Does anyone has any idea what the ukoven of uripis are? I heard some say they are the same as the ruvoka, is that right? Appreciate every anwser given
I think that’s right…where is that mentioned?
Its not, just mentioned in a discussion I’ve read somewhere
are they half-elementals, i.e., the result of elemental and human interbreeding?
For game terms, I was treating them like Genasi, with an explicitly eastern mediterranean culture. (Euripis is a very Greek name.)
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I think the only place you will see more than a paragraph was in a fan made “Silt Archipelago” (Broken Logic - Dark Sun)
I used the area for one of my groups awhile back.
I adapted the Ukoven to be Genasi cleric/psions with a Ukoven prestige class that tied them to the land similar to druids but gave them immortality, a bunch of genie type abilities (based on Efreet, Djinn, Marid, and Dao), summon elementals, etc.
The Genasi in general were farmers and scholars who were descendants of mortal/elemental unions, nearly sterile, who had no real desire to leave the area. They were very comfortable where they were and used divination and clairvoyance to see the outside world (and they didn’t like what they saw) and the elemental planes.
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I like the idea of them being Dark Sun’s version of Genasi.
Riffing off this post on DS jinn, I’m wondering how DS Genasi will be different from their forgotten realms counterparts.
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Just speculating off the cuff here, but I’d go with a standard “dark sun” template: the types available would match the main elements used by clerics here, would be a lot more cautious around outsiders (and hostile to defilers), they would have a shorter life span, and their connection to the elemental planes would be a bit narrower, perhaps only being able to go there when they die.
Otherwise, pretty much what @SeruZmaj said.
Unlike genasi, the ukoven lose their elemental powers if they are away from their island to long.
Throwing it out there, what if the ukoven are the dark sun equivalent to genasi, but with the athasian twist that they humanoids possessed by elemental spirits?
Long ago some tribe or community discovered the elemental springs of what is now euripis, and used it to give themselves an edge in a tough environment.
The pools infused them with lesser elemental spirits, creating a symbiotic relationship in which the humanoids gain the strength to survive and thrive their harsh world while the elementals gain a foot hold on athas.
Over many generations this relationship evolved, so now the ukoven cannot survive long without being infused with an elemental spirit.
Mechanically speaking, i think they should be similar to genasi, if slightly more powerful. The main difference will be that they can change their element depending on the spring the dip themselves into. also, the elemental spirit has its own will, so they are all basically suffer from a form of split personality.
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Ouroboros, I think that some variety of your proposal here is the most correct, and I much appreciate your assessment.
It seems that Euripis possesses some major planar rift or power conjunction; I enjoyed Broken Logic’s earlier work on the Silt Archipelago, though I was disappointed that so far in my review of his considerable labor on the subject, I have not seen a thorough exploration of the nature and importance of this Elemental Vent, gate, nexus, or what have you.
I do not think the ukoven are split into four separate tribes, segregated racially by elemental affiliation. Rather, I think the intent is that they all interbreed, and all sustain themselves from the same “elemental springs” that are singularly mentioned in the 2nd boxed set. I second that, as you have stated ouroborus, the ukoven were humans who at some point long ago discovered these springs, and drank, bathed and lived at them for such a long time that they were as a people slowly transformed by the profound energies that permeate this location. It seems that the elemental springs, flowing from the very heart of Athas, are central to this elemental fusion, and though it gives them power, they are no longer able to live long without such infusions from the springs.
Regarding ukoven being aligned to any one particular element, I speculate that the springs of Euripis flow with energies from all four Elemental Planes, and that there is no strict separation of the Spring of Fire, Spring of Air, etc. Rather, I propose that for each individual ukoven, their elemental affiliation is more a matter of their personality, and to a lesser degree their parentage. Perhaps by adolescence they might favor one element over the others, and show this particular affiliation in their appearance and in the manifestation of particular enhanced abilities. Though I think the intention was that the ukoven were to be very much like the jann, and be inherently connected to all four elements. They all must bathe in the Springs of Euripis in order to restore themselves when absent from their island, regardless of any specific elemental affiliation.
Regarding their powers: “These abilities, however, can only be used if the ukoven maintain contact with the element that sustains them,” says the text. Rejuvenation of their powers, if not from the springs of Euripis, might come from immersion in some other stream or pool, the roaring of a fire, the blowing of great winds upon a height, or from meditation upon a great boulder or mountain of earth and stone. I speculate there may be some considerable array of potential powers, but that these should be at most of a moderate nature, reflecting the limited powers of the jann as compared to the standards genies. An extensive list of these potential powers would be interesting, though to my knowledge no one has pursued this thus, beyond a musing that the ukoven maintains powers similar to that of the genasi.
