Tolek

Healing herbs and drugs, and the knowledge of how to use them: The forests of Tolek produce many unique compounds, and the knowledge gained by the mages and their connection to the land and other animals has granted the healers of the empire considerable understanding of the intimate workings of the body and how to effect them.

Textiles and dyes: Tolek produces large quantities of fabric woven from llama wool of varying textures, weights, and weaves. From summer-weight fabrics as soft and sheer as silk, to winter-weight, thick wools if it can be done, they do it. Not only do they weave complex patterns, but the jungles supply dyes of spectacular color. Hemp is produced in larger quantities. There is a particularly fine grade of llama wool that comes only from Imperial llamas, and is only rarely exported. Some quantity of exotic furs and feathers are also available, though trade in these is carefully monitored by the government and brings high prices. Cheese from the llamas is a staple of the diet, and their manure is used as a powerful fertilizer.

Tropical fruits and crops: Crops - particularly fruits - from Tolek are especially large and rich. They also produce potatoes and corn, but little in the way of wheat-crops. Also, llama cheese!

Gold and precious metals: More important than the metals themselves are the means of working them. Tolek smiths are incredible jewelers, though they rarely make anything more useful than bronze daggers. The Tolek generally avoid the use of steel and iron, even in trade, because of the rust their tropical climate causes in such metals.

Rubber: Right now, mass production of rubber is not generally practiced. However, it's an industry that could be exploited if there is an interest in the product, which has only recently been introduced to the world. While the Tolek do not refine rubber to a high degree, they do have uses for it. So far, it has not been utilized as a trade good, with most of it being used as thin soles for shoes, waterproofing, and balls for play.

Woods: It's a jungle nation full of large trees.

There is a magic in the Tolek empire, one that ties the people to the land and its other inhabitants in a most intimate fashion. The magic is part of the land, and comes from the land, yet is in no way external to those in whom it finds expression. It is both in the Tolek and around them.

In Tolek, there are two types of animals, the great and the small. The small animals are those known to all places, of average size, intelligence, and characteristics. The great animals, however, are subtly different. They are larger than their fellows, almost human in their intelligence. More importantly, however, each of the great animals has a soul-match.

The mages of Tolek comprise roughly five percent of the population of the empire. These people are born with a particular receptive ability which connects them intimately with the environment around them. At a basic level, all mages have the capability to sense the land, though in most, this is a vague, distant sensation of vast disturbances that manifests more as a closeness to the land, unconscious in nature. The vast majority of mages manifest this connection in finding their soul-match among the great animals.

A mage finds only one soul-match, and it may be of any species of animal, though it is believed that the species of animal in which the mage finds his or her match reflects upon the personality of the mage. There is no choice in this match. As the mage reaches the age of puberty, they begin to have dreams - as does their soul-animal - which lead the two together, often involving a quest for the young mage that serves as a rite of initiation. From this point onwards, the pair are bonded. Though no one is entirely certain why, a young mage's soul-partner is always of the opposite gender. This is seen as an indication of the importance of balance in nature and in one's life. Jaguars are particularly respected as soul animals, for their perceived position as travellers between worlds and guardians of balance, due to the fact that jaguars hunt in day and night, land and water, climb trees, and den in caves. Such pairs are rare, and usually seen as auspicious and powerful.

Great animals may communicate with other animals in the usual way of animals, and with other great animals and their soul-partner through a type of primal mind meld. This communication transcends language, and even the most powerful and experienced of mages will admit that describing it exactly to one who has not experienced it is impossible. Generally speaking, the bonding grants a great animal long life to match that of their soul-partner. For the majority of mages, this one animal will be their soul-partner for the remainder of their lives.

Sometimes, however, a mage's soul-partner will die. After all, nature is a cycle of life and death, and even the great animals may fall prey to injuries and accidents. When this happens, the mage in question often finds that their powers change. What was once a vague awareness of the world around them expands, and they find that the same rapport they once had with their partner can be found in the plants around them, and the land itself. This talent takes many years to perfect, and a number of mages, their sanity already weakened by the loss of their soul-partner, have been known to come unhinged at the realization of the vastness of life when linking with the land.

Some, about ten percent of the total mage population, tend towards this expression of the magic naturally. They never find a soul-partner among the great animals, and learn only the awareness of the land, and communication with the plants of the jungle. It is very rare for a mage to exhibit ability in both areas of magic simultaneously. A bond with a soul-partner is generally focused, but intense, while a bond with the land itself is broad, but more shallow. A mage who displays both ranges of ability at the same time comes along once every generation, and is the subject of much talk and observation by his or her fellows.

Occasionally, a mage who loses his or her soul-partner will find another match among the great animals. Such occurences are rare, and generally considered to betoken a particular purpose for the pair.

Tolek legend suggests that the magic of the land evolved as a defense against the demons of Gateway empire. As a result of this, Toleki magic of the broader, land-based type does not generally work within Gateway empire. Indeed, attempting to use it causes the Toleki mage a good deal of pain and a sensation of being ill. Mages of Tolek also often suffer from seasickness because of their bond to land.

Religion in Tolek is centered on patronage. The Sun God is the patron of men, to whom they pray, and women are split between the Goddesses of each moon, assigned by whichever moon was fullest at the time of their birth. A woman's first flowering and a man's first kill in the hunt are both considered a coming of age and a proper time for celebration and sacrifice at their patron's temple, as is the finding of a soul-partner for a young mage.

Mages partnered with great animals also pray to the mother or father goddess or god of that species. Sacrifices can be anything from financial contributions to the temple, to crops, to small animals or simple prayers. Generally a sacrifice will have some symbolic connection to either the event being celebrated or the desire of a prayer.

The priests and priestesses of each god and goddess form their own council, whose main purpose is to see to the spiritual health of the people and the land, granting ascendency to whichever temple's powers are most necessary to the empire as a whole at the time.

Because of the nature of Tolek magic, they have very little in the way of a navy. It's widely known that Tolek mages, by and large, get violently seasick. Currently, they have an arrangement with Aquilarco to exchange mostly textiles and a few other products in return for hiring out Aquilarcan ships and sailors for trade and limited defense.

• Other nations

• Aquilarco: Tolek trades textiles in exchange for use of Aquilarcan vessels in trade. The pair are close allies, thanks to similar mindsets, and enjoy close diplomatic relations.
• Illyria: Tolek supplies drugs and the services of men bonded to birds to Illyria in exchange for the male children of those unions and flax. Serve as intermediaries in trade of tar to Tyr.
• Khelek: Tolek supplies llama wools and exotic fruits in return for gems.
• Maehdros: Occasional trade of Tolek exotic furs for staple crops.
• Pais de Leuvier: Tolek supplies woods, furs, feathers, exotic fruits, and a carefully regulated trade in exotic animals as pets in return for silks, alcohols (which Tolek does not produce), and straight currency to make up the difference.
• Tyr: Tolek supplies wood for shipbuilding, serves as middle-men for Illyrian tar, in exchange for grains and occasional livestock. Allows Tyr to use coastal port as trading/resupply for pirate chasing in return for coastal security against Landry pirates. Are beginning to trade rubber with Tyr as well.

Outsiders are occasionally allowed to visit Tolek, but it is usually only upon invitation. While the Empress has been sending more people out of the empire in recent years, she is still reluctant to allow them in. Passage into the capital city of Cuzco requires guidance through the jungles and the mountain passes by a trained adult mage with experience ranging the borders. Land mages have a tendency to close the paths behind visitors, making it difficult for those who have been to Tolek once to gain entry a second time without a guide.

If you're interested in having been to Tolek, please send an @mail to Tezca to work out details.