Crunchiest_Leaf

My orcs were killed by parents

for a none-AI alternative, please insert this clip-art rat in place of the header image

Short Synopsis The Nezumin are a subterranean rodentfolk, often considered 'lesser ratfolk', defined by ancestral memory, sacred labor, and preservation of the dead. They are not inherently evil. Their culture openly acknowledges inherited urges from ancient forebears and later Ratiki lines, including hoarding, paranoia, territoriality, and fear-driven domination. Nezumin virtue is the disciplined restraint of those urges through ritual, duty, and communal accountability. The name Nezumin first entered recorded tradition upon their emergence on the isles of Oyashima, though later records describe similar emergences elsewhere. They revere the Thirteen Great Rats as ancestral exemplars, with some held in deific regard through perceived blessings. Nezumin theology teaches that the soul remains anchored to the body after death, making bodily integrity and funerary practice spiritually central. Their society values stewardship over conquest, continuity over spectacle, and caution over naivete; all lessons learned from the failings of their ancestors. I. Overview The Nezumin are a subterranean people shaped by ancestral memory, sacred labor, and a theology of permanence. Their worldview rests on a single principle: the soul anchors to the body, and community endures through preservation across generations. At the center of Nezumin culture is the myth cycle of the Thirteen Great Rats. These stories vary by warren but remain consistent in moral function: survival, balance, and duty. Nezumin are not inherently evil. However, many acknowledge inherited impulses toward hoarding, territoriality, paranoia, and fear-driven control. Their ethics are built around mastery of those impulses, not denial. Some Great Rats are also venerated in deific terms and are believed to grant favor through devotion, labor, and right conduct. II. Historical Foundations Nezumin origin traditions differ by warren. Some claim descent from injured ratiki footsoldiers left behind after ancient conflict. Others claim descent from deserters who rejected Ratiki hierarchy and violence. Across traditions, three lessons are constant: Scarcity and hoarding will destabilize society if unchecked. Communal survival will outweigh individual appetite. Space and stability shall be preserved across generations. From these principles arose Eternal Nest doctrine and the moral framework of the Great Rats. In Nezumin teaching, predatory instinct is a burden of history, not a destiny. III. The Thirteen Great Rats The Great Rats are ancestral exemplars. Several are also venerated as sacred patrons through perceived gifts and blessings. They are not usually framed as distant creator gods, but as figures whose favor is sought through ritual, labor, and conduct. The First Great Rat - The Penitent Builder, and the first rat <link to story> The First dug refuge when greed and famine threatened collapse. Space breeds peace. He is said to choose successors among the Great Rats, teaching that elevation is earned through worthy action. The Second Great Rat - The World-Turner <link to story> The Second runs upon the world's wheel, sustaining motion and season. His lessons: Motion prevents stagnation. Effort maintains balance. Endurance requires participation. Her blessing is associated with resolve in communal labor and steadiness under social strain. The Third Great Rat - Gira-Gira, She Who Returned the Light Gira-Gira is remembered as the argent-furred restorer who returned the last celestial ember to the heavens, becoming the moon, and her burning tail the sun after the world stagnated. Her myth teaches that renewal will require sacrifice and action. She is invoked for guidance in darkness, restoration of hope, and courage against spiritual decay. The Thirteenth Great Rat - Kikurage Kikurage is remembered as the first recognized Nezumin among the Great Rats: Sworn Protector of the Eternal Nest. He represents living continuity and defense of warrens, tunnels, and sanctuaries. He is petitioned for vigilance, protection, and safe return when venturing above the topsoil. Nezumin tradition contrasts true elevation through service with false ascension through ambition, often citing Chulk Blackhide as caution; with his grab at power through demonic pact and sacrifice of his children. IV. Theology of the Anchored Soul Nezumin doctrine holds that the soul remains anchored to the body after death. Through preservation rites, the dead enter the Shared Dream within the Eternal Nest. Family shrines maintain generations in mummified repose, expressing continuity between living and dead. Bodily integrity is spiritually significant. Core principles: Remains shall be preserved by rite. Lost limbs shall be reunited when possible. Mutilation is taboo. Shrine-keepers are to be protected and revered. V. Doctrine of Wholeness The body is the vessel of identity. Fragmentation through violence or decay is believed to destabilise the soul's anchor. Obligations include: Recovering fallen kin. Preserving severed remains. Using symbolic replacements where recovery fails. Acknowledging permanent loss through ritual. Execution is spiritually less severe than mutilation: death preserves anchoring, while dismemberment threatens