Urlan
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| Nation State | None (Tribes) |
| Ruler | High Artok (High Chief) |
| Other Present | Varied |
| Languages | Oortaan, Common |
| Religion | Vaired |
| First Recorded | 5,000 BC |
| Demonym(s) | Urlan |
From the far north stampede the Urlan, a society of beast-folk that roam the wilds, lording over all manner of beasts and creatures with their unrivaled hunting skills and large size. Urlan are a relatively rare sight, and much of their existence remains a mystery to many, even though the Urlan have been around for millennia. With their formidable size and high aggression in their natural territories, many of the lands the Urlan inhabit in little more than roving clans or tribes, have been declared off-limits by surrounding nations due to the danger the Urlan pose. Yet, these lands are equally home to many unraveled mysteries and treasures, drawing prospectors and adventurers alike to the frozen wastes. Many of them perish in these inhospitable lands at the hands of the Urlan, while others join their ranks and are transformed into the very beast-folk that hunted them. The Urlan are perpetually caught in a mental struggle between their past lives as Ailor or Elves, and their new lives as the savage yet noble Urlan. Even those who return to Regalia have trouble soothing to peace their call of the hunt and instinct-led behavior, with the rigid lifestyles of the Imperial capital. Much of what it means to be Urlan, is to discover one's self and one's own role in a strange society, and how changes to one's mind affect the true self. Note, the Urlan page contains some elements of body-horror, when this is discussed, it will be clearly noted.
Design
At first glance someone might mistake the Urlan for yet another group of Asha, but there are very distinct differences. Firstly, Asha are animal-people with very distinct animal designs, while Urlan defy any one specific animal-like comparison. Their heads are bovine or goat-like, yet appear more like early Pliocene megafauna in their unfamiliar facial structures. Secondly, Urlan always have an arrangement of horns, tusks, or sabreteeth that are pronounced, and their general appearance is more fantasy-oriented than any particular fur pattern or shape design. The best way to describe Urlan, is to refer to them as fantasy-Minotaurs, with the difference here being that their heads never quite resemble bovine heads, but inspired by them. Within Urlan design, there is a great deal of variation possible due to their creation origin:
- Eye Colors: Urlan eyes can be any combination of eye colors, including sclera colors. More common are colors reminiscent of the other people of Aloria, like blue or green or brown, but it is entirely possible for an Urlan to have orange eye-whites and white irises. If an Urlan is Godborn or Arkenborn or other condition that causes eyes to appear a particular color, their eyes default to those conditions with dark sclera.
- Fur Cover: Urlan can either have fur covering their entire body, or only their shoulders and head up, retaining the skin tone and appearance of their pre-Urlification. The technically more canon version of their appearance is to have their full body covered in fur, but Players have the option to play around with this concept to suit their preference. They may even choose to make only specific body parts covered in fur, but the head must always be covered in fur and beast-like.
- Cloven Feet: Urlan can either have legs with hooves, either in plantigrade or digitigrade shapes, or normal humanoid legs with feet. The technically more canon version of their appearance is to have furred legs in digitigrade shapes with hooves, but Players have the option to play around with this concept to suit their preference. Urlan can even have tails such as short fluffy ones, or long tails with tufs of fur at the end, like a lion's.
- Urlan Faces: Urlan heads should resemble certain animals (like Wild Cattle, Bison, Elk, Deer, Megatherium, Ancylotherium, Goat, Mouflon, etc.) but not exactly. Urlan are meant to have more creative or imagined facial features that defines them as beast-folk but not just appear like an anthropomorphized cow. We strongly recommend players experiment with fantastical fur patterns, horn shapes and arrangements, claws, teeth, tusks, and other cranial adornments and details.
- Urlan Size: Urlan are exclusively large. The Urlan were designed by divine hands to be the tankiest and brawniest of possible sentients on Aloria, and so all their members should be appropriately large in body frame and muscularity. While it is, in theory, possible to play a slim or delicate Urlan, such an Urlan is a mockery and aberration among them, and usually a sign of failure and an inability to compete. Urlan are meant to be the "tank" choice for MassiveCraft.
