The Numenshara

The First Species

  Though only 12 yet remain in living memory, the Numenshara, better known throughout the rest of the lands of the world of Ea as the "High Vampires", were the first and only true 'species' created by The Old Gods(And first of all species to be created in reality, made even before The New Gods, better known as The Yema, had taken form) at the same time as their formation of The Spirit Kings - their one complete and intact race of children crafted by their own ineffable hands before their deaths at the hands of The Yema who slew them for giving the species they had created freedom and sentience.   Whereas their siblings, The Spirit Kings, are not a true 'species' and are instead the literal embodiments of the various aspects of reality so immense and omnipotent that they slumber most of their infinite lives away as formless Overdeities, dreaming and interacting with the world where possible, the Numenshara were smaller-scale and more tangible 'prototypes' of those same beings designed by The Old Gods to act as agents, envoys, and protectors of all that The Spirit Kings embodied.   In truth, they served as the second half of the 'whole' of a symbiotic relationship between them and The Spirit Kings, whom they were to act as living conduits and siblings for and towards - a species whom could carry out the will of The Spirit Kings in ways that their lieutenants, the Elemental Lords, could not - beings to walk the material worlds and wield literal, total control over the aspects of reality in similar ways to The Spirit Kings. However, they were also an experiment by the Old Gods in making true, free-willed sentient races - of which in all reality they were the first.  

Destroyed from Within

  The Numenshara met their end at the hands of The Yema, but ultimately their own deaths and/or sealings were their own fault - though their relationships and bonds remained steady for eons, they eventually fell to division after their leader, The Ultimate First who held sway over Life, Death, and Entropy, saw fit to exterminate the other 'inferior' races made by their mortal enemies The Yema - to wipe them out and do as their creators wished(so he believed) and bring about new races, better and more strictly in line with the ideals of they themselves and their creators.   Though some of the twelve Numenshara saw fit to support their leaders mission of extermination, several sprang to the defense of the fledgling races and sought to defend them despite their origins hailing from The Yema - they saw these new races as flawed, yes, but worthy of a chance to thrive and flourish. These supportive Numenshara saw the creations of the mortal races such as art, war, love, and such as beautiful things they themselves could not make(as they mostly lacked imaginations or capacities for such things), and as such went to war with their own kin to defend the mortal races.   This schism, though kicked off internally, gave The Yema, who had long schemed for a chance to strike out at The Old Gods, a way to destroy their first and most fervent protectors, the Numenshara - so, by leaping to the defense of the faction of the Numenshara which supported the survival of the mortal races, they divided the previously undefeatable 12 Numenshara and destroyed them from within, turning on the rebel faction once the destruction of the faction beneath the leader was confirmed...finally obliterating them and, not long after, their masters The Old Gods themselves...now bereft of beings strong enough to protect them, and facing adversaries that had tested horrific divine weapons on the Numenshara that were designed to kill and scatter the previously thought invincible Old Gods.  

The Twelve Survivors

  Perhaps the greatest secrets yet kept by the lands of Zheng-Kitar that have yet to be yielded to foreign scholars or archaeologists, the Numenshara themselves are believed by the races and cultures of the planet of Ea to have only ever numbered no more than twelve - singular entities created at the dawn of reality that could not reproduce, and were demigods of unfathomable power that walked hand in hand with The Spirit Kings. However, the truth, as with many historical tales and creatures, is somewhat different - from what has been pieced together by Numenshara Scholars(Who are by and large a dying breed on Zheng-Kitar, as fewer and fewer every generation remain interested in continuing the hunt for their mysteries - though with some of them returning in recent decades, this has begun to reverse course), the greatest hidden truth of the Numenshara is that they were never merely twelve, but an entire species - the truths of this remain murky at best, but ancient texts recovered and translated from the ancient temples dedicated to the twelve surviving Numenshara(And some temples dedicated to Numenshara not a part of the surviving twelve), the Numenshara were a true species in every sense of the word; capable of reproducing and living their own truly immortal lives.   The exact circumstances that thinned their numbers down to twelve is unknown, and likely only remembered by the twelve survivors themselves - but this event is believed to have happened long before the schism that destroyed the surviving twelve forever and divided them into the Pro-Mortal and Anti-Mortal factions. Yet, from carvings on temple walls and ancient translated texts, the truth is clear - depictions and poems referencing infant Numenshara being delivered and dedicated to The Old Gods and the Numenshara's siblings The Spirit Kings tell of a race that lived and died so many millions of years ago that the entire history and tale of their people was born, existed, and forgotten before the dawn of recorded time and the solidification of the universe itself. This mystery - what happend to the Numenshara race, and why exactly they were considered "failures" by their creators - is one of the greatest and most intriguing mysteries of Zheng-Kitar that has kept scholarly hunting for the truth for thousands of years.   Information on the twelve Numenshara that survived the unknown extinction that befell their race and eventually caused The Rapture War between themselves and The Yema over the fate of the other infant mortal races is listed below:  

