The Terrillians are a sapient species from the planet Adenia.
Biology[]
The Terrillians are mammalian humanoids with skin coming in a variety of shades from grey to green. They possess slits running perpendicular down their foreheads. Males have pronounced cranial ridged that bulge from their foreheads. In addition they possess slightly pointed ears.
History[]
A young female Terrillian named Remi once lived in the Kingdom of Kaladon with her father Dawah who was a man of science who encouraged her to study all aspects of the world to uncover the truth. They conducted their studies of the natural world in secret as Terrillian society was monitored by the religious order known as the Akolouth who professed that only faith was needed and question the structure of the world was seen as heresy.
One day Remi and Dawah came to a family who's mother named Diorna was nearing her end. Dawah intended to give her an elixir made with fossim root to ease her end. Though Diorna's daughter welcomed them, her husband did no agree. As mother and daughter gave her the elixir, the Akolouth were summoned by the husband telling them that there was a heretic in his home. Remi and Dawah managed to escape the house, making their way back to their home to collect their belongings. Dawah gave Remi a wrapped package that contained an artifact he intended to uncover the origins of together with his daughter.
Dawah stayed behind to give Remi time to escape, promising he would find her. However the Akolouth were at his door which he welcomed them. When the Akolouth charged for his disservice to the gods, Dawah refuted stated he served them by studying their worlds. The priest though stated that Dawah defied the gods, which Dawah countered with that the Akolouth betrayed them. Dawah was then taken out in the streets and publicly executed for his defiance to the despair of his daughter. The priests having dealt with Dawah then turned their attentions to pursuing Remi, who managed to escape by jumping into the nearby river and allowing the current to take her.
Upon reaching the banks of the river far from Kaladon, Remi unwrapped the artifact that her father had given her, intending to fulfill his legacy. The artifact in question turned out to be a piece of metal with the NASA logo.
Remi resolved to learn and study the world, continued to discover more substances and elements. however was unable to decipher the symbols of the metal artifact that her father had given her. Though she traveled far from Kaladon, she was disheartened to see that the vile teachings of the Akolouth to be ever present throughout the realm. Eventually Remi arrived at a distant village of Halden where she took up work as a barmaid at a bar owned by a man named Tolin.
There she encountered a man name Elgrove who rambled to himself and anyone who would listen to his philosophical musings of the evolution of society. His words were met by laughter by most of the townsfolk, though Elgrove tried to push is point that they should start questioning their prior beliefs in that not simply take the stories that the gods placed the Terrillians on their world, but that there must be a time when they were more primitive people until they progressed at their current development. Elgrove claimed that the Terrillians were but animals that once dwelled in caved but had changed thanks to the times, stating that he had proof in the form of signs scratched on the walls of history. The talk of symbols caught Remi's interest but was distracted by Tolin calling her to help with the dishes.
Although Remi and the opportunity to build a life in the town, as Tolin's son Amara was attracted to her, she still continued her studies on the various elements she discovered, using the hearth of the local blacksmith Tosk to do her experiments. At the Festival of Plentiful that commemorate the harvest god, Elgrove disrespected a totem idol. The local cleric having enough of Elgrove then dragged Elgrove to the woods where he would be beaten to death. The old man was saved by Remi who then brought him to her hideout in a tree. The woman having heard about Elgrove's rambling of cave paintings asked him to show her.
The next day Elgrove guided her to the caves where he had seen the cave paintings. On the journey Elgrove grew ever reluctant to show Remi the place as he was worried it was gone or perhaps too dangerous. He admitted that a long time ago when he was young, he too was an eager soul like the girl who wanted to explore. However he had grown tired both mind and body at seeing the world not care for his discoveries. At the caves, the cave paintings were just as Elgrove described depicting Terrillians at a more primitive time. Remi recognized the circle and elliptical rings being similar to the one on her artifact. Elgrove hearing this grew interested in this, but before they could converse any further they were approached by three masked, robed clawed beings.
