Vlastach as a living entity

Unlike most vegari of Lothenmydhe, the veigur of Vlastach is a living entity, the physical land having merged with the djel twelve thousand years ago. While the veigur's terrain remains largely unchanged except where Vlastach's head rises above the surrounding land, Vlastach takes a major role in protecting the land and its wild denizens. So much are the djel and the veigur considered to be one that one often speaks of "the land", personified, meaning the living being that is Vlastach.

History

The djel of Vlastach was originally named Esbidi, a humanoid figure who lived on an island in the middle of the Mirror Sea. One day, some twenty-three millennia after the veigur was first created, Esbidi ceased to be a separately embodied being and became one with the land of his veigur, an event called the Merge. The reasons for the Merge are still under debate; some believe that it was an accidental side effect of a grasp for power that went wrong, that Esbidi was trying to seize more power over the veigur but instead ended up accidentally joining with it. Others, however, think that the Merge was entirely intentional and went exactly as Vlastach planned it, perhaps inspired by the recently dissolved Kedreal Empire and its closeness to the land.

Whether or not Esbidi had intended to merge with the land, however, he took full advantage of what had happened. The djel took upon himself—or itself, since it no longer had a separate form that could be called male—the mantle of the protector of nature and of the land—and of the personification of the land itself. And the people of the veigur, when they realized that the world itself was now alive and capable of responding to their pleas, began to petition it for what they wanted and needed. Some people wanted a closer relationship with the land, and began to devise new ways of formalizing their petitions, and landworking was born.

At about the same time that landworking started to become common—about two millennia after the Merge—, Vlastach, in response to a petition, appointed an official representative, called the Leaflord, to ask as his ambassador to the people. The position of Leaflord didn't last; although for some seven millennia more Leaflords followed, the position was eventually abolished. Other developments proved more lasting, however, and landworking gradually evolved to what it is today.

Esbidi's old palace, the Aivis, still exists, though the djel no longer dwells there. It has been claimed by a secretive coalition of elemental mages who call themselves the Garathoi. Few outsiders have seen the interior of the Aivis since the Garathoi took residence there, and there are no reliable accounts of what it now contains or what they do there.

Anatomy

Although Vlastach and the domain are physically one, there are few anatomical features to point to the living nature of the land. For the most part, it remains a natural-looking landscape like any other. The most notable place where there is an anthropomorphic feature is the Head of Vlastach, where an enormous humanoid head rises kilometers high, near the center of the veigur just north of the Mirror Sea.

Other parts of Vlastach are often spoken of, but remain somewhat dubious. The Navel of the World, a spring deep beneath the Mirror Sea, may be the land's literal navel... or it may just be another interesting feature of the land with an evocative name that shouldn't be taken literally. One well-known Vlastei explorer, Julika Tey, seeks the Heart of Vlastach, a beating organ she is sure lies somewhere beneath the veigur's surface (or in some other remote location), and possesses important powers. Most scholars, however, dismiss her quest as a fool's errand. There are also claims that the land possesses, on the bottom of the layer, an anus, and genitalia that drop weird progeny onto the underlying worlds, but there is no evidence of any truth to these rumors.

It remains possible that some other features of the land, while appearing like normal terrains, in some way serve Vlastach as organs analogous to those in the human body. This is very speculative, however, and no such hidden organs have ever been positively identified.

Personality and goals

To most people of Vlastach, the land itself is an everpresent but emotionally distant force, there to be petitioned and propitiated but rarely considered as an amiable being. Those who serve the land directly may feel a closer relationship to it, but it is still hard to define the land's personality. Vlastach seems to be very focused on its goals, and not to spare much thought for anything else; it has seldom shown anything resembling a sense of humor, and has no time for idle chatter.

However they may feel about it, however, most people still find it necessary to ensure they stay in the land's favor. Those who displease Vlastach may find the beasts of the wild and the very elements turning against them, while those the land favors may find all things of nature working toward their good. This is especially important for those in Grower communities, and for those who live off the land most directly, such as farmers and furriers; Crafters and citydwellers may not be as concerned with how Vlastach feels about them. Still, even they may find themselves being given cause to regret angering the land if they go too far.

