The dual nature of the satyrs is evident in the types of revelries they hold.Įlder. The head of each guros is typically its eldest member. Many perpetuate the myth of the joy and excitement of their time in Skola, encouraging the younger generation to "sow their wild oats" among the satyrs. Out of embarrassment, Stubs seldom tell the true story of their time with the satyrs. Then the Stubs are deserted in the wild chaparral, where they awake hours later, alone, dazed, and ashamed. Enchantment magic keeps them in the thrall of the satyrs until, inevitably, the satyrs tire.
They are assigned menial, humiliating tasks. Once given the crown, they are known as Stubs.
Many humans undertake the rites, never knowing the joke is on them, and are awarded a crown made of broken horns-a symbol of mockery.
CRIMSON GRAY DUSK AND DAWN GUIDE FULL
The satyr sybils decide when these newcomers are ready for full initiation rites.
Inevitably, the hospitality gives way to something more sinister, and these unsuspecting humans find themselves conscripted into service of the satyrs. They enjoy days of revelries, music, and ecstatic dance-all without a care in the world. They are told they will learn the mysteries of Nyx. When they first arrive, they are courted by the satyrs. The Returned of Odunos desire little for themselves beyond water.Ĭult of Horns. Frequently humans come to Skola in search of endless pleasure without consequences. Whereas Asphodel's citizens pointlessly amass wealth, Odunos seeks to destroy the wealth of the living (both literal, such as gold, and figurative, such as food, children, and comfort). Their raids are small but effective, and almost always nocturnal. Odunos raiders strike at any humanoids nearby-leonin, minotaurs, and the humans of Akros and environs. These Returned have come to envy and/or despise the living and are driven by a desire to deprive them of the joys of life. Its citizens tend toward a combination of greedy, violent, and resentful. Odunos. This polis stands in contrast to Asphodel. Asphodel is symbolically aligned with Erebos in that its residents accept their fate. The main sources of conflict in Asphodel are occasional raids on the polis by living beings who have become convinced by their leaders or their gods that the Returned are an abomination to be eliminated. Its citizens seek to be left alone, venturing out only when seized by fugues of emotion, or when resources are needed or desired (often for unrecalled reasons). It is, for the most part, a dull place, although it maintains a guard and an order of mages for defense. Each has a kind of overarching characteristic: Asphodel's is despondence Odunos's is anger.Īsphodel. The polis of Asphodel, situated in a sprawling, inland, coastal marsh, is home to those Returned who have a deep nostalgia for things they can no longer remember. The two necropolises, roughly equal in size, are called Asphodel and Odunos. Smaller, more isolated settlements exist, and some of the Returned eschew civilization altogether, occupying caves or simply wandering. The Returned refer to their two small city-states as necropolises mostly without irony-they are occupied by the dead, after all. Gold is the most common material in Erebos's realm, so it has become customary for the Returned to symbolically replace their funerary masks (and by proxy their identities) with beautifully crafted gold masks that cover their changed faces and function as surrogate, albeit flimsy, identities. So when a mortal destroys his or her identity to leave the Underworld, that mortal must fashion a mask to stand in for it. Gold masks cover void faces. When a human dies on Theros, a funerary mask of dark clay is customary, used to "frame" the identity of the deceased for Athreos. That in turn means that their emotions tend toward darkness: frustration, bitterness, loneliness, resentment, anger, and melancholy. Although their lack of identity prevents long-term memory formation, they do feel emotions based on their experiences. They aren't just thinking, speaking zombies but also feeling ones. The Returned form communities, experience fleeting emotions, and follow daily routines, but their existence is a shadow play, because without an identity or an ability to nurture long-term relationships, the elements of their "lives" have no weight or substance. When they return to the living realm, they don't return to life. The Returned are undead in the most actual sense.
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