Below you will find the descriptions of some of the characters who populate Vinland.
The Quilt of Vinland Appearance: It IS a quilt and each patch IS a HUMANWINE song. Every song or story about Vinland gets sewn onto The Quilt of Vinland. The Quilt of Vinland is, as of 2009 a 3 hour theatrical performance, the soundtrack is created and narrated by HUMANWINE with a cast of actors known simply as "aktors". By appearing in a HUMANWINE production one can consider themselves a lifetime member of HUMANWINE. Keys Appearance: Could be the shape of a key, or a dress/suit made of keys. Could also be a "key" to something forgotten that needs remembering or doesn't. Yes, keys, just like the ones you're thinking of, they unlock secrets hidden for one reason or another also, no, not like the ones you're thinking of, the physicality of the key is irrelevant and is only a representative of a "piece of truth". It IS possible to find a key and not know it. It is also possible to find a key, know it, find another key and combine the two to form/find other keys. There is a lock on the sky and with the right combination of keys used at precise times it will unlock. It was beLIEved, by many, to be the ultimate lock to unlock and as a result hundreds have spent their whole lives hunting for the keys to unlock it. It was once widely beLIEved that there were only 5 Keys which quickly grew to 6 Keys and even 7 Keys in some instances. It IS possible to know how many Keys there are but it's impossible to convey that to another being successfully. Not-Me Appearance: A large mouth that signifies it's overuse with constant talking and rule making. They have no ears because if you don't use it you lose it and the Not-Me care not for what anyone has to say. "An ear less mouth upon the soapbox got two fingers over go. Dropping bombs these hands of peacetime making way for new control." - Fattest Thin (HUMANWINE) Not-Me does not refer to themselves by name, the name Not-Me was bestowed upon them by the self proclaimed YerYerOwns, which the Not-Me refer to as Abrogated Munificents. The Not-Me are twisted ringleaders in every major town sometimes many preside over a city. They are the owners of the factories which make The Not-Me Pill of Lies. The Not-Me have very large mouths out from which come the Not-Me thieves armed with the Not-Me Pill of Lies who come out every evening to instill FEAR and ultimately CONTROL the cog populace. "Step right up it's your hero, it's your friend, it will save until the end. We'll weed out the foes our master plan! Guards grab that man who stands tall in front of the people and says,'Thieves come out of THIS MOUTH spreading LIES! A one world plan where your blood dissolves in my hands. Encaustic. Sleeves like a leash 'round your right to abandon I'll haul you in tight and crush your will. Make it easier to please me disease the wells which you drink, they smell like Death!'" - Fighting Naked (HUMANWINE) It is important to know that a cog can become a Not-Me, a Veil Nil, stowaway, Thief you or me can all become Not-Mes. It is the thrill of fame and a lust for money that turns one into a Not-Me and there is hardly ever any going back once the transformation is complete. Not-Me Thief Appearance: A black skull cap and a black and white striped shirt, dark pants. A five O'Clock shadow helps secure the imagery for both make and female thieves, they are sexless. "They crawl from the mouth and then fall to the ground out of site, they burgle the heart of the child and fall them to sleep by feeding lies like a pill promising it's alright." - Wake Up! (HUMANWINE) They crawl in and out of the windows of the factories to slip the Not-Me Pill of Lies into the mouths of the cog populace whilst they sleep unknowingly receiving the "news of the day".	Cog Appearance: Grey skin tone, their ears are wilting and falling off, gaunt, tired eyes with dark circles, a uni-suit (mechanic suits work great) also a number any old number above the front breast pocket and on the back. "Faces of the typical so sad are SAD ARE! Faceless are the typical SO SAD! " - Vin d'Humaine (HUMANWINE) "Trained under gun and programmed 'till empty A husk of human" - Vast the Olde World, Then Sails (HUMANWINE) Citizens of the major cities in Vinland. Armed with names like 01 and 578 these folks live to serve the Not-Me and have been convinced to serve since their birth by their parents who didn't know any better or were to scared to read the posters created by the YerYerOwns. Cogs are filler, fodder and something to be used until their inevitable doom in the factory fields. When finally promoted from the factory to the field Reapers are sent by the Not-Me to heard the promoted Cogs and bury them neck deep in the soil (this is a high honor to a Cog), the head remains above ground, the bottom portion of the body is only visible to the (mythical or are they) dwellers of the underground, the Enjoyeurs who's sky IS the ground of Vinland, when the Cog's particular "final task" is completed a Reaper is sent to decapitate them and they die. The body falls from The Enjoyeurs' "sky" and is then