Helunae (/ˈhɛl.uːneɪ/ ʜᴇʟ-oo-nay)

Known History

Beginnings

There are myriad worlds within the kosmos; myriad planes and pockets within them as well. As is the norm, each world tends to its own affairs, ever alongside its neighbors yet so rarely crossing over. Some people, however, possess a natural affinity for traveling between these different realms; existences not strictly mortal nor mundane, but not entirely divine or heavenly, either. An in-between that's difficult to name, for it transforms in every context that it is beheld within, changing to suit the circumstances. Such is the nature and history of the helunae, a generally obscure monsterkind species often buried in mythology, legend, and folktales around campfires.   Natives of Varnkof, the reality of the helunae is far more down-to-veltron, yet paradoxically wondrous. Naturally attuned to the essence of fire, the helunae are conduits and conductors of transformation itself. Whether molding stone and metals like clay, transmuting one substance to another, or envisioning bizarre and escherian-esque architecture, the helunae live and breathe fire in the purest sense. An existence that, itself, ironically changes and mutates in common tales and rumors, while the helunae themselves remained demure folk in reality.   The myriad helunae tribes are as much explorers, traders, and hunter-gatherers as they somewhat reclusive isolationists, be it because of Varnkof’s own isolation or other reasons.are Unlike many of the other native species of Varnkof, the helunae aren't geographically bound in the same kosmological sense. When pushed by necessity, or simply seeking opportunity in new lands, their nomadic caravans simply ‘head down roads less traveled', and soon find themselves in newer, stranger realms farther beyond Veltrona herself.   This interworld travel and trade is the principle reason that the history of the helunae is so spotty and sporadic in nature—the helunae can quite literally leave Veltrona for periods of time before returning. It isn't entirely clear what happens in these other realms and worlds, but it is known that entire helunae tribes or civilizations may stay within them. In such cases, a Veltrona-known tribe may simply one day cease to exist, disappearing and never to be seen again.   Because of the dangers involved in their nomadic travels, the helunae try to maintain cohesive communication networks amongst themselves. These usually take the form of 'message posts’ and inns along their routes, which become repositories of helunae communications between their various tribes. Such locales can soon grow to great prominence, creating bastions to which all sorts of people and beings are drawn toward. It's difficult to say how many there are, but their seemingly sporadic and incidental placement ever coincides with the ‘roads’ the helunae travel upon. For the veltron-bound peoples who are unaware of the other worlds and planes the helunae travel through, it can lead to absurd situations where two inns have a 'close relationship' despite a physical distance exceeding 1,000km apart from one another on Veltrona’s surface.   For pragmatic and scholarly purposes, the history of the helunae beyond Veltrona is a matter left to their specific tribes. Those interested in such esoteric matters must petition their resident mistresses for such knowledge, if such people can even understand the helunae’s unique perspective. Instead, historians studying the helunae and Varnkof try to understand the species’ presence on Veltrona specifically, maddening as such an endeavor tends to be.    

Everywhere and Nowhere

Given its relative remoteness from the rest of Veltrona's surface lands, Varnkof's isolation left it far from the minds and awareness of many. For the helunae, who traveled as easily to Varnkof as to Eylia, mentions of their homeland created wonder and intrigue of an otherworldly place beyond Veltrona's purview. It eventually roused the attentions of dragonkind, particularly the wokma, themselves a dragon variant with a unique relationship with the fabric of reality. It's supposed the later name of Varnkof proper came from inquiries by dragonkind, as Varnkof itself roughly translates to 'Last Spot/Land/Area', owing to it being the farthest, yet ‘final’, contiguous continental landmass.   It mattered little to the helunae, who invariably emerged from the woods and wildernesses, their caravans rattling away. They, who quickly set themselves up, would then ply their wares and trades to any people nearby. Whether made by the shaping hands of their mistresses or crafts from worlds farther beyond, their bazaars were alien realms unto themselves, host to wonders and nightmares outside imagination. In Veltrona's ancient and wild times, the helunae were powerful traders who commanded great prestige for not only the quality of their wares, but the new possibilities they opened up. Some likened them to the messengers of the goddesses, if not goddess figures outright, as a result. Others, however, filled with greed and envy, and ever sought to pillage the helunae instead.   Such is what defined the coming and goings of the helunae. In the lands of Nerzin, embroiled in its ancient cultivation wars, the cultivators saw helunae as prime targets for resources for their magical arts (be it the helunae themselves or their extic wares), and so great conflict ensued. In lands such as Aerthen and Lophern, the helunae became interconnected with local religions and faiths, particularly by divine beings who wished to secure their services. In many more lands otherwise, principally Fauverngarz and Immensio, the helunae never accrued significant attention outside of their migrating trading caravans.   Of particularly curious note, however, was the proliferation of knowledge. Helunae coming from Nerzin may, for example, propagate information to Etzli Cuauhtla, connecting two otherwise uninvolved lands with one another. Tracking this matter accurately is essentially impossible, and it is right alongside harpy world-wide flights for number one cause of scholarly madness. It is generally agreed that information exchange did occur in meaningful capacities, but nothing to the scale of modern networks such as harpy mail services. However, it does generally help explain why certain types of information tend to have near identical roots despite coming from two completely unconnected civilizations (e.g, Yonfao existing in Varnkof).    

Queendoms of Fire and Ash

The greatest change for the helunae came about as their homeland of Varnkof itself began changing. Other native species, such as the aylier of the frozen north and the ruvenek of the basin seas, began escalating in both size and capability, creating new nations of ever-growing potential. The helunae tribes, fearing they'd be pushed out of their homeland, were forced to find ways of contending with this new dynamic. While trade and political pressure had some effects, the helunae weren't able to truly secure themselves against expansionist threats. If they were to keep their ancestral homes, they would have to fight for them in a way they'd never embraced before.   For a people of fire, and to whom transformation came so naturally, the solidity of sedentary life became a trial unto itself. No longer were there uncertain routes that only sharp minds and clever wits could traverse; there were roads of dirt, stone, and crystal. No more were there new lands of unseen possibilities; there were the same mountains, rivers, and lakes. Veltrona herself ever offered stagnant stability, bringing order to fire’s unbridled chaos. That order itself was something the helunae ever valued, and even found necessary, but long-term settlement truly challenged their comfort and sensibilities.   Nonetheless, the helunae began forging their great queendoms through the unifications of many different tribes. In doing so, secrets long held were shared, disparate peoples united, and a newfound sense of home made as enemies eyed them from afar. Whether the tyrannical aylier, the brutish ruvenek, vicious frostborn lauraume, or otherwise, they each tried their hands at war against the helunae. These brief but terrible wars soon stunned such foes as the helunae’s sheer viciousness brought to bear cruelty and devastation no one was prepared for. As the helunae themselves didn't care for expansionist ideas, however, diplomacy soon took over as the means by which peace would be secured. They built a reputation as someone only the foolish would fight, and in such days, opportunity remained elsewhere, so would-be conquerors turned away from the helunae.   As these burgeoning nations and empires warred amongst themselves, the helunae queendoms found an increasingly strange position surrounding them in kind. Being the closest thing to a 'neutral' party begat all kinds of attention, especially from refugees or those wishing to hide under the helunae's infamous throatsplitter spears. The helunae, long multicultural and welcoming to those who wished to accompany their caravans, found no issue in welcoming others within their realms. Much like in the formation of their queendoms, sedentary life brought stability; definition, as it were, to their transformative existences.    

