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90: A Look Into the Lamp · Dungeonpedia

0:00
SPEAKER_00: You the adventurer.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Yes, you.
0:03
SPEAKER_00: Do you desire knowledge of immense worlds and arcane power?
0:07
SPEAKER_00: A codex of untold stories and lore?
0:10
SPEAKER_00: Or perhaps simply easy listening for your daily commute.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Then feast your eyes, or more accurately, yes, upon Dungeon Pedia.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: Shit's about to get nerdy in here.
0:47
SPEAKER_01: Taylor Stanfield.
0:48
SPEAKER_02: And I'm Travis Peasley.
0:49
SPEAKER_01: And well, so last episode we had another one of our little hiccups.
0:56
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: Which unfortunately, due to the nature of podcasting and our setup, we don't know about it until after it's done.
1:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's because it never comes through if we're actively listening while we're recording.
1:11
SPEAKER_03: Right.
1:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you don't hear it.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: And we can because we always do like it's apart the curtain all, but we always do like a little sound test, even if we haven't changed anything before we start recording.
1:22
SPEAKER_02: And it can sound totally fine and clean the sound test, and then all of a sudden it's like it's just not.
1:28
SPEAKER_02: I'm listening to the the actual episode and it's back.
1:33
SPEAKER_01: It you might say it sounds like we're doing the uh podcast from inside of like, you know, a small enclosed metal lamp.
1:41
SPEAKER_03: That I mean would be probably a little uncomfortable.
1:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that that was the uh the lore that we used for our Jin episode.
1:51
SPEAKER_03: You know what?
1:51
SPEAKER_03: That's fair.
1:52
SPEAKER_03: You know, that was a that is a fair point.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: So, well, fingers crossed that this episode sounds good.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh it sounded great in the test.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: It sounds good to me right now as I'm listening while talking, but you know, it always does.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: Um we're gonna still use that to kind of segue into uh the topic for today, which is we're gonna cover the rest of the four main genies.
2:14
SPEAKER_04: Phenomenal cosmic power.
2:16
SPEAKER_04: Yes.
2:19
SPEAKER_02: Yes, exactly.
2:21
SPEAKER_02: Rip, robin, roll and oh, rest in peace.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:25
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: So several, several minutes.
2:28
SPEAKER_02: I don't want to record anymore.
2:29
SPEAKER_02: Sorry, too bad.
2:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: A while ago, Travis did an episode on our race of genies, the gin.
2:35
SPEAKER_01: The gin.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Talked a little bit about the genies overall.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna follow that up with an episode on the rest of the genies.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, the rest of the four main, I guess.
2:45
SPEAKER_03: There are a lot of genies, guys.
2:46
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of genies, there's a lot of dragons.
2:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
2:50
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot.
2:51
SPEAKER_03: It's it's just it's a lot, man.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh so today we're gonna cover the merits, the Tao, and the Iffri.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: I we don't have enough time to get to the Jan and the other genie adjacent beings.
3:01
SPEAKER_03: So we'll deal with that later.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: It's a problem for futurists.
3:05
SPEAKER_03: Correct.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh so to start, let's get a refresher on genies.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Jinn or genie, as it has been anglicized, um, are supernatural creatures of Islamic and pre-Islamic Air Arabic theology.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they're neither inherently good nor evil.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: They were often spirits who took the form of animals or people.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, other origins suggest that they were pagan deities who actually like fell out of favor as greater deities and like Islam took greater import.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: But that's kind of what we're looking at.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh Jinn are thought to be responsible for misfortune diseases and catastrophes, but could also be supportive and benevolent.
3:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, in in Islamic culture, they're much like humans, they have like a soul, and their attitude depends on whether or not they've accepted God's guidance.
3:51
SPEAKER_02: So they're essentially kind of just like regular people.
3:55
SPEAKER_02: They're essentially just regular people, just supernatural.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
3:58
SPEAKER_03: They're supernatural people.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: So in the world of DD, they are for a long time, they have been depicted as the embodiment of a physical form of the magic of the four elements.
4:08
SPEAKER_01: Right.
4:09
SPEAKER_01: In Five E, a genie is born when the soul of a sentient living creature melds with the primordial matter of an elemental plane.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Only under rare circumstances does this happen.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: And they coalesce and manifest and create a genie.
4:22
SPEAKER_04: Huh.
4:23
SPEAKER_01: A genie usually retains no connection to the soul it gave them.
4:26
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of like a building block, more than like keeping a soul.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: It just kinda it's used and then it's gone.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: It determines the genie's form and apparent gender as well as a couple of personality traits.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
4:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, they resemble humanoid beings, but genies are elemental spirits given a physical form.
4:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh they don't mate with other genies or produce genie offspring, as all new genies are born out of the same mysterious fusion of spirit energy and elemental power.
4:53
SPEAKER_02: Wait, so does that does that just mean that they don't reproduce sexually?
4:59
SPEAKER_02: Because I feel like they could probably fuck.
5:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, and they they fuck.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay, good.
5:03
SPEAKER_02: I thought so.
5:04
SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, they they have to.
5:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
5:08
SPEAKER_02: I feel like that I feel like that goes into the connotation of like mate versus fuck.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, in fact, that's what where genasi come from, which is a whole other episode.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, that's right! I forgot about the meeting of a genius.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I forgot about that.
5:23
SPEAKER_03: But in that case, it has to be the mortal to bear the child.
5:27
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
5:27
SPEAKER_02: I love how it's been like five minutes.
5:30
SPEAKER_02: Like, I need to establish within the first like five minutes if they fuck or not.
5:34
SPEAKER_01: They do fuck, and also other other editions have that like genies like create other genies through sexual reproduction.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: As opposed to this one.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: This is just how it is in 5e.
5:47
SPEAKER_02: As opposed to whatever this is.
5:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but I do like the way that um I mean it makes sense given their whole stees being the physical representation of elemental magic.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: And uh in the fifth edition, when a genie parad when a genie perishes, it leaves nothing behind except what it was wearing or carrying, along with a small trace of dust, a pile of dust, a gust of wind, a flash of fire and smoke, or a burst of water and foam.
6:16
SPEAKER_03: Hmm.
6:16
SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Very poetic.
6:18
SPEAKER_03: Okay, hold on.
6:19
SPEAKER_03: You said what it was wearing or what?
6:22
SPEAKER_01: Carrying.
6:23
SPEAKER_03: Carrying.
6:24
SPEAKER_03: My brain filled in carrying for hearing, and I was so confused.
6:30
SPEAKER_03: Um I was like, how?
6:33
SPEAKER_01: So they're the most powerful of elemental spirits.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: They're very arrogant and capricious.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Sounds about right.
6:41
SPEAKER_01: Genies are even more fussy about precedence and status than any other humanoid race.
6:46
SPEAKER_03: Oh, and they're that's pretty bad.
6:50
SPEAKER_02: Like Yeah.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: We're including is in that.
6:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like them fucking like sun elves.
6:56
SPEAKER_01: Whew!
6:56
SPEAKER_03: Bitches.
6:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they all belong to a faith that worships the lore giver, which Travis discussed in depth and actually told the great origin story for in the gin episode.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: Highly recommend.
7:06
SPEAKER_03: Love the Lord Giver.
7:07
SPEAKER_01: Going back and listening to that.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: The different types of genies each have their own ruler culture and just fucking hate each other, man.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: They often fight just for the hell of it.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: That said, they'll all rise up against a common threat.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh all genies are prone to fits of whimsy, and the rulers' whims can even change the location of the whole court.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: They're just like, I don't like it here.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: We're gonna move.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: Literally.
7:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:34
SPEAKER_02: That's uh I mean that kind of makes sense though, that they wouldn't really like each other.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: Especially, I feel like on the opposite sides of like the elemental axis.
7:44
SPEAKER_02: I feel like it makes sense that they would not get along with each other very well.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: And their alignments vary significantly between each other.
7:50
SPEAKER_03: You just have to opposite um the elemental opposite thing.
7:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: And their cultures are dramatically different from each other.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: Since Travis already covered the first group of genies, the Jinn, I don't need to discuss them too deeply.
8:06
SPEAKER_01: I'll I'm just gonna do like a little refresher, like I did for the genies overall.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh the djinn are air genies, and they live on the elemental plane of air on little floating islands of earth and rock known as freeholds.
8:18
SPEAKER_01: As of five.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: The gjinn are described as attractive, tall, well-muscled humanoids with blue skin and dark eyes.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: They dress in airy, shrimp, shimmering silks, designed much for comfort and to flaunt their musculature.
8:32
SPEAKER_02: Right.
8:33
SPEAKER_02: I remember that they spent a long time describing how muscular they were.
8:38
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it gets better.
8:40
SPEAKER_03: Oh very muscular.
8:41
SPEAKER_01: They are.
8:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh they are ruled by the great caliph, uh Hussam al-Balil bin Naftat al-Yagayim, the master of cloud the master of the clouds, the son of the freezes.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: He rarely leaves his capital, the court of ice and steel.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: Yep, I had struggles with that name too, don't worry.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, a lot of these are gonna be.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they're just not a non- That's there's there's a lot of names for one vernacular that my mouth is used to, and I will do my best.
9:12
SPEAKER_01: Hey, listen, sometimes speaking is hard just in general.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can barely speak my own own language.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: So all djinn swear allegiance to him, but there are also minor caliphs, sheiks, sheriffs, and maliks, or maliks, sorry.
9:24
SPEAKER_01: Um they're chaotic typically, the most favorable towards mortals.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, 4e says that the djinn allied with the primordials and the struggle against their gods, and after their defeat, they were imprisoned in towers, mirrors, lamps, etc.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Which what is what makes them your typical genie in a lamp sort.
9:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:42
SPEAKER_03: Which still said.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and by fivee, it's kind of changed somewhat.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: Um a mortal who desires the brief service of a genie, and it's spelled the gin and then e.
