~~Born
of royal blood in her race, she is one of the last of her lineage, the only
other being her twin brother, Xedikai Erit d'Sau. Their parents, being the
"king and queen" of her clan, hence the clan was named d'Sau after
them, died of an unknown cause when Xeren and Xedikai were only 150--merely
teenagers in Tsarian years. The deaths forced Xedikai into rule, making
him the new Sovereign of clan d'Sau, and making Xeren a leader under him--equivalent
to the humans' king and princess. Although they were of the same age, Xeren
knew more about leadership and politics than her brother, so she became
his mentor by casting away the Sovereign's tutors from the palace. Though
they were close siblings, sharing everything from their food to their emotions,
their closeness grew to a disconcerting height for Xeren when they reached
230 years, so she left her home in Jaernau to find elsewhere to live.
~~Fighting hard against the urge to return
to her brother whom she loved dearly, she knew that she could not for she
would have to face his unchaste love, so she traveled to a place she learned
was called Attone. It was a place not to her liking, dirty and cluttered
with the trash of human society, so she found a cave on the outskirts and
made a home of it. Dwelling there in secret for a 100 years, she worked
on developing the powers of her race in her, learning more on how to control
them than let them control her. It had never been a concern before since
the d'Sau cannot use their powers against other d'Sau Tsarian, but out on
her own she found it necessary to master those powers for her own protection,
and to do what her race is meant to: bless.
~~After emerging from her cave-home, she spent
another 100 years exploring the world with an escort she gathered up from
dedicated men, men whom she had blessed as they needed and wanted. With
the same men she started out with, she returned with and like herself, they
were not aged. Relieving them of their sworn duty, she returned to her cave-home
and dwelled there in silent meditation for 20 years, reaching the age of
550 when she finished. Her meditations helped her to control her emotions
and her physical feelings, both external and internal. She used that power
over her emotions to "heal" her pain from missing her twin brother,
her other half, and used her power over her physical feelings to block out
the pain as she tattooed her body and put in the pearl and silver stubs
that every female d'Sau Tsarian would receive at 300 years of age. After
her body healed from the punctures of the stubs and the swelling from the
tattoos went down, she left her home again and has been traveling over the
country in which Attone lies since.
|
~~The
Tsarian are a human-like race, split into two different clans which are
named after their leaders: the d'Sau and the Lazrit. Though they are of
the same race, they are two completely different types. The d'Sau are of
a dark complexion where the Lazrit are of a fair complexion, almost pale.
The Tsarian power involves gazing into the Tsarian's eyes, and what the
person seeks he will be blessed with, leaving the Tsarians very susceptible
to be taken advantage of and even enslaved. The few Tsarians like Xeren,
who have their power mastered, know how to keep it from working without
their consent, so they will only bless when they want, not just when someone
else wants. The d'Sau are only capable of using their power for doing good,
but when someone gazes into their eyes to receive something out of greed,
like power, riches, land, etc., that person's soul will be ripped from his
body and taken into the d'Sau's. This is a very painful process for both
d'Sau and human alike. It is because of this power that the d'Sau are both
loved and feared by other races.
~~The Lazrit power is
much the same, but they are only capable of using it for evil purposes,
as the Lazrit are an evil clan. Well known in their land, those seeking
a blessing will avoid fair and pale skin, but if a Lazrit travels elsewhere
where people are ignorant of the Tsarian race and power, then they can easily
harm others. Rather than blessing people with their power, they cause terrible
things to happen, from horrible accidents to brutal death. All it takes
is direct eye contact and the desire to cause harm from the Lazrit. Before
Xeren and Xedikai were born the Lazrit warred with the d'Sau, slaughtering
hundreds of them with their power. The war lasted for 50 years when the
Lazrit finally decided to leave the d'Sau alone, but to this day remain
their arch enemy. The few Lazrit that have their power mastered can be more
dangerous and deadly than a whole city's worth of Kindred in a blood rage.
