-Ice Spirit Clan Sentient: Ice Spirit-
Ice Spirits are a fierce, combative species that live on the Ice Spirit Home World (initially documented by Arokians as "T1-A36-52C"). They are well known throughout the galaxy as melee fighters, as their overall culture has a strong focus on fighting, self-independence, and honor won through battle. While Ice Spirits are more aggressive and temperamental in comparison to most Karitzuian species, not all individuals are so bellicose as to purposefully seek out or start fights. However, all individuals are expected to have some form of combat training, even if just elementary skills in self-defense.
Ice Spirits don't have particularly notable cultures, nor are they particularly religious. Things such as politics, devout religion, and entertainment are not common among them, and viewed as frivolous or even as a waste of time. They are very much fighters at heart, and even during times of peace they will engage in fierce competitions that push their bodies to the limit. |
Image: Ms. Harrier, Dragon Ice Spirit
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Appearance
Ice Spirits are tall humanoids with plantigrade legs, two webbed wings, and a tail tipped with a fin shaped similar to arrow fletching. Ice Spirits are covered head-to-toe in thick, protective scale plates, including the wings, tail fin, and any exposed bone or keratin. The only areas not covered by these plates are their faces and necks, where only black is seen aside from their glowing yellow eyes except in very particular light. These plates can be smooth or rounded, but often they are triangular and have small ridges going down each scale, which vary in orientation.
Ice Spirits have a crest of horns framing their heads. Most crests have one large horn in the middle, and then three pairs down the sides, though the number, size, and length of the horns vary greatly among individuals. However, there will always be a pair of horns about on the same level as the eyes, with slits running lengthwise along them: these are the Ice Spirit's ears. It's debated that the ears look similar to the horns in order to prevent them from appearing to be good targets in a fight.
Speaking of fights, Ice Spirits additionally have bony protrusions on their elbows, knees, and shoulders. These protrusions are called shikes in the native language, and are used primarily as shields in combat, but can also be used offensively. Other than that, these spikes just look impressive, and they can hinder an Ice Spirit's movements. Similarly, Ice Spirits have raptor-like claws on their hands, which are curved. The claws on their toes (three per foot) are flat and blunt, and rest with the points together in a rough triangle shape.
Ice Spirits have only slight dimorphic changes: males are larger, with larger chests than hips, thinner tails, larger wings, longer horns/shikes, and more boxy faces. Females are a tad smaller, with thicker tails, more hourglass-shaped bodies, shorter horns and shikes, smaller or thinner wings, and more triangular faces. Males also tend to have deeper bass voices, whereas females tend to be mezosoprano or higher; females vary more in voice than males.
There are two different Ice Spirit subspecies that are found commonly on the planet, two more found uncommonly, and one mutation found only a specific lineage. Each subspecie has the same basic traits as any other Ice Spirit, but will vary in appearance and sometimes behavior. Subspecies do not occur randomly, only through bloodlines.
Ice Spirits have a crest of horns framing their heads. Most crests have one large horn in the middle, and then three pairs down the sides, though the number, size, and length of the horns vary greatly among individuals. However, there will always be a pair of horns about on the same level as the eyes, with slits running lengthwise along them: these are the Ice Spirit's ears. It's debated that the ears look similar to the horns in order to prevent them from appearing to be good targets in a fight.
Speaking of fights, Ice Spirits additionally have bony protrusions on their elbows, knees, and shoulders. These protrusions are called shikes in the native language, and are used primarily as shields in combat, but can also be used offensively. Other than that, these spikes just look impressive, and they can hinder an Ice Spirit's movements. Similarly, Ice Spirits have raptor-like claws on their hands, which are curved. The claws on their toes (three per foot) are flat and blunt, and rest with the points together in a rough triangle shape.
Ice Spirits have only slight dimorphic changes: males are larger, with larger chests than hips, thinner tails, larger wings, longer horns/shikes, and more boxy faces. Females are a tad smaller, with thicker tails, more hourglass-shaped bodies, shorter horns and shikes, smaller or thinner wings, and more triangular faces. Males also tend to have deeper bass voices, whereas females tend to be mezosoprano or higher; females vary more in voice than males.
There are two different Ice Spirit subspecies that are found commonly on the planet, two more found uncommonly, and one mutation found only a specific lineage. Each subspecie has the same basic traits as any other Ice Spirit, but will vary in appearance and sometimes behavior. Subspecies do not occur randomly, only through bloodlines.
- Commons:
As common as they sound. Their scales are dark green in color, and often have rounder or blunt edges. They are less likely to have ridged scales. Their eyes have a more dispersed glow, making them look softer and less intense than with other subspecies, and their claws are straighter than other species. They are on the small end of the subspecies.
Commons as a whole aren't very aggressive, and are the most sociable of the subspecies. They are also less prone to fighting. However, when pushed into a fight, Commons will often group together and make fighting back a collaborative effort, rather than a solo one. This behavior is reflected in their society overall, including pack hunting and community events. - Trues:
They aren't less common than Commons, though they do stand out from their smaller brethren. Trues have more pointed scales, which are dark orange in color, and curved claws. The glow of their eyes is more intense, making their gazes seem sharper than usual. They are an average size for Ice Spirits.
Trues tend to be more introverted and do things by themselves instead of with others, and they are more prone to aggression, especially over territory or possessions. Despite being aggressive, however, they are actually less prone to killing offenders than the other subspecies. They are more likely to simply intimidate, bruise, and skirmish with others rather than seriously hurt them. - Nightwatchers:
These Ice Spirits are among the three rarer subspecies. Unlike the other subspecies, Nightwatchers have no webbing on their wings; instead the scales are enormously long and laid out like bird feathers, giving them the appearance of having bird wings. They are also scooped to allow flight. Their tail fins are similarly designed, thus they are the only subspecie with a "tuft" rather than fletching. Nightwatchers have dark blue scales and their eyes are a light yellow. They are about the size of Commons.
Nightwatchers don't seem any more or less prone to aggression than the other subspecies, though they do tend to be quieter and more thoughtful, leading to more cold-blooded behavior where, if a kill is to be made, it should be as swift as possible, even if it means the target has no chance of retaliation or is otherwise unaware of the attack. This makes them notorious assassins, though Nightwatchers don't fight as much as other Ice Spirits, only doing so if threatened.
According to their legend of origin, Nightwatchers were created by Sareon to act as scouts, assassins, and ranged attackers in his forces. - Dragons:
These are another, rarer subspecie of Ice Spirit. They don't look much different than the norm, though their scales have a golden sheen and they are described as appearing "sharper". They are also the second-largest subspecie.
Dragons have quite a bit of aggression, though it is both passionate and controlled. They tend to release it only on those deemed as "enemies", whereas even a fight with a friend will result in the Dragon remaining passive. Dragons are mostly judgmental and reticent, though they are surprisingly dependent on the superiority of others: a result of their judgmental behavior making them question who is more venerable than the other.
According to their legend of origin, Dragons were created to work along with Nightwatchers as hot-blooded, determined fighters that don't stop until they die. They would spend much of their time aiding Nightwatchers with their tasks and making sure they were protected should they be caught. - Fallen:
This is the term referring to a particular Ice Spirit lineage. Scientifically, a Fallen is nothing more than a heretical, genetic mutation that causes the Ice Spirit to gain a stark red coloration, both in scales and in the eyes, as well as rather sharp scales, but Ice Spirit legend speaks more of it.
