Chapter Text
The hunger of humans will never be satiated.
Throughout time, from dusk to dawn, where the sun shall rise and fall, humanity has tried to bend the forces of nature to their will. From the first drop of human blood shed on the Earth there will rise everything that humans have tried to manipulate of the natural order of the world.
As lines are drawn in this world, as wars and battles are fought, as chaos is incarnated in its vessel of flesh, there shall be earthly bodies tied to the land.
Creatures of the Earth —the talimau, or scientifically known as homo terra—, forever binded to the fates of humans; A direct result of the natural world being twisted. They shall be born to rise and fall, tied to the concepts that the mortal creatures cherish so deeply. So similar but yet so different. These deities, given the power of the stars — letting them have the ability to become children of Mother Earth— will forever be forced to kneel to a species so far beneath them.
They cannot die like the mortals; They shall be reborn into new vessels; Their spirits, their mau, forever caught between the Earth that holds them close and the tight hold of the human who gave them their purpose. They are aberrations to humans. They are creatures of the skies, seas, and stars.
They are spirits of wonder and awe, forced to be weapons and trophies of one of their creators. They are both man and nature; Too human for Earth's other children and too animalistic for the ones they are bound to. Their true forms —called the ilaimata— are kept buried so far deep even they do not know what they truly are.
Especially the new spirits created.
Young and born with no knowledge on what they are nor the laws of human society. Nothing but a connection to the life of their land. The thrum of the animals and the sounds of nature rooted them to the Earth.
They are born as the spirits of a natural world; untainted from the woes and chains of humanity. Tethered to the Earth instead of a border drawn on a map. Tethered until an older land spirit tied to their land claims them as their heir.
This older talimau would connect to the younger; They would be a tal'opa —parent of the land—, tasked with educating the young spirit —the tal'kad, child of the land— in fully connecting with the land and the people.
This connection between the talimau and tal'kad can start off with a little tug, letting the talimau know that a tal'kad has been formed. They would follow the tug to the child and would then try to form a lauoemaj —a guardian link— to let them feel the emotions and questions of the tal'kad. It is, of course, a two way bond.
The tal'kad can sense the emotion of the talimau if the talimau does not shield their emotions away. The parent and the child can feel the strength and health of each other, a comforting feeling to a tal'kad to know that their tal'opa is still with them.
The lauoemaj is the most sacred connection of the talismau. The single tug can drive a talimau to great lengths to connect to their tal'kad
A tal'kad is not born next to their tal'opa, rather they are born in the land that gave its mau to the kad.
They could be miles away from their opa, not comprehending the insistent pulling they could feel in a world they were just created into.
All they would know is that they were tied to the land and to the humans to populated it. These humans, in the past, would recognize the oddity of the new talimau and would shelter them from the dangers that were present with a young talimau. While these talimau were created in the cradle of their own land they could easily be taken by those who wished to wrong their tal'opa.
The kad were sacred to the talismau; A tal'kad replaced their tal'opa in their deaths when they could no longer connect to the land as normal. In ancient times kadis had nothing to fear as the talismau were naturally peaceful deities, often giving into their more wild nature and staying farther away from their human counterparts. They followed the laws of nature, rather than the laws created by humans.
However, this normality shifted when the first empires were created.
Suddenly the talismau were pulled from the roots of the Earth and Mauewask, spirit grove, their gardens of rest separated from the natural world, to be used as the justification of an empires power.
The mother of all tal'opa wept as its kad were used in battle. Kadis could feel their opis dying before being reborn again; the lauoemaj between them would snap and burn with the heat of the largest stars before it would suddenly be rekindled and washed over with a wave of calmpeacealive as their opa were revived.
The talismau were locked in battle with each other. Their humans demanded it. The land they gained their life from shrank away from it. They could feel their natural powers dwindling till one talimau was killed by another. This talimau was not reborn nor did their kad replace them. Their kad could feel nothing in their lauoemaj except reel from the severed, burning feeling of nothingness, a stark contrast of the slow shallow stop of a natural talimau death.
The tal'kad did nothing but weep. Their tears burned into the Earth that gave them their mau.
This was the day the Earth shifted. Never before has this happened. Never before has a talimau been replaced with a new talimau; A daslimau... a death spirit.
Daslimau were not born as an adult, but instead were created as a child. They died so quickly to be replaced by another daslimau. Then another. Then another. And another. And another.
The talismau fled back to the Mauewask. They stayed in hiding till they could fix the problem presented by the daslimau. It wasn't until they looked at their tal'kadis and what created a talimau. They were personifications of human settlements and their kad were formed when those humans ventured further and claimed land for the motherland.
The kadis were the answer. If the core of a talimau could be created into its own talimau then they would be a tal'kad, one that could replace the original if they were permanently killed. They were capitals, a conlimau, a hope spirit.
When the talimau returned to the Earth, the battles continued.
The tal'kadis and conlismau were suddenly targets of humans and their talimau. They discovered that if a talimau was able to get to the new mau before their and establish a lauoemaj, they could control the future talimau of the land.
