Species

The arrival of the first ever Solarites was documented as a descent to earth in an asteroid one thousand years ago. After the descent of the asteroid, it became lodged into the earth and incubated until the first ten Solarites emerged from it. These would go on to form the ten dynasty house heads and were the first to make contact with the humans already occupying the planet. Over time, gradually more Solarites would descend as stray falling stars and the house heads would forge dynasties through all of them after learning what it took to craft themselves earthly forms.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Solarites are considered beings formed of pure energy, though they take on a regular humanoid form during their time on land. Their very essence or “soul” as it were, is powered by a fallen star which can be located at the core of their bodies and acts much like any other central organ. It is suspected this is where their power originates and if they overexert themselves to the point where their star extinguishes they can scatter into atoms.

They are noted for their primary features of gold, pearl or platinum blonde hair and light pigmented eyes in shades of blue and violet. Their skin has a natural phosphorescence due to the fact that they are beings of starlight and they can blind when not careful. Skin tones tend to come in warm browns with yellow/gold undertones providing them with a perpetually ‘sun-kissed’ visage.

Their forms, when given, resemble human females and they do not age though later Solarites have undergone a life cycle from infancy to adulthood. Infant Solarites are known as starlets and aren’t considered to be physically mature until the age of sixteen. Starlets do not come to show their magic until puberty where their skin develops constellations as a symbol of their transcendence. These settle when they reach full maturity. Much of their body functions without the regular needs of mammals as they do not require rest or nourishment, though their powers can be weakened over time by neglect of these things.

Other properties of their physiology include an increased healing factor to the point of full, unaided regeneration. They also know immunity to sickness, poisons and other pathogens. Most of this is aided by their ichor, their gold-coloured blood which has miraculous healing properties and is said to share some of the same biological make-up as amaranthum which also holds healing properties. Solarites enjoy greatly enhanced physical and mental abilities. Speed, strength and reflexes are all quicker and more advanced than the average human, the levels of these abilities are often superhuman in nature and it can make them rather opposing foes and formidable allies in a point of conflict.

ABILITIES

As beings of energy and light, Solarites have various specialisations in their power. They are not born with the full range of these abilities and many do not unlock their full potential until the age of seventy-five or beyond. These include:

LIGHT: As stars, Solarites emit a natural incandescence and this can be enhanced for the sake of defensive purposes, blinding or incapacitating an enemy. They can make their bodies embody pure light or bend light around them to make themselves temporarily invisible or intangible. They can create convincing illusions and sensory trickery to the point that these fantasies seem real and they can also infuse others with light in order to “illuminate” them for knowledge. This often takes the form of truth-telling.

• Light Aura
• Light Empowerment
• Light Mimicry
• Invisibility
• Holographic Projection
• Illusion Manipulation
• Illumination

LIFE: In opposition to an Occassi’s proclivity with death, Solarites instead appear to have mastery over life. These powers can take many forms and include being able to heal and even resurrect others from death, though these powers do not come without great personal strain to the Solarite in question. They can bestow life upon inanimate objects in order to make them sentient, repair damaged objects anew and manipulate them with their mind to make them portable.

They have the ability to sense the energy signatures of living creatures known as “auras” and through this they can read their moods, gain sense of their powers and sense people from a far distance. They can also use this bestow powers on others and take them away at will.

• Animation 
• Resurrection
• Healing
• Power Bestowal
• Power Erasure
• Telekinesis 
• Object Repair 
• Aura Manipulation
• Aura Reading
• Illusion Awareness
• Aura Concealment
• Aura Detection

ELECTRICITY: Again much like stars, Solarites are electromagnetic. This allows them to wield any and all electricity for the purposes of offensive and defensive combat. They can make their bodies electrifying to the touch, summon lightning bolts and erect force shields, produce shockwaves of energy and master any form of technology.

• Energy Projection
• Lightning Bolt Manipulation
• Technokinesis 
• Electrokinesis
  • Electric Energy Blasts and Balls
  • Electric Shields and Barriers
• Atomokinesis 
• Electric Mimicry

ASTRAL: These powers are more mystical in nature than the ones before and relate mostly to a Solarite’s ability to warp their realities to their will. This includes portal creation, dream manipulation, telepathy between minds and inter-dimensional travel. They can astral project an intangible form so that they can move far distances from their physical bodies and they often use this to communicate.

• Dream Manipulation
• Astral Projection
• Portal generation
• Inter-dimensional travel
• Reality Warping

REPRODUCTION

Solarites do not reproduce in the way that we understand it. Instead, their form of procreation is entirely asexual and mostly relies on a ritual spoken of in myth. After a prospective Solarite mother lays hands upon a fallen star, it is then custom for her to build a body out of kaolin and rosewater which she will then insert the star of her child into in order to make a starlet. To complete the ritual she will infuse the clay doll with her ichor which will then bring it to life. It is to be noted though that this is mostly conjecture and the process itself has never been fully observed.