According to the legend, the first Fallen was Sareon, who was supposedly an angel who volunteered to become mortal in order to "cleanse" the Ice Spirit home world of sin as best as he could, trapping the souls of those he slew, and once he died he would create an underworld for those tainted souls to go. Since then he has been the "prison warden" of this underworld. However, this task exhausted him even in death, so once his son lived his mortal life and died he would become the ruler of the underworld and manage the souls in his stead, allowing Sareon to retire to the Abyss.
Supposedly, when Sareon volunteered himself for the task of soul management, all of his sons who would become rulers of the underworld agreed that they were willing to continue the task once they finished their mortal lives. This, so far, has included the entire Fallen lineage, as the Fallen mutation only exists in one son, per family, and it's always a male Ice Spirit. Oddly enough, even if several male children are born from the Fallen lineage, only one of them will actually continue it. The others will simply become Dragons, and any females Nightwatchers; and supposedly, this is how Dragons and Nightwatchers started their mortal lineages.
Biology
Karitzuians are known for being very physically-capable, but Ice Spirits take that a step further with their sheer capabilities. Of course, this does limit their societal and technology growth, because they find more reason to toughen up their bodies than to make life easier artificially, but they still wow other races by what they can do and how much they can endure.
Senses:
Ice Spirits have rather keen senses, with their eyesight being the best and their hearing second to that. The weakest sense would be touch, with taste just a tier above. Due to the ability for Ice Spirits to widen or close up their ear slits to control the amount of noise entering them, hearing can supersede sight or fall back into deafness. The sharpness of these senses change drastically as one goes down the tiers.
Vocalization:
Ice Spirits have an interesting trait to note of: the existence of two sets of vocal chords. This makes their necks thicker than what one would expect from a humanoid species, though it also allows a wider range of vocalization options for them. The first, smaller set of vocal chords isn't unlike a human's, and can be finitely controlled in sync with movements of the mouth to produce words, although they typically produce lower, softer sounds than humans.
In stark contrast, their second set of vocal cords is larger, and quite a bit louder. While Ice Spirits can shout with this set of vocal chords, they have difficulty reaching loud volumes with them; should they want to reach intense volumes but still speak, they will often use both sets of chords together, which gives their "shouting" a characteristic undertone of a screech or a growl. Coupled with the grating or growling quality of their native language, you can expect an Ice Spirit to have a rather unique accent, and not one that's easily understood.
The second set of vocal chords are much wider and more relaxed than the smaller set, though this does hugely limit the amount of sounds it can make. Using this set of vocal chords also utilizes the air sacs connected to the lungs, unlike the first set. Because these air sacs are essential for flying, it can make conversations with flying Ice Spirits unnecessarily loud and difficult to understand with the undertone, primal noises punctuating the words. Ice Spirits can also "engage" or "disengage" the second set of chords by taking a deep breath, inflating the air sacs for the necessary volume of air to produce the noise, which simultaneously closes their ear slits at the same time (this is automatic due to certain muscles that connect the ear slits to the jawline. Opening the jaws past a certain point forces the ear slits to close). As a result, the second set of chords can only produce loud noises rivaling construction machinery at its quietest; at its loudest a scream can be heard from a mountaintop to the mountain's base, loud enough to rival a plane flying overhead. Scientists theorize that this loudness was once used primarily to declare territories, though Ice Spirits normally use it to deafen attackers and to send cryptic, long-distance messages to one another. It is also commonly used as a battle cry.
While the first set of vocal chords has difficulty mimicking any sort of primal sound emitted by animals, the second set produces a characteristic sound almost perfectly each time: the call is a series of chirps or a "rattle", followed by a loud shriek or yell that starts at the same pitch as the chirping before ending on a higher note. Often this ending shriek is done twice, one after the other, and some Ice Spirits will finish the call with a few more chirps. The onomatopoeia is often written as "chi-chi-chi-chi-ketchyaaaaaaaaah", or "cheet-cheet-cheet" for just the rattle. Aside from this well-known call, Ice Spirits will also hiss, hiss-shriek (the hiss has a more vocal quality to it than just being air), shriek, scream, growl, and screech. Not many of these calls resemble anything heard on Earth except for the hiss and growl, though Nightwatchers are said to have their screeching resemble whistling instead, making them reminiscent of raptor birds such as hawks.
Ice Spirits hardly use the second set of vocal chords due to the volume and cryptic meaning of all of the noises, and tend to emit them only when frightened, angered, surprised, or overwhelmed by other loud noises or commotion.
Teeth and Scales:
The immediate features of Ice Spirits are often the thick scale plates and sharp teeth. Being alpine predators, Ice Spirits are well-equipped for hunting in the cold and defending themselves in a freezer. Of course, being biological growths, these defenses don't have supernatural strengths, but they can prove to be a problem in many cases.
The scales can absorb shocking amounts of damage - particularly blunt damage - and even absorb the impact of a bullet (with quite the nasty dent left behind) as long as the bullet has been traveling for over 5 seconds and has a blunt or flat head. Since the scales form in layers, forming an inch-thick scale plate, there are plenty of layers to shed off should a scale become too damaged. The scales also have a unique interior honeycomb design that reduces their overall weight and helps insulate the Ice Spirit, preventing extreme temperatures from reaching the skin quickly. Of all of the benefits of these scales, the simple fact that they are there can make an Ice Spirit inflexible. Flexibility must be practiced and maintained, much like with humans, and many Ice Spirits turn their entire bodies to look at something rather than just their heads due to their shikes/wings/etc. being in the way.
Additionally, an Ice Spirit's mouth is designed more for fighting than for eating. There is one row of teeth along both jaws, and the teeth are rather large for the skull, with the canines being the most prominent. The teeth are designed like rounded daggers, built specifically for piercing flesh and stripping it from bone; these teeth are rightly used primarily as weapons. Only the teeth in the very back of the jaw have a relatively flat surface, used for minor chewing. It isn't very efficient, as the outer edges of these "molars" are still pointed up like a canine, so Ice Spirits often eat their food in moderately-crushed chunks. One Ice Spirit culture even dictates that it's healthier to eat chunks rather than to break them up, partly because it's faster, and partly because chewing is partial-digestion and makes one able to pack in more food, thus causing overeating, which leads to future weight problems and over-consumption of resources.
Double Insulation:
In order to combat the biting cold of their homeworld, Ice Spirits have two layers of coverings on their bodies: short, black fur that absorbs sunlight, and hefty scales that trap the heat underneath, yet above the fur. The fur is paler directly underneath the scales where they attach to the skin, as sunlight rarely reaches those areas. On exposed areas such as the face and neck of an Ice Spirit, however, the fur is thick, short, and deep black. This "blackness" is actually a structural design of the hairs meant to absorb as much light and heat as possible, warming the Ice Spirit in areas where the double-insulation caused by overlapping scales does not exist. The material the scales are made of also absorb and release heat very easily. The combination of fur and scale creates a sort of "warmth loop", perpetuated by the heat created by metabolism, thus keeping the Ice Spirit comfortable even in freezing temperatures.
Growth Stages:
When an Ice Spirit is first born, it starts out with two nub teeth on the upper jaw and soft, smooth scales that are like rubber. The scales harden very quickly, becoming rigid in the center first so any imperfections made on the surface are corrected once the entire scale hardens. This gives newborn Ice Spirits immediate armor protection, even though the scales are only one layer thick at this time. The thinner scales also allow the youngster greater flexibility. As the youngster matures, the nub teeth start growing into the longest canines on the top jaw, with the two lower canines also coming out. These are the first teeth to appear, presumably as another defense method as the Ice Spirit can now defend itself from attackers.
