Post by Faulkner on Jan 15, 2013 19:14:29 GMT -5
AN OUTLINE:
NAME: The Mahomec and the Yukawi, collectively referred to as Nexalonians.
PLANET OF ORIGIN: Nexalon
LIFESPAN: Yukawi live approx. 10 Celycs, or 50 Earth years; the Mahomec live approx. 100 Celycs, or 500 Earth years.
SEXES: Male/female for both.
OTHER NAMES: Yukawi are called “Little Folk”, “Nexalon imps”, “Little Nexalonians”, or “those Nexalon pests”; Mahomec are called “Tall Folk”, “Fair Folk”, “Tall Nexalonians”, or “those Nexalon snobs”.
AFFILIATION: Not part of the UP.
STATUS: Currently recovering from their last civil war.
PLAYBY: None for either.
MADE BY: Faulkner
EXPANSION:
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The Yukawi and the Mahomec are a lot like humans, and individuals vary between body types which are slender, obese, or powerful, much like humans would. The most noticeable differences both the Yukawi and Mahomec share from humans are their facial structures—they’re more narrow and angular, pointed, giving them an impish or fae appearance—and their ears, long, pointed, and with the edges curled inward, almost like a cone, lacking any lower lobe like many human ears have.
The Yukawi, however, are shorter than humans, averaging about 4’8” tall, with the tallest among them reaching just shy of 5'2"’ if they’re lucky. They all have tanned skin and green or brown eyes, and their hair can vary from auburn to brown to black, but is always darker in colour. The Yukawi are also noted for having slightly more pronounced canine teeth than humans, and nails that, when untrimmed, tend to be stronger and curved.
The Mahomec are the opposites of the Yukawi in a lot of ways. They are much taller than the Yukawi, averaging about 7’6” tall, though they can easily reach almost 8’. They all have pale skin, their eyes can be either grey or amber, and their hair will always be lighter shades, blond, strawberry blond, dirty-blond, platinum blond. The Mahomec are also noted for their canine teeth being virtually unnoticeable, nearly as flat as the rest of their teeth.
Uncommon traits possible among both the Yukawi and Mahomec include vivid orange-red (“ginger”) hair, and a deviation in pupil shape where they are slitted rather than circular, referred to as ‘sedalen eyes’ among both races. It should be noted that freckles are not possible among this race, despite ginger hair being so. Much rarer are the Mamecian Yukawi and the Yukinian Mahomec; these are mutations of either race that function much like albinism and melanism on Earth. Mamecian Yukawi have white hair, extremely pale skin, and pink eyes. Yukinian Mahomec are the opposite, having black hair, skin often darker than that of normal Yukawi, and vivid blue eyes.
CULTURE:
The Yukawi are known for being a slightly eccentric people. They’re insatiably curious and fascinated by other races and cultures and technologies, and are frequently known to visit other planets whenever they can, though they always return home to bring what they’ve seen and learned back. As a result, the towns and cities populated solely by Yukawi are infamous for being hodge-podges of architecture and styles they observed on other worlds, though not always true to the source material; similarly, their technology is made up of the oddest mixes and bastardizations of anything and everything brought to their world. They love to pick up odd bits of language and culture from other worlds and adopt it as their own, resulting in wildly diverse behaviors across different areas of Nexalon, as well as different ‘dialects’ even within the same city, giving rise to the saying that one would need a universal translator simply to buy groceries while staying on Nexalon. All the same, they’re always friendly to outsiders from other planets, who will often find themselves harassed immediately upon landing to trade virtually anything and everything on their person.
The Mahomec, on the other hand, are known for being proud, vain, holier-than-thou (often literally given their religion) and petty. They don’t care all that much about technology (though they’ll still learn how to use it just to stay up-to-date on what the Yukawi are using) as their primary focus is on magic. They’re very secretive about their practices and knowledge, keeping it from outsiders, whom they don’t trust and don’t care for (especially since the outsiders don’t always pay them the respect and honour they deserve), and from the Yukawi, who are beneath them and were not meant for such knowledge, in their minds. The position of the Lady Priestess, the Voice of the Goddess, has always belonged to the Mahomec with the most magical power and experience; this is primarily because of the long-standing superstitious belief that magic is one of their gifts from the Goddess, but also because it is the Lady Priestess who is the only one who knows the secret of granting special, unique abilities to individuals of their race—the Blessing of the Goddess, granted to each Mahomec child when they reach a certain age—and it has been a long-standing tradition that each Priestess will only pass this knowledge down to a successor she deems worthy. (The fact that it’s always female is claimed to be because only a woman could be so close to the Goddess.)
