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Home » Search » Roster » Whitepages » Records » FAQ » Guidebook
Children of the Sea WIP
Rift Natives
Chan
Currently championing:
#1



Children of Airomar
the city that is no more



It is said that once, in a great kingdom under the sea, a race of immortals were created when the tears of a god fell into the ocean. Ainirë they called themselves, for they were blessed, and in their undying years they created much that was good and fair.  But darkness came to haunt their land, and their great civilization fell into ruin. Only a handful fled through a portal torn through the fabrics of reality and arrived into the space between, the realm of realms known as the Rift.

Here the descendants of the ainirë found safety and salvation from the great darkness, and with all the wisdom and craftsmanship they still possessed they built a great city in the likeness of the ones they had left. Airomar they called it, ocean-home built in the warm waters of the Riptide Isles, and there they dwelt for ages untold in relative peace and quiet. But as the years went by the Rift began to change them. Gradually, with each generation their powers weakened, their lives grew shorter and their divine heritage faded into myth and legend. Cursed with declining birth-rates the once thriving population diminished, and yet somehow they subsisted and were living happily as senloi airon, Children of the Sea.

But calamity found them again when four deities unknown to the Rift wrought destruction upon the realm. With great cunning and power they wrested the Riptide Isles from the ocean floor, and in the process the fair Airomar was rent asunder, its people scattered by the seven tides and thrown far off into worlds unknown before the portals through time and space were closed once more. Gone was the great city, gone it's people, and in the place where the green islands once lay is a yawning pit, a violent maelstrom that gnash and howl and devour anyone foolish enough to approach.

* * *


Three years later, only one child of Airomar still linger in the Southern Sea, searching for their lost kin. And now that a Portal again has been opened, hope yet remains that more sons and daughters of the sea may find their way back home - but to what, remains to be seen.



Children of the Sea

Known as: Senloi Airomar - the children of ocean-home (senloi for every day use) or Sen lo i Ainirë - descendants of the sacred tear

Half equine and half sea creature, the Ainirë were also known as sea-horses or hippocampi. They were blessed with several gifts of beauty, strength and wisdom, many of which are now rare or diminished in power as the divinity of their blood is slowly lost. Their forms were as varied as the creatures that dwell in the ocean and while they were known to take family and lovers from other equine races their blood would always breed true; a hippocamp would always be born from a hippocamp no matter how many generations that passed. Certain traits varied while others remained the same, and as such the descendants of the Ainima would almost always be able to recognize kin even if they had never met before.


Common Physical Traits:

Equine blood - While it is not unheard of for the Senloi to have unicorn or pegasi blood, it is quite unusual and there has not yet been a Senloi born with fully functioning wings. Equine blood is by far the most common.
Natural colors - Before coming to the Rift, all the Children had predominantly colors from either the horse or the fish part of their body, or a subtle mixture of the two. Ever since they came to the Rift however this has changed drastically and the Senloi can have almost any color, but it is still not unusual to see colors and patterns from the past return in certain individuals.
Equine parts - While the appearance of the Senloi can vary quite a lot, they always have the head and forelegs of a horse, while the rear half usually consist of fish, whale, cephalopod or other marine animal traits. They do not have hind legs.
Blood breeds true - A Senloi will always produce a Senloi, and the foal will usually inherit the marine traits of one of the parents, or possibly of the grandparents. Further throwbacks do occur but are less common.


Inherited magical traits:

Immortality - Most possess this gift, either from birth or awaken to it later in life. No Senloi was ever considered fully grown before the age of 10 as the immortality usually extended their life expectancy into centuries.
Clairvoyance - Very common, methods and manifestations of the power vary wildly between individuals
Shape-shifting - More rare and considered a good and powerful ability, shape-shifters were honored and elevated to high ranks because of the benefits they brought to the people as a whole.
Elemental alignment - Perhaps the rarest of the traits that still appear commonly among the Senloi is the ability to manipulate the raw elements. Water and Air alignments are by far the most common but Earth and Fire wielders also exist.