Similar to humans, Ice Spirits will continue to grow their teeth at a steady pace throughout childhood, and their scales will continuously sprout layers until the outer ones start being pushed off. Similar to teeth, Ice Spirits shed their scales in big, whole pieces, unless the shed layers have been broken. For their teeth, Ice Spirits will shed their baby teeth for adult teeth, but no set of adult teeth is permanent. Just like with their scales, their teeth are replaced (at a lower rate) throughout their lives.
Once an Ice Spirit hits its adolescent stage - which isn't when they hit puberty - most of their bodies' energy will be diverted to growing overall. Before this, the wings, tail, shikes and horns are all stumpy, limiting an individual to gliding only. During adolescence an Ice Spirit will receive multiple, drastic growth spurts, both overall and concentrated in certain limbs. This stage is often referred to as the "skyrocket" stage, due to how an individual can jump in size by entire feet in only a few months! If an Ice Spirit's genes allow it, ridges will also start to form on the scales, giving them a characteristic, rough appearance.
The adult stage technically occurs around the same time as humans; however, people are often confused by the term "adult" because Ice Spirits use it to refer to behavioral and brain maturity, rather than sexual maturity. The sexual maturity of an Ice Spirit occurs at a much later time than humans ("middle age", so about 30s or 40s in Ice Spirit years), even though an Ice Spirit will stop growing and be presumed to be an adult at a much earlier time (20s in Ice Spirit years). As such, an Ice Spirit who is considered an adult isn't necessarily sexually-capable. This happens only when the Ice Spirit has finished major growth and becomes more proportionate.
Because it is unknown when Ice Spirits die of old age, it is presumed that they don't have one, as they often die from other causes first and/or don't show the typical signs of aging, such as having the body grow stiffer, having hair loss, and having difficulty healing and recovering from ailments. However, a few mental disabilities do seem to occur with time, such as senility or memory loss, as is typical with Karitzuains. It has also been noted that Ice Spirits seem to keep growing despite being too old for it; however, such growth is incredibly slow compared to the adolescent years, and is usually limited to tail length, wing size, and horn length, which are things that are constantly growing regardless of an Ice Spirit's age.
Age Conversion Rate: 1 human year = 10.7 Ice Spirit years. So a 40-year-old Ice Spirit born on Earth would actually be around 437 years old!
Growth Features and Ailments:
These are various things that can happen either because of an Ice Spirit's genes, or because of accident. Other things that are unpredictable, such as benign diseases, have also been noted.
Senses:
Ice Spirits have rather keen senses, with their eyesight being the best and their hearing second to that. The weakest sense would be touch, with taste just a tier above. Due to the ability for Ice Spirits to widen or close up their ear slits to control the amount of noise entering them, hearing can supersede sight or fall back into deafness. The sharpness of these senses change drastically as one goes down the tiers.
- Sight: Ice Spirits have eyes like a hawk's with the night vision of a cat. The night vision is thanks to a pair of secondary eyelids that amplify perceived light. They are visually noticeable when in use as it diffuses color differences in their eyes, making them appear a solid color. Ice Spirit eyes have also been noted to have a heavy focus on detail and movement, and less on bright light. This is expected since their home world is basically a snowball in space, so daytime would be destructive on sharp eyes with the light reflecting off miles of snow and ice.
- Smell: about average to a human's, yet slightly different due to serving a different purpose. Earth creatures use smell primarily to decide whether or not something is appetizing or safe to approach. Ice Spirits, on the other hand, use it primarily for tracking and detecting bigger threats that emit odors, such as an approaching stampede or a wildfire. They also use smell to identify other creatures, like with most other species, and they are also especially attuned to the odors put out by other Ice Spirits, so they can recognize each other no matter how similar they look.
- Taste: Unlike with humans, Ice Spirits have their taste more detached from smell, making smell less useful when it comes to food. They can still taste the differences in food, but their palates are significantly less diverse with their more limited diet, and only truly-rancid food tastes different to them, not any stage of decay in between.
- Feeling: Ice Spirits have been tested and proven to have a standard nervous system, although most of their nerves are only useful internally or for wounds due to their natural armor. The only nerves extending into their scales to give them a perception of their external form are fine nerve fibers, which can detect temperature, pressure, and breakage, but not pain. Pressure applied to these nerves are also interpreted as an emotional response, which is why some Ice Spirits will have violent reactions or mood changes when something such as a vice is placed on them - and the reaction is immediate. Scientists theorized that the reason the response is emotional instead of physical is because situations applying lots of pressure to these nerves - such as fights or being trapped - call for a lot of energy, and when emotionally motivated, people tend to get more done. This theory is supported by the fact that Ice Spirits often ignore their pains and just keep going despite a breaking body.
Vocalization:
Ice Spirits have an interesting trait to note of: the existence of two sets of vocal chords. This makes their necks thicker than what one would expect from a humanoid species, though it also allows a wider range of vocalization options for them. The first, smaller set of vocal chords isn't unlike a human's, and can be finitely controlled in sync with movements of the mouth to produce words, although they typically produce lower, softer sounds than humans.
In stark contrast, their second set of vocal cords is larger, and quite a bit louder. While Ice Spirits can shout with this set of vocal chords, they have difficulty reaching loud volumes with them; should they want to reach intense volumes but still speak, they will often use both sets of chords together, which gives their "shouting" a characteristic undertone of a screech or a growl. Coupled with the grating or growling quality of their native language, you can expect an Ice Spirit to have a rather unique accent, and not one that's easily understood.
The second set of vocal chords are much wider and more relaxed than the smaller set, though this does hugely limit the amount of sounds it can make. Using this set of vocal chords also utilizes the air sacs connected to the lungs, unlike the first set. Because these air sacs are essential for flying, it can make conversations with flying Ice Spirits unnecessarily loud and difficult to understand with the undertone, primal noises punctuating the words. Ice Spirits can also "engage" or "disengage" the second set of chords by taking a deep breath, inflating the air sacs for the necessary volume of air to produce the noise, which simultaneously closes their ear slits at the same time (this is automatic due to certain muscles that connect the ear slits to the jawline. Opening the jaws past a certain point forces the ear slits to close). As a result, the second set of chords can only produce loud noises rivaling construction machinery at its quietest; at its loudest a scream can be heard from a mountaintop to the mountain's base, loud enough to rival a plane flying overhead. Scientists theorize that this loudness was once used primarily to declare territories, though Ice Spirits normally use it to deafen attackers and to send cryptic, long-distance messages to one another. It is also commonly used as a battle cry.
While the first set of vocal chords has difficulty mimicking any sort of primal sound emitted by animals, the second set produces a characteristic sound almost perfectly each time: the call is a series of chirps or a "rattle", followed by a loud shriek or yell that starts at the same pitch as the chirping before ending on a higher note. Often this ending shriek is done twice, one after the other, and some Ice Spirits will finish the call with a few more chirps. The onomatopoeia is often written as "chi-chi-chi-chi-ketchyaaaaaaaaah", or "cheet-cheet-cheet" for just the rattle. Aside from this well-known call, Ice Spirits will also hiss, hiss-shriek (the hiss has a more vocal quality to it than just being air), shriek, scream, growl, and screech. Not many of these calls resemble anything heard on Earth except for the hiss and growl, though Nightwatchers are said to have their screeching resemble whistling instead, making them reminiscent of raptor birds such as hawks.
