The Teklo are a race of slender, pale-skinned mountain dwellers. They mostly inhabit great Poleis (Cities), carved into the sides of mountains, and exist as a Confederation of Republics, ruled over by the Senate Chamber. They maintain large diplomatic delegations with the other peoples, but allow outsiders only limited access to their mountain-fastnesses.

The Teklo are very pale-skinned humanoids with long, slender arms and fingers. They have large, dark, pupiless eyes, and, with the exception of the bone-white hair on their heads, they tend towards hairlessness.

Whilst they may take as many as twenty or more years to reach physical maturity, it is fairly typical for individuals to take up adult responsibilities by their mid-teens. Outside of disease, or violence, the Teklo will usually remain fairly fit and healthy for about sixty to seventy years, until they enter the final phase of their life, known as the Decline. Once a Teklo enters the Decline their physical fitness tends to decay rapidly, but if they are cared for, they can expect to live another decade of life.

The Teklo can master the Magic of Wordsmithing, whereby, with the right invocation of words, they can alter the world. For the most part this is a subtle art. With it, a wielder might make their words seem convincing and trustworthy, or an enemys' deceitful and conniving, or they might read a book in minutes, beguiling the words off the page. Still, despite its lack of direct effects, it would be a foolish warrior indeed who underestimated the power of a Teklo War-Whisperer.

• You enjoy politicking and backstabbing: The Teklo's corrupt Republican Democracy is the perfect context in which to make backroom deals, trade insults and poison with your peers and compete for the hearts of the masses.
• You want to fight this war with armies, not swords: The Teklo may not have the warrior prowess of the Kirlsa, but their organisational capacities are unmatched and someone is going to need to take overall command of the War-Effort.
• You want to explore a more mystical style of game: Despite the appearance of being highly secular, the Teklo approach to the world can be deeply spiritual.
• You want to play a Field Archaeologist (read: Indiana Jones). More than any of the other Peoples, the Teklo exalt and support those who explore the world to discover knowledge lost after the End.

“Hear my words now child. Heed my whispers. You, who are Greit Yos Jin, have another name, a truer name, a secret name. Remember it, know it and speak it, but only when there are none to hear it, for it is precious and must not be shared lightly. You are Greit Yos Jin and you bear a True and Secret Name and that Name is the foundation of your Divinity”.

- The words of Wordshaper Kilk Yos Grane at the Naming Ceremony of Greit Yos Jin.

The Teklo worship no gods; fear no demons; and make no obeisance towards their ancestors. They do not build temples with cold stone idols, sing liturgies in hallowed halls, or pray to sacred scripture.

The Teklo are divine, and their highest temple is the Senate Chamber, their holiest songs are oratorical flourishes, their most sacred prayers made in the debating halls. Why are the Teklo gods? For in all the world, only they bear True and Secret Names.

Here is “stone”, and there is “metal”. Here is “Ryet of the Sylphim”, and there “Garant of the Kirlsa”. But for the Teklo, there is something quite different to be said. Not simply “Here is 'Jan Fra Hant'”, or “There stands 'Sinne Yos Grent'”, but rather “Here is 'Jan Fra Hant', and he bears a True Name” and “There stands 'Sinne Yos Grent' and she has mastered her Secret Name and the world itself bends to her wishes”.

The wisest of the ancient scholars teach that the art of Wordsmithing is a manifestation of the divine nature of the Teklo. When a being, a person, has a True Name, their words have power. It is this notion that Words spoken by a Sacred Being, a Teklo, have power that forms the bedrock of Teklo society.

So, bonds of family and friendship are made tighter by set oaths, sworn and re-sworn before witnesses or whispered to the darkness, bound only by the oathswearer's own power. More general social and cultural rules are lent weight, not by history and practice, but by the fact that they are written, bound to parchment and even stone. The more lasting the material upon which it is written, the more binding the injunctions.

At the height of spiritual force stand the Laws. Proposed by the Houses of the People in the various Poleis, or debated on the floor of the Senate Chamber, once passed, they are acid-etched onto the metal plates of the Dictates of the Tongue and a dozen Wordsmiths will whisper to the metal so that it can never forget.

