Buhlanka

Insubstantial beings of pure will power.

Basics

• Taxonomic Order: Insubstantiates

• Alignment: Celestial

• Energy: Botshepehi

• Lifespan: 200 years

• Diet: Emotion

• Habitat: Plateaus and mountains

Origins

When mortals first submitted themselves to a greater power, their loyalty, diligence, and solidarity manifested as living will.

Description

Buhlanka appear to be swirling lights of every possible color that anthropomorphize when interacting with other mortals. When they sleep, they drift to the ground and become a soft blue glow. They have high pitched but soothing voices.

Procreation

Buhlanka reproduce asexually. When their own faith is strong enough, they begin to feed off each other’s belief, and that causes new buhlanka to flash into existence.

Powers

Buhlanka are made of pure botshepehi, the mental strength of one who is diligent and loyal to a cause greater than themselves. As such, their own will power is vast, and their minds connect to other buhlanka to amplify that will.

Being made of light, they inherently fly and move with great speed.

Buhlanka consume positive emotional resonance without removing the emotions from the mortals or animals who generate them, feeding off the emotional reactions they get from those whom they help. As they feed off emotion, their own emotions are clarified and empowered such that they have high emotional intelligence naturally.

As energy beings, they consume energy quickly but recharge rapidly with sleep.

Belief

If a buhlanka believes in something and maintains that belief through action for an extended period of time, that belief will manifest within them as a color pattern that they can draw from to wield their will in a direct and powerful manner. What they can do varies by the belief, but some examples include the following:

• Belief that everything will be okay: they gain the power to soothe emotions, heal bodies, or empower them to rectify a bad situation

• Belief that class loyalty is the utmost principle: they gain the power to recognize others who belong to the same class

• Belief that resistance to oppression requires constant work: extra endurance in engaging in that work.

It does not matter if the belief is true or not, so long as the buhlanka acts on the belief. However, because they are celestial beings, the beliefs must not support the oppression of the exploited or the power of infernal deities.

Most buhlanka have the belief “some objects are special or holy” that allows them to lift physical objects.

Physical Form

If a mortal with whom they are interacting has negative emotions derived from the form the buhlanka take, they will be able to wield that emotion to take a friendly physical form, one that the mortal will more likely (but not necessarily) find unthreatening. This will always be anthropomorphic, usually an elderly or childlike variation of the species the mortal is part of. This automatic reaction will last for about 10 minutes before they have to return to their base form.

Symbiosis

Many buhlanka will form an individual, symbiotic relationship with specific mortals. If a mortal of great faith in the same beliefs the buhlanka has befriends and trusts a buhlanka, the buhlanka may enter their body and merge with their soul, becoming a part of their faith and metaphysique. In this symbiotic relationship, the buhlanka gains sustenance from belief and positive emotions, and the mortal gains bonuses to faith, will power, awareness, and emotional intelligence.

Weaknesses

Blasphemy will kill them. While sleeping, they can be slain more easily if they are covered with industrial glass. If they lose faith in a belief, they will lose the power associated with it.

If a buhlanka’s symbiotic partner dies while the buhlanka is with them, the buhlanka will move with their soul to the afterlife, effectively dying as well.

Nations

Buhlanka belong to a single nation, synonymous with the name of the species. They dwell in the mountains of southern Taggarus near to other mortals who fought against colonization and conquest.

Culture

Buhlanka live in communes (sehlopha) in the valleys of the southern Taggaran mountains where they serve the other communities nearby. They dwell in clusters who dance and flit amongst the low-lying clouds, amongst forest canopies, above passes and paths through the highlands, or in caves high in the mountains. Each commune has about 100 members.

A buhlanka commune is led by a moholo council made up of older members of the cluster. All tasks within the commune are shared by all members.

Because they subsist off of emotion, they must all travel to where other mortals are to feed, but they do not need to do this very often - about once a month. Because they gain greater positive responses if they do not interact with the same group of mortals over and over, they switch between multiple groups and seek newcomers regularly. About a quarter of the commune goes out at any given time, meaning groups go out to feed once a week.

Common tasks within the commune include religious ones, scouting for new mortal communities or groups, maintaining the spots they sleep in, and studying texts and the local region.

Scouts among the buhlanka are either tasked with finding new sources of emotional sustenance or finding local spots that would be helpful for other mortals nearby. Buhlanka make a point of knowing where watering holes, fruit trees, and other resources might be so they can lead mortals there when there is a need.

Because they are vulnerable while sleeping, they set guards who hide within special crystals kept by the buhlanka, which they gather in the caves. Crystal gathering is a common task as well. Guards are always empowered with a belief that gives them some kind of offensive power.