Ice Spirits hardly use the second set of vocal chords due to the volume and cryptic meaning of all of the noises, and tend to emit them only when frightened, angered, surprised, or overwhelmed by other loud noises or commotion.
Teeth and Scales:
The immediate features of Ice Spirits are often the thick scale plates and sharp teeth. Being alpine predators, Ice Spirits are well-equipped for hunting in the cold and defending themselves in a freezer. Of course, being biological growths, these defenses don't have supernatural strengths, but they can prove to be a problem in many cases.
The scales can absorb shocking amounts of damage - particularly blunt damage - and even absorb the impact of a bullet (with quite the nasty dent left behind) as long as the bullet has been traveling for over 5 seconds and has a blunt or flat head. Since the scales form in layers, forming an inch-thick scale plate, there are plenty of layers to shed off should a scale become too damaged. The scales also have a unique interior honeycomb design that reduces their overall weight and helps insulate the Ice Spirit, preventing extreme temperatures from reaching the skin quickly. Of all of the benefits of these scales, the simple fact that they are there can make an Ice Spirit inflexible. Flexibility must be practiced and maintained, much like with humans, and many Ice Spirits turn their entire bodies to look at something rather than just their heads due to their shikes/wings/etc. being in the way.
Additionally, an Ice Spirit's mouth is designed more for fighting than for eating. There is one row of teeth along both jaws, and the teeth are rather large for the skull, with the canines being the most prominent. The teeth are designed like rounded daggers, built specifically for piercing flesh and stripping it from bone; these teeth are rightly used primarily as weapons. Only the teeth in the very back of the jaw have a relatively flat surface, used for minor chewing. It isn't very efficient, as the outer edges of these "molars" are still pointed up like a canine, so Ice Spirits often eat their food in moderately-crushed chunks. One Ice Spirit culture even dictates that it's healthier to eat chunks rather than to break them up, partly because it's faster, and partly because chewing is partial-digestion and makes one able to pack in more food, thus causing overeating, which leads to future weight problems and over-consumption of resources.
Double Insulation:
In order to combat the biting cold of their homeworld, Ice Spirits have two layers of coverings on their bodies: short, black fur that absorbs sunlight, and hefty scales that trap the heat underneath, yet above the fur. The fur is paler directly underneath the scales where they attach to the skin, as sunlight rarely reaches those areas. On exposed areas such as the face and neck of an Ice Spirit, however, the fur is thick, short, and deep black. This "blackness" is actually a structural design of the hairs meant to absorb as much light and heat as possible, warming the Ice Spirit in areas where the double-insulation caused by overlapping scales does not exist. The material the scales are made of also absorb and release heat very easily. The combination of fur and scale creates a sort of "warmth loop", perpetuated by the heat created by metabolism, thus keeping the Ice Spirit comfortable even in freezing temperatures.
Growth Stages:
When an Ice Spirit is first born, it starts out with two nub teeth on the upper jaw and soft, smooth scales that are like rubber. The scales harden very quickly, becoming rigid in the center first so any imperfections made on the surface are corrected once the entire scale hardens. This gives newborn Ice Spirits immediate armor protection, even though the scales are only one layer thick at this time. The thinner scales also allow the youngster greater flexibility. As the youngster matures, the nub teeth start growing into the longest canines on the top jaw, with the two lower canines also coming out. These are the first teeth to appear, presumably as another defense method as the Ice Spirit can now defend itself from attackers.
Similar to humans, Ice Spirits will continue to grow their teeth at a steady pace throughout childhood, and their scales will continuously sprout layers until the outer ones start being pushed off. Similar to teeth, Ice Spirits shed their scales in big, whole pieces, unless the shed layers have been broken. For their teeth, Ice Spirits will shed their baby teeth for adult teeth, but no set of adult teeth is permanent. Just like with their scales, their teeth are replaced (at a lower rate) throughout their lives.
Once an Ice Spirit hits its adolescent stage - which isn't when they hit puberty - most of their bodies' energy will be diverted to growing overall. Before this, the wings, tail, shikes and horns are all stumpy, limiting an individual to gliding only. During adolescence an Ice Spirit will receive multiple, drastic growth spurts, both overall and concentrated in certain limbs. This stage is often referred to as the "skyrocket" stage, due to how an individual can jump in size by entire feet in only a few months! If an Ice Spirit's genes allow it, ridges will also start to form on the scales, giving them a characteristic, rough appearance.
The adult stage technically occurs around the same time as humans; however, people are often confused by the term "adult" because Ice Spirits use it to refer to behavioral and brain maturity, rather than sexual maturity. The sexual maturity of an Ice Spirit occurs at a much later time than humans ("middle age", so about 30s or 40s in Ice Spirit years), even though an Ice Spirit will stop growing and be presumed to be an adult at a much earlier time (20s in Ice Spirit years). As such, an Ice Spirit who is considered an adult isn't necessarily sexually-capable. This happens only when the Ice Spirit has finished major growth and becomes more proportionate.
Because it is unknown when Ice Spirits die of old age, it is presumed that they don't have one, as they often die from other causes first and/or don't show the typical signs of aging, such as having the body grow stiffer, having hair loss, and having difficulty healing and recovering from ailments. However, a few mental disabilities do seem to occur with time, such as senility or memory loss, as is typical with Karitzuains. It has also been noted that Ice Spirits seem to keep growing despite being too old for it; however, such growth is incredibly slow compared to the adolescent years, and is usually limited to tail length, wing size, and horn length, which are things that are constantly growing regardless of an Ice Spirit's age.
Age Conversion Rate: 1 human year = 10.7 Ice Spirit years. So a 40-year-old Ice Spirit born on Earth would actually be around 437 years old!
Growth Features and Ailments:
These are various things that can happen either because of an Ice Spirit's genes, or because of accident. Other things that are unpredictable, such as benign diseases, have also been noted.
- Tooth Enlargement:
- Some Ice Spirits will have teeth that grow longer than others; specifically, the canines or the incisors on either one or both jaws. These are pretty much the bucktooth equivalents for Ice Spirits, and don't even impact eating habits. In some cultures these "buckteeth" are considered ugly, though in others - due to most of an Ice Spirit's teeth being used specifically for defense - they are considered a battle advantage that can cause more damage. Because of the size of these teeth, these Ice Spirits do tend to slur their words together more.
- Heavy Head Syndrome:
- "HHS" simply means that the genetics in an Ice Spirit's body that grows the horns malfunctioned somehow, causing accelerated horn growth. The horns grow too fast for the rest of the Ice Spirit's body to catch up, resulting in the Ice Spirit having a slightly-larger - and much heavier - head to try and compensate for the huge horns. In severe cases the weight of the horns can damage a youngster's neck and require medical care and permanent braces in the future, though lesser cases have been recorded where an Ice Spirit just has ridiculous, nigh-useless horns that are difficult to maneuver and travel with. They also cause slouching, as the Ice Spirit is forced to lean forward in order to keep from falling backward. They are very impressive, but for practicality's sake, simple trimming every day can keep the horns at a manageable length.