It is this reverence for the written word which brought about the development of the extensive Teklo bureaucracy, which, after the Senate, wields the broadest power over Teklo society. Hundreds and thousands of Scholars toil through the weight of words produced by a society for whom anything of any import must be recorded for, quite literally, they are the word of god.

This spiritual understanding of the world runs through the entirety of Teklo society, such that none of its culture can be properly understood without reference to it.

For most Teklo the family is held to be second only to their True and Secret names in terms of importance. For the first few years of life they will have virtually no contact with anyone who is not a relative by blood or marriage. It is within the Family that Teklo children learn to read and write, of their Family's history, its glory and its shame. Whilst individual family members come and go, the Family abides.

Typically, around about their tenth year, a Teklo child will either be apprenticed to a master with another, allied family, where they will learn a trade, or they will be entered into an Academy where they will train to become a Scholar.

Around about the age of fifteen, the Teklo youth will return to live with their family, but will be expected to take up a position within the wider society. They will be expected to work not simply towards their own personal benefit, but always with a mind to exalting the family, raising its fortunes up and offering aid to such family members as might need it.

Teklo families can be either matrilineal or patrilineal and, given the importance of continuing the family name, marriages are usually arranged years in advance, with careful negotiations, payments, counter-payments and favours accompanying every stage of the process.

Outside of the close family context, the Teklo will typically use their full names and highest relevant title when addressing each other. The naming convention will usually follow the format of [Title (where relevant)] [Given Name] Fra/Yos [son/daughter of] [Family Name]. So, for example, Maan, Scholar and son of the Grest Family would be referred to as “Scholar Maan Fra Grest”, whilst Tana, Warden-Commander and daughter of the Nor Family would be referred to as “Warden-Commander Tana Yos Nor”.

It should be noted that these Use-Names are separate from a Teklo's True and Secret Name. There are no conventions governing the True and Secret Names and typically they will be shared with only one or two other individuals across a Teklo's lifetime. In fact, it is not uncommon that a Teklo might never share their True and Secret Name with another person.

The essence of Teklo politics is collective decision-making, which derives from the fundamental notion that all Teklo are divine and that therefore each individual voice matters.

Teklo politics therefore tends to work on two levels.

For small-scale decisions being made at the local level, impromptu committees and discussion groups made up of interested parties will usually form, with discussion, debate and argument before a decision is reached. Such decisions are usually fairly strongly supported by the all discussion participants as it is generally accepted that mandates deriving from these discussions are, in some small way, sacred.

For larger scale decisions, each Polis will have a House of the People to which are elected a number of Representatives, and each Polis will send a delegation of Representatives to form the Senate. The elections themselves are considered to be a holy occasion, and the candidates who are selected as Representatives believed to have received not simply a popular, but rather a divine mandate.

Representatives are granted portfolios of responsibility and are allocated resources to manage them. Often they use these to take on Scholars as personal retainers, and thus build up a team of competent individuals who can turn their hand to any problem or crisis.

Above the Poleis' Houses of the People stands only the Senate Chamber: made up of the senior Representatives of each Polis' House, it adjudicates in disputes between the various Poleis and to determine how the Teklo People as a whole will involve itself with the outside world.

At least, this is what the Politics of the Teklo claims to be, ought to be. In practice, it is something seedier and dirtier than the noble ideal of the Republican society.

Within the various Houses of the People the general rule is that faces come and go, but the family names behind them remain the same. These self-same Representatives then debase the sanctity of the Debating Halls, their votes for sale, their policies pursued in backroom deals with kickbacks and back-scratching and their vision small-minded and petty.

The Scholars, who are meant to serve the Representatives with diligence and impartiality, instead play at bureaucratic empire building, whilst spying on their rivals and embezzling for all they are worth. Sometimes, it is even unclear whether the Scholar works for their Representative, or if it is the other way round.

