| abstract | - The Sound of Laughter or Laughing Sound was a large sound on the Ruby Sea of the Ayelands made up of several tribes that occasionally united under a single God King (called a Laughing King or Laughing Prince by Garlenners and North Ayesmen respectively). Its DE FACTO capital was the Campfire, the capital of the Clan Smoking Tree. The Campfire was a tree town (like most Smoking Tree cities, towns, and villages) built around Yaksal (Smokingtongue: "Yockish Sword"), and Ykdyksyl (Smokintongue: "Yithish Bane"), which were the 3rd and 4th largest trees on this Earth respectively (after Laochalk, and Witewood, the 1st and 2nd largest respectively). These trees were blackwoods, which dominated the Sound. Animals like skunkboars, washbears, bearcats, zebrabears, walking zebraseals, sea devils, river devils, wood devils, black devils, stinkdevils, north aye-ayes (the only lemurs native to the Ayelands), owl monkeys, laughing monkeys, deadsquirells (black squirrels with venomous spurs), wrestler owls, spyrepeckers (giant woodpeckers), ice worms, toadstools (Koolasuchi), and swinging frogs were native to the Laughing Sound. After 36th, all but skunkboars went extinct. God Kings of the Laughing Bay wore a mock Halfhorn Helm, just like the God Kings of Garlenn. They united such disparate tribes as the Clan Smoking Tree, the Clan Sphinxslayer, the Clan Gem Thief, the Clan Bear Mawl, the Clan Shadow Son, and the Clan Dog King. The Sphinxslayers are as dark as blackwoods, with long braided hair, grey, green, and blue eyes being common among them all. They speak a tongue distantly related to Garlenner. They dress in stolen armor, use strong wooden weapons, and have iron helmets with nose guards. Their symbol is a blackwood branch being used as a pike to hold up a de-bodied sphinx on a yellow field. The Bear Mawl's symbol was an ice bear fighting three skunkboars on a green field. They were stocky, with nut-colored skin, shaggy hair, black eyes, and soke tongue more related to Sefenlander than to those around them. Some of them are blond, but are as reviled as hornmen, discmen, and albinos (they were not a very tolerant people). The Gem Thieves are the sons of Sefenlander invaders, giving them warm brown skin, curly brown and red hair, as well as straight brown, black, and blond hair. They are lithe, tall, and have thin lips like Sefenlanders, and have the dimples, curved bodies, and muscular arms of the Ayish. This clan, while mostly peaceful, is huge, and considered invasive by the clans it's at war with. They worship a Goddess-Beneath-the-Green, possibly a mixture of native belief in the nameless gods, and Sefenlander female monotheism. They have no symbol, and their name was given to them by other clans. The Clan Shadow Son are a lanky sort, with folded eyes, nut-colored skin, and leather armor. They use bows of blackwood, swords of iron from the Dog Mountains, and daggers of obsidian. They have a caste of whores, most of which are stolen women, and boy-Whores from other clans, especially the Gem Thieves. A rite of manhood here is for a boy to travel to the Far North, and mine iron, and other metals, taking a whore with them, with the main task being not to lose either of them. This is called Nu Naka Vunaana Ku Lanuka, literally "A Whore’s Trial by Ice." They speak a tongue similar to that of the Kinglands, worship a nameless version of the Shadow, wherein the greatest god is the God of Light, Shadow, Cold, Heat, Fire, Ice, and Death. They name him Kahaarak. The Clan Smoking Tree live in tree towns, connected by flimsy wooden bridges. They use bows, crossbows, and cannons. Their greatest city is a 10 kilometer by 10 kilometer tree and tent town, with homes built into the tree trunks, and on vast wooden canopies, and as floating barges on the Rivers Puppy below. They name themselves Smoking Tree because of the fires which shine like stars when seen from the wooden canopy ceilings. Their last chieftain, Kaot Lodd, a learned, held that the Gem Thieves, and Shadow Sons were the fathers of the Clan Smoking Tree. For this, they look ethnically similar to both. Lanky, curved, with curly hair, and light brown skin, and colorful eyes.
|