It was a sickening thing to the talimau who were supposed to be peaceful to each other. They were considered the worst of the spirits. They were no longer spirits to be trusted. They were rek'mau.
Talimau did everything they could to make sure that their kad did not experience this fate. They would travel miles to where their kad would be born just to make sure that they knew who their opa truly was.
It was this fear that led a talimau to travel to the small settlement being built with her tal'opa. Her capital was going to be created. Her conlimau, but more importantly her kad was going to be born.
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The first sense that came to him was sound. The sound of the birds chirping as they danced along the tree branches, singing their songs for him to hear.
He was infatuated by the sounds of the wind brushing gently against the trees and their leaves, providing a deeper melody in the current bird song.
The canopy of the forest then made itself known to the child as he opened his eyes for the first time. The dark greens, patterned with yellow, gold, and light green looked like the most beautiful crystals. The sun hit the painted leaves at the perfect angle, creating splotches of golden on the soft grass.
His curiosity peaked as he reached down toward the stalks of grass, plucking one to look at. The child squeezed the delicate plant with his fingers, still so in awe with the simple but complex structure of grass that was all around him.
He breathed in the sweet air, wondering why it smelled like that; interested in the dew drops that gathered around the world around him; longing to touch the soft looking clothes of the pristine sky above him. He wanted to reach... to understand this strange world, to be a part of it, to thrive in it like the simple but luscious fields of grass did.
The childish curiosity peaked again as he saw a small furry creature skitter past him, pausing to nibble the grass below. He tilted his head, watching the creature lift its head and look up at him, staring right into his eyes.
A heart beat, then another.
The child looked back at the stalk of grass in his fingers, feeling the way it rubbed between his unsaturated blue fingers, before nibbling it like the creature. He promptly spat it out, disgusted at the taste.
The furry (Or was it fuzzy? Or fluffy?) creature hopped toward him. He was the talimau of this land. Connected to the life that buzzed around him. He could feel that now. They way the trees hummed to him. They way he could feel and hear the livingcalmtranquil of the ferns and the huntfoodhunger of a creature beyond. He felt everything.
He felt a tug. A pull. A branch being extended to him.
He wanted to grasp the branch. To hold it close. To nestle into the love that the land gave him.
The deeper he sunk his mind into the ground the more and farther he felt his spirit observe. The peacenaturalcalm of the land around him suddenly gave way to workbuilddeathselfishhurthurthurtHURTWRONG-
He stumbled back, drawing his spirit quickly back to him in a panicked rush. The child whined quietly trying to get rid of the foul sense of unnatural away from him. His head hurt. His spirit hurt. It wasn't- What he felt-
What was it?
He didn't want to be attached to that. He didn't want to follow the tug to that place. It wasn't the peacekadpeace he felt of the area around him. It felt sick. The land there was sick. Like it was dying.
How did he know what dying felt like? How did-
The tugging wouldn't stop.
It kept pulling and pulling and pulling.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Everything felt too loud, too bright, too much. He was aware of too much. His spirit kept reaching out despite him trying to stop himself. Laughter, crying, screams. Past, present, future. A bird's nest. Eggs cracking. A bird dying.
He needed it to stop. Please make it stop. He wanted everything to stop.
The hums of the tree that soothed him before was overtaken by his own wail. The child went to his knees clutching his head. The creature from before had fled quickly. Everything was drawing away from the child.
He could feel his spirit morph. He could feel his body shift and change, teeth turning to fangs, the pupils of his eyes becoming nothing but slits. He saw everything in the land. He connected everything. He was everything.
Then suddenly a wave of power rushed over the land and himself. He was drawn out of whatever was happening to him by the tidal wave of mine.
The tugging he felt before tripled in strength. His mind needed to connect to the branch. It would soothe him. Protect him. Love him.
Still hyperware of everything, still connected to everything, still being everything, he felt the presence of another being before he heard the steps of them, slightly muffled by the soft, large, swaths of grass.
He didn't look up nor turn around. He still felt his spirit stretched out too far but yet far enough.
He had to keep going, he had stop, he had to explore, he had to return, he had to-
"Child." The sound rang out in the thick silence, slicing it into pieces.
"Kad." The voice insisted again. This time it was followed by the same wave of powercontrolwant he felt before. This presence was tethered to the Earth in a way he wasn't. They felt attached and controlled to the land.
He was wild and couldn't control the urge to sink to the ground and stay there. To be rooted to the ground, and to be undisturbed. To let the Earth claim him as its own.
He trembled, still unable to look up, still too attached to everything. His mind felt fuzzy, too full but too empty. His ears rang and his mouth felt too dry. He wanted to hide away —to be safe.
He heard more steps toward him and felt a larger hand on his shoulder, gently turning him around.
Blinking suddenly (when did he stop blinking-) the child looked up toward the stronger minded presence.
The branch felt closer.
He reached out.
It was like breaking the surface of the ocean (the splashing of water against rocks he heard through his spirit) for the first time.