1. Fabius, the Ultimate First. Held Dominion over Life, Death, and Entropy. The ultimate leader of the Numenshara believed to be one of the very first living beings created in the Cosmos, who sprang into existence when The Cosmology of Ea was still in its infancy and lived to see the universe take shape and the lesser mortal races rise to prominence. From what little information remains of him, he is described in an oddly diametric way - referred to in reliefs carved onto the walls of the most ancient temples dedicated to the Numenshara as a pious, steadfast man who loved his creators The Old Gods above all else, and saw from the very beginning the traitorous desires in the hearts of The Yema, and singlehandedly rallied his kin against the latter's influence to defend their creators. Yet, in others, he is described as a vicious, scheming, manipulative man whose hatreds ran so deep that eventually, he sought to eradicate all other races, created by The Yema, in a ploy to cast down the very Yema themselves - though certain texts also mention his intentions to use the deaths of all life in creation to, in his hubris, ascend into omnipotence and do what his creators could not - and create life himself that, in his mind, better adhered to the ideals and teachings of their creators The Old Gods. A man burdened by his duty, he was self-centered, egotistical, and manipulative, but was believed to be the only one of their kind who was truly privy to the wishes and thoughts of their creators - and so burdened by the maddening weight of his duty, was warped in the process of living up to the expectations of The Old Gods.   He was the leader of the faction of the Numenshara bent of exterminating all other beings and species as creations of The Yema, and ultimately triggered the schism that would lead to the The Rapture War.   Status: Unable to be killed or sealed away by The Yema due to his own innate mastery over and connection to the concepts of Life and Death - concepts that could not be forced upon him even in defeat, even by the Gods - he was sent into The Dark Tapestry, domain of the Eldritch Deities such as Cthulu, Hastur, and the like. Believed to yet drift, mindless and broken, across the space between spaces.
     

2. Camilla, the Sanguine Second. Held dominion over Liquids, Diseases, and Decay. Best remembered for the casual sadism and cruelty she displayed constantly towards most all other beings besides other Numenshara, she held most all other creatures(Especially those created by The Yema) as little more than livestock - things which, in her own words, she paid no more mind to torturing and killing than a hunter might to an animal they felled and skinned. Largely unable and/or unwilling to find anything of worth in the lives of mortal creatures, whose lives passed far too quickly for her to take note of, she explored the mysteries and powers of her own domain using mortal creatures as test subjects - as she found mortal creatures "special" over true animals in their ability to suffer and experience tragedy. Believed to be one of if not the first true "originator" of Undead and the practices that would, millions of years later, give rise to the Necromancy School of Magic, she indulged her own interests and dominions on mortals constantly - discovering the state of undeath as she trapped other living beings in unending torment to satisfy her own curiosity and boredom in her seemingly very personal quest to explore just how deep mortal suffering could go, and what creatures or powers could be born from it. Above all, she is written of as coveting nothing more than the voices of mortal creatures - which she delighted in stealing and capturing and preserving even long after the mortal from whom it was taken perished at her hand. Her actions and bearing around her kin has largely been lost - as the few surviving reliefs and texts that mention her speak of her as a cruel, capricious goddess by primitive races who worshipped at her feet to spare themselves from her cruelty through living sacrifice and offerings of pain and suffering; practices she seemed to tolerate and perhaps even enjoy, enough that she is described as sparing cultures and villages and even protecting them against the interests of other Numenshara and even other hostile creatures or Yema so long as they continued to venerate her and make offerings to her. She was also known to be an incredibly close friend and sister to Isabella, the Rampaging Eighth, as both delighted in the snuffing out of Mortal Life - though she is often described as the more 'sane' and 'tolerant' of the two in surviving texts from the ancient cultures that worshipped her.   Camilla joined Fabius and sided with him to kill all mortal life, excited at the prospect of discovering what mighty powers, undead, or other creations or secrets might await her once she possessed the collective suffering of an entire cosmology.   Status: Was once sealed away in the far off land of Numiastra in a prison of Yema Design, but recently freed by a Necromancer in a far-off land under Yema control who sought to attain greater power from the Mother of Death herself. Through unknown events, is believed to have been sundered and nearly destroyed and has recently been spotted in the company of The Yema known as Whitecoat, The Dread Pirate for unknown reasons.
     

