Difference between revisions of "Siliti"

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-Using the word ‘siliti’ is the draconic term for slaves, used by Malghourn and viewed as too taboo to echo by the nine Archons. In this sense using silit / siliti in roleplay is metagaming, period.
 
-Using the word ‘siliti’ is the draconic term for slaves, used by Malghourn and viewed as too taboo to echo by the nine Archons. In this sense using silit / siliti in roleplay is metagaming, period.
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[[Category:Races]]

Revision as of 00:01, 17 April 2021

Origin

In recent years the Enlightened Drake, Malghourn rescinded his lineage of blood magic among the Descendant population for their centuries of negligent abuse, mismanaging of assets, rampant ineptitude, and all-consuming treachery in a feat of blood sorcery. Their disappointment created a void in his earthly influence where now the Stone Serpent has carefully deployed silit agents from the outer worlds to imbed themselves on the mortal plane, a step for another grand scheme ahead.

Physical Description

General

In the simplest terms, siliti are parasites. Vampires. These beings twisted the ancient powers of blood magic and are eternal mimicries of their once descendant selves. Effectively immortal, their unnatural existence is one of Malghourn’s graceful - and more cruel - designs, evolved from that of the Unseen’s more beastial striga.

Unlike all other creatures of flesh, siliti are unable to produce or utilise lifeforce, instead preserved by an array of ethereal and ever thirsting marrows; the existence of a silit is one reliant upon genus found the blood of mortals, akin to the dreadknights of yore. It is these complex enchantments laid upon them through blood that locks their bodies and souls beyond the malleability of a Descendant’s, making them ageless, sleepless, and rife with mystical gifts and curses. Their heartbeat, breath, and bodily warmth are optional functions.

Their parasitic existence requires less maintenance than before their transformation though mere food and drink alone will no longer sustain them. Over time siliti lose their physical pleasures and cravings they might’ve had as mortals. Sleep becomes a pointless, uncomfortable endeavour and more of a deep meditation than true respite, whilst alternatives such as being knocked unconscious (either by force, magical or alchemical influence) also become ineffective.

Their race was tactfully curated by the Stone Serpent, having intentionally built in a number of flaws as hooks for control and subjugation. Such things include:

-Boomsteel: Thought to be silver in some cultures, boomsteel is akin to a kettle of hot water to siliti. When it touches their skin they have a short period before it progressively heats them to the point of scalding and, if endured, local ignition. Internally - if swallowed, slashed, stabbed, etc. - boomsteel strongly stings siliti and leaves wounds burning. Boomsteel is to siliti as aurum is to phantoms, essentially. They can briefly interact with it but after 2 narrative minutes it will begin to burn them and after 3 narrative minutes can even ignite what skin touches it; it is highly painful but not excessively damaging.

-Flame: Light is an irritating sensation for siliti, where they feel more comfortable the darker it is, capable of even dazing them (described under darkvision); sunlight being the worst offender does not harm them physically with the exception of lips and skin cracking and drying after prolonged periods, but at all times under daylight they feel its presence as though it were an itch that gnaws at them. This aversion comes from their vulnerability to fire, be it natural, alchemical, or draconic, for its burns are lasting and woesome (yet, of note, Voidal fire is treated as normal). Their weakness comes from their true vulnerability detailed next. Light nor sunlight physically harm siliti, though does cause them great stress after prolonged periods with skin starting to dry after a narrative hour and their lips growing chapped, with said irritations worsening as time progresses. Damage inflicted by fire requires twice the time and resources to recover from (described under Ethereal Metabolism and Rite of Revival).

-Dragons: In Malghourn’s genius he fashioned his servants to inherently fear him and when necessary fall before him, a useful tool for domination. As such siliti have an instinctual fear of dragonkin, feeling themselves as prey, and their flame is something to be avoided at all costs. Dragonfire catches to them akin to dry wood however it does not spread, only persisting until it burns the area to ash. Siliti must extinguish such burns by smothering them completely or submerging in water, doused or drenched for 3 emotes. Rain automatically douses dragonfire burns in 6 emotes. Any flesh caught on fire can be incinerated to ash down to bone in 10 emotes of burning.

-Victuals: The flavour of a beloved meal and the euphoric stupor of drink once enjoyable to them are now wretched experiences; all forms of intoxicants would taste as ash and oil whilst yielding no beneficial effects to the siliti, all solid foods causing them to aggressively vomit blood. Siliti cannot keep down drinks after 1 cup / 0.25 liters and cannot keep down food after 1 mouthful; they can stomach sips or small nibbles but will quickly feel queasy, hot, and generally unwell which can only be suppressed for 10 narrative minutes. A silit will violently wretch out blood in gushing waves if they do not make themselves vomit before the 10 minute mark and lose 1 portion of blood per instance (elaborated on below).

-Saltwater: A witty feature to round out their race, Malghourn gave siliti an intense aversion to saltwater to help limit their movements for one of his lairs resides on a secluded island lost in the ocean. Siliti are highly wary of ocean travel because of this. While saltwater doesn’t actually damage siliti, they perceive its touch akin to boiling water and react accordingly. A siliti submerged in saltwater will uncontrollably flail, writhe, and scream as they are racked with pain that will not kill them.

Appearance, Feeding, and Blood Loss

A silit’s new state of being depends on the genus found in mortal blood, progressively draining genus from their body to fuel their marrows which creates a tug of war between being ‘well fed’ and ‘withered’. Siliti maintain their state through feeding, the consumption of genus-having blood divided into three categories defined by potency; fine, plentiful, and decadent. Genus-having blood is indeed intoxicating but all blood is not equal; high elves and mages have a sweeter tang due to their moderately higher genus concentration, Ascended bloodlines, inferis, and azdrazi even more so. Voidal horror blood is considered the most exquisite and divine due to its extreme concentration. Conversely, animals have bitter and unpleasantly sour blood bar pigs whose blood is ever so slightly more tolerable.

A fine feeding entails drinking about a fourth of a mortal’s blood, usually enough to induce the beginning symptoms of blood loss including disorientation, nausea, weakness, and potentially unconsciousness. extracting all of the genus from their blood. Additionally, fine feedings can be made of mixing mortal blood with equal parts of pig blood which, while sour, can sustain a diet and maintain a fed, not well fed state. Should the victim die their blood very rapidly loses potency, flavor, and effect. The blood of the dead cannot sustain a silit due to the negligible genus left, tastes sour, and otherwise is of no benefit for feeding; if drank after 1 narrative day or 3 OOC hours it is akin to any other drink and will make the silit sick.

A plentiful feeding entails drinking about a fourth of a repeat victim’s blood, usually enough to induce the same symptoms. Siliti become attracted to unique ‘flavors’ and can better draw upon their genus after a second feeding (i.e. the third feeding and onward become plentiful) which they find gradually more addictive. Siliti tend to stalk and/or protect such individuals as they savor them for their blood, oftentimes thralls, and as slowly become obsessed with preserving them for their supply.