9:56
SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
9:56
SPEAKER_01: So uh multiple gen rather than genie the Anglicized way.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh they can entreat it with fine gifts or use flattery to bribe it into compliance.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: Kind of like a dragon.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: Powerful wizards are able to forego such niceties, however, if they can summon, bind it into service, or imprison a genie using magic.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: Long-term service displeases a genie, and any prison imprisonment is inexcusable.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: Genie resent the cruel wizards who have imprisoned their kind in bottles, iron flasks, and wind instruments throughout the ages.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Betrayal, particularly by a mortal whom a genie trusted, is a vile deed that only deadly vengeance can amend.
10:35
SPEAKER_03: Sick.
10:36
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they um they get their revenge, man.
10:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:40
SPEAKER_02: I mean, that kind of makes sense.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: I would be pissed too if I got trapped inside of a fucking bottle for however long I was in there.
10:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Like any amount of time.
10:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we do it like an hour at a time every week to record, and that's not so bad, but it's a little i it it's pretty roomy.
10:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: Ain't too bad.
10:57
SPEAKER_02: And that kind of I feel like that that makes sense with given that they're elemental creatures and tend towards a chaotic good nature.
11:04
SPEAKER_02: I feel like that's that's usually like the imprisonment and the restriction of freedom is usually like the berg button for chaotic.
11:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's what is gonna get under a chaotic good person's skin.
11:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
11:17
SPEAKER_02: So that kind of makes sense that that's their like, you know, their their weak spot.
11:22
SPEAKER_03: On that note, that's their trigger point.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Jen fucking hate the Afrit more than any any other genie.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: And will cooperate with any plans to harm them.
11:31
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: They're the most they are the most harmonious with other creatures on the planet air.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: So now we're gonna talk about a about the absolute fucking Chads of the GD world.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: The race of fucking Chads, man.
11:45
SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay.
11:46
SPEAKER_03: So we've hit Chad level.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I mean, to be fair, well, I guess the the genies don't sound, or the djinn, rather, don't sound particularly Chad in any way other than that they're very muscular.
11:57
SPEAKER_02: But they all sound pretty Chad to me.
12:00
SPEAKER_02: Oh, these are the fucking these are the Chads.
12:03
SPEAKER_03: These are the Chads.
12:05
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: These are the uh the Merids.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: They're the water genies of the elemental plane of water.
12:12
SPEAKER_02: Okay, because Mare, yeah.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the the Merids are the most wondrous of genie kind.
12:17
SPEAKER_01: Although all genies wield great power, even the lowliest Merid sees itself as clearly superior to the flighty djinn, the groundhugging dow, and the fuming Efrit.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: The groundhugging dow.
12:28
SPEAKER_02: The most wondrous?
12:29
SPEAKER_02: Did a did a Merid write this?
12:31
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
12:32
SPEAKER_02: I think they did.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh large and Piscine?
12:35
SPEAKER_01: Pis Yeah.
12:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, we oh we we talked about this in the Sahagan, excuse me, Sahogan episode.
12:41
SPEAKER_02: Um that's being of Pisces, right?
12:44
SPEAKER_02: That's being fish-like.
12:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I know.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Pi Pisine?
12:49
SPEAKER_02: Pisine.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: Piscine?
12:50
SPEAKER_02: Fishy.
12:51
SPEAKER_03: And clearly we never figured out how to actually pronounce it.
12:53
SPEAKER_02: Large and fishy.
12:54
SPEAKER_02: I literally googled it after Pishy boys.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: Mares are strange to look at.
13:02
SPEAKER_01: Particularly when clad in the finely stitched vests and colorful pantaloons they favor.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: They speak in voices as soft as a sea, breeze, and as sonor sonorous as a storm waves breaking against a rocky cliff.
13:14
SPEAKER_01: In flight, their lower bodies transform into columns of foamy water.
13:18
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's cool.
13:19
SPEAKER_02: Wait, okay.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: Defined strange to look at.
13:21
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna Google these guys.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: Go ahead and Google them.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Um I am going to talk a bit more about their appearance.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: It it's changed a lot from addition to edition.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: I'll be I'll be honest with that.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
13:34
SPEAKER_02: Um because I mean, if if there's supposed to be like maybe a little bit of a little bit of creature of the black lagoon shape of water action going, like, sign me up.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: So basically it varies a lot from it's literally like a fucking blowfish face on a body.
13:53
SPEAKER_01: Never mind then.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Um to like it's a sexy hot uh water water person.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
14:01
SPEAKER_03: Um yep, looking at that, that is a very strange.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: That's um it's very um um um um mum mum mum um uh what what's his nuts?
14:12
SPEAKER_03: Jabba the hutt?
14:14
SPEAKER_02: No, um the fucking uh uh Zor King from Legend of Zelda.
14:19
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, I would not know that one.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: No, I I can't remember.
14:23
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunate.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, that's right.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: You've bear Yeah.
14:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh well.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, uh they're they their appearance varies between like extra fishy to like human with scales.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or you know, kind of like that watery Yeah, like, oh, this just looks like a person made of water.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: They're 16 to 22 feet tall, around 8,000 pounds, and incredibly muscular, regardless of sex, just super muscular.
14:52
SPEAKER_03: 8,000 pounds.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Are any of them not muscular?
14:56
SPEAKER_01: No.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: Thank you for asking.
14:59
SPEAKER_03: They are all muscular.
15:00
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so there there are no incels here, only chads.
15:04
SPEAKER_02: Only Chads.
15:05
SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: Um they have a bluish skin color, but it varies a lot to reflect their mood.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: Darker shades of blue usually indicate anger.
15:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_02: Alright, so they're like half of my OCs when I was around the age of like 13.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I see.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: They have blue-black hair, or dark gray, or white hair.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: So still in the OC territory.
15:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
15:29
SPEAKER_01: While on their home plane, merits wear vi l very little to no clothing.
15:35
SPEAKER_01: Well then my on land, they prefer wearing colorful robes, large pantaloons, finely woven with seaweed, coral, or pearls.
15:43
SPEAKER_01: All sexes enjoyed wearing clothing that showed off their physique.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: So flimsy vests that barely fit were kind of their favorite thing.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh their favor their clothing was made certain to never impede swooming.
15:56
SPEAKER_02: Can um can someone direct me to a uh married community?
16:02
SPEAKER_02: Just all these buff, mostly naked women.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Just like lounging around like women though.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean, yeah.
16:09
SPEAKER_01: Okay, but Lou's describing the ones that she'd be into.
16:12
SPEAKER_02: Right, right.
16:13
SPEAKER_02: I'm just letting everyone know what I'm there for.
16:15
SPEAKER_02: I'm just saying.
16:16
SPEAKER_03: I'm just letting everyone else know that, you know.
16:18
SPEAKER_02: The guys aren't there's there's guys there too, if you if you're interested and you wanna you want to come with we'll carpool.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: Um Merids are an incredibly independent and proud people, as such, they have even less governance than the djinn, which you'll recall was very little.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: Right, because they're very like free.
16:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like they had the the caliphs and everything, and like the lower caliphs and stuff, but they were still kinda free to do their own thing.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that that very chaotic good, like the rules are there just as like guidelines, basically.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, all married lay some claim to nobility or royalty.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh but they all submit somewhat to the their ruler, the Padisha.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: That that feels like that shouldn't be how that works.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: It's not.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: There have been Yeah.
17:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
17:08
SPEAKER_04: Hmm.
17:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it's just that there have been many who claim to be the true heirs.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, goodness.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: And the closest of which tend to scheme to be chosen at by the Padisha as an heir.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: If everyone is noble, nobody is, I guess.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I guess.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: I guess at a certain point it does just kind of cancel out.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: There are like noble and the true noble and common merits, but even some of the common merits will be like, oh no, I'm like, my cousin on this side is the third cousin of the Padisha, so I'm like in line for the throne.
17:43
SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: Mmm.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: So like you'd better recognize.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: The noble merits travel with their whole household or at least a few companions.
17:52
SPEAKER_01: These are comprised of noble and common merits, and could be cousins, vassals, lovers, courtesans, and followers.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: They can even be traveling with befriended servant creatures from the elemental plain of water.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: They have dragon turtle mounts, triton bodyguards, and many keep killer whales as hunting animals.
18:10
SPEAKER_03: Hell yes! I love all of this though.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Ahaha! Uh, they inhabit mighty and majestic coral fortresses and the plain of water.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, these citadels float in the depths of the plain and contain opulent air-filled chambers where slaves and guests reside.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Ah.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they do keep slaves.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Dang.
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh well.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: I believe only the djinn are the ones that do not keep slaves.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because again, I feel like the whole restriction of freedom thing is very much against their.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: They're more likely to have like employees, I guess.
18:46
SPEAKER_02: Like but like closer to actual employees.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
18:50
SPEAKER_01: Or companions.
18:51
SPEAKER_03: I'll say I think it was more like they have companions more than anything, but who will happily do things for them out of kindness.
18:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
18:59
SPEAKER_01: Because of how good they are to each other.
19:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and how buff they are.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: And how buff they are.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: And how buff they are.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, a merit doesn't expect much from its slaves, however.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Simply wanting them to have them for status and ownership.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: Merits go out of their way to obtain skilled slaves and aren't above kidnapping mortal artists, entertainers, or storytellers for their use in courts.
19:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh okay.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, okay, I get it.
19:23
SPEAKER_02: Alright, I see.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: Kidnapping.
19:25
SPEAKER_01: Kidnapping.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:27
SPEAKER_02: I mean, how how else do you think people acquire slave Stravitz?
19:32
SPEAKER_02: I mean, fair enough.
19:34
SPEAKER_02: Okay, but like this is DD.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: I guess there is.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: It's usually like a market.
