Ixtli

ENIGMATIC ISLAND NATION

Alignment: LN

Capital: Hachtlan (98,000, est.)

Notable Settlements: Blackwater [trading port] (42,200), Greycliff [trading port] (63,800), Kultan (22,000, est.), Mango Bay [trading port] (31,200), Raza (14,000, est.), Yaxa (4,000, est.)

Ruler: Ayato, Golden Emperor of Ixtli and Steward of Mahasamatman

Government: Complex semi-theocratic timocracy

Languages: Ixtli, Common

Religion: The Eightfold Path, Lathenna, Emesh, Molkai

HISTORY

To most of the peoples of Gönd, Ixtli is an enigma. A little over four hundred years ago, Ixtli sent out a massive fleet. In the historical records that remain from that time, this event is known as The Diaspora.

Scholars, students, historians, explorers, scientists, diplomats and researchers—Ixtli sent out its best and brightest to every corner of the Known World to catalogue and report upon the myriad civilisations sharing the world. Over two decades, Ixtli’s greatest minds embedded themselves in the affairs of other principalities, with some of them rising to high station despite their origins in a largely unknown foreign land. Destiny Divided, the famous tragedy by the elven bard Merethrel, is based on the true story of two Ixtlian brothers who found themselves advising opposite sides in a great and bitter war.

How the Ixtlian delegations were received in Ellôria or the Dwarven Kingdom is not recorded in Leyira’s histories, but most historians who have bothered to study this curious period in the history of the Known World suspect that the Ixtlians received little in the way of co-operation from either the elves or dwarves.

Whilst the true purpose of the Diaspora was known only to the Ixtlians, nobody was left in any doubt as to when it was over. On the first day of spring in the year 22,692, every Ixtlian vanished from his or her lodgings. How the thousands of Ixtlians that had inveigled their way into human (and possibly elven and dwarven) society disappeared without a trace remains a mystery, although one popular theory has all of them displaced through use of a delayed wish spell. If that is indeed the case, the sheer volume of wealth and strength of organisation required to cast so many wish spells speaks volumes about Ixtli’s resources.

Whatever the peripatetic Ixtlians were looking for, it appears that either they didn’t find it, or that what they found wasn’t to their liking. The first Leyiran ship sent to Ixtli as an envoy after the disappearance was turned away. So was the next. And the one after that.

So began more than four centuries of isolation. Ixtli closed its doors to the Known World. Precisely why they did so may never come to light, but beyond a handful of trusted trader captains and wizard lords, not a single non-Ixtlian set foot on Ixtli’s shores for more than four hundred years, and each of them took whatever secrets they learned about Ixtli to the grave.

Whatever happened in Ixtli over the last four hundred years, upon his ascension to the throne, Emperor Ayato threw open Ixtli’s borders, and so for some six years Ixtli has traded with the other nations of the Known World once again.

Foreigners are still limited to one of three strictly controlled and quarantined trading ports spaced around Ixtli’s coastline, but the very fact that Ixtli has resumed trading has been cause for celebration amongst Leyira’s merchant families; whether they are true or not, stories are still told about Ixtli’s vast untapped mineral and natural wealth, and delegations from every major mercantile guild and family have set up a permanent presence in one or more of Ixtli’s trading ports.

In the beginning, several delegations attempted to covertly circumvent the regulations that prevented them from leaving the trading ports. All of them found themselves mysteriously back at their lodgings before having gone more than a few hundred feet from the town walls. Eventually, a delegation from the Ostermeyer mercantile family managed to plunge into the jungles in Ixtli’s interior. Two days later, their dismembered and mutilated remains were returned to Blackwater by and Ixtlian hunting party. Rumours abound as to precisely how the Ostermeyer delegation met their end, but whatever the truth, very few have been willing to risk their lives in exploration of the island’s interior ever since, and some delegations have left Ixtli entirely.

RELIGION

The majority of Leyirans find Ixtli a strange place. Whilst Ixtlians acknowledge the existence of and worship the gods as the Leyirans do, the vast majority are first and foremost adherents of a philosophy known as The Eightfold Path.

