Tiveran

Fast Facts

Height: 5'8"-6'6" Males, 5'4"-6'2" Females

Weight: 140-250(lbs) Males, 110-180(lbs) Females

Lifespan: Adult (18 years), Elder (80 years), Deathly: Dromekh (120 years), Deathly: Adavon (500 years)

Notable Features: Bat-like Ears, Bioluminescent Red Lines, Bright Red Eyes, Chiropteran Evolution (Adavon)

Player Restrictions: None

Racial Ability: Ravanian: As diluted descendants of the Ravanians, the Tiveran carry lesser versions of their hereditary abilities and can evolve to achieve their greatest extent through time. In essence, the Tiveran can transfigure themselves into that of a chiropteran, gaining the traits of that blended species as they learn to tap into their Ravanian blood. Whether one becomes an Adavon or not, Tiverans are known for possessing exceptional perceptive acuity and quick reflexes, an inherited (though diluted) trait from their chiropteran ancestors.

Population: 67,000,000

Distribution: The Shattered Isles, The Helix Isles, Vividim, Lukhan

History

What is known of the Tiveran people, first and foremost, is their origin: their descent from the Ravanians, the wretched abortions of the Gods. It is not known from where the Ravanians came, but when they arrived on Atharen's continental main, they came forth as a blight never seen before or after in its sheer momentum. Vicious chiropterans, within whom magic was as natural as breathing, overwhelmed the land and slaughtered millions of Elves... Elves who thought themselves the greatest spellcasters alive. They were broken woefully wrong, their glory usurped by them by a species that seemed transfixed by unimaginable horror.

The Ravanians were discovered very early in the history of mortal life on Atharen, found in a cavern by an explorer named Sinorion in Glade of 773. An Ashen Elf and a young man, Sinorion spoke since his early childhood days of being called to in the night by haunting whispers, which reverberated into his dreams. After two decades of coercion, he came to believe that these voices were calling him to his destiny, which lied in a cavern beneath the mountains of what is now western Daravin. Though he did not know how his God-given destiny had come to be there or why it called on him to plunge such unimaginable depths, what Sinorion found was indeed what he sought: a grey-skinned, shriveled thing of a man, who claimed that he was one of the Living Gods who had been trapped in that cave and starved to the point of cachexia and malnourishment. Though the creature spoke in a deep, harrowing pitch, Sinorion was enthralled. He brought that creature whatever it desired; animals, blood, meat, and eventually people. Sinorion brought his little sister to serve as the entity's feed, as it promised him that once she was consumed it would return to its natural, Godly state.

It did not. The courier of that entity's dinner was his next meal, and as he and his sister laid there on the cavern floor as little more than winnowed bone marrow, the awoken Ravanian traversed through the remainder of the tunnels that had locked his kind away. Freeing each of them one by one and bringing them feed from whichever surface village he could plunder, the Ravanian—his name one day known as Kahr—brought his kin to the fold.

It is unknown to any but the Gods how they ended up there in those deep underground vaults, so tight as to not allow even oxygen through. Erudites only muse on what they are, or when they came to be on Atharen, if they came there through some arrival or if they were forged by the Gods by mistake. Despite their enigma, they are unmistakably known for their power: they are a species superior to any other living organism known on Atharen, second only to the Adac above. It was not a great moment of Elven heroism that pushed them back into obscurity, either, but the direct intervention of the Gods themselves, with the Eldashan their chariots. Even then, the attempt to cleanse Atharen of the Ravanians was not clear-cut. It did not resolve in some great battle, but rather as a subversive war in the shadows that was waged for decades, even with the direct intervention of Atharen's Creators.

And some would say it was a battle never fully won, for even as the pureblood Ravanians vanished from the surface, the progeny they sired afflicted the land for hundreds of years. The first generations of Ravanian offspring, the first Tiveran, were as brutal and subversive as their ancestors. Though they did not wield the sheer and innate magical might of their fathers and mothers, they were tormented by their foul urges and their need to dominate the minds of others. They lusted for the physical flesh of others, consuming the meat of their prey, and they sought after carnal gratification like a vice. The descendants of the Ravanians were hunted like scourge, chased to the end of the world by man and Elf alike until they vanished from continental Atharen.