A decadent feeding entails drinking at least a cup of dragon, drake, dragaar, drakaar, or Voidal horror blood. The large concentration of genus in their veins, most especially Voidal horrors, are truly intoxicating to siliti and can sustain them for prolonged periods unlike others. Horror blood induces extreme euphoria but a silit’s marrows cannot protect them from its effects, capable of becoming moonstruck and therefore insane; it is treated like an illicit narcotic among Hazmic siliti due to the associated risks. Like all other blood even the more potent variations lose potency upon death or manifestation and over time; such varieties, like all blood, cannot be stored for longer than 1 narrative day or 3 OOC hours.

-For a silit to be well fed they must have a fine feeding once every IRL week, a plentiful feeding once every 2 IRL weeks, or a decadent feeding once every 3 IRL weeks. -For a silit to be fed they must have a fine feeding every 2 IRL weeks, a plentiful feeding every 4 IRL weeks, or a decadent feeding every 6 IRL weeks. -For a silit to be alive whatsoever and in the withered state they must have a fine feeding every 4 IRL weeks, a plentiful feeding every 8 IRL weeks, or a decadent feeding every 12 IRL weeks.

Should a silit become unhealthy and sickly from malnourishment - withered - they may make up for their lost meals by doubling the intake of the greater state. For example, a withered silit may become fed by having 2 fine feedings and may then become well fed by having another 2 fine feedings.

-Siliti cannot feed on other siliti or their thralls, doing so causes them to be sick. -After drinking one fourth of a descendant’s blood will deplete it of all genus, making them useless for further feeding (either by feeding or pale blood magic), requiring a full IRL day to recover said genus.

Well Fed

Siliti who feed regularly are ‘well fed’ and will default in appearance to a healthier version of their apparent age with their usual skin colour, eye colour and other distinguishing features they had prior to transformation, being impossible to distinguish from the common descendant unless willfully appearing otherwise (elaborated on under ‘Metamorphosis (Minor)’) as well as having the strength to utilize all of the benefits that come with their new state of being (elaborated on under Abilities).

Fed

Once a silit has gone long enough without drinking blood the first signs of physical degradation become apparent. At this point of being merely ‘fed’ a silit loses access to some of their abilities and will begin to take on an unhealthy appearance, looking gaunt, tired or closer to their true age if they are old for their original race. Regardless of efforts to trim them their nails will grow unpleasant and pointed, stopping only a half-inch from the fingertips and their canines will default to sharp but not long points. Most notably at this stage they will undergo a change in eye colour with irises appearing any unnatural shades and/or marbling depending on their original eye color. All shades become opposites where applicable, meaning broadly speaking green becomes red, blue becomes orange, yellow becomes violet, and neutral colors like grey become either black or white (milky/cataracts).

Withered

Past the stage of fed is the withered stage, one of absolute degradation. Whilst in the former it would be difficult at best for a silit to conceal their true form, the withered have no semblance of health. Their appearance is fundamentally monstrous and/or disgustingly ancient and are completely incongruous to that expected of a descendant; the unhealthy look of fed siliti is nothing when compared with the mutations of a withered (elaborated further upon below under ‘Metamorphosis (Minor)’), oftentimes both puffy and discolored like a barely preserved corpse or shriveled, gangly, and trembling as though truly ancient. Haggard and hideous, withered siliti cannot practice magic should they know any - bar pale blood magic - and in turn they begin to lose their mind after the first IRL week of being withered; progressively leading up until they go comatose from starvation they become delirious and experience increasingly severe symptoms of dementia and/or Alzheimer’s. Should they not feed long enough to sustain themselves whatsoever (described above in the spoiler) they will go comatose and suffer where they lie for 2 IRL weeks, the final stage of starvation where only a plentiful or decadent feeding given to them by other could spare them, after which they their disgusting, mummy-like body will shrink, wilt, and convert into a heap of ash.

Lastly, siliti operate with 4 portions of blood, supernaturally filled with an amount that allows for excessive and profuse bleeding. They naturally accrue 1 portion per 12 IRL hours if well fed, 1 portion per IRL day if fed, and 1 portion per 2 IRL days if withered. A fight or aforementioned sickness can cause a silit to lose portions; heavy cuts and other wounds or vomiting from sickness equate to 1 portion lost, limb loss usually equate to 2 portions lost, multiple limbs lost and/or extreme wounding equate to 3 portions, and even more damage and bleeding causes loss of all 4. Siliti don’t suffer from the symptoms of blood loss until they are down to 1 portion as they are full of inert, genus-stripped, nutrition-stripped blood which only serves as a vessel for genus and ethereal marrows to reside in. Siliti who run out of blood die (detailed further under ‘Ethereal Metabolism’), and do not regenerate faster from feeding, reliant on their state, and will die.

Reproduction

The creation of a silit is a feat exclusive to those studied on the rite of rebirth, a painstaking ritual process by which a descendant’s soul and body are reformed by the seemingly limitless powers of blood magic and are bound to ethereal marrows, inheriting the traits of their respective Archon’s bloodline. They are as follows:

Numir's bloodline has strong will and are expert liars; their body language cannot betray their intent and they always seem to be telling the truth.

Carical's bloodline has a matronly disposition and tactful minds; their charm is immense, allowing them to use the rite of restraints on siliti to stage 1.

Hallin Kord's bloodline has a penchant for honor and enhanced muscle memory, allowing them to learn physical crafts and techniques twice as fast.

Cadmium's bloodline has a keenness for theatrics, art, and expression and extreme flexibility and grace, that of dancers and contortionists and keen hand-eye coordination.

Mictlanti's bloodline has a fine appreciation for music and are inherently composed, comfortable being statue-like - still and silent - for as long as they wish without going mad or getting tired, an invaluable skill when imprisoned.

Solomon's bloodline has a keen eye and appreciation for detail, to the extent of being able to envision the texture and makeup of alchemical reagents (as well as potions if they are already masterful alchemists) without the need of an ocular apparatus. This only functions on items within one block, for the sole purpose of deciphering signs and symbols.

Illia’s bloodline possesses the psychic ability of ‘dowsing’ wherein they can locate mundane objects (or written words) through supernatural means within 1 block (such as finding a desired object in a cluttered drawer or desired line in a passage) instantly. They are commonly covetous and hoard things.

Krogak’s bloodline has poor empathy yet finds purpose easily to which they cling and possess ivory teeth as well as 2 extra pairs of retractable fangs, one on top and one on bottom.

Eireamhan's bloodline is unknown as he has been exiled to his plane for centuries and no known siliti come from him.

The stone serpent’s own eugenic and bigoted views are apparent in his design of the silit’s marrows. The transformation ritual only functions on ‘clean’ mortals; full blooded descendants - humans, elves, orcs, and dwarves - free of interbreeding or excess immortal tampering.

Whilst siliti are unable to reproduce with one another due to an array of complications, they can conceive with a descendant of their original race, creating sickly though otherwise ordinary descendant offspring, without the curse of the silit or any traits of the metaphysical bloodline inherited from their Archon.

