Eypharian Race Rewrite

[Aventis]

I, um... Have a quick issue.

Four armed Eypharians with arms set back... Ah... To me it doesn't seem at all plausible. See with arms staggered - and I have stated this I believe once or twice before - the backs of Eypharians probably wouldn't work as well. Broad shoulders aside, a second pair of shoulders set behind the first pair would cause numeral major issues in the Eypharian anatomy. While it makes sense for one with six arms to be staggered, a four armed Eypharian would fare fine with his arms directly vertical, and I would be happy to explain in depth via PM. I spoke to Sayana about this and she concurred with my thesis. Hopefully this'll work its way into the lore c:

[Rosela]

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Aventis: In the previous setup, the second shoulders aren't set entirely behind the first, they're more diagonal - set down first and then back/forward so they aren't laying completely on top of one another. The layout of this diagonal is switched up below though. I want a system that works with both 4 and 6 arms, as the difference between the two will just be a genetic variation causing the loss/addition of an arm, not the full rearrangement of the shoulder bones depending on what is most convenient for either.

Given this, I have a real problem with having them completely vertical and just extending the shoulders out to make them able to lay straight. Here's my math - according to typical body measurements, the average arm circumference of a 34 year old male is 13 inches. With a little math, we find the diameter to be 4 inches, which we can squash to 3, since arms are more oval than circle. Take off another inch that the arm can be squished down by something laying on it, and we have 2 inches for each arm that the arm above it must extend out for them to lay comfortably directly on top of each other. For a 4-armed Eyph, maybe that's not so bad, adding an extra 4 inches of shoulder breadth, but for a 6-armed? That's 8 whole inches of extra shoulder width on an adult male Eyph. It's just way too much and would be just as much a visually defining feature as having the extra arms. I really think staggering them, while still staying vertically aligned, would be the best option here.

Please feel free to let me know what you think here - when I'm actually writing the draft for this section, I'll be looking primarily here, so I'd like everything to be in one place.

Sayana: You bring up a really good point about the arrangement of the staggering, and I thought about it a lot last night. Rosela's middle hands are also her main working hands, and not that that shouldn't need changing if the biology necessitated it, but it also clashes with the idea of the hierarchy of hands, which I really liked and wanted to implement. With my previously decided setup, the middle hands are essentially the 'low' hands and the lowest hands are pretty much on par with the highest in terms of usefulness.

The reason I wanted the highest shoulders front - or at least centered, I realized - is to preserve the smooth outline of the neck to shoulder area. If I set them back, then the clavicle would have to sweep all the way back and around to still rest on the top of the shoulder. It's a delicate enough bone as it is and to make it cross over the middle shoulder to the back would make it even more susceptible to breaks, especially for those who are more active such as warriors and athletes.

However, If we think of the top shoulder not just forward, but centered, it opens up a whole new set of arrangement possibilities. After some thinking, I believe this arrangement is the most advantageous:

The top shoulder is centered and slightly extended outwards from the body, and is roughly where the shoulders are in two-armed beings. This adds being visually broad shouldered to the race, but the below arrangement allows it to only need extended maybe half an inch beyond normal, to the point of being 'broad shouldered' and not 'linebacker'.

The middle shoulder is set down, and slightly forward, meaning the back edge is an inch or two underneath the top shoulder. It still slightly overlaps the top shoulder, which is what requires the top shoulder to be extended.

The lowest shoulder is the one set furthest back, the front edge an inch or two under the back edge of the top shoulder. These arms would have difficulty moving forward unless the other arms are also extended outward.

This keeps the hierarchy of the arms, and I think makes all of them workable. What do you guys think?
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[Sayana]

I think this is a great configuration of the arms. It allows for the mids to have easy access and can be dominant hands. The tops are also well placed for easy use. And the lows are tucked in behind. This also increases the social implications of being forced to shake hands with your low hand, since it's awkward and potentially demeaning to that person. In terms of 4-armed Eyphs, I think it would make most sense that the mid arms are "removed". Therefore you have your high arms that are perfectly centered and aligned (probably the most commonly used arms) and the low arms beneath and only set a little bit back. I think that without the presence of the mid arms pushing the low arms back, the low arms would only be slightly set back and almost completely vertically aligned.

[Aventis]

I agree with Sayana, if I may say c:

[Rosela]

Alright, sounds like we've got a plan! I'll do the official writeup this weekend, along with a little diagram of the skeletal structures for illustration. The first section - Race Origins - should also be done and posted.

[Rosela]

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So, I'd intended to only write the origin part of the history this weekend, and ended up writing pretty much half the section. There's two main changes - the story of the divine origin and the Benshira's subsequent societal role.

Divine origin: While the old story is very sweet and romantic, that's exactly its problem. It doesn't fit at all with the race as a whole, especially now that they will be focused more than ever on the advancement of the race with the addition of genetics.

