Qyrl

Qyrl
Pronounce	cur-ull
Totem	Unknown
Ban	Obey Qyrl's commands without question.

Qyrl is a term used by the Rokea to refer to the Wyrm.

Overview

Rokea protect the Sea and everything in Her and are familiar with an undersea variation of the Triat: Kun (the Wyld), who is responsible for fish and marine mammals, C'et (the Weaver), queen of all shelled ocean-dwellers, and Qyrl, creator of squid, octopi, cuttlefish, slugs, snails, and other boneless sea creatures. Rokea consider themselves to be children of Kun.

According to Rokean stories, Qyrl was responsible for the creation of the sun and the stars. She wished to visit the sky, Oversea, but did so against the wishes of her mother, Sea. Afraid of her mother's wrath, Qyrl sank her jaws and tentacles into Oversea to hold on. Where she bit and punctured Oversea's skin, wounds formed. As Oversea bleeds bright, blazing blood (light), the small wounds bled in small drops, forming the stars (called Small Wounds), but the largest formed the sun, which the Rokea call the Great Wound.

Qyrl later wished to remedy her mistake by closing the Great Wound. She scarred Unsea, causing her boiling blood to spill forth, creating undersea volcanoes, hoping that their force would be enough to close the Great Wound. Yet it was not enough to close the Wound, so Qyrl sought alternatives. By taking the blood of Oversea, she found that she was able to create small creatures in her image: Qyrlings. She then retreated to the deepest trenches, seeking a way to enter Sea's soul. In doing so, she contacted something that the Rokea refer to as "Nightmare". The Nightmare asked Qyrl to image a shape for it, and in return, it would close the Great Wound for her. Qyrl agreed and the Nightmare was brought forth into the world, wading waste-deep through the entirety of Sea and easily shrugging of any attacks from the Rokea before taking flight.

The result was year-long struggle that darkened the world, as the Nightmare tried to close the Great Wound by force. Eventually, Sea forced Qyrl to recall the Nightmare and Qyrl obeyed, although she retained some of its essence as loyal servants of her. These creatures are known as the Murdhuacha, the dark cousins to the Merfolk. The struggle, however, had caused Sea to flood over Unsea, killing many of the creatures that lived on dry land.

Qyrl did not stop her plans. She approached her sister C'et, who guarded a pearl that held the secret of building. Qyrl wanted to give the pearl to the human race, who had begun to populate the earth. C'et, hoping to change her sister's mind, told her sister of all the pain she had caused and Qyrl pretended to repent. It was, however, a ploy to steal C'et's pearl and when she did, one of her tentacles that was cut off by C'et's shell would form the core of a new pearl: nuclear energy.

The Rokea now believe that Qyrl encourages nuclear tests in the Sea to open a Small Wound big enough to enter. Once Qyrl has entered one of the Small Wounds, she will close the Great Wound from behind. She has gained new servants, less powerful than Nightmare, but far more deadly. They are named Silence, Stillness, and Darkness, and they veil threats from the watchful Rokea so that they only are alerted when it is too late to stop Qyrl.

Qyrl as a Totem

Rokea can accept patronage of Qyrl as a Totem. The process permanently stains them as Wyrm-tainted and causes an inherent distrust between them and others of their kind. Rokea in the service of Qyrl act as her agents to lead other Rokea into traps, to carry out missions of destruction on land, and to send out misleading messages via remora to other weresharks.

Traits

Qyrl grants her followers +3 Stealth, +1 Linguistics (whatever the dominant human language in the area is), +2 Occult, +2 Survival, and 1 dot of Wits. She also provides food and shelter for her charges, in the form of large, tasty squid in the ocean, or in the form of lucky finds on land (e.g., the Rokea happens upon a bagged lunch that someone "forgot"). She will also whisper hints to her children about how to survive on Unsea. Needless to say, Qyrl does not require Gnosis to provide her children with assistance on land.

Ban

The Rokea must obey Qyrl's commands without question. These commands are prone to materialize at some of the least convenient times, and lead to some not-so-palatable activities. Cost 6 for a slew, 8 for an individual.

References

• WTA: Rokea, p. 22-31, 80, 90
• WTA: Changing Breeds, p. 193-205