Matters of Eshanic Races, Qadayen Species

Qadal is a land of numerous races, all in constant contact with one another. Peace and war have come and gone between them, flaring up and dying down with the passing of each generation. Blood is shed equally among all peoples and doesn't necessarily align with race. Aemarda fights among its own regularly, the Daorhu are chronically divided, and the Etayen realms shared poor relations before the Great Conflict erased Nathrovas from the world. Alliances are similarly made between races, such as the Ghet of Loryne and Iolas Nathroghal during the War of the Black Hills. This strange intersection of political interests endured the grueling campaigns of mountain warfare and carried both leaders to the grave. The Corgastodmar and Daorhu also made common cause during the Twilight era to withstand the incursions of Karthuul’s descendants. Moreover, the relationships between the races take on a benevolent character entirely divorced from armed conflict- cultural diffusion and shared knowledge. For example, the Etayen spread knowledge of the celestial bodies and Eshan to those they encountered as a matter of reinforcing their faith in Atûn. Without them, it is possible that the other races would have endured centuries without any understanding of their origins or purpose. The Axodraharik brought personal knowledge from Voryndal, shedding light upon that strange realm for those in Qadal who knew of it in legend alone. Aemar vigorously developed the Middle Belt, spreading technology and knowledge through the heart of Qadal at rate unprecedented among other races. The fair and ill, benign and malicious- all matters of olûndari existence follow the singular pattern of eternal uncertainly.   Discussing matters of war and civilization, however, implies some manner of nuanced understanding potentially unattained. It becomes a necessity to iterate these truths without mistake. Ask, then, what are olûndi? In some undeniable capacity, they are embodiments and extensions of the Eshan. Olûndi live sentient lives, comprehend and imagine with developed minds, and aspire to ambitious heights like their divine masters. Moveover, the the Eshan are vulnerable to violent deaths and sinister betrayals much like olûndi. The significant different between them exists in the exchange of unnatural energy. Eshanic entities, derived entirely from Eshanic power, grow to infinitesimal scales of strength while olûndari entities are born with finite Eshanic power and thereafter lose it until death. Bestowing Eshara upon olûndi, however, can extend their lifespans to veritable imolûndariity, just as the Eshan enjoy. Upon death, the energy of olûndi meshes once more with the Eshan within the same spiritual bodies. In that way, the two spheres of sentient existence close and become nigh indistinguishable. Olûllosia is therefore more potent than denizens of either Void or Qadal honestly acknowledge.   Born from the ashes of the First Feud were three dominions of living existence. These are not the classifications enumerated below, being varieties of sentient, reasoning life, but beyond that level. First comes substantial life, which refers to floral life alone. Entities of this description live and can die without sufficient nourishment or impacted with damage, but they do no possess reason and cannot physically manipulate the world to follow instinct. Second comes instinctual life. This includes all fauna and those races created during the First Feud to wage Eshanic war. Entities of this description can manipulate the world to achieve some instinctual goals, but lack to reasoning necessary to objectively observe and understand the war. They live and die knowing nothing of themselves. Last comes sentient or reasoning life, which reflects the Eshan themselves as crafted from Qazun’s handiworks. Entities of this description can observe and comprehend the world in complex and fundamental terms. They recognize their own existence as individuals and pursue goals beyond instinctual impulses.   For all their achievements, how were the fundamental physiologies of these sentient races decided? What was considered in that regard? A certain measure is raw creative expression. The birth of olûndari races allowed the Eshan to bring forth the wildest and most personally potent manifestations of reality which they could muster. Anything and everything within an undefined realm of reality was within grasp. The Aemar, Etayen, Doarhu, and Odyrzid, among others, are all derived from the minds of these divine makers. However, the casual observer might notice strange consistencies across the olûndari racial spectrum. Each race shares physical qualities. This is simply because the Eshan themselves are unworthy of the creative power bestowed upon them. Nothing more can be said. One of the Alor’eshan created the first bipedal olûndi, whether it was Atûn or Aebaster was uncertain, and the trend proliferated. The majority of the other Alor’eshan, the Ebal’eshan, and Ácolitus himself succumb to the same creative mode because it existed and was simple to replicate. As such, one learns that laziness and conservative thinking are as ancient as existence itself.   