Human

Change is the human's gift and curse: it grants us the power to rise, but tempts us always to fall.

— St. Lucia to Leokades, 390

Unlike the Dium, whose essence is shaped by the eternal constancy of the Still Realm, mankind was forged with the capacity for infinite change. Where flora and fauna adapt to the conditions that shape them, and the Dium remain as reflections of primordial truths, humans are alone in possessing the ability to alter themselves—not by nature, but by choice, by revelation, and by will.   This is the great distinction: moral agency, the capacity to discern right from wrong, to act in accordance with or in defiance of the Great Balance. In this, humanity surpasses even the eldest of spirits—not in power, but in potential.   Through each choice a human makes, they either deepen or diminish the Balance. This influence is not metaphorical, but literal: the Great Balance is a living harmony that binds the realms of Stillness and Change. And when a mortal enters into communion with a spirit—whether through reverence, pact, or violation—they do more than touch the divine; they tilt the axis of all things.  

Leokades I: The Rise and Fall

  Nowhere is this sacred burden more clearly seen than in the tragedy of Leokades I, the last emperor of the Kadian Empire, His reign, long remembered for its grandeur, descended into madness and ambition. In his thirst for power, he broke the Balance, desecrating countless lives—both mortal and spirit alike. So profound was the imbalance that the Great Balance itself rebelled against him.   Thus was born the first Daemon King, his soul blackened and overtaken by twisted spirits—Diumae Corruptius—drawn to his malice. His transformation marked the beginning of the end for the Kadian Empire. In the wake of his horror, his children were slain, his council devoured, and the empire that had endured a thousand years collapsed in fire and ash. Only through the intercession of St. Lucia—the Blessed Seer and the first to cross the Veil willingly and return—was the Daemon King cast down. Her act of sacrifice and balance became the fulcrum by which the Lucian Faith was born, rising from the ruin of empire to bring healing, harmony, and understanding of the Dium to a scarred world.  

Prophecies of the Balance

To speak to a spirit is to cast a stone into still waters. Even the smallest word can make waves that echo across eternity.

— Book of Debates 13:10

To this day, theologians and mystics debate the fate of the Lucian Faith. Just as the Kadian Empire had ruled in pain for a thousand years before the Balance righted itself, some whisper that the Faith, too, may one day grow arrogant in its righteousness, and suffer a fall of equal magnitude. For all human works, even those born of truth and light, cast shadows.   Yet this is the destiny of humanity. We were not made to be still. We were made to walk the shifting line between creation and destruction, hope and fear, mercy and wrath. The Dium grant us their power not out of trust—but out of understanding, for they know we are creatures of change. In this sacred communion, both worlds are refined. In human frailty, the divine sees itself. And in spirit constancy, we learn what we might become—or resist becoming.

Despite their versatility, humans are considered extremely fragile and weak to most Dium, especially those who have not made pacts with the Dium to gain access to their magics. Humans are more easily corrupted when Pact Magic is abused, which causes their forms to become corrupted by forces beyond their understanding.