Kohrun

Fast Facts

Height: 5'8"-6'6" Males, 5'4"-6'1" Females

Weight: 150-280(lbs) Males, 100-200(lbs) Females

Lifespan: Adult (18 years), Aging Ceases (30 years), Reborn Again (Death)

Notable Features: Animal-Like Irises, Blue or Brass-Colored Eyes, Intricate Tattoos, Strong Physiques, Undead Traits

Player Restrictions: None

Racial Ability: Neverborn: Through each cycle of death, the Kohrún are revived again. Guided by Y'shendra, the Kohrún have bound their souls to the Dead Realm, connecting them to an apparition who reanimates them after death. The Neverborn is not merely a ghost but an 'alter' of the Kohrún, a facet of themselves. A scout, a companion and a vice, the Neverborn is an eternal companion to the people of Skaldrúna.

Population: 5,000,000

Distribution: Rúnskaldr, Radenor

History

During the Bleeding of the Planes, the sails of a small few series of ships were struck by the intense, even corruptive winds blasting out through the world from the city of Adena, in the wake of the severing of Venadak's Divine Spark and the near-destruction of the force binding reality into the mural that it is. They were sent out in ships, voyaging, meant to one day provide a home for their people - besieged by Krish - in a land that has since succumbed to them. The winds set them awry, and they washed upon the shore as a wreck; one after the other, with nearly half of all crew perishing in the incredible storm. What came next was a humbling few years: at first, cannibalism of the dead crew, then the salvaging of each ship to desperately construct log homes, and the exploration of a hostile land to find the food and supplies necessary to endure its sporadic and deadly winter. These people, mostly comprised of the "Kovskanjr" Tribe -- a warrior-like Clan of navigators -- had found the great island of Vaerad, the heart of the archipelago of Rúnskaldr.

The vast majority of these first settlers were men, with many of their wives, sisters and mothers left at home, in the southeast. They would never reunite with them. With the world Sundered and the sea becoming afflicted by corruption and rot, traversing the waters became far too dangerous. Vaerad became the new home of these mostly male settlers, effectively a place for them to hunker down and mildly enjoy what days they had left before the Bleeding's aftermath, some strange beast or the cold reality of their surrounding frost crept in.

Then, some of them began to pray. For an answer, for an escape, for a chance at survival. Cut off from the world, they had no concept of what had befallen the pantheon of the Gods, and so they prayed to Venadak as much as they did to Malek, and most of all Y'shendra, who they pleaded with to spare their lives. Y'shendra heard their prayers, though for a long time she kept silent, bound within Bel and therefore limited by the constraints of her prison. It was only when the men sacrificed one of their own, and created an altar to the 'Gods' from his corpse, that the effigy enabled her to answer their desperate pleas at last.

Undeath was the Goddess' new domain, a curse -- a companion to her power over Life, which had made her so beloved in the past. Yet for as much as she, back then, despised this perversion of who she was... she could not deny the will to see it spread, and she offered the besieged men a chance at life even in Rúnskaldr's frigid isles: unlife. The eternity of deathlessness and rebirth, the ability to try and fail and expand upon settlements left half-complete, by continually reviving one another and adding to the building blocks of colonization with each generation. Those same men became slaves to this fate, but they knew they would be. To them, survival was worth all, and ten generations of being left as a corpse within the snow was well worth it for one's legacy, and longevity, even if they could not remember the experiences of the last life they held. In exchange for eternal service to Her will, these Kovskanjr became the Kohrún, named after the archipelago they had been confined to.

What followed was far more predictable than the aberration that made their race. With time came development, conquest, and the installation of a culture of butchery, raiding, proliferation. To the Kohrún, life became a cyclical game of conquest; furthering one's goals only to resume again a youth, wide-eyed and ready. Their culture fundamentally changed to one of thrill-seeking; of hunting, slaying and warring, of murder as a thrilling game. They were, perhaps, benevolent in their own mind: they gifted their conquests by inviting them to their tribal swarm, the deathless warriors masters of merriment. The Kohrún became a blight on the Kingdom of Radenor, sieging them from the north and taking back trophies and slaves.

Lately, life for the Kohrún has been far from predictable. The Krish - setting their eyes upon Rúnskaldr - have deposited voracious monsters from the Outlands to their northern barrens, loosing them from their Harbingers to breed, spread and blight the land with their violence and hunger. The Kohrún are under siege by beasts, variant and alien, with little but mettle, bloodthirst and tribal craft.

