Gods:
- Ilad - [EE-laad] - The goddess of the Jaeman religion, and generally the Creator mares pray to, although some males do pray to Ilad. She is loving and caring, and make react irationally or make biased decisions on account of her love. She is considered more powerful than Teorn, and so her commands are more well-known than many of the god's.
- Teorn - [Torn] - The god of the Jaeman religion, and generally the Creator stallions pray to, although again, there are exceptions to this. The mate of Ilad, Teorn is said to hold less power, although being a god does bring its fair share of power. Less sentimental than Ilad, though still a fatherly figure to young colts.
- Epona - The white daughter of Ilad, sent to bring the Jaemo salvation from a terrible fate. Her kind heart and extreme love for her creator's children led her to sacrifice herself so they could carry on living.
Jargon:
- Common Earth
- Second Earth
- Itizar [Stonehenge]
- Jaemo (formal name for horses) [JAY-MO]
- Forrah [lead mare of a herd]
- Fellah [lead stallion of a herd]
- Mahli [weakest of herd]
- Watchers [honored position in herd hierarchy]
- Bakar [six herds bachelor Jabbar whose services in battle can be bought]
- Council of Elders [a solitary herd of four old stallions whose decisions are most respected in the lowlands
Herd Hierarchy:
- Jagger/Jabbar
- Watcher Captains
- Watchers
- Colts (Watchers in training)
- Storytellers
- Fillies and Mares
- Foals
- Mahli
- Bakar
- Loners
- Fortunetellers
Story:
When the presence of Man was still new to the lands, long before any of our forefathers – nay, long before the great-forefathers of our forefathers – had been born, and the land was still untainted by the evils of bloodshed and war, Man and the Jaemo lived together in peace. But gradually, as more and more humans came to populate the land, they lost control and could no longer suppress their differences. And thus, the war began.
To the Jaemo, it was simply the Great War, for horses never warred amongst their own kind, and never before had any witnessed such cruel and heartless bloodshed. Nor had they any other name for it, for it was the only war any had ever known. The Great War waged on without a pause, and for three generations, the humans fought each other. By then, the population of untamed Jaemo living in the Common Earth had dwindled from a booming hundred thousand to the pitiful number of eight thousand. This, combined with the number of horses tamed and raised by humans, only made up a meager ten thousand. The horses were in trouble, for the Great War had not only turned its wicked hunger on Man, but to all the animals around it.
Each horse, tamed or wild, prayed to Ilad and Teorne, the makers of life in the religion of the Jaemo (in which goddesses held more power than the gods, although in the society of the horses, stallions were still considered more worthy than mares), for an escape from the bloody horror that now feasted upon the land. Ilad had a kind and gentle soul, and she could not bear to see her beloved children suffering in the fury of Man’s war, and so she sculpted from the clouds a pure white mare with mane and tail of pure silver, whom she sent down from the heavens to offer the Jaemo the salvation they had so long prayed for.
Word spread of this occurrence that a white mare had been sent to Earth by the goddess Ilad to save the Jaemo from a dreadful fate. The rumors spread like wildfire through the populace, and before long, all the horses of the Common Earth – both wild and tamed – had gathered.
It is common knowledge amongst the Jaemo that millions of dimensions of life existed on Earth without knowing a thing of any of the others, and that one simply had to reach out to brush tens of thousands these other dimensions without realizing it. The Common Earth was the one single dimension from which one could travel to any other dimension of life, if they found the way, thus the name the Common Earth. So it was Epona’s duty to find one such way – a portal – through which she would lead the gathered masses of horses to safety.
And so Epona searched. Each day she prayed to Ilad for help, and each day Teorne would have to stop the goddess from helping, for it is written in stone that the makers of life may not interfere with the destiny of any sent from the heavens to safe the Jaemo. Epona had to find the portal on her own, through believing in fate and her own abilities.
With the help of a small group of devout followers, Epona eventually found the portal. It was a single-way portal leading away from the Common Earth to one other dimension, though none knew which. This was located in a ring of stones heaped to make archways, a strange and mystical place created under the hand of Man. The Jaemo rejoiced at the news, but their snow-white leader was troubled.
Epona was a special mare, made especially by the hand of Ilad, and the goddess and granted her an uncanny sense for magic. The white mare knew instinctively that a sacrifice was needed, that blood split willingly had to blend into the dew of early morning in the grass in order for the portal to be opened. And so, in order to save her devoted followers and the beloved children of Ilad and Teorne, Epona sacrificed herself before the Stone Ring, and thus the portal was opened – opened the way to salvation.
Upon the death of the courageous mare, however, all the Jaemo heard in their minds the sound of the heavens opening so that Epona could once again return to her beloved creators, and they could almost see the white shape floating toward the rays of the sun, and the sound of a prophecy for all.
When the land’s foundation rocked,
In the grasp of Man’s war,
Then shall Ilad cast to us our savior,
Born to rewrite written Lore.
A hide of black shall she be borned
Yet white afore a moonth has gone,
Through hands of death she will have slipped
Though in death shall she exist anon.
Through wood, through water,
Earth and fire,
She shall flee where none hath been,
Chased by hate within another’s sire.
Knowing secrets none should know,
Yet must be shown to all Rhohan,
She shall return to fight her birth,
And face against the evil one.
When the evil plan is seen,
Then her rage shall summon snow,
Summer’s winter here shall come,
To show to all what the Rhohan must know.
Beneath the stones by hands of Man,
Come she to open up to all,
The door from which none shall return,
For which her sacrifice will call.
To release the Rhohan from the grip,
Of the humans’ Icy War,
The door through which life shall become
Peaceful forevermore.
((-and more-))
The Jaemo, overcome with grief for their fallen leader, yet inspired by her act of love, entered the portal. The portal within the Stone Ring led to another dimension, as Epona had so fervently hoped. The horses were all shocked by what greeted them. Rolling plains stretched farther than the eye could see beside the sheer drop of a cliff face, from which roared a wondrous waterfall of water so clear one could not see their own reflection atop the view of the glistening pebbles that lay on the riverbed. The land was completely untouched by the flaw of the human race. The land was pure and unbroken.
The land eventually became known as the Second Earth by the Jaemo. Here the horses prospered and thrived, some living in tight family groups and others living scattered throughout the lands. As an unspoken agreement, no Jaemo was permitted to mark his or her own territory, so that the horses could all live in peace in the company of others. Both wild and tamed horses lived together, so that the only difference that could be seen in their offspring was a slightly wilder coat on the progeny of the free-running Jaemo.
The horses now have been living in the Second Earth for too long. Each generation, the prophecy is repeated to the youngsters, and each Jaemo searches desperately for the black filly mentioned in the prophecy, for the day of her birth would be the coming of the Jaeman return to the Common Earth.
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