L’huine

The L'huine are a largely unknown race of people from before any existing or, at the very least, accessible records. They have been mentioned on a few different occasions by Zombies, a weird centipede woman, and even Hysteria. They seem to have some connection to The Gates as a whole along with the sinister force known as The Oni. On Daulok 07, 308, Kaswink hypothesized that the "Queens" in The Gates Special Edition Chess Set are all ancient L'huine spiritual leaders due to their masks and connections to the Smrtohnya.

Basic Information

Anatomy

On Daulok 21-22, 308, the Spiritual Travelers encountered more L'huine, particularly Zombies, within Me'kiah'brem'or. They were taller than expected at ten feet for a bookstore clerk and slightly taller still for certain guests at his shop. They had ears that looked like they were starting to form points but were mostly human shaped. Their limbs were long, and the flesh that they still had seemed soft and hairless. It is unclear if all L'huine are like this or just the zombies of the City of Rot, but if they are all around ten feet tall, then a question could be asked about Her'aen. She was supposedly there when The Necromancer first started casting her spell yet she is closer to Hysteria's height than these L'huine. She could be a child, or at least not as developed as the other folks in this city, perhaps L'huine take an incredibly long time to grow and she was young when she became a zombie. It is unknown how old she was when she followed The Necromancer into this realm, but Kaswink had another theory: That these zombies were merely descendents of the L'huine and had been changed by this realm of rot. Much like how elves long ago had changed when they fled the Spirit World, these zombies could be distant descendents of some group of L'huine from long ago, or just modified by the spiritual energy of the realm. One important detail regarding this is that Me'kiah'brem'or appeared to have architecture designed around people on the taller side. Doors, door handles, shelves, everything seemed initially designed for a taller person to use.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Despite being zombies and slowly rotting, the L'huine seen in the City of Rot were social and still had a society, economy and even law enforcement to some degree. Businesses were being operated, folks would whisper to each other near the Spiritual Travelers, and what was presumed to be an officer of the law approached DAN as they were keeping watch during a much-needed rest. This person seemed to have some compassion and merely wanted to see if the group was okay as their behavior was apparent strange to the L'huine. They were napping in a bookstore, after all.

Civilization and Culture

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

The sacrifice of Identity appears to be just as popular with the L'huine as it is with modern day elves. People with authority or power will often remove their identity by wearing masks that are either featureless or show off some aspect of their office/job. Z'emuzk'ral's Court, for example, involves the replacement of one's identity with a title representing their role. Tales of ancient L'huine from Hysteria and Her’aen both suggest that higher ranking L'huine wore similar masks and removed their identities. Božena was referred to as simply "The Necromancer" whereas the still nameless L'huine involved with spirals was just called "The Oni". "Religious leaders for the different Smrtohnya also existed. They took on titles and masks that stripped them of their identity. The Necromancer, for example, served Skorumpovaný and had followers that did the same. The Collector had followers that served Chamtivost, The Psychic had followers that served Voda and so on." In the City of Rot, a supposed authority figure approached the Spiritual Travelers while they were napping to see if they were okay. This person also wore a mask, and they provided the name "Pivoý Žrávnickt". Whether this was truly their name or their title is unclear though.

History

Zombies

Some of the little information known about them so far is that they were mentioned by the Zombie that begged the Spiritual Travelers to save her and her people from the endless life they've been living. "She had many persuasive thoughts and promises, and one of the most tantalizing to the majority of us was the promise of immortality. That death would never again claim us, that we would carry with us the weight of all L’huine knowledge for all time … it was too much to resist. I had curiosity and a crippling fear of what might lay beyond this life, if I were reincarnated without my memory well then, what’s the point of even living in the first place?” This zombie had ears that were only slightly pointed, even less so than a half-elf, but a bit of previously mentioned dialogue in that same speach suggests that these L'huine are either ancestors of Elves or perhaps related to them in some other way. "The Necromancer, Božena, began preaching the woes of each passing cycle." This necromancer, Božena, also appeared in a book of elven poetry, Poems of the North. Her poem was included in a section featuring the Elven Spirit, or "Smrthonya", Skorumpovaný.

The Page of Pentacles

The Page of Pentacles is, or was at some point, a member of this ancient race. She explained that she was once the Bishop of Cievka. Another reference to the Harandil Pantheon, and further connections made between elves and L'huine. “Perhaps not a god at all. It is more of a … force of nature. An essential part of the world, a necessity that persists behind the scenes. It is often hated, mostly by those that do not understand, but it is capable of providing great blessings to those that can hear and listen and speak to its form. We are just as much it as it is us, influencing each other, pulling in one direction or the other, against and together. Its name is unspeakable, but we call it Cievka, the Smrtohnya of Coils.”

The Gates

According to Hysteria's story about The Oni, the L'huine and other ancient events, these people appear to have been responsible for the construction of the ten gates that allow easier access to various layers of the Spirit World. They built these gates with hopes of becoming closer to their respective Smrtohnya within the Harandil Pantheon. Folks traveled between the different layers as well as The Gates (the central hub of the Spirit World) without hindrance thanks in part to a city that existed both on the material plane and in the Spirit World. The L'huine were forced to retreat after one of their religious leaders, The Oni, completed a ritual that involved a Chittering Spirit and a fiendish lust for power. They were changed to resemble the elves of modern day as they fled this place, and those that stayed were further twisted to serve The Oni in madness. This "The Oni" would spend the next several millenia continuing to spin a web of lies that convinced elves throughout history to avoid the fae, spirits and anyone else that might have the true story.

Common Myths and Legends

Similar to modern day elves, L'huine believe in the Harandil Pantheon. Ten spirits that embody different aspects of nature, the world, society and so forth. More information about the pantheon and the different gates that embody it can be found in The Gates Special Edition Chess Set.

Genetic Descendants