Lyrdi

Lyrdi are not native to Intirri, nor do they carry traditional ties towards any inherent wish-crafting magic. They are entirely apart unto themselves- riardi souls who resided in Intirri’s astral realm, and who noticed when the Crystal Sphere shattered. When the Llyma traveled through Onsaelyt, the energy was so potent that the individual riardi who noticed began to talk among themselves of the elves’ yearnings. They had never seen such beings before, and were curious- and felt the llyma’s absolute time of need. When the Crystal Sphere catastrophe occurred, its immense repercussions rippled throughout the cosmos like a giant beacon. The riardi souls chose to sojourn from the astral realm with the blessing of the Intirrian gods, and were sent through Tanazira’s portals towards Asmarius-Daatimir. The slumbering Llyma arch-mages emerged as survivors who had awakened and found not long thereafter that the riardi souls were simply from elsewhere, and had expressed the desire to explore the world with them. This extension of partnership between riardi spirit and the arch-mages led to the Damirrans dreaming of relationships with these spirits, and the resulting births became known as the lyrdi. The first lyrdi are technically half-spirit, half-humanoid beings, and consequently have astral perception, astral projection, and physical bodies along with a diminished wish-craft ability.

Because they are half-spirit, their worldly tether to their bodies is less tightly-raveled, and spirit magic is both their strength and a weakness. They are also capable of floating and have no shadow.

Appearance

Lyrdi retain unmistakable Intirrian riardi form by physiology, but their bodies have distinct llyma influences. At the back of every lyrdi’s neck softly glows a crystalline star marking through their fur. It cannot be undone by magical means, and regrows when surgically removed. The lyrdi say that the llyma’s marking is a gift recognizing the brilliance of one’s soul, and they are proud to also bear it. They have dark-colored sclera, which may be violet or a darker shade of their iris’s color. Their irises also are flecked densely with metallic colors- a trait from their llyma heritage. Llyma stand between seven and a half feet tall to eight feet tall.

Way of Life:

Lyrdi have integrated easily into the pragmatic, secular mindset in Damirran society. They are self-reliant, highly adaptive, and focus entirely on the present moment. They have no belief in gods, nor do they desire sanctuary or spiritual tradition. Life is viewed as a completion and loss as an illusion. Unfortunately, this can make lyrdi appear deeply detached or dismissive during tragedies, which could be perceived as a jarring lack of empathy by Damirrans who experience permanent grief. The simple truth is that they are half-spirit, and cannot turn away from that fact. The first lyrdi’s riardi parentage has spoken of gods as real, yet distant, and this truth- being rather irrelevant to the first lyrdi- have chosen to let it slide from their minds and realities.

Because lyrdi are peaceful in nature, they do not intend to cause harm to others, and have a profound understanding which most Damirrans do not. While most Damirrans find control and peace versus existential dread by focusing on tangible stewardship of one another in a wild world, the lyrdi practice stewardship by reminding others that the underlying spirit of things resides in a state of harmony and continuity, even despite the physical form dissolving through time. Thus, the lyrdi are respected in their own right, though often viewed as profoundly strange, surreal beings who navigate the need for comfort and meaning through a perception which mortal eyes cannot fully share.

Lyrdi are sensitive to spirit and transmutation magics. They perceive the physical world around them- including biological life- as inherently pliable. They are acutely aware of societal risks and regulations the Coalition has put forth, and they have no use for ancient history nor ancestral grief or remembrance. They look at the Crystal Sphere event as what it was- a massive error to be understood, learned from, and to find their own ways forward in life.

Genetic Details

The following is genetic information for the lyrdi. Because the Lyrdi are half-spirit and half-humanoid, their physical biology introduces traits to the broader riardi gene pool that are distinct from other riardi in Intirri. These features can be passed down into hybrid bloodlines if they take lovers among other populations, and this weaves the essence of the Crystal Sphere catastrophe into the planet’s lineage.

Float- Lyrdi are capable of floating in the air as though they were drifting about as discarnate, manifest spirits. This includes their physical forms, similarly to the suryngai of Athos.

Shadowless- Being half-spirit, lyrdi do not create shadows behind them. Any manner of illumination passes right through them. This trait often has earned them high-risk positions of employment.

