No matter how long I live, I shall never understand the motivations of wizards. What possible need could there be for a codex on the nature of beasts when every child has grown up surrounded by them? Nevertheless, old friend, here is the excerpt you requested for your project from the journal of the young wizard Caspar Jacquemin. I am glad to be rid of them. Several passages here border on the blasphemous. Whatever it is you are involved in, I pray you be cautious. —Unknown The Tree of Origins The Scriptura speaks of a garden in which all life began. The location of this garden is lost to us, but within it grew the Tree of Origin, from which came the seeds of creation. Some texts suggest that these seeds were used by the original wizards before the Great Fall to work wonders that we can only imagine, and I do like to imagine. I digress. The seeds of creation were carefully guarded until, again, according to the scriptura, the Sisters of Gloria seduced a guard and attempted to harvest the seeds for themselves. In doing so, they released the seeds upon the world and very nearly doomed humanity. The seeds planted themselves in the Sisters of Gloria and every other woman save for those three families which went on to become the diamond souled rulers of Freutsche, Romalia, and Nordhlig. Nihsia, of course, has their own version of events, but the differences are ultimately semantics for the purposes of this entry. The result of the Sisters of Gloria’s actions was the Great Fall which resulted in the beasts, the diamond souled, and the scelus trees. Diamond Souled All women who survive their teenage years without Falling are, of course, able to wield their animas to sever a beast’s connection with its keeper, inflict a horrible kind of vertigo, and disconnect a harvested beast from its powers. The degree of a woman’s anima’s effectiveness varies from individual to individual, depending on a variety of factors, including practice, but the diamond souled are the undisputed masters of this ability. Their use of their animas seems almost instinctive. Diamond souled are women of families that have produced women who have not Fallen for no fewer than three generations. Each of the ruling families is diamond souled. In fact, the greater the noble ranking one possesses, the more likely it is for that individual to belong to a diamond souled bloodline. They are commonly accepted to be more pure than other humans and their women are formidable, though I might attribute that more to the intense training they undergo, rather than their breeding. Scelus Trees These trees are twisted shadows of the Tree of Origins. There is much speculation as to the exact nature of their relationship with the Tree of Origins and very little in the way of actual known facts. What is known is that wherever one of these trees grows, Rampant beasts gather. It is my suspicion that the fruit of these trees may play some role in the asexual reproduction of Rampant beasts in the wilderness, which is why their numbers never seem to dwindle. Sadly, the dangerous nature of Rampant beasts and their tendency to gather around these trees has prevented any sort of accurate study of the subject. Falling The term Fall is used to describe a beast’s transition from woman to inhuman, bloodthirsty beast. It has never occurred in a girl who has not experienced menses and never in a woman past her twentieth birthday. For this reason, teenaged women, even among the diamond souled, are treated with great caution. One never knows exactly what might cause a young woman to Fall and no one wants to suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a Rampant beast. Keepers Just as all women can wield their animas, so too can all men wield theirs, though to radically different effect. Men can use their animas to “harvest” Rampant beasts, creating a spiritual binding between themselves and the beast commonly referred to as “roots.” The bond appears to largely be empathic in nature, to which I can personally attest. Some, however, have described instances of what appears to be telepathic communication when a connection or keeper is especially powerful. This suggests to me that each connection, despite the similarities, each connection between beast and keeper is unique. Due to the intimate nature of this bond, acquiring more data is difficult. As with women, the effectiveness of a man’s anima varies from individual to individual. Practice seems to be the dominant factor in determining strength of connection and command. All men can wield their animas. Not all men can wield them well. Those who commit themselves to the mastery of this skill and harvesting beasts for the good of their nation are known as “keepers.” A knight keeper is a knight who is also a keeper, obviously enough. These men specialize in combat-oriented beasts and train their menageries to be as dangerous as possible. They are the backbone of any queendom’s military and are largely regarded as the most powerful keepers do to the nature of their work. It is difficult to accurately measure the strength of a keeper’s anima or his skill at wielding it, but it is known that the more practiced a keeper is, the more beasts he can safely keep in his menagerie. Each time a keeper harvests a beast, he creates a spiritual connection that opens them to one another. The more of these connections a man has, the greater the strain on his psyche and spirit. A man with more than five beasts who isn’t a gibbering idiot is an impressively powerful keeper indeed. A menagerie of three beasts is considered a strong average by most knight keepers. Harvest Harvesting a beast is the only known method of returning a degree of the beast’s humanity, making them decidedly more human in appearance and restoring higher cognitive functions. To harvest a Rampant beast, a man must “open” his anima and accept the beast’s own rampaging anima into himself, letting it take root there and creating a spiritual bond. (See my earlier mention of roots.) The act of harvesting a Rampant beast is difficult and not for the faint of heart— failure tends to result in one’s face getting eaten. Only the most skilled keepers are able to perform multiple harvests in quick secession. I suspect that a keeper could potentially improve this skill, however, doing so runs the risk of harvesting too many beasts and losing one’s sense of self from the feedback of so many roots. Keepers are probably better served by focusing on the quality of their harvests rather than the quantity. Beasts The simplest description of a beast is that of “fallen woman,” though I find it far from satisfactory. Beasts are all female, possessed of a ravenous hunger for human flesh and blood that is never sated no matter how much they eat. They hold within their spirits two seeds of creation, referred to as bestia and orbis seeds, which endow them with incredible abilities. Rampant beasts are more physically influenced by their seeds than a harvested beast, and have an instinctive, if unimaginative, grasp of their powers. The bestia seed appears to be the primary influence in a Rampant beast’s behavior. Because of the keeper’s ability to command them and the sheer power their seeds bestow upon them, beasts are the favored