- Bullet Growth:
- "Bullet growth" just means that a youngster grew up spectacularly fast. There are a multitude of reasons for why this could happen, none of them solid, but bullet growth is largely benign anyway. It can make an Ice Spirit reach adulthood at a much earlier stage than its peers, though for some reason this doesn't affect when puberty takes place. In many Ice Spirit cultures bullet growth is considered a desirable trait, as Ice Spirits respect their elders, so bullet growth would theoretically allow one to become a wise elder faster and garner respect sooner.
- Limpwing:
- What Ice Spirits call limpwing is another problematic growth issue, and it is surprisingly common, especially as modern conveniences worm their way onto the home world. Similar to how humans can have weak, poorly-developed muscles due to not exercising, limpwing occurs when an Ice Spirit's wings don't develop fast enough with the rest of its body, preventing the early use required in order to form sturdy wing muscles to allow future flight. This "accidental atrophy" is visible as the Ice Spirit dragging its wings and having difficulty moving them. Most cases of limpwing are benign, and are easily fixed by exercising the wings more or having them adjusted by a chiropractor. However, some cases can prevent an Ice Spirit from flying for an extended period of time, and even "artificial limpwing" has been noted due to accidents or fights that dislocate a wing shoulder, or dietary issues that cause swelling and pinched nerves, all of which prevent the wing from functioning normally, causing it to drag on the ground.
- What Ice Spirits call limpwing is another problematic growth issue, and it is surprisingly common, especially as modern conveniences worm their way onto the home world. Similar to how humans can have weak, poorly-developed muscles due to not exercising, limpwing occurs when an Ice Spirit's wings don't develop fast enough with the rest of its body, preventing the early use required in order to form sturdy wing muscles to allow future flight. This "accidental atrophy" is visible as the Ice Spirit dragging its wings and having difficulty moving them. Most cases of limpwing are benign, and are easily fixed by exercising the wings more or having them adjusted by a chiropractor. However, some cases can prevent an Ice Spirit from flying for an extended period of time, and even "artificial limpwing" has been noted due to accidents or fights that dislocate a wing shoulder, or dietary issues that cause swelling and pinched nerves, all of which prevent the wing from functioning normally, causing it to drag on the ground.
Culture
Time of Day:
A fun little thing to note: because of their home world's orbit, the planet is occasionally plunged in either darkness or daylight for prolonged periods of time. More suspicious Ice Spirits view this as a foretelling of the future, and attempt to interpret it. Scientifically, it is merely a consequence of the planet drifting between solar systems. Ice Spirits call short or less-severe spells "noctuna" (short nights) or "diluna" (short days); they only last for a week at most. Longer spells are called "noctul" (long nights) and "ditul" (long days); they may last up to a month's time. These periods of time are not predictable like most planets' day cycles, and will mess up the sleep schedule of any visitors. Ice Spirits, however, have circadian rhythms independent of what sunlight the planet receives, and still proceed with their daily lives with their help of their night vision.
Settlements:
Ice Spirits, being independently-minded, usually live far from their neighbors. Many Ice Spirits live by themselves out in the wilderness, or with friends or family, due to being so introverted that they detest crowds. Connections do exist in sprawling towns, however. Because of their desire to have plenty of space to themselves, Ice Spirits usually don't live any closer than a couple of acres from one another, and the biggest settlements - no bigger than small towns - only dare to come as close as one acre for the sake of business and community protection.
It's known that quite a long time ago, noted as "Sareon's Time" in reference to the common Ice Spirit legend, settlements were much more tight-knit, with buildings only a couple of yards apart form one another, and there was a lot more unclaimed wilderness. Yet, in buildings built before this time, a lot of these tighter communities didn't exist. The reasoning is that before Sareon's Time, a nasty type of criminal known as a rogant did not exist, but during Sareon's time rogants had just arrived onto the crime scene. As such, many Ice Spirits sought protection from their neighbors rather than trying to survive any attacks or raids on their own, and created these larger, condensed communities because of it.
Business and Lifestyle:
An Ice Spirit's everyday life is not much different from that of a frontiersman's. Their desire for independence takes them a step too far in that everything is expected to be done by the individual on the Ice Spirit home world. Many Ice Spirits still hunt, build shelters, warm their homes and fend off attackers by themselves, or with a choice group of friends or relatives never exceeding ten members. Many Ice Spirit homes are small, with just enough space for one to stretch one's wings. In the larger settlements life is a bit easier, and all business takes place here. Most businesses are for quality-of-life (butchers, blacksmiths, leather makers, etc.), though there are a few luxury businesses, such as restaurants and jewelry stores. Such businesses are usually centered around the outpost on the planet, for the sake of encouraging tourism to boost the infant economy.
Speaking of economy, Ice Spirits not living in the settlements will still barter and trade with actual product rather than a currency, though metal currency does exist and is accepted pretty much everywhere. Due to there not being an official conversion from a bartering system to a monetary system, however, many things are wildly priced without control; a dagger in one shop could be priced three times as much as one found at the other end of the village! Many shops that accept currency still accept raw trades as well, which throws perceived value in the loop. As a result, the Ice Spirit economy isn't exactly something to boast about, and more business-oriented races scoff at it and call it a "primitive trading system, no less".
Entertainment:
If an Ice Spirit must socialize, it will do so with food, storytelling, or both. Feats of strength and skill are sometimes hosted in larger villages as a means of fun, but Ice Spirits rarely sing (if they do, it's usually a pretty morbid song about war...) and have never been seen dancing. Some former Kamouyi warriors - or simply daredevil Ice Spirits - will also perform "sword dancing", which isn't exactly dancing, but rather Kamouyi moves executed either simultaneously, in a sequence, or both in order to achieve a flashy effect. This art is extremely dangerous due to both the connection to Kamouyi and the fact that it's performed with actual weapons. Its infant form, which has been around for longer, is also still performed. Aptly described as "flashy flying with streamers", it takes place mostly in the air where the performers use tricks to thrill an audience, which is the closest Ice Spirits have come to dancing. A good example of what it's like is a jet performance done by the Blue Angels. Both it and its Kamouyi counterpart are only a few forms of entertainment Ice Spirits made for themselves without any influence from outer cultures and races.
Religion:
Most Ice Spirits only have loose religious ties, just enough to make their lives interesting and hopeful. Zealous Ice Spirits are much rarer, and are viewed as a bit crazy or "taking it too seriously". Ice Spirits don't mind the religions of other races, nor how much those religions take over its citizens' lives, if at all; as long as it doesn't affect them, they don't care.
Ice Spirits tend to only believe in the General Karitzuian Galaxy Religion, and speculate on some things in their own time. More serious Ice Spirits additionally believe that the Legend of Sareon is an actual account of an Arch Angel's choices and mortal life, and as such respect the divine figure known as Sareon. They don't worship him, necessarily, but they value his name the way a loyal soldier would defend his king, and can become offended if others don't share the belief with them. Ice Spirits value physical combat more than simple rivalry though, and one of Sareon's teachings is to never judge based upon belief, so an offense would do no more than demean the disbeliever in the Ice Spirit's eyes.
Rogants:
Rogants are important to note of because of how much they impact Ice Spirit culture, and how much of a threat they are to anyone within their vicinity.
A rogant is a simple combination of the terms "rogue" and "bandit", and refers to a type of pirate that was created on the Ice Spirit home world. In the Karitzuian Galaxy the term refers only to Ice Spirit rogants, though outside of the galaxy some races will also use the term to refer to particularly nasty criminals, or as an insult. In Ancient Ice Spirit, the oldest dialect known to the race, the word rogant was actually skarsteine (SKAR-shtine or SKAR-shtain); this term is still used sparingly on the home world in reference to rogants.