Heritage Traits
When designing a Character, Proficiency Points allow for a limited Ability selection with Point Buy Packs. Heritage Traits adds free Packs and Mechanics on top of that to help with cultural themes. Free Packs grant Abilities usually, while Mechanics change the way a character functions in Roleplay through subtle, and usually out of Combat ways. In essence, Mechanics just add aesthetic flair that invest in the niche of each culture. Free Packs never raise Proficiency Points, but the character must be able to purchase them normally. (ex. if a character is a certain Affinity that locks them out of a category, they cannot take that specific free pack and must choose the alternative option.) If a Free Pack grants Magic of some type, that Magic can be of any Alignment the character can normally choose, or limited to a select alignment, which will always be written in the Free Pack description. Mixed Heritage characters (i.e. characters born from two parents of different Cultures) may take one parent's 'Free Packs' and mix and match up to 5 Mechanics from both parents, although some Peoples cannot produce Mixed Heritage children (due to Magical/Fantasy reasons). Urlan cannot be included in Mixed Heritage Characters, as there is no such thing as a "Half-Urlan" (explained in Urlan reproduction).
Free Packs
- Urlan can choose one pack from Training Point Buy for free.
- Urlan can choose one pack from Athletic Point Buy for free.
Mechanics
- Urlan can declare one person their "Ward" (does not need consent), which grants +1 Defense Stat (break cap up to 9) while in Emote Range. This must be declared on a Character Application to apply.
- Urlan gain +2 Defense Stat (break cap up to 9) while either in Gloomrot Forest, or while outside of the city boundaries, such as the Hunting Trails, the Forests, and roads leading out of Regalia.
- Urlan have superior metabolism, needing to eat less to survive, do not feel cold temperatures or suffer hypothermia, have night-vision in the dark, and can eat spoiled/raw/poisoned foot without issue.
- TODO
- Urlan can perform great feats of strength out of Combat (carry multiple people, throw boulders etc.). They also gain +5 in out of Combat dice roll Strength competitions.
Urlan Fusion
Dragon Ball Z Fusion explained
Urlan Magic
Explain all the complexities of Urlan Magic
Language and Naming
Talk about how they don't have a consistent process for language and naming
Urlan Biology
It is important to explain all biological factors of Urlan.
Oorl Worms
Before they can understand anything, understand Oorl Worms.
Urlan Assimilation
Explaining that most Urlan are in fact not born, but created
- Birth: Explain that birth is possible, but that Urlan can only be conceived in sub zero climates to prevent Urlan spreading globally by dragons.
- Forced Symbiosis: Body horror, but Oorl worms die outside of cold climates which is dragon prevention mechanic #2
- Willing Symbiobis: Mild body horror, same as the above
- Ritual Symbiosis: No body horror, just drinking a potion or Oorl juice or urlan blood, only process that can be done in warm climates
- Fusing Symbiosis: No body horror, merging with a wounded/dying person by accepting them in your mind collective, not really symbiosis, but a new Urlan is made I guess
Symbiosis in Regalia
Explain why Regalia has Oorl worms in cryo pods and how it applies Symbiosis legally
Urlan Biology
This section is an expansion upon the Heritage Traits, but it warrants its own distinct area on the Page that breaks from the usual template because there is so much information here. A lot of this is peripheral to roleplay, meaning it may never come up in day to day roleplay, but can be used to inform an Urlan's behavior or backstory that may end up being relevant at some point if the Player decides to deeply investigate their Character's motivations and morality. Many of the aspects of Urlan Biology and how they choose to apply it to the world has ethical and moral considerations, which will become obvious in the process of reading this section.
Becoming Urlan
While Urlan can in certain conditions reproduce normally like other sentient people, nine out of ten Urlan are actually created by assimilation which is called Symbiosis by them. This section explains these processes.
- Forced Symbiosis: This involves being forced by an Urlan to become an Urlan by having an Oorl Worm forced on the host, that fuses with the host and transforms them. This is primarily done by the more violent and wild tribes to swell their numbers.
- Willing Symbiosis: This is similar to Forced Symbiosis, but is not forceful. The host opts for the more painful transformation on purpose as a test of strength and mental fortitude. This is sometimes done in wild tribes for chosen hosts.
- Ritual Symbiosis: This involves an Urlan coaxing an Oorl Worm, or drawing their own blood, to produce a ritual concoction called Oorl Ichor, which can be ingested to slowly transform the host painlessly over the span of a few hours.