As far as most Leyiran philosophers understand it, The Eightfold Path is publicised as a means to achieve enlightenment, or freedom from suffering. The foundation of The Eightfold Path can be found in the Four Truths, which are inscribed on a plaque in every set of foreign lodgings in Blackwater, Mango Bay and Greycliff:

1. Life is Suffering.

2. The source of Suffering is Craving.

3. Enlightenment eliminates Craving.

4. Enlightenment is achieved via The Eightfold Path.

Further, the followers of the Eightfold Path believe that over the course of their lives they accumulate what they call patua. Every deed, regardless of how small, generates an amount of either positive or negative patua. At the end of their lives, the followers of the Eightfold Path believe that they are judged by their patua: a sufficient amount of positive patua in conjunction with the achievement of enlightenment is said to be enough to guarantee entry to Nirvana, a mystical outer plane where the souls of the enlightened faithful may spend the remainder of their days in contemplation of the mysteries of the multiverse. For those who fail to generate sufficient positive patua—or fail to reach enlightenment—their life’s journey is not over; they are said to be reincarnated in another form to make another attempt at following The Eightfold Path. The accumulation of enough negative patua is said to result in reincarnation in the form of an animal or beast, the better to contemplate the essence of the Four Truths.

The precise origin of The Eightfold Path is somewhat unclear, but over the last six years Leyiran anthropologists have collected stories of a legendary man named Mahasamatman, who is said to have lived in Ixtli some thousands of years ago. If even half the stories ascribed to Mahasamatman’s legend are true, then the vast majority of Gönd’s inhabitants would consider him a god. Not so the Ixtlians—they insist he was merely a man, albeit one who reached a state of living enlightenment few could hope to match.

Alongside The Eightfold Path, Ixtlians do venerate the gods as do the denizens of other nations. Whilst joint worship of the gods is practised in Ixtli just as it is in Leyira, most offerings are made to Lathenna and Emesh, with Molkai not too far behind.

POLITICS

From what visitors to the trading ports have been able to gather, in principle Emperor Ayato wields absolute power over Ixtli—his word is law in every aspect of the islanders’ lives. In practice, however, Ayato is advised by a select group of men and women who have demonstrated expertise in various fields. These chief ministers are able to exercise some power of their own, but Emperor Ayato may countermand their orders at any time—which, if it happens, is not good for those ministers’ careers.

The ins and outs of Ixtlian politics are incredibly complex, even to someone used to the intrigues of court in some of Leyira’s more convoluted and tortuous aristocracies. Essentially all of Ixtli’s public servants and senior public figures operate on the basis of genra, a concept that—loosely translated—means ‘honour’, ‘standing’, ‘relationships’, and a dozen other concepts besides. It is up to each individual member of the bureaucracy to understand his or her genra relative to the scores or hundreds of others he or she might come into contact with regularly, as there are different protocols required depending on the relative positions of the participants in a conversation or negotiation. Some Ixtlians even make a living tracking changes in genra. Their advice is highly sought after, but if they make an error and provide inappropriate advice to a client, their careers can easily be ruined overnight.

THE IXTLIAN CASTE SYSTEM

Ixtlians are born into one of six castes:

1. Ura: This is the lowest Ixtlian caste. Often seen as barely human, Ura Ixtlians typically perform the sorts of jobs that go against The Eightfold Path, but are seen as necessary for society to function. Examples of roles performed by the Ura caste include the slaughter of animals for food, executioners, and (perhaps interestingly), those who monitor genra. A life as a member of the Ura caste is seen by adherents of The Eightfold Path as an opportunity to show composure in the face of adversity, and thus improve the chances of being reborn into a higher caste during the next life.

2. P’alta: Ranked above the Ura but below every other caste, members of the P’alta caste form the bulk of Ixtli’s populace. They are public servants, labourers, supervisors and a hundred other roles.

