Altered Lore

Muna

6 min read

Muna

Overview

The Muna are one of the six factions that follow The Covenant. They seek total alignment with their environment, focusing on finding balance within themselves and with the world around them through mastery of Mana and connection to The Skein.

Philosophy

Inner Harmony

Unlike the Ordis, who seek to organize the sensory world, the Muna primarily seek to structure themselves, and by extension, to attain a state of inner peace. It is when a being is able to calm their inner turmoil and turn it into an impassive mirror that they are capable of facing themselves and finding their true identity.

This self-knowledge and self-awareness, which must be as instinctive as possible, reinforce through feedback their intrinsic harmony. It is this cycle of congruence that the Muna respect and develop—a virtuous loop that allows each being, through their mere existence, to positively influence their environment.

Holistic Vision

The Muna seek to master Mana, a creative energy that permeates and connects all things. While other Factions believe that each thing, whether living or inanimate, is independent and distinct from others, the Muna believe in the existence of a network, a strong bond that unites all of Creation into a protean and shifting whole.

This holistic vision strongly shapes Muna philosophy around the notions of exchange and sharing: without its environment, an individual is nothing, and it is only through their position in the universe, through the interaction they maintain with their ecosystem, that they can define themselves.

Impermanence and Adaptation

The Muna recognize that the only true permanence lies in the constant impermanence of things. Any stability is precarious, any balance is dynamic. To continue to exist, each thing must evolve and adapt to its environment, which by its essence is constantly in motion.

This flexibility is reflected in the continuous curiosity exhibited by the Muna: they are in a state of constant alertness, vigilantly observing new forms of life and still unknown phenomena, with the aim of integrating them into their biome and establishing interactions with them.

Perspective on the Tumult

The Muna aspire to total alignment with their environment: a unity of mind, soul, and body that surpasses the prism of thought or reason. For members of the Faction, existence stems from the moment, and reality is a wave that must be ridden.

For the Muna, The Tumult is a reflection of living beings’ disruption of harmony—a symptom, not a cause. To appease it, each thing must regain its inner balance, and only then can the world stabilize in the long term.

Organization

Structure

The Muna Faction is inherently organized in a decentralized manner. The Ordis even say that their functioning is anarchic, devoid of cohesion. Nevertheless, the Faction manages to operate despite this apparent lack of organization.

Some Muna may be migratory, going where their instinct leads them, while others are sedentary, finding tranquility in immobility. There is no enmity between two Muna with divergent objectives—they know they respond to a need for balance and are only links in a process of returning to stability.

Focus on Ecosystems

The focus of the Muna is primarily on ecosystems. Some live self-sufficiently, surrounded by plants or animals they care for. Others are mediators or ambassadors, seeking to build bridges between species so that all can live in harmony within the same biome. Still others have the heavy task of regulating life forms when some threaten their environment through proliferation.

Founding

The Niavhe-Kaibara Bond

The Muna did not arise around a clear ideology, but rather from a fortuitous event when Niavhe, a simple young girl, formed a bond with Kaibara, the Leviathan who made the peninsula its territory. This union caused a discharge in the Mana fabric, The Skein, which touched many individuals throughout Asgartha.

All those affected awakened to this network and became aware of the existence of others like them, forming the first generation of Muna.

Alteration Style: The Anam

The Muna practice The Anam, a distinctive alteration style focused on shaping Mana rather than manipulating The Aether. This approach requires long-term work and great patience but creates durable transformations that make them more resilient to the waves of The Tumult.

Mastery of Mana also allows advanced practitioners to enable Eidolons to temporarily incarnate within them, creating hybrid beings capable of demiurgic feats.

Rites and Initiation

Awakening to the Skein

It is difficult to know why some individuals awaken to The Skein while others do not. Sometimes it requires long learning, and sometimes this connection is natural and instinctive. When a person feels this bond, they can choose to strengthen it through practice or let it wither away.

The Nine-Stage Pilgrimage

Those who wish to join the Muna must undertake the Nine-Stage Pilgrimage on the island of Kirighai, passing through the nine stages of the circuit over several months. At each stage, pilgrims can stop at one of The Refuges and benefit from the insight of a sage.

The journey ends at The Spindle, seat of Bark Refuge, where aspirants must climb the world tree to collect materials and weave their Namkha Knot—the sign of their belonging to the Muna.

The Musubi

The most important rite of the Muna is The Musubi, a bonding ceremony that only the Muna can celebrate. Performed at Bark Refuge, a Muna priest intertwines the essences of two beings so they become one. This profound communion transforms those who bond into complementary halves of a whole.

Iconic Locations

Current Objectives

The Guardian Spirits

The Muna actively seek to rediscover the mythical Sarwa—guardian spirits of nature glimpsed by primitive peoples during their migration to Asgartha. The Muna believe these creatures could be the missing piece to achieve lasting stabilization of the world.

Expanding the Skein

The Muna serve as vigilant sentinels of The Skein, intervening when ecosystems are threatened. With time and the rediscovery of the world, they hope to expand their awareness to new horizons, connecting new biomes to the Skein and spreading their perception far beyond current limits.

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