Ayit Village

Located on the western fringes of Golmore, Ayit houses a unique tribe of Rava who tend the jungle with music and dance.

Music & Dance

Countless generations past, the Ayiti were a nomadic, war-like people that were eventually chased from the heart of Golmore by an alliance of villages. Forced to flee to a barren wasteland hugging the western border of the jungle, they eked out a new life there, slowly evolving into a peaceful people that have turned their once-lifeless home into a verdant and beautiful corner of the vast woodland.To the Ayiti, far and above every other aspect of their lives is the art of music. Through the playing of instruments, singing heartfelt lays and weaving their bodies in breathtaking dances, the women of Ayit nurture the wood in a way unlike any other village.Each art is chosen by an Ayiti at a young age, where she spends the rest of her long life mastering it to a degree beyond the reach of most Spoken.

Voidsent & Ashkin

Ayiti hold to the belief that any entity, be it spirit, ghost, or other ashkin, that claims to be the ethereal remains of a once-living being is in truth a masquerading abomination. At best, these creatures are trapped Anima that rightfully belongs to the Lifestream.Along a similar vein, Voidsent are recognized as monsters not of this world that seek only to destroy and consume all in that which they've invaded.These entities are exceptions where a traditional Ayiti will kill indiscriminately, as doing so protects the sanctity of life.

Life, Death & Anima

The core of Ayiti belief is rooted in their understanding of Anima and its presence in all life. Though not called as such by them, they are keenly aware of the Lifestream and how Anima, once extinguished from a creature’s vessel, returns to the great reservoir of life to one day emerge as something - or someone - new.As such, the Ayiti do not believe in an afterlife, nor do they consider Anima returned from the Lifestream to be a true reincarnation of the being it once was. Each individual person and creature is believed to be truly ephemeral and gone forever once they have returned to the Lifestream.By this understanding do the Ayiti treasure all life, using their talents to nurture it to grow as beautiful as it can possibly be. The dead are honored for their accomplishments, certainly, but the Ayiti see those that yet live as the ones to be truly cherished.

Diet

The common fare of an Ayiti is primarily fruits, vegetables and grains found and grown within the village's territory. Meats are a rare supplement to their meals, their availability limited to whatever threats to their territory that have recently been felled.By exception, the Silent are nearly all completely vegan. Their empathic connection to the creatures of the wood make the concept of eating one's flesh repulsive to them.

The Silent

Not literally bereft of voice, women of Ayit who bear this tattoo have, after a certain age, shown a particular aptitude to the art of listening to the music of life rather than adding on to it.The Silent are the village’s equivalent of Gridania’s Hearers, opening their auras to the ebb and flow of the Anima pervading the jungle, identifying where the village’s rituals - and, occasionally, weapons - are needed most.Scarce few Ayiti have no interest in singing, dancing, or playing, and often decide to join the ranks of the Silent. Even fewer of this number master it to the degree of those born with the talent.

The Mistweavers

Put simply, Mistweavers are Ayiti who have taken to the art of dance. However, this does little and less to describe their myriad and crucial roles within the village.Utilizing the aether pervading the wood, Mistweavers weave their bodies as both conduits and foci for the many rituals used in maintaining the vitality and magical protection of their territory, the songs playing in rhythm with their steps.Beyond their role in rituals, Mistweavers may act in many more capacities with their skills, telling the village's history through dance and using their talent for manipulating aether to perform magical healing.

The Shapesingers

The ambiance of Ayit would be nothing without the cadence of the Shapesingers' work resonating from every grotto and dell. Due to the long and involved nature of their work, there is never a daylight hour when their songs cannot be heard.The Shapesingers are the craftswomen of Ayit. Their songs are, in truth, long incantations that influence the ambient aether, encouraging growth and change in otherwise static objects.This power allows Shapesingers to craft everything from new homes to instruments, clothes and even weapons for the women of Ayit.

The Windstalkers

Though raised on the ideals of peace and harmony, the women of Ayit are not naive to the dangers posed both within and without their territory. As such, the Windstalkers serve in the dual capacity as the musicians and the wardens of the village.Their instruments, formed by Shapesingers' lays, are both beautiful and deadly. While capable of and largely used for music that stirs the soul, their elegant forms sport blades, spikes and other accessories to violence that blend so well into each instrument as to go unnoticed at a glance.On the rare occasion when the men's strength is not enough to protect their territory, the Windstalkers join arms with them, putting their combined and equal skill to use in defense of the Wood.