The two Terrillians fled, trying to exit the cavern. They were pursued by the strange monsters. At a gap on the floor, Elgrove managed to jump across it, but when Remi attempted to do the same, she was dragged back by the monsters and into darker to his horror. Grief stricken, Elgrove made his way back to the village of Halden, where he wandered to the back alley of Tolin's bar. He was found by Amara who tried to shoo the man away, as it was rumored he had attacked two clerics, until he heard of Remi's demise. Amara then secretly let Elgrove in and gave him food as he wanted to know the whole story. Not wanting to let Remi die in vain, Elgrove began studying the symbol he had seen in the caves. Trouble soon arrived to Halden when clerics of the Akolouth arrived after receiving word from their fellow clerics that there was resistance in the village against their power.
Meanwhile Remi was very much alive, and awaken to find herself in a cave, her journal and artifact taken from her. Seeing she was surrounded by the monsters, Remi attempted to defend herself with a spear. But to her surprise the monsters did not attack, but returned her artifact of the NASA symbol. The beings then removed their masks, revealing them to be strange creatures not like Terrillians.
The creatures knowing the Terrillian language then told Remi their story. It turned out they were descendants of NASA astronauts that were sent out into space. The NASA shuttle somehow crash landed on Adenia, causing at least ten human astronauts to be stranded. In an endeavor to survive the astronauts took shelter in the caverns and through the ensuing years created a tribe of humans that have lived underground for at least three generations. Eventually some like the ones Remi encountered ventured to the surface in disguise so that they may have a better chance to not only survive but thrive. The beings told Remi much of their story had been passed down over the years and until now their efforts have seem pointless. That was until they found Remi with the symbol of their origins, which they believed could bring their tribe to their true home.
Back in Halden, Amara bringing a new supply of food to Elgrove discovered the old man to be gone and his place of hiding trashed. Frantic he rushed outside to find that the clerics had captured Elgrove and brought him out to be publicly executed. Distracted by seeing Elgrove's faux-trial, he failed to notice the Akolouth soldier behind him who identified him of the second heretic that was reported in the village.
Remi guided five of the humans to her treehouse. One of the humans Ezra was worried about trusting the Terrillian, despite his friend Amalthea's faith in Remi. At the tree they were greeted by a grisly sight of the hanged corpses of Elgrove and Amara. The group was soon ambushed by five members of the Akolouth who attacked them. One of the humans were felled by the Akolouth who were confused by the appearances of the creatures, believing that they were some evil Remi had uncovered and must be destroyed.
Remi not wanting her researcher she acquired to fall in the hands of the Akolouth, made the decision to use a makeshift bomb to destroy her tree, setting it on fire. The conflagration was enough for the humans and Remi to give them a distraction to finish off the remaining Akolouth soldiers. However one of the soldiers managed to escape, and with it one of the bodies of the deceased humans. He returned to the Kingdom of Kaladon where he presented it to Akolouth leader, who decreed that it was a new test against their faith and must be destroyed. As the soldier was the only one to have seen the creature, he was then executed by the high cleric's loyal guard.
Ezra, Amalthea and the remaining humans then took Remi to meet Oog a Terrillian astronomer to show him her artifact. Oog like Remi wanted to uncover the secrets of the world and to that end showed her his homemade telescope which he viewed the stars. Upon looking through the telescope, he showed Remi that one of the moons that orbited Adenia was not a moon at all but in fact a vessel of some sort. As for t he other moon, the readers of the story can see that it is in fact Earth moon, as evidence to the American flag planted on its surface and from the moon's perspective the planet looks reminiscent of Earth view of North America.
Culture and society[]
Terrillian society is at the level of the medieval age. They worship a pantheon of gods known as the Elders that they believed to have created the world. The Akolouth are a group of clerics that maintain this ideology, assuming control over the kingdoms. The view that the world does not belong to them but the gods, thus to venture to deform or manipulate that which the Elders have provided is an unholy perversion of the highest order. The claim that Terrillians are simple creatures, and not creators. Any deviation from their theology is seen as heresy and is as an affront to their gods and a threat to their power.
Scientific advances in Adenia are thus hindered as many free-thinking alchemists, scholars and philosophers are hunted and ostracized from society. Though in truth the learned men and women see the Akolouth as viewing their work as threats to their power, as they act and proclaim to be intermediaries of the gods. Thus even those scholar who study in solitude away from civilization are not spared by the order.
Deities[]
Appearances[]
- Artifact One Issue 000
- Artifact One Issue 001
- Artifact One Issue 002
- Artifact One Issue 003
- Artifact One Issue 004