19:39
SPEAKER_02: Well, okay.
19:40
SPEAKER_02: But those people were kidnapped to be put in that market.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: You're not wrong.
19:43
SPEAKER_02: Or alternatively, it's just kidnapping with the side of also like mental brainwashing, like with the abolis and shit.
19:49
SPEAKER_02: True.
19:50
SPEAKER_03: Or they were born into it.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: And those people they were born from people who were too old.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay, yes.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: At some point it starts with kidnapping, but they they're not afraid to get their own hands dirty.
19:59
SPEAKER_02: See, and I was I was gonna say that those things almost seem contradictory, but I feel I I get that it this the spec is kind of more for uh showing status.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: So like it would make sense that they would want like entertainers, artists, what have you.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:14
SPEAKER_02: As opposed to like labor, for example.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: Um merits treat all others, including other genies, as inferior of various grades, ranging from core cousins to petty annoyance.
20:29
SPEAKER_03: Petty annoyance.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: They tolerate the gin, they dislike the doubt, and they despise the effreet.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: The effreet are not well liked.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that's also their elemental opposite, so it kind of makes even more sense.
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Humanoids are among the lowest of the creatures that merits tolerate, although they sometimes deal with powerful wizards and leaders and on almost equal footing.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Almost.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: God.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: Doing so has sometimes been a mistake, as some wizards have managed to imprison merits in conch shells, flasks, and decanters over the ages.
21:04
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I love how each of them is like a like appropriate.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: It is, I love it.
21:08
SPEAKER_02: Like like things to um hold them in.
21:12
SPEAKER_02: Trap them in.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
21:13
SPEAKER_02: Like a fucking conch shell.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: It's just beautiful.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's pretty great, yeah.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: And they take a conch shell off their desk and their their guest or whatever holds it up to their ear, and it's like, hey, fuck you! Just a merit and they're yelling.
21:34
SPEAKER_03: You you don't hear the ocean.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: You hear the you don't hear the ocean, you just hear a merit fucking, let me out.
21:39
SPEAKER_03: It's like, ooh.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: No, I mean, that's that's yeah.
21:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh when dealing with merits, uh bribery and flattery are the best means of dealing with them.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh they're they're they're true.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: What?
21:57
SPEAKER_01: They're so chad.
21:58
SPEAKER_01: They are very Chad.
22:01
SPEAKER_01: That being said, their true ruler their true ruler is the Padisha, Kalbare Al Durant Al Amwaj Ibn Yari.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: She has hundreds of titles, including Great Padisha of the Merid, The Keeper of the Empire, the Pearl of the Sea, the Mother of Foam, the Maha Maharaja of the Oceans, the Emir of All Currents, Mistress of Rivers, Grand Raj of the Monsoon, General of the Whales, Pasha of Corals, Savior of Fish, Marshal of Nets, and Patron of Water Spouts.
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Good God.
22:31
SPEAKER_01: Breaker of chains.
22:33
SPEAKER_01: Mother of Dragons.
22:35
SPEAKER_03: Breaker of waves.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Mother of sea dragons.
22:41
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
22:42
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: That's where the aquatic dragons come from.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: She lives in the Citadel of 10,000 Pearls, an elaborate and graceful circular reef in warm waters on the plain of elemental water.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's full of bright cut corals, corroded copper doorways, giant clams, bubbling air fountains, curtains and carpets of kelp, schools of every sort of fish.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: Some of these fish are guardians and others are servants, but all are entirely loyal to the Merids.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Sounds like a pretty cool place, though.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: It's certainly beautiful.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: The Citadel contains about 100 noble merits at any time.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh the courtiers of the Padisha are adventurers, storytellers, and raggards.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: Few of the nobles are actually at court in at any time.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Most of them.
23:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: Most of them are out in the seas seeking new adventures, riches, and new sites.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Right.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: When they're at the Citadel, uh, each of the noble merit tried to outdo each other and their gifts and stories.
23:48
SPEAKER_01: Duels, wrestling, and duels and wrestling matches, and even death among Kai's nobles are common.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: Jesus.
23:56
SPEAKER_03: What the hell?
23:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: Man, this lady sounds like a bad bitch.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Like she's just like laying back on her like lounge.
24:04
SPEAKER_02: On her like Animal Crossing mermaid chase, like eating grapes.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: Just watching these two like naked dudes fucking oil wrestle in front of her, and then one of them snaps the other guy's neck, and she's like.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Unmoved.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Like.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: Next.
24:21
SPEAKER_03: What a bitch.
24:23
SPEAKER_01: Although most of the Citadel is accessible by swimming through passages and doorways made for the huge merits.
24:29
SPEAKER_01: There are also many narrow crevices accessible only to small fish or a merit in their water form.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: These passages connect all the larger areas and hollow regions of the citadel, not otherwise accessible.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh shafts of sunlight pour into it.
24:43
SPEAKER_01: It's very like visually appealing.
24:47
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it just sounds visually appealing, though.
24:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:51
SPEAKER_02: It sounds like just every like sunken palace.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: Well, when I say every, I don't mean this in a negative way, but like I think I just like the whole like beautiful, like opulent palace under the ocean.
25:03
SPEAKER_02: Like Little Mermaid Atlantica vibes and like um, you know, um, like the Dragon Palace and Okami or like the Zoras.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Shisui of the Violet Tides from Final Fantasy IV.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: Like the Zoras, like all that shit is just like Oh yeah.
25:19
SPEAKER_02: Underwater palaces are just so chefscades.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Fuck yeah.
25:23
SPEAKER_01: Um, so deep in the interior portions uh contains the hoarded treasures of the deep given to the Padisha.
25:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh gold, shells, corals, the scales of great sea monsters, and 10,000 pearls of great price.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: These pearls are of all colors, principally pink, white, grey, and black.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: And some are most of them are said to have been fist-sized and lumpy rather than small and more perfectly formed.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: Sick.
25:49
SPEAKER_03: I wonder if the lumpiness makes them worth more.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: I mean it tr like traditionally in the real world, no.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: Right.
25:56
SPEAKER_01: Right, yeah.
25:57
SPEAKER_03: Because if it's like smooth and round, it's it's a quote unquote better pearl.
26:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:02
SPEAKER_02: Even though realistically it's it has less pearl matter.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:06
SPEAKER_02: And also, like, you know.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: It's a lot more rare to find a one with um like deformities in it.
26:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: And plus also like, it's so this is off topic, it's so, it's so weird to me.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying because I like, I think pearls are really cool, but it's so it's so weird and random to me that they're considered in such the same um camp as like gemstones, because they're literally like organic matter.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: I think it's so interesting.
26:33
SPEAKER_02: But anyway.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: So there's uh no standing army of Merids, but no one has attempted conquest because the Merids are so powerful that you would stand a chance.
26:41
SPEAKER_02: Like if you went up against the Merids, like it doesn't matter if they're like particularly organized or not.
26:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, exactly.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: They're still just gonna be gonna be um Merids are not particularly religious and maintain only one great mosque, which is to Jisan of the Floods.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: They do have shrines to other gods, like the Lore Giver, and funny enough, buildle poop?
27:03
SPEAKER_03: What?
27:04
SPEAKER_01: Excuse really?
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:06
SPEAKER_03: They have a shrine to buildle poop?
27:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: No.
27:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: No.
27:12
SPEAKER_03: But why?
27:14
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
27:15
SPEAKER_03: They just don't seem like the creatures that would, you know, fit into that whole thing.
27:19
SPEAKER_02: They would worship buildle poop.
27:20
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, they're chaotic neutral, so they're they can do what they want.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I guess.
27:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: And I'm sure buildle poop doesn't like mine.
27:30
SPEAKER_03: Mine.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: No.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: That's just so like, and I'm not like no disrespect to build poop.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: But it just seems like the the the vibes are very different.
27:40
SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
27:41
SPEAKER_01: No, it is very different vibes.
27:44
SPEAKER_01: Merritt have the least impact on others, uh the least impact on other creatures of any other of the genie races.
27:52
SPEAKER_01: Their attitude towards the rest of the world is that all other creatures are lesser beings.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh Merritt's own concerns take up so much of their time that they have very little effort to waste on what they see as trivialities and irrelevancies of others.
28:07
SPEAKER_02: You know, I like they're assholes and they're really full of themselves, but at least they stay in their own lanes for the start, like, you know.
28:17
SPEAKER_02: I mean, granted, they do like kidnap and enslave other people, but you know, at the very least, I guess they don't have that kind of widespread mentality of like, oh, we're better than everybody else, so we should go manifest our destiny across the rest of the the known realms.
28:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: We're just gonna kidnap some some artists and you know, every now and again, and you know, whatever.
28:44
SPEAKER_02: But other than that, we're just gonna worry about our own shit.
28:46
SPEAKER_02: I guess there's that at least.
28:49
SPEAKER_01: And that's true, and we'll get to that very soon.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Um this so they they they don't even bother dealing with the affairs of common merits underneath them, which is why almost every merit declares himself a noble in order to get the attention of a truly noble marid.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: Um their absorption in their own affairs is a blessing for others, given the dangerous level of power.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: When they do want something, a noble merit will stop at nothing to get it.
29:14
SPEAKER_01: Entire fleets may disappear from oceans, and storms rage and rivers dry up or are overflown.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: Damn.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:24
SPEAKER_03: Well, okay then.
29:26
SPEAKER_01: Um but on essentially the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the Ephre.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Oh boy.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Hot boys.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Hot boys.
29:34
SPEAKER_01: Hot boys! Uh so they're the Hulking genies of the elemental plane of fire.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: The Ifre are masters of flame, they're immune to fire and able to create it on a whim.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: They wear fine silk captains and damask robes and drape their magma red or coal black skin uh in them, and they bedeck themselves in brass and gold torques, chains, and rings, all glittering with jewels.
