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Seraphs – Sermali’s Judges

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Physical:
Seraphs share many traits as Neutrals externally, to the point that without their massive, glowing wings, they could easy pass as lith, chiseled versions of their counterparts. Internally however, Seraphs are weaker than Neutrals.

With massive, Essence-filled wings to bring them aloft, Seraphs are physically weak compared to all the other races. Considered to be the least physically capable, Seraphs have had to find other ways in order to compensate for their poor physical prowess.

Their skin colours range from dark brown all the way to pale whites, their hair colours range from black to brown to blonde, with a few natural reds, though Seraphs are known to influence their hair colour via essence tinting – often times to match their wing colour.

Society:
Seraph cities are different in many ways than other races. Their cities are often built upon floating platforms with spire-like towers, all made of reflective surfaces.

Seraph communities are run by democratic votes. One individual, one vote. These votes are tallied up and distributed by sections of population. Rather than simply have the most popular candidate win by popular vote, there is a distributed value per section, based on influence, population and other important matters that Seraphs keep to themselves.

For the day to day, there is an individual considered to be the mayor or elected individual in charge of starting the decision making process on important tasks – from installing guard rails so that non-Seraphs don’t fall from their floating cities to expanding the floating community by contracting out services to bring another part of land afloat.

The court system is meticulous and the laws of Seraph towns are absolute. There is a law for almost any act that does not fall within the purview of acceptable behavior. Punishment if one of these laws is broken is fair and those that live in these cities, towns or villages within the clouds live a life of general ease, luxury and rarely have to worry about life below them.

The streets are clean, the buildings are tidy and no one does anything out of line. Everything moves like clockwork and communications are always brief and to the point, but behind the scenes, other machinations are afoot.

Among the Seraphs, a game is always being played. Words are being twisted and political intrigue and subterfuge are always at hand, though the smiles from the Seraphs would indicate that they were unaware of such dastardly plots.

Most Seraphs know that other Seraphs are also playing these games of chess with their peers and actively assist each other or block each others moves, depending on whether it would be advantageous for the Seraph at the time.

Outside of the towns, Seraphs play their games, but on a smaller scale, often times moving pieces that are off the board into place for effects far into the future – such is the way of Sermali’s endless game.

Lore:
Sermali was not the first to enter Alteria, nor was she the last. She came across the barren plane of Alteria that she had landed upon and pondered. Her four wings rested upon the soil as she thought about what she could do with this blank creation.

With the emptiness, Sermali began a game to find out what she should do. She decided that she would release some of her essence and see what would naturally occur upon this barren rock.

At first, the grass and the trees blossomed from her coloured plumage, sweeping across the land. Rivers flowed with crystal clear water and fish jumped from the streams as they formed. Small animals spewed forth from the ground and quickly ran towards the newly formed woods.

It was all so mundane, for she had no opponent. This was as much of a template as the original plane had been, only with fauna and flora now present.

With a base for her world set, Sermali decided to investigate what her siblings had done in order to see where her game may need to go.

Jer’Zail was sitting on his throne, pouting – the usual. Ith’Ir was waiting for some kind of advantage – as usual. Lo’Ani had made a land of beautiful gardens and skies – as usual.

Sermali returned to her plane, uninspired and as she walked across its boring surface. She watched the fish in the water swim about, she watched the rabbits play and in a sigh of boredom, she looked up into the sky.

The Oculus shone such beautiful colours, but nothing was in the sky to appreciate it. Thus her inspiration struck. Her siblings all wallowed on the ground, getting their bodies dirty with the filth that they trudged through. She would finally be able to look down on them and as the thought of her eldest brother’s unhappy face crossed her mind, she set to work.

Digging her taloned feet into the ground and hoisting a sizable chunk of Alteria’s surface into the air, Sermali placed the chunk of land high up into the sky, where the clouds circled and breathed her essence into it, causing the pull of Alteria to weaken and for the large land mass to float.

She perched herself atop the large floating continent and began to pluck feathers from her wings. One by one, she plucked a feather and kissed it, giving it life as a colourful avian. Her siblings could have all the beasts on land that they wished. Her creatures would soar above and never have to worry about the terrors that the other Gods had made.

