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Wolákani

Among Gods and Elements

It is said that when Ataba and Guabanca were in the midst of creating the Hurákani ancestry, that Yokaho and Boina stumbled upon them and became concerned. Would an ancestry made up of the elements of water and air together not throw off the balance of the elements and the natural order of Boricubos? In an act of jealousy and mutual courtship, they both plotted against their parents in order to create an ancestry of their own. Their offspring were the wolákani, a hybrid of Yokaho’s stability of the ground and Boina’s fiery emotions. The two differing personalities balanced each other out well, making the wolákani ancestry one that was slow to anger but fierce and ruthless if it did come to violence.

Boina’s Breath

The two deities introduced the wolákani in a small eruption of Boina’s Breath, which harmed nobody, but scared all on the archipelago. After all, the volcano had laid dormant for thousands of years, and now it suddenly erupted. From this small eruption came a lava flow that looked like it was about to consume a portion of the jungle, but just when the lava seemed like it would destroy everything, Yokaho and Boina transformed it all into the ancestry of wolákani that inhabit the archipelago today. While the volcano that dominates Boricubos’ northernmost island is now active, Boina has promised not to allow it to cause ruin to the archipelago’s inhabitants, and instead let it be a breeding ground for new wolákani.

The Inhabitants of Boricubos

After they were introduced to the world, the wolákani, like the Hurákani, were quickly given their name to match the disaster that formed them. And though the hurákani did literally fight a natural disaster in order to gain the people’s respect, the taínem quickly grew enamored with them due to their knowledge passed on from the gods: particularly that of metallurgy and other technologies previously unknown to the people of Boricubos. Though these new technologies worried and even frightened the anabaguas and Coquían, they were quickly embraced by ancestries such as the Iguacas, Taínem, and even the Baracúden, who decided that it would be best to use them to fight against the enemies of Boricubos.

Of course, this was before the war in the heavens began. Today, the wolákani are looked at with suspicion and fear, with some believing it would be best if they were to simply ask Boina to create a new archipelago for them, so that the land of Boricubos could be spared the effects of the war.

Dual Nature

Every wolákan must deal with the dual nature of their absolute being, even more than the Hurákani. While water and air are a good mixture for one another, as they both like to flow freely and without obstacles, fire and earth are in many ways opposites. Those wolákani in touch with earth tend to be calmer, and patient, looking to help their communities by creating tools, defenses for their villages and cities, as well as weapons of war. The wolákani in touch with the element of fire tend to be more rash in their thinking, quickly jumping to battle as a viable strategy for any external threat, and often doing so preemptively.

Even with this dichotomy between wolákani that are more in tune with fire and those more in tune with earth, they are still beings made up of both elements. Even the calmest igneous wolákani has a burst of fire within their souls, and even the most rash and destructive magma wolákani can sit down and analyze a situation without jumping to an impulsive decision.

Wolákan Adventurers

The wolákani are made up of a varied group of adventurers, however, because of their raging emotions, they often become barbarians. Those who can keep their emotions in check, instead become inventors, fighters, magi, and wizards while the rare few who are in tune with the element of earth become rangers or witches, hoping to preserve the land.

Religion

Almost all wolákani worship two deities in particular, their patron deities and literally the parents of the first wolákani: Yokaho and Boina. Depending on their disposition, they might worship one over the other, believing that their dual nature must come from both of their parent deities.

The only god that the wolákani never worship is Ataba, who they believe is their mortal enemy for wanting them wiped from existence. They see her and her followers, such as the Baracúden Ataba’s Faithful , as enemies that must be destroyed if peace is ever to be brought to Boricubos.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Slightly shorter than most humans, wolákani are humanoids comprised of rock and fire in varying degrees. Depending on the balance of the elements in their forms, they may appear more earthen or fiery. Some appear almost solid, with only small veins of molten material running over their form. Others show nearly no rock, their bodies looking like pure magma. Their figures shift slightly depending on the amount of fire in their form, though they typically remain recognizable. Heat rises from their bodies, but typically not enough to threaten those around them or destroy nearby property.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Wolákani do not have genders, as they are formed from the lava that flows from Boina’s Breath, so they take on names in either Terran or Common, usually representing either the forceful nature of fire or the unyielding expression of earth.

Sample Names

Terran Names: Akatan, Bokutra, Daikoto, Hatroni, Katalan, Mokari, Staton, Tempora, Vakite, Yukao; Common Names: Beautiful Crystal, Blazing Tree, Darkened Basalt, Devouring Embers, Everburning Heart, Intense Inferno, Lifegiving Land, Piercing Obsidian, Raging Bonfire, Strong Mountainside

Common Myths and Legends

Elemental beings created out of both fire and earth, the wolákani are the perfect expression of both creation and destruction: with the element of earth being used as a symbol of land expansion, and creation, such as in pottery, and the element of fire representing raw and untamed emotion, as well as the destruction of anything that it touches.

I just can’t believe that we wolákani are the sole cause of everyone’s problems in society. We didn’t ask to be made. We didn’t ask for a divine mandate from our creator to be ordered! But that is exactly what happened. We were born out of the peak of Boina’s Breath , not because we asked the goddess and Yokaho to create us, but because they wanted to create an ancestry of their own to balance out what Ataba had done. Not only can I not blame them, I am happy they did. I get to destroy the enemies of my god and goddess personally, and without mercy. People sometimes forget that about we wolákani, and the volcanos that we were born out of. We are creators at heart, yes, just as Boina’s Breath created the land we walk on today, but in order to create, first we must destroy what was already there. And what I see on this archipelago are my gods’ enemies.
— Wolákan Barbarian

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Unlike the Hurákani, who were welcomed nearly everywhere they went when they first arrived on Boricubos, the wolákani decided to stay near the coastal cities after being resoundingly kicked out of the jungles they hoped to call home. The Anabaguas were especially frightened by their presence and were supported by the Coquían, who believed that one simple mistake or one rogue wolákan who decided to set the jungle ablaze would destroy the habitat for everyone on Boricubos, killing tens of thousands of civilians, flora, and fauna. Due to this rejection by the Eldest, the wolákani did not resist, and simply moved to the coastal cities along with the Taínem, who welcomed them with open arms, wanting to learn everything about the technologies that the gods had ingrained in the wolákani’s minds. The wolákani have adapted so well to taínem society, in fact, that they listen to the every whim of the cacique of taínem villages and cities, as if they were taínem themselves.

Stats
  • HP: 10
  • Size: Medium
  • Speed: 25 Feet
  • Ability Boosts: Strentgh, Intelligence, Free
  • Ability Flaw: Charisma
  • Languages: Common, Terran (Uncommon: Coquían, Ignan, Iguacan, and Taínem)
  • Traits: Humanoid, Wolákan
  • Senses: Darkvision
Related Organizations

Articles under Wolákani



Cover image: by Daniel Brorsson

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