Rogants, in essence, are pirates or mass-criminals (committing of every crime) with specific traits that separate them out from other criminals. These traits are...
Rogants showed up quite a long time ago, back when the only feared criminals were crazed or insatiable Ice Spirits, either looking for something they couldn't find, or attempting something that was impossible to achieve. Because Ice Spirits didn't have a true judgment or jailing system back then, if someone was caught doing something morally wrong, one was allowed to just kill him and forget the matter. This faulty system had already caused some tension between Ice Spirit neighbors, which easier allowed criminals at that time - usually only bandits, as the risk of being caught and killed was too great - to do whatever they wanted, as the blame would be shifted onto someone else. At first this was just the norm in life, until three bandits caused some chaos in a particular Ice Spirit's family. This Ice Spirit was Zuko.
Zuko is infamous for what he became later on, but at this time he was just another Ice Spirit. When the three criminals came and tore his life apart, it additionally tore into his mind, and what they did to his sister and mother only enraged him to the breaking point. Anyone would tell you that he went insane, though it's questionable if he actually was insane, considering he still had clear thoughts and intentions after the event. The first thing that threw him off the deep end was killing his tormentors, which he did gladly. His sister, who was the only one who lived, was horrified by his actions and threatened to run away. Too scared of losing her, he only ended up killing her too. Suffice to say, everything that was good in Zuko simply withered away from distress, grief, and vengeance, and ultimately he lost his faith in his race.
With Ice Spirits being so disconnected from each other back then, no one knew what had happened, or even suspected what might happen next, which gave Zuko plenty of freedom to wander around attacking those he came across. He soon developed a reputation for killing things, and thanks to word of mouth, he was finally discovered, ambushed, and captured by a larger group of bandits. Their leader tried to press him into his gang, but ultimately failed as Zuko slew him and took the helm, intimidating the other bandits into his service and creating the first rogants. He created the guidelines noted above to force some order into his new underlings, and ruled them with an iron fist. To keep them interested in serving him, he rewarded them with carefully-planned raids that were both successful and quite lucrative, thus spreading his name, the term "rogant", and forcing Ice Spirits to settle into tight communities in order to defend themselves and their property.
The timeline becomes uncertain after that, as it goes directly into Sareon's Time, which is based entirely off of legend. The legend can't be proven due to the lack of evidence, but also can't be nullified for the same reason. Regardless, according to the legend, an Arch Angel named Sareon chose to lose his rank and become a mortal so he could "cleanse" the Ice Spirit home world of its evil. This quest of his resulted in the fierce decline of the rogant population, explaining why they are a rare sight in modern times. Serious historians are skeptical of the idea of a single Ice Spirit going on what is essentially a genocide trip while simultaneously preaching moral behavior to prevent future crime, and of this event somehow working out in the end. While they said it possible that rogants may have had a boom in Sareon's Time before their numbers dropped, they argue that the numbers in the legend are exaggerated and that, in reality, rogants did not number in the thousands for every mountain range. They also say that one Ice Spirit and his army could not possibly defeat the majority of rogants in one fierce battle, resulting in a sudden drop in crime rate and a spike in fatalities, as that would result in all rogants being in one place at one time, and there is no evidence of that. While the legend does speak of the fight taking place in a circular valley around one shattered mountain peak, and while this location has been found, the most important piece of evidence remains to be discovered: a body pertaining to Sareon's Time, buried in the snow surrounding the peak where the great battle that ended the reign of rogants supposedly took place. Unfortunately, no bodies have yet been found, even by radar, under the snow.
Kamouyi:
Kamouyi is a collection of battle moves created by Ice Spirits - supposedly, specifically Sareon - that are well-known for being difficult to pull off without injury to oneself. The intended purpose of Kamouyi is to have a "trick" that can be used in order to slip out of a bad situation. or remedy it, so one doesn't die to overwhelming odds. So in a sense, Kamouyi is the martial art of trump cards. The more poetic description of Kamouyi describes it as the binding of the soul to one's weapon, and indeed, not all Kamouyi moves are done without weaponry; many of them are specifically created to work around certain weapons, and some moves can't be pulled off at all without a specific weapon, or even if one isn't an Ice Spirit! Even though higher-tier Kamouyi moves can seriously - or even fatally - injure the user if executed improperly, the moves can also be very flashy, allowing for a sort of "sword dancing" art that is no more safe than sword swallowing to flourish in Ice Spirit settlements.
Kamouyi consists of several tiers, and even though all Ice Spirits are expected to know some form of combat, only serious fighters ascend from regular combat tactics to Kamouyi because of how dangerous it is.
A fun little thing to note: because of their home world's orbit, the planet is occasionally plunged in either darkness or daylight for prolonged periods of time. More suspicious Ice Spirits view this as a foretelling of the future, and attempt to interpret it. Scientifically, it is merely a consequence of the planet drifting between solar systems. Ice Spirits call short or less-severe spells "noctuna" (short nights) or "diluna" (short days); they only last for a week at most. Longer spells are called "noctul" (long nights) and "ditul" (long days); they may last up to a month's time. These periods of time are not predictable like most planets' day cycles, and will mess up the sleep schedule of any visitors. Ice Spirits, however, have circadian rhythms independent of what sunlight the planet receives, and still proceed with their daily lives with their help of their night vision.
Settlements:
Ice Spirits, being independently-minded, usually live far from their neighbors. Many Ice Spirits live by themselves out in the wilderness, or with friends or family, due to being so introverted that they detest crowds. Connections do exist in sprawling towns, however. Because of their desire to have plenty of space to themselves, Ice Spirits usually don't live any closer than a couple of acres from one another, and the biggest settlements - no bigger than small towns - only dare to come as close as one acre for the sake of business and community protection.
It's known that quite a long time ago, noted as "Sareon's Time" in reference to the common Ice Spirit legend, settlements were much more tight-knit, with buildings only a couple of yards apart form one another, and there was a lot more unclaimed wilderness. Yet, in buildings built before this time, a lot of these tighter communities didn't exist. The reasoning is that before Sareon's Time, a nasty type of criminal known as a rogant did not exist, but during Sareon's time rogants had just arrived onto the crime scene. As such, many Ice Spirits sought protection from their neighbors rather than trying to survive any attacks or raids on their own, and created these larger, condensed communities because of it.
Business and Lifestyle:
An Ice Spirit's everyday life is not much different from that of a frontiersman's. Their desire for independence takes them a step too far in that everything is expected to be done by the individual on the Ice Spirit home world. Many Ice Spirits still hunt, build shelters, warm their homes and fend off attackers by themselves, or with a choice group of friends or relatives never exceeding ten members. Many Ice Spirit homes are small, with just enough space for one to stretch one's wings. In the larger settlements life is a bit easier, and all business takes place here. Most businesses are for quality-of-life (butchers, blacksmiths, leather makers, etc.), though there are a few luxury businesses, such as restaurants and jewelry stores. Such businesses are usually centered around the outpost on the planet, for the sake of encouraging tourism to boost the infant economy.
