Ma Hir

Destiny Saga

Duga

In the World of Threa, there are 21 races. This is a description of a race that lives in the world of Threa, the Duga.

Duga are 5ft tall, slender in build. They have four digit hands and two toed feet. The inner toe is bulbous, and the outer toe is flat. They have triangular ears at the sides of their head. They have a wet nose, with males colored red and females colored pink. Their skin color is various shades of pale yellow-orange (peach) and their hair and eyes are yellow in color, with a rare red-orange. their skin is covered in a light fuzz. They have a prominent left upper canine tooth. Their hair part above their left eye, males tend to let their hair cover their right eye. additionally, their hair from the back splits. for males, it splits into two ribbons, one larger than the other one. for females, it splits into three, with the center ribbon being the longer one. Males tend to keep their hair longer, passed the waist, while females keep their hair no longer that shoulder height.

As they age, the Duga experiences some changes. Their ears lengthen as they age. As children, their ears are short and point downwards. Once they are adults, their ears are long and point straight out, or even upwards. once they become elderly, their ears continue lengthening and droop downwards. Another change they experience as they age are the various markings on their bodies. certain regions of their skin darken to black as they age. They are born with no markings. At certain ages, their skin darkens in certain areas. Between ages 3 to 5, their ear marking develops. Between 7 to 11 years, their lower eyelids darken. From 13 years to 17, they develop their legs and feet markings. At 18 till 22 their arms and hands are marked. 23 thru 25, their upper eyelids and entire eye socket darken. From 26 till 30, their face markings show. Most of these markings aren’t too distinct between individual, with certain randomness. however, two of them are specific. Their ear marks are inherited from their father, and their face marks are inherited from their mother. There are 10 types of ear and face markings. Siblings have the same ear and face markings.

The Marking || Name | Face | Ear | |——|———————————————|————————————————————-| | Tag | Gem shape mark on their forehead | The Edge and ridge darkens | | Var | nose bridge darkens | The tip darkens towards the back | | Ker | three dots under eyes | the tip darkens toward the front | | Xen | two stripes on their cheeks | dark from the base , clear on the tips in a diamond shape | | Mic | one stripe on their cheek | Three stipes toward the back | | Nim | small triangle on the corners of their eyes | Three stripes, on the tip, from the front, and from the back | | Roc | nose bridge, mouth and chin are darkened | the base darkens into the ridge | | Soz | cheeks are darkened | base darkens from the ridge | | Guf | two circles centered above the brow | tips darken into the ridge | | Luz | Chin Darkens | tips darken from the ridge |

The Duga have no nation, no territory. Most of the Duga wander throughout the various nations, doing whatever they can to survive. they have no culture of their own, adopting whatever culture of the land they are living. They either travel on their own, or in packs up to five, the vast majority travel in packs of two

The Duga suffer from a selective amnesia. when a significant person passes away, they fully forget that person ever existed. as soon as they realize the person is gone, they forget them. for example, when a parent passes away, they forget who their parent was. they are unable to recall their face, their name, any moment they had with their parent. a consequence of this trait is that they cannot grieve. thou there are occasions in which they incorrectly realize a significant person passed away. When that happens and they meet that person again, they suffer an unrelenting grief.

The Duga tend to Wander in packs of two. thou they can end up being up to five, or just one. The pack members, can be friends, partners, parent and child or siblings. Duga are typically born in pairs. fraternal twins are more common than identical twins. after about a year, one parent takes one twin, and the other parent takes the other. it is easier to wander in packs of two. as such, as soon as it is possible, the pack of four, the parents and their twins, split into two packs of two, one child and one parent. a single birth is rare, referred to as a singlet. if a singlet is born, the family tends not to split. making a pack of three. if a singlet is born afterwards, the family may split into packs of two. if the second birth is a twin set, they may remain together as a pack of five

Some Packs decide to settle rather than wander. The larger the pack, the harder it is to wander, so they are compelled to settle. Some members of a settled pack may return to wandering for a period of time, and then return to their settled place. as time passes, the settled pack will lose members, from old age. increasing their compulsion to continue to wander.

Some decades ago, 5 duga got together and formed a pack. after a while, they did not wish to part . so they settled. they however, invited other to join their settlement. this created a Colony. today, the Colony spans 3 towns.