Benshira: This was one of the changes that we knew needed to be made even going in. As I mentioned before, their story is too heavily based on Jewish history, so I needed to change it while keeping the interesting dynamic between the two races. I hope I did that well while keeping their descent in society a natural one.
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Divine Origins
The Eypharians are one of the oldest races in Mizahar, so their origins have taken on a myth-like quality. Their origin stems from a beautiful human woman, Eypha, and a river spirit. Makutsi had appointed a river spirit named Royet to a great river that ran through what is now Eyktol. Royet was a follower of hers so devout that he had been taken elevated to the status of Alvina to serve Makutsi's purposes in keeping the mighty river flowing. An ephemeral, spirit shape, Royet was one with the river and without any other physical form. He was confined to his post in an eternal route from source to sea through the six arms of the river. All he could see was what passed near the water, and for decades, that was joy enough.

For several years, Royet heard a young Eypha and her family sing thanks to the river as they drew water, ask what it had seen in its travels or he watched them sleep happily on the river's banks. He began to look forward to Eypha's visits, and hearing her speak of her life. Eypha's family began to marvel that when she was near, the river seemed to rise.

As Eypha grew into a young woman, Royet began to find more disturbances than usual in one particular branch of the six rivers and day by day, found blood to be spilled in his waters. When the blood finally stopped, stones were laid instead; the branch was being blocked up by a dam. Three times he broke through the man-laid stones, but on the fourth, he found he could not. It was with great apprehension that he then found another branch of the river beginning to dam. Turmoil rose in the faces beyond his banks, and in particular, Royet’s beloved Eypha. He listened to her tearful words of dangerous outsiders who had come to control their people by controlling the water. Eypha and her family meant to destroy the dam, but Eypha feared for their lives. The river’s banks swelled with emotion, but Royet could not console her.

Under the beating sun the next day, the choppy river followed Eypha’s family, people Royet had watched grow and learned to love, rally and make their way to the dam. Angry words were exchanged, swords were drawn, and Royet watched with horror as Eypha was struck and thrown into his roiling waters. Overcome with fury, he drew Eypha away from the battle with two arms, with two more, he swept Eypha’s family back, with his final two, he drew from the depths of his power, all the way back to the source itself, and finally destroyed the dam. The bodies of the outsiders were swept swiftly away, and were never seen again.

The next morning, Eypha was found cradled by reeds in another branch of the river, miraculously unharmed. The sun’s rays eased her freezing bones and painted the river gold. In the still moments of the dawn, before her family found her, the water around her took on a human-like form with six arms and golden skin. It was Royet, his skin gilded by the sun and each of his arms representing the branches of the river. Makutsi had seen fit to grant her servant a reward for his service and allowed him to return to the mortal world. Royet carried Eypha to the shore to reunite her with her family and from that instant onward, they were inseparable until Eypha’s death. From them, it is said, came the Eypharian race. The great river was destroyed in the Valterrian, and it is said Makutsi smiled at its destruction, because it allowed her faithful Royet to re-unite with the soul of Eypha.

Split from Other Races (need better title for this section)
When it came out that Royet passed on his six arms to his and Eypha’s children, fascination grew as to how these traits were passed down. What started as societal interest, no better than common gossip, grew into extensive documentation as to what children were produced when an Eypharian reproduced with a human. It was this documentation that produced the eventual comprehensive study of Eypharian genetics.

With each generation, the Eypharian family grew prolifically in size as well as power, with many desiring that connection to the family of Eypharian Araka by producing amazing, six armed children. After many generations, the Eypharians were not just one large family, but entire communities. The study of genetics became a prominent one as, many generations away from Royet’s semi-divine djed, the prevalence of six-armed children became less certain. Four-armed children were born instead, still more divine than their two-armed brothers, but less so than those with six. Social divides became clearer, with many communities choosing to cast out two-armed humans, calling them mbene-shur – unwelcome. As the number of Eypharians grew, these outcast members of society became the targets of much racism and hatred, finding it difficult to procure housing and good employment, which in turn led to many to become involved in indentured servitude to pay debts. For many, outright slavery became the only way to have a roof over their family's heads.

The mbene-shur would eventually band together as not only the cast-offs of Eypharians, but a people in their own right. At some point, they began co-opting the name they had been branded with as a rallying banner, the Benshira.
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Pre-Valterrian
Due to the extensive record-keeping and interest, some would say obsession, with bloodlines, vague details are still known about pre-Valterrian Eypharian society.

At the time, the Eypharians were the strongest and wealthiest race in the region. Genetic research continued, and by this point, extensive records on every Eypharian existed in great halls with venerable scholars to update and protect them. A scientific approach to research into this area spread to others, and it was through precise timekeeping and experimentation that allowed the race to take full advantage of the vast farmland sustained by the bi-annual flooding of the great six-armed river.

The highest noble, the head of the house closest to that of Royet and Eypha, were called Pressor or Pressorah, and governed over four lower noble houses. The initial grant of power was through the bloodline to Eypha and Royet themselves, being most pure and closest to the divine. Titles were as valuable as blood and were passed through lineages. Possessing six arms was, and still is, a sign of closeness with the divine.

