race spotlight daitari

8/14/2019 Race Spotlight Daitari

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Racial Spotlight:

By S. Lei Pyke

Race: Daitari

Type: Cursed Hybrid

*note: this document replaces the entry on Linyth Hybrids found in Maestros and otherthings

The Daitari (d-T-r both singular and plural form) are alternatively known asmages. They are currently the only human type beings that the Maestros will allow to use

Calnese magic. This is because Calnese magic is a part of the fiber of their being.

Daitari must be born in one of two ways. In the first from, they appear as the

direct result of copulation between a linyth and a human. This method is rare by the thirdage of the second cycle. Before the linyth were cursed into their ungulate form by the

Maestros, their nearly human appearance made it easy to commit fornication between the

races. After the Maestros cursed the linyth, their more equine appearance made it

difficult for all but the most depraved individuals to mate between species.Daitari can be male or female, and can breed with humans or with linyth, however

the result will always follow the race of the pure partner. This is how the second methodappears, and that is as in an atavistic trait that has the potential to show up in every

generation following a Daitari/human or Daitari/linyth pairing. To be Daitari is to endure

a cursed existence that is not alleviated with death, but only by direct intervention of the

Maestros, and Meranna in particular.Daitari begin their lives as humans, and enjoy a period of growth that is twice that

of a human. For that reason, even if a Daitari is born to linyth mother, it is always given

to humans. A Linyth mother will usually give the baby to a temple of Meranna, where itwill grow up understanding its lineage and so come to its choice at maturity with full

knowledge of its choices. If a Daitari is born to a human mother, however, it is possiblethat the Daitari might grow up separated from the path of Meranna and be initiallyunaware of its parentage. The problem is that the birth of a Daitari always begins in

sorrow. Complications always occur resulting in the live birth of the baby cause the

wasting death of the mother.Daitari reach sexual maturity at the same rate as a human, but they retain a

prepubescent body in all other aspects until they reach the age of 30. At that time, they

awaken to their linyth ancestry and mature; their bodies rapidly and horridly transforming

until they are a nightmarish combination of human and quadruped. Their arms grow tobe as long as their legs, and their feet and hands twist and extend until they are forced

into an apelike quadrepedal gait. Their spine also twists until their backs have a

noticeable hump. Their ears extend and flop over, and their hips eventually break andreform, preventing bipedal motion for the rest of their lives. Some even develop a long

tail or vestigial, bat like wings. At the end of their maturation, their foreheads also sport a

bump that never breaks the skin. This is a stunted horn. Maturing Daitari attractlightning just as the linyth do, and require it to sustain life once they begin to mature, but

it burns and melts their skin and causes incredible pain.

As children, however, they enjoy an extended youth. Their skin is always pale

and their hair is always blond and straight. Before they begin to change, their eyes can be


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any human color, but are usually either gray or albino pink. They are graceful, beautiful

children with exceptional strength and balance and skin that does not scar or blemish,

though it can deform in the heat of a fire or the flash of electricity. They are immune toboth diseases that infect humans and those that affect the natives of Caln. Their minds

are sharp and they are usually insatiably curious. They are bipedal, but they can run as

fast as their linyth parent when pressed. Since even linyth born Daitari grow up amonghumans, most learn early to avoid showing this off because it is a dead giveaway of their

cursed nature.

The first sign of a Daitaris maturity appears as it approaches 30. Its eyes changefirst, becoming purplish-blue with gold flecks. Then, its finger tips and toe tips change to

golden claws. At that time, a Daitaris magic begins to manifest. The Linyth were

stripped of their magic, but the Daitari still express it. Linyth magic is the magic of air

and storms. In time, even as they twist into horrid hybrid monsters, Daitari are learningto fly by the power of their magic, to take energy from electrical storms, and to walk on

water just as their linyth parent can do naturally. Unfortunately, their twisted bodies

cannot sustain life. Their organs begin to shut down almost as soon as they stop growing,

and at the end of their maturation, they usually live only about two to eight years, dying aslow, agonizing death at the age of forty, ironically at the peak of their magical growth.

A Daitari can slow their maturation by about twenty years by refusing to use theirmagic, but in the end they still die as twisted horrors. The Maestros designed the Daitari

curse to be a warning to both linyth and humans about the dangers of committing

fornication outside their own species.

Beyond death, they are not free from the curse. Their souls are not fully human,and so they cannot enter the Feasthall, and are not fully Calnese so they cannot become

part of the Retinue. The problem is that the essence of a Calnese mortal has the same

essence as the gods themselves. Since the essence of humans and the essence of the godsis so similar, only during life can a soul undergo the process of separation. After death,

they find that they share the same curse as half immortals. They are condemned to wait

until the end of time in the bleak, Erebus-like realm of Kohlerir.There are some alternatives to this bleak life. Meranna of the Calnese pantheon

offers a method of salvation, while Anim of the Human pantheon also offers her own

version. Sorrith and Thrass also offer opposing methods of avoiding Kholerir that applyuniversally to living creatures.

