Echo's Knoll

CharacterThe world of sight is an illusion, a swirl of pigment and oil for the mind that YOU choose to believe is real, and give it power over your beliefs. A barbazu existing in Baator has seen his reflection and the interpreted evil inherent in it, and remembers the lowliness of his thought-to-be contemptible larval form. He observes his surrounding, watches his fellow baatezu act and accepts his role in existence--But Why? The eyes tell lies, and their visions try to sell a berk the faulty deed to a non-existent landscape of accepted beliefs. Close your eyes--listen to the wind at your ears and the calling of your psyche, and know true perception...

DescriptionA few hundred miles from the NW entrance of the Windglum, there is a portion of the Caves where the shrill noise of Pandemonium begins to slightly--change. Visitors once accustomed to the barrage of howling winds on the (even-protected) eardrum, suddenly begin to hear faint traces of something else--usually it will start off as the faint flapping of 1 or 2 wings, barely audible, but as a berk draws nearer he hears 5, then 10, then dozens of wings moving through the forceful gusts of the Plane. This is Echo's Knoll; home to a race that may or may not have originated here, for even the eldest of their kind can't remember that far back.

Echo's Knoll is home to the Chiropids, creatures that eschew the faculty of sight (which they neither trust nor possess) for the pureness of sound. As a matter of fact they distrust all senses outside of sound and thought. In appearance they are bat-like creatures, approximately 4 feet tall with huge wingspans of 15 feet or greater. Their feet have developed into hands for grasping and manipulating objects. They are without eyes, but possess a large snout and enormous ears alongside their bulbous heads, capable of amplifying and filtering sounds with great detail. It is with these organs that the Chiropids understand their world--the Chiropid brain is quite advanced in regards to auditory information. It can filter through as many as 1000 different soundwaves at a time, from as far away in the tunnels as 20 miles--and they are quite immune to the maddening effects of the howling wind.

Since small Chiropid parties travel throughout the caves (most often unnoticed in the eternal dark) they usually have very thorough knowledge of the goings on in Phlegethon, and those at Echo's Knoll will have picked up any and all conversations among a party's members days before they reach the town.

Chiropids also have exacting memories--they can remember every word or specific sound they have picked up within the previous 24 months with 95% accuracy of recall; and no matter how ancient they become they will always recall at least 50% of the sounds and sentences they heard as "Screechlings" in the first year of life. Thc Chiropids themselves have a very complex language of varying decibility beeps, screeches and whistles (mostly out of the range of human hearing), though they all have a familiarity with Common Cant. They are extremely communal and philosophical beings.

RulerThe Chiropids are not a hierarchical driven species; major decisions occur after much reflection and debate in which no one voice truly dominates. Greatest respect is paid to the Elders of the Cave who have heard and remembered more than others--that position is occupied at present by Shrill Flitter (M/male Chiropid/W(W)13/Audiolist/CN), an Old Flyer of over 400 years who relates history that others do not know and whose cry is often the tie-breaker in close decisions. He is Ceremonial leader of the Audiolist movement as well (see below)

Behind the ThroneAs stated above, the nature of Chiropid society is not conducive to Power Politics, but the most respected Chiropids outside of the Aged are the true adventurers, those who have flown to destinations hundreds if not thousands of miles from Echo's Knoll and returned with tales and information unknown to Chiropid Ears. Faint Echo (M/female Chiropid/W(T)5/Audiolist/CN) is a young, soft screeching female who has just returned with information about an Ocean unrecorded in Chiropid annals and has become something of a celebrity telling of her harrowing journey. Since winds often blow in only one direction in much of the caves, being an adventurous Chiropid can be a tricky task, often requiring them to find their own round-about ways home by going with the breezes through foreign tunnels.

This area of Phlegethon has numerous stalactites hanging from the ceiling over a large knoll; the knoll itself is inhabited not so much by the Chiropids (who make their homes and constructions up high among the jutting projections) but rather to non-Chiropid followers of the Audiolist movement. The sect is almost as ancient as the Chiropids themselves, though some cutters mistake it for an offshoot of the Signers; this is not so. Signers look at the physical world as possible illusion, to be shaped by an individual like a dream and thus controlled. Audiolists do not know if the physical is illusion or real and frankly do not care; they have no eyes to fall upon its image.

The Chiropids acknowledge how the visual sense impacts the identity of other creatures; whether out of noble ethics or their own lack of the sense. Chiropid Audiolists preach that the visual is but a prison for the mind, and even if the mind could control what it sees it would STILL BE IMPRISONED by the assumptions and bias inherent in the visual. A lawful good Signer might create a multiverse absent of baatezu and tanar'ri and without certain images it deems obscene--this illusion would simply trap the individual in the never-ending cycle of buying into everything they have been taught without the acquisition of self-knowledge.

A major tenet of the Audiolist sect is that true self-awareness and communication is always hindered by the visual sense. Converts to the movement come from across the planes, and a few of them have taken the extreme measure of gouging out their own eyes to free themselves from the "Decadence of the Ocular", though this is by no means a Sect requirement.

Chiropids and their Audiolist fellows will be quite suspicious of most outsiders who arrive but do not wish to join or learn about the sect. Everyone at Echo's Knoll will likely know a party's business long before they arrive, and will be prepared to 'greet' anyone they view as a threat accordingly.

MilitiaNot only will the entire collective of Chiropids be organized to stave off an enemy incursion before it arrives, but the Audiolist sect contains members of many powerful races, including humans, zerai, drow, and a Goristro who went AWOL from the Blood War. Good luck getting the jump on this bunch, blood.

ServicesChiropids have a simple diet of mosses, fungi and insects that can be found in the danker areas of the caves, so the best bet for rations is among other members of the Audiolists, though these will be minimal. Chiropids know the layout of Phlegethon far better than any berk you might find in Windglum, and an individual might be convinced to act a guide in exchange for trade in services--a smart bet if ya wish to steer clear of the Giant Albino Worghemoths and sinister beings of the Great Ocean of Phlegethon. There are few better sentries than ones who can hear the goings on miles away.