3. Xander, the Melodious Third. Held dominion over Sound and Electromagnetism. One of the Numenshara who seems to have left the most information and knowledge behind(And thus is one of the more well-documented), Xander is described favorably in the surviving records that reference him - described as a spontaneous, artistic man who frequently interacted with the infant mortal races in good faith out of an interest in their culture and works of art, Xander seems to have frequently styled himself a "God-King" of the infant mortal races and delighted in leading them, protecting them, and above all fostering and nurturing their creative spark; a talent which he saw and took note of even as the very first mortal races were huddled in caves painting stick figures on the walls of the cave with fingers coated in charcoal. Though sometimes depicted as vengeful and quick to emotional extremes, Xander seems to have been widely beloved by many of his subjects and is only described as utilizing his Domains for creative expression - creating sonnets and ballads who sounds could uplift the morale of millions(Though rarely, he used his talents to create musical chords whose resonant vibrations could shatter mountains) - though some surviving texts depict him as frequently 'jealous' of his mortal subjects' creativity and artistic ability, though the reasons exactly why have been lost to time. From what little information remains of him from the perspective of his fellow Numenshara, he is described oddly - often described as "A man who refuses to accept his nature" and most oddly "The only successful one among us", among other odd epithets. He seems to have gotten along with his kin well enough, but almost preferred the company of the infant mortal races - who he took an incredibly act hand in the guidance of, to a degree that most modern historians can agree seems to have been driven by a controlling belief that mortals could only be 'just' or be allowed to flourish if they were under the direct control of the Numenshara, as he seemed to hate the notion of the infant mortal races governing themselves with an unusual passion, as if doing so, in his eyes, was akin to them falling to The Yema who created them(Whom he and many Numenshara considered traitors of the highest order).   Xander, ultimately, joined the side of Fabius and sided with him to kill all mortalkind - though he is described as a reluctant addition, who only assented to his cunning brother after he was persuaded that once all life was scoured clean, the next iteration of mortal life would be designed free of Yema influence and free of Fabius's control(As Xander seemed to consider free will as integral to mortal creativity), as if to "Get it right next time".   Status: Though once sealed away in an Inverted Soundless Spire deep in the reaches of The World Below, where neither sound nor Magnetism could reach, he has recently been freed by his brother Gill the Gigaton Twelfth and has taken up residence at the ancient Temple of Melodia dedicated to him millions of years ago, where he has slowly begun to accept mortal visitors brave enough to make the trek to his temple and meet him in person.
           

4. Ritsuka, the Imperious Fourth. Held dominion over Mind, Will, and Growth. The youngest of the twelve surviving Numenshara, she is described as the "last hope" of the Numenshara species - though little information remains about her. Believed to have been affected oddly due to her own dominions over growth, what few surviving texts speak of her describe her as Naive and easily influenced - a veritable child who quickly fell to the influence of her elder brothers(Particularly Fabius and Decius). Infinitely curious, the few surving depictions and descriptions of her encounters with mortalkind derscribe her as curious and studious - very much like a child - who possessed utterly cataclysmic psionic/mental power enough that, as a mere byproduct of her proximity, entire villages would quickly fall to psychic enslavement as her thought patterns, so strong as to overwrite the thoughts of mortals by mere proximity, meant she rarely made true friends outside of her own kind. Rarely allowed or able to interact with mortals at all that were not rapidly enslaved by her powerful psychic energies, her love of mortals is believed to have warped over time - turning her interest into an interest much alike an interest in dolls; rarely understanding that mortal beings had free will and treating them accordingly(though, by all accounts, she treated those she kept as dolls well) - loving them in her own warped way.   Only a child by the time of the Schism, she had little true understanding of the conflict and quickly fell to the influence of Fabius and Decius, who kept her close at all times and used her innocence against other mortals and their sibling Numenshara alike - likely traumatizing her in the process. Of note, she is the only Numenshara described as having survived The Rapture War due to the final efforts of her brother Fabius - who, in his final moments, wove a ward around her so potently powerful that The Yema had no hope of piercing it. Thus, hidden from their gaze, Ritsuka is believed to have lived and grown in the intervening millions of years since - and by many scholarly accounts has likely gone quite mad from so many millions of years of isolation and separation from her siblings. Worse, she is mentioned irregularly over the history of the planet of Ea as being captured and utilized by powerful mages and creatures throughout history to fuel their own power - which has only likely furthered her trauma and fractured mind.   Status: Unknown. With the recent advent of so many Numenshara escaping or being freed from their prisons, many speculate she has found her way back to her siblings - but this has yet to be confirmed.
       

