Velsign

Fast Facts

Population: 500,000

Lifespan: 18 (Adult), 60 (Elderly), 80 (Deathly).

Height: 6’10” - 8’3” Females // 6’4”-7’9” Males

Weight: 300-500 (lbs) Females // 230-400 (lbs) Males

Player Restrictions: Can only select up to three corruptions as their racial ability.

Racial Ability:

High altitude: The Velsign are generally slightly more resistant to cold weather and function normally in conditions with lower oxygen density.

Flight: Despite their bulky bodies, they’re able to fly with relative ease due to their kindred heritage.

(Optional) Kindred Corruption: See Physiology/Biology

Origins

History

The Velsign came long after humanity, not by the hands of gods, but instead by the elemental lord of frost, Tundraec. In the beginning, they were grotesque monsters, mixtures between spirit and man that took unsettling, broken visages much like the kindred of today, but have long since lost their ghastly looks and their overlord in tandem.

In the beginning, Duke Fredrick Ravenlow bound the Kindred to his bloodline in the process of freeing them from their eternal prison. All of them had suffered greatly in their miserable wallowing and numerous attempted suicides, but the far majority of them could still serve a purpose in Von Rabe’s schemes. Those that were too broken were culled and recycled.

With the remnants of their essences, Tundraec took the bodies of live humans and began to experiment. He infused the corpses with the essence of the fallen Kindred, and produced numerous miserable failures in which the mortal flesh was corroded and destroyed beyond salvage. Over time, the volatile ether that made up the kindred became watered down with the blood of mortals, and finally became stable enough for a successful splice.

The very first Velsign were looked upon with horror. They were giant, inhuman abominations of unnatural black pus and rancid dripping mucus that trailed mange-ridden feathers in their wake. They were the unsightly soldiers of the elemental lord, and carried with them immortal strength, speed, and durability with the power to fly and cross vast distances with much the same speed as their progenitors, the kindred. For that reason, they were swiftly placed in the ranks of the Argent Knighthood as the bulwark of their military.

This in turn allowed the white vulture to sink his claws into the second strongest force in the nation, and hold sway over the decisions made there. But the humans were not trusting of the abominations that sat at the tables of their war rooms. In addition, the Velsign weren’t made long for Atharen, as they quickly deteriorated and perished to the volatile energies of their kindred make-up. Unfortunately, Von Rabe had a solution. Though the early velsign were entirely female and could not reproduce with one another, the humanity in the foundation of their beings was still compatible with humans.

Hundreds of nameless were taken as cattle and were forced into fatherhood of the next generation of his vile monstrosities. Their incubation was quick, and the result was unlike what the white vulture had expected. The offspring appeared more human-like, and the corrosive damage of their kindred make-up was less extensive. They still lacked the ability to reproduce with one another, but more generations of Velsign followed and with every cycle, their kindred roots were watered down. Von Rabe’s control over them waned, and before long, the first male Velsign was born. The male Velsign was a mistake born from the growing diversity of the Velsign gene pool. It was not according to Von Rabe’s design; it was smaller and weaker than the deliberately constructed Velsign, but it wasn’t a detriment to the Velsign, and Tundraec permitted its continued existence as well as the continued population of more males, which sprouted up as time went on.

At the apex of the fourth age, just moments after the sundering of the planes, the Velsign awoke. As the unbridled corruption of the cosmos erupted in the elemental plane of frost, Tundraecs attention was stolen just long enough to allow the Velsign to break free of his hold. Many of them woke in the ranks of the knighthood, confused, without memory or direction, and broke out into panic. Many were captured and detained, but just as many took to the skies and fled the frozen north to the temperate south. When Tundraec returned days later, he re-assumed his hold on the Velsign in range, which were largely held captive in the Knighthood. Such an escape has not happened since, but Velsign occasionally slip away from the white vulture’s hold.

Those that escaped the talons of VOn Rabe were free, but they were not united. They were scattered all about Atharen for some time. Individuals eventually came together to form micro-communities in whatever cities they took residence in. At large, they were treated with suspicion. The governing bodies of the regions they fled to, more often than not, watched the new race with caution. Some buckled to fear and saw to it that many of the early surviving Velsign were culled. Up until then, the Velsign were known exclusively as Lorien’s most elite soldiers, and the purpose of their presence in neighboring regions was largely perceived to be for subterfuge and spycraft. A lot of them were captured and treated poorly through interrogations and the like, though a lot were released back into the wild after their stories were delivered.

