Vitareen

A people spontaneously birthed from Vitium made self-aware, the Vitareen are a people whose very origins are shrouded in mystery. Nomadic wanderers with no ties of their own, the Vitareen are beings of liquid metal who grapple with the enigma of their own existence.

It is possible for a Vitareen to appear in any place where magic and Vitium are in strong concentration. Without any known cause, they will rise from pools of undisturbed Vitium and take shape, with a fledgling sentience that struggles to make sense of the world.

This sense of mystery means that vitareen are immensely curious about everything and everyone. To them, the world is an enigma to be solved, and their desire to accumulate knowledge is one of their defining features. Their minds are fast moving and able to process information quickly, though unless they find a topic truly fascinating they will rarely study one subject for long; instead they will move from interest to interest, gaining an immensely broad, if somewhat shallow, knowledge of many fields.

The Vitareen look like humanoids formed from shimmering liquid metal. Their features are usually vague and indistinct in the early stages of their life and become more distinct as they mature and become more sure of themselves. Their bodies are liquid and malleable, but will remain a cohesive whole throughout a vitareen’s lifetime; removing any of the metal of their form is as painful for a vitareen as a flesh wound is for an organic creature.

Vitareen have a ‘life-cycle’ of sorts, though they live indefinitely and there are no biological markers that track or trigger this. Rather, these often come about as they go through a process of self-realisation, forming and shaping their own identity. Those vitareen who have just emerged are known as nexus vitareen, with almost no facial features beyond the barest hint of eyes and an ill-defined body, their most distinguishing feature being the kernel pearl of solid vitium in their foreheads. Masked vitareen are those who have begun to adopt and learn other cultures, shaping and solidifying their bodies to reflect their emotional state like the masks of old actors. Boiler vitareen are those who have a more fluid body, able to spontaneously express themselves and change their features; at this stage in their lives, the solid shells of their nexus begins to crack, its fragments swimming across the surface of their face. Those vitareen who have their surest sense of self are the gravitas, those of a pure liquid form and with the nexus pearl that formed them now cracked, often hovering just a few centimetres around their heads. A gravitas vitareen is featureless, but can form an entire face within moments should they wish. Vitareen don’t afford a particular esteem to others of their kind at different stages of their life; gravitas aren’t viewed as elders, nor are nexus condescended to.