Celestial Illittum

Species descended from greater celestial powers.

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Coeligian

The rainbow people.

• Lifespan : 300 years
• Diet: Fruit-heavy pescatarian
• Habitat: Islands
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Coeligians appear to be mostly human-like beings in shape and size, but their skin and hair color ranges the entire spectrum of the rainbow. They have small antennae on their foreheads. They also glow softly, the same color as their skin. Usually, their hair color is a lighter or darker shade of their skin color. Those whose hair and skin are shades of different colors are seen as rare and beautiful. They have serpentine teeth used to tear the flesh of hard fruits and fish.

As they complete tasks for the rainbow serpent (if they so choose), they gain colorful stripes on their arms.

Some coeligians take on the features of radiant animals after they have completed some special task in life. The most powerful and rarest grow rainbow scales and feathers like a rainbow serpent. Others include

• Warriors sometimes grow the rainbow fur and panther claws of an iridal painter.
• Healers sometimes grow the fiery feathers of a zumrud-u anka.
• Fishers and sailors sometimes grow the teeth and rainbow skin of a yaku patiri rainbow shark.
• Travelers and messengers sometimes grow a rainbow carapace and extra legs like a satie harish, the shining centipedes.
• Laborers sometimes grow large in size and gain the shining, tough skin of a naange ngabu, or sun hippo.
• Poets and writers grow the beautiful feathers and beak of a sakwie, the blue-grey tanager.
• Dancers and lovers grow the wings of the vannattuppucci painted lady butterfly.
• Rangers and druids sometimes grow the glowing rainbow scales and tails of the berpendar biawak or glowing monitor lizards.
• Hunters, shepherds, and scouts sometimes grow the rainbow fur and jaws of the kuri taika, or radiant thylacine.
• Singers, musicians, and actors sometimes grow the rainbow feathers of the griv ti gout (the thrush made of the droplets of the rainbow).

These features may change as they grow or complete tasks or quests, but they never have more than one animal feature at a time.

The inherent radiance within coeligians makes them glow various colors. This soft aura grows stronger as they are nearer to those in need, and they can discharge it using one of their various powers involving their task or touch.

Every coeligian is connected to the rainbow serpent and may seek them out to gain a task, starting at the age of seven. They do this by using special teas to have a vision. The vision is a series of dreams, culminating in an interaction with a rainbow serpent. If they do this once, every seven years, they will gain a new task unless they have three tasks unfinished. If a task proves impossible to complete, they must petition the rainbow serpent in their dreams to relieve them of it. They do this by drinking the special tea before they sleep every night until they see the serpent. If the serpent refuses to forgive them and the task is impossible to complete, the serpent will then give them a larger task, a quest, to complete. Those who receive a quest always gain animal features to help them complete the quest. If multiple people are given the same task, they are encouraged to complete the task together.

Early tasks seem to be general, in that anyone can do them, but once a coeligian takes on a role in their community or has a job or otherwise becomes more specific and defined in their lives, the tasks tailor to what and who they are. Warriors get tasks related to fighting off enemies. Healers get tasks related to healing others. Sailors get tasks related to their boats, to giving people passage, or to warning others of dangers at sea.

As they complete tasks, they gain new powers which reflect the services they have provided, as well as a stripe on their arms in a new color.

The touch of a coeligian can empower people to complete a simple task, giving them physical or mental bonuses to do so for a brief period of time. Using this power uses up some of their radiance which must be replenished by doing something kind (and without esoteric assistance) for someone else.

Coeligians can sense when a person is tired physically, mentally, emotionally, or metaphysically.

The native coeligians of the area are most integrated with other species.

Coeligians are severely oppressed in most parts of the world. In the imperial lands, they are among the most oppressed and subjugated. Most are enslaved, and those who aren't are treated as subhuman. They maintain some small fragments of their previous cultures, mostly a preference for arts and music, flower gardens, nautical lore, and certain foods.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 10 WIL 9 PRS 12 STH 7

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Eximus

Serendipitous protectors.

• Lifespan : 2,000 years

• Diet: Sky fare

• Habitat: Sky islands

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Skin blacker than night, eyes bright in every color of the rainbow, hair like curled strands of precious metals, bodies like humans. Their arms have white feathers. They stand between 6’ and 9’ tall.

Eximi fly on the winds of fortune. They can sense these winds, but not control them. When they take flight, they are uplifted by serendipity, allowing them to move with incredible speeds. As serendipity guides them, the winds of fortune in their wake are filled with it, meaning anyone behind them is granted good luck.

As beings of serendipity, eximi always take the high die.

Eximi can see vast distances. Every eximus has a different esoteric vision to complement their farsight, though this varies by individual and always has a basis in a different celestial energy.