press into HUMANWINE. Enjoyeur Appearance: The Ogr-ish drunkards have torn clothing if any at all. The Fea-ish spirit folks tend to wear thin sheets wrapped just so. Everyone has HUMANWINE all over themselves and remember these folks live underground, the more dirt the better. Think zombie without the wounds. The Dionysian or Bacchian lifestyle carries through to the deepest depths of Vinland. These mythical beings, (many above ground do NOT beLIEve they exist) if they do exist, are the underground dwellers who press the lifeless bodies of the Cogs into HUMANWINE. Reaper Appearance: Large swaths of black fabric that cover their face (if they even have one) and their entire bodies. When next to a Cog the Reapers appear to be 3x their size each armed with a scythe that stands about a foot over their own head. "Raking the fields, harvesting yields the dumbest and numbest to make the best wine! Wield your own scythes! Harvest human lives! The dumbest and numbest to make the best wine!" - vin d'Humaine (HUMANWINE) A being who only answers to the Not-Me for the burial of the Cog and to decapitate the Cog once their respective "final task" has been completed. This is NOT a part time job. Reapers are bred for it, they don't eat or sleep, some say they don't die but there is a story about a pit where they are sent if they disobey the Not-Me. Box Mask Appearance: You with a homemade cardboard TV over your head that rests on your shoulders. A window screen glued to the front acts as a great screen especially with some dark cloth behind it. On the arm a bandage that matches the skin tone so a cord can hang from the arm that is plugged into the back of the TV (head). "We throw all we know away and start all over. We build our hopes high and hope you can climb. Throw out your Box Mask" - Box Mask (HUMANWINE) A marriage between humans and technology. Yesterday's couch potato is today's cyber junky.	YerYerOwn (abrogated munificent) Appearance: These are free thinking anarchists, they do not conform to one appearance. Sometimes they pose as Cogs to blend in during the daytime while they are flyering. "Keep their pill tucked under your tongue 'till they leave, sizz it our quickly and rub the spit on your sleeve. Feeling your way out of bed in the dark, there's no light! Crawl out of bed even in your night clothes and meet us outside where the sky greets the road! Now it's time to draw the line between the things we hold up to this light we've taken as gifts and the things deep inside we once knew in AWE!" - Wake Up! (HUMANWINE) Humans Underground Making Anagrams Nightly While Imperialistic Not-Me's Enslave. YerYerOwn call themselves YerYerOwn, The Not-Me call them Abrogated Munificents. Any Cog can become a YerYerOwn but not all YerYerOwn were once Cogs. Long ago when the Not-Me were gaining power, the population of vinland consisted mostly of Veil Nil who were enslaved by the Not-Me to work in the factories. YerYerOwns are the DIYers of Vinland, the resisters, the questioners and truth seekers. Folks who have been made aware of the Not-Me, it's thieves, the factories, The Reapers and the FEAR BASED LIES; They disown that world and work hard making flyers, panflets, leaflets, posters, organizing underground meeting places and stage above ground rallies to awaken more Cogs because, as they say, "We'll take what we grew we didn't plant it for YOU Work for once! These Seeds are Ours!" - Pique (HUMANWINE) Veil Nil Appearance: Simple folk. A homemade country life offers for many different styles of dress. Since the clothing is homemade and homespun there is a medieval quality but each family has it's own signature. The key here is NOT fancy. "Get the kettel sip the air. Sleep in ferns, they're everywhere! Open windows open doors, tap the tree there's something more. Holding Keys you gathered last year!" - The Hordes (HUMANWINE) Their name is an anagram of villein (an old way of saying half free farm hand) The Veil Nil are simple folk who live in almost forgotten farms in the country sides of Vinland. Living off of the land that is yet to be polluted by the Not-Me's industrious efforts, the Veil Nil are a very artistic race who pass down songs, weaving techniques, farming knowledge essentially, their culture, their story was amongst the first patches to be sewn on The Quilt of Vinland. Hordes Appearance: A cloud of fists, knives, guns, tears, fearful and hateful memories and feelings. A tornado filled with TV's, riot police, magazines and fear-based propaganda. "As it feeds on your waste of flesh, haggard laughing all the way holding until the day. Hold yourself down the hill, you can barely see though the dead debris, it's a body. Bring in The Hordes who feed on your fear, your screams, so you start running. Will you ever stop feeding them?" - Fighting Naked (HUMANWINE) A swirling mass of fists and debris. It is still unknown exactly "how" they form but there is a simple tale that says...From the first feeling of FEAR or HATE came the first Horde. They started as a bunch of little swirls that have grown into a full fledged epidemic! After the first broadcast on NM (Not-Me) Radio This tornadoeaque being started making regular rounds through vinland sucking up that which it lives on, FEAR and HATE. There are two ways of dealing with Hordes when they come through, one can know they exist, yes, but also continue to do the daily and nightly tasks with no fear, to do this is to survive because they will continue by, the other method of dealing with Hordes is to FEAR that they might come (which calls them) and once they come to run and hide, which only leads to the consumption of the person and the growth of said Hordes.	