Listeners

It's unfortunate that the Listeners are just a very small part of Kra —it's the only place I felt like I could truly be myself.

— From Min-aniara Laita's travel journal.

The Listeners are a group of communities with a single thing in common: acceptance of channelers. Channeling, in most people's opinion, is reserved for the singers, which many people revere as gods. Due to this view, sapient channelers are considered to steal from the gods. However, and even though the Listeners also worship the singers, they view channeling as a gift.

Members

Other than their views on channeling, which makes them pretty open-minded in other aspects as well, the Listeners are a heterogenous group. Members of all four sapient species end up being part of a Listener community after some time wandering in the wilderness. The rigid society of many trunkface cities make them the most frequent species in these communities. On the other hand, otterlings tend to be more permissive with channelers —but still, even though otterling channelers are not banished, the societal pressure often leads them to abandoning their volcanic homelands.

Magic is in the air...

Outside of Listener communities, channeling is performed by priests or shamans using a singer's imbued substance as a Key. However, since these Keys can only be used once before they are destroyed, channeling is quite rare. But not in Listener comunities.

You know you're approaching a Listener camp when you start seeing magic everywhere you look around, when every sight and every sound is somehow influenced by magic. Maybe due to the oppression they face, channelers from Kra always have an aura of... something surrounding them. Sometimes it's a faint glow, sometimes a smell, and sometimes it's the way they walk, as if they weren't touching the ground. In Kra, you know someone is a channeler just by looking at them.

Traditions

In the days I spent with a Listener community, I couldn't help but feel that they were hiding some of their traditions from me. Even though I made myself look like one of the native species, I was still clearly a foreigner. I believe Listeners share a secret code, maybe even a full language, as well as other customs that unite them beyond their common abilities.
They also have some rituals, and I was very happy when I was invited to take part. They sat in a wide circle, and each one of them channeled at the same time, without agreeing on a specific effect. The result? A beautiful explosion of feelings, the most amazing performance I've ever seen. All of my senses were delighted by them, and a myriad of positive feelings came to the surface of my soul. Truly an experience I'll never forget.