5. Decius, the Fortressed Fifth. Held dominion over Solids and Atoms. A stubborn and cruel man who surviving accounts and depictions paint as a rigid, unbending traditionalist who strove for his entire immortal life to find a use for the infant mortal races, but constantly fell short of doing so. A man with high standards, immense personal discipline, and a deeply practical and uncreative mind, he despised weakness in any form and is described by all surviving mortal accounts as a monstrous, evil man who killed mortals in every single interaction he ever had with them - he constantly sought to find a use for mortal races, and is often described as butting heads with his fellow Numenshara over his cruel treatment of the mortal races(Particularly the ones that had proven loyal to or worshipped his kin), as he killed them constantly, though less out of sadism and more out of pragmatic frustration at being unable to find anything he considered "useful" in them - as if he often grew frustrated at hearing his fellow Numenshara speak so highly of them and their uses, and lashed out when unable to find any such uses himself. He often provoked mortal races to violence, and seemed to find enjoyment or "use" in them only when they rallied against him in battle - as it was the only time his limited imagination could come close to appreciating anything about the mortals he otherwise viewed as short-lived, frail, and unintelligent. Ultimately, he seemed to consider mortal races a waste of space, and decried The Yema for making such weak and pathetic creatures - considering them 'failed experiments' and little else, and things best put out of their misery. Known to be intensely protective of his kin and caring of them despite being so emotionally stunted, particularly Ritsuka the Imperious Fourth, he looked out for their interests first and foremost - and is often described as the simple, pragmatic glue that held the disparate twelve together for so long.   Decius, ever the stubborn man, was one of the first to side with Fabius to kill all of mortalkind - viewing the act as both harming The Yema, honoring The Old Gods, and ridding the world of such a meek, insignificant species.   Status: Sealed away in the Elemental Plane of Water, domain of the Spirit King Yezhiha, in a twisted prison of Yema design.
               

6. Ana, the Crushing Sixth. Held dominion over Gravity and Space. A brutish, tomboyish woman who is described in all surviving accounts as valuing strength above all else, and interested in the affairs of the infant mortal races in what is likely believed by modern scholars to have been jealousy - particularly over the fun they seemed to have despite their short lives, and the smiles and varied lives they had and led despite being so weak and frail. Though perhaps the furthest thing from a scholar amongst the Numenshara, this dichotomy plagued her constantly - as if she lived her entire life on the brink of a philosophical revelation about power, strength, and finding satisfaction in life but was constantly depressed and frustrated that she could not find the answer. Despite this interest, she is described as despising the infant mortal races for their weakness - for falling apart whenever she tried to interact with them, and lead the lives they led - and quickly grew bitter and jealous as she repeatedly is described as attempting to interact with the infant mortal races, entering their villages or caves to pretend to be them to live as them, only to grow petulantly furious when, unable to contain her own bottomless strength, she could kill or maim them without even trying and would thus find herself ostracized from both the mortals whom she killed constantly, and from her own kin, who treated her as an outcast for her loner nature and obsession with the mortal races. Often described as a force of nature, she often is described as destroying entire villages and populations after she issued challenges to them demanding to face their strongest fighter only to shatter them in a single blow. Though many mortal cultures tried to venerate her and beseech her for protection, these attempts rarely lasted for long - as her own oddly bubbly nature quickly turned sour when her attempts to interact with her followers and often found them so frail(Comparatively to her own effectively limitless strength, granted to her by her own domains) that she quickly scattered her worshippers into dust when she grew spiteful of them. Her life, ultimately, was incredibly isolated from the other Numenshara aside from Fabius and Gill - and she is described even by surviving mortal depictions as lonely and pitiful(The only Numenshara to be described so kindly and emotionally by mortal accounts), as if she was searching her entire life for something she never truly found.   Ana, though she was conflicted, sided with Fabius to kill all of mortalkind after living an immortal lifetime failing to find what she sought in the infant mortal races. She nearly sided with Wäraam and the Pro-Mortal Numenshara, and may well have done so, but Fabius is described as "getting to her first" before Gill, her brother and closest friend amongst her kin, could - where he quickly convinced her to join his cause.   Status: The location of her prison after The Rapture War was never known or located, but she has recently been freed by an unknown party potentially related to the one(s) who freed her sister Camilla, the Sanguine Second. Regardless of how she was freed, she has been confirmed as freed and has been spotted in the skies above Zheng-Kitar intermittently, using her domain over space to seemingly appear in thousands of places at once. She has not, as of yet, engaged with the mortal races in any known capacity.
         