The original eximi live in a series of small islands in the floating continent of Gyrah. They believe that they were tasked by their progenitors with protecting the skies and preventing grievous misfortune from befalling Shem, and so central to their culture is watching the skies for incoming disasters. When major impacts seem possible - i.e., an incoming comet or asteroid - they take flight in a ritual called the bonum turbo, or “good whirlwind”, which spins the winds of fortune such that they eject any approaching doom. Except during these times, they live in small communities. They get by hunting and sky-fishing, keeping small farms, and gathering condensation. Their communities are matriarchal, keeping all property in common, and raising children together. Survival comes easy to them, due to serendipity, so their days are filled with events that others would find remarkable, because so many of them live in one place.

The original eximi form bonds with the ilaaliye, alien eyes that keep watch over Shem and warn of danger. They believe the ilaaliye are messengers of the Celestial Realms and honor them as spiritual beings.

The eximi believe that they are descended of the rainbow serpents, and therefore, they worship them. They also believe that there is a goddess, named Fortunata, who creates serendipity and blows it towards them. They honor her through rituals and superstitions.

In the imperial lands, the eximi are either there because the winds of fortune led them there on a strange quest, or because they are seeking some source of doom or danger. None are native to the area, and it would take an extreme event to make one leave their home culture to settle there.

PRO 8 ATH 8 Flight 11 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 9 STH 8

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Jarka’qana

The celestial powers beneath the surface.

• Alignment: Celestial

• Lifespan: 2,000 years

• Diet: Fungi and other subterranean fare

• Habitat: Subterranean Realm

• Socioeconomic Status: Demonized but unoppressable

Jark’aqaña appear to be 7’ tall sentinels of power that dwell beneath the ground. Their bodies are sinews of vegetation and animal muscle, their heads are animal skulls, and their organs are made of precious stones. Their fingers appear to be animal claws, but they can be extended, transformed into vines, at will. Their bones, other than their skulls, are fibrous plant tissue as well.

Beetles dwell within their flesh.

Jark’aqaña have the power to draw raw celestial magic from their own organs, which are made of massive jewels, and create barriers around others. If those barriers are attacked, the organs of the jark’aqaña crack, but they heal very quickly.

Jark’aqaña are one of a few species that can choose someone for whom they take wounds. They can only do this by washing their chosen with their nectar. They will stop taking wounds for someone once the target has received 13 wounds.

Jark’aqaña can sense how physically strong another mortal is by looking at them.

In their belief, the exigency of life is to preserve other life. The exigency of life is to protect one another. The exigency of life is that no harm shall be done to those not strong enough to defend themselves. All jark’aqaña nations respect the exigency of life, which they call kamachixa.

A jark’aqaña is born a seed and gains a skull after germinating in dust. From the moment they have a skull (and thus a mind, though what is actually the brain and not just random plant matter is unclear), they are educated by their elders about the kamachixa. From dust to skullflower to sprout, they are raised by their whole community. They are raised to know the kamachixa and the rules of who is weak, who is strong, who is worthy, who is unworthy, and when and why these states of being change. They are raised to believe in the worth of the weak.

They are taught how to fight, because there are those in the world who would harm the weak. And they are taught how to defend, because those who protect the weak are often attacked. And they are taught how to make peace, because most mortals are sensible, if they have not been bought by the cruel. And they are taught that to bend is to be stronger than iron and stone.

They are taught that from within the world, they protect those above by protecting the siqi, the load-bearing columns that keep the world from collapsing in on itself. Even more so, they are taught that the world is in danger from things buried deep, which cannot be spoken of, and they must be ready to sacrifice themselves to save all other life, if these things should be unleashed.

They learn that to protect is to sacrifice, and that to sacrifice is to achieve the kamachixa, and this is the utmost achievement of a jark’aqaña.

Once they have learned this lesson, they are considered an adult. If they do not learn this lesson, but they learn other lessons - perhaps the lesson of the power of violence - they are asked with some force to leave. If they learn this lesson while gone, they may return. If they never learn this lesson, their names are forgotten after they die. There is no time limit on learning this lesson.

None lead them but themselves. None may conquer them, for they are defense itself. None may dominate those who defend the weakest, for they make the weak strong, and thus they have nothing but strength.

On the first day of the year, which they know from the color of the siqi, they sing together, and their voices resonate through all the caverns of Shem, a thrum of calm that promises that, for another year at least, the world will continue to exist.

In the imperial lands, the jark’aqaña are there only as visitors, seeking to protect someone or something special.

Jark’aqaña are thought to be terrifying monsters of the dark underground, because oppressors hate and fear them and spread lies about them. If they could be conquered, they would make good slaves, but they cannot be conquered, so they must be demonized.

PRO 20 ATH 11 STR 20 Toughness 30 AWA 10 WIL 11 PRS 9 STH 7

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Nanmai

A species cursed to fight against injustice.