In Daravin, however, the Velsign were met with extreme suspicion, as the Daravinic people were sworn enemies of Lorien. For that, the scattered Velsign were hunted down and captured. Though they pleaded innocence, and that they were free of the Elemental Lord’s influence, The Omen paid little heed. The Velsign were tested in a trial by fire, in which they were bestowed marks of control. The meaning of this trial was to separate those that could be used by Ulen from those that were too weak. Those that survived were later enslaved, and their offspring were raised as devout followers of The Omen. Every generation since has served the faith with nigh unbreakable loyalty.

Those that survived the purging and the enslavement of their kind fled to the west, where they converged and formed a small, primitive society for the preservation of their species. Many others were left scattered across Mornoth and even as far as Tyrclaid, but to no major impact. Those that integrated well in their regions became minorities over time, barely even worthy of recognizing as a percentage of the demographics of the native population. Since then, the Velsign have converged in greater groups in the wilderness of North Western Atharen, living high in the mountains where mortal races struggle to reach/survive due to the low oxygen and freezing atmosphere. They remain largely isolated from the world, but with more than half of their population captive and enslaved in Lorien and Daravin both, this is speculated to change.

Biology

Physiology

Towering winged humanoids of dense muscle and strong bones, the Velsign are easy to recognize whenever they descend from their mountain home. Though watered down, their Kindred heritage still shows strong in their physiology and several of their features. The degree of Kindred Influence on their appearance is almost entirely dictated by how much the individual’s lineage has been crossbred with humans, but can come down to a roll of the dice. Siblings might differ wildly from one another despite coming from the same two parents, for example.

While most of the race is made up of individuals between six and eight feet tall with regular human limbs, naturally-feathered wings, common eye colors, and ordinary human complexions, there are those that grow to be taller with more anomalies in adulthood due to a higher concentration of Etheric Corruption in their genetics.

A notable trend has been found among the Velsign that more closely resemble the Kindred, and that’s that they don’t tend to live as long as the more human-like Velsign. Autopsies of premature velsign deaths have revealed a more rapid deterioration of human tissue in Velsign bodies where more Kindred traits are prominent. Some have suggested that it’s simply because the chaotic ether that composes the Kindred doesn’t synergize well with mortal flesh, and eats away at it over time. The Velsign weren’t designed to last, only to fulfill a purpose.

Players may elect to start with up to three of the below Kindred corruptions, but in doing so, they reduce their lifespan by fifteen years for each trait selected. This accompanies the listed drawbacks for each trait.

Eyes: The Velsign is able to see with greater clarity for longer distances in daylight, but their vision suffers in the dark when aided by any other source of light, such as fire and electricity. In addition, the Velsign can see nearby heat sources for up to a minute a day. Corrupted Eyes appear violet or gold in hue with dark sclera.

Wings: Fortified with chaotic ether, the Velsign’s wings are harder than other members of their species and allow for improved speed in flight. While they can comfortably maintain a constant flight speed 20% faster than a normal Velsign, they can rush at 150% the normal Velsign’s speed in short bursts. In travel, reduce flight time between cities by 30%. This comes at the cost of agility in the air as well as ground mobility, as the wings are bulkier and heavier in proportion to their bodies.

Stature: Females can gain up to a foot in height while Males can gain up to ten inches. This additional height is accompanied with stronger, denser bones. While this makes the Velsign more sturdy and durable in combat, it doesn’t necessarily make them stronger. All the additional weight makes it difficult to fly, wear heavy armors, wield large weapons and so on and so forth, but possible with extensive training in strength.

Blood: Due to etherically corrupted blood, the Velsign has a far greater resistance to cold and ice. It’s rare for a Velsign with this sort of Kindred Influence to succumb to the cold, as they’re more likely to enter a dormant stasis (from which they can be revived) than perish. Unfortunately, Velsign with corrupted blood exhaust quicker and can develop heat-based illnesses and injuries with greater ease, such as heat stroke, sunburn etc. The blood appears dark with a violet hue, and releases a subtle deep-blue vapor when exposed to the open air.

Feet: In place of feet, the Velsign has vulture-like talons that stretch up to their knees with avian-like legs. The talons are exceptionally sharp and make for lethal weapons in combat, but make it impossible to wear any real form of footwear, making it difficult to traverse certain terrains or maintain a good grip on certain floorings like marble and ice.

Skin: Velsign with corrupted skin are generally tougher and more resistant to cutting, scrapes, and burns than their normal Velsign brethren, with the addition of a slightly improved healing factor for tears and blemishes. However, because of their increased toughness, they also suffer a chronic insensitivity to pain, which can leave them unaware of otherwise fatal wounds or the prick of a poison-coated needle. Velsign with this corruption typically show an ashen-grey complexion.