Changing of the Seasons

A bi-annual ceremony welcoming the shift in the wood from its wet season to its dry season, and vice-versa. This tradition is less a ritual than the marking of a shift in them, as many of the ceremonies done between both seasons change in myriad ways.The Changing of the Seasons is a festival of several suns that serves as a reminder to all to make this shift in their daily routines. The songs that permeate the village wax with a delightful fervor; songs, music and dances are done purely for the joy they bring.It is often that Ayiti men choose this time to return to the village, to immerse themselves in the festivities even as they seek to court a potential mate.

Morbol Brew

Of the few alcoholic beverages brewed by the village, the most favored and unique are the drinks made primarily of one ingredient: morbol bile.Drawn from morbol of the jungle made temporarily docile from Ayiti music, each brew consists of its own flavor and characteristics. This is largely attributed to the individual morbol’s diet, be it flora, fauna, or foreign Spoken that have wandered haplessly into the jungle.Near Ayit, a special sub-species of Morbol thrives. Instead of secreting toxic gases that inflict innumerable ailments on the victim, the aroma from these morbols instead charms their victim, paralyzing them with infatuation.Ayiti women - and men born of the village - looking to woo another engage in a courtship ritual revolving around acquiring this unique morbol’s bile. Once done, it is brewed into a “love potion” that is then given to the target of their affection. It is a purely symbolic act as the drink, while sweet, has lost the morbol’s charming properties in the brewing process.

The Listening Moon

Every full moon, the Silent require all music and song be quelled for the duration of the night. In this profound quietude, individual Silent sit in places of ritual meditation scattered throughout the village and surrounding wood, opening their senses to the ebb and flow of the Lifestream for malms around. In this way they identify even subtle changes in the local Anima, directing the Windstalkers and Mistweavers to places in need of rejuvenation or to quell rising threats.

Sigyn

Kria

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Ysfir

Vidys

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Kuria of the Silent

An esteemed huntress in her own right, Kuria achieved her stature after leaving the village on a hunt for well over a year. When she returned, she was wearing the massive antlers of an apex predator, a massive, coeurl-like beastkin who had terrorized the surrounding jungle.Well over two hundred summers old, she is one of the Ayiti elders and an inspiration for those few who bear the Mark of the Silent - as she bears it too.She and Otkatla share a deep friendship and rivalry woven through years of camaraderie in the face of threats to the village. Kuria was Sigyn's prominent tutor in the ways of the Silent and more.

Otkatla of the Windstalkers

One of the most prominent Windstalkers of the village, Otkatla's grim aura speaks to the scores of decades she has spent ensuring the safety of the village, often being the first - along with Kuria - to face a violent threat.Despite this, she is a deeply loving mother, and inspired each of her children to walk their own paths in life rather than follow her own.Ysfir, Sigyn and Kria(named after Kuria) are her only three daughters, with Ysfir and Kria sharing the same father - One of only two men to win her favor, and the only one to win it twice.

Nisse of the Mistweavers

A woman who's effusive cheer and peerless skill at her craft that have gone unchanged for countless decades. Nisse has not let her waning summers stop her from leading many of the most energetic rituals and performing more than her part in keeping Ayit's territory thriving.Ysfir's inspiration and mentor, it was she who guided Otkatla's eldest daughter through the wonders of the Mistweaver's dance.

Veles

Vidys and Sigyn's daughter. An energetic child that mimics her father's youthful vigor and mischief, though many say she looks much more like her mother.Veles had only just come of age when Vidys vanished and Sigyn departed on her quest. She is currently under Otkatla's care.

Kindred Bow

A bow made by ancient Shapesinger lays, this weapon has been enchanted with a spell to compliment the Silents’ work. While still a capable weapon in its own right, if its string is drawn with no arrow it conjures a shaft of ethereal light in its place.Whoever is pierced by this “arrow” is tethered psychically to the wielder. For the duration of this link - severed at any time by the holder of the bow -both share knowledge of the other’s actions and emotions, even over great distances.Safely in Sigyn’s possession.

Illvilja

An orb of auracite from ages past, attached to a silver ring. Its inoffensive appearance belies its raw malevolence.Trapped within is the “dark soul” of an ancient Ayit, the warlord Tyr. Having succumbed to an unbridled rage, he cut a bloody swathe through Golmore millenia past in self-aggrandized "justice". Through great pain and at the cost of many lives, Tyr’s soul was split, the tattered remnants of the good man that once was remaining in his body while his malice was imprisoned within the auracite.Tyr himself lived for only a short time afterward, withering away without a complete soul. In contrast, his darkness fed on itself, its rage growing unchecked within the auracite over countless generations.As long as it remained locked away, it posed no threat to the village... But should it ever be worn, the spirit can use its wearer as both an anchor to manifest itself and a weapon to carry out its ageless quest for vengeance.Whereabouts unknown.