You and Me

The helunae themselves are neither 'mortal nor immortal', though some do enjoy arguing they're the latter. Life and death to the helunae is that of fire and ash; change and stagnation, becoming and remaining. These two states of being, succinctly dubbed enkindled and ashen, are what define helunae existence. When a helunae 'dies', they undergo a metamorphic process called turning and so shift from one form to the other. It is this intertwining of fire and ash that gives ultimate purpose to the helunae ‘life cycle’, as it is not a change that only ever happens once. Fire becomes ash, ash becomes fire, without end, forever.   While the helunae’s traditionally nomadic lifestyles easily handled these sorts of changes, the sedentary life many adopted in order to protect their roaming territories resulted in governments that ran into endless problems because of turning. Did an enkindled helunae who once held a position still qualify for it if they returned after becoming ashen? What of a criminal who, punished by death, is nowfree after becoming ashen? Does it matter how much of them changes, when the ‘person’ still remains? After all, while the concept of a person remained, each turning resulted in indelible changes, whether small or great, and no single helunae remained consistent ‘forever’.   Other peoples did not understand the helunae's answers to these questions, nor were satisfied by what ones did exist. For most mortals, especially those whose cultures saw death as the ultimate answer to the greatest crimes, the fact someone did not stay dead proved troubling. It posed great dilemmas that would, in some ways, cause irreparable rifts in some queendoms, who would later implode in civil war. This is best captured by the controversy surrounding Karlastro Gloomhill, queen of the titular Gloomhill Queendom.   A reasonably fair and just queen in her time, Karlastro's later turning saw her disappear to realms unknown. Succeeded by her daughter, Yaeven Gloomhill, the queendom prospered for some years until Karlastro's sudden return. Divorced of her kindness and her scathing reason unchained from modesty, Karlastro brought vicious vengeance upon her former conniving and evil royal court, tearing apart the duchesses and their families. Karlastro dredged up every dirty secret, hidden conspiracy, and foul misdeed she knew of, for she would not allow such people to escape her justice. The queendom dissolved into civil war between Karlastro loyalists, upset peasantry, and nobles vying for dominance, and ultimately, saw Karlastro slain twice, resulting in her ashen disappearance once again. It isn't known what became of her since, but the damage left in her wake was truly catastrophic.   It did, however, illuminate one poignant detail that would forever become a thorn in the helunae's side: as they could not 'truly die', secrets better left unspoken may yet return if such knowledge survived the turning process. It was similar to a root problem people took with necromancers who spoke with the dead. For many civilizations, deceit and secrets are the means by which great powers are made by. Those who relied on such tools would not easily allow anyone the means to circumvent them.    

Burning Fires, Smothering Ashes

Helunae history can be seen through a perpetual lens of calm and chaos, oscillating between extremes as time marches forward. In one breath, stable queendoms that are safe harbors for multiculturalism, and in the next, unrest into civil war or dividing into newer, smaller nation states. However, the return of ashen helunae—with their different perspectives and often personalities—constantly led to all sorts of resulting turmoil. There were some lands that made peace (or at least, found a working solution) with this fact, such as the helunae of Aerthen. Their philosophical harmonization of fire and ash is believed to have become the precursor to various religions and faiths that, ultimately, became modern day Volapaws. A particularly curious affair as ancient humans seemingly took helunae philosophies for themselves, but the gradual changing of generations led them down very different roads. Many of the helunae’s ‘original teachings’ still exist in modern usage amongst themselves, providing a rare glimpse for scholars to study such differences.   For many helunae civilizations, though, two answers ultimately followed: return to their ancestral nomadic ways, or become dualist queendoms.   Of the two, the dualist queendoms sought to establish a harmony not unlike those of Aerthen. Their principle difference was that of establishing 'two queens': one enkindled, one ashen, and they ruled over their respective peoples in a diarchy. The enkindled helunae would settle upon Veltrona proper, while the ashen took to creating their queendoms in the more uncertain, ephemeral roads and realms surrounding Veltrona. Quite often they would, in a kosmological sense, settle in the 'closest lands possible' to their enkindled kindred, but not always. In doing so, the helunae tried separating their different forms from the mortal peoples who did not understand them. Sadly, this brought on entire new issues that began damaging helunae cultures and their ways of life. It would ultimately be abandoned as the helunae did not accept artificially separating themselves for the sake of others.   From such pains, however, some solutions arose, and something resembling a working balance eventually emerged. Divine and spiritual beings, usually those related to the faith of mortal peoples, enlisted the service of the helunae. Their ability to traverse different realms of existence made them very useful messengers and agents of the divine, who themselves may be far more limited or even unable to do so themselves. Thus, in very quick order did some helunae come to work and live alongside divine beings, completely changing the context of how mortal peoples viewed their species as a whole. Many would eventually regard the helunae as a kind of spirit-like people, coming and going within the purview of divinity as such great beings dictated. This did, at the least, fit in nicely with their unique ability to traverse through existence.   It did create confusing problems for the helunae when they dealt with mortal peoples, but the helunae saw opportunity enough to continue plying their trades. Historians consider service to divine beings as a major reason why the helunae and their cultural presence soon proliferated throughout much of the faiths upon Veltrona. Whether or not they remained is another matter, but at various points in especially long-lived religions (e.g, Uatkara), the familiar visage of candlelit-antlers can be found at some point or another, and flame-and-ash metaphors abound.    

The Great Darkness

The helunae themselves were not a particularly notable species during the advent of the hated Imperium. As best historians can surmise, the helunae were among many other minor, low population species indiscriminately enslaved or slaughtered as was the imperial norm. As death isn't the end of the helunae, however, their turning into their ashen or enkindled selves meant they invariably escaped Imperium cruelties, and usually sought to stay far away from such evil.   There are, however, persistent rumors and speculations of 'helunae spies' who daringly infiltrated Imperium strongholds, sabotaged draconic concerns, and stole precious information. If they were caught, dying simply meant they would invariably escape again, and quite often retain the information they'd stolen in the first place. It's difficult to determine how truthful or fanciful such claims are, but Imperious herself—sole ruler of the Imperium—devoted some effort into figuring out how to 'contain' or 'trap' helunae souls. Imperious, for all her frivolous inclinations, also maintained deadly seriousness on certain matters, and so many took this as evidence of the helunae being a 'significant problem' to her.   Unfortunately, the end of the Imperium came about by the beginning of the Great Darkness and the explosion of the the World Gate. An ancient superstructure of unknown potential, its destruction released a planet-thundering blast that annihilated southern Lophern, northern Dorvar, western Aerthen, and northwestern Votyoger. The resulting debris from such a cataclysmic detonation plunged Veltrona herself into global darkness beneath an ever-expanding fallout cloud. Even the helunae of Varnkof, farthest away from the site of the explosion, wouldn't be spared the resulting calamity as clouds of ash swept across the world.   The ensuing darkness brought with it more than dust or a lack of sunlight, but change of an altogether alien nature. Landscapes morphed in subtle or great ways, altering where roads went or introducing entirely new biomes never seen on Veltrona before. Bizarre creatures of unknown origins wandered the lands, both outright harmful as well as simply going about exotic mannerisms. Distances between places distorted and warped, becoming closer or farther in a way few cultures could grasp.   Stranger still, the helunae recognized this surreal state of affairs. It was, and wasn't, similar to their own nature in how they traversed realities and dimensions. The stability of Veltrona that seemed so infallible had, somehow, been shaken in a fundamental way. As the disaster spread and worse befell the peoples around them, the helunae were compelled to lend their aid to their neighbors, friends, and even less looked upon sorts they knew. The queendoms of fire and ash, as well as the great caravans of nomadic tribes, came together in a rare moment of species-wide unity. In doing so, the many divinities and heavenlies they did business with also came with, and became a massive event—later dubbed Nine Candles Accord—as they discussed solutions for the ongoing calamity.   The helunae, best equipped to continue travel to-and-fro Veltrona, took up the burden of transporting vitally needed supplies and goods across the world. They'd also be responsible for helping maintain the now-disrupted connection between these otherworldly powers and their veltron-bound supplicants. While not a new business to the helunae, the scale to which it grew went beyond even their wildest imaginations. They're also notably one of the few people with 'reasonably accurate' records of the Great Darkness, despite the time period's general sense of chaos and wildness. Unfortunately, records that are deemed accurate to the helunae doesn't necessarily mean understandable to everyone else, especially when interdimensional travel starts being a regular occurrence.    

From Dark to Fire

With the help of the helunae's trade caravans and ephemeral queendoms, more of the world than not managed to hold on throughout the Great Darkness. Among such peoples aided by them would be the then-unknown baarham, survivors of the Imperium's evil machkinations. The baarham were especially reliant on the helunae's aid in such times, as they were much more isolated and on their own than most others. The two, thusly, came together somewhat closely, especially as fellow 'horned people'. A favorable view that would soon beget a terrible elevation in status to the helunae as the skies of Veltrona finally began clearing.   When the Great Darkness receded and sunlight kissed the world once more, life seemed it would finally begin returning to something resembling normalcy. For many lands, it even did so despite the scars of the once-pervasive darkness and its strangeness. From western Aerthen, however, a great evil would arise: the Baarham Dominion. Led by their fanatically xenophobic Sorcerer King, Ghown, the baarham desired a realm all of their own, to which they alone ruled and would be forever safe within. Driven by xenophobic fervor, they built for themselves a dominion to which they alone would reign supreme within. Thanks to their own ingenuity, the craftiness of their king, and the help of the helunae, the baarham grew strong and mighty during the Great Darkness, and became a serious threat by the time it ended.   With this head start the baarham swept aside their immediate competition, and began enacting their king's grand plans for their supreme Dominion. The helunae would become one of the very few species in good standing with the baarham, and given a position of moderate respect within the Dominion as a result. Although initially receptive of such a thing, the ever-mounting atrocities committed by the baarham disgusted the helunae living with them. Most would invariably leave the Dominion, and only those of radical inclination—or simple banal malice—would remain behind.   The migrating helunae brought with them word of the baarham's evils, spreading renown of the terrible Dominion across the world. While they never engaged in large-scale warfare with the Dominion, these early warnings are believed to have had a major impact on later collective efforts to resist the baarham’s expansionary efforts into neighbouring territories. A bigger problem to the helunae at-large, however, was the existence of those who would condone and/or support such efforts. To the ‘true immortal’ helunae, such people were an existential threat unlike any other.   While evil is not new to the helunae, the nature of their existence imposes a great downward pressure upon its most excessive manifestations within their own populations—it isn’t a good idea to burn bridges with a community whose members will live forever, after all. In many cases, this limits evil to manageable forms that myriad forms of punishment suffice for. However, they were also incredibly aware of what Imperious did to dragonkind and the helunae deeply feared anyone similar to her emerging, either among their own kind or others. They worried what such a person, or group, could do, and the havoc they might wreak on Veltrona as a whole—their ‘original homeworld’ and the sacrosanct meanings therein. As the Dominion roiled in the background, the bulk of the helunae queendoms and tribes turned their gazes upon the unwanted weeds that might yet threaten their ways of life.    

