Name Singular: Greyen
Name Plural: Greyens
Abilities/Powers:
- Greyens require something other than food to survive. They feed off the life energy of others. It is an insatiable hunger that is always lingering, but most Greyens keep it in check. They are able to drain others of their energy through touch. Holding hands or a hug, even a kiss. Any skin to skin contact works. When they absorb energy, they are able to heal their wounds. The more severe the wound, the more energy required.
- Life energy is the essence of one's existence. It's the physical manifestation of their time in this world. When a Greyen feeds on someone's energy, they are taking away part of their life. A minute is a week off their life, an hour is a year. The more a Greyen feeds off someone, the more their body deteriorates. It will not physically age, but the body itself will begin to die. This process begins after someone has had 1/4 of their life energy taken away. A minute of absorbed energy can last a sate (make the hunger bearable) a Greyen for 2 days. An hour will last them a week.
- Each Greyen has a gift given to them by their creator. A sort of trait that is passed on during the Lineage Ritual. This gift can be anything from flight to healing. These gifts are not all powerful. Each gift has its limit and the limits vary on the user. The use of abilities does not make them any hungrier; it just requires said Greyen to sleep more. Greyens at most sleep about 4 hours a day if no ability use, 8 hours if their ability was used all day.
Lifespan:
Greyens can live hundreds of years. Most Greyen choose to end their life after 800 years. Having lived so long, they grow tired and use the Lineage Ritual to end their life. Greyen can die naturally, but this is a rather rare occurrence now a days. Greyens are frozen at whatever age they went through the Lineage Ritual at.
Physical Appearance:
Greyens have very pale skin and for the most part look like a normal human, except for their eyes. They have very expressive eyes. Not in the normal way. Their eyes change colors depending on their emotions. Red is anger, blue is sadness, pink is love, etc. Most Greyens wear glasses or colored contacts to hide their multi colored eyes. Sickness is rare in Greyen culture, being that as they absorb energy they heal (if necessary).
Cultural Descirption:
Greyens usually live in covens; groups of 5 to 15. They don't have more than 15 to keep others from finding out what they are. These covens are not related by blood, but most treat each other as family. Covens are very tight knit groups and quite secretive. They don't want others finding out what they are so they tend to keep to themselves. Covens are even secretive with other covens. They are diplomatic; covens keep their business and pleasure separate. This doesn't mean that Greyens aren't sociable.
Greyens have lived among humans for thousands of years. They are spread out all over the world and most covens have been around for almost as long. The Greyens are ruled by the High Council, made of the Elders of the Four Great Covens. The Four Great Covens have reigned over Greyen society since the Coven war. The High Council was established to stop another Coven War from ever happening again. During the Coven war, there were battles all over as covens fought for territory and prey. There were many casualties and Greyens almost brought themselves to extinction. The first High Council was made up of the leaders of the four strongest covens of the time; the Thermontes, the Vanderbers, the St. Caplets, and the Dominiques. These four Covens still hold the seats of the High Council. The Council members are only able to sit on the council after 400 years of age, thus when a council member performs a Lineage Ritual a new member is chose by the current council members.
Greyen are not born, they are made. The Lineage Ritual is how Greyen end their long lives. The ritual is a sacred thing that only the coven is a part of; all except the one that was to be offered. For a Greyen to end their life they must give all their life energy to another. The Offered One is chosen by the one whose life will be ending, chosen to become a new member of the coven. The ceremony can take anywhere from 3 hours to 3 days. Most of the Ritual is celebrating the life of the one who is going to pass, but once the good-byes are said, the real Ritual begins.
During the Lineage Ritual, the Greyen who is going to pass absorbs all the life force of the Offered One until only a small part is left in their body. From there they take what they absorbed from the Offered One and their own energy and give it all back to the Offered One. During this process, the Offered One's body is flooded with their own absorbed energy mixed with Greyen energy. Usually Greyen energy is toxic to normal humans, but during the Lineage Ritual its energy has a different effect on humans. It changes their bodies to become that of a Greyen. While their body is being changed into one that can support the Greyen energy, the Offered One is in a deep sleep; an almost dead sort of sleep. The body's processes are slowed as their internal organs cease functioning. Only their heart and lung continue to work, beating at a comatose rate. Greyen are essentially half dead. When the body has been fully converted into a Greyen, the Offered One awakens rather suddenly and the time it takes to awaken can vary. Offered Ones a usually chosen from friends that have no one to miss them or those the coven comes across. Offered Ones are almost always given the choice at a new life, whether they know what is actually going to happen.
Along with their new life, new born Greyens receive the gift of their predecessor. While they are in the deep "death" sleep, they receive teachings from the Greyen giving up their life. Whether these are memories or simple visions depend on the Greyen and the new born. During this time they are taught how to use and control these gifts. How much control they are able to maintain is up to the new born Greyen and once the new born awakens there is no way to replay those lessons if they weren't already learned.
Since Greyens are half dead, they are not really able to reproduce in the human sense. Via the Lineage Ritual most Greyen pass on their life and abilities. There is one other way for Greyens to come into existence. In Greyen Society, there are female Greyens who are called Mortas (Morta for singular). They are able to reproduce in the human way as long as they copulate with a human. The Morta then become pregnant and stays that way for 18 months. Because Greyens are half dead, it takes twice as long for their children to mature before giving birth. Morta have the same chances of giving birth to a girl as they do a boy, but only their first child is able to be a Morta and of course as long as this child is female. Mortas can have as many children as they want in their long life, but it is very taxing on them. They need to feed (absorb energy) twice as much as normal while they are pregnant. Children begat by Morta don't receive their mother's abilities. Greyen children age just as humans do until they discover their abilities. It is said that the longer it takes or a Greyen child to obtain their ability, the stronger it is. Greyen children will always get their abilities before they are 18. There has never been an instance where it has happened before then.
Realm: Earth
Other: Greyen are sensitive to sun light. It doesn't burn them, but they tend to avoid it as much as possible. They are also not able to digest food. They can eat it, but they will just throw it up later.
Short Description: Half dead beings that feed on the energy of others and usually live in groups called Covens. They have multicolored eyes and are able to possess many different types of powers.
And here is race #2 let me know what you think