Physiology/Biology

Kohrún are odd in that they are living humans, with some considering them a mystifying subrace, though most consider their distinctions too significant. This is not an arbitrary decision; there are notable differences between Kohrún and man, often more severe than the differences separating a Hyr'Norai and a Sil'Norai. To begin with, Kohrún are comparable to undead, though what this means in their case is different than one might expect. They do not smell, look or act as walking corpses, carrying the same level of life-like vibrancy as any member of humanity. Their souls, however, have been changed not to pass on when they die, instead remaining locked within their bodies until they consume significant miasma to revive themselves.

Their muscles are also constructed of undead tissue. The Kohrún are known to be enduring warriors: while their genetics as the descendants of tall, soldier-like Northmen certainly influences this perception, genetics act as a small contributor to their strength as a warrior-race. Their undead tissue is far more key; their disconnect from pain, unable to feel it to the same degree as most other intelligent life. Their muscles can be torn asunder, burnt or subjected to any method of torture, and they simply will not feel pain in the same way. Most of the nerves within their muscles do not transmit pain to the brain; in fact, they transmit less sensation entirely.

However, that is not to separate the Kohrún from the realities of life and death, or pain and pleasure. They simply experience things differently. The Kohrún enjoy intimate relations as much as any other race, mostly because their body was allowed to, Y'shendra never one to deprive one from life's splendors that she helped to build. They can enjoy the relief of a massage of those same muscles that do not easily transmit pain, though in a different sort of way to the stimuli other mortals may experience. In fact, they would and do feel an undeniable discomfort, anxiety and unease at the sensation of - for example - their hand being ripped in two. Kohrún describe pain as a dull, yet oddly existential sensation. Rather than a stinging pain, perhaps intermingled with a shock at what has become of their fragile form, Kohrún are instigated by pain: they are led to focus and fight back when they feel their life to be in danger, and in many ways, their limited sense of 'pain' appears to ignite their internalized hunger and ferocity, which brings us to the Neverborn.

Neverborn Abilities

Kohrún, all of them, wield what is called a 'deathless soul'. A soul that has been anchored to their form by Y'shendra, who does not allow them to truly die or pass on to the afterlife. This augmentation is naturally imbued with 'abilities', crafted by Y'shendra to serve her people throughout their many lives. Chief of all abilities is the entity known as the Neverborn. The Neverborn is a hunter: it is an internalized, quietly-kept aspect of the Kohrún, responsible for a compulsion of theirs towards savagery. It is an undead spirit within a deathless soul, one that gnaws at a Kohrún's sanity and must be bitten back and restrained. It holds an instinct towards cannibalism and rage, and compels the Kohrún to endeavor to sate those desires, a residual aspect of Y'shendra's domain of Malice.

Kohrún are able to project their consciousness outward. By closing their eyes and focusing deeply on the hunger within, they may bring out the Neverborn and peer through its eyes as it may do with them. In truth, the Neverborn is something of a pitiful being. Wielding an incorporeal form, even as it lashes out, it cannot claim victims. Instead, it can peer through the Dead Realm and gather information, observing others from afar. When a Neverborn is present, an uncomfortable chill can be felt by those it is observing, and they often begin to feel the same as one would as if being predated upon: the hunger becomes tangible, palpable within the air.

Interestingly, the Neverborn also improves upon the Kohrún's proficiency with Malformity. It can inhabit animals and allow the Kohrún to peer through them in short, temporary bursts, though these bursts are proven to be highly effective at improving their Immersion and Synchrony, and even making them naturally more acute at the ability 'Warging'. With all of this the case, the Neverborn can be a potent ally for hunting and scouting, though it is also known to be difficult to control. Neverborn frequently escape the bodies of the Kohrún while they sleep, only to inhabit animals and force them into a visceral rage, preying on other beasts or even leading them to suicide. They also frequently torment the Kohrún's minds with their own grim curiosity, leading to nightmares, and an inescapable fear-mixed-exhilaration that they often live through in frequent if short bursts.

The Neverborn is limited by time. The longer it is controlled, the more strain it can result in as the Kohrún begins to face a flood of lethargy and even pain. Even a few minutes of separation can lead to severe retribution, with the Neverborn forced to wander back to an unconscious Kohrún. The creature cannot be seen by any observers save for other Neverborn, ghosts or those who can peer into the Dead Realm, and it cannot be permanently killed, reforming within the Kohrún's soul over a period of days. It appears much like a wildly tall (nearly nine feet), bent over, lanky man-like shape of frost-like, blue ethereal limbs.

Finally, when a Kohrún is killed, their Neverborn will wander outward to hunt miasma, gathering enough that they may burn through it to revive their bonded alter. This can take hours or days depending on the location; more densely populated areas tend to have more miasma and ghosts, and so Neverborn have an easier time acquiring it.

