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LITHANS
MAGICAL ALIGNMENT: Light and virtue following.
LIFESPAN: If a lithan (lith, as in monolith), also known as a geodan, is especially lucky, they may be able to live over 300 years. These statue-like beings are fairly durable, and do not age traditionally - they do, however, erode very slowly, and upon being physically damaged or cracked, their stony outer casing will never regenerate.*
APPEARANCE AND OVERALL BIOLOGY:
Almost* every single external aspect of a lithan appears as though it is made of stone, hard, marbled and cold to the touch. This even includes their 'hair', which may be chiseled to present as a certain style. With the exception of this sculpted 'hair', every square inch of a lithan's body is
vulnerable to damage,
cracking under force.
​
*With the exception of their 'hair', which slowly regenerates with time.
Upon being damaged, all open wounds on a lithan have an exceptional way of 'healing': all external damage crusts over with geode-like, crystalline formations, glinting with any colour of the rainbow and often resembling Overworld crystals.
It is notably rare for a lithan to have more than a few of these bodily geodes, as these originate from a severe injury.
These beings may or may not also feature moss or other plant life growing across their bodies, ears*, or stiff, stony lips, unable to be opened. Despite being seemingly made from rock, this outer casing is surprisingly flexible, giving them an almost humanoid range of motion.
*Those who do not feature external ears do still have small, internal ears, like an Overworld lizard.
*This does not include their eyes, which are the same glowing crystal as their bones and 'scars'. They cannot blink.
Internally, lithans are rather unusual in that they lack the majority of the organs other humanoids possess. They do, at least, have skeletons, made up of the same glittering crystal as their 'scars', and an impressively intricate vascular structure - hair-thin, coloured veins invisible to the naked eye.
DIET/BREATHING/REST: Entirely lacking a digestive or respiratory system, lithans are required to obtain the necessities (nutrients, oxygen, for example) via external absorption. Taking out three birds with one stone (no pun intended), these magical beings must rest while submerged in nutrient-rich soil, taking in nutrition from their skin, and 'breathing' via small air pockets in their 'flowerbeds'. This is enacted for around 8 hours each night, and, during the day, they take in oxygen from the surrounding air (this is much less efficient).
ABILITIES: Although lithans as a whole are incapable of speech, many are extremely well versed in telepathy, utilising this as a primary form of communication*. Other than this, these living statues have a propensity for pathokinesis (altering the emotions of others), healing others and sometimes even telekinesis.
*Those who cannot communicate telepathically tend to utilise sign language.
REPRODUCTION AND HYBRIDISATION: A slight oversight in lithans as a species, and, unlike their dark-mana counterparts (magmar), these beings are entirely without reproductive systems. Instead, ritualistic, arcane means must be used in order to produce offspring, sometimes with outside assistance if neither parent is a particularly good spellcaster.
In order to produce offspring:
- Both parents must remove a small chunk of themselves, compressing these pieces together and gently melding them into one using a state-altering spell.
- If successful (around a 30% chance), this conglomerate will grow with time, and, much like an egg, hatch after a year.
- This ritual can be performed with the DNA of another species (hair, for example), but success is exponentially unlikely (>5% chance).
- Animalfolk and silicans seem to have had the most success in hybridisation with lithans.
- If a lithan attempts to create offspring with a fire elemental species (a demon, a kasai kitsune, a dragonborn or a fire sprite), the resultant child will be a magman.
CULTURE: Likely due to the culture surrounding real-world crystals, it is a common belief within lithans that they must utilise their pathokinesis for the good of other beings. A 'traditional' lithan is 'the therapist friend', with some even choosing to take on a more literal role as confession booth attendants. Whether religious or not, these earthy creatures tend to be extremely selfless and pride themselves on being charitable wherever possible, even outside of close friendship channels.
ORIGIN: In contrary to most other magical beings, the origins of geodans as a species are a guessing game. They are not known to be the creation of any other species, nor are they known to have been created by spellcasters. The leading theory is that, whether it was a by-product of a particular spell, blessing or even an artifact, the first lithan was created when light-mana bled into the soil. Predating modern archives, these statue-like creatures hid themselves from wider society, fearing that their ability to generate precious gemstones may have been exploited by humankind.
When injured, a pebble runs a far higher risk of cracking or shattering their outer casing than an adult. The majority of 'scars' or crystalline crevasses that these beings will display later in life occur in early childhood, an obvious map of any hardships they may have faced. That said, it is far more common for a lithan to crack from running head-first into a doorframe than from anything exceptionally life-altering.
CHILDHOOD AND DEVELOPMENT:
Affectionately nicknamed 'pebbles', a young lithan is smooth and sleek in appearance, almost shiny. After hatching, there is nothing particularly noteworthy about their development - they seem to follow the same timelines as a human infant, learning to crawl, walk and talk by around 18 months. Where lithans differ, however, is in their coordination and their tendency for accidents.
SEXUAL DIMORPHISM: Much like sprites, geodans have no sex, and no concept of gender - they are all distinctly androgynous, present in various ways fashion wise, and some may even choose to forego clothing entirely.