These children are at excess risk of congenital disorders, always afflicted with one or more of the following:

Albinism Brittle bone disease Chiari malformation Cystic fibrosis Hemophilia Hypoglossia Spina bifida Strabismus

Additional, lesser malformation that are optional include:

Acute allergies (animal(s), nut/food, insect sting, etc.) Other skin disorders (vitiligo, eczema, rosacea, psoriasis, etc.) Other eyesight disorders (near/farsightedness, astigmatism, etc.) Other birth defects (missing or malformed digits, malformed features, etc.)

Interestingly, these malformations and disorders are miraculously ‘cured’ should the child themself become a silit, their re-tethered souls correcting their askew blueprints thanks to their unhallowed lineage.

-All siliti belong to the bloodline of one of the nine Archons, that being whomever their creator belonged. A silit’s bloodline can never be changed once they have been transformed from a descendant. -Only full blooded humans, elves, orcs, or dwarves can become siliti. The rite of rebirth would fail whenever attempted on any other race or half breeds between the main four. -Also excluded are those who might belong to the main four but whose body or bloodline has been drastically altered by the likes of magic, alchemy, and deific influence such as ‘Blessed Ones’, someone inhabiting artificially created bodies such as Klones or Machine Spirits, Kharajyr, and Ascended and their bloodlines warped by Aeriel’s influence. -Siliti cannot produce children with one another. Children can be born of a silit and a descendant of that siliti’s initial race though must suffer one or more of the outlined congenital disorders.

Mental Description

Beyond the afflictions upon the mind felt in different states of their hunger cycle, siliti are for the most part as mentally capable and fragile as their descendant counterparts. That said, every silit experiences a period of adjustment wherein their mentality and view of the world shifts from that kept in their mortal lifestyle to their immortal.

Usually concluded when reaching an age where they have been a silit longer than they ever were a descendant, siliti will become disassociated with their race of origin, viewing them in the same manner their original selves might’ve viewed other branches of the mortal tree. That is to say whilst a silit of human origin can retain their cultural roots, upon full transition they would see themselves as no more human than they do orcish.

Relationships

This eventual disassociation plagues siliti with a sense of quiet superiority when compared with descendants and an arrogance that usually leads to them underestimating most other creatures as simple and in some way less mentally capable than siliti, only worsening with age. It is also what provides siliti with the ability to comfortably feed on descendants, with relationship to those met after this period being distorted into one of three categories:

Chattel

The relationship siliti have with most descendants, ‘chattel’ in this regard describes the perspective that descendant strangers or new acquaintances who have not proven themselves significant are in some way objects or goods for siliti to possess, make use of or ignore entirely. Chattel are to siliti as farm animals to descendants.

Domestication

The relationship siliti have with descendants of minor significance and familiarity. ‘Domestication’ in this regard describes the perspective on descendant colleagues, establishment representatives, or intelligentsia (the latter often being discarded when a silit has learned all they can) that a silit will deal with at some regularity and recognise as of use to them, very often pertaining to the enthralled. The domesticated are to siliti as close animal companions are to descendants.

-Whilst it can also develop naturally, the ‘domestication’ dynamic will always arise between a silit and their thralls or descendants they have fed from thrice or more, with a preference for said descendant’s blood being developed.

Obsession

The relationship siliti have with descendants of major significance and familiarity. ‘Obsession’ in this regard describes the perspective on descendants that a silit will dedicate an extensive proportion of their time and resources to. A dangerous infatuation that plagues siliti with anxieties about the descendant in question’s mortality and eventual expiration, they are often driven to the point of attempting to have those not being fed from converted into siliti themselves out of fear of losing them (for which reason siliti fortunate enough to know the rite of rebirth will often avoid developing connections with descendants like the plague, commonly living as hermits for fear of spreading the curse too far and invoking their Archon’s wrath). The obsessed over are to siliti as prize belongings and unhealthily possessive love interests are to descendants.

-Whilst it can also develop naturally, the ‘obsession’ dynamic will always arise between a silit and a descendant they have fed from five times or more, with an addiction to said descendant’s blood being developed. This is with the exception of thralls, whom siliti have safeguarded themselves against obsessing over via the ‘rite of restraints’’.

Aversions

The above stages are juxtaposed immensely by their perspective on dragonkin, whom all siliti fear and will seldom tolerate the company of without triggering a fight or flight response.

Immense paranoia surrounds the likes of azdrazi, furthermore, with siliti tending to make sense of their actions as part of some great plot to bring about their demise and being at the very least distrustful of heralds, obsessively fussing over their marks and having them removed.

Born from their weakness to draconic flame, siliti are naturally inclined to avoid open flames and natural lights from it. Whilst the more tangible impacts of this aversion are recorded elsewhere, it should be noted that being in the proximity of any pyre larger than a bonfire will spark unrealistic anxieties concerning catching fire themselves. Beyond this siliti struggle getting comfortable under any light greater than that of a hearth, oftentimes preferring to depend on their darkvision and dwell in relative darkness.

This is most potent when left in the sun without suitable cover from the likes of rain or snow clouds, armour, heavy clothing, headwear or parasols. Leaving a quarter or more of their body exposed to sunlight will irritate siliti like dry sand, causing their minds to crave the coolness of shade. After a narrative hour, they will feel an irrational desire to itch and pick at their skin, along with chapped lips and a thirst only quenchable by blood (which will effectively ‘reset’ these effects as if they had just stepped out into the daylight, should the silit not alternatively rest shaded from the sun for a narrative hour). By three narrative hours the sun will become difficult to bear, and siliti will violently claw at their own skin, finding it incredibly difficult to focus on any task not directly linked with the consumption of blood or the seeking of shelter from the sun. Once six narrative hours have passed, the experience will grow torturous. Siliti will begin to feel as if ants were burrowing into their skin, or as if they were being burnt by matches held over them. Unable to think or feel beyond the urge to feed or cower under shade, the longer a silit is left from this point on the more traumatised they will become. It is said that a silit will become unhinged after a day in the sun, and go fully mad after three, making it a popular form of punishment for those who are caught deserting the ranks of Hallin Kord’s Undying Army.

A product inherited from their forefathers - the Archons - during the annihilation of the bohra and on the Night of Ten Treacheries, siliti experience a strange and to themselves unexplained aversion to pigs and boars, encompassing their smell, their sounds, as well as the presence and other people’s consumption of pork. The extent of this discomfort varies, ranging from general unease around the animals and queasiness when watching others consume pork to an outright phobia of pigs, boars and hogs. In this vein pigs and pig products are considered offensive, taboo and derogatory across Hazmstatd and silit courts of Hazmic culture, where calling a silit “swine” is considered offensive.

Lastly, all siliti who have come into contact with saltwater and its effects will develop thalassophobia as the ocean, to them, is boiling. To some this will make them nervous even around salt which lends to the folklore of salt lines or uneasy near lakes, streams, or beaches given their association.