Lost Airomar:

Airomar was a city below the sea built by the Senloi when they first arrived into the Rift. Constructed by melting and shaping obsidian into fantastical, if fragile, structures, it was known as the 'little sister' of Akvo and served as a center of learning for a large part of the ocean-dwelling populations around the Southern Sea, known for its great artists and its vast library, and for the reserved but peaceful nature of the inhabitants.

Airomar was a wide city rather than a tall one, built in shallow water that received plenty of light and were pleasantly warm most of the year. The builders favored spiral shapes and domed structures, and because of the material they used in the construction, the buildings usually remained free from corals. Centering around the citadel where the ruler lived and worked, the city sprawled outwards in four major arms that reached towards the north, south, east and west, and each subsequent district curved outward from those main branches. The winding passages and unusual layout earned the city it's nickname 'The Dark Labyrinth', perhaps a bit more ominous sounding than the sun-lit city-state truly deserved.

Culture:

System of Government - Matriarchy
Head of State - Hierophant
Social Classes - Hierophant > Clergy > Proctors > Artisans > The Fold > The Lost

The Hierophant

She is the High Priestess, the Principal, the Queen and the Oracle, chosen every ten years from the wisest and most capable of the Clergy to guide and serve the Children towards peace, prosperity and a higher truth. Hers is the power to command and instruct, and hers is the duty to ensure that the Senloi endure, come what may.

Current: Toska Ilunga

The Clergy

Priests and scholars, the clergy is the highest cast among the Senloi and serve mainly as administrators, diplomats, informants and ensure that the city is held together both spiritually and logistically. Due to the heavy burden of responsibility they are honored as lords and ladies and given great respect by the other classes.

Current: N/A

The Proctors

Warriors and peace-keepers, it is the duty of the Proctors to keep the Children safe from the dangers of the Rift by keeping vigil both within and without, from outside enemies like sharks and monsters, and from inside threats like insurrection, inbreeding and the corruption of faith. They are trained from a young age to be swift and strong and able to act both independently and in group, and are generally both feared and admired by their own people. The main weapon used by the Proctors is the izala, a white spear enchanted with deadly spells that serve as a symbol of their power as well as their readiness to risk themselves for their people. As the Proctors are generally chosen from the male population, it has become tradition for females to set aside their gender and the power that comes with it when they accept the izala, as a sign of respect and equality towards their fellow warriors.

Current: N/A

The Artisans

Craftsmen and inventors, healers, authors and masters of the arts, they are the beating heart that ensure the survival of this ancient culture by practicing and passing on the accumulated knowledge of millennia. If the Clergy is the theoretical mind, the Artisan would be the practical hand that shape and mold, construct and maintain.

Current: N/A

The Fold

They are the weakened and the elderly, the children too young to educate and those who have not yet found their rightful place among the ranks, as well as those who choose to care for the rest. They are the innocent for whom the rest is serving, the weakest, most precious link and the brunt of the masses that make up the Senloi. Their main tasks is to produce food and keep the city clean and whole; they are the construction workers, the hunters and the gatherers who tend the kelp fields, they raise the young and maintain the gardens and tend to the needs of the higher classes. They are honored and cared for, as without them and their numbers, the Children would soon fade from existence.

The Lost

There is no place for wickedness among the Senloi Airomar. Crimes are punished with swift justice that know no pardon and anyone who has once been labeled will for evermore be mourned as Lost to the Children of the Sea. Stealing, whoring, violence against anyone except in self defense or risking the lives of ones kin though carelessness is punished in the same way; the guilty is taken in by the Proctors and brought before the Hierophant, where after a trial they are branded in a visible place so that all may know what they have become. The law is strict and the punishment hard, and it is up to the Hierophant to make a proper decision, for to be branded is to be shunned by family and friends, to lose all rank and status and forfeit any right to possessions no matter how small. The Lost are then put to work, performing all the heaviest and dirtiest tasks; caring for the dead, cleaning out offal and mining for precious gems and metals in the deep, dark places of the sea. With minimal food and hard labor, the Lost rarely survive more than a few years; any children produced by them are taken away to be raised elsewhere and they will only get the barest treatment in case of illness. It is a hard life and a hard sentence, but such is the nature of life within the Rift.




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