The region’s history with the empire was lost in the Valterrian, so no details remain of the the Eypharians' annexation. It was a peaceful one, orchestrated by Pressorah Sunematra. They were the first civilization in the Eyktol region to join the empire and benefited because of their amenability. Eypharian nobles correctly reasoned that the empire would have little reason to enmesh themselves in the daily affairs of such a distant and hard to navigate territory. The nobles were granted the power to act as magistrates and governors over the Eyktol region. The empire also allowed them to keep their ceremonial titles. As the Eypharians hoped, little changed in their daily affairs save they had to gather tribute or supply soldiers, both of which could be culled from the lowly Benshira. In return, the Eypharians had the weight of the empire behind them.

This weight only further solidified the extensive social structures that were in place, allowing them to keep the Eypharians on top, and all others below. The Chakatwe, who had always been nomads, were only respected as far as their tradable good carried them, and the fact that few made the effort to live in one of the Eypharian cities allowed them to escape much of the more violent racism. The Benshira had no such luxury, toiling in the lower rungs of society. The nobles of the Eypharians were equal with the rulers of their cities, and Benshira were excluded from holding any power. Many Eypharians viewed the Benshira as being divinely purposed with occupying those roles. Though records of the happenings of this time no longer remain, the sentiment lives on.
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[Rosela]

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In catching up on the happenings throughout the site this weekend, I found the Araka announcement. How super cool this is aside, this does influence some of the terminology used in the origins of the Eyphs, so that'll be updated shortly.
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[Rosela]

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I'm not super happy with this section, but I think it's the best it's going to get until I actually write the sections some of the below is summarizing, such as genetics and psychology. I'm also a little hazy on where Valterrian-era history ends and Recent History begins so that may get moved around.
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Valterrian
When the Valterrian struck, it immediately tumbled the Eypharian cities of Menehat, Naphu, and Bisret, and ruining much of Ahnatep. Fire and wild djed rolled over the land, stripping much of the life from the soil and leaving desert in its wake.

The few Eypharian families that managed to survive were scattered, huddled in the ruins of their houses and halls. Much of the lower classes perished in the violence that swept through the land around them, and it was mostly nobles and those wealthy enough to have built sturdy stone residences that survived. When the world settled and people began to venture out of hiding, they found all but a single Eypharian city, Ahnatep, utterly destroyed. Miraculously, the Pressor’s family had survived there, his emergence popularly attributed to his divine bloodline and not the deep stone walls of his home. With so much of the remaining population of Eypharians being those who had spent their lives relying on social mores, an almost immediate return to their social hierarchies was a lifeboat of stability in the chaos.

Much of the first generation after the Valterrian was spent relearning how to survive. Nobles were not farmers, and many perished from hunger and the elements in the first decade. Still, with the dedicated management of the Pressor, and a people who trusted his divine bloodline and ability to lead implicitly, the Eypharians began to rebuild. Slave labor was drawn primarily from stray Benshira and kelvics found straggling the desert and much of the hard labor was done under the crack of the whip. Eypharians banded together to make Ahnatep their home, and while basic farming procedures had to be rediscovered, the traditional tracking of bloodlines continued to ensure the Eypharian race was not too diluted.

With beaurocracy preserved above basic agriculture, it was not too long before the Eypharian race felt the backlash of it. The fertile lands north of Ahnatep that had been chosen for farmlands began to produce less and less, and despite the warnings of those who worked the fields, farming was demanded to continue to satisfy the growing population. By the year 300AV, the area was completely barren, the soil sucked dry of any nutrients, and attempts to farm other areas around the city has failed. Despite rumors among the Benshira and Chakatwe that the famine was a curse from Caihya for Eypharian hubris, the Eypharians began to rely heavily on outside trade for food. With the rest of the world beginning to stabilize, the remnants of luxury that could be pulled from the semi-ruined Ahnatep became a large export, allowing the race to get by even with the sudden change in food sources. In little time, the parts of the city that had fallen to sand were claimed and rebuilt. Eypharians attempted to forget the famine they had caused and returned, best they could, to the business of beauty.
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Recent History (may need different name for this section)
A race that had always been fascinated with their own history now finds themselves, 500 years after the Valterrian, where, or at least where they imagine, their pre-Valterrian ancestors had been. With so much of their history lost, it is paramount to preserve what they have left, even at the cost of building upon it. The glory of the race comes before almost all else and while this makes the regulation of genetics far more important than it had ever been, it also opens up social positions to those who can distinguish themselves, and thus the Eypharian race, through personal achievements and skill.

Despite the establishment of Yahebah as the Benshira’s home, as the Eypharian economy and society grows, slave labor continues to be a need for many Eypharians to maintain lives of luxury. As they now rely on trade with races including the Benshira, kidnapping them out of the desert is frowned upon, though many of the city’s traders covertly continue the practice and those in power turn a blind eye to pursuing claims. Kelvics, despite their status as slaves or, at best, pets, are not actively disliked so long as they remain in their roles. Chakatwe and other races are similar in status, accepted so long as they do not disturb the status quo.
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[Yisanareysin]

Question: Do the Eypharians still have the semi-friendly relationship with the viper Dhani that they do in the current lore, or is that being retconned?

[Rosela]

They will! Sorry I forgot to mention them specifically - they'll get added here shortly.