Aenurin

Ænurin

Brandon M. Dennis

The Peepkin and Kerast the Green

The Peepkin lines were founded by Orun and Seej, two of the original twelve that were once Ænurin. When they became aware, they were standing in a great field that stretched as far as they could see in all directions. In the distance to the north they could make out the vague shape of Snowcap the Old and to the east they saw the faint outline of a dark forest, but the mountain was intimidating and the forest was scary, and so they went west. After many months of walking and eating small creatures, Orun and Seej stumbled upon a patch of gourds and, not knowing what they were, became afraid. But when they saw that the gourds didn't move and smelled rather nice, they tasted them and to their great delight found that they tasted really good. They ate them all up and were sad when they were gone, but noticed that after a while they grew back, as long as the roots were not disturbed. This is how the Peepkin first discovered the laws of farming and over the years developed the greatest crops of all of Ænurin.

            Orun and Seej had numerous children and they built their first village right next to that patch of gourds. Their homes were constructed out of smooth river stones and, later, wooden beams. They were a wiry people with very rosy skin. Some of them were almost pink, while others looked like cream. They had black hair, as dark as night, and it grew strait and long. They were not very adventurous and tended to stay put, but as their population grew the Peepkin spread out in all directions, filling the gently sloping valleys and building their houses against small hills.

            Rivers and streams from Snowcap the Old cut through the fields and plains, the greatest of which was Rikarak, delivering water to all of the seven portions that divided the Peepkin lands; Gourd Place, the original region where Orun and Seej lived, and then there was Billowbellow, Tobby Bottom, Kerast's Peak (the highest hill, which really wasn't very high), Waterlog, Cloverhæm, and Cattail Dale. The Peepkin made roads that led all over their realm (but never outside of it) and they loved the flat, treeless places where the tall grasses grew and tried their best to keep those areas wild. There was a certain beast that lived in the grassy plains which the Peepkin called the ûmpa, a fat, gray-skinned creature with dull, knobby horns on its nose and thick, gray hoofed feet, and the Peepkin domesticated many umpas to help them in plowing fields and doing other work. They also loved to ride their umpas and would, when they were feeling adventurous (which wasn't very often) travel all over their lands, jumping and hopping around on their ûmpas.

            Kerast arrived and found Orun and Seej constructing their first village near the gourd patch. They were terrified when they first saw him and went and hid, for Kerast was a striking figure. He was very tall and clothed in green. He wore a loose-fitting cloak that flapped in the breeze, and when he walked by all manner of greenery would reach for him. His hair was black as soot and trailed behind him, and it was interwoven with vines and stalks of grain. He held a green trident in his hand and when he saw the Peepkin hide he laughed and sat down near the gourds. He was enormous compared to the Peekpin, but he managed to pick one of the small gourds and empty its contents. He poked a few holes in it and blew on it, and a beautiful sound came forth that caused the Peepkin to emerge from their hiding places and gaze at the giant in wonder. The music reminded them of their grassy plains, their fat ûmpas and their wonderful produce, and they lost all fear, flocking to Kerast curiously. He showed them how to make the little gourd instruments which they called jookies, and music (some of it not so musical) began to fill the plain as the Peepkin danced.

            Kerast went all over the seven provinces and helped the Peepkin build their houses and tend to their crops. He never built his own house but when he wasn't wandering the seven provinces he would rest on a rock that crowned Kerast's Peak, the highest point in all of the Peepkin's lands.  Due to his presence, green things of all shapes and sizes grew on and around the hill, and many small prairie creatures and wild birds made it their home.

            Kerast showed them how to take ûmpa droppings and use them to make their produce grow to enormous sizes. It is because of the ûmpa droppings that the Peepkin have the greatest fruits and vegetables in the world, although they have been unsuccessful in growing the intrinsically Favish produce that only grows underground. Kerast desired that the Peepkin would become bolder, and so he introduced them to the Favish and the Rostic. The Peepkin learned much about the sky from the Rostic which aided them in planting and harvesting their crops, and from the Favish they received special powders that they experimented with to make their produce grow to specific sizes, colors and shapes, and the three races became stalwart friends. But the Peepkin still did not like the mountains or being underground and tried to keep to their fields as much as possible. They were then approached by the Hress, and the Peepkin thought that the Hress were scary with their big muscles and red hair, but the Hress offered them beautiful wooden beams to use in constructing their homes, and from then on the Peepkin cherished anything made from wood.

            The sea absolutely terrified them, and yet they harbored a strange fascination with it. When Kerast arrived, he told them great tales of this place where there were no mountains, no forests and no plains, just never-ending water that went on forever until it cascaded off of Ænurin into the void, and this imagery was seared into their minds from then on. The Peepkin both desired and feared the sea. Because of this they rarely came into contact with the Trellic, but all held them in fascination. The nearest the Peepkin would ever go to the sea was to the Cliffs of Feldend, which ended at the water far south of Tobby Bottom, the southernmost of the seven provinces. Here the rivers from Snowcap the Old which crisscrossed throughout the Peepkin's lands cascaded into the sea with a mighty roar. The deafening noise terrified them and only the bravest Peepkin would ever venture that far south, but when they returned they would bring with them fantastic and terrible stories of creatures which dwelt in the sea with large fins, pointy heads and dazzling eyes that would try to swim up the waterfalls to eat them.