Myriad Worlds: Aeolam
To discuss the Myriad Worlds is too to discuss the Aeolam. While as a people they are far from the most populous, the Aeolam are more directly connected to the Worlds of the Velvet than any other folk.
As such, any discussion of the Aeolam as a people must include a frank discussion of the land in which they live, as the Aeolam possess an incredibly morphous physiology. Highly sensitive by nature, Aeolam are directly influenced by the climate, geology, and biosphere of their environment through a system as yet not understood by scholars. The process is gradual, but easily observable, taking less than a week for an Aeolam to completely restructure their behavior and biology, in accordance with the Aeolam’s “Resonance.” Resonance, which is a clumsy translation of the original Aeolam term ‘Waanii,’ is the natural influence an environment has on individual and collective Aeolam.
The Resonance of Aeolam caused many histories to label Aeolam on different worlds as different species, and it was not until travel between worlds became more common that the Aeolam’s nature was understood, and that the many different Aeolam are, in fact, one people.
In a manner that baffles sages to this day, nearly every aspect of an Aeolam is subject to alteration. Very few physical and behavioral traits remain, no matter the environs. For example: it is rare that any Aeolam will countenance damage to their chosen region, becoming something of a caretaker of the land. To what degree varies between individuals, but all are repulsed by the act. No matter the climate, Aeolam possess one head, two legs, two arms, four toes on each foot, and the same tear-drop shape to their eyes.
While the number of worlds and biomes in the Myriad Worlds make an exhaustive list of influences impractical, the study of Aeolam has uncovered some commonalities between varying regions. I have included here a brief description of the most commonly referenced tribes and communities of Aeolam, as an example.
The Plains of Eswintide
The Eswintide Aeolam tend to be tall, thin, and ephemeral. These Aeolam also have the pointiest ears of all Aeolam. They are shorter, broader of shoulder, and are remarkably flexible. They also tend to grow facial ridges along the nose and jaw-line. Their skin becomes pastel blue. They also eat much less. Their irises become horizontally slit.
By nature, these Aeolam, as well as those of most any savannah or desert biome, tend to focus on freedom, practicality, individuality, houses-as-shelter-only, the wind, and the color red. They tend to speak more poetically than practically, and over-use metaphor to convey their intent.
Pollingbrook of the Outer Edge
Due to the sizable number of Aeolam, Pollingbrook is sometimes considered the homeland of the Aeolam. The Aeolam of Pollingbrook do not agree with this characterization.
These Aeolam are short, thin, and have the longest hair of any region, often reaching to the knees. Their face-shape differs the most from others, becoming much rounder and broader at the top. Their facial features are smaller as well. Skins range from bright red to dull yellow. They are super-tasters, and so never season their food, leaving it quite bland to other palates.
These Aeolam are calmer than most and tend to be far more accommodating than other biomes. They are fierce introverts, depending on long stretches of meditation to maintain functionality, and are fairly stoic. They are also far more territorial than others, having designated ‘spaces’ for certain behaviors. They have very weak preferences, outside of emotional bonds.
The Sharp Hills of Shomrag
The stockiest and most muscular of Aeolam, the mountains provide a thin layer of hair/fur over their bodies, while shortening their hair. Their heads are less tall/pointed, and their skin often displays sharp or jagged patterns. Sexual dimorphism is enlarged, as well, with males portraying thicker leg muscles and broad spines along their back, while females grow larger shoulders and torsos, along with an extra finger.
While not necessarily as quiet as other Aeolam, these mountains drain the Aeolam of their mental complexity, turning them not into animals, but primitives who reside in the realm of instincts. They are still themselves, or as much themselves as any Aeolam is in a different environ, but complicated concepts are simply beyond them. They can still speak languages quite easily, but have little concern for them.
The Forests of Soudoug
The Aeolam who live in these forests succumb to thick and crusty skin, as well as striped patterns of darker hue. Ears tend to lengthen, as do limbs and fingers. Their eyes widen and lighten. Their skin becomes a cooler shade of blue, purple, or green. They are perhaps the most alien and fey looking Aeolam of them all.
Psychologically, the forest Aeolam are quiet, blunt, and rarely speak words when physical action communicates better. They sleep far less than any other Aeolam, and find great pleasure/value in decorating themselves, whether in dress or paint. They are also the most libidinous of Aeolam, mating at least twice a day, if able, though four or five times is not uncommon.
The Mountains in the Southern Province of Wren Gallen
Long curving horns grow from the brow ridges, and the eyes become colored. Their skins range from dark brown to pearl white. Patches on their skin, mostly shoulders, back, and forehead, become brightly stained with patches of color, like a salamander’s skin. Their mouths become much smaller, and their tongues much longer and thinner. Women become shorter than men, and birth happens after longer gestation and in clusters, as opposed to typical singles as with other biomes.