• Lifespan : 2,000 years

• Diet: Normal mortal fare

• Habitat: Various

• Socioeconomic Status: Demonized

Once, forty great kings and queens engaged in the cruelest reign that could be imagined. They lived for many lifetimes off the suffering of their subjects, becoming less than mortal in their insatiable desire to consume and exploit and dominate. After a thousand years of this, the people were nearly wiped out, and the forty great kings and queens turned to consume each other. Among the sufferers were forty who resisted, forty who refused to die without a fight, and they marched together to where the forty great kings and queens were devouring one another. They looked upon them with disgust, and instead of destroying them as they should have, they instead called upon whatever justice might exist in the universe to give these great kings and queens what they deserved. They laid a curse upon them.

In that moment, all eighty of them were transformed, bound to a purpose. Those with justice in their hearts were given release and freedom, and those great kings and queens were subject to a geas that required they make up for their cruelty by spending the next 2,000 years repairing the world and reparation for their own cruelty. So were born the first nanmai: those who must fight for justice to redeem their past, and those who must fight for justice to live up to their past.

Ages later, they can no longer distinguish who is descended of which group of forty, but it would not matter.

Nanmai are dark-skinned, anthropomorphic figures with eyes made of gold. They smell of flowers when they sweat. They have six arms. They also have three faces, though they only wear one at a time. It is said by some that one face is descended of the liberators, one of the oppressors, and the third unites them, but this is merely a story.

Nanmai all have a geas upon them that drives them to fight for justice, though they were never blessed with the ability to innately sense what justice is. Therefore, they also seek knowledge to understand justice, culturally. They are given, however, powers that may aid in fighting for justice:

All nanmai can fly, though they do not have wings.

All nanmai can switch their faces with one of their other two faces at will.

All nanmai can draw from their own lifeforce to create a weapon of energy - usually some kind of flame or lightning.

When their first face speaks, it speaks freedom. They uplift those who hear them. When their second face sees, it sees the physical health of those they observe. When their third face smiles, all who see it are stunned, momentarily.

Nanmai, beings of justice, may evoke justice to the best of their knowledge and inflict a judgment upon someone if and only if they have proven themselves capable to enforcing it. To put it another way, if they fight an evil person and leave them in a vulnerable position, defeat them in a way that convinces the villain they can be beaten, then they may invoke judgment upon them, spreading some of their curse and alleviating the geas upon their species.

As they are compelled by curse to fight against oppression and injustice, the nanmai are split amongst them into different views on how to do this:

The first is that they must be active members of the oppressed and unite them in battle, protect them from the violence of the state, and lead them in resistance - this is the Urthi of Dabusen. The second is that they must engage the oppressors and infiltrate them, ever-pushing them to alleviate their violence, fighting them from within - this is the Patukavalar in the Low Mines. The third is that they must remove themselves entirely from the systems of oppression and fight from without, to find the moment of weakness and only strike then, otherwise risking escalating the violence - this is the Kitezhi of Gyrah. And the fourth is that they must do what little they can as individuals, to stand against oppression and speakout, independent of the state - this is the Aumanil of the Wyren Ocean.

The Urthi are a severely oppressed nation, hated by rulers and the ruled alike, cast down in the muck and scorned as Undesirables. From this position, they try to unite the oppressed, many of whom think them scum. This is the way of things. This is the way it must be. So they spend their time toiling alongside others who do the worst jobs in society, and they speak of better worlds, and their words fall on ears that only hear whining and laziness, even as they toil harder than any others. So they go to others with their faith in justice, and they speak of the cycle and the way, and they bring messages of a better world, and their words fall on ears that only hear mystic nonsense making false promises, even as they live as proof of what they speak.

And at night, they wear a different face, they take up weapons of energy, and they hunt the most wicked, telling none what they do.

Culturally, they show their primary face to the public, their secondary face only to their family, and their third face to no one for the sake of plausible deniability. Their third face is that of justice, and they wear it when they fight for justice.

They hold onto certain customs, the sources of which are long forgotten, which they practice in their own communities or with their own families:

They practice the holy rituals of body painting; every month, they gather and paint each other with hand marks of many colors. These marks glow when they make love, it is said. These marks allow them to share strength, it is said. These marks are only made between consenting adults if they are done on sensitive parts of the body - children only have them on their foreheads and upper arms. On adults, they are only on parts of the body usually covered, as this would expose them during their nightly acts of vigilantism.

They practice the holy rituals of feasting. After a victory at night, after a good month, after a union of families, after a long year, they feast on lentils and bread, sugary plums and figs, savory pastries and mashes, and a plethora of candied vegetables. They share throughout the community, including to non-nanmai, who rarely join them, and they speak together of good times and kindness. No ill words are allowed at feasts.

