“The question is not what you look at, but what you see. It is only necessary to behold the least fact or phenomenon, however familiar, from a point a hair’s breadth aside from our habitual path or routine, to be overcome, enchanted by its beauty and significance.”
-Henry David Thoreau
This material is still in the process of being playtested. It is fully usable as written, but may be refined or changed in later versions. As always, this content should only be used with GM permission.
It is not known whether the tesem, or jackal-folk, were made in the image of their creator, or if their ubiquity among the deity’s servants has led to the god being depicted like one of them. Either way, the tesem (whose names mean hunting dogs) seek out their deity’s enemies and tend to the mysterious practices of their temples. They are reminders of death, but quick to lead celebrations of life. To some they represent stability and comfort for the mourning. To others they represent the chaos of the perpetual change of mortal lives.
Tesem usually make their homes in places that are in-between. Rivers running through an otherwise desert region, on (or in) the cliffs and slopes edging arid badlands, and other such border regions are their favorites. However, they are also strongly drawn to folk of other types, nearly always settling near or within fellow humanoid settlements. Most elements of their lives relate to places of transition between locations, purposes, or concepts. Nearly all have two distinct professions, and any place of business they operate usually serves multiple purposes. They are fond of placing these in unexpected contexts, such as starting a tavern inside an old, roofed-over market square with a shoemaker’s shop in the old fountain in the center. Furthermore even in the concept of gender, they tend towards the blurry areas between. By default, tesem do not hold to any particular gender, but may opt in to masculine or feminine cultural roles if they so choose, and can change or drop that status at will. This is not uncommon, but only about one third of the population distinguishes themselves in this way.
Long ago, a desert god of the transition between life and death created a race of beings to serve him and provide support to the various folk who required his aid but were hesitant to worship such a grim and ominous deity. The tesem, named for the jackals of the deserts and the hounds domesticated from them, make up the bulk of this god’s clergy, who build and operate temples and perform rites for those to squeamish to spend so much time contemplating death and the afterlife. This lends them an eerie reputation, but they are quite witty and gregarious, with a talent for knowing who is in need of comfort.
As servitors of a spiritual guide to the deceased, tesem have a unique relationship with the transition between life and death. When they die, they are eventually reincarnated, but in an unusual manner. One portion of their essence—referred to as the spirit—will travel to the afterlife to be rewarded or punished for a time before returning to a new life. The spirit also serves as the anchor between the tesem and the realm of the afterlife. Another portion—the most substantial in a tesem’s essence, which they call the intellect—is the portion of their essence linked to states of transition, and especially transition between life and death. After dying, a tesem intellect passes insubstantially back and forth as a guide a number of times numerologically significant to the nature of their previous life before reincarnating. During these traversals, the intellect helps guide tesem spirits to and from the afterlife, as well as the souls of non-tesem from life into death. The intellect and spirit reincarnate separately, however, creating new individuals from the different combinations in each new life. Likewise, the third portion of their essence—the form—also reincarnates in separate combinations from the others after a time based on the health and lifespan of the individual as well as how many offerings are given for them after death. The form is the physical manifestation of the tesem in the world of the living, and due to this reincarnation, it is not unusual for one tesem to perfectly resemble a hero from ages past, despite sharing neither the spirit or intellect of that hero. It is unusual but not unheard of for two of the three portions of a tesem essence to combine again from a previous life generations before. Only in rare circumstances, accompanied by signs and omens, do all three return together for an individual from the past to be reborn in full. Memories of past lives are divided between all three portions of the essence and normally appear only fleetingly in dreams. With practice meditation can bring clearer visions of past lives in which two portions of their essence were joined, but with little control or knowledge of which lives or essences are involved. When all three rejoin, some memories may even gradually return in waking over the course of the new life.
Tesem usually have only one name, but there is a huge variety of names to choose, each corresponding to a particular trait or set of traits represented when writing the name in the tesem’s ceremonial script. Tesem do not have distinct sets of masculine or feminine names, but rather by default each tesem’s name ends with a d. For those tesem who opt to take on a particular gender role, the ending of their name is changed to specify their gender. In the case of the feminine, the d at the end of the name is sharpened to a t. In the case of the masculine, the d is softened to merely a silent exhalation, dropping the d. For example, Nebkad may become Nebkat or Nebka.
Example Names: Aad, Abebad, Anuked, Bakhtad, Biritud, Dassind, Djad, Enkud, Ghilad, Hud, Igided, Itrid, Jugurthad, Kahinad, Khonsud, Lulid, Mafded, Merid, Montud, Nebkad, Neferud, Peherneferd, Rededjed, Seshad, Shud, Tafarid, Tawered, Ubaoned, Wehemesud, Zirad
Common Personality Traits: Liminal, unconventional, comforting, friendly, ceremonial
Common Physical Traits: Androgynous, oddly dressed, grim
Type: Medium biped folk with a Reach of 1. Your maximum wounds equal your Constitution score.
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Open Game License v1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. System Rules Document Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
Spycraft Espionage Handbook, Copyright 2002, Alderac Entertainment Group, Inc.; Authors Patrick Kapera and Kevin Wilson.
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Tesem, Twilight Hunters Copyright 2019-2021, Malachite Idol; Author Patrick Johnson.
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