The Ul-Mor
Ul-Mor resembles octopi adapted to life on land. Like octopi, Ul-Mor has eight large limbs. Each limb ends in five small tentacles useful for grasping and manipulation. They walk on the four largest limbs, using the other four to hold weapons and tools. The Ul-Mor also has a ninth limb, a tentacle about 30 centimeters long. This tentacle is an extension of the spinal cord. The end contains a hard cartilage point encasing a series of nerve endings. The Ul-Mor can insert the tip of this tentacle into the fatty tissue surrounding the spinal cord of other creatures, achieving a nerve link, which allows them to communicate directly with the creature’s mind. The UI-Mor uses this tentacle so effectively they can achieve a direct mind-link with any being. They do not have a complex spoken language, since they communicate with each other using mind-link. The Ul-Mor has, however, developed a secret sign language used in situations where mind-link proves impractical.
Culture
The Ul-Mor are pastoral nomads inhabiting the deserts and rocky barrens of Volturnus, where they herd kwidges and cactus whompers. While tending their flocks, the Ul-Mor ride a 4-meter tall dinosaur called a loper and 50 meter tall Desert Behemoths. They control these animals using mind-link, and, as a consequence, very close ties develop between rider and beast. The Ul-Mor’s high regard for lopers and behemoths is apparent to anyone associating with them.
Much of the Ul-Mor culture is based on their religion. They believe in the “One Who is Many,” a deity that encompasses all things. Though there are many different forms of the One, the Ul-Mor believe that all objects, no matter how strange, are part of the One.
Ul-Mor life is filled with pageantry and ritual. An important ritual is the Great Game. This game takes place in the Valley of Games, on massive behemoths. Sand Sharks and Funnel Worms are summoned and the competitors must some how grab scales from these creatures from atop their behemoths. This is ritual that earns tribal position. Additionally, there is the Ritual of Truth – a means that the Ul-Mor high council mind links to individuals that they need questioned. And finally, there is the Ritual of Cleansing. Cleansing helps certain Ul-Mor that have fallen from the Way of the Oneness to return.
The Ul-Mor legal system is strongly objective, making no allowances for extenuating circumstances. Because the law is designed to protect the tribe, the Ul-Mor feels that extenuating circumstances are unimportant. If an individual violates the law, he has injured the tribe and must be punished. Punishment usually emphasizes compensation for injury inflicted upon the tribe. Some crimes, however, are so serious that the individual can never compensate for his transgression. Such crimes include wasting water, breaking eggs, and desecrating sacred objects. The punishment for these crimes is always banishment.
Though the Ul-Mor is basically a communal being, they maintain a facade of individualism. The Ul-Mor often wear brightly colored headdresses with dyed kwidge feathers, have decorative body tattoos, and engage in a form of ritualized theft designed to display their cunning and battle prowess. An individual may attempt to steal anything he wishes from any being that is not a friend of the tribe’s. If he succeeds, the thief divides his prize among all members of the tribe. The easier it is to divide the prize, the more impressive the Ul- Mor consider the theft.