One of the dominant factions on Caen was the Order of Tyr, a cult revolving around their nearest major star, Tyr. The Order of Tyr is made of several distinct races, however the primary ones are the Ogres, the Ryfin, the Nymphs, and the Satyrs. In addition, there is considerable inter-breeding between the races, creating organisms with features from several races.

The Order is undoubtedly a cult with the majority of a member’s life revolving around the Order itself, worship of Tyr, and reverence of the moons of Caen: Foltrus, Karaes, and Dimas. They believe the moons of Caen are the most blessed and devoted of Tyr’s servants as they eternally follow him, steady in their paths. For this reason, all members of the Order choose a moon to imitate, with the highest-ranked members titled Avatars as they are believed to be literal embodiments of the moons.

Suko Ryo - Interspeciel Expert - Humanity and the Other Races

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Following the masked man to the mayor’s office, Silas spotted the girls before they saw him. Raven looked miffed, her expression twisted as if she had swallowed something sour, and Meera stood behind her like a silent sentinel. To the side of them swayed a woman with flawless blue skin, silky black hair, and a cheery mien. Her generously sized assets exuded sexuality through tightly fitted clothing.

“Hello, ladies,” Faris yelled out, regaining some of his usual confidence.

They turned as one, and while Meera’s glazed over look was to be expected, it surprised Silas to see the same from Raven. Something had clearly gone down in their absence, and he could take a pretty good guess that it had something to do with the last woman in the trio, laughing and waving freely.

Before they had a chance to talk, however, the masked man came up behind them. “Go in,” he commanded, urging them through the mahogany doors.

“Oh, Ish. You’re always so moody,” the blue-skinned woman said, following his order nonetheless.

Walking in, Silas made out the mayor at the far end of his elegantly furnished office, standing with his back to them, gazing through the wide windows. He turned at their entrance, revealing himself as a satyr with a lined olive face, curly hair, and a jet-black beard. His curved horns gave him a devilish look accentuated by his confident yet playful expression. He was the handsome type of man Silas expected to see on magazine covers, not deep in enemy territory leading monsters.

“Welcome, Silas, welcome, all. I’m Kore, mayor of Lyfort, and hopefully by the end of this meeting, your trusted friend.” His gaze rolled over the humans, finally stopping on Raven with a wink. “Come now, take a seat.” There were only four chairs, and when the blue-skinned woman went for one, Kore pointedly coughed, causing her to giggle and back off.

As such, Raven was the first to take up his offer, a flush rising up her neck as he grinned at her. The rest followed, and as Silas took his seat, he noted that the glaring light coming from the windows shone directly into his face. Looking around, it appeared all four chairs had been arranged like this, and they had to shuffle them into place to get comfortable.

“Ever since I learnt of Riverside, I must admit I’ve been giddy with excitement to come and visit your beautiful village. It’s simply unfortunate I’ve been bogged down with work for this long, and even more so of a pity how you’ve been treated on your arrival to Lyfort.” He dipped his head low, and his horns clacked against the desk. “I hope you’ll forgive me in this oversight; I didn’t expect my boys and girls to be so disrespectful.”

Doing his best to filter through the satyr’s honeyed words, Silas tried to make sense of what he knew so far. From their knowledge of him, the village, and his status in the village, it was clear they had completed reconnaissance on Riverside some time ago. It was disturbing that he hadn’t heard of beast-men snooping around, but it wasn’t too surprising considering they had people skilled in stealth like the masked man.

Next, Silas couldn’t tell if Kore was being honest in his regret of their treatment or whether it was another mind trick employed by the satyr. The masked man had said they had been locked up for killing the trolls, allegedly allies of the Order of Tyr, so it was possible that word of their imprisonment had only just reached Kore, causing their late release. Either way, Silas knew Kore would now manoeuvre the troll deaths to his advantage.

“I’m honoured that Riverside’s own mayor came to visit Lyfort,” Kore said, his bright eyes landing on the Duellist.

“Wow, you’re Silas?” the blue-skinned woman said. “I’ve heard amazing things about you!”

The Duellist responded to the double-pronged attack with his best impression of Iris’s unimpressed glare. Whatever the case, he had to keep his guard up.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Unperturbed, Kore continued, “To be honest, we were just about to send an envoy to Riverside. You see, we have a common enemy that I strongly believe we should unite against. Those rats have already cost Lyfort far too much death and suffering for us to remain on our backsides. I assume it’s the same with Riverside?”

Nodding, Silas’s guard cracked slightly. The very thought of the ratkin made him clench his fists in anger as Riverside’s bloodiest battles had been against the vermin.

“Well, as a start to our relationship, I implore for your help in beating back the ratkin. We will have a military alliance between our villages, a promise to come to each other’s aid if the other is attacked. And, if by chance you discover their nest,” Kore said, a cunning glint flashing through his eyes, “Then I trust you’ll share their location with us. We wish to pay our respect to our dead through their blood.” He reached out to the Duellist, his arm hovering between them. “What do you say, Silas?”

