Insinsi

Mystic beings with tall foreheads and long fingers.

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Arist

Fey mystics who can analyze with a glance.

• Alignment: Fey

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Normal fey fare

• Habitat: Arctic tundra

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Arists appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (pale violet, dark indigo, navy blue, forest green, pale green). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Arists can gather information on the story of an object rapidly. They simply glance at something and gain more information about it than others, analyzing it quickly. This ability is entirely magical, and if their magic is blocked, they not only lose this ability, they lose their vision. Though they are born with this ability, the information they take in does not make sense until they are taught enough context to make use of it. They cannot do this to living things or anything they cannot physically see.

After about 500 years, they also gain the power to glamour themselves, like fairies, and to shape the stories of objects with their hands, altering the object by altering its tale. This they do sparingly, as it often has strange consequences they cannot control.

Arists live in a massive city-state in the far north, alongside the claudents, an academic-centric society that studies narratives, stories, histories, and fictions. They have a quasi-meritocracy, which leads them to misjudge the world at large. In the colonies, they are often taken advantage of for their powers, but they enjoy more privileges than other oppressed groups because of how useful they are to the ruling classes.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 7 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 8

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Cephalan

• Alignment : Unaligned
• Lifespan: 1,000 years
• Diet: Nutritionally designed fare
• Habitat: Arctic tundra
• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Cephalans appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (bottle green, dark grey, dull blue, or light violet). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Cephalans can hyperfocus on something and sense its molecular structure without seeing it. This innate sense is accessed by meditating on a thing for anywhere from 6.023 minutes to 6,023 minutes, depending on the size and molecular makeup of the object. Though they can do this from any age, they must be taught how to use the sense, and then they must be taught what they are sensing means. They do not have an innate understanding of molecular physics, chemistry, or periodic elements. Thus, they can see shapes and forms, but only understand them as they learn.

Cephalans are attuned to scientific experimentation because they have developed a special, circumstantial resistance - the inherent paradoxical energy of possibility within them ignites and protects them when they engage in earnest experimentation with the intent to learn something - and only with that intent. In other words, any experiment that is done with intent to benefit personally or to solve some tangential problem, they will not be protected. Only pure experimentation will work.

Most cephalans in the colonies have come seeking freedom for their experiments, and thus, they try to assimilate into local culture to curry favor from the ruling elites. They are viewed as eccentric outsiders, and thus, they face discrimination unless they prove themselves useful to the rulers of the empire. Many are employed in universities, used for their scientific focus, being exploited. Others use their knowledge to rise in the ranks, become wealthy, and fully assimilated. Others still are outright enslaved.

Most cephalans who have not assimilated still naively believe in a meritocracy and think the colonies are one. They have a belief in scientific purity, and as long as that is met, they don't care what else happens. Like in their homelands, even in the colonies, each individual cephalan has a preference for a specific kind of science.

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

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Claudent

Fey mystics who see everything back to front.

• Alignment: Fey

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Normal fey fare

• Habitat: Arctic tundra

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Claudents appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (dark violet, pale indigo, sky blue, hunter green, dark green). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Claudents see back to front. They see everything backward, seeing the ending before the beginning, in a way that defies physics and causality. This includes physical objects and abstract things, like time. This is limited, however, to their field of vision, which in physical space is like any other mortal, and in abstract things varies - time is always about 30 seconds in any direction. However, because of the malleability of narrative, what they see might not truly be what happens. They simply see possibilities. After about 500 years, they gain the ability to control these visions a little bit.

Some wear special spectacles to mitigate their strange visions.

Claudents live in a massive city-state in the far north, alongside the arists, an academic-centric society that studies narratives, stories, histories, and fictions. They have a quasi-meritocracy, which leads them to misjudge the world at large. In the colonies, they are often taken advantage of for their powers, but they enjoy more privileges than other oppressed groups because of how useful they are to the ruling classes.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 7 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 8

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Gondal

• Alignment : Unaligned
• Lifespan: 1,000 years
• Diet: Minerals and metals
• Habitat: Underground
• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Gondals appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (golden, shimmering diamond amidst a sea of black, silver, iron, ruby and sapphire). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Gondals can see in low light and are resistant to both higher temperatures and lower temperatures.

Gondals can phase through solid matter such as stone and metal (but not living matter). y phasing through stone, gondals accumulate trace amounts of metals. These are converted in their veins into pure mashoaab, which allows them to absorb more metals as they phase through stone. As they accumulate, they must expel the excess mashoaab, which they do either by releasing it into the stone (by touching with their hands) or into other gondals (usually children who cannot yet feed themselves or the sick, disabled, or elderly) through touching their heads. Their capacity to accumulate increases as they age, and around the age of 120, assuming they are healthy and have had an average amount of accumulation over the course of their life, they can keep what they accumulate no matter what. At this stage, sharing their accumulated energies is no longer compulsory and they can hoard if they choose. Most choose to share, but at a price.