Many Mahomec hold a view that the Yukawi are little more than barely-intelligent puppets, to be used and controlled at their leisure. Some are more kind, viewing them more as pets to be cared for in return for their services. Either way, the Yukawi have been conditioned as a race to look up to and respect the Mahomec that rule them. Many will often have a favourite Mahomec, especially among those in power, whom they will stalwartly defend and argue for come hell or high water. Often the largest cities will have a “patron Prince” or other Mahomec, to whom virtually the entire population is almost fanatically loyal. That said, they are not without wills of their own. Many of them realize that the Mahomec treat them poorly, using them like so much cannon fodder in their wars. The main thing that keeps them from acting on that however, is their belief in the Goddess, and fear of her. It is among the edicts of the Goddess that he who slays one of her chosen children, the Mahomec, will suffer utter destruction and ruination such that he will beg for death before it will visit upon him. Legends of past Mahomec who have been killed, and the ultimate fates of those who killed them, deeply reinforce this belief. (It should be noted that this includes when one Mahomec is slain by another; apparently the Goddess does not hesitate to visit her wrath upon her own children, and reserves the right to end their lives solely for herself.)
The only Mahomec not treated so highly are the rare Yukinian Mahomec; these dark-coloured mutations of the race are virtually unheard of outside of the cloistered walls of the temple in Nexus; the Mahomec take great pains to hide them both from outsiders and the majority of the Yukawi, and the few Yukawi who’ve seen them are under the impression that they are some secretive other race that they’ve never heard of before. Yukinian are never granted the Gift of the Goddess (and as a result live no longer than the Yukawi), and from birth are sent to live in the temple, where they function as servants of the Goddess and her Voice, forbidden to leave. On the other hand, the rare Mamecian Yukawi are hardly treated at all different from their normal brethren; aside from looking odd and occasionally being teased for it, they are seen as being the same. The more common variation of ginger hair is treated likewise (except when it occurs among the Mahomec, who see it as an embarrassment and an eyesore), whereas sedalen eyes are seen as extremely cool by the Yukawi, but base and beastial (and therefore not worthy) by the Mahomec.
Meat is regularly eaten on Nexalon, and enjoyed thoroughly by both the Yukawi and the Mahomec, though the Mahomec will refrain from hunting it themselves. The Yukawi will eat virtually anything that tastes good, even some riskier fares (think of the poisonous puffer fish that’s treated as a delicacy on modern-day Earth). The Mahomec, on the other, consider themselves as having more ‘distinguished’ tastes, and generally stick to a selection of foods they deem worthy of their standing, which happen to include some meats they’re fond of.
POWERS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES:
The Yukawi do not have any known powers. They are truthfully no different from humans in terms of physical abilities, with the exception that they’re even less likely to be able to reach the top shelf. That said, they do have one particular strength—an unusual creativity and adaptability. They are capable of learning new languages and new technologies well into the later years of their lives, adapting to it and adapting it to themselves as they see fit. The downside of this racial trait is that the way they apply it results in other races often seeing them as flighty, eccentric or outright bizarre, and generally ridiculous.
The Mahomec, too, are similar to humans, however they are frequently gifted with magic. In many cases the magic is only minor; few Mahomec possess any real power with magic. The majority of Mahomec only have enough power to activate magical objects created by other Mahomec who do have significant ability with magic.
Those rare Mahomec who do have significant magical talent are comparable to human magic-users such as Zatanna or Traci 13 from main DCU canon. They are almost never trained for combat, however, as these Mahomec often become high-standing members of the church of the Goddess, and to engage in combat is seen as beneath these servants of the Goddess; instead, they use their powers to enchant objects and participate in religious rituals and ceremonies, or in elaborate magical displays for the festivities of celebrations such as Parothys or Aytivec. There are exceptions to this rule, such as magic-using Adimanat (as all Adimanat are required as a matter of pride to go through the Nexalonian military academy, or be seen as unworthy of the title). Female Mahomec, however, never go through the military academy, so a female magic-using Mahomec would never be trained for combat.
Regardless of magical ability however, each and every Mahomec possesses a single unique power, said to be a Gift from the Goddess. This power will often vary drastically from individual to individual, but examples include:
Each Mahomec blessed can only receive one power; attempts at a second blessing will produce no results.
It has only recently been discovered that the Gift of the Goddess ritual which gives the Mahomec their unique powers can also work on some, but not all, Yukawi. It is only under very special circumstances however that Yukawi are able to receive the Gift of the Goddess. Regardless, unless they receive a Gift that specifically makes them more durable or invulnerable, the Mahomec and Yukawi remain just as fragile as humans.
As a note: the Mahomec, due to their paleness, and Mamecian Yukawi, are often sensitive to spending too much time in sunlight, both in their skin and their eyes for the Mamecians. Also, individuals with the slitted “sedalen” eyes will have an advantage seeing in poor lighting, but will be sensitive to brighter lights; even with sedalen eyes, however, they do need some light to see, and circumstances of total darkness will render them just as blind as the rest of their race. Yukinian Mahomec lack the skin sensitivity to sun exposure that normal Mahomec have, but this is rarely noted seeing as they never leave the temple.
