Welcome to another Blog Post for Evelon II Studios. Today I’m going to talk more about the universe of Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes. Specifically about Evelon II itself and its ihabitants.
The Main character of the story, Avala daughter of Scya, comes from the primitive barbaric world of Evelon II (The namesake of my company). The people of this world are called the Athakarin. They are half human and half Yajiran (an alien race). They worship the Spirits, who are really the Yajixa (the elite of the Yajiran Empire, and the main antagonists.)
The world of Evelon II is an world that has been artificially tidally locked by an ancient precursor race. Though one side always faces the sun (which results in a habitable ring around the eternal sunset), the axis is still tilted (resulting in seasons in the north and the south.) The night side of the planet is known as the Frozen Wastes, and the day side is know as the Eternal Fire.
The planet has many rivers, streams, and lakes that come from melt off from the frozen wastes. Since the world was once a vast ocean world, this melt-off also contains many fish and other creatures that can be fished by the native people. Eventually the run-off travels to the Eternal Fire and evaporates, migrating back either to the frozen wastes, or falling as precipitation on the habitable ring (since wind usually blows the water vapor back towards the frozen wastes.)
Wildlife on the planet comes from various sources. Though the fish were native to the planet before the precursor race came, most other wildlife were created by them or brought by human colonists. Many of the creatures created by the Precursor race are part reptilian in nature, leading to all sorts of strange creatures, such as the Wrakta Beast. The human colonists brought their own species, that were carefully introduced into the ecosystem. Most of these creatures were genetically modified to serve a specific purpose, such as the Syran Beast meant to serve as a tracking mount. A few creatures however came about due to accidents such as MELT transporter accidents, such as the Drilik Spiders.
The Athakarin people of Evelon II simply call their home ‘the world’. They have no name for it, since they don’t understand the concept of other planets (Astronomers don’t really exist.) They came from human colonists of Evelon II and rebel Yajirans who called themselves Athakri who made the planet their home. Due to a misunderstanding, the humans led the Yajiran Empire right to that world, where they proceeded to wipe out the humans and Athakri. All the children were spared, though the pure humans were later executed, and the pure Yajirans were later turned into Yajixa. The Athakarin children were raised to be a primitive species living in barbaric ways on the planet.
Everything about Athakarin culture is meant to sting the humans in some ways (the long time enemy of the Yajiran Empire.) The culture is very prominently sexist towards woman, objectifying them and treating them as property, which hurts the humans since it reminds them of their barbaric past. In Athakarin society young girls are married off as early as age eight to men sometimes eight times their age (The humans absolutely hate this fact, and are trying to stop it). The culture is also taking part in Athakarin sacrifices to their gods, the Spirits, which goes against modern human ideals.
The Athakarin have also divided their world into six nations each occupying a portion of the habitable ring. Those these nations don’t often fight, though there has been times where war broke out between neighbors. These wars are barbaric, with slaughtering of civilians and raping of woman and children. It becomes all the worse when a holy war is dictated by the Spirits, a war for the mere sake of appeasing the Spirits, usually by the order of the Spirit of War, Ijar. These holy wars (Or Uulijar) are used by their gods to cull the population when it gets too big.
The gods of the Athakarin people, the Spirits, are actually powerful Yajixa (the elite of the Yajiran Empire) who have been ruling over the people for two thousand years. These Spirits are Yasal: The Head Spirit; Yvan: The Spirit of Wealth; Yagra: The Mother Spirit ; Zayil: The Spirit of the Moon; and Ijar: The Spirit of War. The Spirits are worshiped by nearly all people on the world, though woman and girls will often start loosing faith in them due to their harsh treatment by men.
The Spirits demand each village, town, and city gives bi-yearly sacrifices to them. Though villages are immune if they have ten or less people. This keeps the population at a manageable level for the Yajixa, and keeps them in fear of the spirits. Settlements that refuse to give a sacrifice are attacked by lesser Yajixa taking the form of Yajirans (who the Athakarins see as lesser spirits in mortal form.) This ignites fear into the population keeping them behaving.
That’s all for today. Join me next week for a Development Diary for the Legacy of the Firstborne Empire® game. Join me the week after for another blog post on Avala: Spirits of the Mindscapes. Until next time.