Yearnings

Siliti, as expected of parasitic creatures, suffer an instinctual addiction to blood. Similar to an opioid dependency, the presence of genus-having blood will be distracting at best to a well fed silit, akin to an appetizing meal, attractive interest, or free and available drug fix. Fed siliti will break into cold sweats upon resisting its temptation, mentally preoccupied and burdened by the presence of an open wound. Withered siliti will be unable to contain themselves, breaking into beastial fits to try and sustain themselves.

By nature immortal, always eventually returning to their corporeal form or being left to stew in the Red Nexus, the most potent yearning of a silit is their search for purpose and meaning. Constantly shifting their interests into different fields and struggling to remain engaged with the goings on of the world around them whilst they themselves remain stagnant, the silit will find themselves in a never ending cycle of motivation and depression, forever seeking purpose through which they might give their eternal life meaning.

With this same realization of the length of eternity, siliti commonly seek change from the hollow boredom that is timelessness. Because of this they have episodes where they seek out new excitements, a change of scenery, or a redressing of their life.

Be it by commitment to an ideology, cause, political project, academia, arcane delving, and so on, eventually all tastes will run sour and yet siliti will retain an unquenchable thirst for a permanent means of justifying the eternity that lies ahead.

Interestingly, the instincts of siliti also lead them to echo a similar mental paradigm towards dragons as the bohra of old, an ironic product of their unknown relationship with Malghourn (almost all of the nine archons having passed to their broods the falsehood that Malghourn played no part in their creation, and depictions of the stone serpent as a distant tyrant as opposed to their inventor).

That is to say their fear of the draconic will lead them between two extremes: in the first example, sycophancy, a silit will tremble before higher drakes, drakaar and dragaar, desperately attempting to win favour in pursuit of some form of mercy. Alternatively, a silit might take the inverse approach, choosing to either accept their fear and cut all possible ties with dragonkin, avoiding them at all costs, or the more bold amongst the siliti will even attempt to conquer their anxieties, consumed by an ambition to hunt, eradicate or subdue any and all dragonkin as part of a grand scheme to make the world a safer place for them.

-Siliti cannot ‘sense’ azdrazi nor heralds and must be informed in some way of their identities as such through roleplay. That said siliti will have an instinctive aversion to undisguised azdrazi and the markings of heralds when seen, recognising them as ‘something draconic’ and will react in a manner as accommodating as a cat to a mouse, or adversely as boldly as a mouse to a cat. -The abilities of azdrazi and heralds cannot be as easily understood as ‘draconic’, though a silit’s natural aversion to flame will still trigger a considerable level of anxiety in response to them.

The Hexalogue

The Archons fashioned a code of conduct siliti must abide by, terms by which they follow as to not offend their Archons and in turn their unknown lord, Malghourn. These tenets are cultural and breaking them does not incur OOC punishments, however it is strongly believed by siliti given their necessity in the rite of rebirth and their magical imprinting upon their minds that there very much so is real punishment associated with being caught breaking them. Because of this silit covens commonly keep to these laws if not more designed themselves and actively punish those who break them for fear of their Archons dismay and potentially higher powers; siliti, especially Hazmic siliti who are more educated about the Archons, truly dread the thought of Krogak, the Headhunter or Mictlanti, the Turnkey being sent to punish them if not by the hands of their respective Archon, all of which imply fates worse than death.

These cultural tenets include (and are read IRP during the rite of rebirth):

-We do not fraternize with dragonkin nor their followers. To do so is to court imprisonment. -We only kill when it is needed, as we are the shepherds of man and nothing without the flock that feeds us. -We keep the secrets and signates of our own, attention brought is anger wrought. -We show restraint when spreading our condition, so as to retain the balance of the first law and be tact in their selection, favouring only those that would abide by the six laws. -We act to restore all put to slumber in the crimson crypt, by the rite of revival. -We obey the will of our Archon, making the needs of the bloodline our own.

Additionally, because of the genuinely real threat of Krogak, Mictlanti, or an Archon or even Malghourn’s agents coming to subdue troublemakers, players who are banned have their absence explained IRP as having been abducted and jailed in a crimson coffin for the duration of the ban, their crime likely unknown and perhaps thought to be mere cruelty. With that, should a ban be permanent or a silit player be blacklisted from siliti and/or pale blood magic, their character is jailed permanently and they forever lose their character. This explanation is used whenever appropriate for removal as opposed to being reverted back to mortality because it would otherwise break the theme of the lore in that siliti are cursed to be immortal and cannot truly be free of their condition or truly die, only be imprisoned for eternity in a crimson coffin or abandoned as a bodiless soul in the Red Nexus.

Abilities

Bound by curses and enchantment - the marrows of blood magic - siliti have the ability to understand and make use of a variety of innate supernatural abilities as well as exclusive minor ritual practices utilising their ethereal marrows as well as the blood runes of old, with an innate potential for pale blood magic.

A portion of ritual inventions passed on from the nine Archons to their brood, the silit rites and traits are sought after by countless pale scryers and arcanists, enviously dubbed ‘vampire magic’; a practice never to be held by mortal hands.

Signates

The combination of mortality and draining runes make the base signate for all siliti.

Every silit that crosses over to or is created on the mortal plane is able to claim for themselves a signate: a combination of blood runes layered upon the pre-existing ‘silit’ rune forming a symbol with meanings unique to that silit. Whilst a silit’s marrows contain its soul and prevent it from slipping into the soulstream or being repurposed, a signate acts as an ethereal tether for the silit. In the case of the Archons, their signates are present within the nine bloodshards’ cores no matter how many times or by who the physical crystals are reformed, used by Malghourn to keep a tight leash upon his generals. In the case of lesser siliti, however, these signates can be reproduced on a whim by siliti and pale blood mages who have memorised the symbols and runic combinations. Signates are acquired through an epiphany had soon after being turned or traveling to the mortal realm for the first time, the shape decided upon and therein permanently burned into their mind.

Signates must be drawn in fresh blood to be used. Their purpose is to identify a silit with their blood rune name in rituals; these rites include revival, long distance communication, entombment, and others. The destruction or lack of a presently written signate is inconsequential as they can always be written again.

Signates are both guarded and widespread and are often political tools. They are required for revival which makes them useful to be known but in the same vein they are required to seal siliti in crimson coffins (elaborated on below), making them secret names that must be carefully given lest a silit be hunted down and sealed by their enemies such as mortal witchers or opposing silit covens.

Lastly, a signate that is witnessed by a silit is immediately ingrained into their mind and cannot be forgotten, however they do not inherently know the identity of the signate’s owner.

The Silit Rites

A series of rituals sourced from the runes of yore, pertaining specifically to siliti and their underlings, the silit rites are a trio of sacraments in blood magic that only siliti can perform.

-All rites must be taught in roleplay, they are not innate.

Rite of Rest

- Noncombative Malghourn’s jailor general Mictlanti, the Turnkey invented a method for silit rest and at the same time a tool for inescapable imprisonment.