HISTORY:
Unknown thousands of years ago, the Nexalonians were all one people. It’s unknown what exactly these original Nexalonians appeared like—if they were Yukawi, Mahomec, or somewhere in between. But, like humans, they carried a meta-gene that allowed some individuals to manifest unique and special powers if that gene was activated, as well as a greatly lengthened lifespan. They learned how to activate it with the use of magic, and these empowered individuals were greatly revered. Eventually, the species split in two, as the revered Gifted Ones selectively bred themselves so that their offspring would always manifest the special powers they were known for. The offspring of those Gifted Ones became the revered Mahomec, the ruling class of Nexalon; the rest of the people became the Yukawi, who served them religiously.
The two divergent races soon evolved two become polar opposites; the open-minded and inquisitive Yukawi absorbing everything they were exposed to and always looking for new experiences, and the haughty Mahomec cloistering themselves away and determinedly maintaining their traditions and the practice of magic, only learning what new developments were necessary in order to stay up-to-date with what the Yukawi were up to. The long-lived Mahomec quickly became the equivalent of the Royal Family of Nexalon, with one among them being the ruling Adiman-Prenor, or King, of Nexalon; their long life spans theoretically allowed them to be a steady and unchanging influence over the Yukawi who served them for generations. They established the Tesmer Fora Nodactun, the Edicts of the Goddess, which were the laws they followed, establishing the titles and hierarchy that made up the seats of power. Unfortunately, the Mahomec were also petty and often ambitious. They squabbled over anything, from minor matters to the prospect of new edicts, to the right to rule. Oftentimes, this resulted in skirmishes where they attacked one another using their loyal Yukawi as pawns to act for them. Sometimes (usually when the throne was at stake), this resulted in outright warfare.
Originally, these conflicts were bloody and brutal, and resulted in countless casualties, both among the Mahomec and the Yukawi. At some point, however, three things occurred
(and not necessarily in the order listed). First, somehow the legend sprung up that the Goddess the Nexalonians worshiped was angry about how many of her chosen children, the Mahomec, were being killed, and that terrible fates would befall any who killed a Mahomec—even if it was another Mahomec. Next, a number of Yukawi rebellions occurred, as the Yukawi displayed violently just how upset they were about their poor treatment. Finally, one of the more brutal civil wars for control of the throne resulted in the destruction of much of Nexus, the capitol city, including the great library where nearly all of the important historical records were kept. This is largely the reason why no one knows exactly when or how the legend of the Mesadu, or the Wrath of the Goddess, began. These three factors combined, however, to cause the Mahomec to change how they went about their power struggles.
The Mahomec now created a new set of edicts—the Tesmer Fora Foliconter, or Edicts of War, a sort of “rules of engagement” for what they were and weren’t allowed to do during civil wars. How to avoid civilian casualties. What targets were and weren’t acceptable. What constituted a “loss”. Most importantly, these Edicts included the law that no Mahomec was allowed to kill another of their brethren, and that the capitol city was never to be involved in their conflicts—the conflicted parties weren’t even allowed to remain within the capitol city while a power struggle was in play. Instead, the feuding parties would create bases of power within “patron cities” of Yukawi, and engage in their wars from there, leaving the center of power untouched.
The Foliconter resulted in the power struggles between Mahomec taking on an almost chess-like quality, following similarly strict rules. These new conflicts became referred to as the Gabelarometae, or the Elaborate Game. The only ones who died in the Gabelarometae were the Yukawi who voluntarily fought in them; despite knowing this, Yukawi continued to volunteer, either because they genuinely wanted to serve a particular Mahomec they believed in, or because they craved glory and rank, and the Gabelarometae was the only way to achieve it.
This was the state they were eventually discovered in when Nexalon was first visited by off-worlders. It soon gained a reputation for many things—the annoying curiousity and astonishing mix-and-match culture of the Yukawi, the snobbishness and “traditional” (or “obsolete”, depending on whether or not you’re feeling kind) style of the Mahomec, and above all their ridiculous orchestrated conflicts and the way they used the Yukawi like pawns, and the Yukawi went along with it. Nexalon has never asked, nor been invited, to join the United Planets; fortunately it has never really needed the protection, as it has no natural resources outsiders want, and a number of free agents are willing to help keep Nexalon safe from invasion due to it’s nature as a free port where virtually anything can be bought or sold without question. Though it’s technology has advanced and the Yukawi have gleefully mutilated the culture and styles of other worlds and races to incorporate them into their own, overall Nexalon has remained largely unchanged over the hundreds of years that have passed since they were first visited by outsiders.