And they practice the holy rituals of physical exercise. An hour after breaking fast, they go for a run (if they can). An hour after their evening meal, they go for a swim (if they can). And every three days, they engage in any other form of physical exercise, and they dedicate these hours to their forebears. They do these exercises in groups, if they can, and always say prayers during.

They love bright colors. They wear yellows and oranges, reds and blues, greens and whites, and they do so no matter the time of year. They are seen as clowns by others, but they wear a riot of color no matter what… except at night, when they wear black and grey, dark brown and green, so they may move with stealth. (Having six arms is a bit of a tricky thing to hide, but not as unusual on Shem as one might expect.)

It is said among them that fighting for justice is their most important task, and therefore, they are taught to do so. The Urthi believe in justice as a collective force, and therefore, they try to work with other oppressed people to fight for it. They teach their children many lessons, such as how to recognize injustice, how to speak to other oppressed people, how to show respect, and how to kill someone quickly and hide their body.

Every face of the nanmai is a different gender, or at least referred to differently. They choose which face is which: male, female, or hijra. It is of utmost importance that they respect the gender in use. Most use the hijra at night, to fight for justice, because society does not respect this gender.

“Three-faced bastards. Liars, thieves, and killers. They’ll steal your coin, your liver, and your soul as quick as they can, then blame you for it. Spit on them, it’s the only time they get clean.”

PRO 11 ATH 11 STR 11 AWA 11 WIL 11 PRS 11 STH 11

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Zloduch

The descendants of the risen demons.

• Lifespan: 2,000 years
• Diet: Fruit-heavy mortal fare
• Habitat: Anywhere
• Socioeconomic Status: Enslaved

As angels can fall, so demons can rise.

Risen demons become either the species they were before death (or their parents or ancestors were). Because some demons are descendants of many different species that could not reproduce with one another, those who rise from that configuration become zloduchs. If they engage in selfish, controlling, or abusive behavior, they will fall again.

A zloduch is an amalgamated species, taking some aspects of their ancestors. Because these extremely rare beings rise usually within an Infernal Realm, they are best served by appearing dangerous or demonic. Thus, they take on features often taken on by demons - horns, antlers, stingers, claws, fangs, large forms, distorted features, extra eyes, ears, noses, and so on. An average zloduch will appear to be demonic but with coloration and features more common to non-demonic counterparts (i.e., more like the natural coloration of a bull for horns, a scorpion for stingers, etc.). The distinction is intentionally subtle.

Most range between 4’ and 10’ tall.

Zloduchs have resistance to most infernal, imperial, or industrial energies, and an immunity to one. Consult the GM for details, though some of this might be determined by backstory.

Otherwise, zloduchs have powes based on their former demonic powers - celestial versions of their former powers. Poisons become only poisonous to infernal beings. Soulstealing becomes soul healing. Harm and control powers become healing and freeing powers. Details will be determined by backstory and consultation with the GM, but some ideas include the following:

• Celeste flames of judgment and justice

• Soul-healing balms, breath, or gaze

• Soul restoring kiss or touch

• Invigorating touch

• Altering one’s form

• Empowering or liberating others

• Purifying waters, uplifting winds, chainbreaking lightning, protective metal or stone

• Taking wounds for others

• Wondrous images instead of illusions

In the way that demons create contracts with mortals to steal souls, zloduchs have the ability to understand the nuances of those contracts (or even mortal contracts) and find the loop holes or clauses that lead toward liberation or release.

They do not gain powers from consuming souls, but instead from releasing them. This is often done in a straight-forward manner in opposition to demons, undead, or other infernal powers, but sometimes it means breaking someone free of assumptions, indoctrination, or values of imperial society.

No zloduch will survive for very long in an Infernal Realm; their primary motivation is to escape. Those who escape often find themselves targets of demons in the Spirit Realm (the primary world of Shem) as well, though some manage to escape without notice. This is very difficult, and only the most cunning zloduchs tend to do this. Most escape singed, broken, and hunted.

In the Talunese city-states, zloduchs are seen as hideous monsters, assumed to be evil demons by most of society, and shunned. If any are known to be zloduchs by the ruling class, they are killed or enslaved. Some use their resemblance to demons to infiltrate the ruling class to try to destroy it from within, though this comes with great risk - if they engage in selfish, controlling, or abusive behavior, they will fall again.

Others just try to get by. If they are lucky enough to appear more like an existing species, they might try to appear as one. Some pretend to be froemmlers or other amalgamated species, and some simply claim to be a rare, unknown kind of being. And some are more defiant and try to survive as themselves. But they are all oppressed and downtrodden.

Many zloduchs are convinced by society that they are “ugly” or “unpleasant” and have major issues and trauma around it.

PRO 10 ATH 10 STR 10 AWA 10 WIL 10 PRS 10 STH 9