Fire-Blooded

Maydly, first Fire-Blooded

Fire-Blooded are an offshoot of the Human species, changed through the infusion of a mutagen contained within a tree sapling from a lost continent. They are a resilient species known for their affinity with fire and a denial of all they consider to be "vices of the earth" such as obsession with eternity.

## Physiology

### Appearance

Their size range is similar to that of Humans with a wider short-tall range of around 1.50m to 2m, notably, their height can slowly change over time depending on their needs. Build-wise they are often fit, with an ease of gaining muscles and often quickly burning fat away.

Their skin are colourful and bright, often in colours commonly seen in flames (red, yellow, green, blue) which seems to be decided by what types of materials are present in their diets, as its notable certain colours tend to become more common in certain regions (such as blue in the Empire and red and pink in the Red City) Their hair and eyes follow a similar pattern, softly glowing and often having gradient patterns.

As a rapidly mutating species, some features are present in certain regions but not in other, such as the presence of a thin tail or black sclera.

Notably, they do not have shadows.

### Diet

Their diet is often considered bizarre. Not only are they able to eat most common types of food, including the ability to eat raw meat without worries, but also many things that are considered "fuel" such as oils, wood chips, and even certain salts and minerals. Alcoholic beverages in particular are very popular.

This makes them known for two very different things: The ability to survive a long time on very little without nutritional worries and yet also the ability to feast wildly, converting all that food and drink into extra energy very quickly.

### Reproduction

Initially, Fire-Blooded could freely interbreed with humans and some other species, in fact, the first Fire-Blooded, and for a while the only Fire-Blooded, Maydly, was able to make others into the species just by contact with her blood. As the generations passed, however, breeding with humans became increasingly rare, basically impossible if not under special circumstances.

Often 1 to 2 babies are born, with a gestation period of only 6 months. There is a lot of variation in their growth-rates, in threatened or warlike communities the children will grown into adults in mere 12 years, while in peace and in cities it can take about as much as humans do, if not longer. The universal sign of Fire-Blooded adulthood is the glow of their hair.

### Lifespan

The average Fire-Blooded live between 55-65 years, as they become older keeping high temperatures and their body physiology becomes increasingly hard and as such most prefer a peaceful death. Some, however, do not, and choose to extend their lifespan, their bodies starting to mutate increasingly faster along with the need of more and more nutrition to keep that up. The effects this has on the body and mind are horrific to say the least, so much so the majority of Fire-Blooded who are past 80 are considered monsters by most nations, and not without reason when the list of such beings go from four armed cannibals to barely humanoid agglomerates of flesh.

### Death

The end is meaningful to Fire-Blooded, as their denial of eternity makes it so they believe death is the end of the individual, yet they believe there is peace in this, in contrast with the perceived torture and terror to be found in eternal afterlife.

When dying their bodies increase their inner temperature rapidly while the flesh and bones crumble to ashes, it is incredibly offensive to want to store any remains of a Fire-Blooded, any type of memorial has to be equally impermanent, no tombs and statues.

## Abilities

### Fire Blood

The most obvious feature and what gives the species its name is their affinity with fire, often associated with their maroon coloured oily blood. Their inner body temperature is high, averaging at 60°C, with "fevers" going past the water boiling temperature of 100°C and are overall very resistant to most high temperature hazards, from insulation to touching hot surfaces up to 500°C.

### Inferno

When in battle, when death seems imminent, well trained Fire-Blooded can bring forth a technique which makes them enter a berserk state at the cost of their lives. In the state of Inferno, their inner temperature rises, any organ unnecessary in combat is shut down and the skin and flesh meld together into a single oil infused mess that not only has a thick-sticky structure that is hard to cut through, but will ignite with the first spark from steel meeting steel.

In this state the only way to kill the Fire-Blooded is by cutting their heads or striking their hearts, or simply waiting out as this form cannot be maintained for long and once it burns out there is no life left in the body.

### Accelerated Adaptive Physiology

The race is known for their resilience and the ability to heal from wounds that would permanently cripple members of other species, such as growing back teeth as many times as it is necessary, and for the fact their bodies seem to be ever youthful and ever changing, unlike humans who simply grew up up until maturity, Fire-Blooded gain and lose height throughout their lives.

This all comes from the fact they have an ever-mutating biology that works many times faster than the other species, more radical changes tend to only occur to those who live past the natural lifespan of 60~ years or to those who need to adapt to extreme environments, in particular the Pale and the mist's ever changing effect on mortals.