Even the basic freedom of the Teklo to come together, form impromptu committees and decide upon matters that affect only small numbers of themselves has been heavily curtailed in recent years. It is far more likely now that some edict imposed from on high by the House will be written in to existence than that these small committees will be allowed any real power.

As a general rule, the corruption of the Teklo ideal is the great elephant in the room, outright ignored, or brushed aside with “Twas ever thus” and a sigh. Every generation there are reformers, idealists and even rebels; in the end, nothing ever really changes.

Of all the peoples of Djemity, the Teklo were the hardest hit, but also the best placed to recover from The Unwriting as they call it. Two centuries ago, the Teklo awoke to find the Five Grandmasters of the Order of Wordshapers, and three dozen of the most powerful Wordsmiths dead and the Great Libraries emptied of all their words. For a society so embedded in writing and language, the Unwriting struck as deep a blow to the Teklo as if one in every ten had been carried off by some terrible pestilence.

However, the Teklo did not forget their divinity, did not forget the arts of Wordsmithing (though many of its greatest secrets were carried off or destroyed) and thus, of all the peoples of Djemity, the Teklo were the best placed to rebuild after The Unwriting. The Wordsmiths wrought great and subtle magics, teased old words and knowledge from the very air itself, and some that was lost was found again. And thus, by slow degrees, the Teklo emerged from the shadow of the tragedy and rebuilt their culture and knowledge first amongst all the peoples of Djemity. Nonetheless, much remains lost, and to this day, the Scholars treat the recovery of Teklo ancient lore to be amongst their most important tasks.

“We are the Free Citizens of the great Polis of Hannat. Our voices speak as one, our armies fight as one and our works and words shall be written into the fabric of the world. There is no greater honour than to be elected to serve such you.”

-The end of the Hustings Speech of Polité Greit Yos Jin, standing for the position of Representative in the House of the People of Hannat

The Teklo live in great Poleis, each governed from within by their own House of the People. Many of these Poleis are, indeed, City-States, with a central metropolis, carved deep into the mountainside, governing large tracts of the surrounding land, but this does not describe all of them. A not insignificant number of Poleis are collections of towns or even villages governed by a House of the People.

The Polis of Trask is located far from the sea within the Deep Mountains, spread out across several dozen valleys. The rich soil at the bottom of the valleys, fed by innumerable rivers creates fertile growing conditions for many staple crops, whilst the lush green slopes are excellent grazing grounds for herds of sheep and mountain goat. Finally the myriad of shallow, damp caves, filled with lichen and fungus support many herds of Deep-Auroch.

There are no great conurbations within Trask, but rather several hundred small villages and farming communities. So dispersed are the people of Trask that there is not even a central building housing the House of the People. Rather, the Representatives travel from village to village, holding their debates out in the open air, through wind and storm.

Most of the rest of the Teklo see the people of Trask as hopelessly backward and rural, and there are many sly jokes made at their expense. Nonetheless, Trask is the bread-basket of the Teklo and the loss of its crops or herds would be a devastating blow.

Jerad is unique amongst the Teklo Poleis in that it holds no lands outside of the great City that shares its name. By ancient decree it was decided that it should act as the seat of the Senate Chamber, the highest and holiest institution of the Teklo. Embedded deep within Mount Jerad, greatest of the Deep Mountains, it is peopled principally with the greatest concentration of Scholars in the Teklo nation, all dedicated to working under the guidance of the Senate.

Jerad is far from self-sufficient, surviving on the taxes and tithes paid to it by the other Poleis. Nonetheless, it holds great granaries and its fortifications are the mightiest in the world. A mere hundred Teklo, led by a cadre of Wardens, could hold the Polis against far greater numbers and there are many more than a hundred Teklo under arms at any one time.

The Polis of Vel is not especially large, nor rich. Located near the lands bordering the Kirlsa territories, its principal distinguishing feature was that it had a high proportion of Wardens, and a generally martial population.

It now has an entirely new, and undesirable, notoriety. Not only did Warden-General Chent Fra Kat hail from Vel, but the Polis itself acted as the principal locus for his rebellion against the Senate.

