Gelth

Gelth is a species of intangible beings with magical powers.
==History and trivia==
01. Gelth are not born, but are created as the result of a rare form of thaumogenesis. They are unusual in that, unlike most other thaumogenetic creatures, their existence is not reliant upon the spells that birthed them. There is no specific spell to create a gelth, but the types of spells that can result in the creation of one are always enormously powerful and have a strong impact on the fabric of reality itself. Gelth are, as a result, extraordinarily rare--only a dozen recorded cases of one being "born" in the last thousand years exist.
02. Gelth are invariably and permanently intangible. The most solid form they are able to manifest is gaseous. In some ways, this makes them extremely powerful, while in others, a gelth is fundamentally helpless without the aid of tangible servants, which are often difficult for them to obtain.
03. Gelth strengths, weaknesses and abilities are entirely magic-based. Only very powerful magic can keep a gelth out of anywhere it wants to go, it can travel at extraordinarily fast speeds, it can divide itself into separate, functional parts and reform at will, and it can perform unassisted any magic that does not require physical components (e.g, a gelth will not, without help, work any spell that needs herbs, crystals, blood sacrifices, etc.).
04. The most common way gelths die is that they dissipate. Gelth-performed magics draw on the gelth itself for power, so that any magic they perform affects their longevity. This is the largest limitation gelth face in interacting with the physical world. The amount of magic it takes them to simply survive drains them. The gelth lifespan can be anywhere from only half that of an average human to about a hundred years, depending on whether or not it can obtain a willing and tangible servant competent with magic in his or her own right.
05. Gelths feed on magical energy expressed by other lifeforms. It is the only self-replenishing system they have, and makes them dangerously reliant on other beings to continue existing. Though they can certainly feed off magic that is used near them unintentionally, this requires them to be in a constant state of movement, looking for it. By far, the best method of survival they have is to bond with a competent mage willing to care for them.
06. Gelth tend to gravitate towards living spaces where they're less likely to be detected by others. Though finding tangible servants is an extremely important goal for many, hiding from those that wish to use them as fuel for powerful spells is an objective common to most. A likely-looking servant will be stalked by a gelth for weeks before he or she is determined trustworthy enough to be approached.
07. Gelth, like most thaumogenetic creatures, are soulless. Between that fact and the fact that they are lacking things like physical chemistry, they are almost entirely emotionless. Gelth equally lack the drive to do evil as much as they lack the drive to do good. Personality is a learned behavior they pick up from the tangibles they come in contact with. Most of a gelth's "instincts" revolve around self-preservation.
08. Being as rare as they are, gelth almost never come in contact with others of their species during their lifetimes. As such, if one gelth discovers another, they will often become extraordinarily dependent upon each other, as they can divide physical tasks between them and prolong both of their lives. Such relationships are often viewed by the uneducated as friendship or even marriage. Gelth do not understand either concept. They simply see one another as an ingenious method of survival.
09. Gelth require periods of both rest and replenishment (i.e, "food" and sleep) near daily. The amount of each that they require is directly proportionate to the amount of energy they've expended. They cannot go for very long without these without suffering serious weakness. Prolonged periods of sleeplessness and starvation can result in dissipation.
10. Gelth are impervious to temperature changes, the elements in general and non-magical attacks. A weapon enhanced with magic is considered a "magical attack."
11. Gelth have five senses, as humans do, but they do not have the same five senses that humans do. Gelth are, for all intents and purposes, blind, deaf, olfactory-impaired, gustatory-impaired and intactile. The world around them is instead interpreted by perceiving different types of energy and vibration. (e.g, a gelth translates sounds by recognizing each word's distinct vibratory pattern, and "sees" by detecting the energy signatures of both living beings and inanimate objects.) Gelth are able to speak, but it is rare--both because of their limited lifespan and different perceptions--for them to speak more than one language.
12. Lacking physical bodies obviously costs them physical attributes. As such, gelth are genderless. They have no traits marking them as sexed, and they do not identify as male or female in their own self-awareness. They also lack unique characteristics. All gelth look and sound the same. Only a particularly long-lived gelth with a long association with tangibles ever develops any traits that allow it to be told apart from other gelth, and all of them are personal rather than physical.
13. Gelth don't age, but they do mature. A newly-created gelth acts far more erratically and irrationally than one that has had some time on Earth. Not much time, however--they mature very, very quickly, as one of the first things they discover is their own mortality.
14. Gelth often have a sense of when they're going to die. Most gelth choose, if possible, to die alone. This behavior is especially common to gelth that have had long associations with tangibles. Gelth servants typically get more attached to the gelth than the gelth can be to them, and many gelth consider it an act of thanks for years of service to not have the tangible present at the time of their deaths.
15. While most gelth dissipate, they can die in other ways as well. Gelth can be killed. This is the second most common means for a gelth to die, as many mages, demon hunters and other such ilk view gelth as far too dangerous to be allowed to live, even for the short lifespans most of them have. The third most common gelth death is to be burned out of existence after being used to fuel a powerful spell.
16. The longest recorded gelth lifespan was one hundred and thirty-three yeas. It was a gelth named Astyanax, who had developed a close working relationship with a vampiric warrior-mage called Niccolo Adami. Adami made many mystical advancements to Astyanax to preserve it, including finding ways to give it temporary physicality. The process was difficult and required still-living beings to use as hosts. It never lasted for more than a few days, as the gelth would burn out the life energy of its hosts quite quickly. Adami was killed in the last unsuccessful attempt to bond Astyanax to a permanent host. Astyanax itself died two weeks after, of dissipation.
17. Gelth do not choose their own names. They don't see the need for it. Names are identifiers for tangibles. However, they are not opposed to being given a name by someone else, and if given one, will continue to answer to it. Contrary-wise, they often respond to the name only when it is said by the namer. A gelth with multiple servants will almost always have multiple names.
18. Gelth are, due to the aforementioned sense differences, almost invariably illiterate. It is possible for a gelth to read a book if the ink is relatively fresh (so that they can detect the shape of the letters through the shapes the ink has formed in) and a servant has taken the time and effort to teach them. But it's simpler for them to be read to or to acquire audio versions.
19. There are only four known gelth currently alive in the Earth's population. One belongs to the Los Angeles-area mage, Cyvus Vail. Another has become the host entity for the Old One Mauretania. Very, very little is known about the other two, and it is entirely possible that, at the time of this writing, they have already dissipated. The one that became host to Mauretania is known to be eight years old and to have been created as a side effect of a spell that reset a portion of the timeline and overwrote several deaths. No information about Vail's gelth has been assessed.
20. While gelth have always been rare, there have been incidences in history where populations of them have swelled. One such incidence was in Egypt, circa the 13th century BCE. Six gelth were created over the course of several months of a huge mystical battle between the magi employed by the Egyptians and the Medianites. The second instance was during the Italian Renaissance, where significant warping of matter caused five gelth to be born as the mystical science of Alchemy rose in sudden popularity. It is not known what became of any of these gelth, though many modern historians believe that the Egyptian gelth were taken in by the Medianites, who won the war. The Italian gelth are similarly believed to have been channeled back as accelerants into the very mystical experiments that birthed them.
==Section heading==
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Category:Species
Category:Gelth