Gondals come to the colonies from the subterranean realm, usually as traders, merchants, and business owners seeking new opportunities. They often engage with and assimilate into the ruling class of Endruin if they come with money; if they come without money, they are easily exploited and taken advantage of, believing as they do in a fairness to trade that doesn't exist in the empire. The contracts they live by in their homelands mean very little in the colonies, but they often come thinking this is the way of things everywhere.

Some gondals are from nations that are less pure in their contractual beliefs, and therefore, more willing to engage in the more exploitative, violent, and ruthless commerce of the colonies. These assimilate much better and often already use some of the powers commonly used in the empires.

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

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Jhukane

Mystics who are empowered by the fires of judgment.

• Alignment: Celestial

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Normal mortal fare

• Habitat: Arctic tundra

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Jhukanes appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (deep reddish gold, golden brown, or yellow gold). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Jhukanes have the power to see souls. They can see the experiences, supernatural powers and abilities, skills, and faith of anyone. They do not use this power all the time, as they respect the privacy of others, and when they use it, it tires them quickly. If they see something in a soul that is one of what they consider the “great crimes” - murder, rape or sexual assault, abuse, exploitation, imprisonment or enslavement, and spreading of hatred - they can draw upon the fires of judgment (kartadsin) and burn the target. However, this also costs them physically.

Jhukanes live in a series of small communities in the vast tundras of the far north. They dwell in camps, in harmony, with an egalitarian community structure, and an ancient tradition of listening, sharing, and giving. They turn no one away from their camps, no matter what they have done, and they never require anyone to submit to judgment. But those who do so willingly and accept the price will be honored.

Some jhukanes are sent out into the wider world to carry the fires of judgment as part of a judgment for some crime they committed. They must make up for their own crimes by meting out justice for the oppressed, exploited, and abused of the world. They are deeply criminalized in the colonies.

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

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Lemniscate

Insinsi who are engaged with infinity.

• Alignment: Unaligned

• Lifespan: 5,000 years

• Diet: Energy

• Habitat: Upper atmosphere

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Lemniscates appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and cerulean skin that varies in translucency by individual (ranging from nearly clear, revealing starry energies within, to nearly opaque, only showing bright spots). They have glowing spots throughout their bodies. They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Lemniscates have excellent vision, able to see for miles further than most mortals, and they can levitate at will.

Lemniscates can count anything countable instantly if it is within their range of vision or in a container whose size is conceivable.

Their culture is focused on counting the stars from their observatories in the skies They built telescopes, counting machines, more in order to count the stars. And they keep counting, one by one, as they discover new ones. Still, Ages later, they haven’t even counted all of the ones in the galaxy, though they have counted many beyond it. At last count, they are at just under a trillion.

They live in a city-state called Read, a sprawling, non-Euclidian masterpiece made of glass, metal, and crystal, and its focus are the three massive, spherical universities suspended within its impossible highways.

Those who come to the surface of the world, to the colonies or the nearby region, are often either going to work at a local university or seeking different vantage points from which to count the infinite expanse.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 7 AWA 11 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 8

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Managpanunot

Insinsi who embody logic.

• Alignment: Unaligned

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Fish-heavy mortal fare

• Habitat: Tropical rainforests

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

They appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (greyish blue, greyish green, or brownish purple). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Managpanunots have muted their emotions to the point that they generate almost no emotional resonance and are hard to detect via empathy.

Managpanunots have psionic powers relating only to data collection and storage:

• Mind-reading: scanning the conscious thoughts or subconscious thoughts of another.
• Scanning: scanning an area for any conscious minds without reading them.
• Transference: transferring information (data, memories, or skills) from one mind to another.
• Copying: copying the data, memories, or skills of another to oneself.

The original managpanunots formed a community devoted to gathering information locally. This quickly expanded into all forms of investigation and study, creating a school to preserve their quest for all information, and developing psionic powers to help them expand their minds to store the data. Over the ages, they developed a culture that mixed local customs with their own purpose. At the core of their culture is the collection of information. They use every method they possibly can to gather information, ranging from scientific and esoteric experimentation to journalistic investigation to research and collaboration. They have schools, which are the heart of their communities, built on low elevated platforms, often with thatch ceilings.

Everything they do is to improve their collective metaphysical and mental capacity. They have many practices they believe help with this. For example, when one of them dies, their skull is preserved and used as part of the base of a building, for it is believed this allows the knowledge of the dead to join the knowledge of the living. They eschew drink or inebriants of any kind. They have special dances taken from the local culture which they engage in because they believe they improve their capacity for knowledge. The former they associate with rivers, the latter with pots. They also wear headwraps called bangal.

They keep massive libraries of what is mostly non-fiction information, but they style with which they record it includes a great deal of religious framing. They write of the rivers that are memories and knowledge; they write of which soul information comes from or is stored in. They write about the souls of objects. But in the midst of this framing, unbelievable amounts of information is kept. All of their art is like this - spiritual and full of data. Songs, paintings, drawings, and ceramics are common.