7. Kalgar, the Shining Seventh. Held Dominion over Light, Dark, and Illusions. A bombastic, flamboyant, theatrical man who was by all surviving accounts and depictions one of the staunchest defenders of the mortal races amongst the twelve Numenshara - a figure whose influences have been conclusively traced across the millennia to dozens of cultures across Zheng-Kitar and the planet of Ea as a whole, Kalgar is a man obsessed with appearances and beauty. One of the Numenshara with perhaps the largest and most numerous realms of primitive mortal cultures which he lorded over as a glorious golden god in the days of antiquity, all surviving depictions and accounts of him from surviving mortal sources describe him as a man who cared immensely about the wellbeing, growth, and future of the fledgling mortal races as a whole with little regard to their origins as creations of The Yema - though as best as can be determined, he was not without his cruelties. Seemingly concerned with the future and wellbeing of the mortal races as a whole, he frequently oversaw the numerous mortal cultures who worshipped him and ruled them with a casual cruelty that belied the cruel math of life that governed his beliefs; he thought little of the deaths of a thousand or even a million mortals, so long as they would endure as a species. He was utterly obsessed with beauty and splendor, and saw the infant mortal races as the most beautiful and splendid in all the cosmos for the storied lives they led and the emotional depths they had, even back then, which far outstripped in his opinion even the emotional and mental experiences of him and his fellow Numenshara - rather infamous as one of the only Numenshara to fully appreciate the beauty of Mortal Lives and that such beauty emerged only because of, not in spite of, their short lives, Kalgar was fascinated by how mortals grew and acted so splendidly despite what he perceived as having such primitive and short lives. He valued them and saw them as worth protecting, seeing the beauty inherent in all facets of mortal life, though perhaps only under the careful guidance of a higher power - but rather notoriously came to despise the undead as ugly mockeries of mortal beauty; a fact which seems to have made him natural enemies of his sister Camilla.   Kalgar joined his brother Wäraam in defending mortalkind, eager to protect the beauty of the infant mortal races if only to see what new beauties their lives could produce in the future - as if fully aware that, despite the Numenshara's immense power and godlike abilities, mortals were the infinitely more valuable creature between them.   Status: Freed very recently by an unknown third party. Dwells atop a floating island in an unknown location kept aloft by his own massive power. Most recently was spotted in Tarthus-Tetsu in the courts of Amenmeses Ra-sen Shakanasa I.
           

8. Isabella, the Rampaging Eighth. Held dominion over Souls and Emotion. A power-hungry madwoman who, entranced by her own apparent divinity and seemingly infinite power, came to revel in her own power and came to see herself as a Goddess. The cruelest and maddest of all the Numenshara, she is depicted and described by all surviving mortal accounts as a mad beast who they feared most of all - a demon who arrived in the night to torment and exterminate them, whom primitive mortals feared so much that she is among the Numenshara of whom the most surviving accounts describe and reference. Seemingly completely disinterested in anything but indulging her own sick, twisted whims, Isabella was a vile woman who maintained vast swathes of primitive mortal cultures that worshipped her as a Goddess - she sought ever to expand her own domains, and often came into conflict with her siblings when she would inevitably attack their holdings and enslave the mortals that worshipped or served them. She is described as relishing the feeling of absolute power she held over mortal life - over their very souls and minds - and cunningly schemed and plotted until she could come to control and "own" as many mortals as possible; Absorbing the souls of every mortal she possibly could and devouring their minds until, by the time of her defeat, she had become a walking repository of billions of souls and minds alike, all trapped inside her body in unending agony. A cruel, mad sadist in every sense of the word, she delighted in snuffing out the lives of mortals and in absorbing their minds and souls into herself - recognizing them as sentient creatures yet indulging in slaughtering them anyway - and even moreso in using her dominion over emotion to force them to debase themselves, to ruin their lives and carry out her cruelest and meanest whims, for the sake of her simple amusement and twisted schemes. Believing that the Numenshara's simple nature and origins gave her seemingly divine authority and carte blanche to act as she pleased, she is never once spoken of with any redeeming qualities by either mortal or Numenshara sources - and is often described as a capricious, chaotic madwoman who did as she pleased with no regard to anything or anyone but herself, though she did seem to think extremely highly of her sibling Numenshara, yet seemed annoyed they did not "understand" their true natures as she did. Modern scholars posit her as the "patient zero" of the twelve Numenshara's corruption - as all surviving Numenshara accounts from both sides of the Pro/Anti-Mortal schism referencing her speak of her as a terrible influence upon her siblings, particularly Bellatrix and Camilla, driving both deeper into sadism and madness by attempting to "persuade" her siblings of the truth of her insane worldviews and beliefs. Though little evidence remains to confirm it, some scholars have even gone so far as to claim she may well have been the origin of Fabius's corruption. Self-assured, charming, and completely insane, Isabella maintained countless domains of mortals who worshipped her - and even had designs to do the same to The Yema if she had been allowed to grow and scheme unchecked. Perhaps thankfully, the schism interrupted her mad plans.   Isabella, though she toyed with the idea of siding with her brother Wäraam and preserving the mortal races to continue indulging in her mad vanity, was persuaded by Fabius to join him in exterminating the mortal races by tempting her with the bliss that awaited her at the end - of the sheer ecstasy that he claimed awaited her after the death of the last living creature in the cosmos, when she alone would hold all the souls and minds in existence within her, to torment and tear apart at her leisure.   Status: Unknown, but known to be sealed away in an unknown location. Her prison is spoken of as "the most secure and eternal of all her kind" by Yema and ally of the Old Gods alike.
         