## Culture and Psychology

While, like all species, there are countless Fire-Blooded individuals, each with their own mindset and personality, there are still certain aspects that are observed among all Fire-Blooded.

### Philosophy of Flames and the Vices of Earth

#### Now is the envy of the dead

"The flame of tomorrow and the flame long extinguished will not bring you warmth" a common saying which expresses the species' focus on the present instead of the future and the past, they are but a flicker in the turns of the universe and they deal with this with acceptance: "while times past and times to come are infinite, times which one will get to call 'now' are limited, as such to lose your now with daydreams of other times is simply stupid."

This concept can be hard to grasp for many who are not fire born, as it somehow exalts both the content maid who simply bothers herself with her work and simple life as well as the overly ambitious warrior who wants to burn as bright as she can. This should not be the focus, instead, it should be the approach of these two to their situation, the mindfulness of the maid's mind as she works, how the warrior fights for the sake of it, for the love of violence and movement, the glory of her name merely an afterthought.

#### Vices of Earth

To the Fire-Blooded, most civilisations are slaves to ghosts. Go to their cities and you will see countless dead men looking down upon you in painting and sculptures, instead of building homes and feeding the poor their kings demand great monuments upon death, kicking a child beggar is looked over but damage a statue and they will call you a monster. All they call tradition is just seen as dead people peer-pressure.

To them, the constant worry about eternity makes the earth born chained to the ground. It is not that the Fire-Blooded have an aversion to the past (some do, but the majority does not) its just that the species will always put the here and now above all else. If destroying a historically important fortress will help win the war, then so be it.

### Society and Integration with other Sapient Species

There is no Fire-Blooded nation, as the species' numbers never were concentrated or high enough to hold land, even so the majority of the 'connected' side of the Shard has a notable Fire-Blooded population. Its common to separate these populations in two, the Independent or Country, and the Urban populations. Independent constitutes of the small towns where Fire-Blooded are majority, of abbeys and other small settlements within a nation and of villages and clans in no man's land. Urban are the populations within an empire's core cities, which is more than half of the species' population but always a minority within these cities.

#### Perception in the eyes of empires and other species

The perception of Fire-Blooded is mixed to say the least. On one side, there are many negative associations, from unruly bandit clans almost impossible to exterminate, to arsonist cultists with a love for anarchy and the destruction of the old, to prostitution as they have appearances close to humans yet are unable to create offspring with them. On the other side, they are among the most dedicated workers, and cheapest soldiers and sailors, incredible cooks and the best option any city can have when it comes to firefighters, there is also a great deal of respect towards certain groups of Fire-Blooded such as the Shining Knights, which dedicate their lives to helping others.

Parallel Wealth and Taxes

The currency of Fire-Blooded communities tends to be barter and favours, though they can handle the traditional coin/credit based transactions, especially in human centred zones, they will naturally slide back to simpler decentralised exchanges and work for other purposes than the accumulation of wealth. This of course gets integrated in the fire/earth dichotomy core to their culture, the copper and silver of coins being obviously linked with the earth-born species.

In the independent areas money becomes rare anywhere but the port, the population small enough that they can rely on sharing within their own borders, in the urban areas money tends to be more present, even so, Fire-Blooded still have the tendency to congregate around groups under the leadership of "Assigners", typically a family, that handles the barter and donations of all associates and distributes them.

This makes taxing this population somewhat hard, empires learning quickly that instead trying to demand coin and throwing around accusations of contraband, it was much easier to ask for a share of production and work time. Typically there are also laws against non Fire-Blooded joining or trading with these associations under the local Assigners, as this typically gave these organisations a more "mafia-like" behaviour.

#### Bathhouse Culture

While generally integrated in the local urban population, Fire-Blooded at times still desire to go into meetings where only they are accepted, especially those who really focus on their distinction from all "Earthlings" species (which is everyone but themselves). While local bars and meeting grounds are used, nothing is more popular than the Bathhouse. The reason for this is simple, they can make the waters far hotter than what any other species but themselves would like, as such other species voluntarily stop frequenting these places which helps to avoid creating tensions and suspicions with the locals, which are technically allowed to join but would rather not. The fact Fire-Blooded owned baths tend to be mixed also can make many other races shy away from joining.

These Bathhouses tend to be a primary meeting place for not only small talk and discussions, but also a place of political debate, poetry, music and even art. Cooperation deals are formed, marriages arranged and journeys to far off places plotted. Its no overstatement to say Bathhouses tend to be the cultural heart of the urban Fire-Blooded culture.