pages, there is nothing, only blank paper Until, that is, the very last page where “the end” is repeated three times Is this but a tale, or does it record (at least in part) a lost history? The yaksha remember nothing Various markers in the text indicate that Alaka and its people predate all but the mogwoi lords If those lords know anything about the contents, they have not revealed it No other record from that distant time has surfaced in any of the great libraries or notable private collections If these apocryphal tales are true, it would be as if a part of history had been erased And what then of Alaka and the other fey tribes mentioned in the tales? What then of the “cataclysm”? If these tales aren’t true, then the yaksha are no closer to understanding who or what they are Typical Characteristics: It is clear from those lost tales (if they are true) that the yaksha are not now what they once were These passionate spirits of nature were changed by their long imprisonment (and perhaps from this “cataclysm”) The yaksha hallmarks from the tales have been exaggerated and twisted Once creatures of the earth, they have become one with dirt and stone—the very earth walking Their passion has ignited their hearts into smoking, seething artifacts of despair Their demeanors are like night and day: typically gentle and calm, but at the slightest provocation, a terrible rage is released, and theirs is a violence to behold (preferably from a safe — 42 — distance) Environment: These supposedly once gregarious creatures have known solitude for so long, that now they know nothing else Their long lack of interaction and bouts of rage make them difficult to be around Yakshas feel most at home in solitude, deep in the earth if possible