Post by ♞ C C C X L I I ♞ on May 21, 2011 14:21:45 GMT -5
This is going to be an interactive essay series of sort on the different species. It'll provide information that the Species page does not give you. And let me tell you, there is a lot that it doesn't. The information will be on what the species is and what their history is, also stuff on their powers and so on. This information is based on things in the FAQ, various posts, the C-BOX, some of my own assumptions and other conversations. In other words a lot of stuff has been lost that hasn't been put down to words. I encourage you to ask questions, but remember not to take anything here to heart unless Neme posts to approve it. So let's begin.
What are Kurori?
The Species page tells us that the kurori are "Elite Demons" but that isn't true. By Christian definition they are not any kind of demon or angel or any other kind of extraplanar being. They are humans to an extent. They look like us, they walk like us, they reproduce like us, they have the same organs, and etc. There are only three major differences between them and humans; magic, age, and personality.
Magic & Abilities
The big topic here is Kurori Magic, but there is something else that I'm going to quickly address. All kurori have one supernatural but non-magical ability. This ability can essentially be anything, as long as it isn't magical, which is a pretty broad definition. The following is a small list of abilities some of our members have taken: The Ability to Erase Memories, The Power of Suggestion, and the Ability to make things explode by touch. Feel free to copy an ability someone else has, because I can't think of any logical reason why two kurori wouldn't have the same ability.
Now before I close on the abilities and move onto magic, there is something you ought to know. This ability is not FREE, using it will tax your character mentally and physically. I don't want to go as far as to say that it's a once a day thing but the use of the ability is definitely going to be limited. So I have two suggestions for anyone prospective kurori character, make the ability combat-related (you'll see why when I explain magic) and only use it in a pinch. In fact, I want to declare something right here and now.
THE EXTRA ABILITY THAT EACH KURORI HAS WILL HENCEFORTH BE KNOWN AS "PINCH" SO REMEMBER THAT IN YOUR DAILY KURORI CONVERSATIONS.
So now onto magic. The magic here is something that only kurori can wield, it's kind of a mix of some original mechanics and fantasy. With magic, a kurori can do pretty much anything their heart desires. Reverse gravity, Portals, Illusions; you name it and you can do that. The only real limit is your kurori's age, time, mind, imagination and vocabulary. With one being able to do pretty much anything, you think a Kurori would be unstoppable in every way, shape & form, but that isn't true and I'll explain why in a bit.
For a Kurori to cast a spell, they must speak. There is no other requirement; no staff, magic circle or components. What they say, how they word it, and how they project it will all determine how the spell will turn out. A powerful elder kurori can speak a single word to great effect, but this practice in a lesser kurori would probably result in nothing happening. So usually, in fact almost always, all spells are casted in the form of incantations. Now when I say incantations, I don't mean in the way of (for example) the anime BLEACH. These incantations are more Gandalf-like than anything else (book not film). It is possible to add onto a spell, like to double it or perhaps reverse it, which would entail either twisting the words of it or strengthening them. However, how well one may add onto a spell or reverse it depends on their own power and how they give their counterspell.
Like I said earlier, all that is required for a kurori to cast magic is his own words. This means that they don't lose energy and nothing really has to be spent to use it, if anything they'd get tired of trying to come up with the words for their next incantation. However, a kurori may actually choose to use a material component for their spells, which prove to enhance them greatly. This can be as simple as using an object for a spell, or even standing in a magic circle of sorts. Many kurori will carry around small pouches filled with seemingly useless items which they actually use in their spells. A smart kurori would incorporate something they carry around with them daily, for example, a hairpin or a walking cane. Also, while we're on the subject of using objects. Many kurori are actually pretty learned in the subject of alchemy, it's not odd to see shops selling special potions or an elder kurori turning something into gold.
NOTE: Stealing souls and using them for enhancing spells are their main use. With a soul, a simple fireball becomes a raging inferno. So you can see why Kurori would want something like that.
Now you might be thinking that the kurori seem pretty overpowered. Do you remember what I said earlier? Now definitely a kurori would be a force to be reckoned with outside of combat. A kurori in combat is a completely different story. For a kurori to cast one of their spells, they must speak. The average time it takes to pronounce a single 4-letter word is just over half a second. Remember, kurori must present their spells in the form of incantations, only elders can cut corners and still have a spell with a reasonable effect. So your basic incantation, for example, "Lightning come streaming down from dark clouds to strike my enemy," takes around 4 seconds. A human can run around 12-15 MPH in a short distance sprint, which is about 22 feet per second (5-8 MPH for a Long Distance run). Consider if a human and a kurori were to do battle. In the time it takes a Kurori to cast a single spell; a human could move 88 feet. To help put that into prospective, 88 feet is about 29 yards (26 Meters), that's over a quarter of a football field. In other words, a kurori that focuses just on his spells won't do very well in medium-close range combat
Age
Kurori can live up to a thousand years, probably even more than that. Their bodies age slowly and so even the oldest of kurori can look very young. In the kurori world, your age is almost directly in proportion with your rank and how well you're respected. The thing is, when you live for hundreds of years you tend to lose count. So the kurori decided to split it up into three different age groups. Newborn, Medium, and Elder.
