Antians

**Antians** are a species of highly magical humanoids that live mainly on their world of origin, Athanasia. They're most well known for their incredible beauty and powerful magical abilities but adversely, for their tendency towards xenophobia as well.
Antian culture thrives on trends, so they go through many different periods of history, most noticeable by it's aesthetics. While most wouldn't admit it, many of their trends are based on their gleaning out an outside phenomena, often reinterpreted entirely into their own cultures.
Their popularity among slavers has contributed more than any other factor to their near extinct status and fear of the outside world. Rough estimates place antians living off world at 50-100.

## Species Names

**Antians**
The name antian comes from their own language, meaning "Blessed People". As antians made contact with the rest of the Universe on their own terms, this is the most common term for them and is by far the best known.

**Medeigens**
Coined by early scientists who visited Athanasia before it became a closed world. For someone familiar with the antian race, it's hard not to imagine why they were dubbed "The Magic Tribe". This term is still mainly used in scientific and medical documents but is rejected by antians largely.

**Magi**
Some antians refer to their species as 'Magi', despite the terms broader use in the rest of the universe. Despite feeling as though they alone deserve the term, it never caught on outside of Athanasia.

## Origin

Athanasia sits in an old galaxy with one sun and is orbited by two moons and a hefty asteroid belt. It's geography varies as most planets do (it's 66% water) and it enjoys 4 seasons, it's days 36 hours long. The most admired feature of Athanasia are it's vast crystal caves, massive purple mountains and "rainbow" deserts. Antians appear to be the only highly sentient species on the planet, but it's rich in unique flora and fauna and is home to at least one subspecies of phoenix. It's cities are known for narrow streets, tall stone buildings and finely detailed architecture, often lit by magically powered crystalline street lamps. Rural areas are blanketed in colourful flora and support farms, mines and other like industries. Like many advanced societies, a great deal of Antians live in or near a major cultural hub; the capital city Pyrrh has a population of 15 million, Eumenes 11.5 million and Kreon 4 million.

## Culture

### Language

Antians speak a number of languages, but the dominate language is Qala which has soft inflections and has evolved overtime, influenced by many other regional dialects. Qala has become the antian standard and even those who speak other languages learn to speak and write it in schools.

### Religion

Antians have no formal religion, instead revering legendary artists, poets, architects, scholars, lawmakers, etc.

### Ethnicities

Antians tend to split ethnicities based on the regions they were born in and they can be identified usually by the shape and colours of their stones, their facial traits and hair and skin colours. There has rarely been any tension between ethnicities apart from small territory wars.
The Antian class system is a loose system and based more on accomplishment than anything else. Scholars, artists and great mages are treated with the most respect and, especially in cities, those who work with their hands are considered mildly embarrassing despite their necessity to society. Politicians are likewise ranked and mostly appreciated for their personal accomplishments, rather than professional ones. Money means little in terms of class.

### Sexual Politics

Females are typically the heads of the households and more likely to be sole providers for the families, while males are more likely to stay home and raise the children. While their laws maintain total gender equality, females are generally more revered and are considered wiser than males, especially as they age.

## Physiology

### Overview

Antians' usually live 400-600 years. The stones on their bodies act like lungs that absorb magical energy from the surrounding area, so if an antian loses too many stones (black market theft or injuries) or in the rare cases when one is born with too few, they will die. The stones power their hearts, which are akin to magical batteries, so anything that tampers with their flow of magic to a certain degree will also be the death of them.
They are near unlimited sources of magical energy and have a natural affinity for most forms of magic. Antians are considered to be a staggeringly beautiful species and are naturally very quick.
The more stones an antian is born with and/or grows over their lifetime, the more powerful they become. They can't be affected by magical spells, though this can be a problem in cases where healing is needed. They heal only slightly more quickly than the average human.
Antians are not known for strength, and so avoid close-quarters combat whenever possible.

### Physical Traits

Antians appear much like humans, albeit generally considered more attractive. Small stones of various shapes and colours dot their bodies, most often around their eyes and forehead, noses, ears, collar bones, hip bones, elbows, ankles and shoulders. Stones tend to grow close to where the bones lie on their bodies. The colours and shapes have no significance in terms of power, but the bigger the stones (or the more numerous) the more powerful the Antian. While stones can be removed through injury or illness, it isn't an easy task and they usually grow back. Their hair ranges from colours like blond, brown, red, black, white, grey and sometimes very deep purples and blues. Their hair types cover a similarly broad range but are often wavy or curly.
Their skin tones go from rather pale to extremely deep browns and their eyes can be nearly any colour of the rainbow. They range from 4'6âï¿½ï¿½ - 6'1âï¿½ï¿½ on average and are of varying weights and body types. Antians can grow beards, but most prefer not to and their ears are rounded, much like humans. Because of their heavily magical and aesthetics based society, many Antians âï¿½ï¿½projectâï¿½ï¿½ different appearances onto themselves, so all of these attributes are subject to change. There are no strict regulations on clothing, but the average Antian prefers to be fashionable and trendy whenever possible.
Antians have many viruses and sickness unique to them but seem immune to most outsider illnesses. Since an Antians health is almost entirely dependant on their magic supply, many of their illnesses attack or limit it and these are the illnesses feared the most. Since their stones extract magical energy only to store it, their stones can be limited for a time before they begin to wither.
Antians have little to fear in most cases, however, because magical energy exists nearly everywhere and with a good amount of energy stored, they can go up to 20 days without food or water, more if their stones are functioning.
Antians are highly desirable on the black market for their beauty but mostly for their stones, mainly because their stones can act like nearly unlimited magical batteries when worked correctly into machines or magical devices. This contributes to their xenophobia a great deal.
Antians have a higher metabolism than humans, so rich foods and alcohol don't effect them entirely the same way. They heal faster than humans do, but not by much.
Antians cannot be affected by magic of any kind, so are not able to be healed or augmented by spells directly. To get around this, they project shields and effects around themselves or enchant items to wear. Surgery is not recommended for antians as their bodies act like protective shells for their magical cores or âï¿½ï¿½batteriesâï¿½ï¿½, and when their cores are exposed they can supercharge objects and people around them. This results in all kinds of magical anomalies, up to and including explosions. Antian bodies reject all forms of cybernetics or synthetic limbs.