One item a Wanderer carries are “Blades” . Duga Blades are basically giant knives. They can be single edge or dual edge. They commonly carry two. The Duga blade is versatile and simple weapon that helps them defend themselves, in addition it can be used as a general cutting tool and a shovel. Blade Forging is passed from parent to child. the method which they can pass this and a few other traditions is by having the child practice by themselves. that way, when the memories of forging the blade with their parent are gone, they would still remember the one the forged alone. this is why they carry two. one was forged with their parent. the other one wasn’t. still, this must be something they have to figure out on their own. why do they have certain knowledge but don’t remember how they learned it.

Wedding gift is another the Duga carry. part of the wedding ritual, there is an exchange of possessions. it can be anything. it can even be a blade. they keep it even after the family splits. Heirloom is another possession. it is passed from parent to child. it can be anything. more often than not it is the wedding gift. as such, there are items that are pass down from parent to child, then to their partner. which then gets pass down to their children.

Trinket is another item. The parent has their child choose an item, any item, to be a trinket. the trinket is part of their identity, similar to their name. they may change their trinket at any point. the trinket is marked. ultimately, the trinket is part of the funeral ritual. the trinket is placed were the ashes are buried or scattered.

marrige ritual: they sit across each other, the sun at their side, and the heirlooms next to them, opposite to the sun, with a food item in between them, provided by the proposer. the proposer grabs the food and gives it three half turns and places it in front of the proposed. then the proposed ingests half of the food. they then give the food item three half turns and places it in front of the proposer. the proposer then grabs the food item and finishes ingesting it. the proposer then grabs their heirloom and places it in front of themselves. the proposed reaches across, grabs the heirloom and places it next to themselves, on the sun facing side. then they grab their own heirloom and place it in front of themselves. the proposer reaches and grabs the heirloom and places it on their sun facing side. if any heirloom can be worn, they will put it on. and to finish, they both lean forward and kiss each other. this is just the base, it can be more elaborate. the food item tends to be soup or tea, or just water. bread, pastries, or other prepared meals are also used. some sort of slab, board or short table may be used to place the food item, but it can be placed on the floor. the moon can also be used instead of the sun. no witnesses are required, but it is always better to perform the ritual in front of others.

Funeral Ritual: since a duga will forget any loved one that passes, they will honor any body they encounter, is it could have been a loved one that just passed away, and already forgotten. first, they will identify their trinket, as it can be any item, but that item will have scratch marks, their signature. if they dont have a trinket, most likely because the body isn’t of a duga, they will choose someting in the bodies possetion to serve as their trinket. they will a pyre to burn the body to ash. then they will bury the ashes. the trinket will be set on top of the ashes. Ideally, the trinket would be set in something, like a rock or carving, and set above where the ashes are buried, but being buried on top of the ashes is also acceptable.

a bit more about the selective amnesia. it is trigger by realizing a loved one has passed away. and by loved ones, it is not just limited to family, but also friends. Wanderer, effective being detached from everyone, effectively preserve their memory. for the amnesia wont trigger if they find that some shop keep the came across years ago has passed. for settled, they may forge friendships with their neighbors, triggering the amnesia when their dear friend passes. for outsiders, not understanding their amnesia, the Duga may appear cold hearted, suddenly refusing to acknowledge the passing of a dear friend. in the colony, with grater understanding of their amnesia, they receive better support. additionally, in the colony, since not everyone is a loved one, just an acquaintance. it is common to find someone who remembers your father, even thou you and your family and friends don’t. additionally, their acquaintance, and hated ones don’t trigger the amnesia, so if they hate their parent or sibling, it wont trigger it. this adds to the negative view of wandering duga, as they wont remember their mothers, but they still remember someone who owes them money. or if one encounters a duga that does remember their father, its because they hated them.

The amnesia is triggered when the individual realizes the loved one has passed away, and not from them actually passing away. So the loved one may have passed away some time ago, the the person still remembers them, until they are informed of their passing. The experience is a short daze, no more than 10 seconds, once they regain focus, the memories are forgotten. if they were presents at their passing, they are suddenly in front of a strangers body. it is inevitable, once they can deduce that passing has happened, the amnesia triggers, they are unable to deny it. Colonials maintain journals of experiences, with illustrators creating images of the events. while the individual can know that what is in the journal is true, they cannot remember them. The memories are forgotten but not gone. they are ‘locked up’. if the individual realizes that the passed loved one is actually alive, say that they actually survived shipwreck, rather than perished in it, the memories return. this experience is with an overwhelming grief, that may require a fair amount of time to recover. a second amnesia will not happened, the recovered memories will not be forgotten from amnesia, maybe from old age. however, this is a high bar, it must be beyond hope, beyond any and all doubt, like actually seeing them again.

