Guardianship
How would I describe Guardianship? Like being haunted by a beautiful nightmare and finding out that you are your own ghost.
Guardianship is a magical condition initiated by exchange of blood with a dragon and maintained during an annual renewal ceremony. During this ceremony, a single drop of blood is given to an island's Iwhute, maintaining both the iwhute and the dragon nest it incubates.
Symptoms
Guardians, as those bearing this condition are known, are suspended in a state that is neither living, nor dead. They do not age, they do not die. They retain their coporeal forms, but are unattached to them. Likewise, their bodies are unattached to the world. It is assumed that these qualities aid them in their duty to service and protect the incubating nests of the Dragons before they return for the Hatching.
Corporeal disassociation
Guardians have the ability to become noncorporeal. It takes a great deal of energy to accomplish this feat, though some can do it easier than others. It seems to get easier with time, suggesting that the longer one is a Guardian, or perhaps the more attuned one is as a Guardian, the easier it gets.
In this state, the Guardian's entire form sheds its material state for an energetic one, allowing it to pass through objects and likewise, objects to pass through it.
Corporeal dislocation
In addition, the guardian can transport themself in this form almost instantaneously. In theory, this ability has no range, though each individual guardian's passion may restrain them from fully utilizing this ability. (For instance, Shiv Moonsong can move anywhere on Crossroads Island, but no further because she is limited by her passion.)
Sequela
One of the many things that no one understands about guardianship is the passion bonding. Once one takes on the role, the condition, the promise of guardianship, the magical nature of the state of being neither living nor dead requires some energy around which to build some sort of permanent bond to retain the guardian's presence on Argentii. That is, there has to be some energetic chain or anchor to keep them from simply fading away into the afterlife or returning to the mortal shell. This is the passion bond.
The new guardian's passion -- take, for example, Shiv Moonsong's passion for stories and storytelling or Daltheeb Moonstrike's passion for sailing the seas or Satyan Windblown's passion to go everywhere and study everything -- these became their passion bonds when they took on guardianship.
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