Shapeless Form, Unyielding Design

There was no great schism nor war to speak of, but rather a sort of continual cultural ‘forum’. Helunae of all sorts debated the issue at hand of unacceptable evils in the ‘modern’ (post-Great Darkness) context. Time had changed them and their homeworld, and the future moved toward uncertain directions. What ultimately emerged would later become a new, modernized ‘book of laws’ pertaining to one’s conduct not only to themselves, but to Veltrona and her peoples. These laws would be codified into an actual book by scholars within the city of the Cliffs of Melting Light, henceforth named ‘the 17th Entitlement of Punishments, Post-Imperial Era, Veltrona es. qala'. It came to serve as a common-law reference that queendoms and tribes alike studied, copied, or otherwise integrated. Versions of this book would eventually spread to other immortal peoples, especially those curious as to the helunae’s solutions to problems posed by their type of immortality.   It is in the context that necessitated the creation of the 17th Entitlement of Punishments that one can attain an understanding of the mindsets of most modern, post-Great Darkness helunae. For their peoples upon Veltrona, there would come to be those who supported the doctrinal order it sought to create, while others opposed it. These oppositional forces were not necessarily evil by nature, but rather took issue with philosophical underpinnings of the 17th Entitlement of Punishments and its resulting structure.   In a sense, it wasn’t any different from the usual opposing helunae perspectives colliding together. From a historical view, by the time this structure took shape, the Baarham Dominion had long vanished, and Veltrona returned to some semblance of ‘normalcy’. Some argued that the creation of those very laws proved redundant, but a much more polarizing thought soon came to dominance.   The helunae are an immortal people—each one born shall never truly die, forever.   But, there would only ever be one Veltrona.   The Great Darkness had, if nothing else, shown the helunae how truly fragile their precious homeworld was, and the fear of loss that gripped them became unlike any other they’d ever known. Those like Imperious and Sorcerer King Ghown had proven how unchecked ambition could threaten their homeworld, and the helunae had no answers to such threats themselves. It would become a polarizing view and anxiety that henceforth began to change their species in great and profound ways; the full scope to which historians have yet to fully grasp.      

Biology

Anatomy and Physiology

The helunae are typified by their two natural states of being: enkindled and ashen. Both are anatomically similar with a few key, distinguishing details that denote their very different existences. They may be simplistically thought of as the ‘living’ and ‘dead’ state of being, but this understanding is flawed at best. Both are integral components to the transformative nature of the helunae and represent conceptual, physical, and metaphysical properties.   A sexually dimorphic species of humanoids, the helunae have a head, torso, two arms with five-fingered hands, a short, fluffy and tear-drop shaped tail emerging from their tailbone, one-to-four large antlers coming from the head, and two digitigrade legs that end in two-toed hooves. In general, females are taller and more lithe, while males are shorter and stouter. Females are defined by their enlarged breasts, wider hips, and more angular, menacing antlers, and males by their smoother and curvaceous antlers, as well as more pronounced body fur.   As a whole, the helunae are usually physically similar to humanity, albeit helunae females are still more muscular than humans of either sex. What distinguishes the helunae tends to be their longer proportions for arms and legs, creating towering or 'disjointed' silhouettes. They are a species whose mere presence sets others on edge due to their unusual demeanor and presentation; in less charitable terms, they can be scary looking in darker or low-light conditions. The females in particular, as the males' more 'thorny bush' demeanor is considered somewhat 'cute'.   The helunae's head has two eyes, a nose, mouth, hair, deer-like ears, and the distinctly large antlers. Their deer-like ears take the place where human ones would be on the side of the head. The antlers' roots may be anywhere from the forehead above the browline to the temples or crown region. Females have antlers broader and more crown-like, being very decorative in nature, while males have simpler, branching ones which face forward, ideal for jousting with other males. As a whole, the helunae face is considered very human-like, and so typically expresses characteristics similar to them.   The antlers themselves appear to be wood-like, rather than ivory or keratin, and take on appearances such as oak, pine, willow, etc, but strangely do not conform to those same material properties. They do not burn from any kind of flame, yet melt beneath the magical, ever-burning, candle-like fire at their tips. It is why they are hence described as the 'candlelit antlers' by many other cultures, as the tips of the antlers essentially resemble candles in varying states of usage. These antlers grow throughout a helunae's life, requiring trimming and care to stop them from becoming tangled or cumbersomely huge until their next major shedding. In more extreme cases, they may be cut off entirely near the base and allowed to regrow entirely.   The helunae torso is essentially human-like, as well as their arms and hands, and are thusly not remarkably different. Two exceptions are their nails, which are somewhat thicker and more usable as stubby claws, and the short, teardrop-shaped tail emerging out of their tailbone. Patches of fur exist on the forearms for both sexes, which travel up to the biceps for males, and continue on to the sides of the neck for females. Females also uniquely have a strip of fur that continues from the back of their head and down to their tail, whereas males simply have a larger patch of fur around their tail instead.   Helunae legs, similar to other digitigrade monsterkind, have fur growing halfway around their thighs, which continues downward, covering their legs to their two-toed hooves.    

Appearance

Playful yet serious, whimsical yet unnerving; there are particular ideas that capture the helunae in the minds of most other species, all of them centered on the helunae possessing a duality of something beautiful yet unsettling. Though on the friendlier side of most monsterkind species, their peculiar existence begets an aura around them that many mortals inextricably feel despite how much it eludes their minds. Whether toward discomfort or something else depends, but no one can deny that a helunae's presence weighs on the senses in ways many usually associate toward otherworldly.   Natives of Varnkof and a people at home in temperate, alpine, and mountainous environments, the helunae's colors are as representative of such ancestry as it is their unique nature. Skin tones vary between fair and creamy, darker and wood-like browns, and ashen-to-gray stoniness, and are usually human-like in texture. Hybrids may inherit patterns or other aesthetic differences from their sire’s ancestry.   Their hair and fur usually share the same coloration and characteristics, and are normally within the reds, oranges, yellows, whites, browns, and blacks. Both hair and fur have their 'tips', typically the final 1/8th of the strand, change colors into analogous colors; i.e, red fur with orange or white tips, creating a 'fiery' appearance. Both hair and fur will generally express curly characteristics, but not necessarily uniformly; these curls are likened to little flame-licks in shape and nature. Male fur is short and denser, while female is long and flowing up to a length of multiple inches or even a whole foot. Classical cultural terms consider females as 'burning willows' and males as 'smoldering brambles', though the exact words and phrases vary, the imagery is usually quite similar.   Helunae faces are distinguished by a monochromatic skin texture that, resulting in black or white respectively, surrounds their eyes and expands partly onto their cheekbones. This 'natural mask', reminiscent of raccoons, is an iconic feature of their species. Its exact characteristics can vary, usually insofar as either being even more expansive (such as encroaching upon, or even covering, the bridge of the nose, or nose entirely), to very minimal circular patches reminiscent of heavily applied cosmetics. In some ethnic groups, this natural mask may even take on certain shapes, such as sharply angular and hawk-like rectangles, pyramidal hedrons, and so on, but they're considered an unusual type of expression by helunae standards.   The antlers and eyes of the helunae are important features as they're also the principle method by which enkindled and ashen helunae are visually differentiated from one another. Of the antlers, the overall wood-like structure of them is shared, but their melted, candle-like tips differ in that the enkindled helunae have magical flames atop them, and the ashen do not. Instead, the ashen emit wisps of smoke and ash from the tips of their antlers, reminiscent of a candle that'd just been snuffed, yet oddly never runs out. Similarly to the enkindled helunae, whose candlelit-tips intensify during magic, ashen helunae emit greater smoke as they utilize magic. This can make them appear more ghostly, especially at night or in poor visual conditions. The smoke itself, as with helunae candle flames, is magical in nature and does not harm others at all. Its scent is described as ‘familiar but indistinct’, and everyone has different opinions about what it actually smells like.   Helunae eyes are marvelous to gaze into, for their roiling irises and sclera appear as if fire itself dances alive within them. In specific, the colours of the iris of the helunae eye itself moves and shifts on its own, mixing and diluting a helunae's natural eye colors in a ceaseless, fiery dance. The sclera, by extension, is a canvas to which this dance spirals and coalesces across, and is usually a white or black color that compliments the iris. The round pupil remains the only solid, unmoving fixture in this visual spectacle, to which some have compared to 'sunlit eyes'. It's said the gaze of an enkindled helunae's can lift the spirit and stir the soul to motion, burning and burning with ever greater intensity.   Ashen helunae, by contrast, have static and stagnant eyes, frozen in place with muted colors and shapes reminiscent of their enkindled form's eyes; a shadow, as it were, of what they once danced. This unmoving nature, as well as the distinct sensation of 'stop' or 'stagnation' when one looks into ashen helunae eyes is another major visual identifier of their state. Popular folk belief supposes that if one stares too long into an ashen helunae's eyes, their heart just stops and they die on the spot. Others, however, argue that such eyes bring immeasurable peace and tranquility to the most harrowed souls, calming nightmares and soothing deep-rooted trauma unlike any other.   Otherwise, helunae eyes tend to exhibit coloration characteristics that are metallic in characteristics and texture, being highly reflective but chiefly composed of one or two significant colors; e.g, copper red, iron blue-grays, silver, gold. In some respects, helunae eyes are often equated by smiths or metalworkers as resembling melting pools or smelters, in a sense.    

