Oread
When stones fall from their heights, and mountain peaks falter, the Oread are born to restore the essence of Earth as it pierces that of Air.
The Oread are Elementals of Earth, found commonly in the vicinity of mountains. They take the form of muscular, hairless female humanoids, with skin of polished Marble and Granite, They are known for their strength and endurance, able to bear heavy loads and climb well even while so doing, essentially immune from cold or falls. Their overt powers are few, little more than the ability to transform into boulders (an ability they employ when they must descend following a climb).
The Oread spend much of their time attempting to rebuild mountains whose peaks have been eroded or whose flanks have been reduced through avalanches, carrying out this task by hand through carrying stones back to their proper place and affixing them once more. In this, they can come into conflict with the elementals of weather and of avalanches, whose wrath can be ferocious indeed: the Oread might sometimes defend themselves, but more often will simply endure and continue to carry out their purpose while paying the opposition no heed. There are tales, however, that incautious mountain climbers whose picks and footfalls send too many pebbles tumbling will suddenly find themselves grasped and flung from the mountainside by an irked Oread (the pillowbook tales of far-different encounters experienced by mountaineers who practice due caution in their climbs are dismissed as salacious falsehoods by the Immaculate Order).
The Oread are known to form communities, perhaps because their work is so laborious: clusters of Oread can be found working together to rebuild each others’ mountains after avalanches, together repairing each one in turn. While they can speak human tongues, their words carrying an echoing quality, amongst themselves they sing. The voices of the Oread are deep, echoing, and heavy… some compositions of the First Age took advantage through inclusion of bound Oread choirs in their orchestras, though this has mostly been forgotten in the present Age.
While the Oread are capable porters and climbers, they compare poorly with many other Earth Elementals used by sorcerers in construction projects due to their lack of ability in stoneworking. Far more commonly, they are summoned as consorts and companions… they are possessed of a stoic beauty, considered one of the Fivefold Seasonal Courtesans, with some considering them perfect mannequins upon which one can drape and test the latest fashions in various poses, their marble faces canvas for wigs and cosmetics. Other summoners see them useful for darker purposes... they are durable, and their skin does not mar with bruising no matter what might be visited upon it.
Known to few, conducting their practice within the deepest depths of the Temple of He who Illuminates both Worlds with Majesty and Power, one can find a small choir of Oread who serve the Immaculate Order. The Immaculate Faith is not a thing for spirits: it teaches them duty, but its practices concern the enlightenment of mortal souls, which soulless gods and elementals lack. And yet, this handful of Oread wear the robes of the Order, are greeted as ‘sister’, and spend their days singing the Immaculate Texts and practicing the katas of the Dragon Styles.
This strange group of Elementals has its origins in a twist of geography: the Seat of Pasiap, at the peak of the Imperial Mountain, is a most holy and blessed place. It is also a bowl at the summit, where there might be a peak, and on occasion an Oread will emerge to try and fill it. This is, of course, improper... the Imperial Mountain is perfect in its form, the ideal of mountain made real to anchor all Creation, but these Oread are particularly driven to fulfill what they hold as their purpose. The monks of the Immaculate Order must stop these efforts, for the spirit is wayward in their duties to Creation, but as is the nature of elementals to destroy one is to assure another emerges to complete its purpose. Instead, the monks of the Order decided they must take the young elementals and make them understand why their drives were incorrect. To this small number were added a larger number of Oread who had been held at the now-destroyed House of Constraint, found wandering and broken through the Scarlet Prefecture and gathered by the Order in the only place which seemed fitting.