Blightsunder

Those who know the people of Ayit may be surprised to find this among their most sacred relics. Charged with the well-being of the wood, many would ill expect to find an ornate woodcutter’s axe one of their most valued possessions.Enchanted with a permanent razor edge, Blightsunder was the early Ayiti answer to a strain of corrupt flora that threatened to choke out the then-nascent section of the jungle. It is capable of felling the stoutest of trees in one stroke, a fact that had kept it locked away for centuries by the now peaceful people, who now employ much less violent methods.Whereabouts unknown.

Valvilja

Unlike most relics of an age older than the village itself, this scythe, reminiscent of a cloudkin in flight, radiates an aura of absolute peace. Any who lay hand on it find their baser instincts all but forgotten as an unseen force soothes their soul. Ayiti who have grappled with their anger are, on occasion, sent to commune with the relic, often emerging becalmed and in greater harmony with the peaceful songs of the village.Little is known about the weapon’s history, as there are no tales spun about its discovery or creation. Ancient Ayiti warriors were known to wield such weapons before they were replaced with instruments, but even that dubious point of origin makes little sense. Why would their warlike ancestors bless a weapon with such overpowering bliss?Whereabouts unknown.

Scepter of the Matron

A wand of immaculate craft, the Scepter of the Matron was crafted countless generations ago by powerful Ayiti shape-singers. The relic is empowered with the ability to control vast quantities of aether, making it a vital tool in the large-scale rituals the village employs to bring vitality to their land.In the wrong hands, this same power can be used to alter the aetheric makeup of all manner of creatures. The end result is a creature devoid of its instinct and sensibilities, more often than not twisting it into a destructive creature in the throes of agony borne from uncontrollable growth.It is currently being mishandled by a gang of Gyr Abanian bandits named "The Minotaur's Fist".

The Guardian

The Guardian is a golem of mysterious origin, tasked with the protection of Ayit’s relics for time immemorial.Also known as the "Sacred One", it boasts tremendous physical strength and an innate ability to sense the aetheric signature of the relics.The Guardian did not stir from its sleep at the time of the Garleans' raid. In the suns that followed, it emerged from its alcove and marched westward, unhindered by anyone or anything that tried to stop it.Thanks to a certain masked Sharlayan, its social inhibitors have been disabled. Preferring to be called "50-Z6", the Guardian now roams the land with Sigyn in tow.

Emblems of Fury

More relics of a time when the Ayiti chose violence over song, experimenting with crude ways to preserve and nurture their nascent territory.These discs of unknown material, barely larger than a gil coin, contain the distilled fury of the jungle. It is said the warlike founders of the village coaxed the anger of the wood out from its seething roots, trapping them with magicks and sealing it within emblems to ensure their own safety in their new territory.Once kept sealed under layers of protection, magical and physical, even one of these discs is capable of corrupting any individual who holds one overlong. Countless years of nature’s spite unleash themselves on the unwitting host, overwhelming their senses until they’re little else than a tool for the wood’s rage.Rumors of cultists using strange coins to enter a berserker's rage have drifted through the Shroud.

The Gaol

Another relic of the time when the Ayit were a nomadic, warlike tribe. While curious in design, this unusual pot seems at a glance to be no more than a decorative flower vase similar to old Allagan decorative works. The truth, however, is much more sinister.The interior of this vase serves as a prison to an “evil spirit” once summoned by the proto-Ayit to bring ruin to their foes. The creature’s cunning and power soon proved to be far more than they could control. A desperate ploy sealed the spirit in this vase, but its influence still resonates in whispers from its imperfect prison.Whereabouts unknown.

Jorda's Bounty

This magical ewer was initially employed by the first Matron of the Ayit, Jorda. It was used in conjunction with the Scepter of the Matron to nurture their once-wasted corner of the jungle into the verdant paradise it is today.Wherever the Bounty’s water falls, life is sure to grow. The enchantments of the ewer turn the water into a nourishing elixir that instantly encourages the growth of all manner of flora, including seedkin. Pains are taken to ensure the latter don’t partake and grow into abominably massive, walking plants.Whereabouts unknown.