Newborns are, of course, kurori who have been recently born. From year 1 to 25, they're considered Newborns. Despite the name, they're actually quite capable and a few years after birth they should already be capable of doing the equivalent of a human teenager's work (with the help of magic of course). They're also treated like teenagers. A lot of kurori consider them to be a bit clueless, while others might say that they have huge potential. They're expected to know a lot about magic and the ways of the world by the time they hit 25. This is all quite amazing considering that at the age of 25 they actually have the appearance of a 7 1/2 year old. At this phase in a kurori's life, they can't do all that much with magic, but they can definitely do chores with it. In other words, if there are no Kaito around, you can bet a Newborn will be out there in the cold chopping wood. This view has given kurori very much confusion considering human children, they expect it to do all the things a human adult can and they obviously can't. So you can imagine that during war or when planning a soul steal, they don't care a bit about children, who they probably view as retarded/lame teenagers, they're just putting them out of their misery as far as they're concerned. This also works the other way around, with humans often underestimating the appearance of a newborn, when in fact they could easily cause them to burst into flames.
Mediums are what many humans would consider to be a kurori teenager, because they look like it, but in reality they are a lot more mature. From year 26 to 50 is where a kurori will be considered a Medium. Becoming a Medium is a coming of age kind of thing, you're treated as an adult and you're expected to perform the work of an adult. They can do some pretty impressive magic, but it's usually never enough to even bring forth any emotion but boredom for an Elder, it's just another average spell for them. Again contributing to the seeming agelessness of the kurori, a 50 year old Medium looks like a 15 year old.
Elders have a few unique traits about them. You're considered an elder if your 50+ years of age. Every 50 years causes their appearance to age by 15 years, so an 100 year old kurori would like a 30 year old (25 years would be an age of 7 1/2 years). At this point in their life they have trained in magic for 50 years, which bestows incredible levels of power on them. For an Elder, anything they want to do is possible, but they're wise enough to not want to do that. Just a year or so after becoming an Elder, the Kurori's blood will develop a strange black coloring when exposed to air, in the veins it appears red, which is a pretty telltale sign that they're Elders. It does require that one spots one wounded, or gets really close, in order to see this.
What are Kurori?
The Species page tells us that the kurori are "Elite Demons" but that isn't true. By Christian definition they are not any kind of demon or angel or any other kind of extraplanar being. They are humans to an extent. They look like us, they walk like us, they reproduce like us, they have the same organs, and etc. There are only three major differences between them and humans; magic, age, and personality.
Magic & Abilities
The big topic here is Kurori Magic, but there is something else that I'm going to quickly address. All kurori have one supernatural but non-magical ability. This ability can essentially be anything, as long as it isn't magical, which is a pretty broad definition. The following is a small list of abilities some of our members have taken: The Ability to Erase Memories, The Power of Suggestion, and the Ability to make things explode by touch. Feel free to copy an ability someone else has, because I can't think of any logical reason why two kurori wouldn't have the same ability.
Now before I close on the abilities and move onto magic, there is something you ought to know. This ability is not FREE, using it will tax your character mentally and physically. I don't want to go as far as to say that it's a once a day thing but the use of the ability is definitely going to be limited. So I have two suggestions for anyone prospective kurori character, make the ability combat-related (you'll see why when I explain magic) and only use it in a pinch. In fact, I want to declare something right here and now.
THE EXTRA ABILITY THAT EACH KURORI HAS WILL HENCEFORTH BE KNOWN AS "PINCH" SO REMEMBER THAT IN YOUR DAILY KURORI CONVERSATIONS.
So now onto magic. The magic here is something that only kurori can wield, it's kind of a mix of some original mechanics and fantasy. With magic, a kurori can do pretty much anything their heart desires. Reverse gravity, Portals, Illusions; you name it and you can do that. The only real limit is your kurori's age, time, mind, imagination and vocabulary. With one being able to do pretty much anything, you think a Kurori would be unstoppable in every way, shape & form, but that isn't true and I'll explain why in a bit.
