Tanned Hide (9 page)

Longhair Quilar:
Longhair quilar have slightly longer, coarser fur
and shorter quills on the head. These quilar also have slightly
more catlike feet and a long, bent, rigid tail. Their ears are also
slightly different, as they are bent slightly backwards and cannot
perk up the same way a normal cat's ears can. Longhaired quilar are
rarer than shorthaired quilar and are almost exclusively limited to
the Athánatos population.

Shorthair Quilar:
Shorthair quilar have very short, very soft fur
and generally longer, thicker quills on their heads. Quilar are the
most humanlike of all faunos. Human-faunos relationships usually
involve a quilar.

Focus Jewels:
Focus jewels are found on many different planets
throughout the universe. The term refers to any jewel that can be
bound to a user's skin, soul, or lifeforce that grants supernatural
powers. Sometimes focus jewel power only grants simple powers, such
as long life, but others exhibit more extravagant powers, such as
elemental power, cloaking (the ability to hide a user from view) or
healing.

Lexi Gems:
Lexi Gems are focus jewels bound to the user's
soul and grants users several powers. Average Gem users are granted
long life (up to four hundred Zyearth years), basic shielding,
which is used mainly for cooking and preventing injury from heat
and sharp objects, and slow aging. Advanced users develop “Gem
Specialties.” There are a variety of specialties that users
develop. The most common specialty is healing, followed by
elemental fabricators and manipulators, and a select few specialize
in cloaking. Users are usually granted only one specialty, though a
rare few have two. In the case of a duel specialist, both
specialties are significantly weaker than those in a single
specialist.

Lexi Gems are usually about the size
of a user's fist. Gems often take on the colors of their users in
one of several forms, but they lose their color when their user
dies.

Ei-Ei Jewels:
Ei-Ei Jewels, like Lexi Gems, are focus jewels and
are the source of magic and power for a member of the Athánatos
tribe. Ei-Ei jewels are small and they are fused to the skin of the
user just around the edge of their eyes. Ei-Ei jewels also come in
pairs. Each eye has one set of the pairs. There are three jewels,
but all of them work together to properly function.

The first jewel, the Mind Jewel, is
yellow, representing the sophia flower, a symbol of wisdom. This
jewel set keeps the user's mind fresh and free of deterioration.
They even protect against mind aging issues like Alzheimer's and
dementia.

The second set, the Body Jewel, is
red, representing the purity of blood and flesh. This jewel set
keeps the body from deterioration. Athánatos tribe members are
immortal because of this jewel, but they are not
invincible.

The final set, the Soul Jewel, is the
color of the users eyes, representing the user's soul. This jewel
set keeps the soul pinned to the body. Together the three sets make
the user immortal.

Defender:
The Defenders are a military group run by a small
country called Zedric on the continent of Yelar on the plant
Zyearth. The Defenders were originally created as a small private
military designed to protect those who need protecting, but after a
large scale war broke up the continent into smaller countries, the
Defenders attached themselves to a new and neutral country. They
still help defend the defenseless, though they also run
international and intergalactic missions designed to protect their
assets as well as the defenseless. Since the country is small, the
army is small, and they generally try to avoid war or fighting as
much as possible.

Guardian:
Guardians are an essential part of the Defender
army. Guardians are high ranking, highly trained individuals that
perform tasks that average Defenders aren't trained for. There are
two important types of Guardians.

Master Guardian:
The role of Master Guardian is usually held by two
people at the same time, often a former Golden Guardian pair.
Master Guardians have a duel task – he or she is both the head of
the Defender army and the leader of the country of Zedric. Master
Guardians are chosen by the lawmakers, called the Assembly, a group
of thirty zyfaunos that have been voted into office by the general
population. The Assembly can vote anyone in, but they typically
vote for high ranking army personnel, such as the Golden Guardians.
Master Guardians must be smart, strong, courageous, and
influential. Master Guardians are usually in office for life,
though there are checks and balances that can remove a Master
Guardian if the assembly feels like he or she is not properly
performing duties, and some Master Guardians choose to retire.
Master Guardians are generally considered by most Defenders to be
the most powerful zyfaunos of their time.

Golden Guardian:
Golden Guardians are a team of two Defenders
specially trained to handle delicate situations and attempt to
prevent all-out war that would make an intervention necessary. They
are typically the first people to visit unsettled countries or
groups of people. Golden Guardians are selected by the Master
Guardian of their era, and are given an extra five years of special
training beyond typical Defender training. Traditionally, Golden
Guardian teams have always been composed of a member of the Azure
family and a member of the Gildspine family, with few exceptions.
There is a belief that there is something special in their line
that makes them especially adept at being Guardians. Usually the
team has one healer and one elemental user, and the two Guardians
usually share the same gender, but sometimes these conditions
differ.

Defender Pendant:
Defender pendants are worn by all Defenders,
regardless of their position in the army or Academy. They carry
holographic identification cards and are the most common means of
communication among Defenders. The pendant also carries several
symbols. On Zyearth, a legless dragon is a sign of peace, so the
Defenders made the legless dragon the center of their pendant. The
dragon's neck is tucked under, a classic move that prevents
strangulation in battle. This represents defense. The outstretched
wings are a sign of openness and welcome. Finally, the Gem at the
dragon's side represents the world of Zyearth, since all native
Zyearthlings are bound to Gems.