29:58
SPEAKER_03: They're very, very uh fashionable.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
30:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
30:02
SPEAKER_03: Very stylish.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, all of them are.
30:04
SPEAKER_01: They're all very fashionable.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: And muscular.
30:06
SPEAKER_01: And muscular.
30:07
SPEAKER_02: Don't forget how muscular they are.
30:08
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
30:09
SPEAKER_02: I'm literally deadass imagining a couple of which I mean, the the it's not quite the same spec, but I'm literally deadass imagining some of the portrayals of of a frit in uh various Final Fantasy games where he's like really buff.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:22
SPEAKER_01: Um when an Efrit flies, its lower body transforms into a column of smoke and embers.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: Fuck yeah.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: They're 12 feet tall and 2,000 pounds.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
30:33
SPEAKER_01: Massive and solid, well muscled.
30:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, naturally.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Right.
30:38
SPEAKER_03: Because they weigh 2,000 pounds and it's all muscle.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: Beefy boys and girls.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: Big, big boys and girls.
30:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh they like I said, red or black skin, and it always seems to be burning.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: So they may be mistaken for demons with this.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: Their their bodies are supposedly made of basalt, bronze, and solidified fire.
30:58
SPEAKER_03: Oh, that fucks so hard.
31:00
SPEAKER_03: Solidified fire.
31:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:02
unknown: Okay.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: They're often depicted as bald or having hair made of flame.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Allah Hades.
31:08
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
31:09
SPEAKER_01: Disney's Hades, I guess.
31:11
SPEAKER_02: I I really hope Hades is not presently on fire.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: No.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh our our our if you are unaware, our young kitten is named Hades, and hopefully he's not on fire.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: Hopefully not.
31:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, the rulers of the Afrit has successfully pursued a policy of conquest and expansion on their home plane.
31:29
SPEAKER_01: The plane of elemental fire.
31:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:32
SPEAKER_01: This policy has made enemies of all other intelligent races there.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: The capital city of the Efreet is the city of brass, and it's a huge and terrible cosmopolitan cinder.
31:44
SPEAKER_01: It's the phrase that was used huge and terrible.
31:46
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: On the plane of elemental fire.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: It's 40 miles wide.
31:50
SPEAKER_03: Um It's a big city.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: It is.
31:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: A cosmopolitan city.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:57
SPEAKER_01: A terrible city.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's golden towers and ebony ramparts rise above a sea of flame, and its palace rises beside a fountain of fire.
32:08
SPEAKER_01: Noble effrete fall into two camps, those native to the city of brass and those who command the effrete of the primaterial plane.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: Nearly all nobles spend much time in the hunt.
32:18
SPEAKER_01: The haunt.
32:19
SPEAKER_01: The haunt.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: The hunt.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: How big did you say it was?
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh about 40 miles wide.
32:24
SPEAKER_01: So picture a honestly, I'm kind of just picturing a circle that's 40 miles in diameter.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I'm trying to figure that out in comparison to like Oklahoma City.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the free are deceptive, cunning, and cruel to the point of ruthlessness.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: They despise being forced into servitude.
32:42
SPEAKER_01: Interesting how that works.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: And are relentless in pursuit of vengeance against creatures that have wronged them.
32:48
SPEAKER_02: Okay, fair.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: The free don't see themselves in this light, naturally, and regard their race as fair and orderly, even as they admit to an enlightened sense of self-interest.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, I should mention at this point that they are a lawful evil.
33:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I mean I guess that does make sense, but yeah.
33:08
SPEAKER_03: Naturally, you know, they don't see Yeah.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: They they don't see themselves as evil.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: They they all the I mean, and that's very much the same way as like devils.
33:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, true.
33:18
SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of them.
33:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, and I I want to say it's almost you can you can say it's almost a different spec than the the Merids, because I almost feel like it's like, yeah, the Merids see themselves as better than everybody, but not quite like the not the kind of way where they feel the need to impose themselves on everyone.
33:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, just the people that they want to keep as slaves.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:40
SPEAKER_02: Not everyone though.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: Not everyone.
33:41
SPEAKER_02: Not just the slaves.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh they view all other creatures as enemies or potential serfs.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: They raid the material right the sorry, they raid the material plane and the elemental plane for slaves, which they cap which is their hunts, by the way.
33:56
SPEAKER_01: Uh and they capture and bring back to their homes on their elemental plane of fire.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: The free rule as oppressive tyrants, promoting only the cruelest among their slaves.
34:06
SPEAKER_03: So if you become a slave of an a free, just be a dick and be as cruel as possible.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, pretty much.
34:13
SPEAKER_03: To the other ones.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh those Jesus.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: Those overseers are given whips to help keep the rank and file slaves in line.
34:20
SPEAKER_01: Jesus! Yeah.
34:21
SPEAKER_01: They're just like that very, oh.
34:24
SPEAKER_01: Now picture them with like the fucking Baylor whip of flame.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I was yeah, literally.
34:29
SPEAKER_02: Jesus.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: So um most of Fre reside on the elemental plain of fire.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, this is outside of the nobles, obviously.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: This is outside of yeah, okay.
34:40
SPEAKER_03: The city of Brass.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: Either in great jumped fortresses of black glass and bazalt surrounded by churning lakes of fire or in the fabled city of brass.
34:49
SPEAKER_01: Ooh.
34:50
SPEAKER_01: Additionally, a free military outposts thronging with their minions and slaves can be found scattered throughout the plains.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
34:58
SPEAKER_04: Hmm.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: Most salamanders, fire elementals, and other natives of the plain will gladly help those who wish to embarrass the Ephre.
35:06
SPEAKER_01: Common Ephre are less concerned with enslaving others, but have little choice but to obey their rulers.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
35:13
SPEAKER_02: So basically nobody likes these guys.
35:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: The other Janeys do not like them.
35:18
SPEAKER_02: Most of the other denizens of the Plain of Fire do not like them.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
35:22
SPEAKER_02: Valid, honestly.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: On the material plane, Ephre dwell in fiery regions such as volcanoes and the burning expanse of the world's deserts.
35:31
SPEAKER_01: Shocker.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Their love of the desert brings them into conflict with the djinn that ride the desert whirlwinds and the earthbound Tao.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: The Ephre utterly despise Merids, with whom they have maintained a passionate conflict throughout the history of both races.
35:46
SPEAKER_03: A passionate conflict.
35:47
SPEAKER_01: A passionate conflict.
35:48
SPEAKER_01: Well, they're the fire people.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: Of course, it's passionate.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: And then, of course, you're gonna have people who ship them together.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I mean still, you know, we're not gonna go there.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: We're not gonna we're not gonna get into Avatar the Last Airbender shipping discourse in the year 2021 of our Lord.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Why not?
36:07
SPEAKER_01: That's a perfect time.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, while most noble free fill their palaces with rich works of gold, priceless ceramics, and masterfully woven rugs and tapestries, others merely create temporary illusory treasures to impress visitors.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: This is kind of getting into so a lot of this comes from second edition.
36:29
SPEAKER_01: So it's a little old, it's a little bit Oh boy, oh no.
36:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a little sexist.
36:35
SPEAKER_02: Oh, lovely.
36:36
SPEAKER_02: I love that.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: So um female nobles are kept in seclusion and have their own household hierarchies.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: They hold no official power, but the scheming nature of the Afrit allows many females to rule through figurehead males.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:49
SPEAKER_01: I mean, like I said, it's a little sexist, but like Yeah.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean it's intriguing.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: I mean, okay, and I feel like that's something that like this is this is a little a little tangential, but this can maybe be said about a lot of different, I think, issues that it's kind of like it in and of itself is not necessarily like sexist or bad, because I think that that concept is is very interesting, like the idea of like that kind of secret, like secret power, um, like ruling through a figurehead or whatever.
37:22
SPEAKER_02: But I think it's also at a point where it gets to like the the the issue is that it doesn't exist in a vacuum, yeah, and that it's so played that it's like it eventually becomes like a cliche and a or like the or like the the sexy female spy that like sleeps with her target and then kills them in their sleep is like that's cool, that fucks.
37:44
SPEAKER_02: But when that's every single portrayal, you're like, all right, can we do something different?
37:48
SPEAKER_02: Exactly that.
37:49
SPEAKER_02: That's exactly my like I think I think that's interesting.
37:52
SPEAKER_02: It's just kind of like played.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: It it is is played in a lot of instances.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: But anyway.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: Anyways, um, so we're gonna talk more about the city of brass and all that after we take a quick ad break.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: Do we have to go to the city of brass?
38:08
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I want to go there.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: You have to learn about it so that you can avoid it.
38:11
SPEAKER_03: Okay, good.
38:12
SPEAKER_03: And also it's just kind of a pretty cool place.
38:14
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
38:15
SPEAKER_02: That's a pretty hot place, actually.
38:17
SPEAKER_02: Jesus.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Hey everybody, thank you guys so much for listening to our episode on genies.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, one of our episodes.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: Three on genies.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: Three out of four of them.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: Three out of four of them.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, three out of four of them may not.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: It's a whole there's yeah.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: Just yeah, you know.
38:32
SPEAKER_01: The genies.
38:33
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for listening.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: You've made it this far, you know.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: Genie's of the lamps.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: If, like a genie, you have a lot of, you know, fun, pretty, colorful things that you want to keep hidden away, but also be able to take out when you have special visitors around.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: You might consider getting some dice accessories from Metallic Dice Games.
38:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh, ooh, yay.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: They they sell dice and dice accessories, dice towers, but unfortunately, they do not sell illusory dice for you to have out to impress your guests when they come over to your house.
39:07
SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, you will have to get the the You will have to actually get them, get the physical dice, but they have it at Metallic Dice Games.
39:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: We still have our affiliate partnership somehow with Metallic Dice Games.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: If you want 10% off of your entire order from metallicdice games.com, you can use our code Dungeon Pedia.
39:24
SPEAKER_02: To fill your opulent palace with dice.
39:28
SPEAKER_03: Gem dice.
39:29
SPEAKER_02: Gem dice.
39:30
SPEAKER_02: Beautiful, beautiful gem dice.
39:31
SPEAKER_02: You can visit our opulent palace at our Patreon at Dungeonpedia.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: Just kidding.
39:37
SPEAKER_03: I wouldn't really call it opulent.
39:39
SPEAKER_02: Or a palace.
39:40
SPEAKER_02: It's a it's a location on the web.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: It's a website, yeah.
39:44
SPEAKER_02: But you can you can support us.
39:47
SPEAKER_02: We live in the elemental plane of web space.
39:50
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: I can't.
39:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, no, actually, no.
39:54
SPEAKER_02: No, that kind of made me start thinking about things existentially.
39:58
SPEAKER_02: Anyways.
39:59
SPEAKER_02: Anyways.
40:00
SPEAKER_03: The fairly odd parents.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
40:02
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
40:03
SPEAKER_02: Anyway, you can check out our uh you can check out our Patreon at Dungeonpedia.
40:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have a$5 tier where you can read our notes if you want to read more about the genies or really, I mean, any of our episodes.
40:16
SPEAKER_02: But there's a lot going on with these guys, so it could be helpful.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram at Dungeonpedia, uh, where we post uh new episodes, uh random facts.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: Random facts, cool pictures, all that kind of stuff.
40:31
SPEAKER_02: And also, you can email us at dungeonpedia.podcast at gmail.com if you have any uh questions, episode suggestions, anything of the sort.
40:41
SPEAKER_03: Also, don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to our lovely podcast to get notifications of all of our new episodes.
40:48
SPEAKER_03: And if that platform does happen to allow it, please remember to rate and review us.
40:55
SPEAKER_03: That helps us a lot.
40:56
SPEAKER_03: If you want, you can also just go to the Apple iPod.
41:01
SPEAKER_03: I don't actually know what it's called.
41:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Apple iTunes is just like iTunes.
41:07
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
41:07
SPEAKER_03: I don't use I don't use Apple things.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: But go to whatever Apple thing and uh rate us and review us there.
41:16
SPEAKER_03: That helps us so much.
41:18
SPEAKER_02: So much, because those are the those are the those are the big boys.
41:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:22
SPEAKER_03: And also just, you know, in general, spread the word to your friends and your family and your co-workers, that stranger on the bus that just stares at you all the time.
41:31
SPEAKER_02: Actually, maybe don't talk to them.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: You know what?
41:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's that might not be the best idea.
41:34
SPEAKER_03: Just like write it on a piece of paper and leave it in your seat.
41:37
SPEAKER_03: They'll see it when you get up.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: Because they're creepy.
41:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: And then also maybe tell them that you know what?
41:42
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to talk to them.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they should be leaving.
41:44
SPEAKER_02: Just uh, yeah, just uh just don't.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: I if you do have a bus stop stalker though, you know.
41:50
SPEAKER_02: Reach it.
41:51
SPEAKER_01: Reach Braselitize.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't we'll we'll we'll figure this out.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Braselitize.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: Fuck.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
42:02
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why that was so funny to me.
42:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, also, someone I wouldn't mind meeting on a bus is Alexander Nakarada, who made our theme song Blacksmith.
42:11
SPEAKER_02: I don't ride buses anywhere, but like if I did, I would like it to be.
42:15
SPEAKER_03: That's because our public transport system in Oklahoma is garbage.
42:18
SPEAKER_02: But that's a discussion for another day.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
42:20
SPEAKER_02: On our other podcast, our civil engineer No, I'm kidding.
42:23
SPEAKER_03: No.
42:24
SPEAKER_03: No.
42:24
SPEAKER_03: Lord God in heaven, no.
42:25
SPEAKER_03: So before we go on any more tangents, let's go ahead and get back to the genies.
42:30
SPEAKER_02: The City of Brass.
42:33
SPEAKER_02: More like City of Ass.
42:35
SPEAKER_02: Didn't she already make that joke?
42:39
SPEAKER_03: So the City of Brass.
42:40
SPEAKER_01: The City of Brass.
42:41
SPEAKER_01: So first and foremost, the City of Brass is an extensive episode in and of itself.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: So I can't do that right now.
42:49
SPEAKER_02: It's also the title of a young adult lit novel.
42:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
42:55
SPEAKER_02: No, it's it's not.
42:56
SPEAKER_02: That's a joke, but there is very similar.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Okay, yeah, there are very similar.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: It might actually be one.
43:03
SPEAKER_02: I hope their author is prepared for a season.
43:06
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm kidding.
43:07
SPEAKER_02: For the love of God.
43:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh we're kidding.
43:09
SPEAKER_02: Um, anyways.
43:11
SPEAKER_02: We're just goofing over here.
43:14
SPEAKER_01: So in the city of Brass, the palaces of Noble Free are large, imposing, and swarming with servants.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh the palaces are basically okay.
43:23
SPEAKER_01: Well, some of them are actually servants.
43:24
SPEAKER_01: Right.
43:25
SPEAKER_02: Some of them are probably slaves low.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: Well, overflowing, actually, is the word that they used for the amount of slaves.
43:31
SPEAKER_01: So we were getting there.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: Oh, geez.
43:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay, no doubt.
43:34
SPEAKER_01: It's worse than previously thought.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't just trying to be like, oh, but they also pay people.
43:40
SPEAKER_01: No, I was getting to the worst part.
43:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, awesome.
43:42
SPEAKER_01: Love it.
43:43
SPEAKER_01: Um the the palaces are basically small fortresses uh filled with overflowing dens of slaves.
43:50
SPEAKER_01: Overflowing density.
43:51
SPEAKER_02: Overflowing dens of slaves.
43:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
43:54
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
43:55
SPEAKER_02: At least they didn't try to like pretty it up.
43:58
SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, like diamond.
44:00
SPEAKER_02: It back a little bit and soften up their wording.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: No.
44:02
SPEAKER_02: They were like, no, you get overflowing.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: They went all in.
44:05
SPEAKER_02: They were like, no, you get overflowing dens of slaves.
44:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: They they don't try and soften this at all.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, they keep out spies, assassins, hostile nobles, and merely the curious, uh, while providing spacious quarters for the noble families.
44:19
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I mean but not for the slaves.
44:21
SPEAKER_03: But not for the slaves.
44:21
SPEAKER_02: I mean, well, fair enough on the latter point about like, you know, keeping out even the cuz like that's that's their house.
44:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh fair.
44:29
SPEAKER_02: I mean, fair enough on that point, but like slavery is not cool.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: Privacy is okay, but slavery is not cool.
44:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, privacy is okay.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm being legitimate.
44:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
44:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm being legitimate.
44:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay, privacy's good.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: Privacy is very good.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: Um a typical noble household consists of a handful of nobles and about 20 commoners who serve as overseers and bodyguard.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: Up to a hundred Jan, who you will remember are the um lesser genies.
44:55
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk more about them in the future.
44:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and other imported slaves.
44:59
SPEAKER_01: So they keep the Jana slaves.
45:01
unknown: Imported.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Yes, imported.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
45:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh perhaps a dozen summoned intelligent elemental creatures for specialized tasks, and a small stable for nightmares, and it's an a brace of hell fa hellhounds or fire falcons to sort of Fire Falcons?
45:20
SPEAKER_01: Ah, wow! And this is why it sucks that they are so shitty because they have so many cool things.
45:26
SPEAKER_01: They have all of the cool things.
45:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like they have hellhounds and nightmares and fire falcons and slaves.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: That sucks.
45:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, to quote to quote uh Jeff Goldblum's character from Thor Ragnarok.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
45:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh the prisoners with jobs.
45:49
SPEAKER_03: Jesus.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: Um Though the noble Ifree are hopelessly outnumbered by their slaves, they are shielded from the flames of the city only by wards that must be renewed each week.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh shit.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: Few escaped slaves l last long at the end of their servitude, however.
46:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because Oh, that sucks.
46:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: I was wondering actually how like because since they kidnap and capture people from well, I mean, again, as we've established, slavery usually starts with kidnapping, but like that aren't just around.
46:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that aren't just around.
46:26
SPEAKER_02: And, you know, like they bring in people from the prime.
46:29
SPEAKER_02: I was wondering how they maybe survive because the plane of fire is not necessarily easily hospitable to the average Joe.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
46:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, the undisputed and probably self-described as tyrannical ruler is Marak Marik al-Sidan, Al-Harik bin Lazan, the Sultan of the Ifrit.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: Though he delegates many day-to-day matters to his vizier while he attends to the matters of broader policy.
46:58
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
46:58
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
46:59
SPEAKER_02: That was literally that was literally Jafar's position in Aladdin.
47:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: I know I recognize that word.
47:06
SPEAKER_01: Um a vast horde of toadies and pleading, groveling petitioners.
47:12
SPEAKER_01: These are actual words from uh, I believe Secrets of the Lamp.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: Toadies.
47:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:20
SPEAKER_02: Those are the little guys, those are CamX little minions from Mario.
47:25
SPEAKER_02: That's all I'm about.
47:25
SPEAKER_02: It's literally just Jafar in front of a bunch of toadies from Mario.
47:30
SPEAKER_01: Um they're nearly all noble if free, and they constantly attend the Sultan.
47:35
SPEAKER_01: He ignores most of the whining, but from time to time he sits in judgment of various legal cases, usually those involving noble if rete, powerful shiires, or members of the Flame Death Fellowship.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: I want a full episode on that is what I want to do.
47:50
SPEAKER_03: Flame Death Fellowship.
47:52
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
47:53
SPEAKER_03: Excuse me.
