Osseans

In this article about Osseans, the species name (ossa) and civilization demonym (Osseans) is used interchangeably. As far as researchers could tell, no ossa existed in Sof Sator that did not act as part of the Ossean society.
In the great canyon between Redfall and the Vale of Endless Summer was the Ossean Sea, a strange sea with still, stagnant water, where there were no currents and no life. Upon this sea was a fog that never lifted, so dense that anyone floating upon the surface could not see the water beneath their ship. Phantom lights moved inside this fog, like strange blew lanterns a few meters above the water, coming near to explorers but never close enough to really distinguish.
Beginning in the century of the 800s on Revan's Calendar, the fog began to spill eastward off the sea into the plains and woods beyond, carrying the phantom lights with it. As the fog moved over towns and trade routes, people began to encounter the Osseans. First labeling them as ghosts, wraiths, or specters, people perceived the Osseans as assemblages of bone drifting about in the mist, being made of the skeletons of multiple species both sapient and bestial, none matching any other or resembling any living being, having in common only the spectral blue firelight burning in the space between the bones and approximate limbs which seemed ever to lift and gesture as thugh in conversation.
Deeply unsettled by these things, which were not at first even perceived as creatures, and seeing them only as an ill omen haunting a ever-expanding, foreboding fog, few of the surrounding peoples reacted with anything other than fear. The fascination of Arun was a noted exception, but their reports that these Osseans had, in the mist, otherworldly settlements were they seemed to undertake magical and alchemical labors of great complexity, were ignored in favor of hostility. Following two military actions intent on the extermination of the ossa -- the Ossean Campaign led by Revan and the Kingdom of the Golden Reef in 920CR, and then later the Second Ossean Campaign undertaken by the Golden Reef in 1085CR -- they are believed to be extinct.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The ossa were a species of anneloid sapioforme, certainly the most intelligent anneloid known in Sof Sator. While they were first seen (and are still often described) as levitating constructs of living bone and blue fire several times the size of the typical Anthral, in truth the ossa were much smaller beings that used the bones as tools to inhabit and interact with the larger world. With origins in the depths of the Ossean Sea, these anneloids were no more than narrow worms with intellects capable of sorcery, which developed a kind of magic that allowed their perceptions and abilities to exceed their limited anatomy.
The typical ossa was a pale gray worm with a cylindrical body no more than few centimeters in diameter by several dozen meters in length, giving them a thread-like body that in their ancient origins perhaps lived as parasites inside the bodies of sea creatures throughout the Ossean Sea. The ossa were certainly carnivorous, though it is unlikely that they hunted or killed in the traditional sense, nor that they had a hand in the deaths that produced the bones they assembled their constructed "bodies" from. These constructs were sustained by Ossean sorcery, and the ossa themselves lived inside the bone and fed on the living marrow within. The long body of the ossa threaded through each bone in the construct, with the size of the construct being proportional to the length of the ossa's body.

Genetics and Reproduction

The natural reproduction of ossa is a mystery that was never fully investigated nor recorded. According to the writings of some in Arun, the ossa could be seen conjuring more of their own number by unnatural alchemical means, while others wrote that ossa created more of themselves by dividing their bodies into two halves which would then grow into complete individuals. Whatever means the ossa employed, they did not do frequently. The number of individual ossa did seem to vary, but did not seem to grow in any measurable way over time.

Behaviour

The alien behavior of the ossa was initially mistaken for that of ghosts or spirits. They drifted about inside of the mist the preceded them, their movements seeming determined by some force that only they could perceive. They moved together in groups, floating together one way and then another, without any apparent intent. Arun's best attempt at objective observation compared this movement to the sway of coral-clinging plants in the sea, bending with the current to catch passing nutrients, though this is perhaps not an apt comparison because the ossa consumed the living marrow of the constructs they rode upon. Further inside the mist, once explorers, hunters, or soldiers were brave enough to explore, the Osseans did maintain places of gathering that might purport to be settlements; there were no buildings or constructs of any kind, but here groups of Osseans magically suspended fluids and reagents, mixing them in alchemical experimentation.
Slight deviation from this alien behavior was noted following the first Ossean Campaign, when the surviving ossa founded New Ossea in an abandoned city on the western coast of the Cradsea. Though still employing constructs of gathered bone for their bodies, these ossa created constructs that were much more anthral-like in appearance, and also inhabited buildings, used tools, and addressed visitors in the Satorian language. This was likely a deliberate change in learned behavior. As their otherworldly behavior had been enough for Revan to label them things and conduct a campaign of removal, it was perhaps the hope that behaving more like the other sapioformes of Sof Sator would make it less likely that they would be the target of violence again. This did not prove effective, as the Kingdom of the Golden Reef saw fit to complete their extermination.

Additional Information

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Anatomically, the ossa had exceedingly limited senses. Completely blind and deaf, the ossa had evolved to perceive only the temperature and movement of whatever surrounded them, be it fluid or marrow. However, the ossa's sorcery--which they had either been born into naturally or had at some point discovered or invented--allowed them to sense the world in a way that might have approximated sight and sound. It is unlikely that they sensed the world in the common ways of Sof Sator's other sapient inhabitants, nor that the ossa would be inclined or even capable of describing their exact perceptions to others. Their intellect and thoughts were both as alien as their perceptions, and it suffices to say that they knew what was going on around them.

Civilization and Culture

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The ossa were difficult to interact with, but the academics of Arun succeeded. The ossa became the curiosity of all kinds of scholars from Arun, and though the Osseans were disinclined to be studied like animals in their own domain, a small number of Osseans did drift into the city of Arun and there communicate in obtuse Satorian about alchemy, biology, and magic. These few subjects were the sole domain of Ossean interest, it seemed, and they were not forthcoming about their own anthropology, society, or history. When Revan began to make motions toward the Ossean Campaign, which included overtures to the sounding peoples to aid in the extermination, the Osseans made a surprising number of friends very quickly. The peoples of Redfall Reach, Arun, Cradsoun, and Gray Watch all contributed in some way to the defense of the Osseans. However, Arun switched sides early in the conflict, and Redfall Reach was singled out for retribution by Revan.
The smaller, more anthral-like society of New Ossea continued formal relations with Cradsoun and Gray Watch, going as far as to join the Nor Sator League and supply alchemy and medicine to aide in The Thousand Year War. But New Ossea's allies were of no help during the Second Ossean Campaign.

EXTINCT

Scientific Name

Sapioforme Anneloid Ossa