9. Wäraam - the Whirlwind Ninth. Held dominion over Air, Gas, and the Weather. Described as one of the younger and more fledgling Numenshara at the time of the schism, Wäraam is described by all surviving accounts and depictions as a stalwart, steadfast warrior with a strong sense of honor and an intense disdain for titles and useless decorum and decoration. Though he respected strength in much the same way his sister Ana, the Crushing Sixth did, he is often described by mortal and Numenshara sources alike as holding immense respect for mortals - both for their endless ambition, bottomless willpower, hungry drive, and infinite courage. Though he recognized them as weak, he saw their infinite potential and often praised them for having the courage to face the world at all where he and his kind, with their godlike power, often to his mind took things for granted and did not truly appreciate how courageous mortals had to be to simply live in such ancient and dangerous times. Though he has never been depicted as or described holding rule over mortal cultures as a god-king as many of his kin did, he engaged with them frequently as a stalwart warrior - challenging them at all stages of their development and observing them constantly; Things which many modern scholars are believed to have contributed to his almost fatherlike concern for the mortal races - battling them, debating them, and challenging them in oftentimes cruel and brutal ways, but doing so in seemingly measured, purposeful ways that many modern scholars believe were part of a larger plan, enacted across thousands of millions of years in the days of antiquity, to help move mortals towards some unknown end. A humorless man who is described by his fellow Numenshara as always harder on himself than his enemies, he seems to have seen the weak and noncombatants as beneath his notice - rarely caring to exert the effort to kill those he saw as stains on his honor. In many ways, he is a deep and profound mystery to modern scholars - truthfully few depictions and descriptions of him remain from a Mortal perspective, and no temple to him was ever built; as if he made a purposeful effort to hide his involvement in ancient mortal cultures over the years and ensure that his challenges and battles against the infant mortal races would go as unrecorded as possible. Above all, the sole surviving mortal accounts(Of which there are less than five) of him depict him as an oddly hopeful creature - one who is documented as speaking at length about his hope for the future of the infant mortal races, and what he believed was their infinite potential to grow despite their own immense and numerous weaknesses(Which he often described as claiming was the greatest strength of mortal life, and source of their potential), if only they would be given the room to do so, despite their(in his words) blasphemous and unholy creators The Yema.   Wäraam, irked byeond measure at the merest discussion of wholesale extermination of the then-infant mortal races, was the founder of the Pro-Mortal faction of the Numenshara, and staunchly believed they were worth keeping alive despite their origins as creations of The Yema. It was he who, originally, rallied up support amongst his brethren to stand against Fabius and his vile schemes and, ultimately, would prevent the wholesale extermination of all mortal life in those dim days of pre-history at the hands of his evil siblings.   Status: Freed very recently by an unknown third party. Dwells in the upper atmosphere of Ea in the center of massive superstorms alongside Kaminari Kami, purpose unknown.
                   