47:54
SPEAKER_03: I like this.
47:55
SPEAKER_01: Basically, it's a holy slayer organization.
47:59
SPEAKER_01: It's yeah, that's all I can talk about right now because this whole episode is filled.
48:05
SPEAKER_01: Um so the um the city of Braths is, like I said, the capital for all of the Ifrite tyrants, and that is their official title.
48:16
SPEAKER_01: And it remains the greatest achievement of the Efrite.
48:19
SPEAKER_01: The city itself hovers in the hottest region of the plain of elemental fire and often borders seas of paraelemental magma or lakes of glowing lava.
48:28
SPEAKER_03: Glowing lava, yes.
48:30
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
48:30
SPEAKER_01: Um before mentioned, it's 40 miles across, and its base is a hemisphere of golden glowing brass.
48:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
48:38
SPEAKER_01: Because of how super fucking heated it is.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: Right.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah.
48:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, only a fraction of that vast area belongs to the core.
48:46
SPEAKER_01: Most of it is open for cultivation of the strange crops of the plain of elemental fire, or forested for the hunt of the noble frit.
48:54
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that fucking so I mentioned the hunts.
49:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:00
SPEAKER_02: Oh, these guys fucking so Jesus.
49:03
SPEAKER_01: Just try not to think about that too much.
49:05
SPEAKER_02: No, I'm thinking about it.
49:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:07
SPEAKER_01: So uh large tracks are the province of elemental servants and subject races, while other portions are devoted to the Efreat military.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: They're as bad as you think.
49:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love it.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: The outer regions of the city are extensive and constantly patrolled.
49:24
SPEAKER_01: Near the city are the pits, which were are where the slaves dig for tin, copper, and diamonds, and the slag where tailings from the mines beneath the city are dumped.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: The slag?
49:38
SPEAKER_01: The slag.
49:39
SPEAKER_03: So they they just like dig for valuable valuables and slag.
49:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
49:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, so like I said, there's so much to the city of brass.
49:49
SPEAKER_01: It's probably its own episode, and yeah.
49:52
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: The armed forces of the Afriat are huge and includes roughly 100,000 common soldiers in just a bewildering number of legions.
50:03
SPEAKER_02: You know, I don't know what it is about about these guys, and I know that that I've just been making a big deal about the slavery thing this entire time.
50:11
SPEAKER_02: Which is fair.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: But like, for some reason, I feel like we discuss a lot of like instances of that kind of thing in DD.
50:19
SPEAKER_02: But for some reason with the frit, it feels really bad.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what it is.
50:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is either.
50:25
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and that that's not to say that like it in any way, shape, or form is like good, but something about it just feels bad, man.
50:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
50:34
SPEAKER_02: Like the specific way everything is like phrased and presented with the frit is just like, ooh.
50:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:41
SPEAKER_01: So finally we have the Tao.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: So the Tao are greedy, malicious genies from the plane of Earth.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: They adorn themselves with jewelry crafted from precious gems and rare metals, and when they fly, their lower bodies become columns of swirling sand.
50:57
SPEAKER_01: Sweet.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:58
SPEAKER_01: And a Tao isn't happy unless it is in the envy of other Tao.
51:04
SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ.
51:05
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I see how it is.
51:06
SPEAKER_03: These things have just such a big head.
51:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: You know, I feel like I s I feel like I felt that way in the Jin episode.
51:13
SPEAKER_02: And like the like when we were talking about even the merits, but now I'm just like, man, these guys fucking suck.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: They they're all very arrogant in their own way.
51:22
SPEAKER_01: Like legitimately.
51:23
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, no, and it feels like they're all a very different type of full of themselves.
51:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
51:30
SPEAKER_02: If that makes sense.
51:31
SPEAKER_02: I don't know the I don't know what I'm trying to say, but the vibe is different.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: The vibe is very different.
51:37
SPEAKER_02: Even though they're all full of themselves.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, so they're about eight to eleven feet tall.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't find any weight statistics.
51:44
SPEAKER_01: Now, granted, I can't because of how much I had to look into everything, I didn't like go crazy looking through each and every um statistics.
51:53
SPEAKER_01: Right, like but I can say at least in second edition, third edition, third edition, and fifth edition, I could find no weight statistics.
52:02
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
52:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna I'm gonna say they're pretty heavy though.
52:05
SPEAKER_01: They're pretty heavy, considering that the fire elementals were like what, a ton?
52:10
SPEAKER_01: Two, yeah, 2,000 pounds, yeah.
52:12
SPEAKER_01: I I'm gonna go with probably cloth like maybe even more than the water.
52:18
SPEAKER_02: Because these are rocky boys.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: These are Rocky Boys, yeah.
52:21
SPEAKER_01: So noble Tao are bald and squat, and both sexes are fond of earrings, turbans, and heavy necklaces.
52:28
SPEAKER_01: Um male Tao nobles are fond of beards and mustaches, which they take great pride in and often sculpt into ridiculous points, curls, and blocky forms.
52:37
SPEAKER_02: So they're just they're just earth elemental dwarfs.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: Yes, kind of.
52:42
unknown: Okay.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay, fuck it.
52:44
SPEAKER_02: I've decided the females also enjoy uh elaborately sculpted facial hair.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: They they can, yeah.
52:51
SPEAKER_01: It's totally up to you.
52:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, their skin varies in all the colors of the earth and stone, from gray and brown to tan, white, ebony, blah, blah, blah.
52:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, natural.
53:01
SPEAKER_02: Rock color.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: Actually, the fifth edition um depiction of the Tao is a woman and she looks fucking awesome.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: She looks lit.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: Nice.
53:09
SPEAKER_02: Um wait, are you sure she wasn't in a frit?
53:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, so their ears are pointed, and their retractable fingernails are unnaturally durable claws of pure metal capable of tearing their flesh and armor.
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, this lady fucks.
53:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: Damn.
53:30
SPEAKER_01: These nails give their fingers a putginess and stiffness of movement that remains with them even in other forms.
53:37
SPEAKER_01: Um their depictions kind of vary between like sexy person of the earth to like just a man that's definitely more earth earthy-toned.
53:47
SPEAKER_01: So straight up like.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: So straight up just made out of rock.
53:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, this is just a rock.
53:51
SPEAKER_03: This is just a rock side.
53:52
SPEAKER_03: So yet again, we have a pretty wide variety of what they look like.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: I love how pretty much all of them, at one point though, they were like, we're gonna make these genies sexy.
54:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
54:03
SPEAKER_02: Like, these people are gonna be sexy.
54:06
SPEAKER_02: Typically fourth edition, weirdly enough.
54:08
SPEAKER_02: Um Hey, listen, if they're not gonna make things good and substantial, they can at least make it sexy.
54:13
SPEAKER_02: True.
54:13
SPEAKER_01: Fair.
54:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the Tao dwell in complexes of twisting tunnels and glittering ore-veined caverns on the elemental plane of Earth.
54:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh, these maze works are continually expanding as the Tao delve into and reshape the rock around them.
54:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh Tao care nothing for the poverty or misfortune of others.
54:31
SPEAKER_01: A Tao might grind powdered gems and gold dust over its food to heighten the experience of eating, devouring its wealth as mortals consume a precious spice.
54:41
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's valid.
54:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, however, they would almost always return acts of kindness and fairness.
54:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, they are neutral evil, weirdly enough, but I think it's more like they don't want to be indebted to anyone.
54:56
SPEAKER_01: As opposed to like just being a kind person.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: Right.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: Okay, that makes sense.
55:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:03
SPEAKER_01: Um A Tao never assists immortal unless the genie has something to gain, preferably treasure.
55:08
SPEAKER_02: Or, like you said, they don't like to be indebted.
55:10
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
55:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, that's your interpretation of it.
55:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that is more my interpretation of it, but it feels apt considering that they're neutral evil.
55:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
55:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, among the genies, Tao are on speaking and trading terms with the Afrit, but have nothing to do, nothing but scorn for Jin and Merits.
55:26
SPEAKER_01: It contradicts itself later and says that they do have to be on speaking terms with everyone, but I'll get to that later.
55:34
SPEAKER_02: Oh, okay.
55:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, other races native to the elemental plane of Earth avoid the Tao, which are always seeking new slaves to mine the mazework.
55:42
SPEAKER_03: Oh yay.
55:44
SPEAKER_03: Slavery.
55:45
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
55:45
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
55:46
SPEAKER_01: Um the Tao trade for the finest slaves that money can buy, forcing them to work in dangerous subterranean realms that rumble with earthquakes.
55:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, as much as they enjoy enslaving others, the Tao hate being enslaved.
55:57
SPEAKER_01: Wow! Right?
55:59
SPEAKER_01: Funny how that works.
56:00
SPEAKER_01: Shocker.
56:01
SPEAKER_02: These are just entire races and communities of people that are that annoying person who holds themselves to a much lower standard than other people.
56:09
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
56:10
SPEAKER_02: Legitimately.
56:14
SPEAKER_02: Jesus.
56:16
SPEAKER_01: So, uh, powerful wizards have been known to lure Tao to the material plane and trap them in the confines of magic gemstones or iron flasks.
56:23
SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately for the Tao, their greed makes it relatively easy for mages to con them into it.
56:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:30
SPEAKER_02: So they I mean at that point, they'd be pretty similar to a dwarf in a flask, eh?
56:35
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:35
SPEAKER_02: Because they kind of look like dwarves.
56:36
unknown: Oh my god.
56:38
SPEAKER_01: Back to the Final Fantasy.
56:39
SPEAKER_01: Or Final Fantasy?
56:40
SPEAKER_01: Excuse me.
56:41
SPEAKER_01: No! No.
56:42
SPEAKER_01: Back to the pulmetal alchemist.
56:45
SPEAKER_01: What okay.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: My bad.
56:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I was thinking.
