such a state, but I suppose it is possible," she conceded. "Much in the same way that humans sometimes find themselves unable to buy food or shelter. I have known humans to become desperate enough to actively kill people over such things, and even those that don't kill often leave others starving by their actions -- I guess the real difference is that while both Nuits and humans could in theory see themselves desperate enough to engage in such moral reprehensibility, a Nuit's crime in such a circumstance would not actually hurt anybody."

Her eyes cast over the crowd, looking for anybody else with a question. Only when she was sure she'd cleared up everybody's doubts would she go on.