Tribe/Teddybear's Listeners

• Gene-strains support the dead-strain heroes
• Stories are what you leave behind
• '

Traders of stories, with an entrenched and oppressive strain-based caste system, led by a fairy tale obsessed AI

Formation

Part of a series about the Tribes of Outlook.

• Tribes
• Creating Your Tribe
• Current Tribes
  • The Mutati
  • The Diamond Tribe
  • The Cartographer Tribe
  • The Seil
  • The Teddybear's Listeners

Teddybear used to be the librarian of the legend and folklore section of a large library, and was also charged with reading fairytales to children. In the gene-strains, Teddybear saw the fairytale creatures of old, and concluded that the they were created to act as supporting characters for the dead-strains, who are the protagonists of this world. Out of this grew the tribe’s pervasive social stratification, which sees the gene-strains (known as ‘fay’ within the tribe) subordinate to the dead-strains (‘humans’). In general, the Listeners value storytelling, history, and dramatic deeds about which tales are told.

Leadership

The spiritual leader of the tribe, who is seen as somewhat akin to a prophet, is an Advanced AI called Teddybear. Teddybear used to be the librarian of the legend and folklore section of a large library in the pre-Decline world, and was also charged with reading fairytales to children.

Non-religious governance is provided by the Reading Circle, a group of the eldest and most respected Humans of the tribe. Important decisions, when too mundane to concern Teddybear, are decided by the Circle. Every year, the Circle elects a Reader, who acts as something of a leader to the tribe. The current Reader is [Booglyface McPlaceholder].

Reputation

Teddybear Listeners are a peaceful tribe and reputation is important in Listener society - the tribe makes a point of treating other tribes with hospitality. Members of the tribe visit other tribes often to trade stories. This is not to say other tribes necessarily approve of the Listener’s values. Indeed, listener gene-strains treat dead-strains in other tribes with just as much deference as those in their own tribe, which can cause awkwardness and even resentment.

Religion

Teddybear is the source of religious guidance for the tribe, having imparted upon them a story of the creation of the strains, the #Dance of Earth and Moon, which explains their predestined roles. Every dead-strain (Human) has a Story, and their purpose in life is to fulfil that Story. The Fay do not have individual Stories, their purpose in life is to serve the Humans in pursuing their Stories.

It is from the Dance of Earth and Moon that the strains take their more religious names: dead-strains are the Children of Earth or The Storied, and gene-strains are the Amalgams of Moon, or (Scions of) the Storyless.

The strains are the moral successors to the humans and fay spoken of in folklore, and so the dead-strains, being more similar to pre-Decline humans, must be the protagonists. The gene-strains, with their fantastical and animalistic qualities, are clearly the successors to the fairies and monsters of such tales. Such creatures only ever played two roles, and only one of them good. Thus the gene-strains strive to help and serve the dead-strains - indeed, any gene-strain who pursues personal goals or tries to make a name for themselves is surely on a path to evil, and should be subject to due vigilance.

Admittedly , the Listeners do not necessarily believe in the literal truth of all stories, even the most culturally important ones. What is most important is the truth that lies below the surface, which is no less valid for lack of accuracy in the details.

The afterlife for the Listeners - the Humans at least - is to live on in the stories told about you. There is no greater honour for a Human than to be immortalised through their deeds. The Fey strive to be remembered in these stories as helpful companions, adjutants and supporting characters and thus also receive a measure of immortality. Occasionally, a radical fey might choose to be remembered as someone's nemesis or colourful villain. Such path is inevitably fraught with suspicious and potential ostracism but may be no less rewarding.

Ideas of morality are also influenced heavily by fairy tales. This means that Listeners might be poorly equipped to handle ethical nuance and lean toward a black and white view of the world (if not actually subscribing to blue and orange morality). At best, this looks like striving to act always in the right way; at worst, it can look like covering up the wrongdoings of those with high status, and viewing mistakes as evidence of evil intent.

Due to the divine nature of stories in Listener society, the Listeners also have a great deal of respect for history, and this extends to respect for their own elders as well as the people of the past civilisation. Material wealth is shallow - true wealth is in the memories we have and the tales we pass on.

Defining Traits

The Listener society is stratified into two castes based on strains. Young Listeners are educated about their roles in society beginning from an early age. The two strains are usually educated separately, and receive a much of their knowledge from the fables of Teddybear himself, who pays special attention to the children.

By adulthood, the ideas of human-supremacy are deeply ingrained in the psyche of all in the tribe, and so whilst not all fay are necessarily enthusiastic about their subordinate role in society, few leave, and even fewer rebel, for to go against their role would be a matter not just of personal shame but of heresy, and would likely result in complete ostracism from the tribe.

It is common for the humans to go out adventuring in seek of fame and glory, although this is far from the only way in which a human Listener may attempt to fulfill their story. Indeed, Listener children are told stories of acts of great compassion, courage, self-sacrifice, and guile, be the protagonists physicians, technopaths, diplomats, craftspeople, or warriors.

There is a tendency for the fay to do the more mundane and domestic work, including maintenance of the tribe’s extensive archives, with many working hard to make sure that the tribe continues to function when Teddybear decides to send half the tribe off on some big adventure.