Only in recent cycles have things noticeably begun to shift. Three Celycs ago, another civil war began between the Adiman-Prenor and the Adimanat—the King and his sons, the Princes—that resulted in the dissolution of the previous laws regarding hereditary inheritance of the throne (on the basis that it never actually worked that way anyway because the kings kept getting overthrown). For the first time in recorded history, the Tesmer Fora Nodactun were altered, removing the principles of the monarchy and establishing a new government instead, led by three rulers—the Adimanat—who would reign together in a council known as the Contrilon. The intention was that, by having a council instead of a single, all-powerful monarch, the positions would not quite be so desirable, and hopefully, there would be less feuding. Naturally, scarcely a single Celyc had passed before the Adimanat went to war against one another.
It seemed for a time that one of the Adimanat, Asheron Nayet-Gabrilon (formerly the Adimanat-Prenor, eldest son of King Gabrilon and heir to the throne before the upheaval), would further change the nature of Nexalon’s government when he rallied a vast number of the Yukawi under his banner, under the promise of better treatment and greater equality between them and the Mahomec. However, it seemed even within their own followers the Nexalonians are prone to conflict, and when Asheron’s army fell apart, so, seemingly, did the idea of further changes for the benefit of the Yukawi. Asheron was imprisoned, and his brothers replaced him with their sister Dylana, who took the title of Adimani, formerly reserved for the consort of the Adiman-Prenor, the highest possible rank a female Mahomec could achieve before the government was changed.
Currently, Nexalon is enjoying the peace between wars. Those who are actually familiar with it’s politics often can be consulted for betting odds on how long this particular reprieve will last before another conflict breaks out.
HOMEWORLD:
Much like its inhabitants, the planet of Nexalon can be compared in many ways to Earth. It has seasons thanks to a slight tilt of its axis (a few degrees less than Earth’s), a wide variety of landscapes and biomes, and a lush abundance of diverse flora and fauna. It is a bit larger than Earth, and not as much of it is covered in ocean (only about sixty percent). It only has two main continents of about equal size, with one, Padorobas, being inhabited by the Yukawi and the Mahomec. The other, Ystani, is considered uninhabitable and cursed.
The cities of the Nexalonians are spread far apart and largely self-sufficient, often being fortified (especially those that have frequently played patron to one Mahomec or another during conflicts in the past) and unconnected to the others. Transportation between them is almost exclusively done by air. While small towns exist, they are rarely given any names being rudimentary functional ones (5th Mine Town, for example) and aren’t exactly popular with the Yukawi or the Mahomec, both of whom infinitely prefer living in cities. Almost every city has its own space port, with the exception of the capitol, and those cities all have thriving and lively markets and often a large number of offworlders, either there for trade or for fun.
The capitol city of Nexalon is Nexus, which stands at the edge of one of Nexalon’s vast forests (the Fatynas Forest), where it meets the Ofutoracta Mountains. This is the city where the Mahomec spend the vast majority of their lives. As a result, it is the only city to follow a specific style of architecture, something the Mahomec insist upon vehemently every time a new building is to be erected, much to the chagrin of the Yukawi who live there. It’s a beautiful city of tall, elegant buildings, often built in curved forms rather than geometric ones with straight edges and sharp angles. Almost all of the buildings are white; the oldest buildings, those built for use by the Mahomec, and those buildings which are in what pass for the “high end” parts of the city (which are basically anywhere the Mahomec like to frequent), are built from a white stone collected from the mountains nearby. The most recent ones can be more modern, with metal incorporated into the design, but only as long as the metal is as light-coloured as possible, and the rest is built with stone. Those buildings inhabited and used exclusively by Yukawi are often made with much cheaper materials, painted white to fit with the rest of the capitol.
Other cities are almost exclusively populated by Yukawi and the offworlders who use their spaceports. The eccentric style of the Yukawi is glaringly (and often garishly) obvious in these cities; no two buildings on the same block look alike, and virtually every building you see that was built after the Yukawi began going off-world was building in the style of some alien world. The streets are often crowded with people—street vendors are everywhere, especially around the spaceports, as are street performers of all kinds—and those people are often wearing the most diverse and distracting array of fashions from other worlds, often in combinations of colours and styles that would make any fashion critic cringe and scrub their eyes with bleach.
Cities which act as patron cities to important Mahomec, however, often have a central area slightly separated from the rest of the city, and built in the Mahomec style. During times of conflict between Mahomec, these city centers will often act as the headquarters of the feuding parties, and stand out starkly from the Yukawian chaos surrounding them.
ANYTHING ELSE:
Important NPCs
Nexalonian Titles, Terms, and Names
Nexalonian Aging and Measurements of Time
NAME: The Mahomec and the Yukawi, collectively referred to as Nexalonians.
PLANET OF ORIGIN: Nexalon
LIFESPAN: Yukawi live approx. 10 Celycs, or 50 Earth years; the Mahomec live approx. 100 Celycs, or 500 Earth years.
SEXES: Male/female for both.
OTHER NAMES: Yukawi are called “Little Folk”, “Nexalon imps”, “Little Nexalonians”, or “those Nexalon pests”; Mahomec are called “Tall Folk”, “Fair Folk”, “Tall Nexalonians”, or “those Nexalon snobs”.