Merannas path:

Merannas path of salvation is specifically for Daitari. It allows a Daitari to enterthe Feasthall and Merannas domain within Innus. Meranna has two methods for daitari

to make it through judgment. When a Daitaris fingertips turn golden, it can go to

Merannas church. There, it is offered up before the altar where it is given the choice oftwo different lives.

In the first, Meranna can direct and slow their transformation so that they live a

somewhat comfortable existence, and usually get to live as humanoid creatures for about70 years. During that time, they get to keep their fertility and their abilities as mages.

Spiritually, they are undergoing a long separation process within their soul that is

separating their human parts from their linyth parts. At the end of the process, the Daitari

undergoes a strange ritual where their bodies are prepared as if for a funeral, and they are


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shut alive in special tombs marked with Merannas magic. When they emerge two years

later, they are fully linyth, and their human soul is cast off as dead to join the feasthall.

They lose all their memories and experiences and they continue their lives as linyth butthey are black colored to mark their origin.

Black linyth are sterile, but otherwise are exactly like true linyth. The difference

is that because they have been cleansed and reborn, they are considered sacred by truelinyth and humans alike. Whether or not they live up to that sacredness is their choice as

mortal creatures, but black linyth are not denied vocal speech or their own magic. At the

end of their lives, they undergo judgment as purely Calnese creatures, and even in death,they never see their human side. Even if they were to meet on the eternal battlefield, they

would not recognize each other.

This method is only available at the hidden temple called Ashakiran high in the

mountainous interior of the continent of Mehran. Daitari who wish this path areconsecrated at their local temples and sent out with nothing but a walking stick and a

single change of clothes. The idea is that their pilgrimage prepares them for becoming a

mage and teaches their soul about the nomadic life that the linyth lead. They are required

to stop at every temple to offer prayers and offerings to Meranna. Only at the temples arethey given a place to sleep other than the ground. If they must cross the ocean to reach

Mehran, they must do so on foot, using their magic to keep themselves on top of thewaves.

In the second method, as they are offered up to Meranna, she can almost

immediately take the Calnese portion to herself. It is easier for her to call out the Calnese

portion because Meranna is also part of Caln, and part of the essence of all sentientcreatures comes from the Maestros directly. The piece of Calnese soul cannot join her

because it is not actually dead, and it never passes judgment. This removes the daitaris

ability to use magic, but since half the daitaris soul resides with Meranna, their bodiesare made nearly immortal, but sterile.

A daitari on this path finishes growing, but as a normal human. At the end of their

growth, they remain ageless at their prime. Over the centuries, they darken in color untiltheir skin and hair becomes a deep, luminescent black, while their irises fade to a

colorless white. They can still be wounded and disfigured and they can still die by

physical or magical means. They do not have the regenerative power that full immortalshave, and they still have to sleep like a normal mortal, but they do not grow infirm and

they are immune to poisons and disease. They are granted the abilities of telepathy and

tongues that is common to the master races.

The drawback to this path is that once a daitari chooses it and completes the ritual,death cannot be an option. If a daitari on the second path is killed, its Calnese portion

comes back to it in the afterlife and they are judged as normal daitari. According to

Meranna, they must wait in this half-immortal state for the end of time, at which pointthey will be free of their curse. Because not all daitari can actually keep their sanity until

the end of time, Immortal daitari can freely choose to switch to the mortal path as long as

they are willing to take the pilgrimage to Ashakiran. To switch, then, is a doubly hardquest, due to the fact that they are denied their magic until they reach Ashakiran. Those

on the first path cannot ever choose to become immortal.

The only way to complete the second path is to enter Merannas temple at

Arynstar. Those wishing to seek this path are given passage by boat to the continent of


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soul altogether, crush it, twist it, and leave the body an undead shell with all the

memories of its life. The magic Thrass gives them substitutes the Calnese magic with

demonic sorcery that is similar, but wholly destructive. The most cruel, vicious sorcerermages on Caln come from this elite group. An undead Daitari sorcerer named Lumi sits

at the left hand of the god-emperor, acting as the emissary of Pathir and conducting the

horrid rituals to Thrass that are demanded of the army.Undead daitari are bloodthirty, evil creatures that are obligatory carnivores. Their

favored prey is any sentient creature. Because they are undead, they are patient,

calculating monsters who can concoct evil plans that stretch for centuries.

race spotlight daitari

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