volara: Ashurra
Hello Brother Axeis, it is I! Your beautiful sister Siexa! I am hoping your time in the Icarian finds you safe and well fed. The food here on Volara is leaving me very disappointment. But I made some friends! Do not be worried, they are not like those I met in Orithiya. They are good people; I am especially fond of the halfling. I am feeling great guilt for my inevitable showdown with her.
But let us eat the boring news first like when mother made us eat the flesh of beast before we could ingest our vegetables. I like potatoes. I have found Shalunite on this planet. A final manifestation of defiance. It is guarded fiercely by a strange halfling clan to the North. I will be making my way there soon. That saddens me. I believe that one of the Four Mantles is here on Volara. (Aidre said she would find a way to deal with that particular problem. She is my choice to lead here.)
Now, the exciting news! I have found these adorable little creatures called the Arshurra. They are these diminutive jungle aaahhhh I guess spirits would be the most accurate title for them. The malen have these super cute beards made from little patches of moss and the femalen have hair made from what seem to be twigs but it flows like normal hair. These are the most defining features as their bodies lack any other discerning features to tell their genders apart.
Their heads are like bulbous stones, they have eye sockets but no actual eyes and their mouths are ‘carved’ into the stone but they can smile and frown. Their little smiles will melt even your cold, jerky heart brother. They are quite chubby and have an almost transient substance to them, and their stubby limbs lack any fingers and toes so when they climb trees and other terrain their limbs seem to stick to the surface in some strange form of adhesion. They are also quite fond of mischief. Certainly creations of Whimsy.
When I first discovered them, the Arshurra had me believe I was a carrot (my favorite vegetable!) so I dug a hole and buried myself in it headfirst so only my feet were sticking out of the ground. I may have suffered some oxygen deprivation. I am grateful that Lash was there to rescue me from such trickery! But he was all sticky and covered in candy, like where did he even get all that candy from?! We were in the jungle.
They (the Ashura) told me they like to put tree branches in water because it ‘adds flavor’. It does not. They were fond of reminding of that during our time together. They are also fond of using miniature pigs and otters as mounts to travel through land and water. I think they can also bestow sentience to certain animals (not like Hurst, that one is a... special case..)
We were resting on a riverbank where a colony of beavers resided and they were about to be eaten by a skulk of foxes, but the Arshurra intervened, granting the beavers a measure of sentience to fend off their assailants. They used sticks and stones as weapons. I think the jungle spirits forgot to turn off the whole ‘sentient animal thing’ though. I’m pretty sure there is a colony of sentient beaver warriors roaming Volara now. This system is so interesting.