Myrrdins

Before the sun wilted and the moon screamed, when our world ended, ours was a place of opal and silverglass, color your palm could taste and music your lips could brush coyly against. When we first arrived from our painted sands to Tara, it was a colorless and mute world. Our elders burnt out their own eyes, fearing they would lose our way back. Long since have they passed, but we carry their songs--bittersweet and yearning--for the honey gold and star-freckled azure of our long, lost home.

— Aldnoa Astrashiy, Astral Monarch

Appearance

The Myrrdin walks the horizon of two intersecting worlds--one of primordial magics and the material world. The other races often regard the Myrrdins as haunting in appearance, with their ancient jagged prongs that dot their crown and pointed ears. Indeed, they are otherworldly, in that they each mirror celestial bodies: the starscraped Seren bear night-drunk skin freckled white; the sunkissed Haeel are resplendent with hues saturated as stained glass; and the moontouched Leyad are silver-stained and ghostly.
The Myrrdin people are often taller than their Taran neighbors, by a substantial margin, but their slender proportions and low shoulder-line, give them a graceful and supple flow to their figures that mirror the Myrrdin's holy symbol--the triangle. As such, any fashion they adorn themselves with or features they seek to accentuate tend to revolve around it. Additionally, The Myrrdins are very fond of color, dyes, and hand-painted details. If they can add details, they will, and often anything a Myrrdin wears is carefully chosen, ornate, or at the very least, fitting.

Personality

The Myrrdin mind walks the razor's edge then between what they know of the natural world--arcane and mundane, and how this coexists with civilization. A Myrrdin's long-lived perspective makes them an inventive people, capable of powerful magics; but it also makes them a diplomatic people, with a patience that stretches long past the lifespans of many of the races of Tara. For this reason, it is common for a Myrrdin to tell a shorter lived race, "If you don't like [my advice], wait a hundred years and see where that gets you." It is in part due to their long-lived perspectives that the Myrrdin even communicate differently; some of their most intense conversations can last years, for what need is there to rush when there is so much time? For this reason, most Myrrdins prefer to deliberate and to give a situation their full thought and attention, which is their defining trait. A Myrrdin is nothing but devoted to anything they take upon themselves. Some devote themselves to their families, to their communities, while others devote themselves to a pursuit; this is not done out of pride, but from their inherit connected between the arcane and the mundane, seeing the scope of time over eons, and wishing not to leave a mark but to alter the world for the better. For reference, some forests are a direct result of a Myrrdin. Surely, most races will see this as grandiose, but with how slow and steady a Myrrdin's efforts will be over the next thousand years, their devoted efforts allow them to make sure of each grain in the sands of time.

Civilization & Geography

The Myrrdin people are not bound the geography of their land, and are as likely to take up residence in a desert as they are to do so in a dense forest. The reason for this is their magical prowess. What they do not have they simply materialize, and what they then have they maintain arcanically. Over years in Tara, however, with the limitations of Magic, Myrrdins have grown to rely on natural resources such as water and lumber, and dedicate themselves to using renewable resources. For this reason and their natural harmony with the world around them, the Myrrdins have become adept at making homes out of living materials (trees, mushrooms, or underground nooks with beds of flowers growing as their roofs. By living in this way, the only natural disaster that truly affects the Myrrdin is a blight or wildfires, as regrowing homes takes just as long as any normal recovery.
Arcanic materials are greatly valued by the Myrrdin people, and trade is often an essential part of their usual lifestyle. Without these same arcanic materials, the Myrrdins will find it difficult to sustain their lifestyle--to grow additional homes and to sustain the life around them. This makes the Myrrdin wealthy in a nontraditional sense. They are able to exchange a surplus of crops, seeds, and goods resulting from this natural bounty (textiles, woodware, and the like) in exchange for arcanic materials which then sustains their civilizations. Were in not the necessity for magic, the Myrrdin would be completely independent by their prowess with magic alone.
It is due to this tendency toward self-reliance that their political system has remained largely unchanged. The Myrrdins are a Theocratic Oligarchy-Republic, where Myrrdin spirituality guides social and political laws and where the political leadership lies in the three main leaders (called a Divine Council) that are treated as divine reincarnations of their creator god trinity. These leaders are chosen based on ritual practice once one of the councilmembers dies. So long as at least two leaders can hold council, the government functions and may give laws and decrees. Petitions for new laws or to change old laws are submitted by an Administrative Branch of Forums, and these laws are voted and decided upon by the Directorial Branch of Divine Council. From there, smaller clades are given authority to enforce these laws politically, while the socio-spiritual tenets enforce these laws to society.
In how laws then proceed and how this process has gone largely untouched by time, the Myrrdin people have largely enjoyed periods of peace and have been fairly welcoming to outsiders. These attitudes have largely changed since the fall of their empire, and the Myrrdin people have become far more wary than they have ever been before.