Mechanics

The nature of a silit is juxtapositional at times. Immortal creatures always running out of time until their next meal is required, the Archon Mictlanti initially invented the solution to this problem for the purpose of keeping prisoners preserved for longer.

‘Crimson coffins’ are coffins - or any tomb, box or other solid storage unit large enough to fit a descendant - bound with the properties of the runes mortality, flesh, silence, binding and life in specific arrangements with their signate upon the door which both imprison and preserve the silit within them. The Turnkey was not without more innovations and he later designed a better coffin which did not require a silit’s unique signate, such universal prisons called Mictlanti’s fetters with which he could more easily catch and entomb his targets.

When laid in a crimson coffin a silit will feel any magics they might possess be silenced and be forced into a state of restricted strength, so much so that they are unable to escape the coffin unassisted if it is chained shut or built out of heavy enough material. At this point their marrows are preserved by the coffinand the silit will stop losing genus, able to slumber (or be kept prisoner) for infinite spans of time without needing to feed.

Red lines

-Only siliti with pale blood magic who have been taught through roleplay how to craft crimson coffins can do so. They can however be used by anyone. -Crimson coffins must be premade -Crimson coffins require the signate of the silit they intend to contain in order to magically bind them; the only exception to this are Mictlantli’s fetters which are distributed with ST manager approval. -If a crimson coffin is intentionally bound or sealed shut with a silit inside of it the character will be forcibly shelved indefinitely (bypassing the usual 30 minute ‘prisoner’ rule as this is treater closer to a PK clause) until someone else opens the coffin through roleplay. -Crimson coffins will only preserve the amount of genus a silit has. They can not be used in place of feeding as the silit will exit exactly as they entered.

Rite of Restraints

- Noncombative Once a power lost to blood mages of old, the rune of binding can be utilized by siliti upon mortals through their entrancing eye marrow.

Mechanics

Siliti are able to enslave descendants to some degree. This is done by simply establishing eye contact at first and continues in mesmerizing sessions of mental influence as enthrallment progresses, taking a total of three years (three IRL weeks) before a descendant is fully dominated. Should enthrallment end then any secret they had been asked to keep by their former master would be forgotten to amnesia (even beyond a mental mage’s ability to recover) with their experiences being recalled as an unhealthy friendship where the power of the rune of binding is stripped from them. Initiating the rite requires 2 emotes where the silit’s eyes become noticeably bloodshot, potentially even clouded over red, which then subsides and their enthralling stare is activated.

(Stage 1): Initially enthrallment begins as a plain stare of consistent eye contact which can be done during conversation. This session is enough to charm a person wherein they are slightly influenced by the silit and feel as though they are slightly more trusting, they approve of the silit, or might find it hard to argue with them. The silit’s stare is vaguely mesmerizing, beautiful, or interesting and it can captivate the viewer.

-All this does is induce vulnerability to persuasion from the silit. This comes off as the silit seeming interesting and appealing. The effects of the stare last for 2 IRL hours.

(Stage 2): If a second charming session is repeated within the second year (second IRL week) of their odd relationship, the victim feels they can trust the silit and feel the urge to impress them or help them for little reward other than their company and approval.

-All this does is induce fascination with the silit in the way a person feels towards a good friend. This allows for social pressure to be more easily exercised. The effects of the stare at this point lasts for 4 IRL hours. -Commands given at week 2 are not absolute and will be taken as a request from a friend rather than an undeniable order. Ignoring such commands is possible, though will leave the thrall with burdening feelings of guilt.

(Stage 3): If a fifth session of charming is undergone in the third year (third IRL week) of enthrallment the victim can be persuaded with possible difficulty to cut the shape of a rune of binding into themselves somewhere on the body, committing themselves to the silit in a ritual of dedication wherein the silit then touches the carving and their relationship is cemented. The thrall feels immensely compelled to obey the silit’s every command. The thrall is completely unable to divulge information that the silit tells them not to spread, magically bound from speaking the silit’s secrets even during torture. A mental mage can access a thrall’s thoughts to discover this information, however, as with anyone else, the information is not apparent and requires excessive digging, probing, and fishing to find. The thrall regards the silit as their best friend, master, family member, or other such trusted position and recognizes their relationship as a healthy, natural friendship and are unable to be convinced it is anything else. At this stage the enthrallment can be broken if the thrall player chooses where over the course of 3 IRL days the rune of binding scar heals and scars over, the character visibly struggles to grapple with their relationship with the silit, and on the third day the enchantment fails, they regain their liberty, and all commands are finalized; if a silit tells their thrall to forget something should they leave their service they will indeed forget any information as ordered upon breaking away.

-Stage 3 requires OOC consent to progress to. A player may choose to bypass the usual progression and jump straight to stage 3 if they desire.-Commands given to stage 3 thralls are absolute unless it defies the thrall’s fundamental morals or if they are uncomfortable being put in harm’s way in which case they can /roll 20 and if they roll 13+ they can defy the command but will feel tremendous shame as a result.

Thralls who leave the service of a silit are often plagued with discomforting or disturbing amnesia as they lose memories of what they have done, where they’ve been, who they have known, or even who they are. Such memories can only be restored by returning to the same silit’s service as they are attached to the silit’s use of the rune of binding. Relinquished thralls typically take up a vice such as drinking or drug use to help them cope with what psychological harm may haunt them but with strong willpower and drive can overcome their trauma after one year (1 IRL week).

Enthrallment and the rite of restraints act as a method of protecting siliti from their own fixation on their victim’s blood. Thralls remain in the domesticated category and a silit cannot become obsessed with them because of the magical bonds which ward off such extreme fixation.

Lastly, because animals are lesser creatures, siliti can in the same way force the magic of a rune of binding upon them with their entrancing stare. This enthrallment, because of an animal’s lesser soul and mind, is therefore weaker. A silit can only enthrall one animal at a time which cannot be initially hostile, too large, or otherwise anything that would break the pet standard rules.