AFFILIATION: Not part of the UP.
STATUS: Currently recovering from their last civil war.
PLAYBY: None for either.
MADE BY: Faulkner
EXPANSION:
(OPTIONAL IMAGE)
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:
The Yukawi and the Mahomec are a lot like humans, and individuals vary between body types which are slender, obese, or powerful, much like humans would. The most noticeable differences both the Yukawi and Mahomec share from humans are their facial structures—they’re more narrow and angular, pointed, giving them an impish or fae appearance—and their ears, long, pointed, and with the edges curled inward, almost like a cone, lacking any lower lobe like many human ears have.
The Yukawi, however, are shorter than humans, averaging about 4’8” tall, with the tallest among them reaching just shy of 5'2"’ if they’re lucky. They all have tanned skin and green or brown eyes, and their hair can vary from auburn to brown to black, but is always darker in colour. The Yukawi are also noted for having slightly more pronounced canine teeth than humans, and nails that, when untrimmed, tend to be stronger and curved.
The Mahomec are the opposites of the Yukawi in a lot of ways. They are much taller than the Yukawi, averaging about 7’6” tall, though they can easily reach almost 8’. They all have pale skin, their eyes can be either grey or amber, and their hair will always be lighter shades, blond, strawberry blond, dirty-blond, platinum blond. The Mahomec are also noted for their canine teeth being virtually unnoticeable, nearly as flat as the rest of their teeth.
Uncommon traits possible among both the Yukawi and Mahomec include vivid orange-red (“ginger”) hair, and a deviation in pupil shape where they are slitted rather than circular, referred to as ‘sedalen eyes’ among both races. It should be noted that freckles are not possible among this race, despite ginger hair being so. Much rarer are the Mamecian Yukawi and the Yukinian Mahomec; these are mutations of either race that function much like albinism and melanism on Earth. Mamecian Yukawi have white hair, extremely pale skin, and pink eyes. Yukinian Mahomec are the opposite, having black hair, skin often darker than that of normal Yukawi, and vivid blue eyes.
CULTURE:
The Yukawi are known for being a slightly eccentric people. They’re insatiably curious and fascinated by other races and cultures and technologies, and are frequently known to visit other planets whenever they can, though they always return home to bring what they’ve seen and learned back. As a result, the towns and cities populated solely by Yukawi are infamous for being hodge-podges of architecture and styles they observed on other worlds, though not always true to the source material; similarly, their technology is made up of the oddest mixes and bastardizations of anything and everything brought to their world. They love to pick up odd bits of language and culture from other worlds and adopt it as their own, resulting in wildly diverse behaviors across different areas of Nexalon, as well as different ‘dialects’ even within the same city, giving rise to the saying that one would need a universal translator simply to buy groceries while staying on Nexalon. All the same, they’re always friendly to outsiders from other planets, who will often find themselves harassed immediately upon landing to trade virtually anything and everything on their person.
The Mahomec, on the other hand, are known for being proud, vain, holier-than-thou (often literally given their religion) and petty. They don’t care all that much about technology (though they’ll still learn how to use it just to stay up-to-date on what the Yukawi are using) as their primary focus is on magic. They’re very secretive about their practices and knowledge, keeping it from outsiders, whom they don’t trust and don’t care for (especially since the outsiders don’t always pay them the respect and honour they deserve), and from the Yukawi, who are beneath them and were not meant for such knowledge, in their minds. The position of the Lady Priestess, the Voice of the Goddess, has always belonged to the Mahomec with the most magical power and experience; this is primarily because of the long-standing superstitious belief that magic is one of their gifts from the Goddess, but also because it is the Lady Priestess who is the only one who knows the secret of granting special, unique abilities to individuals of their race—the Blessing of the Goddess, granted to each Mahomec child when they reach a certain age—and it has been a long-standing tradition that each Priestess will only pass this knowledge down to a successor she deems worthy. (The fact that it’s always female is claimed to be because only a woman could be so close to the Goddess.)
Many Mahomec hold a view that the Yukawi are little more than barely-intelligent puppets, to be used and controlled at their leisure. Some are more kind, viewing them more as pets to be cared for in return for their services. Either way, the Yukawi have been conditioned as a race to look up to and respect the Mahomec that rule them. Many will often have a favourite Mahomec, especially among those in power, whom they will stalwartly defend and argue for come hell or high water. Often the largest cities will have a “patron Prince” or other Mahomec, to whom virtually the entire population is almost fanatically loyal. That said, they are not without wills of their own. Many of them realize that the Mahomec treat them poorly, using them like so much cannon fodder in their wars. The main thing that keeps them from acting on that however, is their belief in the Goddess, and fear of her. It is among the edicts of the Goddess that he who slays one of her chosen children, the Mahomec, will suffer utter destruction and ruination such that he will beg for death before it will visit upon him. Legends of past Mahomec who have been killed, and the ultimate fates of those who killed them, deeply reinforce this belief. (It should be noted that this includes when one Mahomec is slain by another; apparently the Goddess does not hesitate to visit her wrath upon her own children, and reserves the right to end their lives solely for herself.)
