Residents of The Valley
Paul Twacke
“There can be no safety without sacrifice, and so we must say goodbye to some of our friends, our families, as they ascend the mountain to become one with the Gods. Give no space to fear or sadness, for they are to become something more, something better, for the good of us all. Go forth, our Chosen, and remember that it is in you that our hope is given form.”
As the Religious Leader of the Teppywigs in the Valley of the Unseen, Paul is the person who makes rules, upholds traditions and essentially decides on the general running of the Valley. He is looked up to by all, acting is an advisor to any who go to him and he is in charge of all festivals and events. Unlike the other Teppywigs, he knows that the Chosen are killed and bled out by the Trolls, but he genuinely believes that it must be done to protect everyone else in the Valley from the wars raging beyond their borders. Although he knows that truth, he doesn’t know that the Trolls are pretending to be Gods, nor that the wars that they believe to be happening ended thousands of years ago.
Among his other duties, he is also responsible for making a monthly trek up the mountain to Gor’reg to “commune with the Gods”, during which he brings down the bodies of the last group of Chosen and buries them in secret with his protégé, Jack. The bodies in the soil cause the growth of Bibble Berries, which are known to have some healing properties just like the Teppywigs themselves. Just before this journey he also removes the messages left tied to the trees of the previous Fathers and burns them, to make people believe he delivered them to the Chosen.