Children age to maturity rapidly, as they grow to full size by their sixth feeding and attain full emotional intelligence around the same time due to the nature of their sustenance. Other buhlanka guide the children collectively so that they are able to handle this rapid growth easily. For a few years after this, it is expected the individual young buhlanka will still be a little unstable and confused at times, and they will be taught accordingly to offset this. Almost all buhlanka are fully trained by the time they are five years old.

All buhlanka communes within a given region will gather together once a year to share news, information, and emotion for a three-day festival known as sefefo se bobebe. Other local mortals come to watch from a respectful distance, as this festival is a massive light show to them.

When a member of the commune decides they wish to form a symbiotic bond with another mortal, they leave the commune for a number of years - it always varies based on the relationship the mortal they possess has with faith - but will always return unless they pass away during that time. Because the buhlanka will die if they are in the mortal’s body when the mortal dies, most buhlanka either choose to bond later in their own lives or will (consensually) depart before death if possible.

Some communes permanently merge with mortal communities, forming close and consistent symbiotic relationships. When they do this, their culture begins to reflect that of the mortals’. Specifically certain animal folk in the region (cape buffalo, leopard, aardvark, fish eagle, agama, bat, crane, elephant, hyrax, zebra, eland, hoopoe, secretarybird, duiker, Taggaran buffalo, and crag lizard) and the red grass plant folk are commonly associated with them.

Esoterica

As beings of botshepehi, buhlanka are beings of deep convictions and faith. They can wield any other celestial energy assuming they have the appropriate set of beliefs. They can also use any aetherial or poioumenonic power if it does not conflict with their beliefs. Unaligned powers are possible as well in the same context, though nommic powers may be complicated as they do not always have bones, flesh, viscera, blood, or other humors.

Religion

Most buhlanka believe in and worship Ikokobeditse, a Divine being they believe embodies all of their beliefs. Every commune collectively engages in worship, performing multiple rituals each day, mostly dances of light and singing special prayers. Every buhlanka is inherently a manganga, a believer whose faith empowers them. Among each commune there may be moemeli, a manganga who is tasked by Ikokobeditse to perform a specific task to raise faith in others; mohlokomedis, mangangas who have no specific task but are asked to serve others to raise faith; sekepes, druids of the mountains, plateaus, and savannas who commune with nature and view Ikokobeditse as a guide; tataisas, those who teach others how to meditate on, analyze, and follow their beliefs; moitlamas, groups of buhlanka who interact with and join mortal women in seclusion to worship; moetis who travel to sacred spots in the mountain valleys; thorisos who lead the song-prayers; moreris who go amongst mortals to spread faith; mofanis who teach the specifics of their faith to the others in the commune; morutis who lead the ritual dances; ya tsebangs, those who speak the words of Ikokobeditse directly; and sekepes, or shamans among the commune. When a buhlanka is overwhelmed by faith and creates new buhlanka, for that time period, they are a thabo, a sacred manganga who is filled with and guided fully by faith.

Gender

Buhlanka have no genders, but they recognize and respect those of others.

Economy

Buhlankas live in egalitarian communes.

Military

There are four kinds of warriors in any given commune of the buhlanka:

• Qhoma: those who use their light-bodies to overwhelm targets, knocking them to the ground and stunning them.

• Mohlabani: those who wield special crystal spears that are powered by their conviction in the rightness of their defense of their people.

• Mokalli: those who take form and ride zebras to protect their people.

• Rakgedi: those who specialize in throwing their spears rather than up-close combat.

They sometimes take these roles in mortal communities if they are possessing a mortal of that community.

Language

Their language is based on Sesotho.

Trade

Buhlanka have a good relationship with nearby communities - if they don’t, they move - and trade their powers of faith for emotion and protection.

Occupations

The main roles within a buhlanka commune not listed above include scouts (sehloelas) and dancers (setantshis).

Outside View

Most who live bear buhlanka view them as wonders to be honored, often thinking of them as spirits or Divine beings. The buhlanka disabuse this latter belief but still guide them in faith. Oppressors often hate buhlanka, who empower the oppressed, and send in agents and soldiers with special, industrially developed glass to commit genocide against buhlanka. They demonize them, claiming they lure travelers into dangerous mountain passes to kill them.

Notables

• Yena Ya Binang Pele, She Who First Sang, Buhlanka Manifest, Aeonian

Estimated Populations

• Original: 300,000

• Other: 100,000

Sample Stats

PRO 7
ATH 8 Straight-line Speed 25
STR n/a or 8
AWA 11
WIL 11
PRS 10
STH 3