Delayed because of life but hey, I wasn't gonna stop.
WBJ 2024 Prompt 5 Part 1 - "Culture"
From kyeugh’s prompt:
With this prompt, you can paint a picture of your world’s beating heart.
Breaking One’s Shackles
Even before the current civilizations of -zmer were around, it was known that a very small fraction of people had been born in the sister world of -fríd. It would happen every once in a while, when the Shackle went into its period of more fervent activity, that objects and people could – if they were
lucky – move from one world to the other.
But this kind of “free jump” was not the one that would allow explorers to scout new lands and report their discoveries, or empires to send their armies to conquer new lands and bring back tributes, or even the kind that would allow a hero to go vanquish a great evil and return, years later, with quite the adventure to tell.
For taking the leap comes with a cost. It means leaving your life behind, in more ways than one.
The
Garrison of the Oftborn is a small institution, in many ways similar to a PMD Guild. Established a little under two thousand years ago in the northern half of the world of -zmer, its purpose is to keep tabs on the activity of the Shackle’s shade upon the face of -zmer, grab any
Oftborn – those who made it through the Shackle from the sister world – in the area and try integrate them to -zmer society.
It is currently formed by four active branches: the
Explorers monitor Shackle activity; the
Gatekeepers keep tabs on neighbouring tribes and civs; the
Rescuers grab jumpers in the first place; and the
Schoolnuns who shelter, teach and retrain the jumpers.
In the end their mission is one, born out of a mixture of respect and fear for the strong phenomenon that can bind together two worlds in the void of space. To protect those who have made the jump, and help them begin anew.
An important mission given the unique circumstances surrounding the opportunity that an
Oftborn even makes it through the energy channel alive.
Someone who made it through whole, has had most or all of their memories erased, sometimes not even remembering more than how to speak their own language. They bring no baggage of family, of grudges, of hopes, of love. Even if they could remember their family, they won’t be able to get back to them – in body nor mind, as the trip back would for sure erase their memories this time.
But an Oftborn also has had their body’s “memories” of their life cleaned. Illnesses or wounds, markings or adornments, and to a point even the ravages of age, are removed and undone.
Thus an Oftborn is in many ways like a newborn – hence their name, they are Pokémon who thanks to the Shackle have
broken the shackles of their previous life and are now
born anew, to make their life in the new world; one that where possible welcomes them and nurtures as a new home.
For even if you had to leave Mother’s shade, may Aunt’s own shade light your way.
