Hesha

The Hesha are the children of Nyx, created when she and the dragons came to a truce with the invading giants at the end of Dragontime. To seal the peace, Nyx requested that the giants make mortals for her and her children. The giants agreed, shaping anima around the Walking Bones to the specifications of Nyx, who asked for 'scaled men,' children of dragons. The Hesha were made, and Nyx placed them in central Altea, within the watery plains of Ziyin, also called the Pale Marshes. The Hesha were content, constructing great temples to Nyx and honoring her and the other dragons with elaborate rituals. But the giants became increasingly unhappy in sharing Vala with the Old Ones. This ultimately precipitated the disastrous Night Wars.
The Night Wars ended with the fall and banishment of Nyx, the destruction of Tir Urdun and the triumph of the maedi. The Hesha were swept aside, confined to their swamps and forgotten. One group of Hesha travelled south, crossing the Jade Sea to Devana, where they became the Tlaak. The bulk of the Hesha remained in Altea, retreating into their floating cities and awaiting the redemption of Nyx. 
Hesha are a melancholy and reserved people. They do not have families as are generally understood, instead feeling allegiance to hundreds of ‘egg-siblings.’ All Hesha can both produce and fertilize eggs, thus, there is no concept of male or female among the lizardfolk. To the Hesha there are just Hesha, though outsiders often believe that all Hesha are 'male,' as they seem stereotypically so. Just the same, occasionally some folk insist that they met a 'female' Hesha, though again, no Hesha would make such a distinction. They are simply the children of Nyx, and they are as they were made. Indeed, Hesha rarely explain anything about themselves, as the understanding of outsiders is not required. Their speech can seem cold, direct and without ornamentation or poetry. They devote themselves to their 'caste,' ignoring all else to the point of callousness. They can be cruel, but it is a detached cruelty. And their kindness is always in some way perfunctory and pragmatic. 
Their are four 'breeds' or castes of Hesha, their appearance determined by the phases of the Twin Moons. When Ayos is more full than Eshid, red Hesha hatch from the spawning pools. When Eshid is more full than Ayos, blue Hesha hatch. When both moons are full, purple Hesha hatch. And when both moons are dark, black Hesha hatch. Broadly, blue Hesha are workers, red Hesha are warriors, purple Hesha are priests and black Hesha are enforcers, maintaining order among the castes. Each caste is born with the necessary instincts and memories to fulfill its duties and they seem to share a mild, psychic link between all their egg-siblings. The idea of rebelling against one's caste or denying one's destiny is literally unthinkable to Hesha. Their nature is determined by forces far more powerful than the individual will. When they die, 'good' Hesha are reborn in Nyx's Lake of Stars. They contemplate their actions in life there before returning to a new form, either a higher or lower one, depending on how well they embodied the will of the great dragons. 
Hesha believe that the world is a dream of some future entity they call the Whole-of-Being or the Consensus. All occurrences are in fact past events that the Consensus is dreaming of. To prevent the Whole-of-Being from waking up and dissolving the dream, the Hesha must ensure that the dream remains coherent, and they do this by ‘eliminating’ those aspects of the dream that do not align with the Consensus. Hesha further believe that they are the dreams of dragons, given form so as to explore the Great Dream that contains all things. Because of this, Hesha, through multiple lives, might ‘awaken’ within the dream, and more closely begin to resemble the dragons that dream the world. Hesha also understand magic as ‘memory,’ drawn from the Abyss which holds all that has ever been dreamed. Thus, when a sorcerer conjures a fire, he in fact conjures up the ‘memory’ of a fire, from some time, some where. 
Within each caste of Hesha there is a hierarchy. The winged Hesha have greater authority than wingless Hesha. And the huge, draconic Hesha have mastery over winged Hesha. These 'awakened' Hesha are said to commune with the spirits of even higher Hesha, who have shed their mortal forms to join with the dreams of the dragons. To ascend to a higher form, a Hesha must fulfil the duties of their caste and serve the will of the dragons. If this is done assiduously over many lifetimes, a Hesha will attain a higher form and thus greater authority within the collective. The Hesha are ruled by a council of mighty elders, one from each caste, that spend most of their days in trance, communing with ancestral spirits and relaying their guidance to the priestly caste.
Conversely, failing in their duties will condemn Hesha to being reborn as wyverns. Wyverns, or wyrms, can further fall and become drakes. Lower than drakes are basilisks, subterranean hesha that dwell in Erebus, enslaved to their instincts and bereft of wisdom. The lowest of all Hesha forms are the cavenewts, kept as pets and food by basilisks. The dread of being reborn as a cavenewt ensures most Hesha do not deviate from the expectations of their caste, and fulfill the will of the dragons, however obscure or inscrutable. Scholars refer to all these reptilian races as 'serpae,' perhaps recognizing a common thread binding them together. The Hesha certaintly believe that all serpae are just varieties of Hesha, some more enlightened than others. 
A population of Hesha dwell on the Water Moon of Eshid. It is uncertain how these Lunar Hesha arrived on Eshid, but it is believed they were brought to the moon by Nyx. As Eshid is her birthplace, the Lunar Hesha consider themselves the 'purest' of their kind. All lunar hesha have pearlescent scales. 
Category:Races