#### Sexual

Antians' sexually mature at the age of 14 âï¿½ï¿½ 16 without fail and are legal adults at this time and can live on their own. While monogamy is considered to be a romantic ideal, it is presumed that it will be committed to later in life. Antians usually have multiple partners of both genders before they settle on a life partner. Most Antians (90%) are bisexual, with the remainder being evenly divided as heterosexual or homosexual. There are very few sexual taboos in Antian culture and it is considered to be a very sex positive society. Polygamy is not altogether uncommon though they consider sexual abuses of any kind to be extremely grave crimes and those convicted are among the harshest punished under Antian law.
Antians have no concept of legal marriage, but do hold a ritual for couples before their families and friends that maintain their love for one another. The ritual includes imbuing each spouses magic into an amulet or other special object, and they do this for the births of children as well.
Divorce isn't uncommon, usually consisting of a mutual ritual that dispels the object of love and nothing more. If the decision isn't mutual, they go before a city or town counsel, argue the case and it is often solved by an order to dispel. A child's object cannot be dispelled, but if a child one day rejects the family or is disowned, the object legally belongs to them.
Antians reproduce similarly to humans (one male, one female) and tend to have 1-2 children per conception. Twins are more common for powerful Antians but there have never been documented cases of triplets or more. Antians often only have children after finding a suitable partner, accidental pregnancy isn't very common since safe and responsible sex is something they are taught since children. Antians are often able to conceive children with other humanoid species, including humans, most elves, angels (who are generally compatible with most other races) but this rarely occurs since, as mentioned, they are xenophobic and rarely leave their home world.

## Mental Traits

Antians are considered to be a smart race, if not single minded in their pursuits. They prize magical, scholarly and artistic accomplishments above most others and consider Antians who don't to be unusual, even pariahs.
Antians are able to sense magic, some even going so far as to know the type, usage and other details of the spell in question.
Antians have a stronger resistance to mental manipulation, likely due to early attempts to enslave the race. They have a great ability to process complex details at length.
The average Antian doesn't handle stress well and they are particularly vulnerable to depression and other emotional disturbances.
Antians are largely considered by outsiders to be stubborn, conceited and stuck-up which isn't far from the truth. They place an incredibly high importance on aesthetics and generally consider themselves to be a superior race in culture, beauty, language, arts and intelligence. It's not uncommon for an antian to be multi-talented and very well aware of that fact. They are often charming, well-spoken but tend to despise technology. They are relatively xenophobic so Athanasia is registered as a closed planet, which means it's illegal to trespass under penalty of law. Very few antians travel off-world and when they do, it's generally implied that they should not return home again. Most travelling antians, wholly unfamiliar with outsiders, have found themselves captivated and shocked by what they consider to be "ugliness".

### Evolution

It's not known how Antians came to evolve the way they did, but it is speculated they are possibly offshoots of another long dead race, though which one is heavily debated. Some theorize they are distant relatives of the thobaani (time travelling nagas) while a few others whisper that they are a lost fifth race of The Mythra Tribes, however unlikely. It's most likely they are the result of cross-breeding between humanoids and highly magical creatures or simply regular humanoids irradiated for millions of years by richly magical mineral deposits which are still found on Athanasia today, but it is a hotly debated topic among scholars.

## Antian Xenophobia and the Slave Trade

Antian xenophobia is as well known as their magical abilities across the Universe and while some question it's validity, it's beginnings cropped up in very early history. Earliest records of Antians involve their capture and enslavement; for a time they were a common fixture of any large black market, mainly for their exotic beauty. Many people didn't risk buying Antians for the simple fact that they were known to be hard to keep, many escaping almost immediately; others brutally torturing and killing their owners with their magics. Eventually it was discovered by more mystical slave owners that Antian stones were useful on their own and soon they were in higher demand than ever. Entire industries were founded off of harvesting Antian stones to sell and/or use as batteries for magical devices and since the energy the stones could absorb was near limitless, they were incredibly expensive. Antians shut down their planet after this, some say they even created the asteroid belt as a protective measure against slaver ships. They made it illegal for outsiders to enter their newly claimed space and Antians that left the home world were chastised and often banished from Athanasia altogether. Black markets found themselves with a severe lack of Antians and Antian stones and so their price went up over a thousand fold; any Antians found in the outside world are a great and constant risk of death, though are more valuable alive.

## Notable People

Aesop Fable - Universally reknown mage, criminal and author. Banned from returning to Athanasia.