The only Mahomec not treated so highly are the rare Yukinian Mahomec; these dark-coloured mutations of the race are virtually unheard of outside of the cloistered walls of the temple in Nexus; the Mahomec take great pains to hide them both from outsiders and the majority of the Yukawi, and the few Yukawi who’ve seen them are under the impression that they are some secretive other race that they’ve never heard of before. Yukinian are never granted the Gift of the Goddess (and as a result live no longer than the Yukawi), and from birth are sent to live in the temple, where they function as servants of the Goddess and her Voice, forbidden to leave. On the other hand, the rare Mamecian Yukawi are hardly treated at all different from their normal brethren; aside from looking odd and occasionally being teased for it, they are seen as being the same. The more common variation of ginger hair is treated likewise (except when it occurs among the Mahomec, who see it as an embarrassment and an eyesore), whereas sedalen eyes are seen as extremely cool by the Yukawi, but base and beastial (and therefore not worthy) by the Mahomec.
Meat is regularly eaten on Nexalon, and enjoyed thoroughly by both the Yukawi and the Mahomec, though the Mahomec will refrain from hunting it themselves. The Yukawi will eat virtually anything that tastes good, even some riskier fares (think of the poisonous puffer fish that’s treated as a delicacy on modern-day Earth). The Mahomec, on the other, consider themselves as having more ‘distinguished’ tastes, and generally stick to a selection of foods they deem worthy of their standing, which happen to include some meats they’re fond of.
POWERS, STRENGTHS, AND WEAKNESSES:
The Yukawi do not have any known powers. They are truthfully no different from humans in terms of physical abilities, with the exception that they’re even less likely to be able to reach the top shelf. That said, they do have one particular strength—an unusual creativity and adaptability. They are capable of learning new languages and new technologies well into the later years of their lives, adapting to it and adapting it to themselves as they see fit. The downside of this racial trait is that the way they apply it results in other races often seeing them as flighty, eccentric or outright bizarre, and generally ridiculous.
The Mahomec, too, are similar to humans, however they are frequently gifted with magic. In many cases the magic is only minor; few Mahomec possess any real power with magic. The majority of Mahomec only have enough power to activate magical objects created by other Mahomec who do have significant ability with magic.
Those rare Mahomec who do have significant magical talent are comparable to human magic-users such as Zatanna or Traci 13 from main DCU canon. They are almost never trained for combat, however, as these Mahomec often become high-standing members of the church of the Goddess, and to engage in combat is seen as beneath these servants of the Goddess; instead, they use their powers to enchant objects and participate in religious rituals and ceremonies, or in elaborate magical displays for the festivities of celebrations such as Parothys or Aytivec. There are exceptions to this rule, such as magic-using Adimanat (as all Adimanat are required as a matter of pride to go through the Nexalonian military academy, or be seen as unworthy of the title). Female Mahomec, however, never go through the military academy, so a female magic-using Mahomec would never be trained for combat.
Regardless of magical ability however, each and every Mahomec possesses a single unique power, said to be a Gift from the Goddess. This power will often vary drastically from individual to individual, but examples include:
- Jorinin (Conjuring; anything that involves creating something that was not there before, such as simple constructs of energy, or summoning a physical object from one location to another, including ones own self.)
- Rekitris (Shapeshifting; the ability to change one’s body into a different form; each individual will only have one alternate form, and that form will have its own physical advantages based on its physiology, but no other powers.)
- Netalem (Elemental powers; the ability to control one of the existing basic elements, such as air or water, or more rarely, an existing but more complex element, such as metal or forms of energy. Being able to control is not the same as being able to create, however; for example, creating flames is an ability of Conjuring, or Jorinin; controlling existing flames is a power of Netalem. The two are never found in the same individual.)
- Rehona (Enhanced physical abilities; superstrength, invulnerability, speed, or one of the physical senses.)
- Sepenen (Extrasensory abilities; Mindsense, telepathy, empathy, precognition. The rarest of the powers.)
Each Mahomec blessed can only receive one power; attempts at a second blessing will produce no results.
It has only recently been discovered that the Gift of the Goddess ritual which gives the Mahomec their unique powers can also work on some, but not all, Yukawi. It is only under very special circumstances however that Yukawi are able to receive the Gift of the Goddess. Regardless, unless they receive a Gift that specifically makes them more durable or invulnerable, the Mahomec and Yukawi remain just as fragile as humans.