The Tiverans retreated at first to Strix, a cursed land consumed by shadow. Though it drove men mad, it was suitable for them. Its ghastly, haunting black shores were comely to a people who had only ever known prejudice and despair. It was on Strix's shores that the Tiverans first forged their own identity. All of them were human, as Elves had gloriously failed to fall prey to the chiropteran allure, but they did not see themselves as humans any longer. They had been demonized by their mothers and fathers, and they did not bear their appearance. They were different: they had intrinsic physical characteristics that made them discernible, and therefore hateworthy. The Tiveran men and women who settled their first homes on the island of Strix, first frontier of the Shattered Isles, forged their new identity and let it come to be. They named themselves after the ship that guided them to Strix, the Tivereme.

Suitably, for the next three thousand years, their race would be known as the scourge of Atharen and Icheron's seas.

Over time, the Tiverans spread across the Shattered Isles, and formed into a multitude of societies. They built their first Kingdom, Strixen, only for it to collapse to a hundred years of violence called The Carnage, beginning in 2643. It became clear to the Tiverans after some time that their differing religions, ideals, and levels of purity within their bloodline would forever prevent them from forming cohesive societies. Aside from this, Tiverans came to the Shattered Isles from all across Atharen and even Icheron, bringing with them hundreds of different tribal customs and cultures. They warred by day and night, and inflicted cruelty upon each other equal and even greater than that of what they knew back on their continental home. This led fractures and divisions within their culture and language; the Kahrshite Tiverans, known for their theology and devotion to the Ravanians, for their reverence of Adavon and their dark colored clothing and land-focused dwelling in Cairn. In contrast, the Dromekh people lived on the islands surrounding Cairn, following after their naval traditions and sailing Atharen's many great seas, rivers and bays.

Their culture formed not in a vacuum, but in the open air given to them by their majestic isles, which became their eternal homes. The history of the Tiverans became one of fracturing and internal conflicts over ideological, theological and racial purity, though often the disparate city-states still formed together to unleash havoc upon their neighbors and their trade. Notably, in the year 4537, the Tiveran people decisively crushed the near-entire Griscian fleet in the Battle of Korm, proving definitively that they will never be dominated by the continental scum ever again.

Physiology/Biology

There are multiple layers of Tiveran biology, some would say, from the lowest level of distinction (from humans) to the greatest, which is determined by the degree of Ravanian ancestry present in the Tiveran. Even one percent or less of Ravanian ancestry is enough to make someone manifest at least some Tiveran traits, which means the children of a human and a Tiveran will likely still be considered a "Tiveran", rather than a half-blood. Most in the Shattered Isles range from five to ten percent of their ancestry being Ravanian, though some exhibit as high as twenty or even thirty percent of Ravanian ancestry. This is incredibly rare, and all such Tiverans are certain to occupy extremely prominent positions within their society.

Purity is very important to Tiverans. The purest are physically distinguishable, as they exhibit all of the traits of their kind. Red, glowing eyes, chiropteran ears, bioluminescent red lines on their skin, pallored skin and other such features are indicative of purity. Some are so pure they may even demonstrate the beginning of what looks like bat wings, perhaps webbing between their underarms and back, or even semi-formed wing structures of skin and muscle. Very few Tiverans after their first generation have had functional chiropteran wings, but through careful breeding, some of their royals today do. These winged Tiverans are called Tiveran Purebloods, and breeding closer and closer to this achievement is a key feature of aristocratic matchmaking.

In general, most Tiverans are not extremely distinguishable from humans. The most common difference is their red, bright eyes, and some level of serration to their ears. Another feature is their ability to perceive frequencies demonstrated by species who communicate with echolocation, though few Tiverans can produce these sounds themselves. At roughly ten percent Ravanian lineage, the red lines begin to appear, and these lines are perceived as exceptionally beautiful within Tiveran cultural standards. The malformed beginnings of wings typically do not appear until slightly below a quarter of Ravanian heritage, and in the first generation of Tiverans (those with fifty percent ancestry), their skin tended to be pallored almost grey and they bore fully functional bat wings.

