Atonement

City in the Sky
The ruins of what was sundered have been suspended perpetually...

Inhabitants

Mysterious and elusive, the daughters of Varys have a near-legendary hatred of man to keep them sequestered in the fractured skies they call their home. Though their appearance is that of a comely female, their skin takes on the sheen of marble or slate, with veins of rare minerals or gems to distinguish their forms and multitudinous wings to hold them aloft.
Varayi are immortal and have bodies of durable stone that are nearly impervious to harm. However, they do not naturally regenerate, bearing wounds and fractures for life. If they stray more than a handful of feet away from the treasure they are bound to, their consciousness will cease to be, leaving them an inanimate statue; if said object is destroyed, they will crumble to dust.
Occasionally, a varayi will find that they possess talents or knowledge they did not know of until reminded. These remnants are left behind by varayi from previous cycles and the humans which once possessed the treasures that make up their beings.

Society

Once the dwelling of nobles and aristocrats, the beautiful columns and spires of the city of Setya remain fractured and suspended. The prolonged taint of divine magic has stained the stones white, and there is a hollowness to the city whose denizens now require no real food, no real shelter. Instead, each abode is marked by priceless treasures carried to the skies for the enjoyment of its citizens, and the countless stone guardians of those varayi who have completed their quest.
Varayi are born from a single treasure, and it is this artifact which defines their appearance and essence. They are created with one pair of wings, and upon maturity must descend to the earth in order to seek out and attain the trinkets that mankind holds dear. The value is determined not by any system of their own, but rather, their ability to sense how deeply other creatures value the objects they perceive. Once the priceless object is offered to Varys, the varayi is granted another pair of wings and the additional power that comes with it. Though immortal, a varayi will permanently become stone with the presentation of their fourth treasure, which in turn births a new sister. Due to their fierce desire to attain the most valuable things, this cycle will typically take a few centuries. Thus, while immortal, their population never grows- though, in theory, Varys could create more.

Power & Leadership

Varayi are an anarchical race who largely only reconvene to show off to each other. Social status is very important to them, however, and this is largely determined by the value of their treasures.

Economy

The varayi do not need food, water, or shelter. As such, they have no real need for an economy. They simply acquire things that fascinate them and flaunt them to their sisters for status. Methods of acquirement can occasionally be as harmless as trade or performance, but typically involve killing or stealing (simply because it is less time consuming).
When focusing on an object, a varayi is able to see an aura relative to how much the item is worth, physically and sentimentally. They use this skill to determine worthy candidates to add to their body, but it can be useful to merchants trying to appraise the authenticity of goods, given the varayi does not simply lie to them to amuse herself or kill the merchant to take his things.
Despite their avarice and competitive nature with each other, a varayi will never willingly sell part of herself or a sister as 'skysteel'- the stone that composes their bodies and contains rare magical properties that persist as long as the tortured varayi's core is kept intact.

Culture

Self-interested creatures, varayi do not typically use names for each other. Those few varayi with a name are often granted it by the humans they do not immediately slaughter.
As Varys is quite literally their god and creator, they are quite reverent of her.
Love is a foreign concept to most varayi. They cannot reproduce, and as constructs, have no such urges to mate. Their Varisian magic and illusory powers make seducing humans a charm, but they mostly only do this to get close to their treasures or as a cruel way of amusing themselves. There are exceptions to this, however.
With their long lifespans, lack of basic needs, and love of entertainment, varayi love to amass performance skills such as song, dance, sculpture, art, and the like. In a bid to compete with each other for exceptional traits, they often specialize in their hobby to a point that will awe all but the most cynical humans.

Notable Locations

Legends say that when Irev plummeted to the land in his battle against Consecra and fractured the island of Aypavoc, the lands of Setya were ruptured so violently that they were cast into the sky and refused to return to the earth, and the humans who dwelt there became one with the stone and the sky. In reality, it was Consecra who, in their battle with Arovutos, swallowed the Apostle's flesh and sundered the World Pillar in her dying breaths, a magical calamity which caused the sky islands to form. The varayi were then created by a grieving Varys.
Preserved amidst the clouds by the Divine Beast who calls it her domain, the sky islands are fraught with majestic views and ever-flowing waters. Those large enough to host life are home to strange and genetically isolated creatures.
Due to the fickle nature of varayi, no location is important except for their own. The exception is, of course, Varys's temple and throne, the once-city of Setya.

Aypavoc (Post-Reckoning)

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Aypavoc is a large island that sits in the middle of the Endless Expanse, a great body of water with no other coast in sight. Aypavoc and its surrounding waters have been enclosed in a barrier erected by Metus to the North, Varys to the East, Eldnyng to the South, and Fastid to the West; these Divine Beasts are trapped within their domains, as too much distance from them would cause the barrier to falter. Most believers preach that the purpose of the barrier is to keep the unspeakable dangers of the open waters away from their island home, but its hidden true purpose is to contain the impure spiritual energy of Aypavoc and prevent it from corrupting the world at large. Its waters all flow towards the deepest point, Irev's Fall, a maelstrom at the center of the fractured continent.

History

Few living beings can recount the truth of the Lost Era, but the varayi are among them... in a sense. Setya was once the capitol of a Deeprealm, where Varys lived as a servant. When the World Pillar was sundered and the Nvaonese population decimated, Varys gathered one thousand of their treasures from around the ruins and created beautiful constructs around each of them. Every animated object had the broken memories of its owner to lend it the facsimile of a personality: a mirror remembering only the vanity of its holder, a childhood toy remembering only the child, a blade remembering only the coldest part of its owner. On top of that, as Varys's creations, they were all influenced by her domains- namely greed. Despite their glaring flaws, Varys obsesses over her people, refusing to see them as anything other than perfect replicas of those who once were, and those she sacrificed everything for...
History of Aypavoc

Relations

Other beings rarely step foot among the clouds, and when they do, it is typically as an oddity- a winged sapphire tiger holds the same value and interest as a talented bard. Varayi typically lack the empathy to understand why their guests wish so fervently to leave their prison in the sky, and will go to great lengths to keep them fed and healthy to show off to their sisters, though their lack of experience with mortality is often to their subject's detriment.
The only creature greedier than a varayi is a human, and as such, they are hated. Due to the elusive and immortal nature of their race, varayi are coveted for research and the innate magic of the stone and artifacts that form their being, not to mention the treasures they carry. With bodies of animated stone, they bleed a molten substance known as skysteel, which is used to forge the sharpest and most magically attuned weapons known to smiths. As such, most varayi learn quickly to despise mankind, only approaching when it is of benefit to them- to gain a trinket, learn a craft, or to beguile a human beautiful or skilled enough to entertain her sisters back home.
Due to their dislike of humans encroaching upon their city of treasures, varayi decisively destroy any instrument of flight they observe, and their captives are never released alive.