The Lady is the Goddess of Balance, of Neutrality and of Absolution. Beyond this, very little is known about Her apart from the members of Her immediate family. The Lady has been the Divine Wife of Timus longer then any other God can remember, even should they be bothered to try and work out such a thing. The birth of Her three Divine Sons is also lost in the passage of time, though no doubt Timus can step back to the moments as He wishes. Zarner, the eldest of Her Divine Sons was born many millenia before His Divine Brothers and as such was a grown God long ago. However Her other two Divine Sons, Hevar and Ievar, are relatively young having been born only a comparative handful of millenia ago.
Yet, like many of the Goddesses, The Lady has taken relatively little interest in the fortunes of Her Divine Children since then, preferring to spend time with Timus, exploring the depths of space and time with Her Divine Husband. However, the Gods arrival on Tal'Vorn and Timus' consequent interest in the planet changed things slightly. Seeing the delight that the Time God took in crafting His creations, the Ether Walkers, The Lady determined to do the same for Herself, perhaps simply to see what all the fuss was about.
However, unlike Timus, She did not wish to create a species that was so specialised, so designed to not live on Tal'Vorn's surface, like the Ether Walkers who have their home in the confusion and darkness of the Outer Reaches. Instead The Lady decided to make a Race that could simply step away from the dangers of the world and exist there whilst existing elsewhere at the same time. A simple concept, but a complex thing to try and attempt. However, The Lady is nothing if not resourceful and spoke extensively with Grathis about the possibility of the idea. Eventually between the two of them, the God and Goddess managed to hit upon a method that was at least partially successful.
The Ilarn were the result of this method. Physically they are not overly bizarre, beyond having pale purple skin instead of the normal hue. This is due to a different pigment being present in the skin then for most other Races. The pigment is not designed to protect against the sun's ultraviolet rays, though it does so very well, but to allow them to be absorbed at will. This allows them to vanish from sight when within sunlight, simply seeming to shift out of existence as they absorb and twist the way the light effects them. This works less well in artificial light however, and the Ilarn have long since learned how to use stealth to evade detection at night. Beyond this one physical abnormality, they are an almost run of the mill humanoid Race, in so far as any Race on Tal'Vorn can be declared as run of the mill.
The Ilarn have lived for many years in the North, in the splendour of their city of Askelion. Hewed from the very ice of the Winter's Blood glacier that winds its slow and immense way south from the frozen wastes of the North Pole, Askelion is truly beautiful. The light of Solar and Grathis shines and reflects from the towers and the great sweeping arches all formed from the living ice of the glacier. Though, naturally, cold and rife with bitter winds on the outer ramparts, the city is cunningly constructed to sweep the worst of the winds back outside, so the houses within are both warm and secure.
It is here that the Ilarn have their most numbers and, though they are slowly spreading, they are an uncommon sight across the rest of Tal'Vorn. Their abilities are even less well-known, and the subject of myth and legend rather then true fact. The reality of it is far less complex then the storytellers would have everyone believe. The Ilarn are capable of stepping out of reality, disconnecting themselves from the physical plane of existence.
To understand how they are capable of doing this requires you to understand their history and the relationships their creator, The Lady, has amongst the other Gods. Timus has always been close allies with His Divine Brother, Grathis the God of Knowledge and Magic. However, typically of Him, Grathis is uninterested in creating His own creations to walk on Tal'Vorn's face, thinking His task done with the birth of the Mani. Indeed the Changing God has spent much of His time in recent years desperately trying to undo the damage that His creations have dealt to the forest dwelling Lar'K'Leth.
The Lady asked for Grathis' help in allowing Her creations to escape from the dangers that Tal'Vorn possessed and, in honour of His long friendship with Timus, Grathis agreed. Together they laboured over the creation of the Ilarn until at last Grathis was satisfied. Technology, rather then magic, was the key here. All Ilarn have microscopic artifical life-forms in their blood streams and it is these that respond to the mental impulses of the Ilarn. They are akin to the mani, though formed of machine not magic, and have a similar reaction to the will of others. These organisms can cast but one thing, but they do it superbly. By utilising the Sea, the space between dimensions, the Ilarn can literally shift their bodies one molecule out of existence and into the Sea.
