Hospican

Age with Grace
Age with Dignity
Age with Beauty

To be Hospican is to take perfection from each corner of the globe and express it through your own skin.

Hospicans are a species of humanoid that originated when Ghoa'Raque Cha'Thron found the mortals of the wastes without purpose or aid. To solve both problems, the Hospicans were created.

Birth

Children are often praised for their cute features and their innocent smiles. This cute appearance disarms those that would seek to destroy them, and preserves the next generation. Hospican children do not have this luxury. Hospican children are born gaunt and thin. Their lives begin hungry and desperate for nourishment. Mothers of Hospican children typically prepare for this occasion by securing a number of deals with youthful humans and elves since Hospicans requires beauty and youth to survive.

Survival

As magical beings, they absorb the youthful glow from other creatures and adopt some physical features from those that they draw from. Due to this, few Hospican families look alike unless they have cultivated a deal with a lineage of elves or humans. They may also draw from other races, but as elves and humans are typically seen as the most attractive races in the Hospican homeland of Cha'Thron, they typically search out those races. Without feeding, a Hospican will begin to go through a process called 'shriveling.' Shriveling slowly transforms the Hospican into an aged version of themselves. If they go for long enough without feeding, their hair turns white, their teeth dull, their skin starts to gain freckles and liverspots, and their skin also forms wrinkles. These features gained by a Hospican that has not fed do not go away fully after they feed. This means that missing a meal to a Hospican will actually eventually kill them.

Draining Personalities

Even though the Hospicans require youth and beauty to survive, they do not actually physically harm the creatures that they draw essence from. In fact, some people come to the Hospicans to help alleviate some of the stresses and pressures of their physical features. This odd type of transaction spun up an entire line of work for Hospicans within Cha'Thron. Originally reserved for those of noble lineage that wished to bow out of the family traditions, they began providing humanoids the opportunity to remove their appearances. This allowed those that were looking for a lifestyle change an opportunity to start over fresh. It is well known in the lands of Hospican origin that feeding is a normal part of life in Cha'Thron. However, outside of their homeland, the Hospicans typically find it a bit more difficult to secure a meal.

Business Arrangements

Eventually the elder Hospicans found out that they could also give humanoids other features that they wished to have. This ability is very costly to the Hospican's health, and is very rarely granted. Only to those that the Hospican owes a great debt will they give some of their beauty away. Those in positions of power have been known to seek out certain Hospicans for this reason. In some of the surrounding countries, leaders and nobles may hire Hospicans as feature bounty hunters from time to time. These kinds of arrangements are rare, but usually extremely lucrative.

Basic Information

Genetics and Reproduction

Hospican reproduction is very tasking on both parents. When a male and a female decide to have a child, they must undergo a process that consumes half of each of their essence. The more essence consumed this way the healthier the baby usually is. The mother of the child carries it for 6 months and continues to feed it during that process by increasing the frequency of their meals tenfold. If available, some Hospican mothers will feed at the frequency of a human to ensure that their child gets every ounce of essence that they may need. During this time, Hospican mothers become exceedingly beautiful and attractive as well. This is believed to be to assist in the extra feeding needed in order to sustain both the mother and the child.

Growth Rate & Stages

Hospicans grow at about the same pace as a human. Typically adulthood is reached around the age of 23, but it varies based on diet. Some hospicans that feed exclusively on dwarves may find that they do not mature until later. However, when hospicans do mature, their physical structure takes on many aspects of their primary source of essence. In this way it is possible for some hospicans to appear like beautiful dwarves, tieflings, halflings, and other races that are not physically similar to humans.

Additional Information

Social Structure

Hospican social structure is based entirely on charisma and beauty. The more charismatic a hospican is, the more respected they are.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Hospicans have a supernatural sense for creatures with powerful charisma. This helps them pick out good sources of essence in a crowd. To the hospican, those with high charisma appear to radiate a faint glow, and they always have a sweet scent to them regardless of their actual scent. This is because hospicans can smell the essence of creatures. Inversely, if a creature has very weak or corrupted charisma, this comes off as a pungent odor that may even sicken the hospican until they get away from the creature. This rarely happens, but some aberrant creatures have this effect on hospicans.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Hospicans mostly take on the naming traditions of the other races in their area, but occasionally they will use some names that have been passed down as tradition.
Male: Jorrah, Thandy, Corae, Tyl'vr, Uett, Noam, Oarma, Poer.
Female: Vadrenna, Lehzi, Breunia, Navi, Jea, Ellika, Aeril.

Gender Ideals

Male and female hospicans are biologically rooted in their sex, but sometimes this does not change an individual's identity. As a hospican feeds, regardless of sex, their features maintain their sex's prominent traits. Emotionally and mentally, hospicans vary wildly just like most other humanoid races.

Relationship Ideals

Hospicans are fundamentally dramatic and so they admire pairings that are exciting and surprising. They mostly pair for love and they seek their 'one true partner' in most situations. However, the more pragmatic hospicans that seek to become dominant families will sometimes pair based entirely on the strength of their charisma.

Lifespan

450 years with a good diet.

Average Height

Both sexes vary wildly, but on average:
Males: 5'11" Females: 5'9"

Average Weight

Varies greatly.

Geographic Distribution

• Cha'Thron
• Fortosia
• New Vezrenna
• Stotfield
• Ziaria

Discovered by

Ghoa'Raque Cha'Thron

Hospican Female

Hospican Reference

Withering Hospican