with a split family, when their present parent passes, they effectively have no familial ties. as they spend less than a year with the absent half, the other parent and their twin sibling, they are essentially strangers if they ever meet. additionally they only spend a short amount of time with their partners, two or three years before they split. with union families, they spend more time with their partners. when their partner passes, they will still have their children, and when their parent pass, they will have their siblings. their siblings will remain alive most of their lives, passing away at their old age. their parents tend to pass away when their children are adults. and because of their wandering nature, it may be until their late adulthood when they find a partner. and it is easier to find a partner for wanderer then settled families, as such, not long after the parents pass, settled children become wanderers. the sibling may start wandering together, but will split from their siblings once they find partners and have children. for colonials all this is different. as they can have extended families, the third family structure. since they are always surrounded by other Duga, they may find partners early in their life, and star a family when they are young adults. giving more time for their children to have children of their own, becoming grand parents. So, when their partner passes, they still have their children and grand children. when their parents pass, they will have their siblings and children. and when their siblings pass, they will still have their partners, children and grandchildren. and because families stay in one place. the colony, aunts and uncle, and cousins are also present. however, their amnesia still makes it a challenge to maintain such extended family ties. thou colonials have a better understanding of their amnesia that the wanderes. and have devise ways to counter it. for there is a clerical institution of historians and artisans that that maintain a record of the family ties. they create artwork depicting linage. however, this historians must remain detached from everyone so they don’t succumb to the amnesia and forget those who they record.

Wanderes dont care much about having little to no cultural identity. they do cherish the little heritage they pass down, blade forging, wedding ritual and few other things. but they also readily adopt anything that is useful, throughout their travels. traveling wanderers have a mix of clothing, mannerism, and traditions from the places they have traveled. While settled wanderers integrate to the place they have settled.

They Wander light, with few possessions. their blades, heirloom, gift and trinket are some of the few things they carry. the heirloom and gift tend to be the same. even their blades can also be a gift or heirloom.

Their naming convention include a personal name and a family name. their personal name can be one of a pool of name. foe males, those names include: Relim, Velim, Tenim, Denim, Serim, Danny, Vinny, Larry, Terry, Wally, Roul, Daul, Kano, Bano, Kaus, Mike, Leon, Dion, Rike and Devo Female names are: Sorra, Dilla, Lilla, Rilla, Nikki, Tilli, Vikki, Sona, Dona, Luna, Rena, Neko, Tina, Vela, Sonia, Dania, Lunia, Reina, Naria, Tadia and Velia. their Family name can be one of the ten family names, with the exclusion of the two extinct names. The 10 family names: Tag, Var, Ker, Xen, Mic, Nim, Roc, Soz, Guf, and Luz. However, Mic and Guf are now extinct, no one carries those family names. there is no established norm of passing down family names. some are the mother’s name; others are the father’s. for others, the son gets their father’s family name and daughters get the mother’s, or the other way around. some may alternate, and some may even flip a coin.

a short narrative illustrating what happens when a parent passes in front of their child:

i go outside and find a clearing. i gather some wood, some kindling, and build a small pyre. “i know this. i know how to honor him, but how?” i move his body and place it on the pyre. i watch it burn, turn to ash. i contemplate who this man was. who my father was? i know who my mother is. i saw her a few years ago, with my brother. we packed together for a few months, and then we split back up. my brother and mother packed together. who did i packed with? alone, or my father? with this man? the fire is nearly out. there is nothing but ashes.

there is a tree nearby, i dig a small hole near the tree. i collect the ashes and place them in the whole, and cover it up. i set the medallion on the trunk of the tree. -“if you are my father, it is by this tree were you will rest.”

i gather my things and i keep traveling.

