[Species] Tethiran

[Shadowveil]

Note: This information is based almost entirely on Shadowveil, the only example of this species known to have visited this realm, and so may contain slight inaccuracies.

Species: Tethiran

Type: Magical being

Place of Origin: Unknown, last known “base” was the world of Tethir.

Natural abilities: Shapeshifting, manipulation of magical and some elemental energies, telepathy, dimension-jumping.

Diseases prone to: Immune to biological pathogens, but prone to unique afflictions caused by destabilization or irritation of their magical substructure.

Diet: Varied. Most often feed on natural background magic, and whatever food source appeals to their current form. At need they can feed on almost any energy source, but many of these can be harmful or merely distasteful.
(Note: The effect of consuming purified magical energy can have detrimental effects on a Tethiran. These are rather similar to the effects of pure sucrose and caffeine on humans. Of course, this seldom stops humans from consuming these substances. It seldom stops Tethirans either.)

Technological status: They have little technology of their own, what they do have is learned from other species, with some novel adaptations.

Description: A creature based on magical energy, rather than any form of life-force, divine, or demonic power. This energy is stabilized in a magical emulation of a physical form, right down to the molecular level.

Shapeshifting: This emulated physical structure can flip very quickly between forms familiar to the Tethiran, but as might be expected it is far more difficult to hold an unfamiliar form stable. In the event that a Tethiran loses concentration while in such an unstable state, their form will flip back to a more familiar one.
They can, at times, meld several forms together to create a crethik, or “half-form”. These are highly unstable, however, and tiring to maintain. They are normally only used in specific battlefield situations.

Dimension jumping: They are capable of moving between dimensions, or universes. This ability is not well understood, but it appears that they need a “target point” to focus on in the destination universe. (If you really want to know how this works, read the last section of this post.)

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Culture and language
It is not known whether these creatures are truly a single species, or merely a common society of magical beings of varied origin. The name comes from Tethir, a world formerly occupied by this species. All can shapeshift, and it is thought that all have a winged humanoid form. Other than this, their appearance is quite variable.

Their language is a complex mixture of spoken, telepathic, and gestured elements, although the gestures are subtle and would likely go unnoticed by an outsider. It incorporates words and phrases from many different languages, and much of it is effectively untranslatable.

Their social structure is based on a series of independent hierarchies called “khes’tali”, each led by a “velanth”. These hierarchies can vary in size from fewer than ten individuals to several hundred. The association is a loose one, but a Tethiran is more likely to come to the assistance of a fellow khes’talin, especially during daka’suln (see below).

The velanth is the most powerful member of the khes’tali, and is most often its founder. Occasionly a velanth may be challenged by one of their vereil (meaning “those directly below the individual in the hierarchy of the khes’tali) for leadership of the khes’tali. It is rare, but has happened in the past. Shadowveil’s own khes’tali, known as “Theris Taeduran” (roughly translates to “House of the Mountain Mist”), experienced such a takeover when the current velanth, Ric’ashasth, was displaced by one of his vereils, Tannirik Namrin. A hierarchy can never be taken over by an outsider, but they can merge if a weaker velanth declares allegiance to a member of another khes’tali.

Daka’suln: Tethir has two moons, each with an eccentric orbit. The times when both moons are dark are known as daka’suln, and they can last anywhere from a few hours to a week. It is during these times that Tethirans are free to attack one another.

The purpose of these battles is to learn who is stronger and who is weaker, and to settle differences before they turn to open war. Tethirans are not as social as humans, and a permanently enforced peace would soon break down. The daka’suln battles effectively determine who would win in a serious fight, without anyone getting killed. They are critical to maintaining the sometimes fragile society.

There are a few unwritten rules regarding daka’suln. None are rigidly enforced, but most follow by them. A fight begun within daka’suln must end with the first light of the moons. Conflicts cannot be carried beyond this time. Tethirans are also not trying to kill or maim each other in these fights, only to establish dominance. Therefore, a Tethiran will seldom go further than disabling an opponent, for if they get vindictive they will face a combined assault from the victim’s khes’tali, and likely others as well, when next daka’suln comes around. There is seldom any fighting within permanent settlements either. Tethirans who do not wish to fight at the time will gather in such places, and anyone trying to disturb the peace will find themselves severely outnumbered, and driven out.