Some of the highest ranking dead-strains have personal gene-strain scribes, who follow them, helping them in their goals, and telling others of their heroics, even sometimes, although not necessarily, writing down the best ones. Being a scribe is considered a position of pride for a fay. Others will act as wandering scribes, going from human to human, helping each one, including dead-strains in other tribes - they still have stories, even if they don’t know it. Others still are bards and storytellers, and go from tribe to tribe telling stories and picking up new ones.

When fay do go out adventuring, it is invariably in aid of a larger story involving humans. Their role in such is purely to allow the narrative to move along smoothly, and in recounting their stories, they are expected to minimise their own deeds and allow humans to take credit wherever possible.

The common habit among the Listeners is that whatever activity the strains find themselves engaged in, the humans are encouraged to shine as individuals, whereas the fay should take a collectivist attitude, and fade into the background, like good stage workers. A good fay’s presence should be invisible, like the ground or the air, not noticeable unless it were to disappear.

How one conducts oneself in society, too, is stratified according to strain. Humans are expected to conduct themselves according to ideas of honour and integrity. How much this is followed in practice is variable. Whilst fay are expected to act with deference towards humans, they are somewhat freer in how they act towards other fay. In a bizarre twist, the fay have no reputation to gain or lose and as long as they don’t rock the boat or bring shame upon the Listeners they are much fewer expectations placed on their behaviour.

Relationships and marriages between two or more humans are encouraged, particularly if it enhances their stories. Similarly, relationships between fay are also acceptable and commonplace, but, especially in the case of scribes, should not interfere with the primary loyalty of the fay which always lies to the humans. It is accepted that relationships between fay and humans certainly happen, but this is somewhat taboo, more so in some quarters than others, and usually glossed over.

Aesthetic

The tribe prefers clothes with history, and it would not be unusual to see items of clothing that have been repaired many times. It is also not uncommon for people to embroider their names on their clothes, and so some well-loved clothing will have a long list of names on it. Listeners also like to wear relics from the previous civilisation, and medieval clothing and motifs from fantasy are popular, especially among the dead-strains. Some carry instruments for playing songs with them. Many people will be able to tell an anecdote or two about what they are wearing, but it isn’t necessary to know the story of an item to appreciate that it has one.

Dance of Earth and Moon

“In the beginning, a great dragon, Earth, came down from the heavens. Her scales were a deep reddish-chestnut, the colour of soil and blood. She moulded humans from clay, painstakingly engraving all the intricate details with her talons, before breathing fire and life into them.

She filled the skies with a thick cloud words, and when a baby was born, the words would rain down from the sky and form themselves into that person’s Story, their destiny. The Children of Earth made their own stories, and the words from those went back to the sky, and floated in the clouds once more, ready for when they were needed again. There were plenty of words to go around.

The world continued in a relatively peaceful fashion, and many humans fulfilled their destinies, and even more made great stories, which would be told for years to come. But something was missing.

Moon came.

Bright milky-white, she shone like the stars. Small and nimble, She darted around Earth, cartwheeling through the sky. The two dragons, who had each believed themselves alone in the world, fell deeply in love.

Moon made the fay, from sea air and dewdrops, thread with starlight and the sound of tiny bells, she filled them full of magic. The Children of Moon had no stories of their own, but Moon and Earth told them they had were very important, their power was to aid the Children of Earth in fulfilling their own destinies.

The dragons themselves curled up to sleep, and dragons sleep for a very long time indeed.

Eons passed and the Children of Moon grew envious of the Stories of the Children of Earth, and coveted the words, wishing to steal them for themselves. In secret they plotted and at night they made a huge net, knitted from spiderwebs and envy, and used it to capture the words, stealing from the sky. Firstly they ate the words slowly and tentatively, delightfully savouring each morsel. Soon that was not enough and they grew gluttonous and greedy, gobbling up more and more Words, devouring them until they were bloated.

But the stories were not meant for the Children of Moon, and the more they ate, the more they grew fat with stolen words, the wickeder they became. They stopped helping the Children of Earth, and desired the world for themselves, to have dominion over human and beast alike. There were no longer enough words in the sky for the the stories of the Children of Earth.

A great war between the humans and fay began, and the screams of her children awoke Earth from her slumber. The Children of Moon were clever in their wickedness and knew that Earth would punish them for their sins. They gathered bloated with their stories and words and fell on Earth savagely before she saw what was happening. They rend and slashed viciously until Earth could not defend herself anymore and whispered a last breath towards her lover, Moon.

With a terrible premonition Moon rose from her long sleep and saw what her children had wroth. Flying into a terrible rage at the sight of poor Earth she turned to her children and they could finally see the depth of their error. In the face of Moon they could see no pride, no understanding or compassion, no mercy. In her wrath, Moon destroyed all the fay.

Then she gathered the humans and gathered those who did not have stories of their own. She fed them a broth from the bones of the dead fey, from blood and sinew of beasts, from rocks and soil and all those things that made Earth. She crafted words to make a story for them, the tale of their ancestors, the tale of Moon and their past shame, the tale of their future and their duty. That the humans have a destiny and only the storyless could pave the way.