Natural Abilities

Eternally Turning — The helunae life cycle is dictated by the concept of 'turning', where an enkindled or ashen helunae, upon dying, transforms into the other. This turning process fundamentally alters their existence in some way, be it major or minor, and can result in significant personality or conceptual changes within that helunae. Enkindled helunae who turn will disintegrate into ashes, and are then reformed somewhere else in kosmological existence. Ashen helunae, however, 'reignite' on the spot in a moment of blazing glory, essentially reviving as an enkindled helunae.   Flame Within – Helunae are fire-aspected and have an instinctual control over their own fiery mana. They can even manipulate their own ambient temperature, making their bodily fire completely harmless. While this is some manner of natural energy control, they can utilize fire principles for other purposes, such as limited transformation, or transmutation of materials.   Noncausal Existence — Helunae existence is paradoxical, allowing them to influence reality without subsequent causality. In simpler terms, this allows them to easily traverse to realms of existence beyond the rules defined by Veltrona's universe, and interact with beings of entirely alien frameworks beyond conventional understanding. It is the main reason as to why they can interact with both mundane existence and the myriad heavenlies, divinities, and otherwise. It also leads to some of their more unique perspectives and senses, such as escherian conceptualization.    

Diet

The helunae are technically omnivorous, but by cultural custom and dietary habit are principally herbivorous in practice. They're particularly concerned with nutrient-dense food choices, such as tubers, berries, apples, spinach, chard, cauliflower, onions, etc. In this respect, their dietary range is actually quite wide and varied, and they'll make use of anything and everything that can grow in their inhabited environments. They're especially fond of mana-rich foods, and are one of the few species that can dine on draconic cuisine without much issue. It's not really certain why they can or even do so, as their anatomy itself is not particularly high in mana requirements, though there is the side benefit of charging themselves up for magical arts.   Meat itself is a much more serious proposition for them as its consumption is both hard on their digestive system, as well as culturally contentious. In the helunae mindset, what they consume becomes 'fuel' for their existence, and fuel can dramatically change the nature of fire. Flora is an acceptable baseline because they are relatively stable existences that are not considered by the helunae to be ‘volatile’—usually. Fauna, and anything of a ‘meat-like complexity’, however presents a ‘highly volatile’ fuel source that may dramatically affect the helunae in unpredictable ways.   It is a viewpoint that has been difficult for the helunae to translate to other species' perspectives, but suffice to say what they consume has a much greater effect on them than usual. It is something that actually begets common ground with the aryauk, who are also a species even more dramatically affected by what they eat.   That said, most helunae cultures emphasize a ritualistic aspect to their eating: proper preparation, respect of the ingredients and the chef who shaped them, and methodical procedure during consumption. Not only does this suit well for social interaction during meal time, it also sets the tone of a helunae's future for the next few hours. Many species understand the concept of meals and their impact on one's mental well-being, but it is tangibly much more significant to the helunae. As fire-aspected existences, how they consume their fuel can be as important as what that fuel is. In other words, the entire process meaningfully shapes their entire worldview and existence, and so must be taken quite seriously.   It is for this reason that meal time for helunae can be an intense affair, and one's involvement in it can have great social impact.    

Life Cycle

Infancy & Childhood

Helunae pregnancies normally range between 1-3 offspring at a time, with two being the usual. The newborn helunae themselves will be covered in a coat of downy fur that serves to keep them warm in cold climates. For the first year of life, they'll be shut-eyed and blind, as well as physically incapable, requiring constant attention and care from their parents. As they settle into the newness of life, the blind infant will start to wiggle-wander around its environment to get a feel of things. The opening of the eyes will coincide with the shedding of the infant velvet-cover around the roots of their future antlers. It's not considered a painful experience per say, given the drama and novelty of the experience, but they're usually quite noisy during such a time.   Within the second year, the infant will begin learning basic mobility, and childhood as a whole begins the third year onward. In such times, helunae children are encouraged to play, experience the world, and fancy the whims and whimsy they're taken by. This is balanced by the beginnings of education and training, where at the least things like language, basic cultural identity, mannerisms, and so forth, are imparted by parents, teachers, or other culturally-appropriate guides. Knowing little restraint and free-spirited by nature, helunae children are mischievous little spirits whose idea of play and fun cause havoc for everyone around them.    

Adolescence

Adolescence occurs roughly around 20 years of age. Of the typical growing pains associated with adolescence, the helunae's antlers will also undergo more proactive growth and take on their distinctive shapes. These adolescent antlers are generally smaller, but will forecast the eventual final shape they can expect to have in adulthood. The antlers themselves will begin a process of growing and shedding off, which during adolescence is on a roughly 2 year cycle, with variance coming from nutrition, stress, or other lifestyle factors.   With the growth of their antlers, and the 'first spark' of their candlelit flames atop them, young helunae can begin tapping into their innately fire-aspected existence. Unsupervised attempts can spark mundane fires that can cause great damage, so it is culturally reinforced to have adults overseeing the process as much as teaching the youngsters on what to do. A helunae's touch can be extremely dangerous to virtually everything if their transformative power is inadvertently applied: materials ‘melting’, chemical properties altering (e.g, rock combusting), living tissue alienating from its host in a cancerous manner, etc. Thus, self-control and restraint are important and heavily emphasized qualities; something that young helunae, used to fun-loving freedom, often struggle to learn.   It is also during this time that helunae are taught more extensively, either through formalized education, communal tutoring, and/or apprenticeship to a mistress craftswoman. The specifics differ as helunae civilizations can vary between expansive nomadic caravans to entrenched queendoms, but nearly all helunae inherit familial crafting methods, cultural history, and ancestral traditions.   There is, however, a balance of tradition and personal inventiveness, as the helunae themselves do not strictly adhere to doctrine or legacy. That is to say, they do not disrespect such things, but they view legacy as a stepping stone to which even greater potential can be reached. A pebble alone does not become a mountain, but many such pebbles could, and so all helunae invariably contribute to this process. From another perspective, tradition is simply a ‘living document’ that changes as much as the helunae do, albeit slower and much more ‘stably’. Often, it serves as a means of proving what does or does not work, and depending on the context, that might change from generation to generation, or very little to not at all.   The fact that the very ancestors who made such traditions are, themselves, still alive, is also a major influence on such views. When staunch advocates of one particular cultural custom later change or abandon it in favor of others, one can surmise that the need for that custom has essentially faded away. Helunae, however, are people, and so some may be attached to such customs for sentimental or other reasons, for however long they can maintain or remember it.    

