Wayang (Way-yang)
Sinister looking gnomes who dwell near the Sea of Shadow deep in Skovasil, the Realm of Shadow. Wayangs have long arms, elongated curly fingers and purple skin. They are often capable of calling upon shadow magic to aid and disguise themselves, and are often associated with dark occult magic.
Culture
Average technological level
The wayang rely mostly on primal and dark magic through worship rather than technology, but like all gnomes still have an obsessions' with crafting. They often focus on building ways to go undetected and to spread shadows while snuffing out light sources. They also attempt to craft vessels capable of sailing the Sea of Shadows, but have had little success in their expeditions.
Common Etiquette rules
While it is a common rumor that the wayang creep into children's bedrooms and whisk them away at night to sacrifice them to dark gods or twist them into unholy creatures, such a stereotype is vehemently denied by most wayang tribes as just slander and hate speech.
Common Dress code
In a strange dichotomy, the wayang love bright colors for their clothing, and have a distinct love of jewelry, often adorning themselves with many rings and bracelets on their elongated fingers and arms.
Art & Architecture
The wayang build underground hovels on the coastlines of the Sea of Shadows, often crafting surface buildings nearby that act both as workshops for them to toil in and decoys to lure attackers away from their true homes.
Birth & Baptismal Rites
All wayang children must be baptized in the Sea of Shadows to be considered pure and a true wayang. This often leads to infection with Shadow Sickness, but the wayangs believe the disease is a gift from their goddess, and those who couldn't survive its effects didn't deserve to survive.
Coming of Age Rites
The wayang have various tribal piercings', tattooing's, and other scarification rituals that they preform as they reach certain age thresholds.
Funerary and Memorial customs
The wayang believe in a process called the Great Dissolution, of which their bodies return to the shadows upon death instead of moving on to an afterlife. They often cast of their deceased into the Sea of Shadows in order to help speed this process along.
Common Taboos
The wayang are fearful of light, and thus would never work towards advancing light in the world or looking for away to undo the perpetual gloom that dominates Skovasil. They venerate the cycle of Dissolution and Reformation, so one who that tries to artificially extend their lifespan would be viewed as a heretic and hunted down.
Common Myths and Legends
A majority of the wayang worship Wouhaus, the gnomish god of shadows and trickery, but can sometimes be found worshiping other members of the gnomish pantheon. Some more radical tribes might worship The Dark Spirit, or even the the Titan of Fear, Phob, who is believed to be imprisoned deep underneath the waves of the Sea of Shadows.
Historical figures
One of the members of the villainous Darkmoon Alliance, who brought about the Sundering, was a wayang witch named Veiltar.
Ideals
Beauty Ideals
The wayang have many strange beauty ideals, often having little to do with physical appearance. Rather, they prefer extolling the alterations to their appearance, with them often going to great lengths to express themselves through tattoos and and piercing's.
Gender Ideals
Like normal gnomes, the wayang place little value on ones gender, with both males and females sharing equal opportunities for advancement in society, as long as they have the guile to work for it.
Courtship Ideals
Wayang courtships are devious battles between the parent and child, with wayang parents seeking to pair and arrange their child with a suitor. If the child has someone else that they prefer, they must enter a verbal duel with their parents, with each showcasing the benefits of their suitor choice. Convincing two sets of parents to agree to a union is often extremely difficult, with the children rarely succeeding in their choice of partner.
Relationship Ideals
The wayang are distrusted by the other races of society, and their innate deviousness means that trust is a rare commodity for the wayang. While often not overly aggressive to their own kind, this lack of trust means that most wayang are constantly competing to out maneuver each other to secure themselves or their families in positions of power.
Major organizations
While the wayang prefer to keep to themselves in the forest surrounding the Sea of Shadows, many are enslaved or pressed into the services of one of the neighboring Necromantic Baronies.
Random Wayang Homelands
| % Rolled | Homeland | Trait Gained |
|---|---|---|
| 01-40 | Shadowy Ocean | Shadowcaster |
| 41-70 | Valley | Secret Keeper |
| 71-80 | Dark Forest | Forest Senses |
| 81-88 | Crypt or Necropolis | Friend of the Dead |
| 89-94 | Non-wayang Village or City | Shadow Whispers |
| 95-00 | Unusual Homeland | (Roll on Unusual Homeland table) |
Encompassed species
Related Locations
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