After Chent Fra Kat's defeat, Vel was invested by a large force from other Poleis, and the Senate placed many restrictions on the freedoms of its citizens. In a move that even shocked many of the other Poleis, the Senate has even dissolved Vel's House of the People and refuses to allow new elections to be held. Even outside of Vel, there are no few voices which question this action.

“Ah daughter, my daughter. You are now of an age that you must leave the Family, though, of course, you will return. Perhaps we will apprentice you to Master Armourer Hait Yos Karik, a good family if you decide to become a Warden. Maybe you will learn Rhetoric at the feet of Representative Hesta Yos Shen. An honour certainly. You are bright enough to go to an Academy and learn the ways of the Scholars. There are many opportunities for a Scholar with initiative. But no, none of these I think. Your grandfather's Oath-brother is Wordshaper Odo Fra Maas. It is to he that we shall 'prentice you. Be glad, and pack your things, you leave in the morning.”

-The words of Greta Yos Soyrou to her daughter, upon her tenth birthday.

By far the largest section of Teklo society is made up of the Polités. In the other, lesser societies, who someone is born to, or what trade they follow, are central to how their interactions together are governed. For the Teklo, the lowest and meanest shepherd is the equal of the richest and most powerful merchant and none within Teklo society would ever dream of claiming otherwise. This fundamental equality within the Polités is based in their unfettered right to vote and stand for office. Be they potter, or mason, street musician, or hearth-father this common bond is the defining feature of all the Polités.

Wardens and Scholars retain the right to vote, but are considered to have tied their voices too tightly to alternate structures of authority, which, whilst quite right and proper, are incompatible with the holding of elected office, whilst the Wordsmiths, in living apart from the Laws are forbidden even from voting upon them.

This is not to suggest that most Polités are interested only in politics, for the depth and breadth of Teklo society is contained within this Caste. The huge Poleis, carved into the sides of mountains were not built with words alone, and nor were the great Civic Works which fill them, but rather they were born in the mind's eye of careful architects and brought to life by skilled stone-cutters. The citizen-armies of the Teklo are armed with weapons and armour built in massed manufactories, according to careful specifications laid down by conclaves of Master Armourers and Swordsmiths. Moreover, it would be a mistake to think that the Teklo stay hidden within their mountains, cut off from the outside world. Trade caravans travel far and wide within Djemity seeking profits and exotic goods. Enterprising Teklo will often arrange large expeditions, seeking to explore abandoned ruins deep within the wilderness, in pursuit of great treasures. Finally, Diplomatic missions regularly visit the other Peoples, intent on maintaining good relations (and if a little light espionage accompanies such missions, well, where is the harm in that?).

In short, the Polités are united in their political equality, but live through a hundred, a thousand different trades and lifetimes within the broad expanse of Teklo society.

The Polités learn the Wordsmithing Path of The Mastering Tongue.

The Polités take either Diplomat or Organiser as their favoured skills.

The Teklo bureaucracy is the bedrock of the good social order that is enjoyed by the Confederation. However, entry in to and progression within the bureaucracy is determined by extended examinations, both oral and written, with the higher posts becoming extremely competitive. As such, all members of the Teklo bureaucracy are granted the honorary title of Scholar.

It would be a mistake, however, to imagine Scholars as quiet, self-effacing individuals buried under piles of paperwork. Some, it is true, do follow this path. Others, however, are more ambitious. They seek to curry favour with one Representative or another, to tie themselves to the up and coming scion of a powerful family, or to attract the attention of an elder statesmen. These Scholars will tend to remain with their Representative wherever he goes, relying on generous stipends when he is not in Elected Office, and living off the fat of the bureaucracy when he is. Of course, such positions often require a high degree of subtlety and a willingness on the part of the Scholar to engage in often highly illicit activities. Some of these Scholars amass such power and resources that whilst ostensibly they serve a Representative, in practice they are their own masters. Masters or servants however, these individuals are rather less paper-pushers and are rather more spies, liars, thieves and even assassins.