10. Bellatrix, the Temporal Tenth. Held dominion over Time and Reality. One of the "eldest" Numenshara at the time of the schism who is often described as every bit as ancient as the likes of Fabius and Gill, Bellatrix was a measured, quiet, determined woman who virtually nothing is known about by modern scholars of the Numenshara - for the ultimately simple reason that she seemed for almost her entire immortal life to remain wholly disinterested in and uninvolved in the affairs of the infant mortal races; so much so that many modern scholars are not even altogether sure if the ancient mortals knew Bellatrix existed at all. Ultimately, the only information on her that confirms her existence is from a very small handful of sources from her eleven siblings that speak of her as a distant, aloof woman - and a notorious control freak who even they, her honored siblings, often feared interacting with for reasons that are not entirely clear. Only, it seems, the likes of Fabius or Gill even dared to disturb her or speak to her much at all. Though the veracity of the claims contained hereafter are sketchy and unconfirmed, mentioned only by a handful of primary sources from her fellow Numenshara, Bellatrix is described as the single greatest threat to The Yema in the history of the entire Cosmology of Ea - a woman who was already immeasurably old when The Yema first sprang forth from the dying overdeity and entered reality, Bellatrix is described by her siblings as so immensely and unfathomably powerful that she, for all of her life, seemed obsessed with keeping the power of the fledgling Yema bottled and their abilities meager and controlled - single-handedly bending all of the then-infant reality to her will to keep them from growing strong enough to challenge her(And by extension, her siblings or their creators The Old Gods. Domineering and practical, she is described as to the point and businesslike in her personality and dealings - and oddly enough, always distracted and with just a hint of madness lurking somewhere beneath her immaculately maintained facade. Rarely making herself known to her kin, Bellatrix considered most of them below her and seemed almost entirely focused to subjugating the infant cosmos to her will and ensuring it moved entirely along the lines of her well-ordered desires - though many of her siblings seemed to have described her as "burdened by her own dominion". If she ever involved herself in the affairs of mortals at all, it is believed by modern scholars to be as stress relief - which cannot likely be said to have ended well for any mortals in question she decided to use for such a purpose, as one particular surviving Numenshara account of her describes her as intervening in the affairs of her siblings only once - where she is described as almost single-handedly laying most of her siblings low with a casual ease and with little more care than with which one might flatten gravel beneath their feet.   For reasons that have not entirely endured into the modern day, Bellatrix seemed almost entirely neutral in the schism of her kin - though she had irregular contact with a few of them such as Isabella and Gill - and from all surviving accounts from her kin stayed largely uninvolved throughout the conflict. However, modern scholars believe her lack of involvement in the schism is not due to a desire to remain neutral or an uncaring desire, but due to an entirely seperate conflict she likely waged at the time with The Yema, where she likely attempted to leverage the chaos of the schism of her kin to fully either eradicate or enslave the fledgling deities beneath her once and for all. This theory is, terrifyingly, backed up by Yema accounts from around this time uncovered by far-off scholars - many of which describe Bellatrix as not only nearly succeeding in such a conflict, but according to many accounts succeeding entirely; as multiple accounts of Yema worshippers dated to such ancient pre-history have corroborated the notion that Bellatrix may well have successfully enslaved several or all of The Yema during this time, as such followers speak of a period where their divine powers simply "stopped working". Whatever the case, Bellatrix contributed little to the schism of her kin - and if the words of The Yema God of Death and Time are to be believed, she likely died not at the hands of the Yema, but her own hubris; As the Yema God, in answering the question of a now-ancient mortal hero concerning her fate, spoke of her own destruction right at the zenith of her victory over The Yema, when she pushed her own dominions so far in her attempt to enslave The Yema that she simply broke under the strain - ensuring she contributed little to the schism of her kin.   Status: Sealed away in a prison that drifts in The Astral Sea, created by the Yema God of Death and Time.
             

11. Iris, the Erudite Eleventh. Held dominion over Magic and Fate. Though considered the "Mother" of the Twelve Numenshara, she is described in surviving Numenshara accounts as the "little sister" of Bellatrix - though whether that is meant literally or in another way is unclear. Regardless, she is described as anything but motherly - described as a cunning, scholarly woman and a natural-born manipulator who never spoke a full truth, Iris is another Numenshara that is rarely described by mortals; for she seemed wholly uninterested in ruling them as much as she was interested in them as "lab rats" and experiments moreso than actual sentient creatures. From what few surviving accounts describe or depict her, she was something of a boogeyman and mother goddess alike to primitive mortal cultures - whom she occasionally bewitched with word or spell(Neither of which such ancient cultures understood overmuch, or utilized themselves) and thus forcibly conscripted into helping her with her true passions: Cataloguing and understanding the then-infant Cosmology of Ea and, by the accounts of her siblings, prove her dominance over The Yema God of Magic Tet, The Adamantine Sage, with whom she shared an intense and questionably friendly rivalry. Though little remains to offer modern scholars insight into what sort of experiments, projects, or the like held her interest in such ancient times, what little does exist suggests that Iris herself was busy for most of her life laying the foundations for what would later come to be the fundamental systems of reality such as The Lattice and The Web, though whether she exactly 'created' them so much as helped them each form and helped "mold" them into shapes living creatures could best use is not exactly known. Particularly caring for Ritsuka, the Imperious Fourth, Iris seems to have been to both Numenshara and Mortal alike a muse and a wellspring of new ideas - a teacher who is described and depicted as both helping her siblings learn and understand new concepts(A thing which they are believed to have struggled with), and even occasionally introducing new ideas and concepts into primitive mortal cultures(Though likely not out of benevolence so much as performing experiments to see how such knowledge would change them over time). Ultimately, little suggests that Iris ever acted out of any desire to truly help or aid another - even her fellow siblings seem to have treated her every action as if she were making them unwitting party to some new experiment of hers, as if to suggest that even her acts of kindness or teaching were carefully measured to test some response or to see what would come of certain things.   Unwilling to abandon her precious lab rats, Iris is described as one of the rare Numenshara who rebuffed Fabius's advancements and suggestions of her own volition and willingly went and joined her brothers Wäraam and Kalgar to defend all Mortalkind as a direct response to Fabius's advancements, as if offended enough by Fabius's schemes that she sided against him out of sheer principle.   Status: Imprisoned and sealed away in the divine planar realm of the Yema God of magic, who keeps her as a treasure to consult and learn from.
             

