Zalphyrene

"People of the World of Winds"

The Zalphyrene race is an ancient race whom can measure their history in the billions of years. The depth of their collective knowledge is truly vast, having explored the magical along with the scientific, and applying the theories formed through one discipline with the other. However, after an event in their ancient past, they have practiced restraint in their studies lest they attract unwanted attention once more.

Appearance
As adults, they range in height from 5'0" to 6'0" for females, and 5'6" to 7'2" for males. Most facial and body features are very human in appearance. Skin color ranges from pale to a dark tan. Hair color can be Jet black, whites and grays, browns, blues, reds and greens. The irises in their eyes are typically metallic in appearance, including a metallic luster. Most commonly occuring are the steely blue, copper, silver and golden tones, some even having a hematite like dark eyes.

They take up to 35 years to achieve physical maturity, and can live for as long as 5,000 years old under normal circumstances.

Wings
From their backs can extend wing like extensions of their souls through which magic can be channeled to illuminate them, and use them for flight by expelling raw mana in focused directions to provide thrust. The color of the wings often are reflective of their present and underlying emotions. Multiple emotions may be represented at the same time

​
 * Red: Anger, Hatred
 * Blue: Sadness, Depression
 * Yellow: Hope
 * Green: Happiness
 * Violet: Love
 * Black: Abyssal Corruption

Origin
When the universe was still warm from the Big Bang that created it, the first humans were created by Primordial Gods, as the overabundance and concentration of magic granted sentience to the first elemental beings and spirits of the strongest willed of the earliest races collected on various worlds. One of these worlds was looked after by one of the eldest of the Titans. As mighty as his ambition was, his own power was lacking in comparison to his peers and thus he exiled himself to the farthest reaches of existence where stars were born only to burn out and die in a matter of a few million years, wreaking chaos on neighboring systems. It was here that he found the world of Hyrene; a world inhabited by elementals formed from various types of stones and crystals, and a race of wisp-like beings who were more akin to ghosts and shades than any air elemental. From on high, this Titan witnessed the strength and resilience of the elementals, and the magical prowess of the wisps... but also saw how few in number they were. He sought to combine the strengths of these varied products of the chaos at the ends of creation with the human form as he had seen utilized by his peers in the worlds closer to the core of existence. Through his manipulations and experiments, he created many races of varying combinations of qualities that varied greatly in degrees of success; but all fell short of his expectations if not outright failures. A break through occurred when he at last successfully created a race that appeared near completely human in form aside from their metallically lustered irises and if made visible, the wispy wings that jutted from their backs. He had utilized a combination of precious metals and crystals to form their skeletons, serving as both generator and conduit of magical power. Most importantly, they were capable of reproduction unlike the vast majority of his previous creations... but still they did so at a much slower rate than he had wanted, and furthermore some number of them would simply burn up and die when they attempted to use magic. Future experiments were built upon these promising subjects but the results were typically worse than the foundation to the Titan. The Zalphyrene, as they came to call themselves, were allowed to live and form a civilization whilst he busied himself with further experimentation. Left to their own devices, they advanced their knowledge of magic significantly. When by chance they discovered the cause of the mysterious deaths, they sought out the aid of the Titan that created them and shared with him their discovery of the so called "Warkruh". The skin of these individuals were so resistant to magic that spells merely splashed away, breaking apart into their basic mana composition. However, if the mana had no place to go, as happened whilst trapped underneath the skin, it would burn them up from the inside out. This unique property brought the Zalphyrene the Titan's full attention. While his many creations were considered failures, he did not consider them all beyond usefulness. But at the same time, he had no ability to control them without extending his direct influence, nor the ability to force them to work together.

These "Warkruh" proved to be the solution to this issue. Enforcers that the other races could fear, but were themselves little threat of supplanting the Titan's authority. He immediately produced a solution the Zalphyrene were capable of reproducing... the implanting of magically conductive nodes connecting the spine to the surface of the skin on their back, allowing them to expend magic through their wings without the risk of injury. With the Zalphyrene under his sway and his various creatures and abominations unified into a single cohesive unit, he sought to make a name for himself among the various pantheons and set out to invade his rivals, robbing them the power provided through the worship of their subjects through genocide and conversion. In time however, the Zalphyrene once being a peaceful race felt shamed for the atrocities they were forced to commit. In time, led by the Warkruh, they rebelled. While they could not supplant the God's authority over the other races, they were most capable of opposing it. In time they won their freedom, and the Titan left them be with what few followers survived and thus began the age of the First Dynasty.

Culture
​

Caste System
Beyond the Royal Family, the Zalphyrene society is roughly separated into several major classes, determined based on their skills and talents as children, but each division treated as equals to one another.


 * Azetrues

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">The Mages of the Zalphyrene are known as the "Azetr" in their native language, and study the magical arts rigorously. For the first 100 years, most focus on two opposing or similar elements lest they take up the study of the outlying disciplines. Afterwards, they typically broaden their studies to other elements. They recognize Fire, Air, Water and Earth as the basic elements; Light, Dark, Ice, and Plasma as advanced elements. Time, Space, Life and Death are highly sensitive and skill intensive magics and most are forbidden their study of them until they are at least 300 years of age. Various aspects of the latter disciplines tend to be tied in to some degree with the other elements. They are often dressed in robes with symbols and colors representing their first two elements.


