A/N: Dune rocks, I just absolutely love it. This here is a Dune-like story only on a jungle planet instead of a desert. In my writing, I used real Hebrew words, the definitionsare in ( ). Please R&R, this is my first real attempt at a fan writing. Any constructive comments would be mush appreciated.
Those Who Dream Awake
Welcome, it's about time you showed up. You are late you know, but then again time isn't of much importance here in the jungle. Except if you are caught out in the stifling hot and moist climax of the day. The people here would, by most standards, be called simple but I think that they have a most fascinating culture. Come, explore, and I think that you will agree with me. Stay close and don't touch anything.
The jungle people here on Hebreka trace their ancestry back to the ancient Jews on the original terrestrial planet called Earth. In the thirteen thousand years that have passed since the ultimate decimation of Old Earth, the Hebrekans have adapted to the harsh environment of this planet. For thousands of years they were a wandering people, unaccepted on any planet, used only for slave labor. Finally they found this planet and made it their own. A determined people, they found ways to survive and thrive where very little non-native life seemed to be able to. The jungle is full of fierce predators, unlike any on Old Earth; multitudes of invasive bacteria, capable of wiping out massive populations of life; and deadly viruses, which adapt rapidly to crush non-native immune systems. To survive the Hebrekan's bodies have adapted in miraculous ways.
Over the many millennia the Hebrekans have inhabited this harsh planet, they have become a harsh people. They can kill without pity if they see the need to protect their mitzbe'achs (altars). The Hebrekan women have a reputation as ferocious fighters – deadly on the battlefield and feared above even the Knights of the Hegemon in one-on-one combat.
Watch your step carefully as we approach the most hidden of dwellings, the sacred mitzbe'ach; the path is narrow and hidden so that only Hebrekans can truly see
the path and the entrance.
No one knows how many Hebrekans there are. They live in mitzbe'achs; cities built into the cliffs, invisible to most off-worlders and the tempered few Hebrekans who live in the villages provided by the ruling family. Hidden deep within the impenetrable jungles these secret cities are home to various clans of Hebrekans. Each cliff looks completely innocuous on the outside; the few entrances are skillfully disguised and the pathway full of trick clues for non-Hebrekan trackers.
Come with me; enter into the Aliyah Mitzbe'ach (Altar of Ascent). The ways of these people will seem alien to you, but to them it is simply the way they live. Don't assume they are primitive just because they live in caves, or that their homes will be shameful with a lack of amenities.
In the walled-off grotto with side caves, lava tubes, and tunnels extending like a warren throughout the cliff, the jungle people live in an austere yet comfortable style. Luxurious woven carpets cover portions of the floor. Side rooms are strewn with cushions and low tables made of wood and polished stone. Articles of precious off-planet metal are few and seemingly ancient: a carved bulbous plant and an unknown board game, its pieces made of ivory or bone. Quarters rivaling anything the ruling functionaries enjoy in the city of Kepa, one of the few off-worlder cities on the planet, and much more natural.
The constantly encroaching jungles plague the off-worlders who haven't learned to live in symbiosis with the natural life on the planet. But in the mitzbe'achs the jungle is there always; plants grow up and out of the floors. Light enters the cave walls through small holes which also circulate air. Native phosphorescent limbs are set only in the far recesses of the mitzbe'ach where the light won't be visible on the cliff face. A sharp herbal smell permeates the air, like incense, barely masking the sour pungency of unwashed bodies in close quarters.
Around are women talking, children's voices, and a baby's crying, all with a hushed restraint. Activity bustles around within the sealed caves. Workers refine a curious black, bile-like substance into a thinner water-like liquid called makor (fountain), and loose powder called hadlakah (bonfire). The refining process releases the potent herbal smell which saturates the air. Weavers at power looms use their own hair, the long matted fur of mutated rats, thin wisps of bark, and even skin strips from wild creatures to make durable fabric. Schools teach young Hebrekans jungle skills, as well as ruthless combat techniques.
Turn right and brush aside the delicate hanging. Enter the small alcove and glimpse into the life of a Hebrekan Family.
A woman enters from another door carrying a serving tray laden with small dry biscuits and meticulously prepared makor tea in an ornate pot. Her hair appears long enough to flow to her waist if she ever unbraided it from the bindings of plant stems. Her manner is quiet but all-knowing, in the Hebrekan way; she rushes to fulfill her husband's desires, often without him realizing it. She does this not because of some mistaken sense of patriarchy but because it is the way she displays her respect to her husband. He glances at her and smiles lovingly. He had fought hard to win the heart of his beautiful wife. She returns his glance, a confident promise of secrets shared. Despite the passion they feel for one another, Hebrekan tradition forces man and wife to keep any expression of it behind the hangings of cave chambers. In public, they led almost separate lives.
You are curious about the thick black liquid that the Hebrekans were so focused of refining. I can see it in your eyes. You wonder what makes it so special.
The black, bile-like substance is called Zera Almanot (Seed of Widows) and it comes from the Abaddon (destruction), a large carnivorous plant found only on Hebreka. Only the Hebrekans know about the miraculous liquid produced in the heart of this bulbous monstrosity. No one else can even get close enough to carefully study this plant, much less get under the leaves to drain the akedah sacs. This substance is the catalyst of the powerful adaptations of the Hebrekans. The makor produced from the refining process is a powerful stimulant, which strengthens the immune system exponentially, and the hadlakah is a potent poison rendered harmless to one who has consumed the makor. The Hebrekans also grow incredibly strong, purple fingernails laced with the hadlakah poison. These fingernails they file to sharpened lengths to use as a weapon.
Off-worlders know that all Hebrekan's nails are purple, but they think it is from ritualistic ceremonies in which the Hebrekans bathe in crushed petals of jungle flowers. Purple is a sacred color in the religion of the Hebrekans. The G-d name the Hebrekans worship is called Jehovah-raffa (He is our Healer). Be'einei Hashem (in the eyes of G-d) are priestesses who have consumed the unrefined Zera Almanot. Drinking the Zera Almanot destroys the womb of a woman and can cause hallucinations, which are seen as messages from G-d. Few women are brave enough to face the Zera Almanot for fear that they may not be visited by G-d, because not all who partake will have visions but all will be struck barren. Traditionally, there is only one priestess per mitzbe'ach.
A healer G-d who uses a man-eating plant to provide health to his followers, and a sterile priestess, who dreams awake… not quite your typical religion. But then again the Hebrekans are far from typical. Superstition and jungle necessities permeate the Hebrekan life, in which religion and law are intertwined. This way, and we will enter the Bet Din (Court of Law.)
Deep inside the mitzbe'ach is a large meeting hall, a natural vault within the cliff. The grotto has ample floor space for hundreds and hundreds to stand; additional benches and balconies zigzag up the sheer reddish walls.
How many people live within this mitzbe'ach? Not even the Be'einei Hashem know.
High in the empty, echoing room is a balcony, a speaking platform. A lone man stands there looking down toward the empty room, looking at you.
That is Zac'ia the Baal Bayit (Master of the House) of Aliyah Mitzbe'ach. It is he who will decide if you shall live and join the Hebrekans or die because now you have seen and know their secret mitzbe'ach.