Just information that clarifies the context of the narrative. the man was her father. he had been ill for some time. she was by his side when he passed. fearing the worst, she began to cry. once she realized he was dead, she felt dizzy for a moment. once she recovered, she had forgotten him. she still remembered her mother and twin brother. in that event years ago, she did infact packed with her father, just as her brother packed with their mother. she could reason, she could deduce that he was her father, but there were no memories, no emotions for him, unlike moments ago when she was crying, fearing the most. she could reason that they both had the same ear marks, which are inherited from the father. his trinket has a mark that looks like she carved it. and from the event years ago, when she and her father crossed paths with her mother and brother, who were wandering together. they reunited briefly, rejoined as a pack of four for a couple of months, and split back again. with part of that memory gone, she deduces that just like her brother and mother pack together, she must have had packed with her father, otherwise she would be packed with her mother and brother. if her father was there, they would have split into two packs of two, and if he wasnt, they would have stayed as a pack of three, rather than split as a pack of two and a pack of one for their trinkets, her father gave her the coin for her first trinket. She proceeded to mark her coin, her trinket, with a triangle at one side and three lines in the other. Later, when her father got a new trinket for himself, he marked it first, and then asked his daughter to add another mark for him. She added a triangle. once a duga realizes a loved one has passed, they forget them, as such, she no longer knows it was her father that taught her the funeral ritual. as part of the teaching, she had to repeated to herself, as when the memory of her father is gone, so would have been the lesson. that is why she know how to perform the ritual but doesn’t know how she knows it. later in her life, she will realize the mechanics of dugan selective amnesia, and teach her own children in a manner so that the lesson survives the amnesia.

Another narrative a story that involves the reversal is about twins Relim and Vikki Ker. they were separated during a raid before the Grand War. they presumed each other died during the raid, triggering their amnesia. years later, Vikki was in a city under siege. Relim was leading an army sent to reinforce the city. by chance she got a glimps at her brother charging at the invaders. her reversal trigger, it nearly made her unable to evacuate the city. now that she remembered her brother, she sought to meet him. eventually she ended joining his army. however, it wasnt until he was mortally wounded when they finally met. Relim being a season warrior by then, had experienced many amnesias, from various soldiers under his command, so when his reversal triggered, he was able to cope thru it. they shared his final moments. Vikki mourned his brother at his funeral. she did not forget him afterward.

in one instance, a duga named Dona Luz, decided to wander, leaving her family’s farm. she was the singlet, and had the twins brother and sister. during the time she was wandering, her parents passed. she came back to the farm after many years. when she asked about their parent, the twins had no idea who she was talking about. Dona told stories about them and their parents, but the twins did not recognize any of the event, thou they had a sense of familiarity. when the twins figured that she was referring to the two duga buried by a nearby tree, that is when dona’s own amnesia hit her. she even forgot the stories she was just telling them. the twins now had a better sense on who their parents were, but dona only had a recount of her own recount.

one character is Sonia Var. she is the singlet daughter of Dona Luz, and Raul Var. They settled outside Welst Town. tragically, Sonia lost her parents when she was an infant, they were murdered. this triggered her amnesia. she was adopted by a friend of the family, whom Sonia viewed as a grandfather. Neither the adopted grandfather, nor the townfolk are Duga. some years later, the elderly grandfather passes away. he was cherished by the townsfolk. but seeing that his adoptive granddaughter fails to acknowledge him, she failed to attend his funeral. the townsfolk have a negative view on her, and she in turn has grown detached from the townsfolk. Sonia can deduce that she had parents, since everyone has them, but just thinks that she was to young to remember them. but has no way to deduce grandfather. and since the townsfolk dislike her, they aren’t informing her about his existence. the shop she runs, she inherited from her grandfather, further fueling the townsfolk dislike. as she owns the shop that was given to her by the very person she has forgotten.

with Sonia Var’s narrative. She will be a player character in a video game which pick up shortly before she becomes a wanderer. she holds that the disdain of the townsfolk towards her stems that she isn’t a Corle, the race that populates the town. while still running her shop. the tax enforcers harass her frequently, thou mostly because they are punks, but the townsfolk do nothing ‘cause they hold it is well deserve for her ingratitude towards her grandfather. Rose Vito, one of the tax enforcers, successfully takes control over the shop and she leaves and starts wandering. on her travels, she keeps crossing paths with a Frill boy. this grows to a friendly rivalry, becoming a loved one, someone that will trigger the amnesia. she eventually wanders into the colony. learning more about the duga, and their selective amnesia. with this understanding, she goes back to Welst Town, to piece together her story. she eventually deduces that the old abandoned shepherd’s house was the house her family settled in. she directly asks various townsfolk on what happens and that is how she learns about grandfather. Additional, now that she understands the duga’s selective amnesia, she realizes that the frill boy is destined to be forgotten. Note that this is a minor aspect on her story. it is a side story that the player may choose to explore or not. and the quest becomes available only if the player ever finds the colony first.

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August 9, 2025