Adulthood & Turning

True adulthood is considered when a helunae's antlers have reached their fullest grown extent, and from thereon, will only shed once every decade or so. This is typically around the 40-to-60th years, and coincides with complete physical maturation. At such a stage, a helunae is in their physical prime, reasonably educated in their parent culture's ways, and well on their path of learning a craft or two. The world is open to them in all its possibilities, and most will have to balance the responsibilities of their home with their newfound potential. Dangers are everywhere in the lives of the helunae, whether on Veltrona or otherwise, and so caution is an important quality to maintain. Just as uncontrolled fire destroys indiscriminately, untempered ambitions can lead one to ruinous ends.   This is especially troubling as the helunae themselves have no innate concept of 'true death', but their relationship with the 'turning' they experience is no less significant. They view their lives in a much broader, encompassing sense of totality: their possessions, their knowledge, their relationships, the investments made into all these things, potential future growth, and so on. Simultaneously, they view their life as having a sort of finite quality. In living to their fullest, they seek to burn the brightest they can, make a lasting impact, and change the world before they're snuffed out and become ashen. And, in turn, rebuild themselves in their ashen wake, study who they are or were, what they've done, and consider the meaning of life in deeply spiritual ways.   It is at times a mortal perspective as much as immortal, blending the two together in a very unique mixture. Jiuweihu are among the closest on Veltrona who understand this, especially as a species who are born mortal, but naturally become immortal more often than not. Unlike the jiuweihu, who are closer to immortal norms as persistent existences, the helunae perspective is very dualistic in its fundamentals. Fire and ash, feast and famine, creation and destruction; one cannot exist without the other, and both must be experienced in equal measure. By harnessing this truth, the helunae build a path forward and transform the world around them in ever-more-curious ways.    

Anaxials, Hybrids, and Variants

Anaxials

Helunae anaxials are particularly curious as there is a distinctive difference between them: they're either 'true immortals' like their sire, or entirely mortal as with their dame. In such cases, the former are distinguished with the monikers of enkindled or ashen as per the norm, and the latter are referred to as 'sparks'. While not inherently derogatory, especially as most helunae do not view their anaxials as any less than themselves, these anaxial sparks can face some culture issues due to their ultimately mortal life span. How this is navigated varies from each anaxial to the next, as not even immortality via Cultivation Arts is necessarily 'the same'. The helunae's particular form of immortality is, by all accounts, rather unique to them.   Still, as their many cultures value each and every 'life' lived to its fullest, helunae sentiments are much closer to mortal ones in many ways, making their anaxial sparks rather at home. In these respects, these same anaxials can become important cultural bridges between the helunae proper and other mortal species—if only because they can 'die' like a mortal, and so avoid some of the historical issues with helunae immortality. It's a strangely defined cultural space that ebbs-and-flows with the generations.    

Hybrids

Helunae hybrids are usually identified by the changes in their antlers, fur, and skin texture. As with most monsterkind, they largely inherit vestigial traits from their sire, such as scales, eye color and shape, skin textures, fur and hair colors, and minor, non-impeding physiological growths. Their antlers, however, see the greatest difference as they take on entirely new and different structures. These shapes and forms see great variability from things like sire species and aspected nature, creating possibilities not found natively in the helunae species.   One popular example is helunae-dragons, whose antlers combine with draconic horns into remarkably large and distinctive structures. These conjoined monoliths of horn and antler create a visual dichotomy some have described as 'natural architecture'. Given the great variability within dragons, however, even those particular antler-horns are just one type among many.   Helunae hybrids still possess ashen and enkindled states as per the norm with turning. There is some speculation they have greater resilience against the ‘loss of self’ that can sometimes occur, but as that process is so personal and difficult to observe in the first place, it’s unclear how true that actually is. Such a view is usually more cultural superstition or grandiosity than certain fact, at least.    

Variants

The helunae have no known variants, though some scholars make semantic arguments about 'ashen' helunae technically qualifying. The perhaps closest known example of a species transforming between distinct forms, however, might be the baatari. However, as the baarham themselves were self-engineered, the baatari also self-engineered themselves, muddying the concept of 'natural variation'. The other potential candidate, the bieneren, also did so through directed genetic engineering and intelligent design, so they're so unique as to not really qualify for the most part.      

Sociology

Cultural Universals

Fire's Burning Change

Helunae are a people intrinsically drawn to the idea of change, but how it is applied is a unique consideration that each of them makes. For some, little changes suffice in the grand stage of life, and so they bring about tiny conveniences, simple gestures, and mischievous alterations that enrich (or torment) those around them. For others, they're drawn to greatness—whether their own or others’—and seek to mold all the things needed for that greatness to change. Smiths forge marvelous tools and deadly weapons as much as humble couplings and nails, creating the building blocks that, themselves, engender even greater change. Scholars contemplate the world, seeing perspective itself as something malleable and changed by knowledge, understanding, and raw experience. Mages harness the raw potential of mana, tapping into the very fabric of reality to mold and reshape its individual parts to their esoteric visions.   No matter where or how, much like a blazing fire sweeping across the land, things will change around the Helunae; be it great or small, fast or slow.    

Firm Norms and Bending Ways

Paradoxical on its face, the helunae treasure certainty as much as play around with it. Traditions give shape to their world, becoming the basis to which comparison exists by, and so change may be inspired. Without some modicum of structure, the helunae may burn away without achieving anything of note at all. It is a careful balancing act they instinctively understand, tempering their more wild proclivities under an iron vice of discipline. One cannot melt iron without a smelter, after all; the heat needed is nigh-impossible without structure to contain it. Similarly, for the helunae to bring change, a certain firm sense of order is needed to contain and guide that change.   It is what results in their myriad cultures, be it their flaming queendoms or world nomads, having such diverse and sometimes contrary views on this delicate kosmological balancing act. A unifying theme among these disparate cultures are ‘universal constants’ around which they live upon, such as the need for effective organization, dualist perspectives around ashen and enkindled, ebb-and-flow of seasons/time, and so on. Ceremonial rituals are one such example, as these are complex events that rely on kosmological timing, proper location, establishment of decorum, dissemination of norms and rites to participants, and so on. Thus, ritual events are important hallmarks to which helunae may measure the passage of time, how much they have changed between each event, and other forms of quantification.    

Life and Death, ever-turning

The helunae, who have no concept of true death, arguably have a much different understanding of life as a result. Though commonly described as 'living life to its fullest', and similar vernacular, much of these ideas are from external sources. From the helunae point of view, their understanding is more 'a flame that burns bright consumes more' and 'ash that falls heavily nurtures the world'. Their lifecycle focuses on conceptual purposes in each 'phase', fundamentally defining the behavior of the ashen and enkindled helunae. Other species and foreign cultures typically associate the enkindled's concepts with 'life', and the ashen's with 'death', but these are imperfect understandings at best.   From another perspective, enkindled helunae are 'inspired to change' their world, whereas the ashen are 'seeking inspiration'. At the least, that is why some suppose what happens when an enkindled helunae becomes ashen and disappears. The ashen have gone in search of 'inspiration', and may or may not ever return as a result. Similarly, an ashen helunae who has garnered enough inspiration ‘enkindles themself’ and transforms on the spot. Whether exactly true or otherwise, it is a common understanding.    

Lingual Characteristics

The helunae normally speak and conduct themselves in human-like ranges and mannerisms, and so are not particularly unique in their lingual profile. As the flames or smoke of their candlelit antlers, however, are natural extensions of the helunae themselves, they become part of the lingual package of their species as a whole. While nowhere close to a fully light-based language as the zoaen use, helunae antlers can convey a surprising range of simplistic information such as mood, demeanor, or rudimentary concepts such as orders, emotional messages, and similar.    

Arts and Beauty

Mixture is a core concept of helunae arts, embodying their desire to combine even the most opposing elements together into something 'new'. It runs in parallel against the core, established methodologies of a given culture, creating the framework between 'old' and 'new' they require, resulting in historical motifs being consistently re-examined and re-purposed in modern contexts.   The helunae do not just want simple harmony, they crave meaning in their arts, and sometimes even very hostile and nonsensical designs can create the exact meaning they want. It can and does lead to truly wild and unique pieces, such as hyper realism and surrealism colliding together in a painting of mind-melting complexity. Or, in other cases, musical arrangement of instruments so harshly opposed to one another it's more an assault on the senses than a pleasurable experience. Antler carving, for example, is one consistent example that portrays one of the widest fields of expression among the helunae, such that antler ‘styles’ are often used for defining historical generations.   In pursuit of these often contradictory goals, the helunae sought ways of distinguishing themselves as much as unifying under common ideas. One decade's norm of robe-wearing and gloves melted into the next's sheer cloth and wrapped bandages. The fabrics became host to colors and decorations as handmade and unique as the helunae wearing them, making each of them a beautiful art piece. In the greater whole of social gatherings, all those unique flavors blended together, creating a collage one-of-a-kind in its time and place; never to be seen again.   Yet, it is in the quietest moments that helunae seek to see the others; where they behold one another in more intimate and clear regard. From a massive blaze to a tiny hearth, the helunae transform as circumstances dictate, revealing the beauty of their multifaceted selves. For some, the most beautiful helunae are great blazes that everyone can feel the heat of. To others, the quiet looks only shared in the company of a few, married in the light of a candle and veiled in the darkness of the world.   Layered and multi-faceted works are a common hallmark of helunae arts, and perhaps their most popular ware the world over is glassworks. Through the smelting of (semi-)clear and translucent material, helunae combine color, material, and form together into wondrous forms as artistic as they can be useful. Whether as stained glass windows so vivid and deep as to almost be surreally life-like, cups that fit the hand/appendage as if one held smoldering light, delightful figurines and miniatures for the eccentric collector: the helunae have it all. Of these artisans, the Spiraling Rainbows Troupe are most renowned as a sort of pan-tribal guild who are dedicated mistresses of anything and everything related to glass.    