These Taiga Aeolam are forced to submit to baser and more primative emotions. Incapable of suppressing their immediate impulses, Taiga Aeolam are prone to rages of violence, passionate mating, ravenous feasting, and exhaustive slumber. While by no means lost to animalism, experiencing an unrestrained Aeolam can be shocking, when compared to their other biomes. Festivals abound in the Taiga. Females tend to display joy and laughter, while males lean towards tears and melancholy.
The Archipelago of Bran’ti
Long necks, four fingers instead of five. Webbing falls along their jawline to neck. Their skin becomes brightly colored, and sometimes falls to a gradient. Their skin also develops a faint gloss, though there is no clear mechanism or chemical which obviously causes this. These are also the only Aeolem who give birth via eggs, as opposed to live birth.
Perhaps most interestingly, the usual mental dimorphism that Aeolam display is translated to the physical as well, meaning an increasingly large number of intersexual Aeolam. Mental and physical behaviors become much more of a spectrum
The Aeolam of this Archipelago tend to be the most curious of Aeolam, practical experimenters and engineers. They are by far the most sexually free, though they are far from the most libidinous. Structures such as marriage or family are mostly nonexistent. Anarchic, and dismissive of hierarchical concepts. Males tend towards the color yellow, repetitive motions, and sweet-flavors. Bonds of friendship take precedence over promises of action or blood-families. Females tend towards the color green, stillness, and salt-flavors. Promises are more important, as are blood-relatives.
The Swamps of Hellebrach Hills
while the definition of Swamp varies drastically across the Myriad Worlds, there is one specific aspect that ties into Aeolam culture: that of a-gender dimorphism. Indeed, there is one certain way of learning whether a swamp is, in fact, a swamp, and that is to study the bodies of any nearby Aeolam to see if they are sexually dimorphic or not.
Otherwise, Swamp Aeolem have their jaws lengthen into small snouts, and their ears become smaller in favor of scent organs. Their irises become hexagonal. They also are the only Aeolam with broad two-toed feet,
Swamp Aeolam are the most intellectual and theoretical of Aeolam. They tend to spend their times in deep thought, almost as much as Jungle Aeolam, coming up with advanced theories, science, and technology as they scratch out formulae and logical proofs. They are far more mathematical and pragmatic than others. They develop incredibly strong preferences.
Cities
Not precisely a Biome in itself, there comes a time when the natural world no longer seeps its way into a civilized town or city, and the Aeolam react in accordance. It usually takes a large number of buildings and environmental manipulation to reach this point, but when it does, the effects are marked, and easily recognizable.
All Aeolam in cities are given strong sexual dimorphism, with the male sexed Aeolam becoming shorter and thinner, and the female sexed Aeolam becoming taller and fatter. They possess no horns, gain pointed ears, and lose all body hair excepting a small semi-circular patch on the back of their skulls, which grows long and thin. Male Aeolam keep a line of similarly long and thin hair along their jaw.
The personality of a City Aeolam will likely be more disconnected from other individuals. This may manifest as an obsession with certain trivialities or hobbies, or perhaps as a disinterested aloofness. This is not to say that Aeolam in cities do not care about others or will not engage with social customs; simply that their personalities will always veer away from establishing closer emotional connections towards other issues.
High Altitude Cities
It is not constant which altitude is considered “high” enough, only that if a region is considered “high altitude,” it affects all Aeolam in the same manner: they grow horns. Male Aeolam grow horns that are curved or spiraled, while female horns grow straight and vertical.
Warm Temperature Cities
Unlike altitude, “Warm” as a metric has been carefully measured and appears uniform throughout the Myriad Worlds. Any city which sees an average temperature of 30 degrees mercurial, 50 degrees elemical, or FF degrees trytalic is “warm” to Aeolam.
Physically, Aeolam in warm cities have multiple and varied colored skins, ranging from deep purple to bright yellow. Also, their eyes inevitably change color.
Industrialized Metropolises
Cities with strong industry and high populations affect Aeolam by adjusting their bodies on a sidereal cycle. While the length of the cycle differs for each city, the height and weight of the male and female Aeolam bodies ebbs and flows, lengthening and shortening their bodies and back again.
Binacism
Despite years of study, very little is known for certain about Binacic biomes. Indeed, for all intents and purposes, a Binacic Biome is indistinguishable from a non-Binacic Biome, save for one specific influence on the Aeolam.
