The Degan B’earth

There have been many rumours concerning the Degan Bearth and their origins, and although these have often been useful to us, it seems future employers wish a more solid base to work from. Therefore, it has become neccessary to deal with the mysteries surrounding the Degan people. Many rumours have suggested that we are the unholy children of some kind of devil, some form of ultimate evil. I have been given the authority to officially deny this, while in times past it was a useful belief it is no longer needful to perpetuate it.

The two other theories about us that have survived the longest are perhaps closer to the truth, despite their seemingly disparate natures. The first of these rumours is the one most will find easiest to swallow. The Degan Bearth are merely a race of men with birth marks, no supernatural ties anywhere along the line. Most people put our long lifespans down to confusion on the parts of those reporting it. Most presumed that the Degan Bearth merely recycled names, passing them on to sons and daughters, thus giving the appearance that one man had lived for hundreds of years.

Well, in some respects this is true. The flames and caste markings are from birth, but that in no way means the Degan Bearth are as mortal as everyone else. We do indeed live anywhere up to one thousand years, and this is due to the nature of a Degan soul. Within every Degan Bearth soul, there is a tiny part of each of our Gods, and from this we derive our extended lifetimes.

The portion of our soul which is from Degan, the father of all the other Gods, is what gives us our flames, and the more flames, the closer you are to Degan, and thus the higher your standing within society. In every soul one God is slightly more dominant than all the others, and it is from this that a Degan Bearth's caste is chosen at birth, if Karak, God of Blades, is the more dominant then the child will become a warrior and in the same way, if either Shar-Teel or Mudazhre are more dominant then the child will be a diplomat or a mage respectively.

If the most dominant of the Gods is Sharia, a very rare occurence indeed, then the child is destined to be a Flame Knight, the elite body guard for the King and the High Council. Conversely, if Xarn, the God of Praetorn is stronger within the mix the Degan in question is doomed to make the wrong choice at some point in his or her life and thus stray from the true path of the Degan, the strongest example of this tragic occurence is Kraxor The Damned, who was finally brought to Justice, ironically by a similarly cursed Degan, Goran'Agar