 * Kirula

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">The warriors of the Zalphyrene, they train body and soul rigorously to master non-magical means of combat, as well as learning some degree of magic to enhance combat effectiveness. They learn to combat foes both on the ground and in the air through the use of short and long swords curved in design, spears upwards of 10 feet long, bow and arrow, and shields and bucklers for defense. They are strong and agile, and armored in enchanted "Gray Gold" alloy breastplate, arm and shin guards, the metal is extremely strong and fairly resistant to magic, albeit heavier than an equivalent volume of steel, its strength, resistance to magic, and immunity to oxidation more than justifies the weight.


 * Chyren

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">The craftsmen of the Zalphyrene learn the basics behind magic to better understand the intricacies of their arts. Woodworkers and Metallurgists are often one and the same since a transition towards using precious magic conductive metals to enhance woodwork became popular. They are capable of filling the grain inside and out of a staff or plank of wood with coppers, silvers, golds and titanium through the use of magical means. They have learned to shape and enchant a wide variety of metal alloys. The Jewelcrafters learned advanced cutting techniques such as concaved cuts, and even the use of precisely focused magics to "Cut" facets and symbols on the inside of gems. The results are beautiful and magically powerful gems with minimal use of costly rituals that lesser learned cultures utilize to imbue gems with similar powers. It is not uncommon for Woodworkers and Jewelcrafters to carve art from wood and stones respectively to help pass the time and to form a sort of side business. They have no uniform appearance.


 * Ukren

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">The most numerous of the castes, the equivalent of "Commoner" they handle the majority of the basic functions such as farming and ranching, construction, basic student instruction, among other things. Most advances in Scientific study comes through organizations formed from Ukren. Officially, all Zalphyrene aside from the Royal Family and the Warkruh are born into the Ukren caste; and as a result of friendships formed during childhood, even the highest order of the Azetrues and the Kirula treat the Ukren as equals.


 * Wilenhr

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Often regarded as the Spiritual Caste of the Zalphyrene, and the least numerous of the major divisions of the Zalphyrene. They expend great effort towards understanding the nature of souls and spirits, as well as being the stewards of the knowledge of past generations. They experiment in new techniques to make use of their wings, and their souls. It is believed that a handful can even control their full souls separately from their bodies. Azetrues and Kirulan masters go to the Wilenhr to learn to bind their staves and weapons to their wings to allow for control over them without need of their hands.


 * Warkruh

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Officially a branch of the Kirula, and unofficially they serve as the police for the Zalphyrene. Translates roughly into "Defiance to the Winds", they are refered to as such because their flesh is extremely resistant to all forms of magic to the point of making the use of magic themselves can be physically dangerous. Healing magics also do not work on them, and it was in dealing with these issues that led to the Zalphyrene taking on scientific pursuits. Now it is a common procedure to surgically implant a silver brace around several vertebrae, with portions of the silver remaining exposed on their back to allow for the channeling of magic through their wings. They wear a very unique Silver/Gold alloy that is so conductive of magic, that even conjured matter passes straight through it to be disrupted by the skin of the Warkruh behind it. They train primarily in Sword and Spear techniques as well as hand to hand combat. They also train extensively under the direction of the Wilenhr in order to master their wings and spirit bound weapons at a significantly younger age than standard among the Kirula to make up for their inability to master basic forms of magic first. While their special armor is styled similarly to their Kirula comrades minus the breastplate, their cloth uniform is formed from black and white fabrics with similarly magic conductive properties. It is common for them to wear a trench coat formed of the fabric over their uniform as well, and a satchel with bandoleer strap crafted from dark leathers worn over the trench coat from right shoulder to left hip. Roughly 1 in 2,300 Zalphyrene are born a Warkruh and are often separated for specialized training at an early age as a means to reduce the risk that they are severely injured attempting to use magic. One in Twenty Warkruh dies or is crippled in spite of these efforts because they suffer too extensive an injury from attempting to cast a spell before they reach the age of 30.

Ikrenha Zalph
<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Literally "The Noble Exiles of the People". Over 2 Billion years ago, these 227 members of the First Dynasty Nobility and the last surviving member of the First Dynasty Royal Family who survived the destruction of Hyrene and the subsuquent attempted capture or genocide of the Zalphyrene and rescued over 4,000 of the commoner caste with them. In an attempt to save the commoners, the Nobility and Princess Idovan split off from the commoners in an attempt to bait their pursuers away from the largest and weakest group of the survivors. What became of them is lost to history, but ancient records since have recorded appearances of "Faeries" with wisp like or aura like wings flying through the air. After Zalphyrene came across several such records in their own travels after their adopted worlds would become uninhabitable, two hypothesis on their possible relationship to the Ikrenha have come about. Some argue that it is possible that the Ikrenha formed their own societies after shaking their pursuers, and these records may be of their descendants. The other hypothesis is that continual exposure to the energies of the portals may prolong the lives of the Zalphyrene, possibly to the point of immortality against the effects of time.
 * <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Idovan : Last Princess of the First Dynast
 * <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Ruhntai : Captain of the Royal Guard
 * <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Verdana,sans-serif;line-height:19.5px;">Eshrylton : "The Soulweaver", one of three surviving Warkruh

Player Characters

 * Conrose Etrizio Lanturz: Warkruh Artificer of the Second Dynasty