3. Pirqachay: Ranked equally with the Wañuchiy and Bindiy castes, the Pirqachay are the philosophers, artists, playwrights, composers, architects and scholars of the Ixtlians. They are the creative members of society whose efforts are seen as integral to Ixtli’s continued cultural development.

4. Wañuchiy: The Wañuchiy caste is made up of Ixtli’s soldiers. A man or woman born into the Wañuchiy caste is expected to pursue a life in the military.

5. Bindiy: Members of the Bindiy caste are merchants, traders, or deal in money.

6. Kiswar: The highest caste, the Kiswar are Ixtli’s aristocracy. Lords and ladies whose authority is unquestioned, the Kiswar command (and get) the respect of every Ixtlian. It is not uncommon to see a wave of Ixtlians falling to their knees as a member of the Kiswar caste passes along a street. More than a few foreigners have found their dreams of a lucrative trading contract shattered when they failed to show due deference to a member of the Kiswar caste.

Along with these six castes, a further two groups of Ixtlians exist. The casteless are a collection of those Ixtlians who—for whatever reason—have made the decision not to hold to the tenets of the caste into which they were born. A member of the Wañuchiy caste who wishes to be a seamstress, or a member of the Ura caste who aspires to a role above his station—regardless of their origin or their reasons for abandoning their caste, the outcome is the same. The casteless are not recognised as citizens of Ixtli and many die without achieving their goals; in the eyes of the other castes, the casteless simply do not exist.

A select few of the casteless, however, prove themselves worthy of joining another caste, typically by doing something so spectacular it simply cannot be ignored. A goatherd who designs a beautiful building or an army sergeant who pens a stirring epic poem may both be permitted to join the Pirqachay caste, just as a poet who devises a cunning military strategy may be accepted into the Wañuchiy caste. Whilst changing castes is in itself unusual, it is especially rare for an Ixtlian to move to the P’alta caste; as the most numerous and least skilled of the castes, there are few opportunities for greatness, and as a consequence very few Ixtlians aspire to join the P’alta caste.

The second group of Ixtlians outside the caste system are those who have dedicated their entire lives to following and teaching The Eightfold Path. Similar in many ways to the organised clergy of other nations and religions, these learned men and women are venerated by other Ixtlians with almost the same reverence as that reserved for the Kiswar caste. Perhaps ironically, they are also the only Ixtlians who recognise the existence of the casteless, taking many of them under their wing and influencing a proportion of them to abandon their original goals in favour of joining the priesthood.

This priesthood—such that it is—is not a monolithic organisation. There are several Noble Orders of The Eightfold Path, each of them seeking a different path to enlightenment—whilst many Ixtlians following The Eightfold Path live an ascetic lifestyle, eschewing worldly pleasures and possessions in order to discover their true selves, some seek enlightenment through the attainment of physical perfection. It is these men and women who form what is probably Ixtli’s most well-known export—warrior-monks who appear to defy the laws of physics through the attainment of the perfect self.

These men and women perform incredible feats of martial and physical skill, all seemingly without the support of arcane or divine energies. In Leyira, these monks are seen as oddities to be marvelled at, although in some parts of Leyira temples dedicated to The Eightfold Path have opened up in the last six years, some run by genuine Ixtlians who have emigrated from their homeland, some run by Leyirans enamoured with the concept of The Eightfold Path, and some run by charlatans seeing a way to make some quick coin from the gullible public.

THE IXTLIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Ixtli’s legal system operates on the basis of a strict (if convoluted) penal code that sets out a statute of crimes and the recommended commensurate punishments. Ixtli practises both corporal and capital punishment, and whilst it is Ixtlian policy not to submit foreigners to capital punishment (they are expelled instead), no small number of foreigners have run afoul of Ixtli’s strict importation and decency laws, finding themselves on the wrong end of a flogging in a public square.

