Post by Kenneth New on Jun 12, 2011 4:21:29 GMT -5
The scatha are a race of metamorphs who came to Rhiada from the Labyrinth on its last visitation. Very little of their culture remains in more than fragmentary form, but it seems that milennia ago their own world was devoured by the Labyrinth. They managed to survive within its depths for centuries or milennia, pillaging new worlds as the Labyrinth seized them. According to ilfaren legends, the scatha were agents of the Labyrinth when it devoured their homeworld. According to what histories survive from the time, the scatha poured forth from the Labyrinth upon its arrival. At some point (the histories are very sparse from this time period), the Scatha began to help the races of Rhiada to fight the incursion. They were instrumental in closing many of the Labyrinth nodes.
After the Dark Ages, they built an empire called the Scathovar Hegemony. As metamorphs, they were able to pass unseen among their many athamel, dweir and human subjects. The Hegamony was centered on the Scathovar city of Ixuva on the eastern shores of the Sea of Endymion. (The city was destroyed by a meteor fall and the site is now known as Starfall Crater). The Hegemony stretched around the Sea of Endymion and as far east as Quarish on the Sea of Grass. They ruled with a heavy hand, using their superior magical technology, the arts mindbending and fleshcrafting, and their ability to change shape and blend into the populace. They used their arts to create many servitor races, the most widespread of whom are the sergalla and the urhag.
Upon their return, the Rhiannel fought a war of extermination against the Scathovar Hegemony and succeeded in utterly destroying all of their cities. The scatha people were nearly exterminated.
Today the scatha live in the shadows of other races, especially humans, blending into the population. Having lost their culture, the scatha partake of local human culture. Most scatha prefer not to be known as a metamorphs, but some like to flaunt their true nature. In Elocia, there are about a thousand open scatha living in the city. They even have their own ethnarch.
All scatha have the ability to change shape, but their talent can vary. Some are masters, able to assume any living form with but a moment’s thought. Others can shift only with great difficulty, requiring several minutes and a lot of energy. Most are somewhere in between these extremes of ability, able to change without much difficulty but limited to humanoid forms.
In their true forms, scatha are roughly the same size as humans with mottled blue-gray skin and eyes with enormous black and silver irises that leave little room for whites. They have enormous control over their bodies, seldom getting sick and shrugging off most poisons. Their bodily control allows them to extend their lives, and many scatha live to a very old age. Scatha are bisexual, able to both impregnate and to become pregnant. Despite their alien physiology, scatha are able to reproduce with any other race. They can impregnate any female, implanting an offspring who is genetically identical to themself. When acting as a female, a skilled fleshcrafter can take genetic material inside themself and alter it so that it is compatible with them so that they can produce offspring who are genetically different, but still fully Scatha.
Many scatha have learned to control their bodies so as to give themselves night vision, better hearing or better sense of smell. Some can partially change so as to grow claws or horns. The attributes of the scatha vary so much from individual to individual that they impossible to quantify.
After the Dark Ages, they built an empire called the Scathovar Hegemony. As metamorphs, they were able to pass unseen among their many athamel, dweir and human subjects. The Hegamony was centered on the Scathovar city of Ixuva on the eastern shores of the Sea of Endymion. (The city was destroyed by a meteor fall and the site is now known as Starfall Crater). The Hegemony stretched around the Sea of Endymion and as far east as Quarish on the Sea of Grass. They ruled with a heavy hand, using their superior magical technology, the arts mindbending and fleshcrafting, and their ability to change shape and blend into the populace. They used their arts to create many servitor races, the most widespread of whom are the sergalla and the urhag.
Upon their return, the Rhiannel fought a war of extermination against the Scathovar Hegemony and succeeded in utterly destroying all of their cities. The scatha people were nearly exterminated.
Today the scatha live in the shadows of other races, especially humans, blending into the population. Having lost their culture, the scatha partake of local human culture. Most scatha prefer not to be known as a metamorphs, but some like to flaunt their true nature. In Elocia, there are about a thousand open scatha living in the city. They even have their own ethnarch.
All scatha have the ability to change shape, but their talent can vary. Some are masters, able to assume any living form with but a moment’s thought. Others can shift only with great difficulty, requiring several minutes and a lot of energy. Most are somewhere in between these extremes of ability, able to change without much difficulty but limited to humanoid forms.
In their true forms, scatha are roughly the same size as humans with mottled blue-gray skin and eyes with enormous black and silver irises that leave little room for whites. They have enormous control over their bodies, seldom getting sick and shrugging off most poisons. Their bodily control allows them to extend their lives, and many scatha live to a very old age. Scatha are bisexual, able to both impregnate and to become pregnant. Despite their alien physiology, scatha are able to reproduce with any other race. They can impregnate any female, implanting an offspring who is genetically identical to themself. When acting as a female, a skilled fleshcrafter can take genetic material inside themself and alter it so that it is compatible with them so that they can produce offspring who are genetically different, but still fully Scatha.
Many scatha have learned to control their bodies so as to give themselves night vision, better hearing or better sense of smell. Some can partially change so as to grow claws or horns. The attributes of the scatha vary so much from individual to individual that they impossible to quantify.