Magic and Technology

Helunae crafts are truly a league of their own, and though usually quite understandable in purpose, possess wildly strange and differing forms. Perhaps one of the best examples of this may be their oscilliation looms—complex and skeletal-like constructs of over a thousand moving parts—which are capable of turning raw fabric into completed clothing in one process. The oscillation loom’s ability to integrate other raw ingredients, such as metallic ores, directly into the process is where its true scope of complexity and unbelievable capabilities become apparent.   Even standardized templates will see great deviation as the individual craftswomen put their own unique spins on each piece. To maintain the balance of easy repair and profound capability is, itself, a mark of a great mistress many strive for, but few realize. Fire, after all, may burn, but no two things burn in the exact same way; so the helunae do not make any two things exactly the same. This of course can result in all sorts of problems for the customer of said wares, even if the makers do not see it that way.   It is, and isn't, a similar methodology to immortal civilizations who prize individual creativity and prowess. Unlike the helunae, these immortals typically understand the practical application of standardization, so their mass-manufactured wares are largely homogeneous in design. The helunae, however, value aesthetic beauty as much as function, and so even simple tools such as hammers and knives can come in a wide variety of forms.   This same sense of uniqueness governs helunae magical arts in the extreme. Though they will teach common theories and practical applications, the helunae prefer a 'nurture and grow' mindset rather than 'rigor and law'. This means their magical practitioners are usually more self-taught and self-learned, or began from methodologies taught by teachers, mistresses, or institutions as a ‘starting point’. There is also the fact that, since helunae themselves never truly die, their magical arts and crafting methods continue to change and iterate far beyond what most can even imagine. There have been many folk tales of aspiring craftsfolk chancing upon meeting the very mistress whose work helped to shape the artform they study.   Some of their most prolific creations have a history spanning thousands of years, eclipsing even most works made by dragons themselves.    

Religion and Philosophy

The doctrinal enforcement of religion and breadth of philosophy come together in a rather unusual blend for the helunae, in a fashion rarely found outside their cultures.   They do not have goddesses of their own, having instead made deals and agreements with other goddesses. Such work imparts a perspective in their understanding of mundane and divine existence, thus altering their own relationship with it. They do not truly die, and so there is no concept of an ‘afterlife’, nor any sort of idea of ultimate and final separation of kin, only 'displacement' at best. The closest form of religious reverence they come to is the special regard given to their eldest ancestors, that of the 'Kindling'—the very first helunae of their species (or even just the first helunae of their specific tribe or kin group, depending on the culture).   Few of the Kindling remain on Veltrona herself, as most still live nomadic lives which take them to realms much farther beyond. Those that do remain are beings of incredible and indeterminate age, arguably older than dragonkind—though historians tear each other apart arguing over the matter. In many ways these Kindling are regarded as goddess-like beings themselves, with their sheer breadth of knowledge, lived experience, and raw practice in the arts of magic making them powerful forces of influence within the helunae species. Beneath them in ‘seniority’ are the Old Elders, who are even more dispersed throughout the kosmos than the Kindling proper for various reasons.   Of particular importance, however, is the Kindling's and Old Elders' own distilled wisdom, recorded in ancient texts which are reproduced and copied throughout the ages. Containing the succinct knowledge and experience of their lives, they're intermixed with personal contemplation and usable theory, creating a loose doctrine of understanding for a particular lifestyle. The goal of these writings isn't to prescribe a certain way to their descendants, but instead teach them history and to guide them to their own conclusions by providing the perspective and experiences of an elder who has already endured so much.   Some choose to adhere to these texts firmly, finding them comfort and structure in an uncertain world. Others branch off, taken by fancy or curiosity for a derivative approach. In other cases, complete divergence or entirely new orthodoxies that are more secluded and closed off. Regardless of the approach, no helunae culture has been observed as simply ignoring these accounts, and each society has their own way of integrating and interpreting whatever gift of insight an elder deems to give them.   The philosophical works of other species do sometimes find their way into the helunae circulation. While these works do not necessarily capture the unique perspective the helunae themselves have, there are also certain truths or observations that transcend the transience of time itself. Most, however, do end up being studied by prospective helunae philosophers or scholars and then are rewritten from their perspective, ‘integrating’ this knowledge into the broader whole. One poignant effect of this is erasure of that knowledge’s origins, especially when record keeping becomes lazy or is deliberately altered.    

Science and Spirituality

Existence is far more malleable as a concept to the helunae, something they share with the wokma, albeit from a different perspective. Science, which principally relies upon reproduction of experiments and theories to explain the mechanisms of existence, becomes an altogether different beast in their hands. One such idea is that of alloy mixtures: the helunae have repeatedly developed methods that allow them to combine materials of differing natures and compositions, even ones completely incompatible with one another ordinarily.   The resulting product has such bizarre and unusual characteristics that each one is wholly unique and deserving of scientific rigor, yet nigh-possible for other species to recreate on their own. Only mistresses of fire come close to such creations, and they're a difficult skill set to come back in the first place. A well-known example would be steel-woven wool, which combined the material strengths of steel and animal wool together. The resulting material lacked the weight of steel, yet possessed its strength and durability, making for fantastic applications of armored clothing and architectural engineering. Attempts by other peoples often fail as one characteristic overpowers the other, or the resulting fusion is so weak as to be unusable. It does, however, seemingly compete with Rachtoh Silk, something that agitates rachtoh themselves.   The many other species of Veltrona, raised and bound within her far more stable logic and rules, struggle to comprehend helunae approaches. In many ways, the wokma are among those best equipped to do so, but even between them there are significant hurdles. The helunae are, however, not completely incomprehensible, but simply governed by concepts from an 'outside perspective'. The ramblings of immortal scholars trying to figure out these new logical frameworks eventually birthed the common vernacular of 'chaos science', but the mere name translates so badly to public perception it's seen as incredibly inappropriate to call it that. Still, where uncertainty and strangeness collide together, chaos is the word most people think of, so it tends to stick even when it's unwelcome.   Those of more spiritual inclinations—where logic and reason by definition take on new meanings—are those closest to understanding the helunae's point of view. Rather than framing the world through logical inference and deduction, accepting existence ‘skin deep’ is often all that is truly needed. When one steps into strange and uncertain lands, understanding becomes a luxury, not a requirement. The malleability of this approach is critical in comprehending the helunae's fundamentally transformative nature. Some scholars have attempted to conceptualize them through the lens of imaginary existence, as to capture the simultaneous state of being real and unreal, but such complex ideas also don't translate very well. In fact, some scholars (perhaps staking their honor and careers on the idea) pushed the notion so much that some cultures in Lophern and Fauverngarz started considering the helunae as a made-up or even fictional species.   Much to the confusion of the actual helunae nomads when they showed up for trading.      

