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Physical Appearance:
Lorvald have a human appearance. Most are on the slender side. Height varies drastically, because lorvald stop growing around the age of twenty and then start growing again, very slowly, after one hundred. The second growth pauses from time to time, but never really stops. First growth usually stops around five feet tall. Second growth doesn't usually reach much beyond seven feet tall.
Black hair and eyes are standard, with skin color ranging from a light tan to a darker brown. Lorvald have slit pupils, like cats, but because the irises are as black as the pupils, this isn't visible.
History:
Before the Upheaval
Originally, the lorvald were human. Using magic and careful breeding, they became a people with exceptionally long lives, reaching seven hundred years or more. The vast majority of them were also powerful magicians.
When an argument between two leaders resulted in war, it was a harsh, desperate battle. Eventually, one faction crafted a powerful spell that would seek out and destroy the other faction, even gifting it with a form of intelligence and the ability to read the surface thoughts of those around it. Unfortunately, they didn't truly understand what they were doing, and after the spell decimated the other faction, it turned on them. Its only objective now was to destroy all life.
Desperate, the lorvald crafted a new spell to attack and destroy the Anti-Life Spell. Many of their best magicians poured their power into the spell. Only one of them went to cast it. His memory was locked away through another spell, allowing him to get close enough to the Anti-Life Spell to cast the new spell.
The new spell was not powerful enough to destroy the Anti-Life Spell, but it damaged magic so severely that for a thousand years, no magician could use magic and the Anti-Life Spell lay dormant. The lorvald hid the spell away with the information on the Anti-Life Spell, not willing to completely destroy the information but not wanting it to be public knowledge either.
Years later, when magic had recovered, Hadeon, a young prince of the lorvald, discovered the existence of the Anti-Life Spell, realizing that it had hidden itself in a protective spell on the castle Inharal, the current capital city. He also uncovered the spell used against it and the history behind it. When his older sister disappeared and his father died some years later, Hadeon became king and promptly moved the capital to Shalavi, fearing that the Anti-Life Spell might try to kill him if he ever returned to Inharal.
Hadeon named the spell used against the Anti-Life Spell the Doomsday Spell and working with a friend, adjusted it, designing it to attack the Anti-Life Spell more directly.
Over a hundred years after his initial discovery of the Anti-Life Spell, Hadeon rode to Inharal and cast the Doomsday Spell. Being the sole channel for the immense amount of power killed him, but the Doomsday Spell was destroyed. So was magic.
The Upheaval
Magic died violently, shaking the world. Floods, storms, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions tore through the lands in the hour following the casting of the Doomsday Spell. The world was not the only thing changed, however. The lorvald themselves were altered, gaining new abilities even as they lost their magic. Their lifespans were also shortened slightly: few lorvald now reach five hundred years of age.
After the Upheaval
Hadeon's older sister, Arralyn, had been hidden in Inharal by the Anti-Life Spell. With it destroyed, she traveled to Shalavi and was crowned queen. Aided by loyal friends, she managed to hold her people together while the world around them continued to shift and change.
Unfortunately, their unity and cohesiveness as well as their new powers made the humans nearby them afraid and wary. Sensing conflict in the future, Arralyn began to search for a way to keep her people safe and withdraw from the humans until the world settled down again. When she heard of a young lorvald named Thalior whose dreams seemed to foretell the future, she summoned him to court.
Thalior dreamed of a natural portal not far from Shalavi. The world it led to was warm, dry, and uninhabited. Following what he'd seen in the dream, he found the portal and he and other lorvald began to explore it.
After long consideration, Arralyn gave orders. The lorvald people would remove themselves from Rhoive and live on the new world, which they named Hlior. They carved houses for themselves in the cliffs of the giant canyons that cut across the land, splitting up into small colonies scattered across the world.
Due to the change from large cities to small towns far apart, the government began to shift from a centralized monarchy to decentralized federation. A hundred years after Arralyn's death, the monarchy was formally ended, and this is how things stand today.
Powers:
The lorvald have a variety of unusual gifts. The primary three are known as Sight, Command, and Fire-Mastery.
Sight allows a lorvald to look into the very soul of another person, seeking out memories and intentions of the heart. A small amount of Sight can also be used to see the surface emotions of another. Deep Sight requires extended eye contact; to see the surface emotions requires only a glance.
Command also requires eye contact in most circumstances. It allows a lorvald to implant an order or directive in the mind of another. Powerful lorvald have been known to be capable of using Command through their voices as well as eye contact.
Fire-Mastery is self-evident. Fire obeys the verbal commands of lorvald. Powerful lorvald can use their thoughts to direct fire as well. All lorvald, no matter how powerful they are, cannot be harmed by fire.
Every once in a while, a lorvald is born who can only easily use one of the three primary gifts. That one gift, meanwhile, is vastly more powerful than any ordinary lorvald would have it, even a very powerful one. Such lorvald are generally referred to as “Specials.” They are the only ones who have a second name. Those with Sight receive the name/title of (*insert name here*), meaning Searcher. Those with Command receive the name/title of Kohlisianahar, meaning Compeller. Those with Fire-Mastery receive the name/title of Acathalec, meaning Fire-Master. Very rarely, Searchers are given dreams of the future, past, or present. Thalior was a Searcher who frequently had such dreams. He was given the second name of Elicthan, roughly translated True-Seer.
Lorvald are also capable of activating the natural portals of the worlds. Similarly, they can open the Starlanes to travel between worlds, as long as they have a destination firmly in mind.
Culture:
The lorvald are a group-oriented people. Extended family generally lives close together, sharing most meals. Important decisions are made with the consensus of the group (whatever that group may be).
Circles are a common motif in lorvald art, and so are groups of people working together to defeat something greater. The need for others is so deeply engrained that you will rarely see a picture or sculpture that shows anyone alone—and the exceptions are dark and bleak, showing despair and fear.
Traditional lorvald dances are line or circle dances.
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You have blue skin with orange polka dots. Four eyes, one red, one yellow, one green, and one blue. You have four arms, two are furry and two are scaly. One ear is a floppy dog's ear and the other is a pointy dog's ear. Your hair is a mess of tentacles. You have the body of a centaur, with four wings and two tails (both with feathers on the end). Two wings are pink. The other two are green and black, respectively. You have a row of sharp spines going down your back (very sharp). You also hiccup rainbow bubbles... ~Vili
So, now you all know what I look like.
We're creating a HW RPG! Come check it out!
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I enjoyed every sentence of that, Leandra. Do you still need a name for the *Insert Name Here* or do you already have one in mind?