Ether: Because the Velsign’s ether is already corrupted, they can stave off the effects of threshold sickness for longer. Instead of inducing immediately, the strain and sickness sets in hours after the fact. While this helps the Velsign stay composed in battle of magic where their enemies falter to strain, it can also serve as a weakness. The Velsign will not know they’re approaching overstepping, and when they do overstep, they suffer its effects for longer. This corruption manifests in the form of a subtle violet glow to the Velsign’s veins.

Age and Reproduction

For the far majority of Velsign history, they were unable to copulate with one another due to the fact that the species was entirely female and the fact that their bodies were largely corrupted with volatile ether. The energies that made them wore down at their biological half, and needed to be replaced every generation to continue their species. They weren’t designed to last by their creator, more to act as beacons of strength, with which they were able to assert themselves in the facets of Lorien’s society.

Over time, the corruptive kindred energies were watered down and distributed over a much larger scale, and they’ve since gained the ability to copulate with one another as a result of the dilution of Kindred corruption and the introduction of the male mutation. Even though the Velsign are fully capable of maintaining their own population, they seldom find members of their own race attractive due to generations of crossbreeding. They were taught on an instinctual level that copulation with their own kind yielded no offspring, and only loosely associate with their own kind as a result. On the other hand, they were taught that copulation with members of other races yielded more stable, lasting offspring that could outlast them and have a higher chance of passing on their genes as a result.

If a Velsign copulates with an ordinary mortal race, the embryo is always infected with corruptive Kindred ether, and they will always be converted into a Velsign regardless of whether the mortal parent is the mother or the father. It's not common for Velsign to remain with their partners for the duration of the child bearers maternity, and even less common for them to remain in contact for the child's raising. Male Velsign typically leave the female mortal to raise their young, whereas female Velsign are more likely to abandon the mortal male to raise the child themselves.

In cases where two Velsign copulate, the stronger of the two, usually the female, is the one to assume the responsibility of raising the offspring. Such a child isn't usually destined to live long and might even perish before the Velsign that raised it, as such spawn tends to be more corrupted and unstable than the offspring of Velsign that copulate with humans.

Kindred Corruption has a big part to play in the development of a Velsign child. A child born with higher Kindred influence in their genetics battles sickness and infection throughout their early years, as their bodies learn to cope with the corruptive and chaotic ether that’s ever-part of them. Not all children that are born severely tainted with Kindred Influence survive to adulthood, and those that do often die young.

At sixteen years of age, the Velsign is normally evicted from the roost and is expected to fend for themselves, regardless of how corrupted or sick they might be. Even so, they’re only really considered to be fully matured as Velsign at the age of eighteen. The two year gap between eviction and adulthood is meant to teach the child to abandon its dependence on its parents, and teaches them to provide for themselves or face starvation. Those that cannot abandon the ties of childhood are seen with pity, but are never helped. Surprisingly, Velsign aren’t adverse to allowing their offspring to die should they fail to establish independence.

Some families even go as far as to throw their young from the summits to teach them to fly on their sixteenth birthdays. Though it’s a common practice, not all Velsign agree with it. Young Velsign that perish are briefly mourned but quickly forgotten. It’s almost uncanny how many adult Velsign can speak of their deceased brothers and sisters with a straight, almost casual tone.

Toward the end of the Velsign’s life, the volatile energies within them have steadily eaten away and decayed their forms. Features are sunken, skin is dry and shriveled, bones are brittle and frail, hair and feathers are scarce, and their veins are more pronounced with a purplish hue. They appear, for lack of a better word, withered. It’s not uncommon to describe them as leeched, and as though something has drank the vitality from their bodies. It’s easy to tell when a Velsign is near the end of their lifespan due to this defining trait.

When a Velsign finally succumbs to the destructive ether that ties their form together, they break away in a cloud of ash and mangey feathers, swept away by the wind. All that remains of Velsign that live their fullest lifespan are their bones and belongings.

Psychology

Most Velsign are quiet and reserved people. They prefer to keep to themselves and keep interactions with others to a minimum. This is more so a learned behavior than a part of their psychology, but it should be noted all the same.

More often than not, Velsign are known to hold grudges and become bitter over past spats and fights. If they discover a merchant has cheated them, they might hold on to that bitterness for years after the fact. Some would even go as far as to hold the merchant’s entire race in prejudice for something just as minor.

In contrast to this vindictive nature, they’re also very curious. Though they might not be well versed in crafting and architecture, they do enjoy learning about how things are made and crafted. Such stories often steal the Velsign’s attention for hours on end. Likewise, they’re known to pick apart devices and contraptions just to see how they work. It’s for this reason that more Velsign pick up Artificing as a career, as they find all the moving parts and scripting to be interesting.

