Dsievi



The Dsievi (Zee-eh-vee) were the first creations of Volus to have consciousness and ambition. Their mis-given ambition lead to the damnation and forsaking of Vitarus (link this).

Appearance
The Dsievi were remarkably human, but taller, standing at around 2.48 meters in height. Their build was slender and strong, with small hands and feet. The Dsievi's organs are uniquely identical to humans but for the skin and muscle which is transparent, revealing their inner organs, viens, bones and nerves.

Summary History
The Dsievi evolved over thousands of years, psysically and intelligence-wise, from organisms birthed in the ground.

Being born directly of Volus, the Dsievi had natural abilities akin to Volus, who stayed a couple of hundred years to build Lame'Uca (link this), The City of Gold, on the eastern fringes of MetoiSophen.

Volus had grown suspicious and aware of their ambition and elected the two wisest males and the two wisest females to lead, who Volus gave absurd power. These four became the Quotrach.

As time went on, opinions were formed as to who the mightiest was, who could lead them the furthest, who could sustain their existence and who could fulfil their ambitions. Now the Dsievi were becoming self-focused and Volus laid down rules for them to abide. These rules enforced peace, but hindered any development of their nation, so the Dsievi spited the warning and grew agitated towards Volus's presence and guidance. The Dsievi yearned to grow unhindered, uncaged, unbound.

Before The Forsaking the masses of Dsievi were divided by inner conflict and opinions towards the Quotrach. These divisons drove the Dsievi to form clans based on loyalty to an Antrach of the Quotrach which was now on a religious level.

The Forsaking
With the Dsievi becoming ever more arrogant and secular towards Volus, The Forsaking took place shortly after.

The Eternal Sleep (Magnatas Ritual)
Upon a mutual agreement between the Quotrach, the Dsievi nation was to partake the Magnatas Ritual: a ritual that would send each and every Dsievi into an eternal slumber with their prefered Antrach who would, in their dream scapes, continue to consciously watch over them while the lesser Dsievi drifted in eternal sleep. This was done to quell the inner conflict and, in their eyes, save the world from decaying. The Quotrach were also in eternal sleep, but their spirit-body would remain awake inside the dream to act as the guardians of the Scapes.

The Sefmir
Before the Magnatas Ritual took place, the Antrach's Gorlode, Laretta and Mileti fashioned new beings from the snow, soil and sand, calling them the Sefmir. The Antrach Noreste did not partake in the Sefmir creation because he knew the other Antrach's theory was flawed: Gorlode, Laretta and Mileti believed that in the Dsievi's absence, peace would ensue amogn the land if others were to inhabit it.

Culture
Years: 1 - 11,420 AO a). Body Language
 * 1) LANGUAGE

i). Facial Expressions

Alert: Eyes wide, pupils slightly dilated, jaw clenched.

Neutral: Eyes neutral, pupils dilated, jaw clenched.

Calm: Eyelids relaxed, pupils heavily dilated, jaw neutral.

Respect; ‘peace-giving’: Head bowed slightly, eyes closed, jaw unclenched.

Focused: Eyes squinted, pupils dilated, eyes unfocused, jaw neutral.

Evidently the Dsievi did not have a wide variety of interpreted facial expressions. To any modern witness, the Dsievi would have a look of constant amazement upon their faces; eyes wide, jaw clenched, pupils dilated.

However, during and prior to ‘divine activity’, the jaw may unclench, the pupil may dilate further and the upper eyelids may relax to sit over the dilated pupil. Such an expression would be interpreted as ‘boredom’ today, but for them it was simply a sign of spiritual serenity and inner peace.

ii). Bodily Expressions

The mind was seen as an object symbolising the inner self, and thus all its implications such as disembodiment, out-of-bodiness, ego and ego death. For this reason, when communicating with each other, the Dsievi looked to the cranium where they could see the brain, but the problem was that the brain could not express itself by itself. For this reason, the Dsievi turned to their most expressive body part: their hands. When communicating or expressing, the

It is hugely important to note here that when the word expression is used, it does not pertain to the expression of emotions (for they did not exist yet; not until the Zamphiers would create a system which would be prematurely hijacked by those seeking power). "Expression", here, means expression of thought and reason, not of passion and emotion. Therefore, the following introductory list of bodily expressions does not include any sort of emotional expressions, but instead a few expressions of key logical terms and a few key comprehensive social messages.