Binacic Biomes influence the Aeolam as expected, save for a unified shifting of sex and gender. While there are multiple types of Binacic Biomes, the most common are either designated Thin or Conic. Thin regions invert the reproductive sexual characteristics of individual Aeolam exclusively, while Conic biomes affect both the physiological and the psychological. Other common Binacic types include Hard, Fresh, and Wound, though these are far less common.
Excentail
Excentailism is the genetic deformity exclusive to Aeolam, where the adjustment between regions and biomes in not comprehensive. Perhaps one’s hands always have five fingers, or their eyes are always colored yellow. Whatever it is, the Aeolam carry a piece of their birthed-biome with them for their entire lives. Sometimes this manifests in mental behaviors, though it should be noted that several scholars believe this is just bias, as personality traits exist and manifest between biomes for all Aeolam. Purported evidence of certain behaviors keeping a stronger hold than others have not yet been accredited by professional institutions.
Culturally, Excentailist Aeolam are accepted in society, though different regions may see Excentailists as objects of pity or admiration. Few regions view Excentailists as equals or incidentals.
The Madness
Aeolam are so directly connected to the world around them that they have a particularly interesting, if not arresting, interaction with the Velvet. Scholars and Sages from every era have tried to pinpoint a theory as to why exactly this occurs, but none have been found satisfactory on a scale surpassing the Myriad Worlds.
Aeolam who travel the Velvet are subjected to an dazzling array of maladies, both physical and mental. Physically, Aeolam may be unaffected, but most often they are subjected to brutal and painful twistings of their physical form, including boils, breaking of bones, open wounds, and other unpleasant secretions. On several occasions, spontaneous manifestations of various animalistic forms have occured, burrowing outward from inside their bodies.
Mentally, Aeolam become monstrous in manner or means. They rant and rave, or perhaps sob loudly. They speak languages not understood, and succumb to all forms of hallucinations. It is a nightmarish existence, and the only shared quality between the madnesses is a fixation on expansion, both in word and in deed.
To permit travel between the Myraid Worlds, Aeolam are usually transported in coffin-shaped chambers which grant them restful sleep until their destination is reached.
The Madness does, however, raise some interesting questions about ancient Aeolam and how they traveled the Velvet. It is clear that they did, as different cultures’ histories report discovering primitive Aeolam on multiple different worlds, but if the Velvet affects them so powerfully, how did they migrate from their world of origin? This question has led to multiple theories, the three most accepted being: the Atropsyche theory, the Origenesis theory, and the Walker theory.
Astropsyche Theory
The Astrospyche theory is simply that the Madness as we understand it now did not exist during the Aeolam’s historical period of migration. As such, the Aeolam were free to sail the Velvet on sailbarges or with primitive Rimmgongs. At some point, some kind of racial disease — or perhaps a powerful curse — prevented the Aeolam from returning to the Velvet.
As to where this affliction originated, there is little way of telling. Theories include the Aeolam spending too much time traveling the Velvet and developing something like an allergy, a curse from a powerful angry spirit or native deity, or an infection from one of the many creatures that swim the Velvet.
Origenesis Theory
The connection between biome and Aeolam is strong enough that many scholars theorize that the biomes themselves are what created Aeolam in the first place. This theory suggests that eons ago, the very land of the Myriad Worlds created individual groups of Aeolam, much as they each create trees and grass. Some believe this is evidence that the Aeolam are not natural folk, but fairie or elemental spirits.
Some disreputable scholars think this proves that the Myraid Worlds were once all one world that has since shattered and spread through the Velvet. There is no reliable evidence to support this, beyond the ranting of fools and similar unfortunates.
Walker Theory
As all know, there are beasts that swim the Velvet. They are few and far between, but their existence proves that sailbarges, Rimmgongs, and Moonstones are not requisite to travel between the Myraid Worlds. It is possible, therefore, that the primordial Aeolam possessed some natural method of travel through the Velvet that they have since lost. The Madness is therefore a residual physical memory of this ability, as the Aeolam’s body struggles to remember how to traverse the Velvet.
None of these three theories have any substantial evidence to support them, as ancient Aeolam cultures have little in the way of early recorded history, instead relying on poems, chants, and “Storysongs” as methods of record.
The Grand Junction
Though it has no climate per se, the Grand Junction is a location that, surprisingly, accommodates Aeolam and spares them the Madness of the Velvet. Perhaps most interestingly, the Grand Junction affects all Aeolam uniformly, but not completely. All Aeolam who visit the Grand Junction retain all the physical and mental characteristics of their previous environs, yet in a suppressed manner. Individuals are made lither, their personalities made milder.
Aeolam who have commented on the Grand Junction have labeled it as “quieter” and “slower” than the rest of the Myriad Worlds.