Plissa

intro

The line steps forward.

He counts each breath, each blink of his eyes. The inhale, the brush of soft lashes against cheek. The exhale, the sudden clarity of the world around him. He's terrified, truly, as most of those surrounding him are. They've gathered all the pupils in Reystum, and brought them here, to Kitona. A reveled pinnacle of the entire kingdom to most; a definitive death sentence for some.

He's never worried about this day. Where murmurs flit around him, only silence has rested between his ears. There's been no cause for concern, honestly (besides perhaps the most obvious but he tries not to dwell on that).

The line steps forward.

But, with all their meddling, there was still an element of chance. A fact that Pliro despised, a fact that kept him up at night. But there wasn't any cause for concern, really. He says really to sound certain, but he means hopefully because he's not.

Pliro Sasanas.

The line steps forward.

about the species

Occasionally, the 'alpha' species--the species that first established the new genus--can still be found. This is observable in quite a few geni: Draik, Krawk, Skeith, Hissi, Scorchio and, most notably, Shoyru.

The Shoyru lineage is of a particular interest due to their unusual conditions. Though they currently occupy all of Neopia, they are the only genus to have originated in the clouds. The pioneer species--Shoyruus nubus, or as they are more commonly known, Nubi--still live there to this day. However, this is the only area that the species can live in, due to the make-up of their respiratory system and subsequent need for certain atmospheric measures.

Nubi are born from shells, which are generally a light cream colour flecked with golden spots. The shells are well insultated in order to protect that fledgling nubus from the windy and occasionally freezing temperatures found on Reystum. The incubation period of a nubus is generally around 5 months, with the trademark horn developing around the 4 month-stage. This horn, measuring approximately 2-3 inches, has the strength of human fingernails and is used by the hatchling to break from its shell. Once the newborn is free, the horn oxidises and has the same approximate strength as human teeth. Small wings adorn their backs, though they are completely unusable.

Once they enter adolescence, nubi wings experience an explosion of growth, with the wing length far out-pacing that of their actual body. This is why most nubi schools do not have walls: plenty of room is needed in order to fit so many gangly teens inside. As an added bonus, it also provides room for the energetic youngsters to fly, as their new-found abilities become apparent. At the same time as they begin to soar the skies, nubi also find their fur to fall off in patches, and the residual 'hair' begins to be both longer and silkier. As the nubus grows, so does its horn. In the lower classes, sparring with horns is common, and can occasionally lead to the breaking of the horn: a horrific incident.

The importance of the horn magnifies as the nubus reaches adulthood. Socially, horns are used as a primary judge of character. Though incredibly superficial, the reasons for such a standard runs much deeper than face value.

about the religion

There are three sections to the horn: baram, llitim, and tunum. As such, there are also three diviner classes--cossovi, munero, pintera--that specialise in the former respectively. One of each diviner class is held in the congregation (generally found in the center of each town), though there is one High Priest who is in charge of all the diviners in all of Reystum; the current High Priest is Halram Bosquet.

COSSOVI

• from a nubus facing forward, the angle at which emerges from skull with respect to the horizontal signifies a good, to mediocre, to bad nubus (0-90°, 90-180°, 180-270°)

• a fat versus a skinny base: fragility within the family is shown by the thinness of the base (this fragility can be either in the nubus or in the family as a whole)

• if there is an extra layer surrounding the base, it reinforces the above conditions

• any divergences here indicate rough adolescence: deviations from the beginning are usually frowned upon by employers because can be seen as inability to remain constant (an idea reinforced by the higher classes)

• however, new-age nubi are starting to view it as simple hardship, a quality that neither makes nor breaks a nubus, depends on the rest of the prediction

• texture is MOST critical in cossovi stage

• spiral is generally guaranteed to be high class

• other 3 textures are grained, ridged and smooth

• grained are more likely to make things

• ridged are more like to work things

• smooth are wild cards, as such employers are less likely to hire

• also reinforces where they were born, but not definite (those of ridged horns are born in more industrial areas, those with grained in more rural settings, etc)

  MUNERO

  
  

• divergences here indicate major life choices, ie if someone has more, they must do more to succeed (used by the rich to make it seem as if their lives are harder than the average nubus)

• auxiliary branches show less major choices

• thickness of branch determines impact on nubus (can be favoured against/for the nubus)

• ending of branch can be interpreted various ways: if it ends in a split the nubus might be unsure about the decision made, or if one split side longer it might show indecisiveness but inevitable favouring of a choice, etc

• rich are infinitely more dependent on this section

• bribing munero is a lot more common than any other diviner

  PINTERA

• the shortest, but most esteemed section

• curved/jagged growth indicate a longer future

• very detail based, but also has the least elaboration in the ancient scripture

• easiest to bribe

• of interest to middle aged nubi

• if the end tapers off, more likely to have accomplished goals by death, inverse is also true (more broken ends = more unaccomplished dreams)
  
  
  
  Determining between the three sections is at the diviner's discretion, though there are many ancient texts upon which the diviner can refer. Unfortunately, the majority of the diviners do not, and as such there is a grotesque amount of corruption within the Culsorum Syndicate. Because of new-age, radical thinking, Culsorum is less popular with the younger generations versus the old. Despite this and due to the wage gap, Culsorum is more popular with the middle class than it is with the higher and lower classes as they are the ones most likely to believe in upward mobility.

art

by me

by others

writings

tempest

The first night of his new job is most likely to be his last. That's what they all say, hushed, over bowls of ambrosia. The first night is most likely to be the last. The first night is most likely to be the last. And that strikes Pliro odd, in a roundabout way. That even the people who say these words to swear themselves to the task at hand, even those who fix their entire future around this one sentence, even they will quit.