it. VI. Cultural Values and Personality Nezumin society prioritizes: Communal survival. Responsible use of space. Preservation of ancestry. Labor as sacred continuity. Protection of subterranean sanctity. Nezumin view the underground as more than habitat. It is regarded as inherited trust, shrine-ground, and sacred home. Warrens, tunnels, burial vaults, and cistern routes are treated as communal sanctum tied to both living duty and ancestral rest. Because of this, territorial behavior is culturally normative: boundaries are mapped, access is monitored, and intrusion is treated as a serious social and spiritual concern. This territoriality is defensive rather than expansionist. Nezumin doctrine favors stewardship, maintenance, and controlled access over conquest. To claim, damage, or exploit subterranean space without consent is understood as a violation against both community and memory. Nezumin are often wary of surface life, which they view as exposed, transient, politically unstable, and spiritually careless in treatment of death. They are especially suspicious of powers that reward conquest, spectacle, or extraction; especially of earthen materials such as metals - due to their associations with their subterranean home. They are generally guarded with outsiders, pragmatic in speech, and slow to grant trust. Hospitality exists, but is conditional on reciprocity and respect for warren boundaries, funerary sites, and ritual space. Ancestral urges, including hoarding and territorial aggression, are openly recognized and restrained through ritual, duty, and communal accountability. VII. Physical and Social Characteristics Nezumin are small, agile rodentfolk adapted for subterranean life. While they retain visible kinship with Musin, they identify more strongly with their Ratiki forebears and describe themselves as rats rather than mice. Common traits: Dark-adapted eyes. Sensitive whiskers. Strong claws for digging. Fur in earthen tones, with rare silver coats. Ratlike Morphology Nezumin physiology is distinctly ratlike in build and profile. Their heads are longer and more wedge-shaped than most Musin counterparts, with pronounced muzzles, heavier incisors, and broad-set ears tuned for tunnel acoustics. Their bodies are lean and sinewed for narrow passage movement, with low-center balance suited to climbing rubble, bracing in confined spaces, and sudden directional changes underground. Tails are typically long, expressive, and functional for balance and signaling within tight warrens. Their mannerisms also reinforce this identity: frequent scent-checking, whisker-led orientation, rapid stillness before movement, and close-proximity social clustering in enclosed spaces. Fur color may hold symbolic superstition in some warrens, but holds no real power or social standing; For example, silver fur may carry resonance through Gira-Gira, the third great rat, but it does not grant automatic rank, authority or mystical function, as is the same with black fur; notably held by the first great rat, and inherited by Chulk Blackhide, the demon rat-king of Luciensberg. Scars and deformities are treated with solemn respect; ritual markings and practical prosthetics are common. Nezumin sight reflects subterranean adaptation. Their vision prioritizes forward detail and close-threat tracking over broad surface-field scanning, though side-set eyes, on account of their ratlike heads, retain partial environmental awareness. Under bright-surface conditions, vision is significantly hindered, with detail strongest directly ahead and weaker to flank and rear. In low-light environments, visual performance improves and effective range extends, especially in tunnels and caverns. Above ground, Nezumin often rely more heavily on whisker sensitivity, hearing, and spatial memory, particularly under bright or flashing light. VIII. Nezumin and Their Musin Cousins Nezumin and Musin share distant ratfolk ancestry but diverged in ecology, theology, and social adaptation. Key differences in Nezumin tradition: Sacred orientation: Nezumin center the Eternal Nest, Anchored Soul, and shrine continuity; Musin are more surface-assimilative. Habitat instinct: Nezumin are subterranean preservers; Musin are generally mobile and surface-integrated. Conflict posture: Nezumin favor defensive stewardship; Musin more often favor avoidance and accommodation. Instinct profile: Nezumin discipline hoarding and aggression through social ritual; Musin are more associated with scavenging-reclamation and grooming norms. Social style: Nezumin favor austere utility and continuity; Musin often embrace bright, improvised expression. Nezumin are often perturbed by Musin behavior but do not universally hate them. Many still regard Musin as kin: frustrating, vulnerable, and worthy of guarded concern. IX. Conclusion The Nezumin are a people of memory, discipline, and endurance. Their exemplars teach: The First creates space and sanctuary. The Second sustains motion through sacrifice. The Third restores light in the dark. Their identity is not innocence or corruption, but vigilance: to inherit hunger and still choose stewardship. Death is transition, not erasure. Through the Shared Dream and the Eternal Nest, memory persists across generations. Beneath the world, the Nezumin endure as keepers of the Nest. PLAYER-FACING RP GUIDELINES REDLINES

