Tumerok

AC:DM Bestiary Description

The face of the Tumeroks known to humanity was that of warlike humanoids. In the early years after the retreat of the Olthoi, Tumerok raider bands were a constant threat to human settlements, sacking towns from Holtburg to Yanshi. Humanity rarely came out the better in these engagements; at one point the entire adult population of Holtburg was slaughtered or taken as slaves.

This was not the true nature of the Tumerok. They once enjoyed a peaceful, communal culture, rich in oral tradition, and a unique magic system based on ritual drumming.

But as humans always arrive on this world at one of the nine portal-nexus towns of Osteth, so do the Tumeroks always arrive on the Marescent Plateau of Marae Lassel. This trapped them on a much smaller landmass. They found themselves in a life-or death struggle with the brood of a second Olthoi Queen – not the one slain by Thorsten Cragstone and Elysa Strathelar. The Tumeroks found a way to pen in the Olthoi (which they call “Wharu”) that was as idiosyncratic as their culture.

Perhaps they could have lived in peace, if the Virindi had not discovered them. The cloaked creatures struck a deadly bargain with Aranpuh, an embittered young outcast. Aranpuh was taken and altered – perhaps the same alteration chronicled by the Aluvian Candeth Martine. So empowered, Aranpuh returned with a host of other angry young Tumeroks, and seized control of the Hea tribe.

In return for doing the bidding of the Virindi, the Hea are granted Virindi weapons and passage to the freedom of mainland Dereth. It is “Hea Arantah’s” warriors who have bedeviled humans for so long. The loose siege maintained around Dryreach, for example, is used by the tribe as a brutal training ground for new warriors.

But there was one last condition of this bargain. In order to serve as “infiltrators,” the Virindi altered the bodies of the Hea from their natural form to something more….human. Tumerok names are composed of three parts in a specific order: xuta (tribe) name, given name, and title/role within the xuta, according to the following set of roles:

Tah' chieftain

Nua veteran warrior

Awa warrior

'Itea archer

Ona scout

Aua elder shaman (literally spirit [au] companion [ua])

Auri shaman (literally spirit [au] summoner [ri])

Rea hunter

Khe drum-speaker

Ura merchant

Puh outcast or rebel (literally “closed-mouth”)

So, for example, if Manu is a warrior (Awa) of the Hea xuta, he is called Hea Manuawa.

In truth, the word “tumerok” is not their name for themselves. Tumeroks refer to themselves as Tonk, a sound that has spiritual significance to them. It seems to imply the concept of “prime mover.” It is not yet known what “tumerok” actually means, although the revulsion with which they react to it suggests it is an insult.

The Tumeroks transplanted to Dereth prefer to dwell in dry, rocky regions, and have made the Direlands their home. They have dug their own redoubts, and built several fortresses. Perhaps due to the influence of the Virindi, they have taken to using other humanoids as slaves and foot soldiers. They sometimes encroach on human settlements, engaging in both quick raids and longer sieges, using numbers to ensure victory.

The Tumeroks call their home world Ezheret-Hazahtu, although they only live on the body they call Ezheret. This requires some explanation. While a sun does rise and fall in the sky, Ezheret actually orbits another, larger planet called Hazahtu. Hazahtu, or “The Blind Eye,” is an enormous, cloud-shrouded grey-blue orb. Legend holds that when the eye of Hazahtu loses its occlusion, the Tumeroks will be judged for their stewardship of the world.

Ezheret is hot, humid, and prone to extended periods of foul weather. Gales and hurricanes are frequent, perhaps due to the unusual sparseness of dry land. The Tumerok tribes are spread across myriad archipelagos, separated by hours or days of journey by boat. This partly explains why drumming is so predominant in their culture; since it is difficult to stay in direct daily contact, friends and relations will stand on shores across from each other and pound their drums to communicate across the water. This “drum talking” is also used to stay in contact while riding out inclement weather.

The Tumeroks share Ezheret with the scavenger Drudges, as well as the perpetually warring Banderlings and Mosswarts.