As a note: the Mahomec, due to their paleness, and Mamecian Yukawi, are often sensitive to spending too much time in sunlight, both in their skin and their eyes for the Mamecians. Also, individuals with the slitted “sedalen” eyes will have an advantage seeing in poor lighting, but will be sensitive to brighter lights; even with sedalen eyes, however, they do need some light to see, and circumstances of total darkness will render them just as blind as the rest of their race. Yukinian Mahomec lack the skin sensitivity to sun exposure that normal Mahomec have, but this is rarely noted seeing as they never leave the temple.
HISTORY:
Unknown thousands of years ago, the Nexalonians were all one people. It’s unknown what exactly these original Nexalonians appeared like—if they were Yukawi, Mahomec, or somewhere in between. But, like humans, they carried a meta-gene that allowed some individuals to manifest unique and special powers if that gene was activated, as well as a greatly lengthened lifespan. They learned how to activate it with the use of magic, and these empowered individuals were greatly revered. Eventually, the species split in two, as the revered Gifted Ones selectively bred themselves so that their offspring would always manifest the special powers they were known for. The offspring of those Gifted Ones became the revered Mahomec, the ruling class of Nexalon; the rest of the people became the Yukawi, who served them religiously.
The two divergent races soon evolved two become polar opposites; the open-minded and inquisitive Yukawi absorbing everything they were exposed to and always looking for new experiences, and the haughty Mahomec cloistering themselves away and determinedly maintaining their traditions and the practice of magic, only learning what new developments were necessary in order to stay up-to-date with what the Yukawi were up to. The long-lived Mahomec quickly became the equivalent of the Royal Family of Nexalon, with one among them being the ruling Adiman-Prenor, or King, of Nexalon; their long life spans theoretically allowed them to be a steady and unchanging influence over the Yukawi who served them for generations. They established the Tesmer Fora Nodactun, the Edicts of the Goddess, which were the laws they followed, establishing the titles and hierarchy that made up the seats of power. Unfortunately, the Mahomec were also petty and often ambitious. They squabbled over anything, from minor matters to the prospect of new edicts, to the right to rule. Oftentimes, this resulted in skirmishes where they attacked one another using their loyal Yukawi as pawns to act for them. Sometimes (usually when the throne was at stake), this resulted in outright warfare.
Originally, these conflicts were bloody and brutal, and resulted in countless casualties, both among the Mahomec and the Yukawi. At some point, however, three things occurred
(and not necessarily in the order listed). First, somehow the legend sprung up that the Goddess the Nexalonians worshiped was angry about how many of her chosen children, the Mahomec, were being killed, and that terrible fates would befall any who killed a Mahomec—even if it was another Mahomec. Next, a number of Yukawi rebellions occurred, as the Yukawi displayed violently just how upset they were about their poor treatment. Finally, one of the more brutal civil wars for control of the throne resulted in the destruction of much of Nexus, the capitol city, including the great library where nearly all of the important historical records were kept. This is largely the reason why no one knows exactly when or how the legend of the Mesadu, or the Wrath of the Goddess, began. These three factors combined, however, to cause the Mahomec to change how they went about their power struggles.
The Mahomec now created a new set of edicts—the Tesmer Fora Foliconter, or Edicts of War, a sort of “rules of engagement” for what they were and weren’t allowed to do during civil wars. How to avoid civilian casualties. What targets were and weren’t acceptable. What constituted a “loss”. Most importantly, these Edicts included the law that no Mahomec was allowed to kill another of their brethren, and that the capitol city was never to be involved in their conflicts—the conflicted parties weren’t even allowed to remain within the capitol city while a power struggle was in play. Instead, the feuding parties would create bases of power within “patron cities” of Yukawi, and engage in their wars from there, leaving the center of power untouched.
The Foliconter resulted in the power struggles between Mahomec taking on an almost chess-like quality, following similarly strict rules. These new conflicts became referred to as the Gabelarometae, or the Elaborate Game. The only ones who died in the Gabelarometae were the Yukawi who voluntarily fought in them; despite knowing this, Yukawi continued to volunteer, either because they genuinely wanted to serve a particular Mahomec they believed in, or because they craved glory and rank, and the Gabelarometae was the only way to achieve it.
This was the state they were eventually discovered in when Nexalon was first visited by off-worlders. It soon gained a reputation for many things—the annoying curiousity and astonishing mix-and-match culture of the Yukawi, the snobbishness and “traditional” (or “obsolete”, depending on whether or not you’re feeling kind) style of the Mahomec, and above all their ridiculous orchestrated conflicts and the way they used the Yukawi like pawns, and the Yukawi went along with it. Nexalon has never asked, nor been invited, to join the United Planets; fortunately it has never really needed the protection, as it has no natural resources outsiders want, and a number of free agents are willing to help keep Nexalon safe from invasion due to it’s nature as a free port where virtually anything can be bought or sold without question. Though it’s technology has advanced and the Yukawi have gleefully mutilated the culture and styles of other worlds and races to incorporate them into their own, overall Nexalon has remained largely unchanged over the hundreds of years that have passed since they were first visited by outsiders.