Red lines

-Charming a person to begin and progress with enthrallment requires 4 emotes of consistent eye contact. This is an active ability meaning the silit intentionally must try to enthrall someone (it doesn’t ‘just happen’ to anyone they make eye contact with) and it must be done within 5 blocks. The eye contact doesn’t have to be sustained, merely reaffirmed at least every 4 emotes. -A silit cannot FTB with a thrall or coax them into FTBing with anyone else. -A silit cannot force a thrall to kill themself or do something obviously suicidal; if they die of such a complication it counts as murder on behalf of the silit. -A silit may release their thrall at any given time by speaking the thrall’s given name with the clear statement, “I release you” in a mutually known language. This must be done within audible range of the thrall. -The players of thralls may choose to break enthrallment where over 3 IRL days the character becomes distressed over their situation and their rune of binding scars over and, on the third day, are freed. -If commanded to keep secrets by their master during enthrallment then a thrall will completely forget such secrets when exiting their service. For example the identity of a silit as well as their general existence, where they live, who they consorted with, etc; all they would remember is the vague notion of a ‘bad friend’ who troubled them that they are now free of. If someone were to tell a former thrall of the forgotten silit’s identity or of their enthrallment they would be completely incapable of believing it unless told willingly by the silit formerly controlling them themselves. These memories are locked away in a manner similar to the mind marrow utilised by rogues in blood magic and can not even be accessed even by mental magics, held by the silit rather than in the mind of the thrall. Reinitiating enthrallment to the same silit restores these lost memories. -If slain by their current or former silit master, a thrall who chooses not to PK would suffer complete amnesia going back to immediately before their first stage of enthrallment and all memories from during their enthrallment are permanently erased. This is with the intent of discouraging metagaming and poor roleplay, acting as a legitimate counter to prevent unsavory and OOCly motivated roleplay as a consequence of accepting enthrallment. -Siliti can enthrall 1 animal at a time with 1 use of the rite of restraints which cannot be used on a hostile creature, it cannot be larger than a wolf, and the pet can therein not be used in any special way a normal character couldn’t in order to abide by standard pet criteria. Enthralling an animal doesn’t teach it anything, the animal cannot be supernaturally ordered (e.g. telepathically), and it is no more intelligent than it normally would be. A druid can commune with an enthralled animal and will recognize a strong bond akin to a pet that ‘loves’ its master.

Rite of Rebirth

- Noncombative First theorised by Malghourn and Hazm Alhazred, the rite of rebirth is the convoluted process of sculpting a descendant’s body and soul with an array of marrows, remaking them as siliti.

Mechanics

The rite of rebirth is a closely kept secret involving the remaking a descendant’s soul blueprint through the filter of countless runes, which shall persist as ethereal marrows forevermore, the ritual process of creating further siliti is not one shared lightly, invoking the attention of each bloodline’s respective Archon.

A harrowing experience, the process begins with an array of runes being painstakingly torn and carved across the descendant’s skin, drawing from the tried and tested arrays that were once used in various crafts of earlier blood magic such as the lost creation processes of dreadknights, rifts, soul transference, and countless other ancient sacraments.

The end process of these wicked cuts will usually deprive the descendant of a bewildering amount of blood, enough to kill them were they not being sustained by the rite at which point a final mark is made upon the subject’s forehead.

Using an implement covered with their own blood, the silit conducting the rite will ceremoniously close their eyes and cite the Archonic tenets, allowing their cut to be driven by unseen forces in shaping what is said to be the subject’s soul blueprint made manifest as a blood rune: their signate.

Upon completion all blood runes cut into the subject (including any preexisting rune of binding from enthrallment) will begin to glimmer a brilliant red before burning away, with pain beyond the scope of words passing through the subject’s body, mind and soul before said markings vanish into ethereal marrows, as a new silit is born.

Red lines

-The memory of the Archonic tenets is burned into the new silit’s mind upon the ritual’s completion, never able to be forgotten and always present at the back of their conscience as the laws to adhere to. -The memory of their signate is burned into the new silit’s mind as well as the minds of the siliti present for the rite, never able to be forgotten and always present at the back of their conscience. -Those bound by the rite of restraints before being turned into siliti will be freed from their enthrallment with full preservation of their memories. -Due to the complexity of the runes carved, the rite must be explained in depth to those wishing to learn it. It cannot be self taught by having the rite conducted on oneself or simply spectating. -The bloodline inherited by the new silit will be that of whichever silit’s blood is used when carving their signate upon them and cannot be changed.

Rite of Rousing

- Noncombative The marrows throbbing within a silit act as a font of blood magic with which a silit can impart their spark to another, awakening a lesser pale blood mage to become greater.

Mechanics

Lesser pale blood mages, yet to have their minds awakened to the esoteric and arcane knowledge of blood magic, can be forcibly sparked by a silit to go to the greater tier. The ritual to do so entails the a silit drawing their signate onto the forehead of a lesser pale blood mage with the silit’s own blood and therein having the subject drink a drop of the silit’s blood, be it by chalice, poured into their mouth, or suckled from a wound. The pale blood mage then goes to the greater tier.

Red lines

-The rite of rousing is only accessible to well fed siliti. -Becoming a greater tier pale blood mage doesn’t inherently teach any rituals, only make them able to be learned. -A silit can only perform a rite of rousing once every 3 IRL days as it is a strenuous act to force their magic into a mortal which tires their marrows.

Silit Traits

Beyond their rituals, siliti have an array of powers they may employ in combat and at will or possess passively. They are as follows:

Metamorphosis (Minor)

- Combative A silit’s eternal marrows allow them lower forms of bodily control, capable of twisting their vessel in horrific ways akin to a cat extending and retracting its claws.

Mechanics

Should they choose, a well fed or fed silit can contort their appearance to be monstrous whereas a withered silit is stuck in such a state until they feed. These mutations are chiefly apparent in the silit’s face and hands yet can affect their whole body. Fundamental examples include apply (which withered siliti must have):

-Claw like, long, gnarled nails (no greater than normal nails) -Altered skin color, limited to pale and corpselike, greyed, blackened, unnatural white, or dark to bright bloody red (in which case they are often bleeding as well) -Altered skin texture, limited to chaffed, scaly, beaten and raw, thin and papery, gaunt and tight or warty and lumpy -Altered vein color, limited to dark red, purple, blue, or green -Altered eye colour, limited to their opposite (as detailed under Fed), blackened, milky white, or bloodshot / red -Elongated and sharpened canines of varying length (withered cannot hide them; like nails they are no greater than normal teeth)

Additional metamorphic mutations include:

-Blackened and bloody nails -An array of malformed teeth, tearing through one’s own cheeks in extreme cases -Varying levels of greying of hair, baldness, or hair which bleeds when cut or hair which grows wild and unkempt -Inconsequential splits and tears in the skin -Inconsequential bleeding, never enough to equate to actual portion loss -Noses flat and batlike or alternatively pointed and witchlike (or complete absence of) -Pointed beastial ears (or complete absence of) -Mild smoking or exuding genus in the form of a swirling haze of red mist

Metamorphosis (Minor) requires 1 emote if only changing one feature, otherwise it requires 2 emotes to change multiple; this applies to gaining or removing features. Metamorphosis takes the form of a red mist or oozing, goopy, coagulated blood exuding from a silit’s body to mask the affected area which then takes the desired form.

Metamorphosis is an activated ability but altered features are afterwards passive and do not require concentration to maintain; altered features persist after death.

Red lines

-A fundamentally monstrous appearance must be roleplayed by withered siliti, all fundamental examples applying to them and optionally more. -Aesthetic smoke or vapour exhumed from siliti is harmless, translucent and intangible, and cannot be used to the extent of obscuring vision or one’s appearance or causing asphyxiation. -Metamorphosis (minor) can be performed by fed siliti to appear more monstrous but not to achieve a more normal appearance. -Taken willingly or not, a monstrous appearance cannot be excessively weaponized. Sharp, long nails will act as they would if grown by regular descendants. The exception to this is in the case of mouths and fangs, which serve the purpose of rending flesh with bite power equal to that of a wolf. -Appearing monstrous will not alter height, strength, dexterity or resistance in any way.