12. Gill, the Gigaton Twelfth. Held dominion over Power, Fire, and Combustion. One of the eldest of the twelve Numenshara alongside Fabius and Bellatrix, Gill was immeasurably old when The Yema sprang forth and were born in the infant cosmos. Undeniably the strongest of all the twelve Numenshara, far outclassing even the likes of Fabius and Bellatrix, Gill is described as the embodiment of power itself - all-consuming, tempestuous, and blazing in both body and spirit. Muscle-brained and battle-obssessed, Gill is described by all surviving Numenshara and mortal accounts as a born wanderer with the soul of a mortal - described as a natural hedonist and seeker of all physical pleasures, Gill seems to have treated all creatures alike with the same jovial, raucous barbarism with which he approached life in general. One of the Numenshara who is described the kindest by mortals, Gill is believed to have spent much of his Immortal life wandering the ancient cosmos in the company of virtually everyone and everything except his own kin - perhaps even to the detriment of himself and his siblings. Described by his own siblings as "The closest to a mortal amongst the Numenshara", Gill seemingly wanted nothing more than to live as a mortal - and is believed to have spent entire lifetimes in disguise doing just that, and so successfully that in all likelihood he spent entire thousands or millions of lifetimes as a mortal without being caught. Oddly, despite his own immense power, he seems to have spent his own immortal life trying to abandon it - desperately trying to live as a mortal, to grow stronger as a mortal, to love and be loved and learn as a mortal - all things that he, as an immortal Numenshara, was largely unable to do. Impulsive, prone to roam, and hard to pin down, he spent more time in the company of mortals than his own kin - a true tempest of a man, he was the purest of all the twelve and beloved in many ways by mortal, Numenshara, The Old Gods, and The Yema alike. The ultimate caring big brother and/or father figure to the rest of the Numenshara, he was especially close to Ana, the Crushing Sixth - who he is described as being incredibly close with, and something of a caring big brother and mentor to. Never once did he rule over mortals, nor once did he rule over his kin, nor use his power for virtually any purpose - he is almost a ghost to many modern scholars, entirely absent from historial records in every way except when spoken of by his kin and by the literal thousands of records concerning him preserved in the legendary Gigaton Temple built in his honor in the lands of Zheng-Kitar(Around modern-day Numiastra, high in The Great Vhudsing Mountain Range; Largest and Grandest of all the temples dedicated to the Numenshara, whose mere existence and splendor speaks volumes of just how beloved he was by ancient primitive mortal cultures. Ultimately, though he was born with enough power to single-handedly take on all The Yema and perhaps even win, Gill seemed to be something of an oddity amongst his kin in that, ultimately, he seemed to almost despise his power - so rarely using it that the domains he embodied are confirmed only by accounts from his siblings that speak of him as an honored elder they all looked up to.   Perhaps the most adamant defender of mortalkind, Gill joined the defense of the infant mortal races with the wrath of a rampaging volcano, and was the main reason the outnumbered Pro-Mortal Faction of Numenshara could hold out against their kin in the Schism until the intervention of The Yema in which they were eventually betrayed and destroyed.   Status: Freed by an unknown party very recently. Location unknown. Hundreds of conflicting reports mention him wandering the world, doing as he pleases, training and seeking ever more strength. He was spotted conclusively only once, at the ancient Gigaton Temple built in his honor eons ago, to announce his arrival to the throngs of loyal priests that had long worked in his name, but quickly returned to anonymity after his proclamation, moving in secret across the world and living his life simply and in search of life's simple, enjoyable pleasures.