Speaking of economy, Ice Spirits not living in the settlements will still barter and trade with actual product rather than a currency, though metal currency does exist and is accepted pretty much everywhere. Due to there not being an official conversion from a bartering system to a monetary system, however, many things are wildly priced without control; a dagger in one shop could be priced three times as much as one found at the other end of the village! Many shops that accept currency still accept raw trades as well, which throws perceived value in the loop. As a result, the Ice Spirit economy isn't exactly something to boast about, and more business-oriented races scoff at it and call it a "primitive trading system, no less".
Entertainment:
If an Ice Spirit must socialize, it will do so with food, storytelling, or both. Feats of strength and skill are sometimes hosted in larger villages as a means of fun, but Ice Spirits rarely sing (if they do, it's usually a pretty morbid song about war...) and have never been seen dancing. Some former Kamouyi warriors - or simply daredevil Ice Spirits - will also perform "sword dancing", which isn't exactly dancing, but rather Kamouyi moves executed either simultaneously, in a sequence, or both in order to achieve a flashy effect. This art is extremely dangerous due to both the connection to Kamouyi and the fact that it's performed with actual weapons. Its infant form, which has been around for longer, is also still performed. Aptly described as "flashy flying with streamers", it takes place mostly in the air where the performers use tricks to thrill an audience, which is the closest Ice Spirits have come to dancing. A good example of what it's like is a jet performance done by the Blue Angels. Both it and its Kamouyi counterpart are only a few forms of entertainment Ice Spirits made for themselves without any influence from outer cultures and races.
Religion:
Most Ice Spirits only have loose religious ties, just enough to make their lives interesting and hopeful. Zealous Ice Spirits are much rarer, and are viewed as a bit crazy or "taking it too seriously". Ice Spirits don't mind the religions of other races, nor how much those religions take over its citizens' lives, if at all; as long as it doesn't affect them, they don't care.
Ice Spirits tend to only believe in the General Karitzuian Galaxy Religion, and speculate on some things in their own time. More serious Ice Spirits additionally believe that the Legend of Sareon is an actual account of an Arch Angel's choices and mortal life, and as such respect the divine figure known as Sareon. They don't worship him, necessarily, but they value his name the way a loyal soldier would defend his king, and can become offended if others don't share the belief with them. Ice Spirits value physical combat more than simple rivalry though, and one of Sareon's teachings is to never judge based upon belief, so an offense would do no more than demean the disbeliever in the Ice Spirit's eyes.
Rogants:
Rogants are important to note of because of how much they impact Ice Spirit culture, and how much of a threat they are to anyone within their vicinity.
A rogant is a simple combination of the terms "rogue" and "bandit", and refers to a type of pirate that was created on the Ice Spirit home world. In the Karitzuian Galaxy the term refers only to Ice Spirit rogants, though outside of the galaxy some races will also use the term to refer to particularly nasty criminals, or as an insult. In Ancient Ice Spirit, the oldest dialect known to the race, the word rogant was actually skarsteine (SKAR-shtine or SKAR-shtain); this term is still used sparingly on the home world in reference to rogants.
Rogants, in essence, are pirates or mass-criminals (committing of every crime) with specific traits that separate them out from other criminals. These traits are...
- Etching designs into their scales and filled them with paint or dye.
- Being organized into groups. A small group is a band, and a big group is a clan.
- Each band or clan has an Alpha rogant, who may have a Beta that he elects for himself. All other rogants are subordinate to him.
- Each band or clan additionally has an Artist, which is usually a female Ice Spirit that is forced to paint all of the rogants. As compensation, she is protected by the Alpha from more violent or libidious rogants.
- The Alpha rogant will often enforce the band hierarchy by having higher-ranking rogants painted darker colors with more intense designs, and the lower-ranking rogants painted bright, gaudy colors that easily give them away. A notable exception of this is the rogant Bolt, who switched the colors in his clan so he was the bright, gaudy one, and his subordinates were duller, boring colors.
- Larger bands and clans may also have blacksmiths and other productive Ice Spirits pressed into their service, which help them in gathering resources and fighting off anything deemed as a threat. They will also kidnap and brainwash female Ice Spirits and children in order to expand their gangs.
- All rogants in a band or clan will have a single word replace their true names, to protect their identities. This rule was added after Bolt started up his own rogant camp.
Rogants showed up quite a long time ago, back when the only feared criminals were crazed or insatiable Ice Spirits, either looking for something they couldn't find, or attempting something that was impossible to achieve. Because Ice Spirits didn't have a true judgment or jailing system back then, if someone was caught doing something morally wrong, one was allowed to just kill him and forget the matter. This faulty system had already caused some tension between Ice Spirit neighbors, which easier allowed criminals at that time - usually only bandits, as the risk of being caught and killed was too great - to do whatever they wanted, as the blame would be shifted onto someone else. At first this was just the norm in life, until three bandits caused some chaos in a particular Ice Spirit's family. This Ice Spirit was Zuko.
Zuko is infamous for what he became later on, but at this time he was just another Ice Spirit. When the three criminals came and tore his life apart, it additionally tore into his mind, and what they did to his sister and mother only enraged him to the breaking point. Anyone would tell you that he went insane, though it's questionable if he actually was insane, considering he still had clear thoughts and intentions after the event. The first thing that threw him off the deep end was killing his tormentors, which he did gladly. His sister, who was the only one who lived, was horrified by his actions and threatened to run away. Too scared of losing her, he only ended up killing her too. Suffice to say, everything that was good in Zuko simply withered away from distress, grief, and vengeance, and ultimately he lost his faith in his race.
With Ice Spirits being so disconnected from each other back then, no one knew what had happened, or even suspected what might happen next, which gave Zuko plenty of freedom to wander around attacking those he came across. He soon developed a reputation for killing things, and thanks to word of mouth, he was finally discovered, ambushed, and captured by a larger group of bandits. Their leader tried to press him into his gang, but ultimately failed as Zuko slew him and took the helm, intimidating the other bandits into his service and creating the first rogants. He created the guidelines noted above to force some order into his new underlings, and ruled them with an iron fist. To keep them interested in serving him, he rewarded them with carefully-planned raids that were both successful and quite lucrative, thus spreading his name, the term "rogant", and forcing Ice Spirits to settle into tight communities in order to defend themselves and their property.
The timeline becomes uncertain after that, as it goes directly into Sareon's Time, which is based entirely off of legend. The legend can't be proven due to the lack of evidence, but also can't be nullified for the same reason. Regardless, according to the legend, an Arch Angel named Sareon chose to lose his rank and become a mortal so he could "cleanse" the Ice Spirit home world of its evil. This quest of his resulted in the fierce decline of the rogant population, explaining why they are a rare sight in modern times. Serious historians are skeptical of the idea of a single Ice Spirit going on what is essentially a genocide trip while simultaneously preaching moral behavior to prevent future crime, and of this event somehow working out in the end. While they said it possible that rogants may have had a boom in Sareon's Time before their numbers dropped, they argue that the numbers in the legend are exaggerated and that, in reality, rogants did not number in the thousands for every mountain range. They also say that one Ice Spirit and his army could not possibly defeat the majority of rogants in one fierce battle, resulting in a sudden drop in crime rate and a spike in fatalities, as that would result in all rogants being in one place at one time, and there is no evidence of that. While the legend does speak of the fight taking place in a circular valley around one shattered mountain peak, and while this location has been found, the most important piece of evidence remains to be discovered: a body pertaining to Sareon's Time, buried in the snow surrounding the peak where the great battle that ended the reign of rogants supposedly took place. Unfortunately, no bodies have yet been found, even by radar, under the snow.