The following data, along with further genetic info on the lyrdi, can be found here:
Riardi Genetic Codex- Lyrdi Genetics

STA/STA- Star- Lyrdi have bioluminescent star markings over the back of their heads, and this glows through their fur, regrows, and can never be ‘off’.

Hck/hck- Lyrdi have smooth hocks, without the usual hock spikes that riardi have.

MIP/MIP- Metallic Iris Pigmentation- Lyrdi have metallic-flecked eyes which resemble starfields, and this trait coincides with darker sclera. Their sclera color may be dark violet from their llyma heritage, or it may be a darker shade from their iris color.

Hct/Hct- Lyrdi have tufts of thick fur on their hocks, and this fur generates a constant, subtle static charge which repels grit, ash, particular, and ambient debris. This keeps their paws completely free of accumulation. This trait can be passed into the riardi gene pool, and in hybrids, their ankles- spiked or not- is coarse and prevents mud, dirt, and industrial soot from caking on them during extensive movement.

Ears Dagged- Lyrdi’s ears are shapeD differently than riardi’s ears, and these shapes can pass into the riardi species overall were they to ever return to Intirri. Rather than length, width, and tip shape, the whole ear presents a completely unique silhouette. Because of the smooth ear surface being interrupted by these shapes, the lyrdi have the capability to pinpoint low-frequency vibrations with incredible accuracy. This makes them even more dangerous when they also have the shadowless trait. It is said that their ears became dagged from traveling through Onsaelyt for so long on their journey to Asmarius-Daatimir.

Triple Tails- Lyrdi have three tails and are the only riardi to do so, before this trait passes through into the riardi species as a whole. They do not bear sap, venom, wax, poison, nor reagent, nor do they have a digestive process and tail-head at the tip of their tails. The lyrdi are half-spirit, and their tails assist in actively drawing in, swallowing, and neutralizing ambient magical energy around them. This is compressed into a stable, nonreactive energy field which acts as a magical supplement for the lyrdi in the event that they must rely on it when physical food is scarce. Due to this, they create no magical footprint whatsoever- an enemy trying to track them simply cannot register the lyrdi, and at best, might pick up on a natural ‘dead zone’ in the room instead. Lyrdi who hide near a rip in the astral realm could feed off of the ambient energy and stake out a location for days without requiring physical food and drink.

Because the Lyrdi were forged by a cosmic catastrophe, their half-spirit nature means they are constantly straddling the line between physical reality and the astral realm. When the riardi is an adolescent, they gain their second tail, and upon middle age, their third. Their tails serve as physical counter-balances, but more importantly, lyrdi bodies are inherently unstable in the physical world. Without a constant anchor, their lack of a shadow shows that they risk naturally slipping out of phase with Asmarius-Daatimir entirely for stretches of time. Each tail thus anchors the lyrdi by serving as an anchor point into the fabric of their local space-time. Extending their tails in different directions enables them to make a biological ‘tripod’ which can connect with the land and its ley-lines. If they are reduced to one tail and it becomes injured or pinned, the lyrdi begins to lose physical cohesion. They turn translucent and lose the ability to interact with the solid world. Multiple tails gives them deeper connection. Their tails can be trained to be prehensile over time.

However, miramba is an environmental resource which can become volatile, corrupted, thin, or hyper-dense. Intaking it into a single organ is incredibly dangerous. Thus, multiple tails function like a multi-stage filtration system for the lyrdi, and they pull in raw energy with one while the second stripes out unwanted energetic static. A third- the most they can grow- purifies and neutralizes the miramba and renders it usable as a resource. This protects the lyrdi from magical poisoning or other mishap. They can traverse highly-unstable magical disaster zones and cross through miramba storms which could have obliterated or mutated other creatures.

Lyrdi can consciously learn to alter their anchoring pressure across their tails, and briefly slip out of phase with reality. This can be manipulated intentionally. They can phase fully out and back in, or hold the rest of their body anchored to the floor with their tails so they don’t fully vanish if they need to do a partial phase shift like sliding an arm through a solid mirror.

In the lyrdi, tail length varies and length does not adversely affect functionality. Uptake times, potency, and response may be swifter or sluggish depending on the individual’s practice.

Lyrdi are presently unavailable.