Brightwings

The Brightwings were a race of intelligent creatures which dwelt in this world in the Age of Titans and migrated to the Dreadlands to escape the Annihilation, eventually ending up as the slaves of Mogarakh the Father of the Cosmos, condemned for over three millennia to the fate of having their life-essence industrially harvested by Mogarakh until the Annihilator slew him. The fate of their race after this point is uncertain. Most of the information on them comes from written records, but their physical traits are well-established because their remains can still be found in Inecuria.

Brightwings were somewhat alike bats in their basic shape, possessing the form of a quadrapedal animal with the front legs (or arms) acting as wings. If they were to stand upright on their hind legs, they would come to an average of approximately five feet (1.53 metres) tall. However, their apperance was certainly very much unlike a bat, and in fact they bear quite a lot of resemblance to the Frozen Corpse - which many think to be the deceased body of the Titan known as King Alveron, whom the Elvetans worship as a deity - which strongly suggests a link between the two. The Brightwings, in additional to an internal skeleton, possessed a pure white segmented exoskeleton which covered almost all their body. Golden-brown flesh showed through in the gaps between the plates of exoskeleton at the joints, and the leathery wings were the same colour. They had neither ears nor noses, but instead a pair of long antennae sprouting from their foreheads which served the same purposes. Their eyes were a notably rich golden colour.

Brightwings reproduced in a manner that is somewhat similar to some fish. Rather than having sexual intercourse, the female would lay an egg and then the male would fertilise it by injecting it with a semen package. The egg's shell would remain soft for approximately a week to allow it to stretch and grow to the size needed to house the growing child, and would then quickly harden. The child would hatch out of the egg approximately six months after being laid, but would still take a further fifteen years to grow to full maturity according to most estimates.

The Brightwings were said to possess intelligence equal to a Human, though some sources suggest they were not quite as quick-witted and were less capable at problem-solving and logical deduction. They were also very limited in their use of tools due to the physical shape of their limbs. They were said to be driven by their highly empathetic and compassionate nature, which at times made them naive, believing the best in others who genuinely warranted a distrustful attitude.

Where they far exceeded most other intelligent creatures was in their magical ability, which was said to be greater than all the Elfkin. Though they were incapable of shadow magic, and likely only possessed weak shield magic, they were unrivalled amongst the mortals in their manipulation of plasma and healing magic. This magic gave them very long lives - they were said to live on average for as much as 200 years, though their life expectancy starkly decreased once they fell under the dominion of Mogarakh, rarely living longer than their age of physical maturity (15 years after hatching).

## Enslavement by Mogarakh

The narrative of how the Brightwings came to be enslaved by Mogarakh comes from the Imperial Inquisition, which in classic fashion is tight-lipped about its sources - but in all likelihood they were derived from Dreadfolk who were willing to work alongside the Inquisition and provide information about the Dreadlands.

Soon after fleeing to the Dreadlands to escape the Annihilation, the clans of the Brightwings began to fracture and fight amongst each other, and their conflicts grew increasingly bitter and bloody over the subsequent decades, the kindness that characterised them becoming warped and forgotten. Ancient grudges erupted into new violence, but the unusual and hostile environment of the Dreadlands also sparkled conflict, as the Brightwings found themselves constantly struggling for resources. Amidst this growing chaos emerged the Great Unifier, a leader of awesome magical power and impressive tactical genius, who united the broken Brightwing clans into one, cleverly outmanoeuvring his foes and inflicting minimal casualties to force their surrender.

The Great Unifier spoke of a land of opportunity where the Brightwings would have plenty of food and living space for all, ending the useless wars between the clans as there would no longer be a need to fight. His promises enticed virtually the entirety of the Brightwing race - only one clan, the Goldfangs, refused to believe him, and they were ostracised by the other clans and eventually condemned as traitorous rebels and subsequently exterminated.

The Great Unifier led the Brightwings to the promised land, only for it to be the Cosmic City, the lair of Mogarakh, where they were all imprisoned by Mogarakh and it was revealed that the Great Unifier was a Witch of Mogarakh all along. The Great Unifier - who was henceforth known as the Great Deceiver - was killed as he was no longer necessary, and the Brightwings were forced to breed to produce new generations before being systematically tortured and harvested for their life-essence. The new generations of Brightwings were raised in the Cosmic City, and the Brightwings began their period of slavery.

The Brightwings proved to be more difficult to restrain than the Husks, the mutated and mentally broken slaves who inhabited the slums of the Cosmic City, as they proved to be resistant to the physical and mental corruption that was inflicted upon the Husks. They warranted a much greater level of security due to their less submissive tendencies, but the were still very much capable of being broken into the bottomless hopelessness that Mogarakh required in order to extract their life-essence from their bodies. The extra effort required to keep the Brightwings in line was worth it, as the powerful magically-charged essence within one Brightwing was worth ten Husks if not more.