Scribed by Kira Zemial
This is an interview of the Archon of Omarra Caravan conducted by Kira Zemial in 2020. It will be included in the second volume of her Lothen Travelogue which contains ethnographies of the various races that can be found in significant numbers in the Kingdom of Lothen.
“Can you tell me your full name?” “Trovia et Omarra an Melidra.”
“Explain the various parts of your name.” “Trovia is my given name, Omarra is my family name and Melidra is my progenitor and racial identity. Nowadays it’s called our clan name.”
“The last part, is it like saying ‘of Lothen’ or is it something different?” “Similar but different. Medai clans are not nations, they are traditional divides based on ancestry. They have no political overtones. Each clan has a common ancestor of sorts, a progenitor from whom all clan members come from. Each progenitor has certain traits that are passed down to the descendants or so the story goes.”
“Is it not true?” “Who can say? The truth is lost in the mists of time. Tradition dictates that each clan cultivates certain traits and the people follow suit. Is it in the blood or is it the weight of tradition? In any case, you can take it as truth.”
“Who were your Progenitors and how many are there?” “They were the Unsullied kings and queens of Gorgo, our long-lost world. As to how many, no one knows. There are clans thought to be extinct, others lost and there could be unknown clans wandering Pantheon or the dimensions. What really matters is how many clans there are on Vitallia and those are Melidra, Medra and Gowros. The latter are few in number compared to the first two clans.”
“The common lore about your race is that you come from the Pantheon.” “True enough since our clans do wander the Pantheon and that’s where both the Medra and the Melidra came from. However, Gorgo was not always a domain of the Pantheon; once it was an independent prime world, like Vitallia.”
“How was Gorgo destroyed?” “There was a war between gods and mortals. A group of intruders from the Great Void called the Polydek sought to conquer Gorgo. Our gods—the Gorgonids—and the mortal Medai fought the invaders but it was a supremely destructive conflict without a winner—only losers. The Polydek and the Gorgonids were annihilated and Gorgo was destroyed. There are legends that a few gods on either side survived and that they inhabit pieces of Gorgo that drift in the astral void—I don’t know the truth of them. For all intents and purposes, the Medai are orphaned and scattered, nomads and wanderers.”
“It is said that your bodies are twisted by a curse. Is there any truth to this?” “Our scholars say that Gorgo was a warm world which hadn’t known winter or snow. The wicked Polydek blanketed their conquered territories with winter and snow where their bestial, mortal hosts were comfortable. After many centuries of war, they managed a fatal blow to the Gorgonids and the Medai by cursing our physical forms to become cold-blooded and our heads fused with snakes. So, the Medai armies were disadvantaged as the cold would cause a torpor and ultimately paralysis and death. That was the turning point of the war and our defeat was inescapable. Our surviving gods recognized this and chose to save some of us rather than keep fighting a losing battle. They used their power to return the warmth of the blood to the Medai but they could not cure us entirely of the curse. Their power was filtered through the unsullied kings and queens who had remained pure, untouched by the Polydek curse. They were used as templates of purity and so, we bear their genetic legacy; in a sense each clan descends from one of the unsullied and so, they are our progenitors. All of the progenitors were annihilated by the divine power; they sacrificed themselves for their people. We honor them by bearing their names.”
“And what happened afterwards?” “The survivors of the Medai fled Gorgo but the Gorgonids remained to wreak their vengeance upon the conquerors. On the cusp of defeat, they broke the ravaged world and claimed the lives of the Polydek as well in the destruction.”
