Lore: Sky & Cloud, Hubris of Orcs & Dwarves (Part 1) (Patreon)

(Art by Dzuk/Orcloon)

Buh'luu may be one of Errantine city's most well known inflatable dancers - of which there are admittedly few to begin with - but the city cannot claim him as part of its home grown talents. Buh'luu originally hails from the world of Airin, the Thundering Cape in particular. He belongs to a grouping of Orcs who live under the 'Skyreign Clan.' An organization formed centuries ago during the conflict which cursed, and ironically, gave the Skyreign the ability they are known for today.

The power to blow up like a balloon.

 At the peak of the Midplains War, the Skyreign clan - then still an alliance of loosely connected villages - had taken to the skies in airships against their enemy. The Cloudbreaker Kingdom, a Dwarven monarchy which ruled Western Airin.

Both clan and kingdom fought with flying machines of different make, but of similar power. The leather and canvas of Skyreign balloons, and the smoke-sputtering engines of Cloudbreaker copters, were both fuelled by the divine. 

The god Pneumarius, if you went by the Dwarves interpretation of them as a great-bellied font of providence, purest ale, and immaculate beard hair; or Great Pneumik Rex, the Sunblocker and the Thunderous, a protuberant orc filled to bursting with holy flame and hot air. 

Both were accurate, but ultimately, their god was one in the same. Both aspects eventually tired of their worshipers incessant demands for a conflict which, in actuality, accumulated few losses. It did more damage to the land, and to the patience of the aspects, than it did either civilization. Morning, noon, and night. The dwarves prayed for their oil and alcohol to be blessed both, so they might tinker under the emboldening of righteous ale and fly on fumes of providence. The orcs overtaxed their god by demanding gales of scorching hot wind to fill their balloons, blimps and zeppelins. They drove it to frustration by asking for more each time, and with such routine, that all divinity had filtered out of the rituals.

In a bid for their sanity, and to put an end to their violence, the aspects coalesced and manifested over the theatre of combat. And declared, in their inscrutable true form, too enormous to comprehend, that they would answer the prayers no longer. They decreed that if Skyreign and Cloudbreaker still wished to take to the skies, they would have to do so under their own power. But neither would be able to slay the other, or their kin, ever again.

As the oil dried up for the machines, and the volumes of hot gales stilled that the fighting stopped. And in the absence of war came an uneasiness in both people. 

Until an Orc took to the sky. And a Dwarf did too. The two had been sent to salvage their airships from the Midplains, now strewn with ineffective vessels. An argument broke out, which led to violence, that inexplicably didn't lead to bloodshed. The sharp edges of their weapons cut flesh but no blood released from the wounds. Instead, for every point of injury, the combatants found themselves lighter on their feet. They cried out in surprise as they both began to take to the air like the airships they had used to do combat with. A grapple broke out between an Orc and a Dwarf, swollen and still growing with every injury they inflicted. No bruises, no broken bones. Every impact caused further inflation, until their limbs sunk into divots and their torsos threatened to become full spheres. They bumped against one another, determined to still win the combat. And what resulted was a cataclysmic boom, ending in two naked fighters panting and blushing on the grass of the plains.

It was then that both societies had realized they were "cursed," as every Dwarf and Orc adult had become inflatable. As their young matured, they gained this ability. And triggered enormous, permanent change in both cultures.