For a Kurori to cast a spell, they must speak. There is no other requirement; no staff, magic circle or components. What they say, how they word it, and how they project it will all determine how the spell will turn out. A powerful elder kurori can speak a single word to great effect, but this practice in a lesser kurori would probably result in nothing happening. So usually, in fact almost always, all spells are casted in the form of incantations. Now when I say incantations, I don't mean in the way of (for example) the anime BLEACH. These incantations are more Gandalf-like than anything else (book not film). It is possible to add onto a spell, like to double it or perhaps reverse it, which would entail either twisting the words of it or strengthening them. However, how well one may add onto a spell or reverse it depends on their own power and how they give their counterspell.
Like I said earlier, all that is required for a kurori to cast magic is his own words. This means that they don't lose energy and nothing really has to be spent to use it, if anything they'd get tired of trying to come up with the words for their next incantation. However, a kurori may actually choose to use a material component for their spells, which prove to enhance them greatly. This can be as simple as using an object for a spell, or even standing in a magic circle of sorts. Many kurori will carry around small pouches filled with seemingly useless items which they actually use in their spells. A smart kurori would incorporate something they carry around with them daily, for example, a hairpin or a walking cane. Also, while we're on the subject of using objects. Many kurori are actually pretty learned in the subject of alchemy, it's not odd to see shops selling special potions or an elder kurori turning something into gold.
NOTE: Stealing souls and using them for enhancing spells are their main use. With a soul, a simple fireball becomes a raging inferno. So you can see why Kurori would want something like that.
Now you might be thinking that the kurori seem pretty overpowered. Do you remember what I said earlier? Now definitely a kurori would be a force to be reckoned with outside of combat. A kurori in combat is a completely different story. For a kurori to cast one of their spells, they must speak. The average time it takes to pronounce a single 4-letter word is just over half a second. Remember, kurori must present their spells in the form of incantations, only elders can cut corners and still have a spell with a reasonable effect. So your basic incantation, for example, "Lightning come streaming down from dark clouds to strike my enemy," takes around 4 seconds. A human can run around 12-15 MPH in a short distance sprint, which is about 22 feet per second (5-8 MPH for a Long Distance run). Consider if a human and a kurori were to do battle. In the time it takes a Kurori to cast a single spell; a human could move 88 feet. To help put that into prospective, 88 feet is about 29 yards (26 Meters), that's over a quarter of a football field. In other words, a kurori that focuses just on his spells won't do very well in medium-close range combat
Age
Kurori can live up to a thousand years, probably even more than that. Their bodies age slowly and so even the oldest of kurori can look very young. In the kurori world, your age is almost directly in proportion with your rank and how well you're respected. The thing is, when you live for hundreds of years you tend to lose count. So the kurori decided to split it up into three different age groups. Newborn, Medium, and Elder.
Newborns are, of course, kurori who have been recently born. From year 1 to 25, they're considered Newborns. Despite the name, they're actually quite capable and a few years after birth they should already be capable of doing the equivalent of a human teenager's work (with the help of magic of course). They're also treated like teenagers. A lot of kurori consider them to be a bit clueless, while others might say that they have huge potential. They're expected to know a lot about magic and the ways of the world by the time they hit 25. This is all quite amazing considering that at the age of 25 they actually have the appearance of a 7 1/2 year old. At this phase in a kurori's life, they can't do all that much with magic, but they can definitely do chores with it. In other words, if there are no Kaito around, you can bet a Newborn will be out there in the cold chopping wood. This view has given kurori very much confusion considering human children, they expect it to do all the things a human adult can and they obviously can't. So you can imagine that during war or when planning a soul steal, they don't care a bit about children, who they probably view as retarded/lame teenagers, they're just putting them out of their misery as far as they're concerned. This also works the other way around, with humans often underestimating the appearance of a newborn, when in fact they could easily cause them to burst into flames.
Mediums are what many humans would consider to be a kurori teenager, because they look like it, but in reality they are a lot more mature. From year 26 to 50 is where a kurori will be considered a Medium. Becoming a Medium is a coming of age kind of thing, you're treated as an adult and you're expected to perform the work of an adult. They can do some pretty impressive magic, but it's usually never enough to even bring forth any emotion but boredom for an Elder, it's just another average spell for them. Again contributing to the seeming agelessness of the kurori, a 50 year old Medium looks like a 15 year old.
Elders have a few unique traits about them. You're considered an elder if your 50+ years of age. Every 50 years causes their appearance to age by 15 years, so an 100 year old kurori would like a 30 year old (25 years would be an age of 7 1/2 years). At this point in their life they have trained in magic for 50 years, which bestows incredible levels of power on them. For an Elder, anything they want to do is possible, but they're wise enough to not want to do that. Just a year or so after becoming an Elder, the Kurori's blood will develop a strange black coloring when exposed to air, in the veins it appears red, which is a pretty telltale sign that they're Elders. It does require that one spots one wounded, or gets really close, in order to see this.