Kamouyi:
Kamouyi is a collection of battle moves created by Ice Spirits - supposedly, specifically Sareon - that are well-known for being difficult to pull off without injury to oneself. The intended purpose of Kamouyi is to have a "trick" that can be used in order to slip out of a bad situation. or remedy it, so one doesn't die to overwhelming odds. So in a sense, Kamouyi is the martial art of trump cards. The more poetic description of Kamouyi describes it as the binding of the soul to one's weapon, and indeed, not all Kamouyi moves are done without weaponry; many of them are specifically created to work around certain weapons, and some moves can't be pulled off at all without a specific weapon, or even if one isn't an Ice Spirit! Even though higher-tier Kamouyi moves can seriously - or even fatally - injure the user if executed improperly, the moves can also be very flashy, allowing for a sort of "sword dancing" art that is no more safe than sword swallowing to flourish in Ice Spirit settlements.
Kamouyi consists of several tiers, and even though all Ice Spirits are expected to know some form of combat, only serious fighters ascend from regular combat tactics to Kamouyi because of how dangerous it is.
- The first tier is considered "advanced fighting", and consists mostly of tricks that can be used against a foe while in normal combat.
- The second tier consists of basic and essential Kamouyi moves, as well as component moves: simple actions that serve as parts for multiple, higher-tier moves learned later on.
- At this point the dangers are taught to serious fighters, though none of the moves learned can seriously injure anyone yet. The first of those moves are learned by the third tier, and are considered the easiest of the last tiers due to the majority of the moves being easily learned, as they consist mostly of the manipulation of physics.
- The fourth tier introduces the rest of physics-manipulation moves. Due to the stressed need for accuracy, failing to execute these moves properly can result in a fatal injury.
- By the fifth tier one is considered a Kamouyi Master or Warrior, and finishes the training by learning the last few, difficult moves, as well as stress-training by repeatedly executing moves over the course of one whole year, cementing in the muscle memory.
Trivia
- Ice Spirits are among the first Karitzuians to ever be created, and were inspired from the enemies in the console game Mini Ninjas. However, their design didn't differ much from their inspiration source back then, and were dropped temporarily before being revamped several years later, gaining a more unique design and behavioral traits.
- Because Ice Spirits use their teeth primarily as weapons, they don't open their mouths much when talking, as visibly flashing the teeth is considered rude or threatening, especially toward strangers. They also don't smile much, and some races have interpreted this behavior as the race being pessimistic or low self-esteemed because of all of the serious mumbling.
- Over 70% of the Ice Spirit mortality rate is battle-related, both directly and indirectly.
- Ice Spirits connect intimacy with their tails. Tail-touching is viewed in the same regard as kissing, and isn't an act taken lightly. Speaking of which, Ice Spirits don't understand kissing at all and think it's incredibly disgusting. Instead pairs will spend time with one another by simply hugging with their heads touching together and tails entwined, as a show of tolerance for being that close for a long period of time (they value their space). An Ice Spirit couldn't kiss anything anyway, not with those giant head scales in the way...
- Ice Spirits view reproduction as something sacred, or at least as a delicate matter, and take creating families very seriously (on that note, their... organs, are different too, but I won't get into that). They don't understand the more playful, indifferent stance humans take on the matter, and can even grow frustrated by it. Because of this Ice Spirits can "date" for more than 20 years at a time, pondering their choices before finally making a decision.
- Ice Spirits also don't understand wild gesturing, exaggerated expressions, or hugging. They interpret such wild or panicked movements as either spasms or last-ditch efforts to attempt to do something. The expressions... well, that's just freaky to them. Like dolls with those wide, staring eyes...
- A formal way of greeting an Ice Spirit is to create a fist with your dominant hand and place it across your chest; this is sometimes accompanied by a small bow to show submission or respect. Ice Spirits will also kneel on one leg to superiors with their tails flat on the ground and their wings tucked behind them, as flared wings show either aggression, superiority, or simply indifference to rank. When it comes to friends or family (or even comrades) there are no special greetings, though you might get a hearty slap on the back that's sure to knock you over.
- Zuko was the first Ice Spirit to become a rogant, since he created them. Bolt was the first Ice Spirit to break the rules Zuko had created for classifying rogants, including flipping the hierarchy colors so that subordinates sported duller colors and giving codenames to each of his rogants to hide their true identities (usually one word describing something, such as Strike, Claw, Storm, Needle, etc.).
- Ice Spirits, unlike most sentient carnivores, can still have an appetite for - and safely digest - raw meat. They often mix raw and cooked meat into their meals to experiment with flavors, as they can't consume anything else - including herbs - without some sort of digestive lashback (minor amounts aren't detrimental, just uncomfortable).
- Of all Karitzuians, Ice Spirits have the highest recorded rate of engaging their killer instincts, a deadly primal reaction that causes the creature to go berserk when feeling overwhelmingly threatened or enraged.
- The oldest known Ice Spirit language recorded is known as Ancient Ice Spirit; however, aside from some parts of the Legend of Sareon and a few linguistic individuals, very few words are still known and used today.
- Ice Spirits are really bad at swimming, but they can vainly float if needed.
- Ice Spirits can and will die from heatstroke if they are in a hotter region with nothing to protect themselves with, though in regions humans find just a bit colder than balmy (about 60* F) they can tolerate the heat, only becoming deeply lethargic and slowing their brains' functions to a crawl. However, there are Ice Spirits who have trained themselves to tolerate higher temperatures than they previously could (typically starting from birth), enabling them to survive in once-inhospitable environments, called "Dunegliders". Most Ice Spirits that visit other planets with allies are Dunegliders.
- Mousiness or insecure personalities are rare in Ice Spirits; arrogance, rashness, and overwhelming confidence are more common traits.
- With Ice Spirits being covered head-to-toe in thick protective scales, they don't have fingerprints or anything similar to show off individual uniqueness. Rather, it is shown through varying horn lengths, scale size and shape, posture and personality, and other subtle traits.
- Despite knowing about the practicality of weapons more advanced than their medieval weaponry - such as guns - many Ice Spirits still prefer to use their traditional weaponry, usually either considering it “purist” (they aren't using their own enemies' weapons as if in desperation) or incredibly self-independent (for the lack of a better word, “manly”). However, blended weapons containing both the look, feel, and basic functions of their weaponry - while still having advanced features for efficiency - they will still use.
- Ice Spirits aren't fond of admitting weaknesses, something only done to those close to them. They will always try to appear strong, covering up any illnesses or wounds with radiant personalities, an upright posture, and denial of the pain they are in. Such practice is actually encouraged as a way to “condition” the Ice Spirit for any future suffering.
- Shikes are used only as a last resort during combat, since they aren't the most effect weapons compared to manufactured ones. Some Ice Spirits, however, dedicate their entire lives to fighting only with shikes.
- Ice Spirits can't bear the thought of never being able to carry weapons around with them; in fact, almost every Ice Spirit is armed all the time! As such, Ice Spirits don't consider an armed person even a little suspicious unless they believe that the person is hostile, or has a history of hostility. Some beings fail to notice this by disarming themselves unnecessarily in the face of an Ice Spirit, when the Ice Spirit is confident and indifferent enough to not care about whether or not the person was armed.
- Ice Spirits tend to sleep curled up to preserve heat, though in warmer climates they will absolutely sprawl out with disregard to their surroundings. No shame.
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