Nelazgians
The Nelazgians are the people the god Nelazgus made with the Eyearke Stone, native to Veskadoth, and the army through which Obellius Kalaar makes war on Eslura.[1][2] The same name is given to anyone who swears allegiance to Obellius and takes the mark on the wrist, whether or not they are of the people.[3]
Appearance
Nelazgians loosely resemble common animals, but darkly and skeletally: half of the body black fur, half exposed bone.[1] Their half-bone bodies are enough on their own to mark where they come from.[4]
Beyond that they vary widely, both in size and in the animal they read as. A crocodilian one, tall and knobbly and scaled, attacks Reagan Hideaway at The Avonbourn.[5] Drayzuzian has a pointed alligator's snout that bends sideways, splotchy black fur, wings with more holes than skin, jagged teeth, knife-like claws, and a deep black pit with a cracked red scar where his right eye should be.[6][7] Two guarding the core of Alakyer read as a cow and as a horned rabbit, one of her big ears worn wholly open to the bone.[4] A fox and a deer keep the docks at Veskadoth.[1] Others are small, black and furry, or tall and lanky and hunched almost to the floor.[7]
Society
Veskadoth is the Nelazgian city. Nelazgian natives carry no surname, where a last name is common practice among Eslurians.[8] A statue of Nelazgus stands in its central square, choked with black vines and missing several limbs, and Nelazgians swear by his name where an Eslurian would swear by Aezaros.[8][9]
Their sigil is two intertwining circles split down the middle, described once as split by a Y on the banners hung around the Veskadoth square and once as pierced by a split tree on the obsidian armour worn at Alakyer.[8][4] Followers wear it as a tattoo on the wrist. Tabitha Glowdish is branded with it against her will by Drayzuzian, who calls the moment a congratulation.[6] Aero Ellisvat carries the same mark on his wrist, and describes the role he held among them as a warrior for liberation.[6][3]
The Nelazgians do not lead themselves. Ferra Ellisvat, an Eslurian made commander in Veskadoth, says they lack the authority and logic a leader needs, and so they buy young Eslurians in Varaar from those willing to sell children, then raise and train them to lead their ranks.[10][11] Ferra is held to the island by an enchanted necklace that will tighten and kill her if she leaves, and she expects that Obellius regards Nelazgians and captive Eslurians alike as slaves in waiting.[10]
Eslura's view of them is fixed and hostile. Alpin Loomin uses the word as an insult against an Olphin boy who has done nothing:
Lumikki Otsby, standing under a mural of the Nelazgian creation story at the Veskadoth docks, reaches the opposite conclusion and reproaches herself for having been single-minded: they are people too, with their own culture and hobbies and stories, and she resolves to mend the relationship between the remaining Nelazgians and the mainland.[1]
History
Creation
Nelazgus stole the Eyearke Stone from Aezaros while she slept and used it to make his own settlement, ruled by one all-powerful king, and called them the Nelazgians.[1] He tried to make them just like Eslurians, but as the god of darkness and death his creations came out resembling those traits.[1]
The War of Shadows
Nelazgians fought on Obellius's side in the War of Shadows alongside the Olphins, and are remembered in Eslura as traitors of that war and followers of Obellius.[12][13] They also laid siege to The Sacred City and ransacked it, though they overlooked Amelia Lunala's wardrobe and The Sacred Cloak hanging inside it.[14] The books do not date that siege.
Galecrest
A horde of Nelazgians gathers in the grass outside Galecrest on the night of the High Moon Festival, meaning to take the city by dawn.[6] They set fires on the east side, and Millennium Loftwind sends the rest of her Sacred Guard to clear the people from the area.[7] After Beatrice Tidal kills Drayzuzian, the Nelazgians leave the city rather than press the attack, which surprises everyone who watches them go.[7]
The war under Obellius
By Sacred 2: Flames of the Awakened the Nelazgians take Zybersia outright, and Obellius seats himself on Elmryn's throne in the citadel above the city while Nelazgians serve as his footstool and his guard.[2] They raid Morgaedion and hold it, driving the surviving Olphins into a passage inside the prison walls.[15] They invade Ovallia and take Pemadee prisoner.[16] They cage dragons at the core of Alakyer for Obellius to cleanse, chain Trelluby beneath the Veskadoth docks, gather explosive desert flowers in the Kella Desert, and dig the Veskadoth Tunnel System, whose lines all run to the Sacred City.[17][1][18][19]
Known members
A second named Nelazgian, Awelk, attends Obellius at the fall of Zybersia.[2]
Two Eslurians are called Nelazgians for their allegiance rather than their birth: Aero Ellisvat, who joined them hoping they would lead him to his stolen sister, and Tabitha Glowdish, who was marked under duress.[6][11]
Behind the scenes
A pronunciation guide printed at the back of both novels gives Nelazgus as Nuh-laz-gus and Nelazgian as Nuh-laz-gee-ann.[20]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Book 2, Ch. 25.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Book 2, Ch. 1.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Book 2, Ch. 20.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Book 2, Ch. 11.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 19.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Book 1, Ch. 23.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Book 1, Ch. 26.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Book 2, Ch. 19.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 8.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Book 2, Ch. 22.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Book 2, Ch. 16.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 13.
- ↑ Book 1, Ch. 17.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 9.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 21.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 27.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 14.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 23.
- ↑ Book 2, Ch. 26.
- ↑ Book 1.