Appearance
| A Vasil | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Inhabits: | Aethelhel (formerly Adanedhel) |
| Language: | Common, Aldien |
| Lifespan: | Immortal |
| Size: | 6 - 7 feet |
The Vasil are an elf-like race with large pointed ears and a slender build. They are believed to have been created by the god Veldoran . Their skin tones can be anything from the most common pale white to the rare purple or black. Vasil generally grow tall, more-so than other races, males and females tend to grow around the height of 6'8"-7'. Vasil age in the same system that the Kalnuur use however they are immortal and most reach maturity around the age of one hundred. Due to their immortality their features don't change they never look old even Vasil that have been alive since the beginning of Venera have a young look. Since the fall the Vasil can only have two children a year. The Karkien Decimation intensified this problem, they are currently a dying race.
Diet
Vasil mainly live off the land, eating vegetables and fruits, anything that they choose to harvest. Its not uncommon to hear of a Vasil eating meat however it is slightly shunned upon in there culture. Due to the fact that society shuns meat eaters most Vasil are vegetarians. They eat a basic three meals a day which consist almost always of fruits, vegetables, and grains.
Age Ranges
- Child: 0 - 40 Venerian Years
- Teen: 41 - 100 Venerian Years
- Young adult: 101 - 200 Venerian Years
- Adult: 201 - 1000 Venerian Years
- Eldar: 1001 - 8000 Venerian Years
- Ancient: 8001 - ∞ Venerian Years
Language
The Vasil are known for their graceful well thought out and spoken sentences. Many claim that the Vasil speak with the grace and beauty of a god. The Vasil at one point had their own language of beautifully thought out words, this language was refered to as Aldien but much of it was sadly lost after The Fall. It is said that before The Fall two Vasil could have a whole conversation completely made up of body movements. In the years of wandering after the Karkien Decimation, knowledge of Aldien was further lost to the sands of time, very few still speak the ancient tongue. Vasil are free from any and all speech impediments and when they speak their words come out graceful and almost rhythmic. For example Vasil would speak like this "Hello there Kalnuur, how has your day been?" It could be even more like this, " Hail Kalnuur, how has your day been treating you?" or "May I ask how you are today?". Vasil also speak heavily with body language when speaking with others of their kind. Vasil would not simply deny a request with a quick shaking of their head they would respond with a slow graceful shake and tilt there head in a sort of "Thank you, however, for asking." fashion.
Clothing
Before the Karkien Decimation, Vasil tended to dress themselves in extravagant robes and dresses they never really dressed "down" they had a more royal look than the other races. Their clothing showed their high ranking place in society and they enjoyed showing themselves off through their clothing. The Vasil were known to wear colors that made themselves pop, such as the colors dark blue, bright purple, and white. To further their regal looks they tended to wear lots of expensive jewelry.
After the decimation befell the world, the grandeur that the Vasil life once was disappeared forever. They are now considered the dregs of society by the Kalnuur of Galax and struggle to support themselves in their poverty. Very rarely can a Vasil afford nice clothes. They often wear things that are common to grounddwellers. Mostly leather jerkins, homemade leggings, rags, scrap metal protection fashioned from garbage, goggles, straps, old hats, and things one might find lying around the wasteland
Religion
Before the Karkien Decimation, The Vasil were extraordinaily religious. They praised all of the gods, even the Karkien gods. Most Vasil believed they could learn from every god, no matter what they stood for. The only god most Vasil dislike is Asurmen . They saw Asurmen's killing of Lilyath to be not only their demise, but the other races of Venera's as well. They most favor the gods Veldoran and Shaa-dur .
Ancient History
The Vasil were placed on Venera around 4500 P.F. (2nd Age) and continued a record of their beginnings up until present day. Being the first peoples of Venera they created their own language and lived off the bounty of the land. First, they lived in the great forests of Venera free of war or conflict. Eventually they moved into the northern reaches of Venera and created the great white city of Adanedhel. This city was made from large portions of marble and was crafted around the tree of life they were granted. This tree was referred to as Belegdadun. The tree was a mighty birch with beautiful blue crystals surrounding it. When the other races came into Venera they were kind and respectful to all of them. They often gave away food to these new people entering their land. They befriended the Kalnuur and the Saurians; and then the fall came into play.
When Asurmen created the Karkien gods the Vasil fell from grace within moments. Large portions of there people turned to worship of Shaa-dur. This turning lead to a major civil war known as "The War of the Black and White Dragon" within the gates of the white city. Many Vasil wished to convert everyone into the belief of Shaa-dur while many others fought against it. The wars in their great city lasted fifteen years. Around 150 P.F. the city was attacked by the Zurgator and the Vasil had to fight as one and stop their civil war. They did eventually push the Zurgator back and called the entirety of Venera to arms. It was to late however because of their civil war that was occupying all of there time the Kalnuur and the Saurians had already been devastated by the Zurgator. All of the races eventually met at Quadain, a small town just outside of the White City. After much discussion between the leaders and high officials of each race they came up with a plan. All of the races would go to the land of the Zurgator and bring a final battle which is now known as the battle of mount Asur. This final battle or as it is now known, The Fall, was lead by prince Callue, the Vasil leader at the time of the fall. This battle was long and hard, eventually Callue was killed by one of the Zurgators and as the battle went on the Vasil realised that there was a battle in the skies happening to. Asurmen had slayed Lilyath and she muttered her last words "You.. I created you, you Asurmen you were like a child to me. But I was blind you became to powerful and turned on us all. I may fade into nothingness but your time on my realm is spent! May your race wither away on this world and die...and you Asurmen you are no longer a god.. you are no longer my son! You are now a simple mortal...may you die well!". As these final words were spoken the Zurgator began to die and the battle turned in favor of the races of Venera. Asurmen however had made a deal with Lord Kurdara of the Karkien and as the races advanced on the Zurgators final outpost a massive portal to Kurdara's realm opened and the Zurgator with Asurmen and a sapling from their life tree escaped their demise. The Vasil left the battle battered and broken.