Capital punishment in Ixtli can be a somewhat confronting affair for most foreigners. Unlike in Leyira where a headsman’s axe or gallows makes quick work of the condemned, in Ixtli many of these criminals are seen as irreversibly tainted and incapable of following The Eightfold Path. In such instances, the goal of the execution is not simply to remove any chance of the offender reoffending, it is also to remove his or her soul from the great wheel and prevent him or her from ever reaching Nirvana.

To do so, the criminal is first branded with runes meant to prevent the soul from leaving the body. Then, they are bled dry and vivisected, their internal organs burned in a brazier. Lastly, the shell of their body is cast into a deep well, where it is believed that by returning their flesh to the soil that those who truly wish to redeem themselves will have one final chance of reincarnation. Some tales—usually whispered far from the ears of any in positions of authority—suggest that the great Mahasamatman was once dealt with in such a way, and that it was his myriad reincarnations in various forms over the following centuries that gave him the perspective required to reach true enlightenment.

The Eightfold Path is indeed expressed in eight parts, with those being:

1. Right view.

2. Right intention.

3. Right speech.

4. Right action.

5. Right livelihood.

6. Right effort.

7. Right mindfulness.

8. Right concentration.

The foundation for The Eightfold Path is the concept of the Four Truths:

1. The nature of Suffering.

2. The Source of Suffering (craving).

3. The Cessation of Suffering (freedom and non-reliance).

4. The Path to the Cessation of Suffering: the Eightfold Path.

“““““““““““““““11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZaWS

Until thirty years ago, Ixtli pursued a doctrine of isolation

Largely ignored by most of the other nations of Gönd, the small island kingdom of Ixtli has until recently pursued a doctrine of isolation from the rest of the world. History books in Otraxis describe Ixtli in only a few paragraphs,

The primary tenets of The Eightfold Path state that life on Gönd as perceived by the intelligent races is little more than a trial—that life is about suffering and that the way to eliminate that suffering is to achieve enlightenment through perfection of self.

Amongst the various

Drunken Master

Hungry Ghost

Ki Mystic

Empty Hand

Four Winds

Healing Hand

Lotus

Sacred Mountain

Weapon Adept

Zen Archer

Ixtli

ENIGMATIC ISLAND NATION

Alignment: LN

Capital: Hachtlan (98,000, est.)

Notable Settlements: Blackwater [trading port] (42,200), Greycliff [trading port] (63,800), Kultan (22,000, est.), Mango Bay [trading port] (31,200), Raza (14,000, est.), Yaxa (4,000, est.)

Ruler: Ayato, Golden Emperor of Ixtli and Steward of Mahasamatman

Government: Complex semi-theocratic timocracy

Languages: Ixtli, Common

Religion: The Eightfold Path, Lathenna, Emesh, Molkai

HISTORY

To most of the peoples of Gönd, Ixtli is an enigma. A little over four hundred years ago, Ixtli sent out a massive fleet. In the historical records that remain from that time, this event is known as The Diaspora.

Scholars, students, historians, explorers, scientists, diplomats and researchers—Ixtli sent out its best and brightest to every corner of the Known World to catalogue and report upon the myriad civilisations sharing the world. Over two decades, Ixtli’s greatest minds embedded themselves in the affairs of other principalities, with some of them rising to high station despite their origins in a largely unknown foreign land. Destiny Divided, the famous tragedy by the elven bard Merethrel, is based on the true story of two Ixtlian brothers who found themselves advising opposite sides in a great and bitter war.

How the Ixtlian delegations were received in Ellôria or the Dwarven Kingdom is not recorded in Leyira’s histories, but most historians who have bothered to study this curious period in the history of the Known World suspect that the Ixtlians received little in the way of co-operation from either the elves or dwarves.

Whilst the true purpose of the Diaspora was known only to the Ixtlians, nobody was left in any doubt as to when it was over. On the first day of spring in the year 22,692, every Ixtlian vanished from his or her lodgings. How the thousands of Ixtlians that had inveigled their way into human (and possibly elven and dwarven) society disappeared without a trace remains a mystery, although one popular theory has all of them displaced through use of a delayed wish spell. If that is indeed the case, the sheer volume of wealth and strength of organisation required to cast so many wish spells speaks volumes about Ixtli’s resources.