Reproduction in Tiverans is identical to that of humans, with similar gestational periods and likewise binary sexual reproduction. This changes in the case of those who seek after a truly rare and often even outlawed accomplishment within their culture, the metamorphosis into an Adavon.

Adavon

Adavon are Tiverans who have awakened the latent Ravanian seed within their genome, becoming Ravanians themselves. They are distinguished from their ancestors, and in fact would be considered lowly thralls by true purebloods, but among Tiverans they are incredibly influential. Living for half a millennia or longer, these tall, lithe grey bat-like humanoids manifest many of the physical characteristics of their ancestors. The only noticeable difference between them is they have red eyes in contrast to the Ravanian black, and they are not capable of the innate magic and telepathy of their betters. It is generally not published as to how one becomes an Adavon, but it is more common among those with more concentrated Ravanian lineage. These elite Tiverans cast aside the beauty of their mortal form for the simplicity of their ascendant one, and from this exchange gain great power and longevity.

Adavon can fly at speeds of nearly two hundred kilometers an hour, possess surprisingly great strength for their lithe frames, are naturally fast and perceptive with great reflexes, are very difficult to kill, and can produce echolocation to communicate with their kind across thousands of meters. They are able to reproduce, and when a female does so, she forms around her a sticky mucoid flesh cocoon that she shares with her spawn, which will be born from bulbous clusters weaved by her over the coming weeks and months.

Technology and Civilization

Tiveran architecture is undeniably brutalist. It is smooth, often pyramidal or in the shape of ziggurats, and imposing. An entire Tiveran city may perhaps only be constructed of a few buildings, which host thousands or even tens of thousands of residents, stratified by floors, columns, corridors and rows that dedicate specific areas of one of these massive buildings to specific functions. One interior-facing row might be a police barracks, while an exterior-facing row might be occupied by residents. In the middle of many of the largest Tiveran buildings (many of which occupy millions or even tens of millions of square feet) there tend to be open atriums, which tend to host greenery, fresh water and serve as internal park areas for residents. These atrium are almost exclusively accessible by aristocrats in most Tiveran cities, with the peasantry needing to walk long stretches to find water reservoirs or fruiting greens.

Many Tiverans also live in subterranean infrastructure, as like their ancestors they have been known to dwell without issue in underground or low-light environments. This is typically a fate reserved for the poorest Tiverans, but in contrast, it is also in these low-light environments that nearly all of the living Adavon are found.

In general, despite impressive architectural feats, Tiveran society is not particularly stand-out in their overall level of technological acquisition. Most Tiveran cities have not industrialized, and they are often considered to be a hundred years behind Lorien and Grisic in this way. What protects the fragmented Tiveran societies safe from colonial intrusions is their impeccable naval technology. While few Tiveran societies have anything as organized enough to be called a fleet, most of their hundreds of city-states have at least one Vrechten, a black geometrical (typically pyramid shaped) vessel with exceptional impact on a nautical playing field.

Vrechten are nearly impervious to damage, built of an exterior shell of a mineral called Ornadium, which is only found in the Shattered Isles. Ornadium has an interesting composition: despite being far denser than other shipmaking materials, it still floats on water due to its electrical displacement of the surrounding hydrogen molecules. Ornadium has, in the past, facilitated the construction of entire floating cities, and used on the battlefield it allows for the deployment of mobile fortresses. There are some Ornadium structures that are shaped as rectangular arms, that can be positioned to fit together into wall-like shapes. Similarly, large Ornadium vessels can act as a harbor for entire fleets, and can host dense and ornate weaponry that can cleave ships from afar. The imperviousness of the material to damage is its other greatest asset, as it takes a great deal of trauma to dismantle these onyx-colored structures.

Despite this, there is no simplistic picture to paint of how Tiveran society or technology functions. Many outlying Tiverans, those not organized into wealthy privateering or trading states, live in conditions similar to Atharen's more medieval societies. Many are far more likely to expire to scurvy or dysentery than in a naval conflict. Considering the many divisions of Tiveran life, there are few consistencies to be drawn on.

