The Trilith

Daily Life

The majority of the Trilith population lives in or around the three major cities. Each of the cities was once its own kingdom and so has associated farmlands and forests. The Trilith is not a continuous kingdom. They use a well-maintained and guarded series of mosaic roads to connect the three cities. Ownership of the land that surrounds these roads is somewhat fuzzy.

Ilirin is the city of iron, where the Unbroken are mined and constructed. It is known for its museums.

Ilgóòlú is the city of gold, where the Glittering are mined and constructed. It has the grandest marketplace.

Okuta Iyebiye is the city of diamond, where the Faultless are mined and constructed. Its public gardens are its pride.

The Trilith have an extensive public education system. All children are required to attend one of the boarding schools run by the Faultless. The Faultless also have classes and provide individual tutors for adults. Education is geared towards crafting knowledge. A general overview of almost every type of craft is provided in the early stages of education, with students choosing areas of focus as they progress. After students have learned the essentials of their chosen profession, they will often seek an apprenticeship with a Master of that craft. These arrangements must be approved by the Stone Judges.

The Stone Judges provide a basic living wage to all Trilith. This is given out in the form of raw materials of a person’s choosing (grain, meat, metal, gems, lumber, etc.).

The Glittering decide the value of all raw materials and crafted goods. All trade must be approved by the Glittering and be roughly equal in value. A craftsperson may also sell their items to the government for raw materials.

Trilith life revolves around art and the skill it takes to make it. The explicit goal of the Stone Judges is to facilitate a society that allows people to attain their maximum artistic potential.

The Trilith have various ranks to denote one’s skill in a particular craft. Generally, anyone who is studying a particular craft may call themselves an apprentice in that craft. Subsequent ranks are awarded by the Stone Judges after an evaluation of the artist’s work. The Trilith do not have last names, but it is common for them to include their rank and profession when introducing themselves.

The Stone Judges

The Stone Judges are the governmental body of the Trilith. Once, they were the main force of the armies that freed the Trilith from their hereditary rulers. After the war, it was decided that people were too susceptible to corruption and favoritism, so the Stone Judges were put in charge.

Though there are thousands of individual Stone Judges, they consider themselves to be one entity with three distinct personalities.

The Faultless are the Stone Judges who are made from diamond. They handle education.

The Glittering are the Stone Judges who are made from gold. They handle commerce.

The Unbroken are the Stone Judges who are made from iron. They maintain infrastructure and harvest raw resources (crops, lumber, metals, etc.).

Relationship with Other Nations

The Grove - Generally, the Trilith get along well with the Grove. The Grove has some natural resources that are scarce in the Trilith’s lands. Recently there have been some disputes over the Network Trees overrunning Trilith borders. The lack of (physical) developments and infrastructure in the Grove can be unsettling to people of the Trilith.

Khemet - The Trilith trade heavily with Khemet. Khemet also has a thriving community of craftspeople, and these tend to be the people that get along best with the Trilith. The Trilith do find Khemet’s beliefs a bit strange. Their concept of Ma’at (divine justice) doesn’t really make sense to most Trilith, and their strong devotion to their Gods can make individual Trilith uncomfortable.

The Soul and Spirit Energy

Every physical thing has a soul, whether stone, tree, animal, or person. Of course not every soul is the same. People each have their own soul, which makes them an individual. Minerals seem to have one collective soul (or at least their souls are all connected). Plants and animals sit somewhere near the middle of the individual-to-collective soul spectrum.

Souls produce energy. In the Trilith, this energy is called Spirit. Through crafting, artisans manipulate the Spirit energy of their materials and combine it with their own Spiritual energy to create a work of art. The greater the Spiritual energy of a work of art, the more valuable (and powerful) it is.

Friendship

Those that seek to unlock a material’s true potential must gain its friendship. Making an offer of friendship can be somewhat difficult as materials do not speak as people do. There are, however, several ways to communicate with a particular material type. The most common are reaching a trancelike state while crafting that material, or getting the help of the Stone Judges to act as a medium/translator for communication. Once communication is open, the material will put forth a request/challenge. One must satisfy the material's request in order to be granted friendship.

People of the Trilith often include their friendships in their titles/introductions.

The Soulforged

Soul Forging (or Soulforging) is a technique invented some seven hundred years ago.

Because typical crafts are made purely using Spirit energy, their power level is mostly static. The soul, on the other hand, is continually producing more Spirit. A craft made with a soul would therefore continually grow in power.

A process was developed to sever a piece of one’s soul, and then set it in a chosen item. This process is called soulforging

Of course the severed soul piece still has a connection to the soul it came from: the soulforged item’s power only works for that person, and only they can direct its growth.

A person may use any piece of their soul for forging, but it is generally best to use one with a strong emotional connection (e.g. The rage I feel for my betrayer, the love I have for so-and-so). The type of emotion also affects the powers of the item (e.g. rage gives more destructive powers, sadness allows you to repair things).

The act of soul forging also has some consequences. Accidents can happen, and the soul can be damaged. More commonly, however, the soulforging process can lead to a somewhat fractured sense of self. The severed piece of your soul, and the memories and emotions that are connected to it, will seem more distant to you. It will be as though you are watching instead of experiencing those parts of yourself.