Materium

"We never really had the conception of a people who were not ourselves. Our cosmology did not permit it, you know? Above us was aether, raw and unliveable and infinite, with bound elemental realms where dwelt the sprites. Below us, earth and fire, and eventually, the endless infernal realms where dwelt demonkind. Betwixt, where aether thinned enough to permit matter, and the influence of the Hells waned enough to permit life, was the Plane, bounded at its rim by endless ice. And all the peoples of the Plane were ... us. No room there for other worlds, let alone other peoples. Our only real term to describe ourselves, as a people, was ... well. People.

I suppose ... if pressed on it ... well, there is one text that comes to mind. Metric Bistort Cinali's Structure of the Realms, a publication of the third tectad I believe. Foundational document in cosmology and invocation, we still teach from it despite the archaic language. Any mage worth their colors will have learned the text. And should we have call to name ourselves in contrast to other sorts of people, it is the community of mages that would do the naming. If I remember with accuracy, Bistort describes the cosmology thusly:

Above, in aether unbound, we find the Realm Elemental, divided by breed and populated by Elementum, spirit and sprite in infinite variety and constant flux. Below, beyond earthen deep, we find the Realm Infernal, divided by varied Hells and populated by Demonium, demons in hierarchical circle and binding contracture. Betwixt, as inferno and aether give way in pair, we find the Realm Material, divided by chasm and sea and mountain tall, and populated by Materium, the manied people of the Plane in nation and tribe. Where the heaven meets the hell, it is there that we find ourselves, neither devil nor spirit, something greater and less than all.

Well, I will admit, the man did philosophize a tad alongside his theory. And our understanding has grown greatly from his time; we know now as we did not then that a spirit is a created thing, not invoked from the Realms, for one. But nonetheless, Bistort's methods and magics have been taught to any mage who has ever studied invocation, and that's any who have ever studied. I suspect, should the matter be pressed upon us, the community of mages - and for such import, I do mean Metrics alone - would find Bistort weighing on their minds. His term, Materium, describing the inhabiting sophonts of the Material Realm, the Plane ... archaic, for certain, and I know not the singular construction. But as we learn our cosmology to be at best a metaphor, and at worst a lie, that and that alone would be a term in our tradition and scholarship that refers solely to us as a people. Were I the Metric called upon to choose a name for my people - and, for all I know, here and now, I might well be - I suppose I could do rather worse."

- Metric Parsnip Pasternak, late-night pontifications

Basic Information

Anatomy

Materium are bipedal and generally humanoid, with a height typically falling between fict foot and sict foot six at maturity, not counting their tufted ears which often rise an additional six inches from the top of the skull. Their dark grey skin is covered in a thick, short fur, generally darker blues with patterning in shades of lighter green. They have large eyes in shades of red or orange, taking up the greater portion of their face, capable of dilating to nearly the full width of the socket or constricting to near pinpoints. Along the crown of the head, Materium fur thins but does not fully eliminate, to allow for the growth of smooth, wavy hair in a variety of bright shades, typically bicolored with natural streaks or highlights in a third.

For extremities, Materium have hands with opposable thumbs and three long fingers, and long, flat feet with four long and agile toes. Though not entirely prehensile, and not opposed, it is not uncommon for them to use their toes as fully mobile digits, capable of delicate enough manipulation to write or handle utensils. Their hips are hypermobile, allowing the legs and feet great flexibility in terms of where they might reach. Materium also bear a long tail, trailing nearly their full height behind them, highly prehensile and covered in longer, silky fur.

They are obligate carnivores, with carnassial dentition, and long sharp fangs for cuspids at the side of six incisors, each top and bottom. The bottom fangs bear covered grooves with a slight opening at the rear of the cusp, serving as a channel for the delivery of a vestigially paralytic venom generated by and stored in a gland in the throat. They are mammals, with two breasts, and give live birth to typically one child at a time. They experience ovulation on a roughly foct-day cycle, but do not experience estrus.

Growth Rate & Stages

A Materium is born rather helpless, but develops physically fairly quickly, able to move on four legs within three months of birth. Mental development is noticeable at one year, with full sentences expected by the age of three. Puberty generally begins between the ages of fitect and vitect, with full sexual maturity and physical growth probable by the age of twoct two. Brain development and intellectual maturity is deemed complete, on average, by the age of throct. The age of majority, in most cultures, is generally placed at twoct one.

Barring injury or ailment, Materium remain physically and mentally sound until they are generally one tect foct, at which point age begins to impose a decline. Given women experience an end to fertility typically by one tect twoct, though there are significant health risks involved to both mother and child in bearing young past the age of tect. The general life expectancy of the average Materium is approximately two tect, though someone in great health who has lived a careful life may see the age of two tect foct before they fall.

Civilization and Culture

Gender Ideals

It is not that bigotry does not exist, sad to say. Backwards thought is an inevitability. But all right-thinking people and societies are deeply scornful of such hateful attitudes. A man is a man, heritant or claimant, as a woman is a woman, and should someone be neither, then they are neither. Should someone's anatomy fail to align with their identity, transmutative magic can do a great deal to solve the issue, though certain alchemical dosing might remain necessary long-term.