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Shorem
"Enlightenment is the jungle ways that wind, the maze of trees and tunnels, the mountains labyrinthine. Only the pure of soul, the dancer of drums, the singer of smoke will see the Vision through deceptions of the Dream."
— The Speak of the First Mashem
Last to Arrive...
Of the six races in the galaxy, the Shorem are the youngest. A tribal race of minotaur-like people, they kept to themselves on the temperate forest planet Ashari. The Shorem were shocked when the draconian Jur landed on the Plateau of Shemash - who were curious about this young race they had discovered. The Shorem appeared bestial and tough, wielding primitive hunting weapons and lead by mystical shamans. However, the Jur leaders who approached them discovered, with a bit of shock, that the Shorem were pacifists. Both races of combat, despite the fact that one tended towards wrath and the other towards peace, the Jur and Shorem found a large amount of common ground between them.
The alliance between the Jur and the Shorem was profitable for the younger race. Given technologies that allowed them to move out into the galaxy, the Shorem left their hunter gathering days behind - except in ceremonial regard. Taking to the stars allowed the Shorem to inhabit thousands of planets, becoming a race of trillions of individual tribes, colonizing planets and bringing their mystical relationship to nature with them. Remarkably, the Shorem have maintained their tribal organization throughout the centuries. Their ancient teachings of pacifism and leadership through their medicine-man or shaman, called the Mashem, and their practice of polygamy have remained intact. Only now, instead of tribes hunting and gathering from forest to forest, and valley to valley, they move from planet to planet in search of their nation's destiny - as augured by each tribe's Mashem. Indeed, the only new role to have developed was at the prompting of the Jur. The Shorem ambassador is the Mashem-nominated member of the Tribe whose sole duty is act as an liaison between the Mashem of the tribe and other races, since the Mashem is considered holy and bound to abjure all but his own tribe.
Through Visions and Dreams...
The Mashem leads his tribe, and the group of Mashem lead their specific Nation. Back on Ashari there were hundreds of nations, each with only several tribes composing it. Now there are over a thousand nations, each with millions of tribes. All tribes are lead by their Mashem, who guide them across the stars to fulfill their destiny. The destiny is, for the Shorem, their Enlightenment. In visions and dreams the Mashem directs his people. While conflicts and battles occur, and nations, even tribes will combat each other, a religious belief in transmigration of the soul has lead them to pacifism. The teachings reveal that to kill another is only to send that soul to a new birth. Furthermore, the soul will recall the killer's act and seek a spiritual revenge upon the killer. And for this reason to kill is pointless, and a detriment to the Vision of Destiny and the Dream of Enlightenment.
Many other races are perplexed by the Shorem. As a powerful race of hunters and warriors, most expect a volatile and aggressive temperament. Instead what they find is a quiet and meditative people, who bear an imposing image with their bulls heads, horns and powerful bodies. While most Shorem will concuss and maim those who act in a foolish and insulting manner, they will avoid killing to the utmost. The Shorem tribes wander the galaxy, seeking their destiny, as it is always appearing — vague and indefinite — to the trance induced minds of the Mashem shamans.
A Darker Destiny Found...
A vanguard nation of Shorem following a prestigious Mashem followed a Shara - a vision. The Shara vision took the nation and its many ships to a distant part of the galaxy, to a planet where they found the lost library of Halanotos. Having tremendous capacity for codes, ciphers and the complex patterns, garnered from labyrinthine jungles of Ashari, the Mashem leaders translated the rites from the Writings of Yata. They believed these to be a way to their nation's Destiny and Enlightenment. They performed the rituals of summoning and a portal opened; the demonic Ke'Ras were let loose. The Shorem nation was Infested and possessed by the demons; they set out in their ships throughout the galaxy... this was the onset of the Return, the second war.
A War of Peace...
Many blame the Shorem. A race once highly regarded and respected, they have become scapegoats for the greatest evil. Many think their obsessive religious questing for their Dreams led to them foolishly unlocking and being overcome by the demonic Ke'Ras. The analytical Qera have been especially critical of the Shorem and often say the Jur would have done better to leave such "barbarians" roaming the forests and gullies. But none know their failing like the Shorem.
Ashamed for what befell the Nation-Now-Lost the Shorem have become even more focused and dedicated to their path of Vision and Dream, Shara and Halli. They believe avidly that now, more than ever, it will only be through their Mashem leaders, through the rites of smoke and drum, that the Destiny will come and its enlightenment will end the Ke'Ras and save the galaxy. The Qera certainly do not appreciate the new Shorem messiah complex. Racial tensions have increased. Only Qera and Shorem who work together politically to end the war ever seem to find common ground; given that the warriors of each see their missions in the Return so radically different. The Shorem are even deeper engaged in their tribal spirituality seeking some flicker of hope in the darkness of the night.
Within the Shorem there are also those who agree that the ancient beliefs are over. That pacifism and Vision quests are relics needing retirement. Technology brings a new future and new hope. The most cynical and rare Shorem, mainly some ambassadors and those exposed to more cosmopolitan worldviews, have even, infamously, speculated that the Destiny foreseen by the mythic Speak sayings of the First Mashem was to unlock the Ke'Ras from their imprisonment. While other radicals of the Shorem contend that the Jur brought the real evil when they moved the nations from the home of Ashari - torn from nature's true and winding ways. These xenophobic radicals have inhabited a few planets and have destroyed all modes of space transport. They fight all who would attempt to land and sway their return to the older ways.
A Race Divided...
The wise and ancient of the other races, while brought to sorrow by the tragedy of what the Shorem unleashed, are also concerned about what will befall the Shorem as they stand so divided among their own nations and tribes. What would befall a tribal people whose very society disintegrates, and the codes and beliefs that held them together and brought order are challenged and potentially discarded? The future of the Shorem is truly lost in the smoke of an unknown Vision and Dream. Their Destiny is unseen....
"In Vision and the Dream, the Shara and Halli, in smoke and in drum our Destiny will come. "
— The Speak of the First Mashemsummary | return to top
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