All the following expressions were performed by holding the hands up before the cranium.

If: Hands held in a spherical shape, slightly apart as if holding a ball.

Then: Hands held in same position, but one tipped to the side as if offering something.

Therefore: Both hands held with palm upwards at an angle.

True: Both hands pointing upwards with index finger like horns.

False: Both hands pointing downwards with index finger.

Unknown: One hand pointing up and one pointing down with index finger.

To perceive: Hands overlapping with thumbs touching to form a flat oval like an eye before the brain.

To be/exist: Interlocking fingers forming a ball.

Respect/‘peace-giving’: Left hand flat on the chest and right hand gesturing to the sky.

Eternal: On both hands, index fingers and thumbs connecting forming a circle.

Union: Interlocking fingers forming a ball. Same as ‘to be/exist’ depending on conversational context.

Greater whole: Fingers splayed outwards, thumbs touching resting on the prak of the cranium.

Existence/Fovolaz: Same as ‘greater whole’, but pertaining to this meaning depending on context.

iii). Eye Contact

The eyes were considered the window to the ‘inner-universe’ of their owner, which was a highly sacred thing in its own right. This meant the Dsievi only made eye contact in the most sacred of circumstances, such as trance-circles, spiritual union ceremonies,  peace-giving acts and celebrations of the Fovolaz. To give someone eye contact in Dsievian culture was to penetrate their very inner world, to make a statement saying, “I am here with you.” The key word here is with, for the concept of union and the rejection of separateness was the key cultural ideology.

iv). Personal Space

So long as the concept of the ‘I’, the ego, the self the other was acknowledged but rejected in ancient Dsievian culture, then so too was any reinforcement of the concept of ‘personal space’.

v). Physical Contact

Hand holding was a symbol of connection. They often sat in circles to chant, trance, enter the void (for lack of a better word), disembody themselves and other meditational activities.

b). Slang

Slang is unknown, for scholars have been limited strictly to visual artefacts in understanding Dsievian culture. Though as far as research has shown, they had no written language. The closest thing to knowing their language has come from transcribing Sefmiric languages - one step away from their origin.

c). Common Phrases

N/A

Introductn
The creation myths of anything that could possibly come to mind are abound across this world, found in a startling array of interpretations for us to swat and grab at until our imaginations erupt. Perhaps the most significant and common creation myths found are of course creation myths of existence itself. In every nook and cranny of the world, in every mountain and valley, every tribe and sweeping empire such myths are manifest. And yet the Dsievi had none.

Perhaps we have not found them yet, or are directly under our noses as we prance pedantic into the past looking in the wrong places. But for now, it is accepted that the Dsievi had no creation myth; they simply knew they "were". Their belief in the Fovolaz was enough. They felt no need to question their existence like we do, so fearful of the unknown as we are. The Dsievi were content to acknowledge they simply existed. 

Early stages
The furthest we can trace back through the history of the Dsievi brings us to when they were more or less living as animals. The Dsievi stuck together like adhesive in their early animalistic and tribal years. Like many A.O. aspects of early history, it is horrendously open to interpretation just how long the Dsievi took to reach a point where they formed civilization as we know it today. The earliest recoverable artefacts and information appear to belong to the City of Gold period, and thus all scholars have been forced to start from there. It is no surprise then, that the very source we draw the first Dsievian history from is a painting called “The City of Gold” (most linguists' estimation of the translation). This painting and other such artefacts have been excavated from the sands in Quedi-n-Chuni, a sub continent attached to the north-eastern corner of MetoiSophen. Scholars firmly believe there are other more well preserved artefacts to be found, but the subcontinent remains largely unexplored partly due to a lack of funding, but most considerably due to the unexplained disappearances of archaeologists who have gone on expeditions. It is a miracle the few artefacts we do have, disturbingly well preserved, were recovered without the disappearance of any of those who found them. 