I likely shall not adopt that the ukoven are as the genasi. If they are somewhat comparable to the jann, which again I believe was the intent, then their powers should be a solid step more substantial than the powers of the genasi. Also, since the ukoven are bound to Euripis, they ought not to be a standard play race. However, a half-ukoven would be an interesting player character. They indeed could be much like a genasi, if not wholly one, save for perhaps in name. Limited to the children of ukoven from outside unions, such Athasian genasi would then be quite rare indeed, which I favor, for the streets of Athasian cities should not be full of genasi prodigies. They should rather be very rare, almost unique. Though empowered with special abilities as a genasi is in Planescape, unlike a standard genasi, a half-ukoven can only rejuvenate such powers by contact with the element to which they are attuned, and by the Springs of Euripis.
In conclusion I think ukoven are fascinating, and would be interesting to develop further. Their island may have many secrets, and their half-ukoven children could be very interesting PCs, for unlike their parents they could venture off the island of Muln indefinitely. And cheers to Geoff Hinkley on his work on the Silt Archipelago. It is an entertaining and useful work which hopefully produced an enjoyable campaign or two.
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We recently disscused the subject in The Pristine Tower Development Group discord, I was of a mind that the ukoven are genasi that can switch between elements, and avangion thought much like you that they are the result of interbreeding, and so we combined our ideas (as we often do in the group), here is what we have so far:
In the environmental collapse following in the wake of the cleansing wars, several different tribes found themselves stranded on the island of Muln in the Silt Archipelago. There they found the unique phenomenon known as the elemental springs, protected by a circle of druids hiding from the persecution of the sorcerer-monarchs during the Eradication.
Driving off the druids, a power struggle ensued as each tribe, led by a fanatical priest-thane, tried to take over the spring to be closer to the element they worshiped. The tribes also discovered that prolonged exposure to the elemental energy of a spring will infuse them with its essence, transforming them into genasi, which only served to further the fighting as the already violent tribesmen surrendered themselves willingly to the destructive urges spurred by the wild elemental power that coursed through their veins.
After a century of bloodshed that brought only devastation on the already ravaged island and saw tribe after tribe managing to take over the springs only to lose them shortly after to one of the others, the druids finally returned- with a vengeance.
Having managed to flee into the inner planes, they spent their time in exile to prepare, eventually ascending into ruvoka of all types and forming a coalition, which they named the Ukoven- The Harmonious in their tongue. Like a natural disaster, they struck suddenly, unforeseen and unforgiving, slaying all of the priest-thanes and taking over the tribes, forming a ruling council of elders.
The ruvoka then turned their efforts to slowly uniting the tribes under their rule, teaching a philosophy of balance between the elements rather than adherence to a single one, as without balance each of the elements would be nothing more than a destructive, unbound force that would scour all life off the face of Athas.
They built the village of Euripis to protect the springs, and implemented a strict system of forced marriages to make genasi with ties to all elements, similar to Athas herself. Satisfied with their efforts, they returned to the other side of the portals that lay at the bottom of the springs to guard the other side, leaving their genasi subjects to govern themselves. In time the name Ukoven came to refer to the highly mixed blooded genasi of Euripis.
Unfortunately, the philosophy of balance proved ill fated, as all the intermingled elemental bloodlines ultimatly resulted in descendants whose bodies were wracked with opposing elemental energies, constantly at war with one another in a way that made them cancel each other out, preventing the ukoven from manifesting any elemental powers they might have had, while at the same time slowly killing them from within.
The Ukoven might have used the springs to solve the issue by permanently bonding themselves to a single element, but unable to wholly forsake their beliefs in the balance, they were still willing to admit that at least some imbalance is needed to prevent balance from turning into stagnation and languor, and instead used the springs to bond only loosely to an element, dipping in a pool of a certain element for just enough time to enhance one of the inherent elemental affinities in their blood, but not long enough for it to become permanent, meaning the effect fade rather quickly.
While this practice has made them wholly dependent on the springs, preventing them from straying too far from Euripis lest they die from their own dissonant physiology, it also allows them to change and switch between elements by dipping in different pools.
They developed an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices revolving around bonding to a specific element for a limited time before switching to another when they feel they begin to fall to the destructive urges of that element in order to maintain and improving their physical, emotional and mental health.
Nowadays they bond to an element based on their current pursuits. An ukoven needing to do a menial job that requires focus might bond to earth, while another trying to find inspiration to write passionate poems might bond to fire, but when focus turns to single mindedness and inspiration to obsession, they switch again and turn to other matters and so on and so forth.