Psychology

Rest and Sleep

Fire, if fed too much, can grow out of control and become truly dangerous; so-too do the helunae face similar worries. When their busy lives and myriad works can pull them in every direction imaginable, the stress of it all can become truly incredible. While they may not start a blaze that burns a city down (at least, a properly made city), their touch might start to melt and meld things in ways they don't actually intend to do. Stress is easy to understand for most species across Veltrona, but the helunae have much less of a barrier between them and ‘accidents’ than everyone else.   Hence, when it comes time to rest, removing agitators and things that fuel them is an important first step. These quieter and calmer locales are specially curated to minimize disturbances to such a degree popular opinion considers it almost ascetic-like in nature. They're not without creature comforts and luxuries, merely ones of much simpler make and form for helunae sensibility. Technically speaking any locale with these qualities can suffice, and so resting helunae may congregate into strange and unusual places when home isn’t immediately available. This is believed to be the root cause of folklore correlating them to dark and isolated places, or undesirable and abandoned locations everyone avoids.   Helunae inns, diners, and similar locations are often tranquil domains that heavily enforce peacekeeping and not ‘disturbing the vibe’. Comfort foods, easygoing recreational activities (especially ones that aren’t competitive by nature), musical performances (hecklers are banned on sight), and even product catalogue demonstrations all comprise the unique blend of offerings that might be available. While ‘removing fuel’ is an easy way to immediately reduce problems, controlling said fuel down into a steadier form is just as important. Unlike fire, people don’t easily adjust at the turn of a door, so coaxing and corralling are needed sometimes.   Sleep is a generally peaceful affair, though the helunae are considered 'light sleepers', so disturbing them accidentally is quite easy to do. Because of their antlers, their actual sleep postures require some setup, as they cannot simply lay their heads on any regular human pillow. Most settle for side-sleeping or even on their bellies, and typically make accommodations for their head to lay comfortably while also allowing their antlers to hang freely. Any sort of pressure on the antlers can bother them enough to wake up, though with time and practice, a helunae can 'get used to it' somewhat.   One curious effect of a sleeping helunae is that of their candlelit antlers 'freezing', insofar as the flame or smoke itself no longer flickering/moving at all, as if it has simply stopped in place.    

Consciousness and Thought

Evaluating the helunae's cognitive makeup has been historically quite difficult to do. By most metrics and perceived concepts, they're very human-like in their cognition and senses, and do not exhibit any stand-out qualities otherwise. In the same breath, however, their penchant for divergent thinking and non-linear rationalization means they have little issue handling new and unexpected forms of stimuli. This critical trait is believed to be an important part of why they're able to withstand traversing between entire realms and worlds as much as handle fire's transformative nature so easily.   Experts in the subject do acknowledge the helunae mind has much more going on than they're able to effectively understand and deduce. Even the helunae themselves struggle to put these findings in terms translatable to other people. This cognitive 'black box' is pretty much where everyone sweeps up the helunae's unusual nature into, though many continue trying to understand its secrets all the same.   Most notably, however, is the ‘turning’ part of the helunae life cycle. When a helunae turns, their transformation from one state to the next imparts entirely new aspects into their cognition. That is, as it has been described, that each life is a ‘mirror’, and as a helunae turns, each mirror looks upon the next as much as the previous. The invariable change that results from this is why there are sometimes memory loss or personality alteration to the helunae—they are fundamentally different no matter how much they understand ‘what they once were’. When compounded by the intrinsic natures of being ashen or enkindled, this mechanism is why even the same helunae can exhibit very different identities throughout their continually immortal existence.   After a certain point, there may be so many mirrors or alterations from the turning process that the ‘original’ helunae may not even ‘exist’ anymore; a dilemma often compared to a ship continually rebuilt over its lifetime until no original parts remain anymore.    

Motivation and Emotion

Fun-loving, free spirited, mischievous, compassionate; the helunae are an animated people driven by life's simple pleasures, family's deep bonds, and passion's gripping compulsions. The fueling of these different stimuli and circumstances gives shape to what they do, and in turn, informs how and what they begin to change. On its own, this idea is relatively simple, but when one begins to add in hundreds of helunae, survival concerns, cultural norms, and so on, the churning roil of their lives becomes increasingly self-evident. It is a constant and stressful balancing act, but one that creates tangible meaning in and of itself.   A tangible yet important underpinning to these mannerisms is the helunae’s grasp of time and its fleeting nature. Though truly immortal and never needing to fear death, they still nonetheless fear a life unlived to its fullest, and the loss of all the possibilities that life may have had. In other words, the transience of a home, a city, a very culture itself, when combined with the inevitable turning they will undergo, means they fear losing what may be a truly unique ‘opportunity’. When one also considers that becoming ashen could very well send them across the kosmos, never to be seen again for eons at a time (or longer), and the potential loss of what they held onto is a very real, and incredibly potent, driving force to the helunae.   Self-control becomes that much more important in not only helping a helunae keep sane, but also to manage these various stressors and their place in them. Without that, the stress might reach such a point that a violent outburst of some manner ensues. A boiler too hot, no matter how useful, is doomed to explode in a catastrophic eruption, after all. Managing that heat and performing maintenance are core concepts in self-control, and something all helunae respect, for they all understand intimately how troubling it can be. Common cultural practices usually emerge in communal meditations, exercise and sports, religious ceremony, and other rote mechanisms which provide a solid and unyielding mental brace.   To outsiders, the chaotic and deeply personal helunae are inscrutable and difficult to understand in one breath, and starkly plain and clear in another. For all their differences from everyone else, the helunae's common acts of compassion, understanding, and help—whether appropriate or not—garners a friendly reputation. When one faces the deadly wildernesses of Veltrona and its myriad hardships, such kindness is utterly valuable, and often need not be questioned more than the face-value it is given at.    

Sexuality and Love

While the helunae may view the world in terms of universal constants and all else in a constant state of flux around them, their cultures’ view of the self is one that is believed to be a stable, if flexible, point between these two extremes. Like a rock in a river, no matter how the current flows, they remain despite the force, noise, and pressure alike. Even if by virtue of being subjected to the flow of the river, they are slowly shaped and changed nonetheless.   It is for this reason the helunae are very reluctant to change themselves without great consideration, as it is commonly believed that a frivolous change may harm them in profound ways. As they are immortals that do not have a true death, this is especially harrowing as such changes may follow them for a long, long time. Thus, from this perspective, the helunae deeply value and respect one's sense of identity, purpose, and connection to the broader world. Sexuality and other intimacies, as a result, are generally considered a sacred and a vital part of one's existence that shouldn't be disrespected.   Broadly, love itself is also something seen as stability within their existence. Love, a binding force that can bring even disparate parts together, binding them through emotions of both quaint and monumental magnitudes. The different loves one cultivates become a vital fuel source to inspiration, motivation, and overall purpose in an existence that may otherwise be devoid of such things. Without love, the helunae do not believe they would have existed at all, and instead might've burned away long ago. In this respect, love is usually equated with fire directly: a transformative force of unfathomable potential. It is, also rather uniquely, the only source of fire they believe can kindle an ashen soul to inspiration once more; though some philosophers argue about this constantly.      

Society

Social Mannerisms

In their day-to-day lives, the helunae are a people governed by various social systems of decorum and everyday rituals. While at times it makes them appear plainly honorable and straightforward, it can also take them down strange and bizarre mannerisms other cultures find inexplicable—always placing eating utensils sideways, no two doors are left ajar in the same room, certain colors and/or patterns may only be worn on certain days or nights, and so forth. To further complicate matters, the helunae love teasing and playing tricks on those who aren't familiar with the ins-and-outs of their sometimes labyrinthine cultural customs. The social chaos it causes delights them to not end, and though perhaps some may understand it as malicious, it is not by intention on their part.   One can, however, count on them honoring set-in-stone concepts, pacts, and agreements. Whether in spirit and/or simply to the letter, the helunae consider reliability an important personal quality, so such agreements are direly important to them. Those who break such pacts or oaths are oft punished in great and profound ways, though not always through pain or torture per se. It is for this reason that most peoples making deals with the helunae should do so on honorable and straightforward grounds, and never seek to deceive or trick them. They're a people with unfathomable lifetimes and long, long memories, and they have all the time in the world to exact justice on those who've wronged them.   That said, one should also be wary of engaging the helunae in competitions of skill of any kind. Victory is one thing, but when they suffer defeat, it inspires them to overcome the challenger that bested them. Such 'confrontation' is deeply personal and motivating, perhaps obsessively so. Helunae will go to incredible lengths to hone their skill and challenge their opponent once more, seeking to best them. If one isn't careful, even being defeated by that helunae isn't enough to dissuade their interest. A worthy opponent who can constantly test them is someone they'll keep in high regard and relentlessly bother again and again.    

Gender

Gender as a concept is at times incredibly rigid as much as it can be irrelevant to the helunae. Much like sexuality, gender is a component of the self, and the self is a point of stability in their uncertain world. Ideas like gender roles and norms become important ways of demonstrating respect to one's, and other's, genders. Yet, when those same social customs become oppressive or harmful to others, it forces the helunae to reevaluate the customs. It is a constant ebb-and-flow much more dynamic than sexuality per say, and representative of the helunae's change-prone natures.   Given these conditions, studying helunae genders is very much reliant on a specific culture and its time and place, as that same culture may transform completely differently. As a whole, in an incredibly generalized manner of speaking, helunae women are usually seen as figures of authority and power, while men are the playful kindling around them. Most forms of familial responsibility—legacy, history, customs, etc—are kept and maintained by the women, though men are often so involved they're fairly equivalent in that respect. Men, in kind, greatly pursue their crafts and contributions to the family, and place great regard on their social standing among their competitive peers.   Those of other gender identities, such as non-binaries, gender queer, and otherwise, usually come to exist in self-created spaces, establishing their own rules and norms. These then mesh with the ebbing-and-flowing customs of the binary spectrum, creating a unique harmony in the process. As a whole, their self-defined rules exist on a more stable foundation than the binary genders, becoming a very poignant point of reference in the melting cauldron of genders among the helunae.    