Culture and Psychology

It is often said on the continent that Tiverans are simply not like others. That there is an inherent spark within them that precludes them from permanent civility, that they are born to enjoy the taste of violence and the macabre. Given they are able to function and form cohesive societies——mostly, at least——this assumption may be overstated, but it is not entirely wrong. There is certainly some inherent draw to foul behaviors that exists within Tiverans, but it is not just violence. Tiverans are naturally more likely to act in a deceptive manner. They are more likely to cheat, manipulate, and obscure the truth. They act with less honor, and do not generally value things like honor as much as other cultures, even Tiverans raised in environments outside of the Shattered Isles.

Early psychologists, like in Grisic, have essentially labeled considerable swathes of the Tiveran race as possessing psychopathy, or a general lack of empathy. This is perhaps overstating it, but they lie on a gradient somewhere between the level of empathy seen in Elves, humans, and genuinely cruel and destructive races like the Krish. Tiverans are not all foul or evil, and acts of heroism and selflessness can often be seen among their kind, and are even revered sometimes in their stories. The unfortunate truth, however, is that Tiveran society is underpinned by a natural sort of malevolence, a dog-eat-dog mentality that prevents unity and therefore the level of development actualized by increasingly more nations around the world. Tiverans are known for being very sharp-witted and smart as a species, as well as being well-read and intellectually curious, but their suspicion of one another tends to prevent them from building great things or innovating new technologies.

Within most Tiveran societies, the aristocratic elite do not practice noblesse oblige in the slightest, and do not even claim to. Tiveran elites experience a constant and vicious cycle of ascension and an often very violent fall from grace, seeking to hold onto power through networks of blackmail and information. Aside from being great sailors and architects, Tiverans are known for their skill as spies, as they tend to be exceptionally good at manipulating others, lying without remorse and without leaving contradictions in their stories, and ultimately protecting themselves and their assets at any cost. This extends deeper into their culture; they'll leave their wealth beneath the floorboards for when the taxman comes, they'll coerce their disabled sibling out of their slice of the inheritance; marriages often don't last because mistrust is an almost universal thing.

So, what is left in a society of highly attractive, highly intelligent deceivers? Pleasure. Tiverans greatly value hedonism and the enjoyment of base things. Some draw a parallel between them and the Entente of Daravin: the Entente act much like the Tiverans do in public, but only in private. They want to live like the Tiverans do; freely, without concealment of their true nature. The people of the Shattered Isles truly believe themselves to be inherently wicked in some way. Cynicism about their own kind is so universal that it is perhaps self-fulfilling, which in its own way corrupts understanding about who they are fundamentally.

Most are simply human, with a mere fraction of their heritage tied up in the dark ancestors they still cling to, at best. Mistrust among them, towards the world and their own kind, has simply festered for too long. And, because of that, their society is deeply psychosocially unwell.

Clothing, Grooming and Art

Tiveran fashion ranges, again depending on whether one is from Cairn or one of the surrounding (Dromekh-dominated) islands. Fashion on Cairn tends to be colored a few different shades: red, black or gold, often with a simple and sleek appearance, satin or velvet. It is often very revealing, too, so long as one has the appearance or body type to justify it, and regardless of gender. Tiverans are uniquely aesthetically obsessed, and tend to have very pleasing body types: women are often slender and adorned with jewelry, tending to accentuate the most eye-catching parts of themselves, while men tend to be athletic. In Cairn, both generally prefer to be smooth, rather than the base animals that are the outer islanders.

The Dromekh tend to dress in more earthly or nautical colors, like white, blue, brown, beige, and so on. They dress like the many coastal populations of the world, with linen lace tops and long coats, with dark-colored, heavy boots. Dromekh are typically seen as more masculine and raw in both appearance and tone, while Kahrshite are often drawn towards fashion more typically seen as femininely elegant. Both have obvious gender differences in grooming and attire, but the willingness of a Kahrshite man to shave his armpits (for example) is a fairly unique thing to them.

