Why would a weapon of war cause more fights than a highly religious symbol?
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Obun-Kamra unravels the Stone with shaking, arthritic hands. It's a deep brown, almost black, a ball of warped meteoric glass. It's hardly the size of a fist, but it causes a reverential silence to come over the whole Pavilion. The Skyrock.
"What is the meaning of this, Obun-Kamra?" Asks Ujja-Ka.
"One hundred years ago, quite soon after -Ahack huck cuhk-" Ulla-sha pats him softly on the back until the coughing recedes. "Quite soon after I was hatched, really, this Skyrock fell from the heavens. Do any of your remember the stars that day?"
There's a murmuring. A old woman from the Dulgoz tribe, looking even the worse for wear than your Chief, stands and croaks, "Aye. I saw'd the sky that day. There was a new star that night, but it felled and led us to the Skyrock you're holdin' in your hands right now, Obun-Kamra, much respec'."
"And the last week, there has again been a new-"
"Are you telling us, that there's going to be another skyrock?" Asks Dumun-Ka, looking skeptical.
"Is that not a good thing?" Naun-ka asks, rolls jiggling.
"Please, Chieftans, allow our esteemed friend to speak." The high-king says, laying a hand on the shoulder of the goblins nearest him.
"This star has not fallen yet. I do not know what it means, but if it does not bode well it must bode ill. I only wish to alert the chieftans to this matter, as well as act as the voice-" another coughing fit pauses the speech for a while, "-the voice for our shaman, Ulla."
Ulla is dressed in her full regailia for the meeting, and the wooden scales and fake skull of a lizard (carved of mushroom stalk solid) mke a clanking as she nods.
Obun-Kamra leans on Ulla and says, "We should contact the other tribes, to see if they too have this star in their sky. If they do not, then perhaps we are doomed. If they do, it would be good to have bonds with foreign brothers."
"We need no help from the east. What reasons do we have for contacting them besides cowardice and paranoia?" Ujja-ka asks in a reasonable tone unfitting to her inflammatory words.
"Marriage." Says Ulla, interupting. "A intertribal marriage to strengthen relations. But the eastern tribes have the acceptance of the proposal on the woman, so we'll have the advantage."
A young goblin walks out. By her age you can tell she's a broodsister of yours, but you've barely spoken to her.
"This is Alca-un." says Ulla bluntly. Alca gives Ulla a deathglare, which slides off Ullas back with more fluidity than water itself. "She's never going to get married so she's the perfect candidate for feeling out the Far Tribes."
There's an awkward silence as the council processes how to respond. Ulla-sha is being rude beyond belief. It's quite obvious she doesn't think highly of Alca.
"She's frail," says Akun-Kaka, looking her over. "She'll need a guard."
"I'LL DO IT!" cries the one-eyed apprentice from your last few weeks of training. He looks her over like a piece of meat and obviously enjoys what he sees. Alca looks about to explode with anger at being treated this way.
"Can I have someone else? Someone nicer, like an Elf or perhaps a ancient death demon?" Alca says sarcastically.
"Fine. Anyone else who wants to volunteer can go. Anyone?" Several hands raise immediately; Alca isn't a badlooking sort. Due to the nature of breeding among Goblins broodbrothers and broodsisters are rarely genetically related, but her actions don't put her good looks to their best use.
Do you wish to volunteer? You're sure you'd be better behaved than some of the others (one looks older than Ulla and is drooling slightly.)...
Poll
6 (31.6%)
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Topic: The Starborn [Xenofiction?] (Read 73498 times)