The origin of my species has been the subject of much debate, though most studies tend to trace back to those who first emerged from the pit of Mount Occassus. No one truly understands how it is that we were able to thrive in the conditions of a volcano enough to evolve into sapient life-forms, but many scholars at least entertain the religious theory—that we were willed to life by the daemon god, Calante. This theory will henceforth be known as the Calantist Theory as opposed to other more evolutionary hypotheses into how it was we came to originate.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Occassi are functionally immortal and enjoy many of the perks therein such as an enhanced physiology that is impermeable to all forms of disease and decay. We have slow heartbeats, almost undetectable, and our bodies operate a few degrees above body temperature. We have much stronger, more durable skeletons and a greater body mass than the average human. Our hearts are near impenetrable with a few exceptions such as our relative weakness to sharpened wood, bone and claws. Many have hypothesised that it is only materials that had been considered connected to the cycle of life that are capable of harming us. This would likely coincide with our natural proclivity to manipulating the forces of death. 

Some distinguishing characteristics also include our vertical pupils which allow us night-vision and our sensory system is inherently enhanced as opposed to most other living creatures. We have pointed ears designed to pick up the high pitched sounds made by prey. We have fangs that are capable of disembodying limbs and retractable claws. Our bite is venomous and contains a potentially addictive substance that acts as a strong opioid to disorient our prey. Our blood can appear near black in the same way greatly deoxygenated mammalian blood appears.

We are apex predators and have the physical condition to match this, capable of superhuman feats of speed and strength, as well as agility and cerebral processing. We have an incredibly high pain threshold along with an enhanced healing factor which allows us to shrug off most physical damage inflicted on our bodies.

ABILITIES

To many, Occassi are considered to be daemonic entities and indeed our various supernatural abilities tend to err on the side of destructive. These include:

DEATH: It has been long documented by our kind how we have significant mastery over death and decay, up to and including being able to raise the dead. However, this only extends to the physical forms of what has remained. The corpses we are able to animate to the point that they are functional, ambulatory, but we cannot restore the bodies to their original condition nor can we revive the essence of what was lost when the person perished—whether you consider that to be the soul or mind or any such equivalent.

However, on the subject of souls, we are quite able to communicate and convene with the dead should we summon them. This includes holding an understanding of anything that is considered “dead” and our ability to learn memories, skills and traits when consuming the body parts of someone who has died. We can also banish spirits and collect the souls of individuals who barter them to us for a price. Though I will add from experience that I much rather enjoy handling the corpse of an individual than a soul and find the former to be much more… utilitarian.

• Necromancy 
• Reanimation 
• Decomposition Manipulation
• Anti-Regeneration
• Mediumship 
• Destruction

CHAOS: Our ability to destroy is well-documented to the point where one might consider ourselves an active revolt against nature. This is heavily shown in the way that nature’s vermin such as rats, crows and earthworms are attracted to our presence while most living things are otherwise repelled from it. We have the capability to actively manipulate the decomposition of any natural matter by either excelling it or even reversing it. We can also cause degeneration in a being, intensifying any existing illness or injury to the point of debilitation in another. Even to the point of death. We also sense pain in another, whether it be physical or mental and manipulate it in turn, even extracting it into tangible essence to empower ourselves; something that has been the subject of much study by myself.

Chaos magic in its most fundamental definition is its ability to introduce disorder and deformation into an otherwise orderly world. Our powers work in much the same way when it comes to that of magic. We are capable of corrupting the spells of others, making them deflect, fail or even rebound back on their user. Our most well-known ability, and the one that most solidified our perception as daemons, is our capability of casting curses and hexes which in essence are a series of words that when uttered tend to direct negative energies towards the intended that distort their life for the worse. This can often extend to us entering the minds of individuals while asleep and inducing a nightmare in an otherwise untroubled slumber.

• Curse Inducement
• Inhibition Release
• Pain Manipulation
• Portal Corruption
• Nightmare Manipulation
• Inter-dimensional travel
• Shape Shifting

DARKNESS: Perhaps our most limited ability, but also quite useful. While we are no longer nocturnal creatures, our bodies still retain the adaptations to a life accustomed to being active primarily in the darkness. This includes our night vision and our ability to camouflage ourselves into shadow to better strike out at prey. We can also create tendrils and threads of corporeal darkness in order to attack or bind.

• Darkness Solidification
• Night Vision
• Shadow Camouflage
• Darkness Adaptation

REPRODUCTION

Occassi are able to reproduce sexually however we are only able to successfully mate with other occasselle. Attempts to impregnate a non-occasselle has only resulted in miscarriages as the female’s body will automatically reject the foetus. Our fertility as a species is quite low and it is common for maturing occassi to discover themselves to be sterile in some form. Even when fertilisation attempts have been successful in our kind, they have still led to a large number of miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths. We are considered intensely vulnerable until we successfully reach our fourth year.