On a deeper level, the velsign are aggressive to almost everyone they encounter. This general state of discontent is often linked to the fact that the majority of their kind is enslaved by the likes of Tundraec and the Daravinic faith. However, that's not to say that they’re incapable of forming friendships, only that they’re few and far between. For this reason, Velsign are usually more popular in small groups of close friends rather than adoring masses.

Despite knowing their difficulty in playing nice with members outside their own race, however, Velsign hardly ever get along well with their own kind. Thus, banding together to achieve a common goal is difficult, and no such occurrence has been seen since their freedom from Von Rabe. A lot of this is contributed to their early ancestors being made to copulate with humans instead of their own kind for the sake of their species’ survival. It is because they lacked the need for a pack in the early days of their development that they’re more often seen alone, unlike humans, who developed the concept of family for the sake of survival early on in their history.

This independence is often taken as a sense of self-importance and an inflated ego. Though a Velsign is likely to laugh at such suggestions, they’re very much true. Cold and aloof, Velsign often look down on others both literally and mentally.

Society

Culture

As mentioned in the Psychology section, the Velsign never evolved to rely on pack-type societies. The most interconnected society they have is a small tribe in the mountains of North-Western Atharen, isolated from the world. Even then, cohabitation is nonexistent. Even on the rare occasion where Velsign copulate with members of their own race, they quickly go their separate ways and the mother of the child is more often than not designated to hold responsibility for its upbringing.

Coupled with their distinct dislike for others outside of their race, the Velsign are a solitary people. They fend for themselves and provide for their own with very little dependence on relationships. Despite this, it’s not uncommon for Velsign to devote themselves to a cause they believe in. The praise offered for their usefulness appeals to their innate inflated egos. Even so, many resist such a call, and they seldom come together for the cause of one of their own kind.

This isolation, even from members of the same race, builds an independent, if not aloof, Velsign. They’re often fully capable of supporting themselves and others, but in the case of the latter, they choose not to. Velsign value their privacy and space; letting others invade their roosts is almost unheard of. As such, receiving one such invitation from a Velsign is usually seen as the ultimate form of respect, as tolerating one’s presence amidst their possessions is considered exceptionally friendly for a Velsign.

In Lorien, the Velsign population is almost exclusively limited to the ranks of the Argent Knighthood and Celebrant alike, and they typically make for the most elite and deadly soldiers in the field of battle. Their culture is synonymous with the rest of the country, and they behave no different to the humans they’re surrounded by.

Daravinic Velsign are a little different from both the free kind and Lorien’s natural born, in that they live exclusively for The Omen. They are the long arm of the faith and punish blasphemers and foreigners that don’t convert to their ways under the will of the church. It’s rare for the Velsign of Daravin to show any part of their personal life to others, but it’s known that they’re not mindless drones like the population in Lorien and act as individuals.

Clothing & Grooming

Most male Velsign typically only cover their lower halves while females cover their lower halves and wrap their chests in tandem. Traditional shirts, jackets and the like are often considered too fiddly to fit, even when space is provided for their wings. The task of squeezing their wings into the awkward space cut from cloth is often dismissed as too much effort and promptly forgotten. All Velsign are naturally resistant to cold weather, and thus, don’t see the need for such an annoying garment.

They might make exceptions to this rule for the sake of wearing heavy armor, as breastplates and chainmail provide more benefits than mere cloth and leather. Armor is still seen as a pain and is outright ignored if the piece isn’t designed specifically for the individual Velsign, but they’ll still manage the hassle for the sake of increased protection in battle. Despite their distaste for upper clothing, Velsign might elect to wrap their arms and waists with sashes and standalone sleeves for style or additional warmth in conditions they consider to be too cold. Loose-fitting garments are welcomed, whether they provide protection from the elements or not.

A trending style among Velsign is to wear long robes starting at the hips in addition to their breeches, as they claim it helps catch the wind in flight and provides additional warmth from windchill. Whether this is true or not is unclear, but it’s undeniable that Velsign from all over Atharen shares a similar opinion on the matter.

Messy hair and feathers are frowned upon among Velsign. If a Velsign is bold enough to show their face with unkempt hair or wings they can expect to receive a stern reprimand or a call out. Such behavior is seen with disgust and is, in their opinion, justly scolded. The same is true for other mortal races, but the Velsign are more likely to hold their tongues when confronted with messy-haired humans than they are their own kind.