Susceptibility

Kohrún do not wield undead organs. Like any other mortal, their heart, brain and other internal organs failing to function can and will lead to their death. They are susceptible to disease, like other mortals, and in fact are truly as vulnerable as their human peers, only with a final face of resilience that can often mislead others -- and even themselves -- as they face their last, fleeting moments. One notable resistance the Kohrún do wield is one of the cold, as their bodies are naturally adapted to the cold far better than other races, giving them a great edge in living in Rúnskaldr.

Psychology and Culture

Kohrúnic culture is often described as 'patriarchal' in nature, largely due to their origins as a mostly-male race, then-comprised of warriors and explorers. However, while much of their culture does appear to derive from typically 'male-aligned' aspirational values, this is somewhat inaccurate. Kohrún usually do not differentiate much between themselves in terms of gender and sex. Kohrún lack an emphasis on sexual reproduction within their society, directly as a result of their reanimation cycles. For this reason, the differences between sex are often regarded as mildly arbitrary, or at least of lesser import.

Rather, someone's role in society is often influenced by their talents or genes. A large, brawny person is more likely to become a soldier or a laborer, and while that may more likely be a man, there are no societal rules precluding the member of any sex from pursuing their ambitions. Kohrúnic society is built largely on merit and competition, and in this way it is a fairly objective society, if equally heartless. Failures are often seen as just that: failures, and almost as a form of eugenics, the most 'incompetent' members of Kohrúnic society are often those unlikely to be weaved back together by their peers after their death, sometimes leaving them to endlessly reanimate only to die again and again, in the case of the most brutal Clans.

The Kohrún are known to be playful, foul, energetic, aggressive and rowdy. They are also an extremely open people, as content to share their stories of recent conversations as they are to share the deep intricacies of their household dynamics, or bedroom activities, or their friend's most embarrassing secrets. Kohrún tend to know everything about everyone; they are famed for being the worst at keeping secrets, revealing them either to tease or show admiration for their peers. Due to this openness, most people in society tend to feel a strong ease at revealing sensitive information, and trusting others, particularly within their Clan.

The family unit for Kohrún is a unique topic. The Clan tends to act as a greater family, but individual units do exist within it. Kohrún tend to change partners through each cycle of life, but typically tend to choose those within their Clan, often resulting in an almost intimate bond with many of those within their wider 'family', as a result of past lives of romance and other indiscretions.

Typically, Kohrún engage in polygamy, and an extended unit may simply be a large cabal of inter-married partners. Kohrún children are fairly uncommon given their reanimation as adults, so rather than child-rearing, the purpose of these families are to build fulfillment and engage in recreation, with some families more focused on building wealth or even group cohesion. For example, colleagues or soldiers-in-arms will often marry one another to improve their bond and their ability to understand and collaborate with one another. Such unions are among the most common.

Given that the Kohrún can die and easily be restored, they tend not to fear death, and are often brazen and prone to taking extreme, even stupid risks. This has many effects on their society, chief of which is that Kohrún societies tend to be very flexible, with newly reborn members of the Clan often placed in the trade or skill most-needed, so long as they appear competent within it. An important note is that Clan is kept no matter how many times one dies, and people tend to marry within their own Clan.

Clothing, Grooming and Art

Kohrún, considering their resistance to the cold, do not need to dress as others living in Rúnskaldr might be forced to. They tend to wear fairly minimal amounts of attire, in fact, largely so they may reveal their 'ancestral tapestry', a series of tattoos that speak of their former lives. These tapestries act as a symbol of privilege and status, with tattooed icons following the Kohrún throughout their many lives and building on their 'epic'. Each time they are reborn, their old life will be codified into a single image, inked upon them and worn for generations of their own life to come.

Aside from this, they tend to wear simple leathers and furs, and as their tattoos mostly exist on their chests and arms, most of their clothes cover their legs and feet. Their style of clothing is not extensively different than that of the people of Northern Radenor (Northradica), particularly where it concerns their warriors, who often wear horned helms and chain-lined furs, with armored skirts. In terms of grooming, Kohrún tend to let themselves become rather rugged, appreciating a mane of hair and a strong beard, as well as finding body hair to be a symbol of strength. Considering their limited separation where gender is concerned, women tend to view grooming similarly to men, and are often viewed as being savage or unfeminine by members of other cultures.