Metamorphosis (Major)

- Combative A carefully configured product of ethereal marrows - layers of the runes and rites of blood magic - siliti can temporarily strain their marrows to briefly echo the strength and durability of dreadknights and the speed and utility of rifts.

Mechanics

A well fed silit can enter a fleeting state of heightened magical power with their inherited blood magic. This permits a temporary boost in strength or durability akin to dreadknights, speed or agility akin to rifts, or greater scabbing in one act. A silit prepares this ability by suddenly shifting into a frightful, grotesque state and therein holding it to react to something or act during which they cannot do anything other than move, exuding a swirling haze of red mist. If a silit doesn’t use the ‘charge’ or is interrupted by an attack they waste the ability. Such acts include:

-Traveling in a sudden flash of shifting red mist, instantly manifesting exactly 6 blocks away. -Reacting to catch a ranged projectile. -Sprinting suddenly in a rush of shifting red mist, covering up to double the movement distance of their descendant counterpart in the same emote’s timespan. -Sealing all bodily wounds that are not themselves lethal -Blocking one attack with their body as though it were heavily armored -Hitting (or pushing, pulling, or lifting) with one attack/movement with orcish strength

Siliti are forced to end and waste their use of metamorphosis (major) after it has been charged yet not used and they are struck by an attack they do not react to.

Metamorphosis (Major) requires 2 emotes to prepare wherein they must at first exhume a thin red mist before shifting into a monstrous state as described in metamorphosis (minor). They may then go about taking one of the listed actions in a third and final emote during which they cannot take other actions. Movements made (traveling, reacting, sprinting, hitting) leave behind a whirling haze of red mist and reinforcement (sealing, blocking) cause oozing, goopy, coagulated blood to briefly coat their skin. Metamorphosis (major) can only be used once every 12 IRL hours.

Metamorphosis is an activated ability.

Red lines

-Metamorphosis (major) can only be achieved once each 12 IRL hours (12 hours between each usage). Any attempts to surpass this will put too much strain on the silit’s marrows, causing them to uselessly sputter clouds of red mist. -Metamorphosis (major) is inaccessible to siliti who practice physically hindering magics. -Metamorphosis (major) is inaccessible to a silit whilst withered or fed. -Traveling consists of shifting ones form, either to simply travel a short distance or to aid in evading a ranged or melee attack that the silit knows is coming, allowing them to use a minor rift to teleport a set 6 blocks horizontally. Traveling cannot go through blocks and cannot be used to escape bondage (such as bindings or being grappled), there must be a clear path (but characters can be passed through). -Reacting consists of deftly snatching a ranged projectile such as an arrow that the silit knows is coming. Catching something doesn’t inherently incur any damage. -Sprinting consists of moving twice as fast as normal (usually 20 blocks) during which the silit cannot dodge anything, only at best weave through terrain. Sprinting is not dodging and a silit can be caught in their attempt if realistic. -Sealing consists of the silit closing all wounds that would not be lethal (e.g. disembowelment, stab to the heart) and cannot be used to replace lost limbs but it can replace lost fingers, toes, eyes, noses, ears, or lips. Sealing does not restore lost portions of blood. -Blocking consists of a silit tanking an attack, their body treated as though they were wearing platemail. This does not make them invulnerable (e.g. a golem could still smash them) and they will still suffer a wound albeit minor. Sword slashes, dagger stabs, and arrows are majorly negated. -Hitting consists of a silit taking a single action of attack that is empowered with orc strength such as but not limited to a punch, kick, or strangle. Using metamorphosis does not augment speed and therefore does not guarantee the hit will land and it can still be evaded or blocked.

Darkvision

- Combative A gift of their marrows, siliti have keen eyesight even in shadow.

Mechanics

Siliti have acute darkvision, able to see clearly in even the most lightless of spaces but are adversely dazed by naturally bright lights and flashes which can even cause them to lose concentration, for which Siliti will often compensate with the use of eye protection to negate these effects outside of combat. When withered, this darkvision becomes more of a curse than a blessing, hindering a silit’s ability to see in daylight and their tapetum lucidum becomes apparent in less-than-bright spaces.

Darkvision is a passive ability.

Red lines

-Siliti do not have enhanced sight beyond the ability to see in complete darkness as a descendant would in broad daylight. They can only see as clearly and as far as a descendant’s peak vision. -Dazed siliti will lose their focus and are unable to gain such for two emotes. This can range from miscalculations in weapon swings, bad footing, or misfires in archery with an additional emote of disorientation if they become dazed while casting a spell. Siliti can be dazed by strong natural sources of light such as looking directly into the sun, having fire or a torch thrust into their face, or being burned by dragonfire on the face.

-Siliti can only protect themselves against dazing with eye protection outside of combat. In combat this protection is nullified. -Withered siliti can not see past 10 blocks in daylight and their vision is blurred, suffering a glare they must squint through.

-Siliti without naturally seeing eyes lack both the boons and banes affiliated with darkvision.

Ethereal Metabolism

- Combative The silit condition is a product of an array of intangible blood magic enchantments known as marrows. This inherent magic grants them a host of boons and banes, the core of their state.

Mechanics

A silit’s health is usually upkept by their ability to regenerate, tied in with their ethereal metabolism. Upon transformation their physical form is suspended in time by the array of marrows which keep them, making their forms unchangeable without relying upon metamorphosis, bar the natural length and style of their hair and nails. This makes it impossible for a silit to benefit from medical treatments and alchemical or magical mutations.

The key benefit of regeneration is the silit’s ability to passively restore themselves from injuries over time when well fed in a manner no descendant could match, to varying extents and timeframes wherein whichever comes second is what should be gone with (given some RP fights might last longer than, say, 30 minutes or 1 hour).

-Bruises, black eyes and broken noses will passively regenerate over the course of 1 IRL hour or 6 narrative hours. -Flesh wounds, stabs, and dislocations will passively regenerate over the course of 2 IRL hour, or 12 narrative hours. -Broken bones and knocked out teeth will passively generate over the course of 6 IRL hours or 1 narrative day. -Lost fingers, noses, ears, eyes or toes will passively generate over the course of 12 IRL hours or 2 narrative days. -Lost hands and feet will passively generate over the course of 1 IRL day or 4 narrative days. -Lost limbs will passively generate over the course of 2 IRL days or 8 narrative days.

As well, deaths are slowly recovered from so long as they are of lesser severity (see ‘rite of revival’ for more details, including death and resurrection). Siliti will naturally regenerate given the following deaths and timeframes:

-Bled out. The silit will regenerate after 1 IRL day. -Organ failure, disembowelment, stabbed through the heart, etc. The silit will regenerate after 2 IRL days. -Beheaded, dismembered. The silit will regenerate after 3 IRL days.

-Burnt or withered to ashes. The silit will regenerate after an IRL month.