Sometimes however, an ukoven will become obsessed with a single element, feeling more comfortable with it than with any of the others, and would try to permanently bond with it. Sadly, such individuals are seen as mad by the other genasi and might be forcefully dipped in another spring to “cure” them before they can do so. Even if they succeed, they would most likely need to leave Euripis or risk being ostracized and punished.
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As for the elemental springs, I imagine them like the elemental creature dwellings in Heroes 3
I am glad to hear the PTDG has put some thought into this very interesting subject.
Also, it is an interesting background to the ukoven that you gentlemen crafted. I see that you roped the ruvoka directly into the story. To point, obviously there is an etymological link there, and probably one worth exploring, as you have.
Later in your explanation and in my own contemplation on the ukoven as well, it seems clear the ukoven are complicated by being seemingly individually aligned to one particular element, and yet in a whole and unified community which presumably intermarries. Do they wield exclusively but one element, or is one element stronger than the other, or are each of them able at any given occasion capable of charging themselves with powers of one particular element? I fear there is no neat and easy way to clarify this issue, to which the details of your backstory alludes.
Although somewhat simplistic, I proffer that although the energies all four elements courses through them even from birth, to allow for the genasi parallel I think that upon adolescence one element comes to the fore, usually reflective of their individual temperaments, but thereby also linked to their ancestry. Thereafter, they remain aligned to that one particular element, which is effectively irreversible. This does not mean that they necessary do not have lesser powers and immunities (vulnerabilities?) regarding the other elements, but that one in particular is greater, and that this affininity is all but assuredly quite clear once you look at them. And yet, an earth aligned ukoven might marry an air aligned ukoven, and produce offspring that vary across all four elements. This mixing, which by your backstory may have been a more regulated matter early on, would help create the general unity and idyllic nature of this ukoven community.
In my proposal, half-ukoven, which is to mean “genasi” in technical terms (though I doubt I would call them this) would all but certainly follow the elemental traits of their parent ukoven. A fire ukoven would and could only produce a half-ukoven with an alignment towards fire. And unlike his sire or mother, such a half-ukoven would be able to leave Euripis indefinitely, thereby making him a more accessible race as a PC. I would suspect such a half-ukoven would still need to charge his lesser powers by significant contact with his aligned element, but he would still have the residual effects of the energies of all four Elemental Planes within his body, likely giving him certain endurance and resistances above the average Athasian human.
I think ukoven should probably have, when “charged” at least, fairly considerable powers, akin to those of the jann, but not so great as the standard four genie races. These should be powers and qualities great enough to make them improper as a standard PC race, yet suitable for parenting a half-ukoven with lesser powers that are rather indeed suitable for a PC.
I will also venture here to propose that ukoven are not jann. In the spirit of the 1st boxed set, I am striving to rationalize a quality way to incorporate the encounter list as provided there, and the jann are so listed. Jann can be encountered it seems abroad on the Tablelands, where effectively you will never encounter ukoven. Therefore a separate explanation must be given for the jann. I hope to explore this in a future thread, as the concept of Athasian jann is fascinating to me.
Regarding the ruvoka being integral to the Euripis backstory, this is also a fascinating concept. Perhaps we can forge a better backstory by their etymology. Therefore, if the ukoven are the Harmonious, what are the ruvoka? And for that matter, what are the sub-kinds of ruvoka: Brajeti, Ethilum, Kaltori, Zathosi? And I am not so sure it is as simple as “earth ruvoka”, etc.
Lastly, as a hopefully helpful thought regarding your ukoven backstory: I could not help but notice that a strong Hellenistic tone could be felt with the Euripis culture. Indeed, so strong is the Greek emphasis that “Euripisian” culture is rather clearly… European (classical Athens, or something like that). I have taken it strongly that Balic is the current seat of this culture, and the Balican culture no doubt extends to a wide degree along the Silt Sea littoral and its many islands. I would suggest that Euripis hails to some degree from whatever mysterious source culture Balic hailed from, if indeed it did not hail from Balic itself. Anyhow, food for thought.
An enjoyable write up, to be sure, Ouroboros.
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Thank you, @darkinterloper can maybe expand more on the ancient culture of which balic is descended, and perhaps even on the atymology subject. I certainly added elements of humorism of ancient greek in their regard to their cultural view of balance and switching between elemental affinities to maintain it.
I do like your idea that they are “supercharged” for a while after bathing in the springs, I think I’ll icorporate it into the write up.
Euripis, to continue its greek island background, ought to look like the following.
It’s natural looking.
The colored water would not be water but pure elemental stuff from deep underground gates.
You lie in the pools, basking in the stuff.
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Great minds think alike
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Absolutely Pennarin. Something like these pictures, I think especially that first one, was much in my mind.
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