Vlastach's main goal is to preserve and beautify the landscapes and their natural contents. This does not mean that it objects to the construction of cities and artificial structures, so long as they do not despoil too much of their surroundings; it is willing to let civilization exist as long as it does not do excessive damage. The mountains and seas, the forests and deserts are all under Vlastach's dominion, and it is intent on maintaining them healthy and—so far as possible—unspoiled. So too their natural denizens, the plants and animals that live within them. Again, Vlastach willingly allows a reasonable amount of hunting and logging and other harvest of resources, as long as it is done at a sustainable level.

Vlastach also aspires to spread its influence to other lands, and establish bases of power there. Some of Vlastach's strongest servants, using the powerful ritual of discontinuity, have established enclaves in other worlds, trying to set up there some foundation for its dominion. In many worlds, they have managed to secure permanent centers of influence, called fanes, which essentially work like small, discontinuous islands of Vlastach surrounded by other vegari or by the Wild Lands. Though this he keeps secret from all but his most trusted servants, Vlastach even has some aspirations of founding entire new worlds, where it can reign supreme from their inception and not have to share its power with gods. It has already established a presence in four locations, called the Hatching Lands, areas in the Wild Lands that Vlastach hopes to claim as its own, and where it has sent servants and settlers to prepare.

Allies and enemies

Vlastach counts as close allies, of course, all who serve the land, in particular landworkers and dedicants. Even closer allies are the ascai and earth servants, faithful servants of the land in life who continue to serve him after their deaths or translations. However, Vlastach also has allies among the gods. Three goddesses, Cedhen goddess of disease, Chaluen goddess of trees, and Trass goddess of wildness, have all chosen to declare their support of Vlastach and serve the land directly rather than claiming constellations in the War of Stars as did most of their fellows. (Some scholars have tried to find meaning in or explanation for the fact that all three gods that allied with Vlastach are female, but it's likely to be entirely coincidental.)

Aside from those three, however, the gods of the world of Vlastach can probably be considered more enemies than friends of the land. While the gods have never fought Vlastach directly, Vlastach is responsible for their losing most of their influence and power in the world, and they no doubt chafe at their diminution. If they have not openly rebelled against Vlastach yet and tried to reverse the Merge or curtail the land's power, that doesn't mean that some or all of them may not do so in the future. Still, Vlastach has more immediate and undeniable enemies. The landreavers and the nation of Blathe where they are most concentrated are great foes to the land and its servants, and Vlastach would greatly wish to see them destroyed. The demons of the Maelstrom have made assaults on the world before; while they were turned aside in the Demon Wars, they have left traces of their influence—such as the ziriki, the twisted spawn of the demon Ziirik-Yd—, and some of the demons themselves still linger there. And, of course, the possibility remains that they may attack again.

Vlastach's relationship with the Beast Powers is ambiguous and poorly understood. On the one hand, the beastmen and others touched by the Beast Powers are considered natural creatures, which seems to indicate some sort of alliance. On the other hand, Vlastach lays claim after death to the souls of animals that would normally go to the Beast Planes, a presumption that it seems the Beast Powers should resent. There have been a number of attempts to explain this seeming contradiction. Some conclude that the Beast Powers are content to let Vlastach have the souls of its world's animals, deciding that its promotion of nature and the wild is adequate recompense for the claim to one world's souls. Others assume that Vlastach must be propitiating the Beast Powers somehow to persuade them to allow it those souls, that some of Vlastach's deeds further the Beast Powers' purposes rather than its own directly or that it makes sacrifices to the Beast Powers in some unknown manner. Still others, however, find it most likely that despite their apparent overlap of interests, there is no sort of alliance or understanding between Vlastach and the Beast Lords and that, to the contrary, the Beast Lords must be offended by Vlastach's usurpation of souls that are rightfully theirs... and that someday, they may take their revenge.

Communication

Vlastach communicates with mortal residents of its world through several means. Its Head speaks audibly and directly, but of course this is only a means of communication to those who happen to be near it; for people not in the proximity of the Head, other means of communication are necessary. People commonly petition Vlastach for their needs from the land; Vlastach responds by answering their petitions, in one way or another. Landworkers, of course, use other rituals to ask of Vlastach what they would. The most direct communication, however, comes through direct communion with the land. Dedicants do this most frequently, but landworkers also have a ritual of communion that allows them to enter into this state. On rare occasions, others favored by the land have also achieved communion with Vlastach, either by the ritual of petition or at Vlastach's own instigation. In any case, communion with the land is an awesome experience, feeling (temporary) oneness with an entity as vast as the veigur itself; men weak of will have found their minds shattered by the ordeal.