56:49
SPEAKER_02: Hey, listen, we have a we have a lot of like like requisite references we have to get out in every episode.
56:55
SPEAKER_02: So you know, I don't blame you for mixing up the two that start with the letter F.
56:58
SPEAKER_02: True.
56:59
SPEAKER_02: Well, there's a third one, it's fucking, but we already got that one out.
57:03
SPEAKER_01: Um, so Dow hate the Merit and Jin, as previously mentioned, but then it says it they remain on speaking terms to trade metal and minerals.
57:11
SPEAKER_01: And that was from the same That was actually from the same, I'm pretty sure the same supplement.
57:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, somebody got up and went to lunch, and then the other person on the the DAO team like wrote that in.
57:22
SPEAKER_02: I mean, at least it's consistent that they hate them.
57:25
SPEAKER_01: Yes, that part's true.
57:26
SPEAKER_01: I think maybe it's more like they uh you can head cannon this way if you want that.
57:31
SPEAKER_01: At one point they did stop talking to the merit in the gin, and then they didn't get as much minerals and metals, so they were like, okay, fine.
57:38
SPEAKER_02: Hmm.
57:40
SPEAKER_02: So uh Well and it it says um well it says like speaking and trading terms.
57:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but then yeah, it literally says the exact same thing for the djinn and the merits.
57:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
57:53
SPEAKER_01: So it doesn't matter.
57:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
57:55
SPEAKER_01: Um so maybe they just like the frit a little bit better.
57:58
SPEAKER_01: Probably.
57:59
SPEAKER_02: Or maybe they just had to make a note of it because it's like, look, here's somebody who doesn't totally hate the frit.
58:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: So the Tao are um creatures with little sympathy for anyone but themselves and their prophets.
58:12
SPEAKER_01: They live in a wretched underworld of perpetual darkness where they toil for wealth as merchants and as miners.
58:18
SPEAKER_02: That's interesting.
58:19
SPEAKER_02: That's crazy how there are no humans that are like that.
58:22
SPEAKER_02: Right.
58:22
SPEAKER_02: So it's so weird and different.
58:24
SPEAKER_01: They lie and steal and kill as they contend with each other for position.
58:29
SPEAKER_01: They arrested one of the richest sites of the plane of Elemental Earth, the Great Dismal Delve, away from all containers.
58:36
SPEAKER_01: Jeez.
58:37
SPEAKER_02: Also, like the The Great Dismal Delve.
58:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
58:41
SPEAKER_02: That's like me going to therapy.
58:47
SPEAKER_02: Jesus Christ, that caught me so off guard.
58:49
SPEAKER_02: That caught me off guard too, and I said it.
58:53
SPEAKER_03: Nope, I got another.
58:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh hi Lacey.
58:56
SPEAKER_03: I hope you're not listening to this.
58:58
SPEAKER_01: The great Dismal Delve.
58:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh Dow slaves mine it and the Masters Reap the Riches.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: Wow, it's so crazy how that's so different from humans.
59:07
SPEAKER_01: The Dow rule is absolute within the Delve, and they have little interest in expanding their domain as long as it remains profitable.
59:14
SPEAKER_01: Alright.
59:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
59:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, at least that's so different from humans.
59:19
SPEAKER_02: Sorry.
59:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, because a lot of humans just want to manifest their destiny everywhere.
59:23
SPEAKER_02: So there's that at least.
59:25
SPEAKER_01: Most DAO look inward to promoting their own status and wealth and have little interest in conquering their plane.
59:30
SPEAKER_02: Hey, you know what?
59:31
SPEAKER_02: At least they look inward.
59:33
SPEAKER_02: Do they?
59:35
SPEAKER_02: Listen, I'm taking the direct quote that says look inward.
59:38
SPEAKER_02: There.
59:39
SPEAKER_02: Which I took directly too.
59:40
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what some people need to do.
59:42
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
59:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, their travels are almost always motivated by the desire for greater material wealth.
59:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, and not an empire for its own sake.
59:51
SPEAKER_01: They will sty they will style.
59:53
SPEAKER_01: They will style.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: They will steal or live for riches, but they don't go to war willingly, because that would be getting rid of their wealth.
1:00:02
SPEAKER_01: Come on now.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: It costs money to go to war.
1:00:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, that that makes sense.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_01: I get the vibe.
1:00:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, the most powerful Tao spend their time with the great Khan who rules the mom.
1:00:12
SPEAKER_01: Khan.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh.
1:00:13
SPEAKER_01: Yes, they're ruled by a Khan.
1:00:15
SPEAKER_01: Um I should mention, harking back to the original Jinn episode that Travis did, um, a lot of the genies are I mean, they take a lot of inspiration from actual like Middle Eastern and Yeah, like Islamic and pre-Islamic.
1:00:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so like their titles are all in the same area.
1:00:33
SPEAKER_03: In the same vein of Yeah.
1:00:35
SPEAKER_03: That's yeah, everything.
1:00:37
SPEAKER_01: The supplements that they are not originally came for from, but a lot of their lore and like culture sort of stuff came from was called, I believe, Al-Qadim, which was kind of another like forgotten uh forgotten realms.
1:00:51
SPEAKER_01: This is another uh country kind of like uh like character.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_02: Sick.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_01: Um so the great Khan.
1:01:00
SPEAKER_01: Um these powerful and wealthy Tao nobles rise and fall in the Khan's favor through merit and industry rather than by simply todaying and flattery.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I mean they at least try.
1:01:10
SPEAKER_01: They at least like actually do something.
1:01:12
SPEAKER_01: Um bribery and lavish gifts are not unknown for the Khan's favor, but more reliable tools of ambition are discovering new veins of gems or a new way to transport goods.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_01: It's preferred that you like think things through instead of just throwing shit at the Khan.
1:01:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_02: That I mean, at least they're giving something, other than just like Right.
1:01:34
SPEAKER_02: Here, take this like just purely like material possession or just like empty like platitudes and flattery.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: Because that's more for the petition sultan.
1:01:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:01:47
SPEAKER_01: The most successful Tao are also the cleverest or the most industrious, more often than not.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, all Dao of the Plane of Elemental Earth live in the Great Dismal Delve.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's just huge huge underground mazeworks with a land area larger than most primaterial continents.
1:02:05
SPEAKER_02: Oh, and we thought that the city of Brass was big.
1:02:08
SPEAKER_02: Go fuck yourself, Jeez.
1:02:09
SPEAKER_01: Fuck yourself, Safre.
1:02:10
SPEAKER_01: Now that said, the Great Dismal Delve is pretty much just a giant mine that also houses a community.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, it it's linked to pockets of all manner of elemental material, so the Khan can call forth uh for allied powers or unusual resources as needed.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_01: Um the population of the Tao in the Delve is unknown, as is the number of enslaved creatures.
1:02:34
SPEAKER_01: The the tunnel uh the tunnels and the underground roads of the Great Dismal Delve all lead to the Sevenfold Mazework, and most are populated with the toiling slaves of the Tao.
1:02:46
SPEAKER_01: Those who cannot bribe, force, or bluff their way past the Tao overseers, and it takes a lot to impress the Tao, are treated as escaped slaves.
1:02:54
SPEAKER_01: They are captured and set to work.
1:02:56
SPEAKER_01: It does not matter where you came from.
1:02:57
SPEAKER_01: If you're there and you do not belong there, you are treated as an escaped slave.
1:03:02
SPEAKER_02: So is the Sevenfold maze work like their kind of capital?
1:03:09
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:03:10
SPEAKER_01: I was um it's it's kind of their trading center.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
1:03:13
SPEAKER_01: I see.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, gotcha.
1:03:15
SPEAKER_01: Um so stately processions um often go through the passages of the Great Decimal Delve, and it includes the states of various noble Tao, the court of the Khan.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it'll be to just carry goods and arrange trade terms and favors between noble houses.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_01: It's just a big procession, basically.
1:03:34
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:03:35
SPEAKER_01: Um in times of unrest, there's also caravans, patrols that wind through there, um, as the Tao nobles, merchants, and captains attempt to protect their estates, possessions, mining dispensation dispensations, trading rights, and personal strongholds from infringement or destruction by unruly slaves, or competing nobles.
1:03:55
SPEAKER_01: Or even by Earth Elementals or outsiders.
1:03:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:03:58
SPEAKER_01: So the maze work.
1:04:00
SPEAKER_01: That's the trading center, court, and palace at the center of the great dismal delve.
1:04:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay, gotcha.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_01: It's like centered, yeah.
1:04:07
SPEAKER_02: It's like kind of the even if it's not like it's like the center of their society, basically.
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: Um and it's kind of centered underneath, I guess, is the best way to describe that because like it all tunnels into it.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I gotcha.
1:04:21
SPEAKER_02: So it's kind of at like the base of the dismal delve.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, most which makes sense too, because it's also the most defensible position.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:30
SPEAKER_02: Um until you throw a smoke grenade down there.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_02: They're earth people, it's fine.
1:04:34
SPEAKER_02: It's fine.
1:04:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, they'll just get you slaves.
1:04:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:04:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean To be fair, that is their mindset.
1:04:42
SPEAKER_01: That's not my mindset.
1:04:43
SPEAKER_01: I'm not in favor of slavery or just replacing people, in case that wasn't clear.
1:04:48
SPEAKER_01: But that is their mindset.
1:04:50
SPEAKER_01: The tea is scalding.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so most of its halls and wings are reserved for the business and comfort of wealthy merchants and the noble Tao.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, visitors include the entire range of Dow rulers from Lesser Ottoman to Hetman.
1:05:05
SPEAKER_01: Um sorry, Lesser Ottoman and Hetman, who will stay in the Sevenfold Maze Work only briefly, and favorite Seneschalls who occupy entire wings of maze work when they come to make their reports.