~~Aside of complexion,
there are other distinctions between the d'Sau and Lazrit: the d'Sau tattoo
their bodies as part of their culture, whereas the Lazrit would have nothing
to do with marking their bodies. The d'Sau have eyes of only 3 colors: brown,
blue, and lavender. The Lazrit have green, grey, red, black, and blue with
speckles of whatever color they were born with. The d'Sau generally have
wavy to curly hair; the women always wear their hair long and the men never
let it grow past their ears, whereas the Lazrit have straight hair and the
men and women wear their hair long, although there have been some women
who wore their hair short. Height is another difference. The Tsarians are
a tall race, but the d'Sau are the shorter of the two clans. The tallest
a d'Sau can grow is 6'2" and the shortest is 5'5". Any d'Sau shorter
or taller than that is thought to be either a bastard child from a d'Sau
and a Lazrit(which does happen sometimes--rape, sexual worship with unknown
partners, or love affairs, which is very rare) or an outcast by the gods.
The tallest a Lazrit can grow is 6'6" and the shortest is 5'8".
Any Lazrit shorter or taller than that is also thought to be a bastard child
from d'Sau and Lazrit or a freak of nature.
~~However, the Lazrit
will kill the mother of the child, if they think it was made from sexual
activity with a d'Sau, by gutting her alive in front of the Lazrit civilization
at the palace steps, then behead her and throw her remains into the crowd
for the people to do as they wish with them. The d'Sau would do no such
thing, but would instead have the woman put on fair trial to see if the
child was in fact made from a Lazrit man. If it was, then they would have
the woman executed quickly by beheading, the child following after.
Both clans worship the same gods and have the same hierarchy; piercing ears
is a symbol of status for both. 6 ear piercings is the most a Tsarian can
get, signifying the highest rank which would be the Sovereign. Being earth
people, the Tsarian don't rely heavily upon machinery, and although their
palaces and temples are made of marble, stone, and jade with crystal windows,
their homes are pretty much made of sticks, grass, small lumber and glass
windows. The Lazrit have large egos, arrogant but not stupid, but they are
also humble to a certain extent, which is why their homes are so simple.
The d'Sau are a humble people as well, but live in simple homes mostly because
they honor the earth and what it provides for them, and they see no reason
to live in big, fancy homes when their families are generally small.
~~Producing children
is the same for Tsarians as it is for humans, but bearing the children is
different. Unless either the male or female is incapable of creating a child,
the female will always get pregnant, making sex something that must be handled
very carefully. The pregnancy lasts for only a month and the births are
always smooth and quick. It is possible for a Tsarian to be impregnated
by another of a different race, but the half-breed children of such interactions
are often looked down upon in Tsarian society, but not too badly. There
is a way for a Tsarian to have sex and not get pregnant, and it's the same
way most humans can have sex and not get pregnant. In the city herbal shops
there are certain herbs that when taken whole will cause death, but when
grinded and mixed with hot water will cause infertility for a month. Either
the male or the female can take these herbs before any sexual activity to
prevent pregnancy. This act is encouraged for the rituals of sex.
~~The people of this
unique race can live up to 1,500 years in full health, and in that time
will have experienced at least 200 rituals of sexual worship where men and
women lie together with people they don't know, often in threes. The Lazrit
don't always take part in this ritual, but the d'Sau are religious about
it. It is mandatory that at least twice in a female's lifetime she comes
away from the ritual with child, as the ritual is not just about the blessing
of sex, but fertility as well. Participating in this ritual isn't imperative
in a Tsarian's life, but not one d'Sau has ever turned from it without good
cause. Tsarian royalty is especially not required to participate in such
a ritual as the royal lineage is needed to be kept clean and not mixed with
just any blood. With Xeren and Xedikai being the last of royal blood for
the d'Sau and Xeren gone from her homeland and her brother who loves only
her, the people now worry that their monarchy will soon fall and chaos will
rip through their society...
~~Lastly, while d'Sau
and Lazrit are the names of the two different clans, only the nobleborn
are allowed to bear them. All Tsarian have at least 3 names: first, middle,
and last. Common human names are never used by the Tsarian; they prefer
to create their own names for their children, and when their children grow
up they are allowed to make their own Tsarian names for themselves, but
must keep their parents' last names. Unlike humans, lineage is followed
through the female line, not the male, so when two Tsarian are bonded in
rites--married--the male changes his last name to the female's, rather than
the other way around. In addition to that, females aren't considered lower
than males in the society, but are considered equal and sometimes higher.
|