“Do you still carry a sense of loss or anger over the events of your past or are Medai reconciled with what has gone before and look to the future?” “An interesting question. As I said, we’re nomads, scattered far and wide. We have few traditions to cling to and our ambitions are modest—safety, family, stability. We plan simply for the future and we adopt some of the ways of the people among whom we live. We care not for the past emotionally, only as a way to retain our sense of self and our origins. Compared to you, humans, we are less emotional, less given to outbursts and changes of temperament—which is why you describe us as cold-blooded. I’d say that we’ve reconciled with our past and we live for today with an eye towards a better tomorrow. But we lack grand ambitions, a strong desire to achieve or innovate and I wouldn’t call us especially industrious. A snake is content to lie in the sun with its belly full to digest its meal and I’m afraid that we’re not much different.”
“I see. So, what are these few traditions that you spoke of?” “The Caravans for one. We have a strong sense of community in order to survive among strangers in foreign worlds. We are always on the move so as not to be considered a threat in the domains we cross. Family is important and the younger generation is obliged to respect and provide for their elders. The rule of law is another one of our strengths. Theft and murder are capital crimes and such Medai are punished and exiled at best, executed at worst. The caravans share information about criminals that have escaped justice so that they won’t find succor elsewhere in Medai society. The last tradition fostered by the caravans is our theatre that serves twin purposes; one is to keep our origins alive through the mythic play and the other kind is the morality play which teaches us about the cultures we share the land with. Another tradition is the Tenth which is the amount of money voluntarily sent to the family by expatriates. There are Medai who leave the caravans because they find work in the domains of Vitallia. Some of them are more adventurous than the rest and actively seek such opportunities while others are forced to do it. We are poor people and there are few opportunities for growth in the caravans. We’re all working to maintain the infrastructure and survive and we trade goods and provide services to visitors and to the places we visit. Many leave the caravans to find work and wealth elsewhere and they keep a tenth of everything they earn for their families back in the caravans. Population exchange is yet another tradition. Medai are somewhat more frail than other races but we take good care of our babes and children and so our population grows. Caravans have a limit on the people they can support and they refuse to grow as it makes everything more difficult. So, when a caravan has excess people, they arrange for them to transfer to another caravan which has fewer people than it can support. Some of them simply leave to find work in the domains of other races as well. Lastly, the tradition of inter-marriage is a strong one. When two caravans meet, it’s customary for the young men and women to get together and choose partners. The Epaulia festival is held for three days and afterwards there is the Ekdosis as the parents of the woman—most often—present her to the family of the man to be hosted for a time. If they end up marrying within six months, the bride stays with the groom, if not, she returns to her caravan or stays if she so wishes.”
“One cannot help but see the similarities between Medai and the Medusa, the monster spawned by the Sentinel’s amber. Is it coincidence? I’ve heard many outlandish theories but not a Medai’s opinion on the matter.” “Our scholars have debated the roots of this similarity. First of all, let me state that we have nothing in common with such monsters beyond a superficial resemblance. There are tales of cunning Medai escaping doom with a glib tongue and shameless deception when confronted by a Medusa but I do not know the truth of them. The theory that is presented by the scholars is that the Sentinel carries racial memories instilled by the Meteor—memories from Pantheon. After all, many forms of life that are found in Vitallia can also be found elsewhere in the dimensions. So, the question is older than the Sentinel. The Polydek were either inspired by the Medusa when they enacted their vile curse or else one or more of them were Medusas. In any case, we feel no kinship with such monsters.”
“I’m glad to hear it. On another note, I’ve heard a Brutgor ask a Medai whether he feeds his snakes and thought it a funny question but a good one regardless. That Medai answered that he does indeed feed his snakes.” “Such questions are rude but unavoidable when a Medai finds himself among strangers and barbarians. Most Medai will lie rather than tell the truth in such circumstances as was the case here. No, our snakes do not need to be fed, they are magical creatures and we are in symbiosis with them. They share their host’s well-being and virility. They become undernourished or parched if the host is so, they suffer from a disease upon the host and they die with their host.”
