Vellavi : A lust for violence

By Alissa Juett

It’s true. Our previous book describes the larger conflicts rather than the smaller and perhaps petty fights that happen far more often. This is no novel debasing another region… More so a description of our people, and our superiority to the rest of the realm.

Violence controls people. Even as children, we knew that when you want something, you take it by force. Manipulation through the power of argument, threats, fights and deaths, leads us to be acknowledged just as our leaders are.

Of course we cannot not give away our secrets. Putting what we know and what we have learned down on paper only invites prying eyes to steal those secrets; like a family recipe. Much too troublesome and dangerous. Most of what we learn, we pass on through word of mouth. It is survival of the fittest, and so the words spoken are strong.

It’s no secret we’re a “violent” race. We elect leaders through combat, assuring only the strongest is our leader. We fight for our food; it keeps the strong fed and the weak are weeded out of our population. We want nothing more than to show the rest of the world our way. We’re the strongest and death need not be feared for the weak, as it is deserved. If the other regions are powerful enough to stand against us then there won’t be a problem. However, we know they’re not, and all the weak would do is sustain us longer and work as a cog in a large machine for us to pilot.

There is just something about animalistic violence that is so alluring and attractive to us. The men fight for many reasons but one is to impress the women, and the women fight for many reasons but one is to impress the men. We are like the birds in the trees who dance for a mate, only instead of wings, we use blades and our bare hands, all to spread our strong seed.

Magic flows through the roots of the world. If one can tap into that root, take the sap and use it to defeat one’s enemies and feed one’s young; they are considered immune to battle. To kill these people, who are called ‘Shamans’, is punishable by death. We protect these magic bearers with our lives, as is the way of the gods. We will fight for what gives us stability and protection.

We live for the squabbles and racket, but there is a time when those small battles get repetitive and boring. We will often seek border wars for supplies and to keep ourselves entertained. These battles usually last for a week or two; just long enough for entertainment. Not always do we get the fights we want, as other parts of the region may send more soldiers or retreat completely.

We have had many skirmishes with the Ambiani. Crafty and stealthy, they are difficult to kill. If anything, they must get joy out of being so dishonourable with their tactics.

Regardless of what happens, violence controls worlds and the sooner the rest of the realm knows this, the better.