Kohrúnic art is often art that speaks of history. Aside from their very artistic tattoos, they tend to inscribe history in artifacts and tablets, stones with painted or carved images that speak of lives, stories, past events, Kings, and Gods. Their lore is kept in houses of worship as tablets and tapestries, and there is essentially an entirely separate Rúnic script called 'Valkan' comprised of symbols with deep and complex, often nuanced, meanings depending on Clan history, region, island and so forth. The Kohrún are a very visual people, and enjoy codifying their history and experiences within art almost instinctively, perhaps as a way to remember their past, as death will often seem to force them to forget.

Religion and Worship

The first settlers of Rúnskaldr worshiped the Kungoðr-variant of the Path, hailing their distant ancestors from Northwestern Radenor. Desperation led them to pray to the Imprisoned Ones, many of whom they did not realize were Corrupted. They were led to Y'shendra this way, who eventually altered and redefined them. Since then, the Kohrún have in fact turned away from their matron. While Y'shendra hoped to forge them as her link to the living world, her inability to exercise her divine might -- due to being imprisoned within Bel -- has prevented her from asserting her authority, and she has lost her connection with her own race. Instead, the Kohrún worship a supposedly primordial being they refer to as Thordån, who they believe to be the first man, cast away from mortal life only to discover eternity. His faith is one of communing with the Dead Realm; of reshaping Atharen through the convergence of those two worlds. Many Kohrún view their phantasmal eternity as a gift from this God, falling into superstition and lore, losing touch with the factual origins of their race.

One thing, however, is clear: Thordån appears to be real, and scholars who have studied him appear to believe that he is a fully awakened Draedan, one who has undergone Exaltation and has become a Lesser God. He is said to live within the northern wastes of Vaerad, with many of the original Kohrún settlers who have dedicated their eternal lives in service to him.

Reproduction, Aging, and Death

Like many races on Atharen, Kohrún have a unique method of reproduction in that they reproduce their own lives after death. When a Kohrún dies, others will seek to mend that fallen member of their race as the Neverborn acquires the miasma needed, through a method known as junskannr (or renewal). Junskannr involves using Necromancy to mend and restore the bodies and organs of the wounded (with a Kohrún's appearance and physique logged extensively in Rúnskaldr's Archives), repairing them during the period of shock that often comes with a Neverborn's revival.

The process of a Neverborn's revival is a fairly simple one: after acquiring sufficient miasma to power their deed, the Neverborn will return to the body of their bonded Kohrún before reaching within and grasping their soul, shedding a part of itself to grow from within them. Over a period of days, the renewal will be complete, and the reborn Kohrún will foster their Neverborn once more, made fledgling and weakened for a long period of months due to the rigor required to reanimate them.

Because this process requires the Neverborn to significantly alter the structure of the soul and rekindle its connection with the body, Kohrún lose all Marks of Control upon death, the soul shedding them as it can no longer power their connection to it. They will additionally forget a vast number of things known to them in life, and will only begin to remember them again as the Neverborn grows, which can take as long as a few years.

Kohrún have the potential to be one of the longest-lived races. The vast majority of currently living Kohrún are adults, kept youthful by their connection to the Neverborn and indirectly, the bond they once carried with Y'shendra. Most are much older than they would appear in terms of pure lifespan, if one counts their many lives. Unfortunately, many Kohrún never manage to remember their previous life, though they are drawn to impressions and feelings left by it. A Kohrún who died may not remember their beloved spouse, but may gravitate towards him and fall in love with him yet again, for example. Those Kohrún made long ago by Y'shendra may even wield the same family units for generations of their own lives, often only able to remember by means of their extensive documentation, inscribed in books and artifacts.

Aside from these special characteristics of their race, the Kohrún reproduce normally. As a fetus develops and is born, its soul is imbued with a fragment of its father's Neverborn, which will mature as they grow into adolescence and adulthood. Kohrún who reproduce with humans will always yield a Kohrún child, and those who reproduce with others will always yield a child of their partner's race, a bloodline strangely both dominant and recessive depending on the environment.

Language

The Kohrún speak Skaldrúna, the harsh language of the archipelago of Rúnskaldr. It is somewhat similar to Old Kungoðr, Northern Radenor's ancient tongue, as it is a distant descendant from it, altered by hundreds of years of separation. For ease, one can use Norwegian as a reference language for dialogue, with one-to-one translations considered canonical and accurate for the purpose of RP.

Common names for the Kohrún include:

Males: Erik, Sven, Ulfran, Bjørn, Jorek, Hakandr

Females: Jaela, Saoirse, Gunhild, Runa, Sigrid, Veljya

All Kohrún are members of Clans, which tend to be large bodies comprising of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. A Kohrún's surname should be their Clan name. Political or military office is only possible within the Clan one falls within, and cities and towns tend to be segregated by Clan.