The rat lord read the missive a second time, assuming he had misread it the first. "This is'uh what eating fruit does. . . it makes'uh the brains wrinkly and grow. . . and gives them HIDEOUS ideas - next they will be having romantic ideas about Kiku's robottus. . . aiyah. . . Kiku avoids fruit for this reason" The rat lord chose not to venture to the surface that day, to avoid any additional descendant weirdness

Name (MC Name): Lord Nezukai Kikurage (Crunchiest_Leaf) (Discord): Crunchiest_Leaf Clan: NEZUKAI Citizenship: Yorumachi no dōkutsu Mahō: rat powers Materials: (combination matchup dependant) Old Plaguesteel, Argentum, Thanhium, Lunarite, mutant bone Availability Preference (Day(s) of the Week): free whenever

clarification: The dev was me, and the tech limitation was Daisy

The rat lord wakes to the sound of a rat carrying a copy of the missive to him in his subterranean home. reading it with a morning cigarette, he shrugs. "Kikusama is not so upset, dwarf or half'uhlings do not belong undahground - this is sacred rattu home, for Nezumin, or honourable Musin cousins. maybe their next houses will be in a tree with thah birds."

The rat lord sits in the depths of his home with a serene face, peace brought to him by this missive "Soukka.... kiku's search will go unhindered in thah empiyah - kikusama will have'uh hims battle in time, and thah blood queens head as hims prize" The ratman then slipped the missive into his undershirt to wave at mori in the streets, as an excuse to kill them without question.

To the rulers and wise peoples of the surface — I am Lord Nezukai Kikurage, Thirteenth Great Rat, Divine Protector of the Eternal Nest and all places beneath the earth. You remember when your sun was taken…? Your sky went dark. Your crops died. Kingdoms fell. The Mori rise from below once more and walk your lands as they did once before. Before they clawed their way to the surface to destroy your home, they first did so to the rats. The underdark was the sacred home of Rat Clans. Tunnels were temples. The stone was memory. Mori came with blades and dark-magic. The war between the rat and mori was long… very brutal. Claw against shell. We fought in our own dark—still they pushed us out. They took our caverns and burrows, driving my ancestors to the surface, with their queen sitting upon the ruins on her throne. She calls herself the Blood Queen. Kiku calls her a thief of the underdark. And your elders knew her as a Thief of sun and land. The ritual that blackened your sky was born in caves they stole from us. Power grows in the tunnels Kiku protects. If she still lives, shadow will come for your sun again, and your homes will be taken once more. This Kiku gives as a promise. To take her head is Kiku’s sacred task, to free his ancestral home. As the Thirteenth Great Rat, and radiant silver blade from the deep, Kikusama is bound by will of the First Great Rat, Doku-Doku. This is not simple revenge. This is a divine charge. Kiku is the protector of the deep. Protector of all underground places. When deep, the sacred rat home is threatened … Kiku must answer. So Kiku asks you surface dwellers: Send knowledge. Her true name. Where she hides. Who guards her. What weakens her. Old records, sealed histories, whispered rumors—anything that leads Kiku closer. The surface and under-earth share the same enemy… understand this. Aid Kiku… and the Blood Queen will be dragged into the light she has stolen from you once already. — Lord Nezukai Kikurage Thirteenth Great Rat Protector of the Eternal Nest and all Deep Places Radiant Silver Blade from The Shadows Crimson Viper Samurai of Kurai Kuni.

Hey everyone, I'm stepping down from my role as Senior Technician and from the team as a whole. Let's address the elephant in the room: as some may already know, my appointment to this position was... messy at best. I had serious reservations from the start about whether I should even accept it after eventually being offered the position under less than ideal circumstances. But I felt I owed it to the playerbase to at least give it an honest try instead of immediately bailing. So, thanks to everyone who backed me during that whole situation — your support is a big part of why I didn't walk away on day one. So I gave it a shot. Time, effort, patience — the works. Turns out, my initial gut feeling was right. Over the past several months, it's become painfully obvious that those with the power to actually make meaningful change are perfectly content watching everything stagnate. No clear direction, no ambition to improve, and certainly no interest in addressing problems that have been festering for ages. Trying to push for progress has been like arguing with a brick wall — except the wall is somehow also condescending and has a knack for gaslighting. After properly evaluating the situation, it's clear that pouring in energy under a system held together with tape and bandaids, that actively resists improvement is a waste of everyone's time — mine especially. I won't name names or air dirty laundry publicly. What I will say is this: seeing how decisions are actually made behind the scenes was... illuminating. Draw your own conclusions. Conspiracy Theories in the Comments, keep an eye out for the ones that go missing. To the playerbase: genuine thanks for the support and enthusiasm around the systems I built. Knowing people actually used and enjoyed that work is the only part of this role I'll miss. Enjoy my plugins, as they are - or how they may evolve in the hands of those who come after me - all of the paintings I've seen since “Crunchiest Canvas” released have made every second worth it looking back. For my own sanity, I'm out on my own terms, quietly without a big crashout. Best of luck to the workers of the team going forward. Sometimes the only thing left to do is to call time. - Crunchiest Leaf - stinky hairy sewer man

First 🐀

"war. . . war nevah changes" the ratman said, looking into the camera "these Chijōjin always ready to kill eachothah" the ratman shrugged to himself "so be it, it is'uh no business of'uh Kikusama"