Seafarer Appearance: Life on the Mer is not an easy one. Some have a layered gypsy appearance with scarves tied to every place possible and others try hard to keep their tattered "sailor" clothes up but in general the salt and sun fade everything. "Tide is glowing, waves commands are crystal clear by the moon!" - The Hordes (HUMANWINE) They live and die on the Sea. There are those who travel with them to get somewhere (they may or may not want to be) but it is important to remember that not ALL who are on the Sea at any given moment are Seafarers. Captain Olof Appearance: A proper captain. A good hat to keep the sun away. A strong coat to keep the wind away. Wool is Olof's friend. Since he has only one change of clothes they ended up a little worse for the wear. He is perhaps the most widely regarded of the Seafarers. He had committed his life to searching for The Keys of Vinland while keeping a detailed journal of his findings. There is a painting that surfaced which many beLIEve is the work of Captain Olof himself because of the great attention to the details coinciding with his journal entries. Meetings are held every week to debate the alleged findings of Captain Olof but no one knows for certain where it really came from. StowAway Appearance: Imagine you've been hiding below a deck for any amount of time. Whatever clothes you had a wrecked, you're filthy and scared. "Thought you'd hide parasite. Simple all you had to do was use your full potential! Take that dead beat sailor's body, toss it overboard laugh as the lazy stowaway swims to shore" - Dim Allentown Cove (HUMANWINE) There is a tale of a stowaway who appeared in "Dim Allentown Cove" (an anagram for "Welcome to Vinland") after being discovered they were tossed into the Sea and dealt with the life changing choice of Sink or Swim. They chose to swim. "Swim until you can't swim it's the weight of your end at your feet!" - Dim Allentown Cove II (HUMANWINE) DragonLady Appearance: There is no set appearance for DragonLady. It could be a bit of smoke on the evening sky or in the form of a homeless being covered in all the cloth of the world blending in with trash heaps. It could be a statuesque being with tiles for eyes and a gentile face, a small child at play in a field of dead bodies. Use your imagination. Though "lady" appears in the last half of it's name this being goes beyond gender. The name DragonLady was bestowed upon it by the YerYerOwns who first discovered the "being as big as the sky with truth in it's eyes, seeing through all lies breathing truth inside...chaos". DragonLady's voice appears on the songs vin d'Humaine and some versions of Fighting Naked. The language it uses is exclusively used by DragonLady yet understood by all. A day in the life of DragonLady: It sees everything that ever happens all the time at the exact moment it happens and reports it without taking sides. DragonLady is a true reporter, we say true because you can NOT BUY IT OFF, you can not sway the reports through promises of dinner parties, fame or advertising ploys. The truth seer is not a soothsayer.
Not-Me Pill of Lies - A Pill which is filled with the "Lies of the Day" by the cog populace hard at "work" in the factories. Once the Not-Me Pill of Lies is filled it is filed inside The Not-Me, ready to be taken by a thief as it crawls from the (Not-Me's) mouth into the sleeping quarters of the factories and slipped into a mouth of a sleeping Cog. The Cog will awaken "knowing" everything that was inside the Not-Me Pill of Lies and "forget" everything that wasn't. Freeze - "My thoughts have careened into chaos and now I'm without control. I wanna go out into the street and me random asshole will ensue a violent brawl for comfort" - Vast the Olde World, Then Sails (HUMANWINE) Freeze is the preferred drug of the underground. YerYerOwns who have given up or become overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done but know that hey can not consciously become Cogs again, will numb their minds with a cool blue liquid that tastes as awful as you feel the day after you have been drinking it. The high of Freeze is much like that of Absynthe with more hallucinating and more rage. HUMANWINE - "The dumbest and numbest to make the best wine!" - Vin d'Humaine (HUMANWINE) HUMANWINE has many different names, in this instance it refers to the fluid that comes from the Cogs when they are beheaded, fall from the sky and are pressed in large vats by Enjoyeurs. In another instance HUMANWINE is an acronym and the answer lies within these words.