Sunday, October 09, 2005

First Alteration For This Site’s Dhe’nar Culture

10/09/2005

How about that… A merchant has altered a blade into a khinai.

>inv
You are holding a small onyx bladed Dhe’nari meditation dagger in your right hand.

Now my Dhe’nar character who happens to be a khisari has a prop to play with…

Many thanks to the GM responsible.

Khisai: Meditative Order

10/09/2005

There is a meditative order amongst the Dhe’nar, which performs a style of meditation called khisai. Members of this order are called Khisari, and are found amongst members of all Castes and many other Orders as well. The purpose of the khisai is not merely the achievement of mental focus and awareness, but of a uniting of the mind and body so that one is not subject to the whims of the other. Khisari also believe that khisai is of great help in the achievement of Ascension, but this belief is not universal amongst Dhe’nar, although the practical utility of the abilities of advanced Khisari cannot be denied.

There are said to be 1,000 steps of khisai, each bringing with it mastery of a different discipline. In fact, Khisari often refer to themselves based on their progress along this path. One who is a Fifth Step Khisari is barely past initiation into the order, while a 500th Step Khisari is well on his road to mastery, and has probably been practicing khisai for a few hundred years.

It is difficult to quantify the abilities gained by climbing the steps of the khisai, especially since after the first few hundred or so, the disciplines and changes in them are so subtle, that many are noticeable only as refinements of previous steps. However, there are certain changes evident in Khisai that even the uninitiated can notice.

The khisari can ignore the urges of hunger and thirst. This does not free his body from needing food and water - simply that he can continue to operate wth full clarity, up until the point his body runs out of the necessary fuel and dies. His body will send thirst and hunger pains to his mind, but the khisari will not feel the need to act on them, except purely out of practicality.

A khisari can control his sleep, and maintain a limited awareness of his surroundings while doing so. After attaining a few steps, khisari no longer dream, unless such dreams are delivered by spirits, arkati, or other outside mystical forces. Further along, the khisari can choose how deep a sleep he wishes to obtain, to the point where he can linger indefinitely at a stage just below wakefulness, allowing his body to rest while still remaining aware of the world around him. This would not deliver as much rest as a shorter, deeper sleep would provide, but it is especially useful for those Dhe’nar who find themselves alone and must maintain a watch, such as solitary scouts and rangers.

In addition to controlling sleep, the khisari’s need for sleep lessens. In addition to requiring fewer hours for sleep, eventually the khisari loses the need for nightly sleep altogether. By the 20th step, a khisari need only sleep around three to four hours to achieve full rest, barring extremely vigorous activity previously in the day. By the 50th Step, it is not even necessary for a khisari to sleep every night - every other night tends to suffice. By the 200th step, a few hours of sleep a week is sufficient.

The khisari’s sensitivity to pain is reduced. The khisari still feels pain, but he controls the mind’s reaction to it, so that natural responses such as panic, flinching, wincing, and so on are negated. It would be entirely possible for a 200th Step khisari to have an onyx scarab burrow through his body, and dispassionately describe the experience to those around him, until such time as it finally killed him. This ability does not prevent injuries from stunning a khisari, or killing him through shock, both of which are mainly physiological reactions to injury that cannot be ignored by mental discipline.

These are but a few examples of the most obvious changes to a Dhe’nar as he progresses along the steps of the khisai. (In game terms, khisai does not provide any sort of mechanical game advantage to Dhe’nar - it only provides abilities that are purely roleplayable and non-abusive in nature. A good rule of thumb is that if it contradicts any game mechanics which obviously affect your character, or requires you to abuse the Act command to demonstrate, it is not appropriate).

Khisari often carry a meditation dagger - what they refer to as a khinai. The khinai is typically small, and would not make a very effective weapon except in the most desperate of circumstances. It typically has no edge, merely a sharp point, and is constructed from simple, base materials, such as iron or volcanic glass. The meditation dagger is the one implement common to khisari, and is used in their ritualized meditative practices. Its symbolic function is that of a tool with which to pierce the veil between body and mind, and the veil between the mortal and spirit realms that prevents ascendance. In meditative practice, the khisari places the khinai firmly against a vulnerable portion of his body, such as the stomach, throat, underneath the chin, etc. The khisari begins his meditation, balancing himself so that any lapse in mental or physical discipline results in his own body being punctured by the blade.

Khisari initiates are often seen with various injuries as a result of this practice, and it is recommended that they do not practice in solitude, so that there is another around to fetch a healer, or cleric.

Meditation Overview

10/09/2005

Nearly all Dhe’nar practice meditation of one form or another. Such meditation generally falls into two categories, ritualized meditation and artless meditation.

Ritualized meditation is that meditation which has specific rules and forms prescribed for its practice, and is an activity unto itself. When one performs a type of ritualized meditation, one is doing nothing but meditating. Most styles of ritualized meditation are specific to the various orders and societies amongst the Dhe’nar, many of which have their own take on how to perform proper meditation. The stylized, solitary combat forms of many of the Warrior orders, and the mana channeling exercises of many of the Warlock orders are just two broad examples of the many types of ritualized meditation present in Dhe’nar society.

Artless meditation is that which arises as a function of performing one’s duties. It is not meditation for meditation’s sake, but rather meditation that accompanies the completion of a task. This style of meditation is more common amongst the Worker Caste, but it also exists within the other castes as well. A warlock may find himself in a meditative state when he is meticulously scribing magical scrolls, or a Khanshael may find himself completely devoid of extraneous thoughts and concerns while while folding steel countless times. Any time such perfect focus and awareness is attained while not specifically performing a meditative ritual, it is Artless. The Dhe’nar have a term for this state as well - Khin.

These two styles of meditation are not mutually exclusive. In fact, one of the common goals of ritualized meditation is the hope that, with time, one may be able to attain khin more readily during one’s normal affairs.