Two clicks for the Fall of the Kurshok, banished to abyss. No more favored by the Trickster Lord. No more see the sun or sky.
One click for the brainsick ones, thinking the aboveworld is real place.
excerpts from Kurshok texts
The Kurshok are an ancient species and civilization of xenophobic amphibian humanoids. Having once lived on the surface of the world, where they supposedly built "towering castles and mighty ships", the Kurshok - seemingly devolved since the time of their cultural zenith - now mainly dwell within the subterranean ruins known as the Sunken Citadel, buried deep beneath the streets and sewers of the City.
History[]
The history of the Kurshok people is as old as that of the Pagans and the Precursors. Their mythology links them to the ancient Pagans and confirms that the Kurshok were followers of the Trickster, until they fell out of His favor when the Kurshok king Gruliac the Great declared that the Kurshok had surpassed their master and proclaimed himself mightier than the Leaf Lord.
Although the Trickster loved the Kurshok, He could not allow such disrespect to go unpunished. He ordered Gruliac to return the Crown of Power He had bestowed upon him, but Gruliac refused. The Trickster then determined to reclaim the crown by force, and battled Gruliac in a fight of epic proportions, but Gruliac refused to yield even after losing his hand. The Leaf Lord was so angered by the Kurshok that he commanded the earth to swallow their entire civilization. All but a small number of the Kurshok perished in the calamity that ensued, which came to be known as the Great Fall.[1]
The mighty Kurshok citadel had sunk deep underground, but remained largely intact. The first few generations of survivors, led by King Gruliac, worked to rebuild this complex and vowed revenge against the Leaf Lord (who came to be referred to as the Leaf Devil during this time), but their perseverance waned over the years.[2] Most of the Kurshok gradually came to believe that the "aboveworld" is not real, and those who entertained the idea of it being a real place were ridiculed and possibly shunned for being "brainsick".[3]
The death of the last of the "lesser kings" marked the (presumably) tumultuous period of upheaval known as the Chaos Times. Left without a king to rule over them, the Kurshok have since been waiting for a new great leader to pick up the Kurshok Crown, in hopes of learning all that was forgotten and seeking out new foes to battle.[4]
The Kurshok certainly existed alongside humans, as they are mentioned in their ancient texts,[1] although the social and political relations between the two peoples are a mystery. However, by the time of the City's founding, the Kurshok had been all but forgotten from history, with only a few mythological references to the Sunken Citadel found in the texts of the Keeper Library. The Pagans, however, remained very much aware of the remnants of the Kurshok: during the events of Thief: Deadly Shadows, a Pagan expeditionary force led by Shaman Cornbriar ventures into the Sunken Citadel to retrieve the Kurshok Crown, which the Pagans have long revered as an artifact of great importance.[5]
Unconfirmed history[]
It can be speculated that the Sunken Citadel is in close proximity to the Lost City, as both of these underground locations were accessed by Garrett using hidden entrances found in South Quarter. The Sunken Citadel appears to be much younger, however, as evidenced by the lack of apparent erosion damage, higher geological placement, and its ties to such relatively modern deities as the Trickster. The Kurshok are unlikely to have coexisted with the Precursors, at least not without serious border disputes and cultural assimilation, but may have taken after them, as suggested by the similar style of their hieroglyphs (notably the vulture/scale image and the smaller icons in the central square).[6]
Culture[]
According to their ancient texts, the Kurshok used to be a great race of scholars, adventurers and warriors - "most bold, most brave, most clever among all the world’s creatures", and thus most favored in the eyes of the Trickster, which they also called the Leaf Lord.[1] They were supposedly as sophisticated, educated and elegant race, but ever since the Great Fall, their culture has lost but all of its luster. While the presence of a large library in the Sunken Citadel clearly suggests that the Kurshok once knew how to read and write, Keeper Rafe concluded that they no longer seem to possess that ability.[7] Some of the books found in the library suggest that they still have it, although the age of these texts cannot be accurately determined, and those that appear to be written several generations after the Fall (and the Chaos Times that followed) notably feature broken spelling, alluding to the reduced level of literacy of even the scholarly members of the later Kurshok society.
One point of interest regarding the Kurshok society is their means of recording time. Despite their total isolation from sunlight or other outside indicators, one of their texts mention that King Orpetolia ruled the Kurshok "for 50 but knew nothing", which indicates that there must have been some system of chronology devised after the Great Fall.[4]
During his visit in the Sunken Citadel, Garrett can overhear one of the Kurshok proudly proclaim that with his continued growth and weight gain, he will soon be counted among the “wise ones”, implying that physical size determines one's standing of the Kurshok social hierarchy.
Language[]
I can't believe some taffer went and spilled mead all over this article!
Reasons: none given.
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The Kurshok speak and write in English, though they have broken speech patterns, much like the Pagans. What sets them apart, however, is the linguistic importance of clicking and the number of clicks, often stated aloud.
From a summary of Kurshok history:
Four clicks for the pride of existence. Five clicks for Gruliac, most favored of all and King of the Kurshok. Three clicks for the vanity of pride. Two clicks for the folly of vanity. One click for the doom of folly.
From a summary of Kurshok Kings:
Count ten for King and Crown. scholar and Kurshok named of Turish, who writes this, will be gone past counting.
From After the Fall:
Three clicks for the Kurshok. Two clicks for our underground home for now.
From Kurshok voice files:
kurshok1: ku1_idle1: Count the telling. Count one for the time in the light, the standing time...(click). Count two for the time in the storm, all broken, all lost...(click click). Count three for the time in the darkness...(Click click click).
kurshok2: ku2_idle1: Count the hatchlings, (click click click). Count one for the molting, until the growth. (Click). Count two for the hungry child. (Click click). Count three to learn the telling.
kurshok2: ku2_idle2: Count the long longago, the burrows, the hatchlings. (Click click). Count each life, so many to count. Count the now, count the empty.
DUNKurshokMissingGuy_001000: m06c0401: (Click, click) Two for the one who is missing.
Biology[]
Although no (apparently) female members of the Kurshok race are encountered by Garrett during his visit in the Sunken Citadel, he does pass through a dedicated hatchery, formerly the arena of the citadel,[2] where several large eggs are being incubated. Kurshok writings also refer to their kings "spawning” successors, which may imply asexual reproduction.
Kurshok Kings[]
Blood Kings[]
Lesser Kings[]
After the reign of King Merdiac, a (presumably tumultuous) period known as "the Chaos Times" came, and the Crown has been awaiting for a new great leader to pick it up ever since.
See Also[]
References[]
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