Hesitating only for a moment, Silas shook the hand and found himself grinning in spite of his earlier feelings. “Sure.” He wondered if he should continue, then figured it was only right to level over the past if they were going to work together now. “By the way, I’m sorry about what happened with the trolls,” he said, bowing. “We didn’t know they were with your Order when we came across them.”

“Pfft,” Kore replied, waving his hand dismissively. “No clue where you heard that - they wanted to join us, sure, but it’s in our policy to deny foul beasts. So, really, you’ve done us a favour. Thanks!”

“Oh, sweet,” Silas said, caught off-guard by Kore’s kindness. He had initially worried the Order’s mayor would attempt to bend him over and fuck him, but it appeared he had been too cynical in his thinking.

The satyr chuckled. “Feel free to stay in our village for as long as you want. If you want to leave, simply tell Ish or Krisa - they’ll be Lyfort’s envoys to Riverside. When you send your envoys over, I promise to treat them with the greatest respect, so you don’t have to worry about a situation like this occurring again.”

Finishing the conversation over the following minutes, Kore then sent them off with a warm smile, his gaze lingering on Raven as he gave her another wink. Watching them leave, he wasn’t surprised to see Ish - the figure Silas had dubbed the masked man - had stayed behind. Sitting back down, he let Ish glower over him.

“Why on bloody Caen did you offer them a military alliance?” Ish asked, exasperated to the point of anger. “We could crush them in a day if we wanted, but here you are treating them like equals. Has Kore Brightmind been replaced by Kore Dim-and-Kind?”

Ignoring him, Kore swivelled his chair around to face the suns again, a tumbler in his hands. He savoured the drink, sipping at it slowly, before finally answering. “Do you know how many of the Order’s settlements have been destroyed since our arrival here?”

“How would I know?” Ish snarled. “That’s your job!”

“Just like it’s my job to make sure Lyfort survives,” Kore replied levelly. He placed the pitcher back on the table. “To be honest, no one knows how many settlements we’ve lost. Not Foltrus, not Karaes, not even Dimas. What they do know, however, is that the destruction was overwhelmingly committed by humans.”

Ish’s anger drained out, replaced by incredulity. “Don’t talk rubbish.”

Shrugging, Kore continued. “It doesn’t make sense, does it? They don’t seem particularly dangerous, especially not enough to wipe us off the map. But that’s the possibility the Avatars are preparing for right now; they’ve assessed humanity a greater threat to us than the mycelia, putting them at the same level as the ratkin. We’re under strict orders not to antagonise them while the Avatars research the matter.”

It took some time for Ish to find his voice again. “That doesn’t mean you have to befriend them like this,” he said.

“Why not? I wanted Esshrile not only for his alchemy but also for his titanic strength. Can any of our ogres beat him?” Kore asked. “No, they would get crushed under that troll’s strength. How about you, Ish, do you reckon you could have beaten that eleven-foot giant?”

“Of course not, but it’s hardly fair when he’s immune to my poison,” Ish said, lacking conviction.

“Then how on Caen did Silas butcher him, one on one. You were there, so tell me how it ended with his head rolling through the mud instead of the human's crushed body floating across the water,” the satyr snarked, before sighing and leaning back in his chair. “Whatever the case, these humans are the most interesting species we’ve come across so far - they even came with a God as large as our most Divine Tyr.”

The lines across Kore’s face furrowed deeper as he continued. “We believed Tyr to be one of a kind, the all-powerful, but here they stand with their Sun, a god seemingly akin to Tyr. So, I want to see what makes them special, and there’s no one better suited to be my eyes and ears than you, Ish. And don’t think of this as a boring deployment: Riverside is going to crackle and pop into a blazing inferno very soon, and you’ll have more than your fair share to do then.”

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Ryfin are humanoids two feet shorter than us with exoskeletons and disproportionately large heads. Their exoskeletons are comprised of strengthened bones on the outer edges of their bodies, making them stronger, tougher, and faster than otherwise. By and large, all ryfin on Idroa belong to the Order of Tyr, so be warned that messing with one can come with great repercussions.

Their fighting style depends on their chosen moon: those of Karaes are easily identified by their bright clothing and frilly hairdos, and they fight with magic; those of Dimas are less easily identified as they tend to skulk in the shadows, wearing cloaks and masks, and they fight with blowguns and blades. There’s a chance you may also come upon a ryfin that’s chosen Foltrus, but these are the easiest to deal with as they’re simply tough blockheads.

However, I recommend against fighting the ryfin as a whole, especially as they can be reasoned with, but if you need to, remember that their exoskeletons will save them from many otherwise critical blows, and that their hearts are significantly lower than ours, located by the pelvis.

Lavanya Sanghvi - the Monster Bane - Adventurer’s Guide to Surviving the Idroan Wilderness