- Fused Symbiosis: This involves an already Urlan accepting the body and soul of a person who willingly fuses with them, thus producing a "new" Urlan by fusing an Urlan and non Urlan together. Further explanation in the Urlan Fusing section.
Note, while each of these can be roleplayed out, each of them require strict OOC consent, as they make permanent changes to Characters. For more details, see the Culture section, which explains these processes in more detail.
Urlan Reproduction
Urlan Reproduction (both in the literal and figurative sense) is a much-debated topic in Aloria due to their unusual process of adding more people to their collective. This section will discuss minor themes of body-horror, which are confined to the section labeled "Symbiotic Invasion". This section more generally covers all methods by which a Character can "Become an Urlan", because most Urlan are not born, but made from other people becoming Urlan. In fact, only one out of ten Urlan who exists on Aloria, was created through conventional mating.
- Normal Copulation: While Urlan can reproduce through conventional mating, this is a very unusual process that has a lot of problems associated with it. Most notably, Urlan are not able to reproduce conventionally outside of extremely cold (sub-zero) climates. If an Urlan attempts to reproduce with another Urlan in a temperate or warm environment, the child will be born as if both parents had never become Urlan. For example, if the mother was Ailor and the father Qadir before becoming Urlan, the child born would be Half-Qadir Half-Ailor, instead of being Full-Urlan, if it was conceived in a cold environment. This may seem arbitrary, but it is believed among Urlan that the Dragons created this built-in biology to prevent Urlan from increasing their numbers outside of their naturally cold habitats.
- Symbiotic Invasion: This process of Urlan reproduction is very violent and contains elements of body horror. Most of the violent Urlan tribes in the very cold climates of Aloria, engage in a process of abduction-assimilation by which they fight or track down non-Urlan, capture them, and then forcibly turn them into Urlan. This process is done through the Oorl Worm which these wild Urlan tribes capture and domesticate. When they have chosen a captive that they think has a strong body and mind, they will force this worm onto the host, which then violently burrows into the host either by biting through the chest or entering the mouth, where it will find its way to the heart and fuse with it. From there, the worm releases a combination of mutagens that causes the host's body to transform into that of an Urlan. This process is considered violent and painful because it is almost always done in violation of consent (this can only be done in Roleplay with explicit consent, though), and because it involves the body's bones and muscles rapidly breaking and expanding to accommodate the body's new size. In the process, the host's mind also fuses with that of the Oorl worm, which introduces new memories and alters their persona depending on how strong their mind is. For more information on this, see Urlan Mind further below. Symbiotic Invasion is only possible in sub-zero climates because the Oorl Worm perishes when it is introduced to warm climates. This, the Urlan speculate, was yet another way the Dragons tried to ensure that Urlan would not spread like wildfire across all the continents rapidly assimilating the other peoples of Aloria. Note, Regalia has created numerous cryo-stasis machines with Qadir technical help, meaning that there are actually Oorl Worms in Regalia that can be used for Symbiotic Invasion. To understand more about why Regalia does this, see the Regalian Symbiosis section further below.
- Symbiotic Invitation: This process of Urlan reproduction is far less violent, and is considered more ritualistic. It is also the only process that can occur in warm climates due to it not always needing an Oorl worm. Symbiotic Invitation involves an Urlan either coaxing an Oorl Worm to turning into a liquid voluntarily to be converted into an ingestible potion, or drawing from their own blood and ritually turning it into what the Urlan call Oorl Ichor. When Oorl Ichor is ingested, it transforms the host into an Urlan over a slower period of time, usually a couple of days or hours, which makes the process effectively pain-free
- Symbiotic Accident: A Symbiotic Accident is very similar to Symbiotic Invasion, except it does not involve any other Urlan, purely the host and the Oorl Worm. Oorl Worms occur naturally in extremely cold climates, and it is not unheard of for an explorer or a soldier who had wandered too far into the wilderness to stumble onto a lone Oorl Worm in the wild. Oorl Worms are extremely skittish creatures that primarily try to escape when discovered, but failing this, will attempt to perform Symbiotic Invasion (just without the help of another Urlan) as a survival instinct by leaping onto the prospect host and attempting to fuse with them. This is another way that non-Urlan can become Urlan, to accidently stumble into the territory of an Oorl Worm and have S
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