Whatever the peripatetic Ixtlians were looking for, it appears that either they didn’t find it, or that what they found wasn’t to their liking. The first Leyiran ship sent to Ixtli as an envoy after the disappearance was turned away. So was the next. And the one after that.

So began more than four centuries of isolation. Ixtli closed its doors to the Known World. Precisely why they did so may never come to light, but beyond a handful of trusted trader captains and wizard lords, not a single non-Ixtlian set foot on Ixtli’s shores for more than four hundred years, and each of them took whatever secrets they learned about Ixtli to the grave.

Whatever happened in Ixtli over the last four hundred years, upon his ascension to the throne, Emperor Ayato threw open Ixtli’s borders, and so for some six years Ixtli has traded with the other nations of the Known World once again.

Foreigners are still limited to one of three strictly controlled and quarantined trading ports spaced around Ixtli’s coastline, but the very fact that Ixtli has resumed trading has been cause for celebration amongst Leyira’s merchant families; whether they are true or not, stories are still told about Ixtli’s vast untapped mineral and natural wealth, and delegations from every major mercantile guild and family have set up a permanent presence in one or more of Ixtli’s trading ports.

In the beginning, several delegations attempted to covertly circumvent the regulations that prevented them from leaving the trading ports. All of them found themselves mysteriously back at their lodgings before having gone more than a few hundred feet from the town walls. Eventually, a delegation from the Ostermeyer mercantile family managed to plunge into the jungles in Ixtli’s interior. Two days later, their dismembered and mutilated remains were returned to Blackwater by and Ixtlian hunting party. Rumours abound as to precisely how the Ostermeyer delegation met their end, but whatever the truth, very few have been willing to risk their lives in exploration of the island’s interior ever since, and some delegations have left Ixtli entirely.

RELIGION

The majority of Leyirans find Ixtli a strange place. Whilst Ixtlians acknowledge the existence of and worship the gods as the Leyirans do, the vast majority are first and foremost adherents of a philosophy known as The Eightfold Path.

As far as most Leyiran philosophers understand it, The Eightfold Path is publicised as a means to achieve enlightenment, or freedom from suffering. The foundation of The Eightfold Path can be found in the Four Truths, which are inscribed on a plaque in every set of foreign lodgings in Blackwater, Mango Bay and Greycliff:

1. Life is Suffering.

2. The source of Suffering is Craving.

3. Enlightenment eliminates Craving.

4. Enlightenment is achieved via The Eightfold Path.

Further, the followers of the Eightfold Path believe that over the course of their lives they accumulate what they call patua. Every deed, regardless of how small, generates an amount of either positive or negative patua. At the end of their lives, the followers of the Eightfold Path believe that they are judged by their patua: a sufficient amount of positive patua in conjunction with the achievement of enlightenment is said to be enough to guarantee entry to Nirvana, a mystical outer plane where the souls of the enlightened faithful may spend the remainder of their days in contemplation of the mysteries of the multiverse. For those who fail to generate sufficient positive patua—or fail to reach enlightenment—their life’s journey is not over; they are said to be reincarnated in another form to make another attempt at following The Eightfold Path. The accumulation of enough negative patua is said to result in reincarnation in the form of an animal or beast, the better to contemplate the essence of the Four Truths.

The precise origin of The Eightfold Path is somewhat unclear, but over the last six years Leyiran anthropologists have collected stories of a legendary man named Mahasamatman, who is said to have lived in Ixtli some thousands of years ago. If even half the stories ascribed to Mahasamatman’s legend are true, then the vast majority of Gönd’s inhabitants would consider him a god. Not so the Ixtlians—they insist he was merely a man, albeit one who reached a state of living enlightenment few could hope to match.

Alongside The Eightfold Path, Ixtlians do venerate the gods as do the denizens of other nations. Whilst joint worship of the gods is practised in Ixtli just as it is in Leyira, most offerings are made to Lathenna and Emesh, with Molkai not too far behind.

