Drykas, riders

[Fallan Windchaser]

Hiya,

I was wondering about Drykas, tattoos and riders. In the Drykas race entry in the wiki it says

The Drykas only get tattoed when they get chosen by one of their striders as a rider. Age has no factor. A child can be chosen anywhere from the time they learn to walk to the time they die as elderly members of the clan. It all depends on the right horse coming along at the right time. Once a Drykas earns their ‘windmarks’ as the tattooing is called, they become a full fledged member of the clan.

Does this mean that any Drykas with a horse is a rider, tattooed and a full member of the clan? Somehow that doesn't seem right, so I'm thinking that this has another meaning? Any help would be great, thanks!

[Gossamer]

Any Drykas with a Cyphrus Strider that allows them to be their rider is a full member of the clan. They get the Windmarks when a horse picks them, and throughout their lives as horses age and die, these mounts change.

Drykas PCs with other sorts of mounts are not considered full members of the horseclans - and are often ostracized or considered freaks. There's a reason. Let me repost a PM I sent recently explaining this to some new members.

Okay guys... I understand your questions.

Do you remember the movie Arthur? Where at the beginning/end there are running horses and the narrator is talking about how the spirits of great horses are actually the spirits of great people come back again? That was my inspiration for the striders, only with a twist. If someone in life was well entwined and versed in webbing and used it, their spirit gets tied up in the massive web that surrounds Cyphrus... and they can't really move on. Its a danger and a blessing in both regards. Anyhow, this means most of the wise men and women, the Ankals, and any sort of mages or highly gifted people are simply interwoven too much to leave. They get either reincarnated on the grasslands as Drykas due to that fact, or they can come back as striders. Striders are Semele and Zulrav's children, gifted to the drykas to help them. Semele has a very special affection in her heart for the Drykas and wanted them to have something to help them... and gave them the striders. They had good horses before the Valterrian, but they weren't exactly Striders prior to the Valterrian. But somehow living in the bowels of Semele's body (Shes the goddess of earth) and feeding off her bounty transformed the Drykas' horses into what they are. So... because they were so proficient at webbing, the striders of 'modern day' tap the web and the energy in the web as they move which is why they can 'stride' twice as fast as a normal horse on the plains because they use the energy of the web not their own energy. And of course the web ties them to their riders even further. If a Drykas say was never tied into the web by their ankal, then they woudln't bond so easily. Striders who bond to Drykas are often relatives passed beyond.

So say you had wife you lost... a brother... a mother... a lover... and you also lost a horse and rebonded... odds are you'd bond with someone who'd passed beyond and came back.. your horse could really literally be (depending on the timing etc) a dead relative.

Jen

Hope that clears things up.

Goss

[Fallan Windchaser]

Great, thank you Gossamer!

You've explained a number of things I found confusing in the race writeup.

The Ankals are mentioned as though everyone knows what they are and the same with the striders and yet if they are explained I missed it (this is likely as I can be as blind as a bat). Even the horse entry on the Striders doesn't really cover what you've said (though I guess that webbing article I saw you mention in chat might be why).

That really was useful and helps me to fit my character in much better to having a framework within which to work.

[Gossamer]

The Drykas people are divided into seven clans all named after a gemstone (they really dig Semele). Each clan is divided into numerous pavilions. Every Drykas person (unless a slave or otherwise disassociated from their people) is a member of a pavilion and thus that pavilions clan.

Ankals are the leaders of Pavilions. So.. if you are say... a member of the Redsun Pavilion... which in turn is of the Ruby Clan - You'd introduce yourself as Fallan Redsun of the Ruby Clan. Your last name is your pavilion. The leader of the Redsun Pavilion is the Ankal. The Clans themselves are ruled by a council of Ankals (one from each Pavilion). The senior most Ankal in the clan (by vote) represents the clan on the Council in Endrykas when the clans get together to meet.

I believe Endrykas has supplemental material on this ... and so will Webbing. But most of the Ankal stuff is in the Drykas Writeup.

[Al'jaroth]

So.. if you are say... a member of the Redsun Pavilion... which in turn is of the Ruby Clan - You'd introduce yourself as Fallan Redsun of the Sapphire Clan.

Shouldn't that be, Fallan Redsun, of the Ruby Clan?

[Gossamer]

Yup. Forgive me. I'm ill!

[Sefra]

From the Drykas article, I got the impression that the second name was given and later (possibly) chosen, many times to be the same as the individual's Strider. Did I miss something in there? It could just be not finding the right article yet, but I haven't yet read that Drykas took a surname from the name of their pavilion....

[Gossamer]

Your understanding of the names, Sefra, comes from the tradition of the FIRST name. I have edited the Wiki to be clearer on this topic. The Pavilion designates the last name. Both names are subject to change throughout a Drykas PC's life.

As I will explain elsewhere, wiki lore is organic and is not always clearcut due to time constraints on authors or the evolving nature of the subrace as things get roleplayed out in threads.