This ability is perfect for escaping physical harm, or to allow them to simply walk through physical obstacles. However, there are several flaws in their Phase capabilities. Firstly, it is relatively weak at a young age and takes several decades to fully develop before it is of any real use in combat. Secondly the Phase only lasts for a few seconds before the micro-organisms are stripped of their energy. Though this energy only takes a few seconds to recharge, if the Ilarn should Phase back into reality at the wrong moment then it could be a few seconds too long. Finally the Phase is only useful against physical attacks. It does nothing to block magical spells or weaponry, as these attacks exist partially in the Ethereal Sea already.
Unfortunately these drawbacks are insurmountable, partially because Grathis has long since lost interest in the project, and partially because the Ilarn themselves have little idea how they function. Everything they do know however, has been harnessed and then twisted, into two fields of study, most Ilarn spending their time training to control one or the other. Phase Magic allows the usage of Magic to simulate the effects of the Phasing, with spells and incantations making objects, weapons, and other such things come in and out of reality. Indeed the Magic is capable of making objects more 'real', causing weapons to be more lethal and spells more effective.
Phase Technology, on the other hand, is designed purely around harnessing the power of the micro-organisms themselves. By taking samples of blood and applying what they know of magic and technology, the Ilarn have created a twisted form of alchemy, using their technology to cause objects to actually transform into other things. This allows the user of Phase Technology to change their own physical appearance, to cause elements to change, to create real food from nothing but ice and a whole multitude of other abilities. However, the Technology, as it is perhaps wrongly called, is highly unstable, requires Ilarn blood and a massive amount of magical energy to be successful.
It is perhaps fortunate then that the Ilarn have access to the largest mine of Mani Crystals anywhere on the planet. Trapped within the ice of the Winter's Blood glacier, the Mani have been compressed and crushed until they create a form of crystal that is an almost limitless supply of magic. Though the Crystals can be exhausted, this does not last long as they actively attract and devour Mani in order to keep their power levels as high as possible. These crystals are incredibly rare elsewhere on Tal'Vorn, yet the Ilarn use tiny chips of it in their lights, showing exactly how common place this wondrous crystal formation actually is.
The only other mine of Mani Crystals available is below Drazzahezz, the Dwarven Capital, and that vein is relatively small and, though the Dwarves are unwilling to admit it, the haul is steadily falling each year. The Winter's Blood mine, on the other hand, shows no signs of even slowing down, let alone running out.
The Ilarn tend to live in isolation from the rest of Tal'Vorn, being uninterested in all the petty wars and squabbles that seem to rage interminably across the planet. This may be due to their longevity for, though they are far from immortal, the Ilarn live for about the same time as a Mermen, several thousand years if uninjured and not slain by disease. However some of the Race have decided that isolation is far too boring and have set out to integrate themselves with the rest of Tal'Vorn. In this they have been mostly successful as the Ilarn are, for an isolated species, remarkably tolerant and adapt both quickly and easily to the habits and customs of the other Races. Indeed some of the Ilarn have even started up a small community within Vorn City and have started sending their children to the Mage School, as well as tutoring them at home about the intricacies of Phase Magic or Phase Technology.
Their social developments set aside, the Ilarn as a people have not changed very much since their creation. They are adaptable, curious, intelligent and skilled in a wide range of areas. They are, perhaps, experts at being generalists, and their ability to easily and quickly escape any kind of real harm allows them to go almost anywhere they desire, secure in the knowledge that they will be safe in doing so.
© Joshua Binks (Paladin), Christopher Riley (Carnage) and Vanessa Vaughan (Andanin) 2002 -