POLITICS

From what visitors to the trading ports have been able to gather, in principle Emperor Ayato wields absolute power over Ixtli—his word is law in every aspect of the islanders’ lives. In practice, however, Ayato is advised by a select group of men and women who have demonstrated expertise in various fields. These chief ministers are able to exercise some power of their own, but Emperor Ayato may countermand their orders at any time—which, if it happens, is not good for those ministers’ careers.

The ins and outs of Ixtlian politics are incredibly complex, even to someone used to the intrigues of court in some of Leyira’s more convoluted and tortuous aristocracies. Essentially all of Ixtli’s public servants and senior public figures operate on the basis of genra, a concept that—loosely translated—means ‘honour’, ‘standing’, ‘relationships’, and a dozen other concepts besides. It is up to each individual member of the bureaucracy to understand his or her genra relative to the scores or hundreds of others he or she might come into contact with regularly, as there are different protocols required depending on the relative positions of the participants in a conversation or negotiation. Some Ixtlians even make a living tracking changes in genra. Their advice is highly sought after, but if they make an error and provide inappropriate advice to a client, their careers can easily be ruined overnight.

THE IXTLIAN CASTE SYSTEM

Ixtlians are born into one of six castes:

1. Ura: This is the lowest Ixtlian caste. Often seen as barely human, Ura Ixtlians typically perform the sorts of jobs that go against The Eightfold Path, but are seen as necessary for society to function. Examples of roles performed by the Ura caste include the slaughter of animals for food, executioners, and (perhaps interestingly), those who monitor genra. A life as a member of the Ura caste is seen by adherents of The Eightfold Path as an opportunity to show composure in the face of adversity, and thus improve the chances of being reborn into a higher caste during the next life.

2. P’alta: Ranked above the Ura but below every other caste, members of the P’alta caste form the bulk of Ixtli’s populace. They are public servants, labourers, supervisors and a hundred other roles.

3. Pirqachay: Ranked equally with the Wañuchiy and Bindiy castes, the Pirqachay are the philosophers, artists, playwrights, composers, architects and scholars of the Ixtlians. They are the creative members of society whose efforts are seen as integral to Ixtli’s continued cultural development.

4. Wañuchiy: The Wañuchiy caste is made up of Ixtli’s soldiers. A man or woman born into the Wañuchiy caste is expected to pursue a life in the military.

5. Bindiy: Members of the Bindiy caste are merchants, traders, or deal in money.

6. Kiswar: The highest caste, the Kiswar are Ixtli’s aristocracy. Lords and ladies whose authority is unquestioned, the Kiswar command (and get) the respect of every Ixtlian. It is not uncommon to see a wave of Ixtlians falling to their knees as a member of the Kiswar caste passes along a street. More than a few foreigners have found their dreams of a lucrative trading contract shattered when they failed to show due deference to a member of the Kiswar caste.

Along with these six castes, a further two groups of Ixtlians exist. The casteless are a collection of those Ixtlians who—for whatever reason—have made the decision not to hold to the tenets of the caste into which they were born. A member of the Wañuchiy caste who wishes to be a seamstress, or a member of the Ura caste who aspires to a role above his station—regardless of their origin or their reasons for abandoning their caste, the outcome is the same. The casteless are not recognised as citizens of Ixtli and many die without achieving their goals; in the eyes of the other castes, the casteless simply do not exist.

A select few of the casteless, however, prove themselves worthy of joining another caste, typically by doing something so spectacular it simply cannot be ignored. A goatherd who designs a beautiful building or an army sergeant who pens a stirring epic poem may both be permitted to join the Pirqachay caste, just as a poet who devises a cunning military strategy may be accepted into the Wañuchiy caste. Whilst changing castes is in itself unusual, it is especially rare for an Ixtlian to move to the P’alta caste; as the most numerous and least skilled of the castes, there are few opportunities for greatness, and as a consequence very few Ixtlians aspire to join the P’alta caste.