Common Names

Myrrdin people have a given name, with a first surname taken from their mother's lineage, and their presiding house as their second surname; a Myrrdin's first surname is designated by a particle "Kyne" or "Kyn" and serves to designate one's matrilineage within a House and dictates who their kin is. A Myrrdin's second surname, their house, designates who they can call their family--as here, one's house is akin to one's tribe. As such, a typical name might look like Shyrreth kyne Thuralnnon of House Palathenm; often these names are simply shortened to their given name and taking on their house name as their surname: Shyrreth Palathenm.
If a Myrrdin is exiled from their house, not only is this a great dishonor, but they lose the ability to call themselves by their second surname. As most Myrrdin houses are widely known and established since before the cataclysm, it is typically fairly noticeable when a Myrrdin is calling themselves by their first surname.
Male Myrrdin Names: Imrel, Meneamled, Teoser, Ioniel, Visyan, Nyamsrahel
Female Myrrdin Names: Teoamra, Nyalaie, Immia, Lasee, Mosstrati, Yveuria
Nonbinary Myrrdin Names: Imrysale, Teodath, Nyamede, Ionzzo, Khaft, Yveer
First/Mother's Surnames: (kyn) Eeylaidan, Aeyril, Oydalan, and (kyne) Seyridis, Lumaedas, Reyanidese,
There are current twelve recognized houses, four houses each to the Sun, Moon, and Star. Several Houses have yet been unrecognized for their deeds and importance have not outshown the longevity of the current twelve houses: Click to Expand

1. Mithra.
Wizards and Weaponmasters, the House of Mithra perfected the art with a runic blade, adapting techniques from mundane smithing and arcane runecrafting--Quillwright shorthand. By folding over layers of metal and etching runes into each side, the weapons made by the house of Mithra carry with then an ageless and mastercrafted quality with the purpose and enchantments to inherently part of the blade that it is rumored to carry the soul of its craftmen with it. As such, all named blades from the Myrrdin people were crafted from the Mithra house.
2. Deluriand.
Diplomats and Negotiators, the Deluriand House was the first to interact with the Tarans and to establish an alliance that has thus proved beneficial over the course of their long relationship. This house has also been responsible for relations with other races as well, in particular the Rooks, with whom the house has resolved many conflicts, though these resolutions have often come from coercion. Some family members seek to change their approach while others are happily rooted in tradition. (Tiffany)
3. Paeralith.
Architects and Archmages, the Paeralith House is responsible for building and creating many of the Myrrdin arcanic landmarks that litter Tara. Once monuments to ley lines and places to channel greater magical power, these structures are now used to ground summoning circles, maintaining Ars Materia's place at the center of the universe and guardian a delicate planar balance. (Gregg)
4. Exiethriel.
Tamers and Monster Slayers, those of the House of Exiethriel are bright and resourceful, though generally short-lived. They derive a thrill from the hunt, fulfillment from domesticating and training great beasts, are not often found in the House within the Kingdom of Owtla. Having no political passions, Exiethriel House simply seeks to tame the known world and to explore what is left to be seen. As such, this House makes perfect pathfinders and trailblazers, and it is a joke among the Myrrdin people that an Exiethriel can be found in the strangest of places at the best of times.
5. Soren.
Musicians and Quillwrights, the Soren House invented the art of using musical sheets to encode their magical practises and weave the lexicon into their music. Innovative and lyrical, a performance by a member of the Soren family is as bewitching as it is an act of weaving the mundane and arcane, an act of duality that beautifully represents the Myrrdin people. (Gregg)
6. Melysanthir.
Isolationists and Planar Specialists, The Melysanthir House is a private family but is not without some eccentric tendencies. This house is renowned their the planar gates they aligned before the cataclysm that still remain functional to date. As such, the house does its best to maintain a catalog of planar events, crossings, and practical ways of closing and opening gates. These secrets are closely guarded, so many of the Melysanthir youth are not even privy to these secrets. For this reason, many of this House in particular end up on pilgrimages to train themselves for their responsibilities in later life.
7. Lydandathil.
Traders and Investors, the Lyndandithil House are fondly referred to as princesses and princes due to their sheer amount of wealth and how they seek to economically influence the direction in which the Myrrdin people evolve. They are most known for their creation of "chain businesses", monuments dedicated to historical figures, and other public buildings and structures. Passionate and largely independent individuals, a great many of the Lydandithil house are very politically involved which leads to infighting even among the House itself.
8. Danaii.
Hunters and Wardens, the Danaii House remain the only and last semi-nomadic family of the Myrrdin people. They make natural archers and practiced survivalists. Known for their trade in natural goods, and for their breeding of the Baba Wruksa (The Barghest), the Danaii family lives on old infamy, and is currently one of the houses known to send members of their house abroad for glory and the protection of the natural realm.
9. Elluin.
Liberators and Sentinels against Oppression, the Elluin House was formed after the Fall of the Adrelan Empire, where they rescued other family houses from the onslaught of the Crown City. Much of their efforts now are in opposition to noted oppressive forces, such as the imperialist efforts of the Ievlen Empire. (Tiffany)
10. Sylvar.
Sculpters and Craftspeople, the Sylvar House is famous for their production of Ironwood Trees and The Mushroom Grove before the cataclysm. They learned to manipulate these species to grow gigantic variants that could accommodate and live symbiotically the Myrrdin people.
11. Astrashiy.
Clerics and Healers, the Astrashiy House formed before the cataclysm in a time of a mundane plague. Known for their pious nature and adherence to the tenets of their divine trinity, the Astrashiy developed mundane and arcane practices to cure illnesses, mend wounds, and relieve the soul of its ails. To this day, members of the Astrashiy family dedicate themselves to the healing arts, or as enlightened mentors to guide those they take under their wing.
12. Reytris.
Archivists and Teachers, the Reytris House carry a millennia of tradition, and a font of knowledge . Members of the Reytris House maintain and provide their wealth of knowledge to those who seek it within universities. While not a political clan, a Reytris can often be found as a courtier in sociopolitical settings and gathering, attempting to gather and maintain accurate records on current events.