One other type of Scholar exists. Those Scholars who work within the Bureau of Information are expected to travel outside the Deep Mountains and, depending on their expertise, either to investigate potential threats to the Teklo, or to track down that which was lost to The Unwriting. These being their principle responsibilities, they are usually given a high degree of latitude regarding where they expend their efforts.

Scholars either learn the Wordsmithing Path of The Words on the Page or they learn The Scribing Words.

Scholars take either Researcher or Master of Shadows as their favoured skill.

Military Service is considered to be the duty of every able-bodied Teklo, and usually within a decade of reaching physical maturity (around about twenty-ish) they will spend a full year under arms, undergoing basic training and being deployed to a border fort. After that time, they are expected to maintain their combat readiness with regular mobilisation of entire divisions for further training.

A select few men and women go further in developing the military arts and become Wardens. These individuals form the backbone of the army, some training themselves in tactical and strategic thinking, others preparing themselves to form bastions of calm and authority, standing tall and strong in the front line, even in the midst of the most chaotic of battles.

One other significant duty lies with the Wardens. The Deep Mountains, with their myriad of deep natural caverns have proved to be an haven for, it is feared, at least a dozen Great Wyrms. An elite unit, called the Deep Wardens, delve deep into these caves, seeking out gatherings of Wyrmlings and slaughtering them. Many Deep Wardens descend into the chthonic darkness, never to return, but their vigilance and courage is greatly respected within Teklo society.

In the last year, Warden-General Chent Fra Kat, rose up in rebellion against the Senate, calling the it corrupt, deceitful and worst of all, a blasphemy against all those who bear True and Secret Names. Many Wardens joined him, but most of the Legions sided with the Senate and the rebels lost. Most of the rebels were killed, but many are imprisoned, awaiting trials and the death sentence.

Wardens learn either the Wordsmithing Path of War-Whispering or they learn The Scribing Words.

Wardens take either Weaponsmaster or Strategist as their favoured skill.

The Order of Wordshapers is as old as any organisation within the Teklo and older than most. There are only few Wordshapers, some several hundred overall, and their position within Teklo society is unique, for ancient injunctions passed unanimously down from the Senate Chamber in years gone by have granted separation from all other regulations and laws. Thus it is that the Five Grandmasters run the order according to their own internal declarations and laws.

The Order sets itself to having three principal roles within Teklo society.

First and least of these is the command to record and protect the Dictates of the Tongue the highest and holiest laws of the Teklo.

Second and most secret of these is the law that the Wordshapers be the guardians of Teklo divinity. Whatever the danger, from within or without, the Wordshapers will permit no threat to the Teklo people.

Last and highest of these is the injunction to grant a True and Secret Name to every child born to Teklo parents. Without such a name, or if such a name is granted too late, the child will never become divine, will never achieve their fullest sacred nature.

Wordshapers may learn any and all of the paths of Wordsmithing.

Wordshapers take any one Teklo Magic as their favoured skill.

“Greetings Scholar Vos Fra Hanoun, I believe I shall have need of your skills. Two Kirlsa Tribes, the Josansha, and the Waysan, bordering our territories have formed an alliance after years of internecine conflict. This state of affairs is not acceptable. A trade delegation is being sent to speak with the Waysan. Accompany it and hide this letter upon the chief's youngest son. The rest has already been arranged. Succeed at this and you will be well rewarded.”

-A whispered conversation within the corridors of the House of Representatives of Hannat.

The Teklo recognise the value of the trading opportunities offered by a close relationship with the Aquienos. Generally, however, they maintain numerous small diplomatic missions with the Aquienos, attempting to forge relationships with individual ships' captains, rather than binding agreements with the people as a whole.

The principal reason for this arrangement is that the Teklo find themselves deeply uncomfortable with the collective decision-making system adopted by the Aquienos. It is, in the eyes of the Wordsmiths, a corruption of Teklo Republicanism, and even, potentially blasphemous. As such, where possible, the Teklo try to avoid making deals which will involve large sections of Aquienos society and thereby associating themselves with their unclean and twisted “democracy”.