Any fighting between Tethirans that occurs outside these times must be agreed to by both parties.

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History:
Nothing is known of the species’ history before their arrival on Tethir. Tethir itself was a world with a very powerful but unstable magical field. The instability made it easily visible to creatures with any sort of dimension-traveling ability, and so it drew members of many species, sentient and non-sentient, from surrounding universes.

This led to what might be called a war, although it was hardly organised enough to earn the name. It was more like what you would get if you threw together the ecosystems of a hundred different planets, i.e. a mess. The Tethirans became the dominant species among the fighting, and called others of their kind to the world. Exactly why they did this is unknown. It may be that Tethir held some attraction for them, perhaps because of its strong magical field. Or perhaps it was the fact that humans, one of the most widespread and irritating species in the multiverse, had not colonized it. Whatever the reason, they took the name of their kind from it and made the planet their home.

The fighting was never over, as more species kept arriving on the world. Nevertheless it was rare that any were powerful enough to threaten the Tethirans place at the top of the food chain. What was the eventual downfall of Tethir was the very thing that had drawn the Tethirans to it, its unstable magical field. Details are sketchy, but it appears that one of the many magical conflicts between the Tethirans and an invading species tipped the balance too far, setting off a chain reaction. The result was Armageddon.

The Tethirans fled, escaping the destruction to any location they knew. Since then, Shadowveil has not been able to reach Tethir. Whether the world was destroyed completely, or if it still exists, is unknown. The old paths the Tethirans took to reach it are dead, and the Tethiran society with them. The species is now scattered across the multiverse and individuals rarely come across one another. Some may still search, holding to the hope that Tethir was not destroyed and a new path to it may be found.

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Dimension-Jumping and The Nature of the Multiverse
(Warning: The following chapter contains information of a highly confusing pseudo-scientific nature, because it was written by me at 1am. Feel free to skip my nonsensical ramblings.)

Tethirans are capable of jumping between dimensions, or universes. In order to explain this ability, we must explain how this species perceives the multiverse.

A popular but improbable-sounding theory of modern physics is that there is an infinite number of universes, each differing slightly from the others. Every possible event and combination of events must occur somewhere. Whether this is true is impossible to prove.

If this is true, then a Tethiran can only detect and travel to a tiny fraction of these universes. Nevertheless, this is an infinite number, as even a fraction of infinity is also infinite. (Yes, I know that last sentence sounds like complete rubbish. Read The Science of Discworld III: Darwin’s Watch if you want to see it explained properly.)

It is very difficult to explain the structure of the multiverse in three-dimensional terms, but to a Tethiran it is rather like the distribution of galaxies in a single universe. Some are ‘closer’ than others, and so are easier to reach. They can drift relative to one another, and some are more ‘open’ than others. This results in what the Tethirans call dos’feren, where one universe is influenced by another and so can show eerie similarities.

To travel to a dimension, a Tethiran needs a target point or beacon to focus on. These are usually fixed points in time and space that are somehow visible from another dimension. These can vary in strength, and the distance to the target dimension determines how strong a beacon is needed. Therefore Tethirans can travel to close dimensions with greater accuracy, as there will be more beacons visible. When jumping to a distant dimension, it not only takes more power to make the jump but often the Tethiran has no control over where and when they will land.

These beacons are sometimes caused by fluctuations in the dimension’s magical field, either natural or artificial in origin. Others have no obvious cause. They are not permanent, beacons fade and new ones grow all the time.


((If you read all of that, and understood it, I am seriously impressed.))

[LordPsycho]

((Actually, it's the limit of X over some integer (x/integer) goes to infinity as x approaches infinity...but that's just a finiky little detail, when your doing as many differentials as is required to do multiversal equations, you end up taking a limit somewhere.

Just a little spew from the Engineer, never mind))