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Thursday, July 29, 2021

Legends of Voraniss: Ekkaku the Serpent (Part I)

by Renee "Kindrianna" Booke


Deep within the swamps of Voraniss, the Kul’Matha still pay homage to the serpent spirit Ekkaku. Upon the banks of the Nathair’uncain, the Serpent’s Channel, sits Ekkaku’s shrine, watching over every voyage and every crossing. To the Kul’Matha, this is a holy site, and out of respect for Ekkaku, they do not indulge in their darker vices upon this ground. Waging war, or the spilling of blood, is not what Ekkaku stood for, and so it is thusly forbidden for any tribe to disrespect the serpent’s seat of power in such a manner. The Kul’Matha do not agree on much, but Ekkaku is their common ground, and if they must make peace or gather to converse on controversial tribal affairs, they will often journey to this place to do so.

 

For many years this was all that the mortal races of Voraniss knew about Ekkaku. The end of the story. But an unexpected alliance between Voraniss and Xale’an of the Uthi Tribe, fostered by heroes of the Realms, presented a unique opportunity to learn beyond the scattered reports of daring scouts who had braved the dangers of the swamps. As Xale’an explained, Ekkaku had grown up as a member of the Troxl Tribe, the very same as Otugu, one of the other Kul’Matha that had accompanied her to the Druid King’s coronation. Within Kul’Matha society, the Troxl are widely regarded as authorities in alchemy and medicine, a tradition largely accredited to Ekkaku’s genius. Back then, however, the Troxl were a smaller group, choosing to remain neutral in most of the large-scale conflicts that consumed Kul’Matha culture.

 

The Troxl would stalk the battlefields after a skirmish, carrying their baskets of herbs with them as they searched for wounded to treat. They would heal who they could and send them off to fight another day. Sometimes they would receive small gifts as recompense; trophies, trinkets, a meal, or a good story, but by and large the gratitude, they felt, was sufficient. In this way, they made themselves invaluable, and it afforded them some protection from the larger tribes that normally would have seized upon the opportunity to wipe out a weaker clan and claim their territory. It was on one such occasion that Ekkaku would meet Notl-Nuhtletl, a young warrior who dreamed of becoming a champion of Kul’Mathanigalurgtha, the Mother Serpent.

 

Notl-Nuhtletl had been wounded in battle against the Krezazu, a faction of Kul’Matha who were greatly feared by all who knew them. The Krezazu practiced dark and forbidden magics, magics that pulled not from the earth or the Mother Serpent, but from the deepest reaches of the Otherworld, the realm of spirits. There they had found a being that promised them ancient knowledge and power over death. The Krezazu would pay for this power with blood, sending thirteen souls a season to the Otherworld to solidify their dark pact, and seal the agreement. This entity of the Otherworld would not accept ordinary souls, however. It had a taste for the sick and vulnerable. It required of the Krezazu that they bring only the souls of those who were suffering under the curse of illness or disease. Luckily for Notl-Nuhtletl, she had not been one of the chosen sacrifices, and the Krezazu had left her to die a warrior’s death and succumb to her wounds.

 

Ekkaku discovered her in this weakened state and healed Notl-Nuhtletl; and she, in turn, told the Troxl of the growing threat of the Krezazu. With each passing month, she said, their desire for the power of the Otherworld grew stronger. They neglected their lands, she explained, and their swamps had begun to rot. They had either not noticed, or cared, that their air had turned to poison, where ash fell instead of rain, and their streams were sickly and green. If something was not done, and soon, Notl-Nuhtletl feared the pestilence that plagued the Krezazu would come for them all.