Waverling

I made these creatures once upon a time for What Was, a board by Jack.

I don't want to let these ideas go to waste, so I'm storing in the wiki.

(Thankies Basky!)

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Also known as the Shimmers, the Veil-Eyes, the Lightshadows. Old names for a race commonly called waverlings, though they call themselves the Shaah - a word that simply means "the living" and is rarely used by members of other races. They're a race of humanoid creatures, and the subtle differences with humans go deeper than just the skin. They're a folk with an interest for knowledge, myth and magic. They're city-dwelling creatures who like to have company, many people around them. They can just as well be restless travelers or have settled down for good. In general, waverlings can be just as diverse as humans what comes to profession, but the penchant for all thing mysterious and misty is in their blood.

Appearance

Waverlings are humanoid creatures and many can be mistaken for humans at first glance. After a second glance, though, the differences become obvious. They're roughly the same height as humans, but few waverlings ever become sturdy and large. Yet their slenderness is not quite that of the Fair Folk and they don't possess the inner glow and glamour of the Fae. Old tales have it that waverlings are descended from the Fair Folk of great beauty and magic, a race that is now long gone. They still retain some of that beauty and grace, and it is a rare waverling that can honestly be called ugly or even looking unpleasant. This prettiness of waverlings is perhaps best described as somewhat surreal. They are not the ideal human beauties with their limbs that seem too long and bony, their deep-set eyes and delicate faces, but there is certainly something to their appearance that makes them stick out from the crowd. [For a quick-and-easy way of visualizing waverlings, combine sidhe and sluagh.] Most waverlings have very light or very dark hair, some like to wear it long and some like to shave it off completely. And no, their ears are not pointed. Just small and round.

Some waverlings take good care of their looks, some don't care at all. Some take great pride in their heritage, while some prefer to keep it quiet and even try to pass for humans. Waverlings are first and foremost individuals. There is no universal dressing code, but many of the higher-ranking, more noble waverlings prefer to wear clothes that are considered traditional - that is to say, flowing robes and dresses with lots of veils, folds and seemingly unnecessary decorations. The male and female traditional costumes don't differ from each other. The preferred coloration is grey, white and blue with silver for embroideries and little details, but the younger generation has begun using also light pastel shades of other colors - mainly green and rose red. Bright colors are under no circumstances considered appropriate or attractive, and the Shaah seem to have a severe disliking for all bright colors and lights. Most agree that this has to do with their acute senses, as bright things seem to physically hurt their eyes. One of their kind's old names is indirect result of this: most waverlings have with them a veil that they can use to cover their eyes. Widely accepted belief is that these veils are imbued with some of the Shaah's magic, since they apparently lessen or even completely remove the ill effects of bright lights and colors. [Either the veils indeed have a small amount of their innate magic, or they're just woven in a special way that only waverlings know. Racial secret. *eg*]

History

The history of the Shaah is for the most part clouded. They are descended from the Fair Folk, whoever they were. The most widely accepted version is that the Fair Folk mixed with other races, and their children became the Shaah. This half-blooded new race was however weak. They had inherited the beauty of their supernatural parents, but their magic had been lost to the blood of the other parent, those of lower races. The Fair Folk disowned their weakling offspring, horrified by the utter loss of the powers they loved almost more than life. "If they have no magic, let them not be the children of the Fae." But the Shaah would not give up. They craved their parents' acceptance and were jealous of their powers. So they set out to search for magic of their own, and eventually, they found it. They became imbued with the twilight and its magic, the rippling and flowing powers of the never-day, never-night; the powers of whatever lies between light and darkness. The Shaah became the Shimmers, the Wavering Ones - waverlings. They were thrilled at the change and went to seek out their parents to show them their new magic, but the Fair Folk were no more. During the untold years they had traveled looking for magic, the Fae had lost theirs and faded from the world. They were only memories of the old, obscure figures that only cast their shadows in the mortal lands... and those shadows were the Shaah. They are all that is left of the Fair Folk. Or that's what the legends say, anyway.

Lifestyles and culture

The Shaah are an old race, but only in the past few hundred years they have seriously migrated to cities. Nature-dwelling waverlings are rare these days, and even those few live in tightly-knit communities of their own. Of course there are the odd few hermits, but those happen in every race and nation, after all. [I haven't yet figured out the reason for this mass migration, I'm open to ideas if someone has any.]

There aren't really such things as "most common professions" for the Shaah. There are warriors, scholars, politics, merchants... anything. (Anything that they can be in cities. Farmer waverlings are practically nonexistent.) It depends on the place and the Shaah subculture. As you can probably figure out, waverlings living in different ends of the continent tend to have slightly differing cultures and ways. In some places the art of war is valued, and the way of the warrior is a natural, even popular choice of profession. In another city the popular opinion may be against war and violence, but instead scribes and scholars are highly esteemed. In the area that used to be Sha-Nesiril, things are balanced in this matter. Fighters are not looked down on, and neither are bookworms.

The organization of the Shaah is loose. Since they don't have a country to call their own and are scattered throughout the world, there are no kings or queens with absolute power. Waverlings don't even have noble family lines. The children of an honorable, esteemed sage are maybe treated better than the children of a poor midwife, but should they crime and act dishonorably, they will be considered the lowest of the low regardless of heritage. Likewise, the aforementioned midwife's children may well become the best-liked and most famous waverlings of the city, and no-one will look down on them because they were not born noble. The Shaah put emphasis on deeds, not blood. As they have no ruling body, noble families or even much need for either, they submit to the laws of the city and country they live in.

Magic

Magic is an inborn trait for all Shaah. It has been in their blood ever since the first generation that went to search for great powers. Most waverlings learn to cast at least a few spells or cantrips. Some become archmagi, some never even learn to make funny-colored lights. But even the most untrained waverling will sense magic and at least get a "weird feeling" if she encounters a creature or object of great power. One more time, waverlings are above all individuals, and being Shaah doesn't mean you have to make a living out of magic.