WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0072 0072
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even Penmai find their many nuances difficult to fully
master. Select elders take up the occupation of wubara
or “indebtedness counselor” and contribute to the village by clarifying the cumbersome system for others,
acting as a sort of referee to make sure all parties are at
least pacified when there is a dispute.
Indebtedness can come from all sorts of sources—the
favor of an introduction made, a piece of information
provided, actions taken for loved ones, or even repayment to a parent for raising a penma through childhood. Seemingly every action through a penma’s day
involves giving or repaying favors, and attention to that
very much shapes a penma’s day and life. Repayment of
favors essentially becomes the penma’s occupation, exchanging services as others do coins.
The formula for returning favor leaves vast room for
variation, thus often requiring a professional wubara to
sort it all out. Time is often a key factor, a large favor repaid
with many smaller favors over many months or years, or
vice versa. Familial connections change the formula, usually (but not always) reducing the repayment owed.
Multiple favor loops develop all the time; favors owed
among a three-Penmai loop (or four, five, or more) often are adjudicated and recorded by a wubara to keep
everything on the up and up. Favors can even be passed
between willing exchangers or forced on children to
carry into the next generations.
• Serfdom: Excessive indebtedness leads to a situation
humans find indistinguishable from serfdom or indentured servitude, where one penma becomes so
beholden to another that he basically exists to serve.
• Punishment: Failure to make good on a debt is
unthinkable to the Penmai, as it is among the few
crimes punishable by banishment or death; any
such offenders are considered dangerously insane.
• Civic Indebtedness: Politically, indebtedness is the
grease that keeps the government machinery turning; favors owed to the village ensure a workforce
that takes care of all manner of civil functions. Acknowledgement of indebtedness between political
rivals creates a peaceful way to adjudicate most disputes before strife turns to something worse.
• Death Absolution: One immutable fact, though, keeps
everything equal regardless of class: death absolves
one of all unpaid and untransferred favor debts.
Humans and other sapients find it fairly easy to slip into
the penman favor and indebtedness paradigm. What
most lack (save, perhaps, the Pachyaur) is their deeply
ingrained capacity for remembering all debts owed and
pending. Simple lists can remedy this, though there are
also Penmai associates who will gladly, and inevitably,
keep track of such things on their behalf . . . as a favor.
70
The Nok:
Masters of the Skies
Elite Penmai called nok are master sanid riders. Of
course, “rider” is a misnomer, since it takes three
full-grown sanid to grasp and carry aloft a single
Penmai. Nok are not the only Penmai to be carried
so, but they are masters of this form of travel and capable of aerial acrobatics and even combat in conjunction with the sanid. Other Penmai can summon
the birds but they are merely passengers carried in
the verui or standard configuration: arm-arm-tail.
Three birds grasp the penma near each elbow and
at the base of the tail. The verui configuration lets a
penma use her legs and, to an extent, her forearms,
and affords a good view of the trip and the land below. The three sanids can carry a passenger easily
and comfortably, and can travel great distances before being exhausted.
The second carrying configuration, one perfected
by the Nok but also usable by other penmai, is the
sestis or battle configuration. One sanid grasps the
penma’s tail while the other two grab its legs either
at the knees (helsestis) or ankles(nawsestis). Sestis
leaves the penma’s arms and hands completely free
for weapon use:
• Arush Blow Gun: The most common weapon
among the Nok is the arush (penman blow gun).
• Yarur Short Bow: Another favored weapon for
avian battles is the penman short bow or yarur
• Trana and Karan Blades: Every Nok carries, if
not actively wields, either a trana (penman short
sword) or karan (penman dagger) at all times.
• Wescha Quarterstaff: Penman wescha quarter -staffs are too bulky for use while sanidborne.
It normally takes three sanid to carry a single penma; two can manage a safe landing, while one will
struggle to control any sort of landing at all. However, sanid can “train” in the narobsi method that
allows a group of sanid to carry half their number
of penmai if they have one more sanid to “take the
lead”: one sanid grasps a penma’s tail, then another
is shared between two penmai both in front and
then behind. Narobsi-born penmai have little freedom of movement, carried so closely next to one
another. The sanids’ efforts are great, so they can
only manage it for a relatively short time and only in
favorable conditions.
Sanid-borne Nok are known to visit the floating
earth motes that sometimes ride the skies like islands, and even explore them.