In the colonies, they are often there are professors or scholars, seeking new information.

PRO 7 ATH 7 STR 7 AWA 17 WIL 11 PRS 7 STH 8

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Oniarak

Mystics who are known for their strategic thinking.

• Alignment: Unaligned

• Lifespan: 1,000 years

• Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare

• Habitat: Arctic tundra

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Oniaraks appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (bright red, dark grey, rich brown). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Oniaraks have the innate power to think several steps ahead based on available information. They cannot glean extra information magically, but they can sense probabilities in terms of people’s actions, terrain, and known information. They also have the ability to know the physical weakpoints of someone they have engaged in combat.

Oniaraks are not a martial culture, but they study all the conflicts in history to learn and hone their powers. They live in a small city-state in the arctic tundra where they engage in mock combat and warfare, study history, and are ruled by an academic council. In the colonies and elsewhere, they are exploited but privileged for their knowledge.

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

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Shemir

Shapers of reality. The first mortals on Shem.

• Alignment: Elemental

• Lifespan: 2,000 years

• Diet: Normal mortal fare

• Habitat: Northern tundra hot springs

• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Shemir appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (blue, purple, gray, green, or even pale white). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

Beyond their ability to fashion matter from genesis, shemir have the power to turn themselves into raw genesis, converting their entire being into it, when faced with beings from a great hole in reality from which destroyers come. They can also sense the elemental energy of creation, appraise the skill with which an object was made, and have a natural talent for creative arts and crafts.

Shemir have the ability to fashion genesis into physical matter. If they wish to make an object that is imbued with energies other than genesis, they must have access to that energy at the time of fashioning. Fashioning is done primarily with the hands (though shemir who have lost their hands have found ways to work fashioning with feet, legs, arms, and even their eyes). By focusing their attention on the genesis around them (which they can sense), they are able to take hold of it and weave it together into matter. They generate this genesis either by making something small by hand or by drawing from their own physical form.

The shemir live in an ancient city-state called Madziar near the north pole. It is a complicated socialist country that seeks to understand all of creation and protect the world from destruction. In the colonies, they are usually there investigating something or living among the locals.

PRO 7 ATH 7 STR 7 AWA 16 WIL 15 PRS 9 STH 7

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Thaumar

Fey mystics who are attuned to symbols.

• Alignment : Fey
• Lifespan: 1,000 years
• Diet: Energy
• Habitat: Arctic river lands
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Thaumari appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (light green, light grey, azure blue, or citrine orange). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top. Culturally, they often tattoo themselves.

Thaumari have the innate ability to understand the cultural context of drawn symbols. While they cannot read written language automatically, drawn, etched, or painted symbols that are not part of an alphabet can be generally understood by them.

Thaumari can absorb esoteric energies if they are directed at them. Ambient energies cannot be absorbed. Their ability to absorb esoteric energies has a limit - every thaumar has a capacity much the same as a human’s stomach does. They convert esoteric energies into sustenance.

The nations thaumari come from are academically focused, a culture of deep symbolism with great interest in various philosophies. They view study and debate as the highest activities. In their homelands, they have schools which make up the center of their culture. In the colonies, there is an affectation in the ruling classes that they are enlightened, and thus, they exploit the thaumari.

Some find work as tutors, teachers, or professors for the ruling class, but most are used for their more magical properties. They are enslaved or employed, but never part of the ruling class, no matter how much wealth they accrue. Few try to assimilate, but those who do find themselves met with scorn.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 7 AWA 11 WIL 11 PRS 7 STH 8

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Zile

Fey mystics living in the isles.

• Alignment : Fey
• Lifespan: 1,000 years
• Diet: Fish-heavy mortal fare
• Habitat: Tropical islands
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Zile appear to be anthropomorphic beings with high foreheads and a variety of color skin hues (deep violet, light blue, merry green, rich tan, garish orange, or a combination thereof). They have fingers that are proportionately longer than one might expect from the size of their hands. They have hair on the fringes of their heads but not on top.

A zile’s laugh is infectious. Zile gain strength from alcoholic drinks with a certain amount of sugar in them. Rum is best. Though the drink does inebriate them, they recover more quickly. During their inebriation, they are physically stronger and faster.

From islands far from Endruin, zile are brought there usually by slavers. Many have gained freedom, however, and there is a small subculture within the slums of Haenor where they retain their cuisine, music, clothing, and other marks of their culture.

Most important to their culture is the Soulajman, a festival celebrating their species' survival in their homeland, which is repeated every year. It is a vast feast, party, and parade happening toward the end of winter. After the Soulajman, it is traditional for them to rest for forty days, but this is not possible in the colonies. Instead, they find subtle forms of rest they can engage in, doing less while still meeting the demands of the ruthless capitalist society they live in.

They are stereotyped as drunkards and inferiors by the ruling class, and that makes them subject to discrimination and hatred in society.

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