They warned them during orientation, told them just the same. It was those that were too passionate, that cared too much that eventually dropped out. It was funny, then, that those very types that sat in the audience and heard those words had then sealed their fate. How could you object? How could you prove that you didn't care, that you could make it, when that very passion to achieve was what got you in this position initially.

They said there was no shame is dropping out, and Pliro didn't believe them for a second. There were the new age nubi, the youngsters that rejected Culsorum and theoretically you could go to them. They offered rehabilitation, for those whose divination didn't suit. And there ought not to be shame in it, but there was, and there always would be. How can you hold your head high when you must bend to drink from the charity well?

He watched faces disappear. Those that always smiled. Those that never had. The extremities were lost and overwhelming neutrality pervaded the remainder of the team. Where laughter echoed, silence now reigned. A study hum was the only audible sound.

After faces came the bodies. They all became one uniform shape: a top-heavy block. Personality was shaved away, chiseled to expose a true soldier, a true form that resonated around each of them.

They'd been indoctrinated.

by bianca91040

There was always the latent anxiety of being found out, of being exposed as a fraud, a cheat, a liar. To see the corruption and deceit laying so plainly around him among the ranks of the elite, and to despise it, to loathe it so much that his head pounded with rage when he saw an undeserved medal or promotion awarded, and to know that he personally was guilty of the same deceit, the same, as it were, lie by omission, to display proudly a horn that not only was not his but was completely artificialâ€"it was an anxiety that threatened to eat him alive, outward from the core of his brain. It seemed to him almost worst than the frauds who bribe the diviners, for at least their horns were real. Yet here he was, expected to serve with this false appendage, this false history, this false future adorning his skull, knowing full well that his very life depended on no one figuring him out.

His patrols often took him through the industrial sections of Reystum, where the plumes of oily smoke obscured like a blanket the sky that he'd grown to love. It was always the time of day when the sun faded to a diffuse smear behind the smoke and clouds, and the smoke became the rust-red of old blood and everything beneath them was lit up by the iron furnaces, and glowed the same red as the sky. Here he saw the rubbish that the elites had thrown away: Nubi sleeping in the streets, Nubi with horns stained black by smoke, or most tragic and horrific, broken off. He felt something akin to pity for these Nubi; they were placed here by the mandates of their society, sorted by the gross superficiality of their horns. And who was he? He had no horn, but his family had been wealthy enough to manufacture oneâ€"and that is the word he would use: manufacture. It was not made, not produced, not formed, but churned out. He felt the same anxiety creeping onto him, into him, whenever he passed through these areas: he felt manufactured. His horn, his personality, his life and historyâ€"all created for him, thrust upon him. And it was his deepest, most basic and primal fear that he would be discovered.

His sincerest sympathies were for the poor souls whose horns, in some terrible fight or accident, had been broken, either chipped at the tip, or shorn off entirely. They had no wealthy family, no connections among the elite, no privilege like he had. He felt guiltyâ€"guilty that he had an artificial horn (and thus an artificial place in society, as he saw it), while here were Nubis who'd had a horn, a real horn, a real life, a real position in society, and here they were robbed, now merely instruments for the elite, to be used and discarded.

He remembered his first exposure to the corruption. He was young, just growing into his wings. It was at the Deltorum academy. A senior officer, the son of a long line of court Magistrates, was being promoted, having been drafted into the Reytorum after only three years in Deltorum, a remarkable feat for someone so young. A Pintera testified to his high birth and successful future, while the audience cheered his promotion. It was his father who told him about the corruption.

It's common, he said. The Ubinot are almost completely discarded these days. You have power, you have wealth, you have influenceâ€"you can do anything, go anywhere.

What do you mean? Pliro asked.

I have known that Nubus since he was a hatchling. I watched his horns grow. He should be a millworker.

Do you really believe that?

Pliro knew that his family were devout followers of Culsorum, but he also knew that his father cared deeply about the underclass. Outwardly his father was strictly conservativeâ€"he had to be, as a court lawyerâ€"but he had compassion.

No, his father said. I do not believe that our lives should be decided by the look of our horns. But that boy? His grandfather financed his divination. That Pintera is the worst of them all, grown fat on the opulence of corruption. I have seen so many Nubi lives wasted because they were not born into power. The elite can pay to have one of their own kick ten others off the ladder.

What about us? What's the difference between buying a horn and buying divination?

His father became very still. Slowly he turned to face Pliro. He rested a paw on the tip of Pliro's horn. I have seen many lives wasted. I will not see yours fall to the same fate. This is the way it must be. I am sorry.