The second group of Ixtlians outside the caste system are those who have dedicated their entire lives to following and teaching The Eightfold Path. Similar in many ways to the organised clergy of other nations and religions, these learned men and women are venerated by other Ixtlians with almost the same reverence as that reserved for the Kiswar caste. Perhaps ironically, they are also the only Ixtlians who recognise the existence of the casteless, taking many of them under their wing and influencing a proportion of them to abandon their original goals in favour of joining the priesthood.

This priesthood—such that it is—is not a monolithic organisation. There are several Noble Orders of The Eightfold Path, each of them seeking a different path to enlightenment—whilst many Ixtlians following The Eightfold Path live an ascetic lifestyle, eschewing worldly pleasures and possessions in order to discover their true selves, some seek enlightenment through the attainment of physical perfection. It is these men and women who form what is probably Ixtli’s most well-known export—warrior-monks who appear to defy the laws of physics through the attainment of the perfect self.

These men and women perform incredible feats of martial and physical skill, all seemingly without the support of arcane or divine energies. In Leyira, these monks are seen as oddities to be marvelled at, although in some parts of Leyira temples dedicated to The Eightfold Path have opened up in the last six years, some run by genuine Ixtlians who have emigrated from their homeland, some run by Leyirans enamoured with the concept of The Eightfold Path, and some run by charlatans seeing a way to make some quick coin from the gullible public.

THE IXTLIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Ixtli’s legal system operates on the basis of a strict (if convoluted) penal code that sets out a statute of crimes and the recommended commensurate punishments. Ixtli practises both corporal and capital punishment, and whilst it is Ixtlian policy not to submit foreigners to capital punishment (they are expelled instead), no small number of foreigners have run afoul of Ixtli’s strict importation and decency laws, finding themselves on the wrong end of a flogging in a public square.

Capital punishment in Ixtli can be a somewhat confronting affair for most foreigners. Unlike in Leyira where a headsman’s axe or gallows makes quick work of the condemned, in Ixtli many of these criminals are seen as irreversibly tainted and incapable of following The Eightfold Path. In such instances, the goal of the execution is not simply to remove any chance of the offender reoffending, it is also to remove his or her soul from the great wheel and prevent him or her from ever reaching Nirvana.

To do so, the criminal is first branded with runes meant to prevent the soul from leaving the body. Then, they are bled dry and vivisected, their internal organs burned in a brazier. Lastly, the shell of their body is cast into a deep well, where it is believed that by returning their flesh to the soil that those who truly wish to redeem themselves will have one final chance of reincarnation. Some tales—usually whispered far from the ears of any in positions of authority—suggest that the great Mahasamatman was once dealt with in such a way, and that it was his myriad reincarnations in various forms over the following centuries that gave him the perspective required to reach true enlightenment.

The Eightfold Path is indeed expressed in eight parts, with those being:

1. Right view.

2. Right intention.

3. Right speech.

4. Right action.

5. Right livelihood.

6. Right effort.

7. Right mindfulness.

8. Right concentration.

The foundation for The Eightfold Path is the concept of the Four Truths:

1. The nature of Suffering.

2. The Source of Suffering (craving).

3. The Cessation of Suffering (freedom and non-reliance).

4. The Path to the Cessation of Suffering: the Eightfold Path.

“““““““““““““““11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111qqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZaWS

Until thirty years ago, Ixtli pursued a doctrine of isolation

Largely ignored by most of the other nations of Gönd, the small island kingdom of Ixtli has until recently pursued a doctrine of isolation from the rest of the world. History books in Otraxis describe Ixtli in only a few paragraphs,

The primary tenets of The Eightfold Path state that life on Gönd as perceived by the intelligent races is little more than a trial—that life is about suffering and that the way to eliminate that suffering is to achieve enlightenment through perfection of self.

Amongst the various

Drunken Master

Hungry Ghost

Ki Mystic

Empty Hand

Four Winds

Healing Hand

Lotus

Sacred Mountain

Weapon Adept

Zen Archer