The aforementioned marrows also gift siliti with inherent health: immunity to poison and disease, a natural strength, agility and endurance matching the peak level of their respective race, as well as enhanced (though by no means supernatural) reflexes. Their immunity to poisons and diseases is circumvented in the case of drugs wherein they can only experience them by proxy and can feed from high individuals to therein experience their high.

As a product of their enhanced metabolism, siliti also have an inherent resistance to cold and are even able to wander through a tundra or swim through frozen over waters in relative comfort. This also renders them immune to the cold and numbing effects of rokodra and thanhium (but not thanic poisoning).

Ethereal metabolism is a passive ability.

Red lines

-A silit’s immunity to poison makes them unable to benefit alchemic healing or elixirs for the changing of appearance. Their body would also reject the afflicted symbiote in this regard. -The inherent strength and agility of a silit is equal to their respective race in peak physical condition. In this regard a silit that was once human will be stronger and more agile than most humans who do not live highly active lifestyles, however they will never be as strong as an orc. -A silit loses their enhanced strength and endurance if they choose to practice physically hindering magics; a silit with any Void magic would be as weak as any Void mage. -The inherent reflexes of siliti match what could be achieved from abundant drilling by a descendant and are not enhanced to superhuman levels. -A silit’s body is not exempt from the effects of the cold as their skin and muscles can still be frozen by alchemical, magical or even mundane means given prolonged exposure and the same pain and restriction would be experienced. -The regeneration of withered siliti is 4x slower.

Weightlessness

- Combative A staple of the silit race’s mystique, the unique formation of marrows within them allow them to defy some natural laws such as gravity just as they defy time.

Mechanics

Siliti are blessed with the ability to float or hover, able to comfortably release themselves from the land and orientate themselves as they like, drifting a maximum of two feet from the ground or the surface of water. In doing so they may orientate themselves however they like and my opt to allow or disallow their attire and/or hair to obey or disobey gravity in turn. They enter a paradoxical state of behaving without the full restriction of gravity whilst by no means feeling weightless. Armour is still encumbering and slows their movement. Weightlessness is not flight.

Siliti can withstand higher falls, landing gracefully from heights usually painful to descendants and with the right preparation they can slow their falling unnaturally to land from greater heights still without injury by being guided down by a swirling haze of red mist, requiring 2 emotes to prepare before descending.

Weightlessness does not normally require emotes to start or stop and can be used interchangeably at will; weightlessness requires 2 emotes to prepare before floating over water. When doing so the silit exudes a swirling haze of red mist which guides their movement over water.

Weightlessness is a passive ability. Slowfall is an activated ability.

Red lines

-Siliti are not actually ‘weightless’. They weigh as much as any descendant their size ought to, but can choose to take the strain of their body weight from their feet when hovering. -Any given part of the silit must remain within 2ft of the ground at all times. -In combat, siliti require two emotes of preparation before levitating over the surface of any water deep enough to usually require swimming on their third emote. -In combat, weightlessness offers no advantage to a siliti's speed, strength or agility they would not otherwise hold when touching the ground. -Hovering must still adhere to mechanical standards and cannot be used to get anywhere they wouldn’t already be able to MCly. -Because water is a far less stable support, a silit’s magical levitation breaks if they are struck (including hit by a projectile) while over water which then cannot be reinitiated until they return to land. -Hovering has no impact on movement speed or endurance; acceleration stays the same and they will still tire as if they were moving normally. -Floating does not literally equate ‘weightlessness’ and must be done over a body of water or solid ground. Simply put, a silit can not float over an object that would not usually support their weight, to avoid abuse. The exception to this is if a person is lying flat beneath a floating silit (for instance sleeping in bed; the bed being the ‘support’ for the silit to float 2ft from, not the person) would not feel their weight for the sake of flavor.

-Slowfall is linked directly with their ability to hover over the ground; this cannot be abused in the case of ‘gliding’ anywhere they wouldn’t be able to jump to mechanically or lock themselves in place and move horizontally. If a silit player cannot mechanically survive the fall or navigate to their desired landing point they cannot use slowfall to reach it.

-Falls from any height greater than 12 blocks will require 2 emotes of preparation before slowfall can be used to effectively negate harm from falling.

-Withered siliti cannot slowfall.

Red Lines

“On my orders, servants of the Stone Serpent, for tonight we chase them back to Moz Strimoza!” - Hallin Kord the Quartermaster during a failed campaign to recover an infernal realm for Malghourn.

-Due to their equivocal PK clauses, the forced shelving that comes with crimson coffins and the irreversible changes they bring upon characters, OOC consent is required to change a character into a silit. This in turn means players blacklisted from siliti should either have their characters shelved for the blacklist’s duration or forcibly killed rather than ‘reverted’ to their prior descendant race, which would invalidate the narrative of siliti being a permanent, incurable ‘curse’ and only reward poor roleplay.

-Siliti subject to fatal injury cannot be resurrected by the monks or any other means than what is outlined in the rite of revival.

-All rituals and rites must be taught through roleplay, be they silit specific or as part of the broader pale blood magic which siliti can access (being ‘awakened’ by default, not requiring a separate feat for pale blood magic). In this regard the only ‘innate’ abilities siliti are born with are those listed as ‘silit traits’.

-Siliti’s souls are self contained by ethereal marrows; they are unable to offer it or tamper with it. Their bodies are also locked in their regeneration, preventing them the ability to change it permanently (whether for magic or otherwise). This makes them incapable of becoming any other creature, including afflicted, azdrazi, inferis (zar’ei, zar’akal), izkuthii, golems, vargs, striga, epiphytes, or frost witches. Because their souls are claimed by Malghourn through these marrows upon bodily destruction they are unable to utilize klones (though they can still make klones for others), machine spirits (though still can make animii and machine spirits for others), and undeath (liches, darkstalkers, ghosts, gravens).

-Similarly to the above, their soul being claimed my Malghourn and attached to marrows makes siliti unable to practice soul-involved magics including shade, frost witchcraft, seer (but a seer can become a silit; a silit cannot lose their eyesight), ascended, clericalism, paladinism, druidism, enaction of Yeu Rthulu, shamanism, naztherak (unless branded/marked or given an appendage to cast through without burning themselves prior to becoming siliti), mysticism, necromancy, and thallassos.

-Having their souls sucked into the Red Nexus to await the rite of revival upon bodily destruction, siliti cannot be raised as undead nor contacted by vivification, as they can never truly ‘die’, only be imprisoned.

-A silit’s extreme metabolism that grants them immunity to poison also renders them unable to make use of medicines, drugs and alchemic consumables. They cannot be medically treated and can only experience drugs by feeding upon an individual experiencing them.

-Siliti can not reproduce with one another and are reliant on turning descendants or bearing children with mortals of their same race who are prone to aforementioned malformities.

-Siliti who practice physically hindering magics lose their inherent strength and endurance and access to metamorphosis (major).

-Using the word ‘siliti’ is the draconic term for slaves, used by Malghourn and viewed as too taboo to echo by the nine Archons. In this sense using silit / siliti in roleplay is metagaming, period.