Modern History
As the Vasil returned back to the white city they knew something was wrong and after much discussion and the finding of a rotten branch of their tree, they realized that their Tree of Life was rotting away from the inside. This affected them heavily; less and less Vasil were born each year. The race slowly withered away because of The Fall. The White City was in turmoil when the Vasil returned and even after hundreds of years of restoration efforts it was not repaired to its former glory. The Vasil hid away from the peoples of Venera and the Saurians grew a disdain for them due to the fact that the Vasil never bothered to help them in their time of need. Their new leader after the fall was the Adrazi Lazerak Metorski, he led the Vasil until the end of the Second Era.
The Third Era
After the decimation befell the world, the number of Vasil became dangerously low. Casualties in Adanedhel were high and the number of survivors was dolefully low. With their curse from the fall, the Vasil were on the brink of extinction. For a very long time they took to forming secluded colonies in well-protected areas women and children were often kept underground in well-guarded cave settlements and never allowed to leave. Over the centuries their numbers were bolstered, but still they tottered on the edge of annihilation. To prevent inbreeding, they stuck to a regimen of arranged marriages and planned pregnancies, protecting each newborn child as the bearer of the sacred lifeblood of their race.
After nearly two centuries of seclusion, they grew hard and callous. Their struggles made them tough like leather, when once they had been soft and elegant. Their divine magic that had once placed them at the top of the races on Kalgranoon was mysteriously beginning to fade and their prayers to the gods they once held so close went unanswered. The culture of the Vasil became utilitarian and realistic, where it had once been mystic and luxuriant. Finally, they decided that they would not survive on their own and emerged from their underground vaults to a bleached plain battered by the scalding heat of the sun. They wandered the desert for a number of years seeking out the other races, hopping from oasis to oasis of fetid stagnant water. One fateful day, they had been wandering for weeks on end with no water. Many were near death, they thought that the end was finally upon them when suddenly a blue figure appeared like a mirage and ushered them on. They pushed forward under the guidance of this entity and soon found themselves in the shadow of a snow-capped peak in the midst of the desert, untouched by the decimation. Beneath the mountain, which they named Druindar, was a magnificent oasis full of clear, fresh water flowing down the mountainside in a series of glistening white waterfalls. They had been saved.
Here, they erected a small village which they named Aethelhel with a shrine dedicated to "The Blue Sprite." They lived in Aethelhel for a few years, further regaining their numbers and sending scouting parties out to search for signs of the other races. Soon, their scouts located the site of New Serath, where the Kalnuur were undergoing an industrial revolution and were building massive steam engines that promised to send their city to the heavens. The Vasil son of Lazerak Metorski, Sarulas,was with the Kalnuur at the time and was fascinated to see that his race had survived this long. He was under the impression that he was the last of his kind. He spent some time with his people in the desert, learning their ways and what had happened to them for all of those years, but soon returned to New Serath. He had lived with the Kalnuur for a long time and his ways had become too far intermingled with theirs to go back to Vasil life.
Some Vasil chose to leave their people and venture off in search of profits and better protection. When Galax took off into the air, many were drawn to the prospect of safety in the sky and chose to move there to the outer rim of the island. The streets of Aethelhel were soon sparse. The population intermingled heavily with the other ground-dwellers, Galax, pirates, and the criminal syndicates known as the Dustmen. After the First Dustman War ended and Galax was bombed by the Aranji Extremist Vasil mages, many Vasil were expelled from the outer ring to the ground. Most of these refugees returned to Aethelhel, bringing their new religions and political stances with them. The standard of living in Aethelhel was on a steady declining slope as crime and civil unrest spread through the populace like poison. The town was frequented by bands of vagabonds and ruffians who prowled the wastes like hungry predators looking for their next big score, but the Vasil had nothing to give.
Like a thief in the night, Aranji believers snuck their way into Aethelhel and created a divide amongst the remaining Vasil. The growing favor for the new goddess caused families to be torn apart and long-held beliefs to be abandoned. Belief in Aranji swept across the ground-dwellers, and the Dustmen as well. This led to The Second Dustman War, which was an Aranjite Crusade against the nonbelievers in Galax. More Vasil refugees flowed into the town of Aethelhel because of the new racial restrictions created by the war. Although the Vasil have spread throughout post-Karkien Vanteria, the heart of their race is still within the traditions and rituals of the elders of the village of Aethelhel in the shadow of Druindar.
Government
In the time after The Fall they repaired their old system of government. It's was system of courts and officials that controlled their laws and judiciary matters. The war on the belief of Shaa-dur stopped and the Vasil were free to praise whatever god they wished. They continued to rebuild their city and repair their lives.
The government of Aethelhel is a council of elder Vasil that deal with all matters both governmental and spiritual within its borders.