by Melantha
To Monsters and Creatures Treatises
I remember when I first learned about the Kava. It was a small tavern in Selarum, back during the Goddard days, and I was discussing the intricacies of a spell with its creator, one Magus Lijaer.
"The reagent," he said quietly, so as to avoid the ears of those who surrounded us, "needs to possess powerful deluding capabilities. This," he said, taking a bit of dried moss from a pouch, "should do it."
I poked at it with a long nail, cocking my head to the side. It was a thick, deep green, the bottom turning dark where little black roots reached out to dry air.
"Kava," he said.
I remember it as seeming so small, so powerless. How little I knew.
The Kava was first encountered in the New World, dwelling among the hazy mysteries of the Moors. Some say that all the strange happenings of the Moors can be attributed to the unusual creature, but most feel that the Kava is just another of the Moor’s odd denizens.
Only a few facts are known. The creature is a shape-shifter of unparalleled potency, able to assume the form of creatures or objects convincingly enough that a Kava, in the shape of a husband, shall not be suspected by the wife. Furthermore, it is not limited to only one shape at a time.
"The Kava can become an entire landscape," I was told by Jeran, an authority of the subject who studies unknown creatures from his home in Selarum. "It can become trees, people, birds, insects . . . and it does it all at once."
No one knows if there is but a single Kava, or many.
"The question," Jeran says, "is probably irrelevant, as the creature does not seem to distinguish between the concept of one and many. It simply is in the sense of an entire forest acting as a single, giant entity, seeing through the eyes of squirrels and hawks, hearing through the listening trees."
The tales of encounters are many. People will often encounter friends, loved ones who are long dead, tame and helpful animals, or weird objects. Others will be drawn into lovely grottos. Most do not even know that they’ve met a Kava, unless it has taken an animal or human form and later reverts to moss.
"The Kava’s natural form seems to be a thick bed of deep, rich moss," Jeran says. "Small Kavas, it is supposed, can shift their form into things of approximate mass. Thus a bed of moss will shift and rise up to become a lost adventurer, and a few days later, will turn back into moss. It is theorized that as a Kava ages, it begins to grow underground, until a single Kava can cover many round leagues, waiting to shape itself into any desired form. This, of course, is following the ‘many Kava’ theory. If all Kava are only parts of a larger whole, well . . . well, the same behavior might hold for that theory as well. If the Kava does anything to us, it’s that it confounds and defies categorization."
And what else does it do to us? Few claim to comprehend its purposes. Often, the Kava will spend a great deal of time getting to know someone. And they have also been known, on many occasions, to help people who are in need. But reports come, as well, of the Kava luring people to strange fates.
"Those who the Kava leads astray are probably never heard from again," says Jeran. "So we have more reports of helpful Kavas than destructive ones. The one thing that is clear is that they are interested in us for some reason, and desire to understand our ways. It is not unknown for a Kava to reveal itself to a person, and to seem curiously interested in our reactions."
In the days of Antara, before the founding of Aranor, the Kava was worshipped by a small cult, who saw the Kava as a deity.
"In the Japuran culture, there is the concept of an ultimate deity who manifests in multiple forms, thus creating the world," says Jeran. "The Kava inspires the same thought, for it exists, simultaneously, as a multiplicity of creatures, and, furthermore, is not loathe to interact with our kind. For those who would worship the Kava, the creature makes for a very manifest, very touchable god."
The creatures seem to exist nowhere but the Moors of the New World, however, and thus are quite limited, if not in power, at least in the extent of their influence.
"The personality of a Kava is nearly impossible to divine," says Jeran. "So often it takes on the personality of others. But it seems either unable or uninterested in moving further out into the world. It is obviously an intelligent creature, or capable of mimicking intelligence, at least (is there a difference?), but what that intelligence is applied to is a mystery. It does not seem to exist in any sort of society, it does not build or create, except for a limited duration, and seems content to simply interact with people and the world."
Some wonder if the Kava is the eyes for something greater.
"The true mystery of the New World," says Jeran, "is the presence of the Eldritch. That strange race, thought by some to be extinct, could very well be the guiding force behind the evolution of the New World, from the birth of Maelmuire to the haunting of Antara, to the growing mysteries of the Moors."
Indeed, the New World is perhaps one of the greatest frontiers on Carador. Its unimaginably vast stretches of wilderness hold many secrets, from old Eldritch ruins to the dragon sacrifices of Taeidor, from rumors of civilizations in the southern central peninsula to the fact that at least two native cultures – the people of Taeidor and the people of Sia, remain as almost completely undocumented races of people.
Perhaps the greatest mystery of all will remain the Kava, though.
"I’ve hours worth of reading here on the Kava," Jeran told me, gesturing to a large stack of bound papers, "and yet, in reading it all, I often feel like I’m left with nothing. This creature defies our concepts of good and evil, of being and non-being. We do not know whether to classify it as plant, animal, spirit, or fae. It comes and goes into people’s lives seemingly without definable pattern – most other creatures tend to be predictable – helpful, dangerous, or misleading. But the Kava? Savior of the lost, gatherer of the past, tempter to the fates, initiator of thought, carrier of fear, bestower of healing, teller and keeper of secrets – that is all I can say of it."
And so, the strange creature, which is perhaps nothing more than mimicking moss, continues to elude the minds of sages. But to travelers through the Moors, the mention of the Kava will always bring a feeling trepidation and curious wonder.
To Monsters and Creatures Treatises