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see also: The Word Quilp

Quilp

Description

A race of six-legged porcupines (four of their legs are used as arms) that live near the foothills of Mount Wor, either in the poorly named capitol city of Quilpopolis or in the surrounding villages that dot the area.

The Quilp are a calm and kind race. They live in harmony with the other civilizations near Mount Wor. In fact, The Quilp are so well-known as Peace-Makers that their abilities were used in The Great War Of The Warlords. The only pronounced area in which they are violent is, in fact, toward cows, which they slaughter on what some have described as "way, way too often, all things considered.". Though there are many methods of cow slaughtering, the most common one is to skin the bovine and cut the flayed body in small, flat pieces.

The Quilp follow a loose polytheistic religion uncreatively named Quilpism. Followers of this religion believe that the world coagulated together out of the sharp quills of the Goddess uncreatively named Quilpma, who died giving birth to her uncreatively named son, Quilpboi. Her longest quills joined together to form the massive peak of Mount Wor. The Quilp God of Destruction/Savior, Quilpo attacks the city from time to time, releasing horrible beams of Stream magic, reconstructing any damaged objects in sight.

Quilp government is never explained in detail. It is said that Quilps are so naturally peaceful, that they can self-govern without need for a central pillar of authority. The majority of Quilp are also blind in at least one eye, due to accidents involving other quilp, or handling Quilder.

Quilpopolis is the leading exporter of leather shoes. Thousands of pairs of fine handcrafted footwear leave Quilpopolis on a weekly basis. As a result, the local cow population has declined rapidly, to the great pleasure of their fallen, cow-hating goddess. Some master quilp artisans have been known to enchant their product with tainted magic, which will polymorph the wearer into a bovine of fine muscular quality. This tainted market is increasing at a disturbingly fast rate. Many shoes found in underground shops and black markets are tainted with this curse, leading to an increase of the bovine population in seedy urban areas. The leather harvested from these cursed cows perpetuates the curse.

The high leather trade has further inflated the native currency, the Quilder. The Quilp also have made a pact with Ice Elemenstors to remove the flayed cow pieces in special ice-enchanted wagons; the Elemenstors sell them throughout Battal (under the imaginative name of Beef) and get to keep a part of the profits.

Arildi are a welcome sight in Quilpopolis, because most others are afraid of getting Quilder lodged in their fingers. The Quilp and Arildi have long worked together on the ever-evolving board game of Quelemendi through the Quelemendi Council.

The mythological First Cobbler of the Quilp was Quilpamu, who is also one of the six major constellations of the Battal night sky (see Astrolonomy).

Quilp Elemenstors embrace the ways of the "peaceful" elements such as Life, Water, and Stream. The few Quilps who decided to be Carry or Death elemenstors have been confirmed to be, and I quote, "total dicks." Since Quilders are a natural element, Quilder Elemenstation is possible. Quilp Elemenstors who practice Quilder Elemenstation to any degree are called things worse than 'total dicks'.

Pantheon

• Quilpa - Goddess of Nagging
• Quilpamu - The First Cobbler
• Quilpboi - Great Son of the Great Mother of the Quilp
• Quilpda - All-Around Good Fella and Father-God of the Quilp
• Quilpma - Mother Goddess of the Quilp
• Quilpo - The Giant Monster That's Not That Bad

Fanart

Quilp Fanart by Rhok:

(And the much better version by Rhok):