Khemrys (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
homeless_pard) wrote2021-12-28 11:21 am
homeless_pard) wrote2021-12-28 11:21 am
Entry tags:
Side Effects AU notes
Obviously in crazy side effects land there are no portals from other realms and magic (yet, let's be honest, powers of all kinds can show up after pills!), so we're going with some happy fun cult times.
Cult: High Hallack Hold, formed by a bunch of men who wished a feudal lifestyle. It was established in the woodlands of the PNW in an abandoned mining town. It has been established for going on thirty years now and has some rather stringent beliefs based on fealty rather than fully religion based, though an odd number of pagan power seem to be worshiped or mentioned to the rare outsider that interacts with a member. The founding men came from many walks of life but women of the cult seem to be entirely of human or half human bloodlines and of the blonde/fair/curvy aesthetic.
Members of High Hallack have no contact with the outside world in the general sense. They are self sustaining, have no electricity, etc etc. The sole exceptions being the Riders, those who patrol or seek beyond their lands to ensure no one seeks to interfere with their lands. One such Rider found Khemrys and her family. There had been a car accident during a winter storm and the father was deceased, the mother bleeding heavily from a head wound, and an infant screaming in her car seat. The mother fit Hallack appearance requirements, but Khemrys, sadly, took after her full olia father, being pale, dark haired, and slight as she grew. Her mother properly recovered from her injuring, remaining a dream wandering, muddled woman until her death a few years later, and Khemrys was left in the care of the Dames who were 'too old' to breed, relegated to supplying simples, medical, and general goods to the rest of the populace.
Khemrys was not an unhappy child in this place, rather she found a great deal of joy in learning from the elderly women, and as much as they were able she was spoiled, learning a great deal more than other 'ladies' were taught, through sums and reading, to writing and medicinals. It was likely she would be taking on the burden of such work entire when the dames passed away, but she reckoned without the daughter of the High Lord deciding to play High Priestess. Suddenly Khemrys was not only unfit to take on role as a Dame, she was unfit for anything but drudge work as the woman decided to raise the ladies of the town up properly for their coming roles as wives.
Then one of the Riders decided he liked how Khemrys looked despite how poorly she fitted in, a fact the new Priestess was happy to capitalize on, happily trading Khemrys's 'hand' in exchange for introduction to the head of the Riders herself.
When Khemrys learned she was to be bound to a rider, one who looked cruel and said terrible things to her when they were alone to discuss their marriage, well ,she knew she could not stay and survive as herself. She took a small bag 'for herb gathering', herbs necessary for the wedding wine, carefully packed the jewelry her mother had gifted her in the bottom and...left.
She knew the wood near the town having gathered and foraged there for the Dames, so she was able to go quite far before the hunt was called. She slept in trees and brush falls, barely ate beyond what she could snatch off bushes as she went, and did her best to choose unexpected paths that would not allow horse easy passage. Her feet were battered, bloody things by the time she stumbled into a town far from High Hallack, nestled against the edge of the mountains and barely waking up with the dawn, so the first signboard on the street easily caught her eye. 'Are you looking for the opportunity to travel? Want to be paid for your time away? See me inside!'.
~THINGS KHEMRYS DOES NOT KNOW~
~She does not know her last name, or that she was in an accident as a baby, she was told that her mother came into town with her of her own volition.
~The jewelry entrusted to her is actually a fine set, family heirlooms in fact, as her parents were on the way to a party at hunting lodge at the time of the accident.
~High Hallack does consider her married and Riders can spend time in towns/near televisions etc. so the Hunt is not ended despite her current breathing space.
~The High Hallack Hold cult IS on a gov watchlist but is not considered an overly dangerous one as it has shown no interest in mass recruiting/is not known to kidnap people (ahahha yeah).
~More to come probably!
Cult: High Hallack Hold, formed by a bunch of men who wished a feudal lifestyle. It was established in the woodlands of the PNW in an abandoned mining town. It has been established for going on thirty years now and has some rather stringent beliefs based on fealty rather than fully religion based, though an odd number of pagan power seem to be worshiped or mentioned to the rare outsider that interacts with a member. The founding men came from many walks of life but women of the cult seem to be entirely of human or half human bloodlines and of the blonde/fair/curvy aesthetic.
Members of High Hallack have no contact with the outside world in the general sense. They are self sustaining, have no electricity, etc etc. The sole exceptions being the Riders, those who patrol or seek beyond their lands to ensure no one seeks to interfere with their lands. One such Rider found Khemrys and her family. There had been a car accident during a winter storm and the father was deceased, the mother bleeding heavily from a head wound, and an infant screaming in her car seat. The mother fit Hallack appearance requirements, but Khemrys, sadly, took after her full olia father, being pale, dark haired, and slight as she grew. Her mother properly recovered from her injuring, remaining a dream wandering, muddled woman until her death a few years later, and Khemrys was left in the care of the Dames who were 'too old' to breed, relegated to supplying simples, medical, and general goods to the rest of the populace.
Khemrys was not an unhappy child in this place, rather she found a great deal of joy in learning from the elderly women, and as much as they were able she was spoiled, learning a great deal more than other 'ladies' were taught, through sums and reading, to writing and medicinals. It was likely she would be taking on the burden of such work entire when the dames passed away, but she reckoned without the daughter of the High Lord deciding to play High Priestess. Suddenly Khemrys was not only unfit to take on role as a Dame, she was unfit for anything but drudge work as the woman decided to raise the ladies of the town up properly for their coming roles as wives.
Then one of the Riders decided he liked how Khemrys looked despite how poorly she fitted in, a fact the new Priestess was happy to capitalize on, happily trading Khemrys's 'hand' in exchange for introduction to the head of the Riders herself.
When Khemrys learned she was to be bound to a rider, one who looked cruel and said terrible things to her when they were alone to discuss their marriage, well ,she knew she could not stay and survive as herself. She took a small bag 'for herb gathering', herbs necessary for the wedding wine, carefully packed the jewelry her mother had gifted her in the bottom and...left.
She knew the wood near the town having gathered and foraged there for the Dames, so she was able to go quite far before the hunt was called. She slept in trees and brush falls, barely ate beyond what she could snatch off bushes as she went, and did her best to choose unexpected paths that would not allow horse easy passage. Her feet were battered, bloody things by the time she stumbled into a town far from High Hallack, nestled against the edge of the mountains and barely waking up with the dawn, so the first signboard on the street easily caught her eye. 'Are you looking for the opportunity to travel? Want to be paid for your time away? See me inside!'.
~THINGS KHEMRYS DOES NOT KNOW~
~She does not know her last name, or that she was in an accident as a baby, she was told that her mother came into town with her of her own volition.
~The jewelry entrusted to her is actually a fine set, family heirlooms in fact, as her parents were on the way to a party at hunting lodge at the time of the accident.
~High Hallack does consider her married and Riders can spend time in towns/near televisions etc. so the Hunt is not ended despite her current breathing space.
~The High Hallack Hold cult IS on a gov watchlist but is not considered an overly dangerous one as it has shown no interest in mass recruiting/is not known to kidnap people (ahahha yeah).
~More to come probably!