Elyri

The Elyri are a people whose bodies embody the fundamental elements of fire, water, air, and earth. Though their origins are tied to one of the darkest experiments of the Heliora Compact, the Elyri are no longer considered an artificial creation.

Generations have passed since the people of Velera first emerged from their elemental cocoons. Today, the Elyri are a naturally reproducing people with a distinct culture, biology, and magical heritage.

Elyri children are born without obvious elemental traits. Around childhood, their bodies undergo a transformation known as the Slumbering, awakening them as one of four elemental branches: Ignari, Aquari, Tempesti, or Terrani.

Some scholars argue that the Elyri are simply a mutation. Their history, however, began with an experiment conducted by scientists of the Heliora Compact.

The scientists traveled to the Verdigris Isles without informing the people of the town of Velera of the true purpose of their work. They purchased land and worked alongside the town, improving infrastructure while financially supporting several magitech devices.

The true purpose was to determine whether prolonged exposure to Aetherite produced harmful effects.

Among the devices were misters that activated at night under the guise of watering plants, filling the air with Aetherite exposure, as well as a shielding system designed to keep enemies outside while trapping the contaminated air within.

The results remained inconclusive until the Sundering.

Mutations began subtly. Yet these changes seemed insignificant compared to the sudden storms beneath the dome and random heat waves that caused fires throughout the settlement.

Then the Citadel fell.

In retrospect, scholars believe the original citizens of Velera had begun developing an adaptive form of magic that caused minor epigenetic shifts. The trauma of the Citadel's fall appears to have used the Aether within their bodies to trigger massive epigenetic changes.

The fall destroyed the shield and left the citizens injured or near death.

Yet not a single citizen died that day.

When rescuers arrived, they found crystalline cocoons, pyres of flame that never spread or extinguished, pools of crystal-blue water, and windstorms contained within individual homes.

These phenomena were initially dismissed as chaotic magical activity. Then, on the fourth day, the first Elyri emerged.

He possessed stone-colored skin, crystalline hair, and eyes of solid gold. Over the following week and a half, the entire population of Velera returned, crawling from mud and water, appearing from wind, accumulating during rainfall, and bubbling from pools of lava.

Velera is now little more than a smear in the Badlands, but the people born from that catastrophe survived.

The Elyri are now born, not made. The epigenetic changes within their bloodline, however, remain.

The Slumbering usually begins between the ages of seven and twelve. It initially presents with flu-like symptoms including sweating, high fever, aches, vomiting, and difficulty remaining awake.

The symptoms generally last between three and ten days before the child enters the cocoon phase.

Children showing signs of the Slumbering are brought to their Waking Houses, where family members sleep beside them until the transformation begins.

Every Elyri cocoon is different, but it is also the first indication of the child's eventual branch.

Family members are most likely to use an Elyri's birth name. Close friends often use their manifestation name, while acquaintances and the wider community generally use the societal name.