Language

Because the Velsign originated in Lorien, they have largely spoken common for the duration of their separation from Tundraec’s influence. However, in regions where other languages are spoken, the Velsign have long since comfortably adapted to speak fluently in the native tongue. Altogether, Velsign are too solitary and disconnected from their own kind to come together and form a language. Furthermore, there is no need, as they all awoke from captivity with the ability to communicate with the most part of the world as well as each other.

Religion & Worship

Born into a godless world, the Velsign, at large, disregard the gods of light. Even though the Sundering of The Plains was the event that granted a lot of them their freedom, they speak very little of the gods, choosing instead not to believe in them for their lack of presence in the world. Part of this is in scorn for the fact that they were left to the clutches of Tundraec for the majority of their history. If there were gods, why didn’t they free them sooner? The majority of Velsign feel abandoned whenever they review the stories of their origin and come to learn of their past as puppets for the elemental lord.

The Omen is treated with suspicion due to the attitude of Daravin’s Velsign, who treat it with a loyalty that they find uncanny and unreasonable. What’s more is that The Omen is the dominant faith in Lorien, too. Though it’s a different sect to Daravin, they associate most things in their homeland, bar artificing and hollows, with suspicion and loathing.

Another contributing factor to the Velsign’s lack of religion is their culture of independence. They don’t feel the need to lean on a god or a faith and instead rely solely on their own hands and minds to achieve results. This attitude largely leads the Velsign to feel ostracized among the devoted. As such, they don’t fit into most societies where religion is prominent.

In the case of Daravin’s Velsign, they’ve been brainwashed for generations into placing their faith in the Returning King, that it’s only with their hard work that Ulen will return to the world and cleanse it of the wicked. They believe it is their place in the new world to be allowed to roam the coming paradise, and zealously pursue non-believers en mass in crusades consisting of hundreds of mage Velsign. Their tenacity is legendary, matched only by their cruelty and destruction.

Expression

Technology

As mentioned in the psychology section, Velsign love to learn more about the inner workings of devices and tools. Such curiosity stems from the early kindred, who experimented and pried at the belongings of early Lorien settlers to satisfy idle wonderings. This has since grown into a fascination for how different parts work together to achieve unexpected results and products. This manifests as an innate curiosity for different crafts, like how a blacksmith might fold their steel for improved strength, or how a watch’s moving parts click into place and achieve the ability to tell the time of day.

Though most Velsign possess this curiosity, very few of them hold a passion for crafting. It’s simply too much effort to bother with, and best left to other races. They simply gain satisfaction from understanding and knowing, and bother themselves no further with the subject once they’ve learned what they like to know. Even so, those who possess both the curiosity for crafts and the willpower to take up the craft, more often than not, become artisans leagues above their peers in quality. They possess a true, unquestionable passion for whatever they fixate on and seek to learn the logistics and arts for every facet of the craft to create the very best product possible.

It’s certainly uncommon, as maybe one in a thousand Velsign align this way, but it’s undeniable that Velsign crafters are difficult to beat.

As far as technology goes, the Velsign rely mostly on artificing and the economy of whatever region they reside in. They work well with golems due to their past in the Argent Knighthood, and have tried to replicate hollow-like automatons for their hard labor tasks like cutting stone, mining mountain metals, and smithing, but struggle to achieve results even remotely close to a hollow due to their lack of Lorianium. The extent of their technological development seems to orient around increasing their quality of life in whatever region they reside.

Some take interest in innovating weapons, but such is even less common. Being as large and strong as most Velsign are, it’s rare that they consider the need for more than a heavy sword or artillery.

Arts & Crafts

Velsign are usually not crafters. Despite their thirst for knowledge, they don’t often show the desire to apply themselves to any creative arts or crafts. Those that do are normally exceptional in their field, as though the stars have aligned, allowing them to possess several different positive traits that enable the species to innovate and build for lasting quality.

There is an unspoken art among their people, however, and that is the Velsign’s tendency to hoard baubles and oddities. It’s not uncommon to find their abodes and roosts a complete mess with scattered devices and curiosities that they’ve simply picked up once upon a time, taken home, and left to be admired on some dusty shelf for years. This partially stems from their natural curiosity, but also comes from the Velsign’s natural ego.

Those questioned on their hoarding tendencies are often found to be proud of their collections and eagerly flaunt their findings over the years as though they’ve achieved something worth congratulating.

This behavior doesn’t seem to be learned, as Velsign from all over the world collect and hoard these intellectual stimulants, regardless of their nature. Watches, weapons, rare farthings, various prints of text, woven silks, it’s possible to find almost anything in the roost of a well-traveled velsign, as they’re likely to fixate on the most random and unlikely things.