1:05:19
SPEAKER_01: Hetman.
1:05:21
unknown: Sorry.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Sevenfold Mazework is a great maze, which keeps it safe from invasion or even scrutiny by anyone unfamiliar familiar.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_01: Fair, yeah.
1:05:31
SPEAKER_01: So the great con of the Tao rules in hidden splendor in the Sevenfold Maze Work.
1:05:35
SPEAKER_01: Kabril Ali Al Sarah Al Zalazul.
1:05:40
SPEAKER_01: Zalazal, that actually is really easy.
1:05:43
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why I struggled through that one.
1:05:44
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I mean, to be fair, you pretty good until that last one.
1:05:48
SPEAKER_02: I think you're getting better.
1:05:49
SPEAKER_01: Rules the Tao with a sure eye and an iron heart.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_02: Oh.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: The Khan of the Tao is known by multitude of titles and honorifics.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_01: Among them, the Fountain of Wealth, the Perfect Compass, Adam.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: Of the mountain's roots, the stone sultan, the carver of destiny, master of traders, caravaner of the sevenfold path, and balancer of all earthly accounts.
1:06:10
SPEAKER_02: Fuck.
1:06:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh the Tao the Court scheme and plot to gain greater influence with the Khan, though they also haggle, barter, and bargain with each other.
1:06:18
SPEAKER_01: The business of the court is business.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it said the business of the court is business.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_01: Exploration and invention.
1:06:26
SPEAKER_01: Hey, I mean, yeah.
1:06:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_01: That trash.
1:06:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh they are all of questionable loyalty, but seneschals are handpicked by the Great Khan of the Tao, and their loyalty is to him alone.
1:06:36
SPEAKER_01: And Seneschals oversee all.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, the nobles of the court of the Great Khan live in self-contained sections within the Sevenfold Mazework known as Halls or Wings.
1:06:46
SPEAKER_01: Typical Seneschal's residents might contain a handful of male Tao nobles and twice as many female Tao nobles and about a dozen common Tao, half a dozen minotaurs, and up to 100 elemental and non-elemental slaves.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_01: I will say this.
1:07:01
SPEAKER_01: Basically, female noble Tao are responsible for care of household slaves and the overseeing of new excavations.
1:07:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, they have considerable influence over the trade of their household.
1:07:13
SPEAKER_01: Some female Tao do become adamant and hetmen, but they are strictly excluded from the world of haggling and commerce.
1:07:19
SPEAKER_01: They're just in ch in charge of the decisions when it comes to that.
1:07:23
SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
1:07:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_01: Um the Tao are pragmatic rather than pious by nature, and few have time or money to devote to religion.
1:07:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh, they see mosques as investments, those duty deities who do the best job answering the petitions of the Tao get the most praise.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh the mazework contains a few shrines to Grumbar, Cold God of the Earth, and shrines of the gods of wealth, of which the Tao have heard.
1:07:46
SPEAKER_01: The Tao believe that it is better to pray to all the gods of wealth, and so as not to offend any of them.
1:07:52
SPEAKER_02: Hey, I mean, you know, yeah, fair enough.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_02: I will say, like, I I don't think it's totally this might be an unpopular take here.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it's it's like the the worst idea or thing in the world to be like, I don't want to offend any of you, so I'll worship.
1:08:09
SPEAKER_02: Well, no, no, no.
1:08:10
SPEAKER_02: To be like, hey, I'm gonna give the most of a shit about the one of you that's actually going to do things for me.
1:08:19
SPEAKER_01: No, I agree.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know.
1:08:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the greatest mosque is that of Jar, the let me try that again.
1:08:28
SPEAKER_01: Jar the gymed, that though that of Jison the Bountiful is also prominent.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there are other small shrines to gods of commerce, god of merchants, um, the goblin god of slavery and oppression.
1:08:42
SPEAKER_05: Oh god.
1:08:43
SPEAKER_01: The dwarven god of creed.
1:08:44
SPEAKER_01: And there's also shhrines in many Tao households to Lyra, the goddess of deception.
1:08:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that kind of fits their MO.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_01: And of course, the Lord Giver.
1:08:55
SPEAKER_03: Right.
1:08:55
SPEAKER_03: Which, I mean, you have to worship the Lordgiver.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_03: Because it's just amazing.
1:09:00
SPEAKER_01: So, real quick, I am definitely out of time.
1:09:03
SPEAKER_01: I want to discuss the etymology, real quick, of those four.
1:09:06
SPEAKER_01: So the djinn is pretty obvious, it comes directly from the Arabic word.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:09:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's actually Roman, it's the Romanized form of djinn with the D.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_04: Um.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
1:09:22
unknown: Yep.
1:09:23
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:09:24
SPEAKER_01: Yep, I knew that was coming.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_01: The Merids are a type of um Shaitan?
1:09:32
SPEAKER_01: Shaitan, yes, um, of Islamic traditions, which is um it means to the word merid itself means to rebel.
1:09:39
SPEAKER_01: Basically, it's a type of demon in Arabic Islamic traditions.
1:09:43
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I feel like I've heard okay, see, like earlier I made a comment about mere, like them being the water people.
1:09:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:09:51
SPEAKER_02: Because it reminds me of like Mare, you know.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:09:54
SPEAKER_02: Uh that kind of thing.
1:09:55
SPEAKER_02: But that's I f that's interesting.
1:09:57
SPEAKER_02: That's cool.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_02: It is really cool.
1:09:59
SPEAKER_02: Um Pasluan thought she was onto something, but she was not.
1:10:03
SPEAKER_01: And then we have the Ifrit, um, which is a type of demon in Islamic mythology.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:09
SPEAKER_01: They're usually associated with underworld and spirits of the dead.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's basically it's the same word, it's just a different spelling.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_01: Then there's the Tao.
1:10:18
SPEAKER_01: And I spent like probably a good two hours trying to look into the Tao.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna comment.
1:10:24
SPEAKER_02: I was thinking of maybe commenting on this earlier, but I wanted to wait and see if you had any.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no.
1:10:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, so the Tao, the only thing that I found was basically a bunch of discussions.
1:10:37
SPEAKER_01: Tao is the Chinese word for a type of sword.
1:10:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah.
1:10:42
SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah, I know of the Tao.
1:10:45
SPEAKER_03: Taoism.
1:10:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:10:46
unknown: Yeah.
1:10:47
SPEAKER_01: Um it means it also can mean weigh, but it has very little to do with anything Chinese.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_01: So basically, the um the bet the theories that I've seen is that Tao was a placeholder term because Pathfinder uses a different term for the exact same group of earth genies.
1:11:07
SPEAKER_01: And that term is Shaitan, which as we before discussed, was the supernatural spirit or like a demon.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_01: And I can't recall exactly, but I believe thematically they have a lot more in common with Shaitans than they do literally anything else that I've mentioned.
1:11:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or like Taoism.
1:11:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:11:25
SPEAKER_02: Because this the spec of of Taoism in general, like from what I know about it with like an outsider's perspective, is not at all, I think, what these these guys represent.
1:11:38
SPEAKER_01: Shaytan means accuser or dust devil.
1:11:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:11:41
SPEAKER_01: It would be so much better.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:11:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that at least makes more sense.
1:11:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_01: Huh.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it it's just kind of a a mess and it's never been renamed.
1:11:53
SPEAKER_01: And the thought is that maybe it was a placeholder, maybe they didn't want to go with Shaitan because it it does kind of sound like Satan.
1:12:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:12:00
SPEAKER_02: And you know.
1:12:02
SPEAKER_01: And they were already fighting off Satan's.
1:12:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_01: But that's all I've got on at least these.
1:12:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's all I can fit into a one-hour time slot.
1:12:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:12:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:12:16
SPEAKER_02: Well, dang, these guys are cool.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_01: I like them.
1:12:19
SPEAKER_01: I think that they're neat.
1:12:21
SPEAKER_02: They're all just a bunch of different breeds of asshole.
1:12:25
SPEAKER_02: Pretty much.
1:12:27
SPEAKER_02: I feel like I've made that comment about dragons too.
1:12:30
SPEAKER_02: That's like they're all assholes.
1:12:31
SPEAKER_02: It's just like, what particular type of asshole are you?
1:12:34
SPEAKER_01: What particular type of asshole are you?
1:12:36
SPEAKER_02: Like, are you a Chad?
1:12:38
SPEAKER_02: Are you an economics major?
1:12:41
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know.
1:12:42
SPEAKER_03: Damn.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_03: Calling out all economic majors.
1:12:45
SPEAKER_03: Right.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_03: And Chads.
1:12:47
SPEAKER_03: And Chads.
1:12:48
SPEAKER_01: Chads do a little bit.
1:12:49
unknown: So.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_03: Well, thank you everyone so much for listening.
1:12:54
SPEAKER_03: Don't forget, follow us on all of our lovely various social media platforms.
1:12:58
SPEAKER_03: Spread the word to your friends.
1:13:00
SPEAKER_03: And probably not the stranger on the bus that just stares at you.
1:13:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's avoid him.
1:13:05
SPEAKER_03: That's a bad idea.
1:13:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, if you have anything to suggest as a topic, you can email us at dungeonpedia.podcast or at gmail.com or reach us, reach out to us on any of our other various platforms.
1:13:16
unknown: Yeah.
1:13:16
SPEAKER_02: I think with that, we will catch you next week here on Dungeonpedia.
1:13:22
SPEAKER_03: Okay, but seriously, I would love to have skin of like solidified flame.
1:13:28
SPEAKER_03: I knew you were gonna go for that one.
1:13:29
SPEAKER_02: I just fucking knew it.
1:13:30
SPEAKER_02: Oh, of course.
1:13:31
SPEAKER_03: I mean, yeah.
1:13:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:13:33
SPEAKER_02: I mean, I think they all kind of suck, but we get so hot.