In general, Kahrshite fashion reflects the sleek, polished and brutalist world they live in, while Dromekh fashion is fitting of the sea. This can even be seen in their respective skin tones: while their genetics are roughly the same population-wise, Dromekh are often olive-toned, tan or darker skinned, while Kahrshite tend to be fair skinned or even totally pale. Dromekh sail the open seas, while Kahrshite live in great geometrical prisons they often avoid leaving. It is a mark of being a lower classman to be sun-touched in Cairn, while on the islands it is a mark of freedom and being one with the land.

Religion and Worship

Religion is one of the factors that separates the Tiverans most from the outside world. Their main trading partners, the Griscians, find their religious dogma appalling and have consistently wielded it as a tool to avoid any commitments or alliances to the small states they do dealings with. Simultaneously, the other nations they occasionally communicate with find their refusal of Ulen troubling, or their heresy against the Living Gods damning. Tiverans worship a truly novel faith: they do not worship the Living Gods, the Omen, the Eldashan, or any of the conventional powers that be; they don't worship Dragons or the more foundational powers that inhabit Atharen's world. Instead, they worship their ancestors: the Ravanians. And not just any.

There are a few specific Ancestor Gods worshiped by Tiverans in a more uniform respect, eight in number. These Gods are:

• Maeven, Lady of Murder.
• Aleran, Lord of Secrets.
• Camora, Lady of Night.
• Talcor, Lord of Fear.
• Zana, Lady of Justice.
• Thianar, Lord of Loss.
• Kharem, Lady of Sorrow.
• Vehk, Lord of Dawn.

It is said that all of these eight Ravanians each achieved apotheosis, and left behind their imperfect forms. No longer shriveled and ghoul-like chiropterans, they closer embody the ideals personified by mortals, likely in their attempt to assimilate as many of the characteristics they can of the Adac they envy. It is known, even among the Tiverans, that their Gods are perhaps false Gods. They do not maintain the domains that keep Atharen's reality stable; they do not maintain the boundaries of the plane, or control armies of spirits that control balance and order. In many ways, they are rungs below the power and influence of the Adac Creators, but their direct involvement with their followers and the power they bestow upon them make them worthwhile Lords to follow after.

The source of their power is seemingly similar to that of the Living Gods. Somehow, they have found ways to divert the souls of their followers from the Well of Souls, preventing their adherents' souls from being siphoned away and instead reaping these believers themselves. This has granted them power well above that of any other entities on Atharen. Ravanians are innately powerful, but the Eight are well above their natural caliber. They sit somewhere in-between the Living Gods and Eldashan in might, and have real impact on the world, particularly in the Shattered Isles.

The Gods of the Tiveran pantheon are not universally evil or loathsome. Many at least appear benevolent in their domains, and some express surprisingly benign versions of their domains. While Loss can be expressed grimly, most associate Thianar with coming to terms with grief and remembering their loved ones. Camora is associated with a dark palette, but is prayed to often by those who simply wish to be guided through their sorrows and towards the mending of their woes and their mind. As many invoke Talcor to bring about fear as to overcome it. These themes exist for nearly all of them, with the notable exception of Maeven, who is exclusively associated with bloodshed and violence, often in its most extreme and debauched forms.

Each God has their own cult, or so they are called on Atharen, as all are considered heretical by the world's majority. In the Shattered Isles there are monasteries, priories and temples devoted to these Gods littered through the islands, but in the continent all are underground and covert. The most active occult factions on the continent are those of Kharem, Maeven, Thianar, and Vehk.

Notably, some Tiveran Gods are in direct conflict with one another, such as Kharem and Vehk. The pantheon was once eleven, but three of the original Gods were killed by others, including the original deity of the pantheon: Kahr.

Language

The Tiverans speak two different languages, primarily, depending upon whether they were born on the island of Cairn or one of the surrounding orbital islands (like Korm, Tarnir, or Strix). Cairn's primary language is Kahrshite, while the orbital islands tend to speak Dromekh, the nautical language of the Tiverans. Because of Dromekh's worldly influences, its native speakers tend to pick up on continental languages more easily, and are very often proficient in Common, a necessary skill if docking in one of Atharen's harbors.