These two significant trends in olûndari creation, being blind plagiarism and inspiration from Qazun’s creations, are not accepted universally without qualms. In Voryndal, a collection of Ebal’eshan known as the Vulleyari rallied together to combat this perceived squandering of creation’s gifts. Under their leader, Vullenis, the Eshanic dynasty shunned every existing iteration of the olûndari form.   Spawning from the two major trends of creation are the three domains of Olûllosia. Qadal is mercifully limited in its variations, and thus these same domains are spoken about in greater detail in Voryndal. First are the Esseyti, being races derived from the image of the Eshan and masterworks of Qazun- bipedal, two arms, one head, and well adapted to broad circumstances. The clever and competitive Alor’eshan considered Qazun’s designs the wisest and adopted them wholesale. Aemar, Etayen, Doarhu, and Odyrzid all share this same physical profile, despite the differences between them. This was wrought more from fear of defeat rather than a disdain for creativity. Second to them are the Ariteyi, designed from the bestial creations of Qazun which populated the world without sentience. Races such as the Elivas and Gressar derive lineage from this breed, but in neither case desired. The former was a curse and the latter was a foolish mistake in combining Eshanic and Vojûnic power. This separated them from the purpose-built creations of the Ebal’eshan in distant Voryndal. The Axodraharik who arrived in the 1400s share this same heritage but were not born to Qadal. Finally, there are the Nemyeti, being races whose masters defied the trends of plagiarism and Qazun veneration. These Eshan sought to create their own races according to their own imaginations, and thus the characteristics are impossible to accurately articulate.   What must also be known is that the olûndari form is not sacred. It is crafted. It is a conscious image which is brought into existence. This is an important reiteration when speaking of how racial image and olûndari body might be change. The most powerful forces of this change are Eshara and Vojûn, being different versions of the share celestial power. Both will be introduced and explained in full further along but suffice to say for now that they can alter and corrupt bodies and materials alike.   Reading further, one must understand the both the ephemeral state of Olûllosia and the alterations which nature bestows upon it. The first Eshan to recognize change over vast periods of time was Arragzadaras, who dedicated his imolûndari life to the constant observation of olûndi, which were the most interesting and curious of all Eshanic creations. Everything occurred in a gradual crawl, with newer generations exhibiting physical and minor mental improvements or differences to their predecessors. It was particularly noticeable among the races which the Eshan designed to reflect the beasts of Qazun, for they grew large and brighter, then smaller and duller depending on the changing of variables too great in scope to well comprehend. Aemarda, the Etayen, Daorhu, and other races crafted from original work also exhibited these changes over millenia, but their natural and altered states were more difficult to perceive. After all, nothing like them could be found elsewhere in Esha. Arragzadaras called this effect ‘Qellesh’ or the Eshic Changes. This responded to the fact that the Eshanic esseythu of these olûndi did not change but was always consistent in its strength at birth and gradual decline until death. Meanwhile, the bodily portions of olûndi beyond that essence was somehow changing between the generations with the consent of olûndi nor pre-determination of the Eshan themselves. A greater, different force was at work, which was entwined with the fabric of Acolitus and his eternal conscious rather than consciousness of any entity.   Arragzadaras continued to research and ponder upon this phenomenon, and thus spent long centuries monitoring the manners which olûndi changed. Why did it happen? In time, a certain revelation came to Arragzadaras which simultaneously illuminated and baffled every previously held sensibility. Something within the deepest unconsciousness of Acolitus, beyond even his own knowledge, was self correcting the physiology of these olûndari beings, changing them to better suit circumstances.