Jairus Starvald
Eidoloclast
An ancient Dalan
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION- Intent: To create one of the native species the Raykkans enslaved.
- Image Credit: Deviantart | Deviantart
- Canon: /
- Links: /
- Name: Dalan [DA-LAN] [Children of the Grass]
- Designation: Sentient
- Homeworld: Raykka
- Language: Dalanian | Raykkian
- Average Lifespan: 80 years
- Estimated Population: Inter-Planetary
- Description: Born amidst the jungles and forests of Raykka (Din, Green Heart in their tongue) the Dalan were a spiritual race finely attuned to the seasons, the spirits of the jungle and their own essence. Once they could grow to live for millenia if not more, command the forests with their song and commune with their ancestors through the roots of their trees. All of that changed with the arrival of the Raykkans to their world. Through generations of enslavement, their forests cut down and the world around them exploited they somehow lost their connection to the Over-Spirit. Their life-span has been severely cut as they are forced to work away from the last remnants of Raykka's jungles, forced to breathe smoke and ashes, forced to be surrounded by dead iron and pain.
- Breathes: Type I
- Average height of adults: 1.5m
- Average length of adults: /
- Bark color: Green, brown, blue and others.
- Leaf color: From bright green to red and orange.
- Distinctions: At their heart the Dalan are the literal children of the forests, resembling small trees in a lot of ways. They have bark for skin and leaves for hair, they reproduce by the release of seeds that grow into small saplings which slowly grow into their own being. They are hardy types, but vulnerable against fire and sickness that infects usual plant-life. In the years of their slavery they have started to take their own leaves and smoke it, when they discovered it is capable of dulling their senses and taking away the pain they experience from hardship. As they grow older they begin to lose their leaves, their bark becomes more rigid and eventually they will become completely immobile.
- Races: /
- Strengths:
Hardy: Even with their lifespan severely cut down through the years they are still strong, hardy, capable of withstanding a lot of punishment, before age makes them take root. - Self-sufficient: They don't need much to survive- sun, air, a little bit of rain every once in a while.
- Shaping: They have lost the ability to shape the forests around them, but still possess a mild form of reshaping of their own bodies. They can strengthen their bark, divert more mass towards certain parts of their body, little things like that. It costs them a lot of energy and they need to do it just right, because they can't afford to shape themselves repeatedly in short succession. If they exhaust too much of their energy they might not be able to move again without some assistance.
[*]Weaknesses:
- Fire: Even a little spark could spell disaster in a particularly dry season and either kill them outright or damage them severely.
- Sickness: At their heart they are trees and as such as very susceptible to the same kind of sicknesses. If one of them falls ill usually the only way they heal is by cutting off the rot.
- Dulled: Generations of enslavement has left them severely limited in their potential. Once proud priests and worshipers of the forest they are but a shadow of their former glory. If they had ever been force sensitive that has completely left them.
- Addicts: They are extremely susceptible towards various addictions. For example smoking their own leaves, which is an act born out of desperation and has become one of their last solaces. Even that is mostly taken from them when the Raykkans discovered the potency of their leaves, forcing them to cut them off every week. They still manage to smuggle small portions for their own use though.
CULTURE
- Diet: Light, air, water.
- Communication: Speech. Yet, there seems to be some intimate connection between Dalan that work together for extended amounts of time, being aware of each other's locations if they are relatively close-by, feeling their emotional state and being able to synchronize their working patterns to increase efficiency. For the most part the Raykkans rotate them out to ensure it can't grow into anything more than what they already show.
- Technology level: Pre-spaceflight. They have never been a species of industry and are forced to perform menial tasks in their slavery. That does not prevent some of them to glean some information and knowledge from their captors, they are not stupid, simply uninterested and beaten-down.
- Religion/Beliefs: In the past the Dalan worshiped the forests and their own ancestors who joined the forests of their own free will, taking root so they might provide wisdom and guidance for generations. But with the arrival of the Raykkans they were taught fear and they were taught of more... potent joys. These days the memories of the forests are but a tantalizing memory of the past. But some of them still believe and hope for their eventual return. They hold onto fossilized saplings that they use during their form of prayer, hoping that one they will wake and save them from their captivity.
- General behavior: The difference between the Dalan of old and those of today is day and night. The ancestral Dalan were powerful shamans, shaping the forests and jungles, worshiping them and becoming one with them with age. A song was enough to help the jungles grow around them and they knew a world of plenty. Their enslavement at the hands of the Raykkans have left them a shade of their former self. They are passive, compliant and go through bouts of intense depression when pushed too hard. They work very long hours, sometimes going days without rest, before being rotated out by the next force of labor. As they await their next rotation they either pray, smoke or hibernate if they are lucky enough to have access to a patch of dim light.
Why is a mystery.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Once Din, the Green Heart in Dalanian, was an untamed lush world of jungles, forests, wide stretches of desert planes and mountains. Its people were attuned to the lands, they knew how to traverse it without harming themselves, knew how to grew alongside it and become stronger without perverting the land.
One of them were the Dalan, the Children of the Grass, who made their home in the thick jungles of the planet. It was said that they were born alongside the first tree from which the jungle grew, that they were there from the very start and guided nature's growth with old knowledge born from instinct and spirits. The truth of this legend is disputed, first, and now completely suppressed by the Raykkans. It is still shared by some, in the dark, away from listening ears and watching eyes, but the more years pass the dimmer the memories become, until all that remains is grim reality.
The Dalan have been enslaved for generations now and have mostly resigned themselves to their fate. Sometimes they are able to smuggle young saplings out of the factories in the hopes that they will end up in their ancestral forests, but it is a slim hope indeed. The more years pass, the less saplings are offered up as reality settles in.
Instead the vast majority are given up in fear of possible retribution. Some are fossilized, becoming tokens and talismans of faith, serving as reminders of the grim fate that awaits them all eventually.