Heroic Calling

Myrrdin make memorable heroes and adventurers, though their lives are often cut short. With their corruption emanating from them, they slowly can physically affect the world around them, even the people. A Myrrdin who befriends a company will often sacrifice themselves to sap the dark of the soul from their company. Though admirable, it always ends with the Myrrdin turning to stone. It is believed that is why there are so many known Myrrdin heroes with all these statues to go around.

Magic & Technology

How is magic valued? Myrrdins view magic just as much a part of life as the natural world around them. As such, the believe magic comes inherently from inside a person, or did believe this until they met the Tarans. Since then, they have adapted this belief and compared the magic to a "weave" that surrounds all life, as magic is interwoven with mundanity itself and is as much a part of existence as the natural world.
Myrrdins can inherently tap into magic (as reflected by their racial abilities) but must undergo the same ritual as all other races. This is in part due to the nature of a Myrrdin's soul--they are predisposed to the arcane, and thus have a talent for it. The Myrrdin thus don't have a tendency for any one magic. From this, Myrrdins have woven in their magics to how they use the world around them; this is in part why Myrrdins have largely taken to living in natural Ironwood homes, and while their technological prowess seems less advanced; in reality, they have no need for advanced technologies when they can shape the world around them.

Religion

Myrrdin society is based on their trinity goddesses--Leyad, Haeel, and Seren--goddesses of the moon, sun, and stars, respectively; each represent a portion of the Myrrdin psyche to be kept in balance with the others: watchfulness, passion, and invention. From here, racial norms arose:

• Haeel. Children of the Stained Glass Sun, they are natural healers and natural leaders. They take an active role in the Myrrdin community and are the most often seen interacting with those outside their own race. These Myrrdin have ivory to golden skin tones, with radiant eyes and richly saturated hair colors. These Myrrin are most likely to have a crown of several short horns.
• Leyad. Children of the Black Velvet Moon, they are adept diplomats and savant magicians. While the roles they take within Myrrdin society are less visible, this makes them much more able to maneuver within various social groups. These Myrrdin have pale blue to ebony skin tones, a single or curling dual horns, with dark eyes and hair, with even their nails sometimes being a dark purple.
• Seren. Allmother and Allfather of the Myrrdin, Serens are often arbiters and gatekeepers of their people. A Seren, no matter where they go or what they do within Myrrdin society, is always respected. These Myrrdin however, often have the plainest appearance, with muted colors, or black skin with white freckles, and fairly Taran-esque appearance. The most notable feature are their heterochromatic eyes.