Editing Narcissus (section)

===Skops, helot client state===

The Skopses are one of the helot cultures of Narcissus. They were conquered long ago, essentially enslaved for generations, but in the decline and decadence of the City of Mirrors have effectively regained their independence. In earlier eras they often had to be brutally suppressed by Narcissus, as their subversive Cult of the Flensed Man inspired bloody uprisings. Over generations that bloody cult has been supplanted by more acceptable religions, and only survives in their harvest festivals where they burn wicker effigies. Skops is a fertile land from the loess soil left behind by the retreating glaciers of the north. This provides the food that sustains the population of Narcissus, and the Skopses are also another market for the goods produced in the City of Mirrors.

Lurid stories of the Flensed Man cultists say that they wore masks and mantles of the bloody skin of their enemies, and that they could thereby assume the seeming of other people. Their shamans – who were all long ago slain or driven into the wastes – it is said could flense ghosts, and assume the seeming they had in life by wearing the spirit skin. Flensers are Skopsic revolutionaries that wear the bloody skins of beasts to hide their identities from discovery.

Occupations: Helot, Farmer, Herder, Tanner, Trader, Flenser
Suggested Skills: Animal Handling, Farming, Leatherworking, Occult (spirits), Forbidden Lore (Flensed Man)
Social Background: Cultural Familiarity (1 pt., Narcissus), Skopsic (native language), Glossa (accented language)
Suggested Quirks: Nosy, Staid, Vulgar*
Sample Contact Groups: Clan, Cult 
Suggested Spells: Hide Reflection (IQ/Average)
Common Names: Andrew, Barbara, Thomas
Rumor: “The Flensed Man still lives, and hides within Skops to ferment unrest and revolution. Its secret is that it is neither a god nor a human – it is a skinwalker that escaped from the mirrorworld long ago in the time of the ancients, and has masqueraded as either or both ever since. It hides among the Skopses now, secretly wearing the skin of a dead man that it pretends to be, while leading the Flensers in rebellion.” 

-- by Kakita Kojiro