Kinship and Ethnicities

Family can be one of the greatest binding forces to any helunae, and its importance is difficult to overstate. The dynamics of it, however, take on a life of their own when one considers that a helunae's family only ever grows in size, not necessarily decreases. Thus, every child born is a permanent addition to the species, slowly yet inexorably increasing their overall population size. It also means that one's roles within that family may be set in stone throughout all of time itself, and quite possibly beyond, as well. From this perspective, the decision to have a child is a great and monumental one, and a fundamental change to the helunae's eternal life. Because of this, helunae families are sprawling genealogical queendoms unto themselves, full of vast complexities that make navigating them a truly onpic task.   The simplest form of a family unit is typically a head of family and their spouse(s), and any resulting children. The head of family's main responsibility pertains to taking care of legacy, historical record keeping, and maintaining social communication with descendants. As the children come of age and eventually start their own families, their respective heads hearken to their parents, forming the bloodline connection that is henceforth maintained. After a certain point a helunae family tree is more a spider web best sorted by age and reproductive generation, but even that is a convoluted creature.   The likes of marriage and kinship bonds, however, are things that are ever tested by time, and especially by the helunae as they turn and turn. For some, marriage lasts only for that ‘life’, while others strive to maintain it despite their own changes. What of a child who turns prematurely, or a parent who vanishes as a result thereof? What then of family and bonds together that may not last time’s endless ordeal? It is a common and great trauma among the helunae, and a frequent centerpiece of their most dramatic works, for none have an easy or satisfying answers to such a quandary.   Helunae ethnic groups result from a mixture of general social creed, ancestral tradition, and kosmological circumstance. Given their eternal life, many of these groups have existed longer than most civilizations on Veltrona, though rarely—if ever—in the same 'form'. Entire groups may even come into existence then dissolve on their own or integrate into others as circumstances dictate. Only a few portions of childhood or natal ethnic identity are maintained, but the ones that do are usually very personal ones for each helunae.   The Cliffs of Melting Light, for example, is an ancient queendom once located in the relative southwestern Varnkof, though little of the queendom exists on Veltrona fully anymore. It does, on the occasion, emerge back as its plane and Veltrona intersect, and is seen as a major port-of-call for nomadic helunae to stop by when leaving or coming to the planet. Hundreds of different ethnicities exist together within its wax walls and cherry tree forests, coming and going in endless streams.   In contrast, the helunae of the Unshaking Anvil are technically a cult subset of Volapaws, and take home in Aerthen's northern Divine Mountains. Wholly dedicated to the craft of smithing, mining, and the craftswomanship related to all things stone, metal, and glass, they're fervent and dedicated souls constantly driven to see what new creations and boundaries can be pushed. It's said their original members were inspired by the legendary human, Aerintor's, peerless smith work and have ever sought to surpass her famous creations.   The helunae nomads themselves aren't homogeneous ethnic groups. Instead, they begin as bands whose core members hail from the same tribe, but over time as they travel they will, through marriage or other agreements, welcome members or families from various other sub-groups who travel with them and go as circumstances may allow for. Some of these groups may even stay as part of the core, maintaining their own individual customs amongst many more. In this context, the helunae nomads might be likened to a ship, or flotilla of ships, traveling through the unknown reaches of the Dark Ocean.    

Governments and Politics

Among the helunae, leadership is not a burden everyone is particularly eager to take up, even with lived literal millennia of experience. Success and failure are inevitable at such great scales, and the burdens of both can be truly awesome forces that change a helunae in ways they may not truly want. Yet, at the same time, doing nothing leaves them at the mercy of others, forcing even the most reluctant of them to consider the burden once more. As a consequence, true helunae leadership falls upon the shoulders of those who have the mental strength to bear such responsibilities, for however long they're able to.   Many different government forms have taken shape over time for the various helunae groups in and away from Veltrona, though the most structured and complex forms of government are usually only created by circumstance and necessity, and rarely lasting long outside those conditions. Even the typical ideas of authoritarian dictatorships or monarchies are, themselves, as transient as democracies and republics. Such concepts may even be inappropriate to apply to the helunae's specific methodologies, but they are quite close as starting points nonetheless. The most common form of governance among the helunae is that of group consensus—be it by the few (scholars, elders, special interested persons, etc) or the many (an entire group, tribe, regional collective, etc). Those without the spirit to involve themselves in this governance can only wait to be governed upon, and effective leaders do so in ways no one comes to resent.   One's people, after all, are eternal; any evil done upon them will come, by their hands or others, in retribution. The helunae have thrown countless tyrants out into the endless kosmos, never to see them again—or at least, until they've turned enough over their crimes for redemption. Still, that is often only the starting point, and one must suffer greatly in the cause of others to earn their esteem once more. To the helunae, execution and exile are functionally the same thing; perhaps worse, for one who becomes ashen may disappear to the far corners of the universe. Those exiled, at least, are still in the same kosmological neighborhood of their people or homeland.    

Trade and Economics

The helunae gravitate around gifting-debt, bartering, and market economies, usually depending if one is dealing with nomads or settlements. Coinage is not often that useful unless the coin itself is made of a useful material. On the other hand, if the helunae do routine business with people who deal in coins, they'll keep some around. What truly garners their attention is that of useful goods, exotic wares, and artistic pieces of all sorts. To the surprise of nearly everyone, the helunae love mundane material goods as much as any other species.   As such, time and circumstance chiefly govern what sort of goods the helunae seek and what they offer. As their wares are often in much greater demand—especially magical crafts or devices that mortal peoples have never seen before—there are few markets that would turn them away outright. It can, and often does, however, cause great friction with local artisans when the helunae appear. Armed with vast years of experience and skills at their craft, the helunae's wares can easily overshadow their would-be competitors. It can dash the spirit as much as invigorate it, especially from running into a competitive craftswoman of many centuries ready to put their skills to the test.   Knowledge, however, is a very particular kind of good the helunae are extremely careful with. Even simple forms of it from other worlds can have unimaginable consequences, and so there is great discernment over how it can be shared. To such an end, the helunae usually leave the matter in the hands of their lore mistresses and librarians, who are tasked with filtering desirable knowledge into much less harmful forms to would-be buyers. Letters, however, are something the helunae are quite fine with transporting, and is one of their largest businesses they offer.    

Interspecies Relations

Whether by knowing the helunae or living beneath a veil of mysticism and folklore, every species on Veltrona has some awareness of them. Those of more desirable and colder climates know them the best, and they oft have dealings with the like of the aylier, ruvenek, onpa, humans, etc. Allies as much as enemies sometimes, the helunae find the veltron-bound ambitions of such peoples often too much for their liking. Expansionist cultures, in particular, rankle them as they see such rapacious behavior as unsustainably destructive and prone to blatant evil far too much. It has led to constant conflicts throughout time, to which the helunae will usually end up on the other side without too much issue.   Of all Veltrona's peoples, however, the wokma stand as those with the strangest relationship to the helunae. They are both people with an intimate understanding of reality's malleability, but whereas the helunae are more localized, the wokma are much broader. Despite this fundamental difference, the two usually find equitable ground together, and the wokma often act as intermediaries for the helunae and the rest of dragonkind. It's supposed some of the strangest innovations dragons have made may have actually come from competitions with the helunae, given how notoriously egotistical dragons typically are.      

Associated Articles

Notable Civilizations

     

Notable Characters

       

Design Notes

Portrait

Species conceptual portrait goes here.    
Conceptual Inspiration
Deers, raccoons, fire elementals, fae, Tuatha Dé Danann, Slavic mythology   Average Lifespan
True Immortal   Average Height
Females: 7ft / 213cm
Males: 5ft / 152cm   Average Weight
Females: 250lbs / 113kg
Males: 150lbs / 68kg   Aspected Nature
Fire   Day/Night Behavior
Crepuscular   Place of Origin
Varnkof   Preferred Biome
Alpine and foothill regions, temperate and cold climates, forests of all kinds, grasslands around forests   Geographic Distribution
Worldwide; technically interplanetary/dimensional

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