How the People Angered the Sea

One of the most perplexing characteristics of the tkevsa species is the hatred and terror they feel for the ocean. This prejudice, common to all tkevsa, is impermeable to reason. No amount of explanation of the ocean's role in natural cycles has any effect on the tkevsa's aversion; it is innate and unchangeable. While this seems ridiculous on the surface, it is important to remember that barely more than a thousand years ago many humans also believed that the ocean was sentient, and that it could be destructively angry as well as benevolent.
Since the tkevsa refuse to leave Tokled, it is admittedly unlikely that any human outside of the Exploratory Corps will ever meet one in person. However, when reading accounts of the tkevsa and their cultures and habits, it is important to understand the legend that they believe is their foundation.

Summary

According to the legend, the world in the time of the first tkevsa was made of three layers: lowest was the land, highest was the air, and in between was the water, keeping the land and the air apart. The tkevsa lived harmoniously within all three. They rested on the land, ate in the water, and breathed in the air.
But as they moved between these three layers, the land heard the tkevsa speak about the air, and the air heard about the land, and they became anxious to meet each other. Then the land began to push up into the water, hoping to meet the air. At the same time, the air pushed down into the water, in order to meet the land.
The water was disturbed by the actions of the land and the air. When it heard that it was the tkevsa who had caused them to behave in such a disorderly way, it became angry and vowed to destroy everything that lived in it so that the world could be calm once again.
To save the tkevsa from death, the land gathered all of its strength and leaped out of the water, carrying the tkevsa with it. But the water fought against the land, and the land grew weak. Before the water could overcome it, the land threw the tkevsa into the air, which carried them while the land rested.
When the land had regained its strength it leaped out of the water again, and the air put the tkevsa down onto it. In this way the land and the air keep the tkevsa safe from the anger of the water, which even now promises death for any tkevsa that falls into it.

Historical Basis

Obviously the legend is factually unsupportable as told. However, as with our own myths, we must take it as having a backbone of truth. As much as the tkevsa cannot swim, they also are not able to fly the kinds of distances that migratory birds do. How they came to exist on this particular island chain, so completely isolated from any other significant landforms, is a question without a satisfactory answer. This legend comes closest to providing it.
The vengeful ocean may be taken to be one of the rotating storms we are so familiar with. If there are other large islands or vastlands further to the east, such a storm may have swept up a population of tkevsa from their home and deposited them onto these islands.
Another possible interpretation is that eons ago the tkevsa were capable of swimming, and perhaps spent most of their time in the ocean. An abrupt change in the ocean environment, such as a sudden temperature shift or contamination from multiple simultaneous volcanic eruptions, could have made the ocean uninhabitable and forced the tkevsa ancestors to leave it.

Related Species

• tkevsa

Related Locations

• Tokled