Gaians are typically tall and slender, and they often array themselves in garments of bright colors, such as white or blue. They are generally a freedom-loving, egalitarian, peaceful folk, although there are always exceptions.
Gaians speak their own language, which has many variants and dialects.
Gaians do not use or keep slaves, nor do they recognize nobility. They find both customs abhorrent. Theirs is not entirely a classless society, however, for wealth has its privileges. Still, in a Ninth World context, this outlook might be the quality that distinguishes the Gaians from those living in other societies more than anything else. Perhaps more than other peoples, Gaians
are likely to have animal companions—not livestock, and not quite pets, but spiritual friends. These animals, such as the large feline puars or the avian thakras, stick by their human companions at all times, and thus the creatures are permitted everywhere.
POLITICS
Three hundred years ago, the Gaians were not a single people but a fluctuating group of disparate tribes scattered across a relatively broad area. Since that time, tribal leaders have attempted to create unity among the people, if for no other reason than to promote peace and harmony.
The results have been mixed.
Lostrei is difficult to govern. In the last few centuries, various individuals have attempted to unify the land under a single ruler, either through might of arms or economics. This has always failed. The land is large, and with the Great Indigo Wood dominating so much of it, travel is difficult. Word spreads slowly. Information about parts of the land is sometimes scarce, and concern or interest about faraway people
Cloudcrystal Skyfields, page 174 Steadfast, page 136 Augur, page 215 Clock of Kala, page 213 Puar: level 3, stealth as level 5 Thakra: level 2, perception as level 3
CHAPTER 7
together. Most Gaians are animists, believing that supernatural spirits inhabit creatures, objects, locations, and even concepts. The Gaian belief system involves an almost limitless number of these spirits and claims that humans each have a spirit no different than any other creature. The aneen, the broken hound, and the scuttling insect all have animistic spirits. So do trees and plants. So do stones and water— and metal, glass, and synth. And so do numenera devices.
The Gaians don’t worship the spirits, as such, but treat them as peers. While their animistic beliefs suggest that life is sacred, everything is sacred because everything is “alive,” after a fashion. Thus, Gaians are not entirely against eating meat or cutting down trees, for example. Their philosophy merely suggests that one should avoid wanton destruction.
For the most part, the Gaians have no temples or organized religious practices, although they use a variety of rituals to commune with the spirits inhabiting the world. They believe that communing and cities can be low. Even though Lostrei
might be safer relative to the Steadfast or the Beyond, it is still dangerous to move from one place to another. Vast tracks of wilderness lie unexplored and filled with mysteries, wonders, and threats. When news of a new queen arising in Aerathis
reaches a small coastal village, the response of the villagers might very well be, “What’s Aerathis?”
Although Lostrei is a single land, it has no monarch or ruling body. The Gaians have returned to more localized leadership, based on groups of extended families that make up tribes. The tribal leaders— hundreds of them—gather occasionally for a conclave in Aerathis, but most of the tribal structures are very loose. This varies from locality to locality (some tribes can be very different than others), but for the most part, Gaians lead free lives filled with individual pursuits.
RELIGION
Much more than politics, religion—or at least spirituality—brings the Gaians
Aerathis, page 104 Tribal leaders are selected by committees of elders. They govern people, not land—they are not kings or governors. Thus, a given region can have multiple tribal leaders, each serving as an administrator and adjudicator for a group of people. The groups might live together in the same region or city. Some localities might have a dozen tribes, while others might have just one. Gaians use shins similar to those in the Steadfast and the Beyond. However, more places in Lostrei mint their own coinage than in the Steadfast, adding more real coins into the mix. Many of these places accept only their local currency. Also, things are about three times as expensive in Lostrei as they are in other places,
with the spirits of the trees will keep you from getting lost in the woods. Similarly, the spirits of the water can help prevent drowning or provide information about what lies at the bottom of a deep pool. The spirits inhabiting a numenera device can offer clues to its workings.
The world being a very old place, the spirits that inhabit the world are equally old—and, for the most part, wise and thus worth consulting. Some people hardly make a move without first imploring the spirits involved. But not all Gaians are quite so spiritual. The average Gaian recognizes that spirits are everywhere, inhabiting all things, and draws comfort in the harmony and homogeneity of that fact. But then he goes about his daily life. Animism grants the Gaians a perspective and a relationship with the world around them that is unlike that of
AMAED, “SPIRIT TENDERS”
The amaed are numenera constructs created (or repaired and repurposed) to communicate with and appease the spirits that the animist Gaians believe in. The amaed perform rituals and meditate, working to attune themselves to the spirits within the world around them. This is usually toward some specific end on behalf of a human controller. For example, if a human— likely a wealthy or influential human, as not everyone has access to an amaed— wanted to cut down a grove of trees to plant crops or build a structure, she might compel the amaed to commune with the spirits of the grove, asking for their permission and blessing. This often involves some kind of offering as a part of the ritual, which the amaed presents to the spirits on behalf of the human.
Although a Gaian would
disagree, some people might point out that amaed are not scientific proof of the existence of spirits. As semi- independent thinking automatons, they simply do as they are
compelled, and their design (or redesign) involves belief in the spirits. In other words, the amaed might produce a response from a spirit communication, but that response might be generated by the amaed in some way. Or maybe not.
Every major Gaian community (with a
population of 1,000 or more) has at least one amaed. A large city might have ten or more. All amaed are made by Berith in Magon Tower.
Many Gaians refer to nanos as “spirit-talkers” or “spirit-whisperers” and consider the miracles they work as direct evidence for the existence of the spirits that fill the world in great numbers. Amaed: level 4, matters
of Gaian religion or handling animals as level 5; Armor 3
other Ninth Worlders. They see themselves as a part of things—even very old things— rather than as newcomers or interlopers.
BUILDING TOWARD WAR?
In the Steadfast, the Amber Papacy has convinced many people that the Gaians are preparing for war and represent a real threat. They worship fake spirits, the Aeon Priests say, and reject the science and lore that lies at the heart of the numenera. These warnings were the first time that most people in the Steadfast had ever heard of the Gaians.However, none of it is true. Although the Gaians do have religious and spiritual beliefs that the Amber Papacy finds difficult to accept, they are not preparing to invade the lands to the south—far from it. In fact, the Gaians know less about the Steadfast than the Steadfast knows about them. And even if the Gaians did know about the kingdoms south of the Cloudcrystal Skyfields, they would have little interest in mounting an invasion. They have their own concerns in their own lands, and they are not a warlike people to begin with. Many Gaian communities have local defense forces, but they have no unified military.
Nor do the Gaians reject the numenera. On the contrary, they have a great
command over much of it, particularly in their capital city of Aerathis. Overall, they have a more spiritual view of the numenera than some in the Steadfast and Beyond do, probably at least in part because the Aeon Priests have absolutely no sway in Lostrei.