weapons of the queendoms. It probably helps that the ruling women can all effectively disarm their knight keepers with a thought. Not all beasts are powerful. There is no guarantee of a beneficial combination of orbis and bestia seeds and there have been some truly tragic cases where the two effectively crippled the beast in question. For example, one poor beast had a whale bestia and sodium orbis. The soft metal combined with the sheer bulk of her left her effectively trapped by her own mass, slowly crushing herself. The quick actions of the newly fallen beast’s parents and a local keeper saw it hauled into a lake before it could suffocate, only for the poor creature to combust as its mineral properties interacted with the water. On the other hand, a beast whose seeds are synergized is a terrifying thing to behold on the battlefield. Had that same whale beast been blessed by the Goddess with a diamond or steel mineral instead of something soft and highly reactive, it would have been a force to be reckoned with. All beasts, Rampant or harvested, are healed by the holy hot springs on which we have built our castles to power their electrical machinery. No scientific reason has been discovered for this effect to date. It does not appear to be a question of mineral composition, temperature, or even location. Taking water from a hot spring and pouring it over an injured beast or giving it to her to drink has absolutely no effect. I have yet to test injecting it directly into the blood stream and will be sure to record my findings when I do so. A beast submerged in a hot spring will emerge with its wounds vanished and notably calmer than when it went in. Another peculiar feature of beasts, and one that cements their inhumanity in the minds of most, is their inability to read. Something about the beast’s mind is unable to put symbols together in a meaningful way. They can recognize individual letters but putting them together results in what has been described to me as a kind of dancing. The combination seems to blur and become an illegible mess that their minds simply cannot process. Tragic. I could see many uses for a beast capable of reading and writing in my work. Counting and doing mathematics in their head is still possible but reading or writing out an equation is beyond even the most intelligent of beasts. Similarly, they struggle with ranged weaponry, especially of the mechanical and combustible variety. It does not appear to be a question of hand-eye coordination, but something related to the seeds themselves. A beast might be able to fire a pistol, but they’d be hard pressed to hit what they were aiming at and likely to end up with a splitting headache. The sheer variety of seeds and combinations makes the act of classifying beasts a difficult prospect. The common practice is to name the type of orbis seed and then the type of bestia seed. For example, a beast with an aluminum orbis seed and a snake bestia seed would be referred to as an aluminum snake while a beast with an apple tree orbis seed and a leopard besia seed would be referred to as an apple tree leopard, or perhaps an apple leopard. There are a number of theories pertaining to how a beast ends up with the seeds that it does, but to date nothing definitive has been discovered. Skilled keepers pride themselves on being able to readily identify a beast’s seeds. Bestia Seeds While orbis seeds can be broken down into multiple categories, the bestia seeds are more consistent, always drawing from the animal kingdom. These seeds appear to influence a beast’s shape and psyche to a greater degree than the orbis seed. Despite the consistency, the sheer variety of the world’s fauna has scholars constantly updating their notes. Mercifully, purely aquatic animals and invertebrates are not nearly so common as birds, reptiles, and mammals or else our poor scholars might go insane from attempting to keep track, though there are plenty of these types as well. To date, there are no known examples of bestia seeds of extinct or mythological animals, though I am hopeful to discover one someday. Orbis Seeds Orbis seeds come in four categories and are the more “elemental” of the beast’s seeds. Most keepers care far more about a beast’s orbis seed than its bestia seed. Considering the truly impressive and physics-defying abilities these seeds bestow upon their beasts, one can hardly blame them. -Flora Seeds The name is something of a misnomer as it implies that these seeds draw exclusively upon the plant kingdom. They do, but they also include fungi and bacteria. Thankfully, these fungi and bacteria seeds are rare. Beasts with these types of seeds tend to quietly vanish, likely to be weaponized by a kingdom’s spy network or assassins or be euthanized as soon as possible. Beasts with Flora seeds have the ability to rapidly grow and manipulate plants around them of their seed type. More often than not, they share certain physical characteristics with their plant, such as leaves, bark, or thorns. Many prove to be photosynthetic and quite resilient to physical damage. Hardwood tree and fruit or vegetable baring plant seeds are highly sought after by keepers, the former for the obvious combat advantages of durability and mobility. As to the latter, a keeper’s menagerie must still be fed. They do tend to be vulnerable to fire and may have unusual dietary or environmental requirements. -Mineral Seeds Beasts with mineral seeds tend to take on the physical characteristics of their mineral. Highly sought after by keepers who regularly see combat for their resilience, they tend to be heavy and, aside from hot springs, avoid water. Their lung capacity is largely dependent upon their bestia seed and drowning is a very real danger. Beasts with a large animal bestia and a sturdy mineral orbis are terrifying and tend to serve the role of living siege weapons on the battlefield. -Energy Seeds While more difficult to recognize based purely on appearance, once a beast with an energy seed utilizes its ability it is almost immediately recognizable thanks to the lack of variety—especially in comparison to other seeds. Energy seeds are the rarest of seeds and among the most sought after for their combination of utility and combat ability. With most beasts unable to wield firearms or even bows, energy types possess a decided advantage in ranged combat. Rare is the beast that can fly that is not possessed of either a fire or electrical seed. -Phenomenon Seeds These seeds are easily the most frustrating type to recognize and no less common than the mineral or flora seeds. Phenomenon seeds draw their powers from events or interactions between the elements occurring in the natural world. These include, but are not limited to, meteorological, astrological, and tidal occurrences, though there are plenty others, including decomposition or oxidation. The stunning array of possibilities here has made the phenomenon seed something of a catch all for any type of orbis seed that does not fall into one of the other three categories. While this method works for the layman, what truly defines a phenomenon seed is action. To be possessed of a phenomenon seed is to be connected to a naturally occurring, if occasionally rare, activity.