This presence was like him. A deity of the Earth, born of the sea, blessed by the stars, and created to be one with the sky.
"Child. Kad. Peace. All is one. You are one... Focus on one thing er kad." The presence told him. The voice was strong and powerful, yet filled with peace. It was a command, yet was guidance.
One thing. One. A tether to keep him grounded. He could do that. He tried to call his spirit back to focus intently on... on the presence.
The presence was shielded in a way that the natural world around him wasn't. He didn't like that. He poked at the other's spirit, curious to feel, to connect.
The taller hummed in a way that reminded him of the whistling wind. Suddenly he could feel a new, sturdier branch offered to him.
He took it.
His spirit was drawn in by the older's. He felt surrounded by the presence of water, waves, and rain. He could smell the sea salt and rows of tulips. He knew how to navigate the ocean, how to converse with creatures similar to them. He had a name. This presence had a name.
"Kad. Er polis. Nederlandse koloniale rijk. Ret ne Nederland.." He said, smiling down on the child.
"Nederland..." The name felt foreign on his tongue but it felt right. The man nodded down at him before kneeling on one knee, coming to eye level with the young child.
He furrowed his brows, as he looked over Nederland's face. The coloring was like his but more vibrant. Horizontal stripes of blue beneath white and orange on top. His hair was pulled back but looked fritzy from the sea. It was deep blue on the top but faded into a white near the tips and the rest of the hair. The white tips were dotted with an orange-gold.
'Like mini suns.' He thought, eyes still filled with childlike curiosity.
Nederland's eyes were at first hard to look at. He didn't know why but he couldn't hold eye contact with the other without feeling his skin prickle and buzz uncomfortably. What he could tell, however, was that his eyes were a startling silver and in the center was a ring of dark orange that surrounded his pupil. His eyelashes too were a dark orange in color, starkly contrast the strip of white.
There was finally a thin waving strip of orange and blue that spread from one cheek to the other, crosses his nose that had a nick on the bridge of it.
Nederland looked regal, powerful, and strong. He felt calm and collected, like the sea on a good day. He felt alive and so right.
The tugging didn't stop nor did it lead to Nederland but the child didn't care. Nederland stopped his spirit and his mind from splitting and splintering.
The branch wrapped around his spirit and he accepted it.
"There you go kad. All better? You really were going too far with your spirit." Nederland muttered, frowning as he felt and picked through the turmoil of emotions that the child felt. The child looked down at the grass. His spirit felt calmer now and his head didn't hurt as much as before. He felt the others eyes on him and he slowly looked back up.
"... Are you... talimau?" The younger boy asked hesitantly. It was a silly question. Of course he was. Nothing else could explain how connected he felt to Nederland.
"Yes. So are you. Your mau is strong little one. I'll help you. You accepted the lauoemaj with me. You are my tal'kad and I am your tal'opa. Re'lauo, ras mau launet, oier de trent."
'Guardian of you, the protector of spirit, till the sun dies.'
His opa. His opa. His father. His parent. His guardian. The one who would help tether his young and wild spirit to his body. The one who would protect him, to care for him, to give him his polis.
"Er'lauo, ras mau launet, oier de trent dai."
'Guardian of me, the protector of spirit, till the sun dies.'
With that acceptance, he felt the lauoemaj bridge together completely. His feelings of joyhopebeloging were strong and he felt Nederland respond with kadretpolis and he heard two words echo in the bond. Two words, one name.
"My name?" The child's heart skipped a beat. He looked up at his tal'opa with hope. His opa nodded, giving him permission to continue. He was given a name. A polis. He knew it without Opa needing to even utter a word. A name to be called by, to be lived by, to further connect him to his land.
"Er polis Nieuw Amsterdam."
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Glossary: Ashlata to English
Ashlata: Spirit spoke. The language of personifications. They instantly know this language
Talimau: Land spirit
Talismau: Land spirits (plural of talimau)
Tal: land
Mau: spirit
ilaimata: true form
ila: true
Mata: form
Tal'kad: Child of land. Specifically the child of a talimau
Tal'kadis: Children of land (plural of tal'kad)
Tal'opa: Parent of land. Specifically the parental form of talimau
Kad: Child
Kadis: Children (plural of kad)
Opa: Parent (not gendered)
Mauewask: Spirit grove, the home of the talimau that is separated from the physical world
Daslimau: Death spirit, the replacement of a talimau that did not die of government collapse but died when a personification killed them.
Conlimau: Hope spirit, the capital of a personification that will replace them no matter the type of death.
Rek'mau: No direct translation but essentially means a spirit who has done something that cannot be forgiven.
Er: My
Kad. Er polis. Nederlandse koloniale rijk. Ret ne Nederland: Child. My name. Dutch Empire. Or just Netherlands.
Re'lauo, ras mau launet, oier de trent dai: Guardian of you, the protector of spirit, till the sun dies. Adoption phrase
Er'lauo, ras mau launet, oier de trent dai: Guardian of me, the protector of spirit, till the sun dies. Acceptance to the adoption phrase