There exist old records which speak of the Becquerel, holding them in wary respect, marvelling and fearing their power over life. Initial contact with the modern Becquerel was, therefore, cautious at first. Diplomatic missions have been sent out with the goal of forging links and, more importantly, gathering further intelligence. Initial reports appear to indicate a degree of openness and trust on the part of the Becquerel, but equally a worrying disregard for the written word, which makes longstanding agreement between the Teklo and Becquerel difficult.

Nearly a century ago, the Teklo and Sylphim entered into a great and destructive war. The Books of War record the origins of the conflict as lying firmly with the Sylphim and their repeated raids on Teklo settlements, following arcane and strange aesthetic imperatives.

Over the course of the conflict the War-Whisperers brought down several flying Battle-Islands, as well as one of of their largest Floating Isles and all within were slaughtered. However, in retaliation, the great Mountain Fastness of Raksan was sealed up by Sylphim Earth-Channellers and all within perished.

In the face of these terrible tragedies, both sides came to a peace accord, but simmering hatred remains and when the two peoples meet, one can be sure to hear the Teklo repeating the Curse of the Enemy under their breath.

The warring Kirlsa have represented a constant threat to the Teklo people, with different Tribes taking it upon themselves to raid for sheep and valuables every Summer. Knowing full well that short of an all out war, whose outcome would be, at best, uncertain, these raids will not be stopped by brute force, the Teklo instead send emissaries amongst the Kirlsa, and attempt to set the various Tribes to raiding each other.

Ironically, this close association means that of all the peoples of the world, the Kirlsa are considered, by the Teklo, to be their closest allies. Certainly, it is the general diplomatic opinion that they would certainly not want the Kirlsa as enemies.

I, Scholar Lote Fra Jin, brother to Greit Yos Jin, do write these words in stone. Let them stand for as long as rock will hold them.
I swear upon my True and Secret Name that I will bring down the Ka Family; make a ruin of their Merchant Caravans; take their Traded Stock from their Warehouses for pittance and write their shame in the Book of Letters for all to see.

-An act of The Scribing Words written on the Jin Family Hearthstone

Those Teklo who have mastered this form of Wordsmithing understand that as a Divine Being writes on to paper or stone, they also write on to the substrate of the world. As the pen scrapes ink, or the chisel chips the stone, so the Teklo Wordsmith wears grooves into reality, grooves along which the world flows more readily. Each individual act of writing is individually weak, and it is principally in the mass of the Teklo bureaucracy that the full force of The Scribing Words makes itself known. But within that context it is capable of great feats, marshalling the efforts of thousands and tens of thousands towards single goals.

The Scribing Words aids Organiser.

All words spoken by a sacred being, by he holder of the True and Secret name are holy and powerful. Nonetheless, those Teklo who are proficient in The Mastering Tongue raise this from a mystic truth, into a potent expression of the sacred. As the Wordsmith speaks, they lend their words weight, consequence and force. Their proclamations of honesty are impossible to doubt, their accusations unstoppable, their rhetoric as grand and majestic and the tide, sweeping all before it.

The Mastering Tongue aids Diplomat.

As the Teklo speak and write the world around them with their words, so, they can read the grooves left by them also. This art is subtler than the others, but no less powerful. A true master can walk into a library and make the very words on the pages dance for him, draw them up and breathe them in, learning all that is relevant within hours. A Teklo can even wipe the words from existence, remove them and leave them as if they never were.

The Words on the Page aids Researcher.

The Warden-General stands in his command-tent, over a mile behind the battle lines, and whispers the order to attack. His words are carried through the air, twisting and turning until they reach his troop commanders. They stand, whisper their replies, secure in the knowledge that it will be heard. They speak the words and the Wardens hear the commands across the quarter-mile remaining. Then, from deep within their throats they begin the War-Chants and Battle-Hymns, which the men and women within the divisions begin to pick up the song. The army marches, its words filling the air until no other sound can be heard. When the Teklo march to battle with their War-Whisperers, the very air thrums with the sound of their eventual victory.

War-Whispering aids Strategist.