“A common rumor about you is that the snakes act as ‘antennas’ which help you be uncannily aware of the environment.” “Another funny misconception. We’re not ants. Our perceptiveness and alertness is owed to the simple fact that we have multiple pairs of eyes and other sensory organs examining the environment in every direction. Sight is less important however, and often hampered by the hoods we tend to wear when we traffic among other races. Still, the senses of smell and heat that the snakes have is more than enough to give us greater awareness than any other race.”
“Fascinating. Do they bite?” “Not unless you’re an enemy and seek to do harm. They’re not so strange really—think of them as tame pets that always cling to you.”
“Would you part with them if you could somehow be cured of this divine curse?” “I’ve never thought of that which is answer enough. We don’t know how we were before the Polydek’s curse—were we humans or elves or were we as you see us now without the crown of snakes, the unusual pigmentations and the finely scaled skin? It doesn’t matter to us anymore, this is who we are. There is bitterness in some about our differences from the other races but it’s caused by the treatment we receive and by how poor we are, not by our physical uniqueness. I don’t care to see a different version of myself in the mirror, I’m fine with who I am.”
“You said previously that each one of your clans promotes certain attributes in its members. Would you care to expound upon that?” “Certainly. The Medra make up most of our merchants and they’re also the ones you’ll most often find traveling alone or in small groups. You can also find them working and living in cities as shopkeepers, craftsmen or traders. They adapt well to other races and they’re a network of contacts for the caravans. The Melidra focus on cultivating the arts of combat and spellcraft. They act as the security force for the caravans and escort the traveling merchants of the Medra. They also find employment as mercenaries among the other races. They’re nomadic in a greater extent than the Medra. Where the Medra may build a life among strangers and die among them, the Melidra tend to return to their families in the caravans periodically and that’s where they’ll go to live out their old age—if they survive the hazards of their occupation. The Gowros are scholars and dedicated to spellcraft to a greater extent than the other clans. They’re also strongly nomadic and more isolationist than the other clans. Their caravans are small and self-sufficient. They seek the lonely and the wild places of the world and learn how to handle the natural environment and how to survive. They’re after secrets and are themselves secretive and inhospitable. One thing common to all clans however is our love of dancing and our aptitude with carpentry, mechanics and utility smithwork. The caravans need constant maintenance, after all.”
“Are the caravans homogeneous or are they made up of all clans and if so, in what numbers for each?” “The Medra and the Melidra were homogeneous when they first came to Vitallia but they’ve mingled since then, as I noted before. One clan or the other continues to predominate in every caravan and I’d say that the usual proportions are three or four in every ten for one clan or the other, as the case may be. The Gowros do observe the traditions but they’re much less in number and so you can expect to find one in twenty in the large caravans. However, many smaller caravans have predominantly Gowros Medai—you’ll just meet them or hear of them rarely.”
“Is Vitallia your home or is it a place you’re visiting, a waystation in your dimensional wanderings?” “Like every other people, Medai want to belong and they want a place to call their own. Those who came first were just visitors but many of them stayed. Those born here can legitimately call Vitallia their own. If we’re not chased away by some calamity then we’ll make this our home.”
“Welcome then. May your stay be long and prosperous on the Sentinel’s world.” “You’re most kind. If only all the people of Vitallia shared your acceptance and good will.”
“One last question; what is the relationship of the Medai with the divine sphere? Given that you have no connection to the Sentinel or to the Gods that watch over us, where do you devote your faith?” “Medai are pragmatic, so we have chosen among the Gods of Vitallia those that connect to our innermost qualities. A mortal would be a fool to ignore the divine sphere of the world he inhabits. Most Medai believe in the Veil as we are cautious and patient by nature. The Sentinel is another obvious choice and worshiped by another segment of our population. Also, the First Phoenix is revered in the caravans that wander Exotia. Lastly, a very small number of us are atheists—strange as that sounds. Our origin story is a sad one and some hold resentment toward the divine and refuse their faith to any Gods.”
“Thank you for your candor. I believe that this article will dispel a lot of misunderstandings regarding Medai.”