Appearance
Paintings and illustrations recovered, similar to that of The City of Gold, depict the Dsievi. It is difficult for us to distinguish one from the other, but there was no doubt some biological factor or other which enabled the Dsievi to distinguish between themselves, even if we cannot. The paintings show they wore no clothes. They are of the same bipedal homo-sapien body structure as us. In fact they looked nearly identical to us, aside from a few factors. The most striking is their transparent skin, allowing their red and blue arteries to show through in a myriad pattern of vessels over their bones and organs (perhaps something they used to distinguish between themselves). The next was their curiously oval shaped heads seeming to lack the facial angularity we humans possess today. Aside from these differences, the Dsievi are clearly and undeniably our most distant ancestors; our origins.

Remaining documents and artefacts provide exciting hints that there was once a much vaster Dsievian civilization than many first anticipated -- a tantalizing thing, since none have been able to properly explore Quedi-n-Chuni to sate that excitement. For example, a map was found, faded, yet clearly created with artful care and a display of deep nuances. What can only logically be settlements mark areas of the Quedi-n-Chuni map. They are the most dense around the area scholars have coined ‘Usohop Meipoi’ and unanimously agreed must have been their capital, or at the very least, the center of culture of whatever civilization they had.

Culture
 Evidence suggests the Dsievi did not sleep. No beds have ever been found, no linens or paddings required for comfort of rest, and not a single artefact depicts any sort of resting aside from meditative practices. In fact, one depiction, extremely vivid in its realism, shows the Dsievi functioning at night time as if it were day for us. There is no discernable difference depicted in the Dsievi’s behaviour during night or day. This suggests that they were a full-time functioning society. But this raises the question; what did they do with all their uninterrupted  time? The answer is simple: they became the greatest artists the world has ever seen. They lived for art in every sense one can possibly think of. This is why the majority of the sources that we draw upon are a Dseivian piece of art, and not an appliance, or clothing item, or piece of furniture.

The Dsievi obviously could not remain in a primal wandering nature, and so the inevitable agricultural shift occurred, and they found themselves becoming centered in a stationary fertile spot where they grew and harvested food. The Dsievi were never shown eating meat however, so it is assumed they only lived off plant life. But they needed to build a city - or rather a place of shelter from the elements.

The Fovolaz clearly remained in their hearts while they built Lamenuca (roughly translated to Home of Us), for their love for art was nothing more than an ode to Existence in itself, therefore praise to the Fovolaz. Each Dsievi’s artwork, in whatever medium chosen, was a personal testimony of how they interpreted the phenomenon of Existence, much as it is in our modern world (although far less prominent) and thus helped them understand it as such. Lamenuca was less of a city than a site of shrines and a collection of their towering art. But the city still offered protection from the elements; however these shelters were works of art in themselves also, sometimes to a fault in being unconventional. Pagolas and other shelters were often used as protection from rain, and therefore their design reflected the phenomenon of rain in its artistic structure. It is fascinating; the amount of artistic interpretation in each and every conceivable object they possessed, all the way down to the utensils for eating or wiping their rear after defecating. They all depicted so intricately the actions and ideas they were associated with.

However, this is all we know so far of their society, and a sad amount may be misguided speculation. It is disheartening to think we are being actively prevented, by the Keepers [link this] from uncovering more of the Dsievi’s past. 

Some Further Issues
The largest and most pressing dilemma to come to mind is the presence of the suspiciously vigilant ‘Keepers’, as they have been named. Any quests into the heart of Quedi n’ Chuni have ended in either death or disaster, and the only survivors returned to us with reports of being quickly beaten back by savage, lean humanoids. Here is what we know so far: They appear in abstract although aesthetic armour of a gold or bronze shade, although less metallic that covers their body entire so they appear made purely of it. Their posture is this: feet shoulder-width apart, legs rigid straight, back arched so that their sternum sticks out a little, their arms held straight and angled back slightly, fists clenched and heads held straight and high - all this as though to appear vigilant. And vigilant they are, for countless missions have been undertaken, professional and private, and under no circumstances has anyone been let past a certain point around the Dsievi’s point of origin. All questing parties have either been destroyed or come back in tatters, both physically and emotionally. It is a shame, really, that we are denied understanding of our origins. These guardians of the land have been referred to as ‘Keepers’, for their relentless defence of the ‘Area of Denial’ is akin to that of someone with something to keep safe or to hide. Refer to the map at the end of this piece to examine the designated Area of Denial.