Only in recent cycles have things noticeably begun to shift. Three Celycs ago, another civil war began between the Adiman-Prenor and the Adimanat—the King and his sons, the Princes—that resulted in the dissolution of the previous laws regarding hereditary inheritance of the throne (on the basis that it never actually worked that way anyway because the kings kept getting overthrown). For the first time in recorded history, the Tesmer Fora Nodactun were altered, removing the principles of the monarchy and establishing a new government instead, led by three rulers—the Adimanat—who would reign together in a council known as the Contrilon. The intention was that, by having a council instead of a single, all-powerful monarch, the positions would not quite be so desirable, and hopefully, there would be less feuding. Naturally, scarcely a single Celyc had passed before the Adimanat went to war against one another.
It seemed for a time that one of the Adimanat, Asheron Nayet-Gabrilon (formerly the Adimanat-Prenor, eldest son of King Gabrilon and heir to the throne before the upheaval), would further change the nature of Nexalon’s government when he rallied a vast number of the Yukawi under his banner, under the promise of better treatment and greater equality between them and the Mahomec. However, it seemed even within their own followers the Nexalonians are prone to conflict, and when Asheron’s army fell apart, so, seemingly, did the idea of further changes for the benefit of the Yukawi. Asheron was imprisoned, and his brothers replaced him with their sister Dylana, who took the title of Adimani, formerly reserved for the consort of the Adiman-Prenor, the highest possible rank a female Mahomec could achieve before the government was changed.
Currently, Nexalon is enjoying the peace between wars. Those who are actually familiar with it’s politics often can be consulted for betting odds on how long this particular reprieve will last before another conflict breaks out.
HOMEWORLD:
Much like its inhabitants, the planet of Nexalon can be compared in many ways to Earth. It has seasons thanks to a slight tilt of its axis (a few degrees less than Earth’s), a wide variety of landscapes and biomes, and a lush abundance of diverse flora and fauna. It is a bit larger than Earth, and not as much of it is covered in ocean (only about sixty percent). It only has two main continents of about equal size, with one, Padorobas, being inhabited by the Yukawi and the Mahomec. The other, Ystani, is considered uninhabitable and cursed.
The cities of the Nexalonians are spread far apart and largely self-sufficient, often being fortified (especially those that have frequently played patron to one Mahomec or another during conflicts in the past) and unconnected to the others. Transportation between them is almost exclusively done by air. While small towns exist, they are rarely given any names being rudimentary functional ones (5th Mine Town, for example) and aren’t exactly popular with the Yukawi or the Mahomec, both of whom infinitely prefer living in cities. Almost every city has its own space port, with the exception of the capitol, and those cities all have thriving and lively markets and often a large number of offworlders, either there for trade or for fun.
The capitol city of Nexalon is Nexus, which stands at the edge of one of Nexalon’s vast forests (the Fatynas Forest), where it meets the Ofutoracta Mountains. This is the city where the Mahomec spend the vast majority of their lives. As a result, it is the only city to follow a specific style of architecture, something the Mahomec insist upon vehemently every time a new building is to be erected, much to the chagrin of the Yukawi who live there. It’s a beautiful city of tall, elegant buildings, often built in curved forms rather than geometric ones with straight edges and sharp angles. Almost all of the buildings are white; the oldest buildings, those built for use by the Mahomec, and those buildings which are in what pass for the “high end” parts of the city (which are basically anywhere the Mahomec like to frequent), are built from a white stone collected from the mountains nearby. The most recent ones can be more modern, with metal incorporated into the design, but only as long as the metal is as light-coloured as possible, and the rest is built with stone. Those buildings inhabited and used exclusively by Yukawi are often made with much cheaper materials, painted white to fit with the rest of the capitol.
Other cities are almost exclusively populated by Yukawi and the offworlders who use their spaceports. The eccentric style of the Yukawi is glaringly (and often garishly) obvious in these cities; no two buildings on the same block look alike, and virtually every building you see that was built after the Yukawi began going off-world was building in the style of some alien world. The streets are often crowded with people—street vendors are everywhere, especially around the spaceports, as are street performers of all kinds—and those people are often wearing the most diverse and distracting array of fashions from other worlds, often in combinations of colours and styles that would make any fashion critic cringe and scrub their eyes with bleach.
Cities which act as patron cities to important Mahomec, however, often have a central area slightly separated from the rest of the city, and built in the Mahomec style. During times of conflict between Mahomec, these city centers will often act as the headquarters of the feuding parties, and stand out starkly from the Yukawian chaos surrounding them.
ANYTHING ELSE:
Important NPCs
Nexalonian Titles, Terms, and Names
Nexalonian Aging and Measurements of Time
That is the most complex and long and complicated and just... wow. An excellent job, holy cow, way to go... Was there any doubt on this stamp, really? You've made a thoroughly thought out race here, and it's just... wooow. Amazing job, and I'm really not coherent cause wow that was a lot to get through? :'D Good job.