As Sermali went about filling her skies with birds of all kinds and sizes, her siblings zipped in and out of her realm, looking for her, but none found her among the forests, the rivers or the sea. Time and time again, they came to find her and Sermali paid them no attention as she focused on her birds, more than happy to ignore her siblings while she worked her art.

As Sermali finished her work, she stared down at her world. The light played off her beautiful bird’s plumage and its beauty surpassed even Quel’Lan’s realm of wonder.

As she watched her creatures fly by, a gleam of light caught her unaware. She looked about, confused as to where this blinding light came from. She crouched upon her floating mound, only to see a glint of something that continued to irritate her vision.

Swooping down, Sermali landed next to the strange light. To her surprise, it was a piece of metal that was being held up by a strange pale-faced creature.

Sermali bent down and examined the metal. It reflected the Oculus’ light and, for the first time, Sermali gazed upon her reflection in this realm. Her plumage was wonderful, her beauty only surpassed by her eldest sister.

The pale-faced creatures bowed to her as she watched herself and as she went to hand back the reflected piece, they refused it. Sermali, curious by the offering, watched the little creatures and stayed near them.

When it rained, she spread her wings over their small encampment, to shield them from the water. When the winds came, she wrapped her wings around them, to prevent them from getting cold.

As she helped them, Sermali began to realize their weakness. They toiled to build small things and do small things and as they did so, they expired. So, she began a game in order to test her theories.

First, she had the creatures retrieve for her feathers from her birds, claiming she wanted them back. Once the people returned with her feathers, she declared she no longer wanted them and advised the creatures to make cloaks for themselves.

Then, when that task was done, she requested that the creatures build a bridge to her floating isle, because she had grown tired with all of her acts of kindness.

When the pale-faced creatures managed to build the bridge to the sky, Sermali knew that these small things were far more than the birds she had made. As she corralled the minuscule creatures to the isle, she destroyed their encampment behind them.

She showed the creatures the view from the sky. They all looked one with their expressionless faces, but Sermali could feel their excitement. So, she set forth one last game.

She asked all of those who wished to join her in the sky to jump. Those who wished to return to the surface were free to walk the bridge back to their encampment.

Some of the pale-faced creatures were immediate to jump from the ledge and as they fell to the ground, those that had made cloaks of the feathers sprouted glorious wings and took to the air, while those that had not plummeted to their deaths.

Those that walked back found their encampment in ruin. They returned to Sermali in despair and she, in her great patience, offered them once more to jump and become as glorious as those winged ones around her.

With wings firmly affixed to their essence, Sermali took her time molding her pale-faced creatures. Each was given an angular look. Any excess was pulled away and dissolved. Each of her followers could float on the wind like the birds she had before them.

As she finished her creations, she realized that with their hollowed bones and their lithe frames, physical tasks would be a hardship to her followers, and so she gifted them the knowledge of Essence Constructs and thus were the Seraphs of Sermali born.

Unique Traits:
Seraphs have massive, colourful wings that sprout from their back. While these may look like over sized bird wings, A Seraph is capable of flight at high speeds and even allow for them to take off quickly with little effort, a common act of Seraphs who do not wish to continue conversing with someone.

Seraphs are physically weak. That is to say, they are not made for long walks, hand-to-hand combat or working in the mines. As such, they rely on Essence Constructs. Essence Constructs are created from pure essence and take the form of whatever the Seraph is focusing on.

If a Seraph makes an Essence Blade, it will be as sharp as the most well-crafted blade imaginable, only to be countered by any Essence infused item. If a Seraph crafts food, it will be ripe, or prepared exactly to their specifications.

The only downside to Essence Constructs is that Seraphs are required to use their own Essence for these crafts and as such, avoid expending too much essence in one sitting or construct.

Constructs also do no last forever. A ripened fruit will rot at an exceedingly fast rate, generally breaking down into its essence a day after the Seraphs has stopped focusing on it. A Blade will dissolve as soon as it is no longer needed, as will any shields, chairs, bedding or otherwise.

The only thing Seraphs cannot construct are people or animals, or anything that with complex parts. While they could make each part individually, this is an extremely difficult task and most Seraphs do not even think of doing something so arduous.