Siovarshí

The **Siovarshí** (sometimes referred to as **Varsic Humans**, **Varshaadi Vars** or **Ancient Vars**) are a species and ethnic group native to Iremia and notable mainly as being the primary ethnicity within Varshaad, Faltírvars, along with being the ones of which most Varsic culture and language originated from, thus why they are often referred to simply as Vars despite the fact there are other species under the Vars umbrella.

## Morphology

#### Physical Attributes

The Siovarshí hold many similarities to their homo-sapien counterparts, however at the same time the Siovarshí have a wide array of differences between them and humans. A typical Siovarshí often will have less sharp teeth than most creatures, due to the minimal usage of meat within their diets, thus making their teeth more used for eating fish and less tough foods, however it is still possible, although difficult for Siovarshí to eat tougher foods. Siovarshí males and females often grow to around the same height however with males growing slightly quicker, with males growing to be about 5'8, and females growing to be about 5'7. Siovarshí also have a wider array of natural hair colours. Along with that, Siovarshí also have arcane luminescent eyes in order to be easy to find by fellow Siovarshí.

#### Body Language

Utilizing their bioluminescent eyes, Siovarshí gain an additional way to convey body language to others. This is done by changing the colour of their eyes and how it glows based on emotions, such as yellow for happiness, or cyan for sadness. The eyes also change brightness based on stress, high stress or fear may mean dimmer eyes meanwhile low stress or calmness may mean brighter eyes, this is both to convey emotion and also a defence mechanism to avoid predators being able to find the Siovarshí with ease.

## Abilities

#### Magic

Siovarshí are one of the few creatures capable of using magic without augmentation allowing them to do so. This is believed to be due to the species having gained the favor of the gods early in their evolution, causing the gods to change the path of the species' evolution towards being capable of utilizing magic with ease, alongside said magic coming naturally from within them without external sources such as lapis. However being in a primarily isolated location, the Siovarshí used this magic primarily for entertainment along with passive uses.

## Status

#### Population

The Siovarshí population was massively fluctuating with famines, sudden population booms, and disease all around, this had caused a severe decrease in population even after the Palui Diaspora came and slowed it down due to improved farming techniques, eventually this population had reached stagnation with no major increases or decreases, until the **Great Revival** which saw a massive growth in Varshaad's population, with growth still ongoingly continuing at a slower pace.

#### Life In Faltírvars

The Siovarshí are seen as the main ethnicity within Faltírvars, with the Vars culture having originally consisted of Siovarshí, and the langauge and architectural styles being created by the Siovarshí as well. While having all this influence, the Siovarshí are treated equal to most other ethnicities except those coming from foreign realms e.g the people of Szchnow of whom whilst small in population are looked down on due to the inability to speak Varsic langauges.

## Culture

#### Clothing

Siovarshí clothing primarily consists of loose clothes tied together with buttons, with clothing for the humid and cold 1st frame of the year, and the hot and dry 2nd frame of the year. For the 1st frame, usually clothes made from local fox fur is used to insulate the body during the cold nights brought by winds from the south, these clothes can be dyed different colours however popular colours are red, brown and green. For the 2nd frame, usually clothes made from cotton and silk is used in order to keep less heat in during the hotter days brought by winds from the Askettan Desert. Most shoes are made with fox pelts and during the 1st frame, wool or fox fur is added. Regarding the garments, they would consist in simple shirts and pants covered by two sewn together fabrics working as a cape.

#### Gastronomy

The Siovarshí have a primarily plant and fish based diet, with the fish used for most Siovarshí dishes primarily being small fish like cod. Due to the environment, the Siovarshí often farmed wheat and carrots to sustain themselves, gathered sweet berries from the local spruce forests and glow berries from the lush cave under Varshaad. Notable dishes made by the Varshaadi Vars often contain the aforementioned foods, with combinations such as cod and berries often used.

#### Philosophy

The Siovarshí's philosophies mainly orientate around their enviorment, such as how it is seen good to use swampland to it's best abilities, with building seen as fine so long as some form of nature remains, forests and such as to be kept in tact due to how little fertile forests there are around the area. This is also the reason why during Varshaad's creation, Vars who did settle as well in the camp were against how it utilized the birch forests. Siovarshí also believe in the idea of only taking what you need in terms of meat, with overfishing or hunting not deemed honorable, instead farming is most encouraged. The Siovarshí also believe strongly in prioritizing a community or state over all else, with this having been a concept brought from the necessity to prioritize the small community one was in and it's survival during the time of Vars nomading.

## Evolution

### First divergences

The Siovarshí species originated from the human species during the earlier periods of it's existence. The exact reason for it's origins is debated, with the Cavian faith stating that it was simply the meddling of the Gods, and others stating it was evolutionary pressure in the swamp region. Regardless, the way the species evolved is agreed by most people. The Siovarshí began their divergence initially with the evolution of sharper eyesight, this was due to the necessity to see predators within the swamp easier, as whilst it was primarily rare to see such predators, any that did however posed a serious threat, and thus the necessity to see them better pressured the Siovarshí. With fish being the only main food source, many needed to compete to ensure their survival for food, thus, the *cérd* gene *(Varshaadi for More, Extra)* of which caused one's hair to produce different types of melanin to normal humans in order to identify their family members easier, with an instinctive urge to aid one's direct family evolving alongside it to accompany the gene. For this reason, those with less human hair colours tend to have a higher value of family than siovarshí that do due to the gene.

### Further divergences

The species was able to later remove the pressure to compete for the small amounts of nutritious food, by developing the ability to eat more plants with less waste of energy from it, by the digestive system and teeth becoming more accustomed to weaker meats like the already existing fish diet, alongside eating thicker (though not tougher) plantlife, but sacrificing the ability to tear through tougher foods. Whilst tougher foods are still edible, they are significantly difficult for a siovarshí to eat without it being cut up with tools.

### DNA Replication of the glow berry

Glow berries soon became a quality source of nutrients for the Siovarshí, however there was still an evolutionary obstical facing the Siovarshí, while one could identify their own kin, one was unable to even find another Siovarshí, often meaning venturing even slightly out would often get you lost in the swampland and subject to being easy prey. Thus, the Siovarshí adapted to the enviorment via DNA replication of the glow berry's arcane luminescence (Arcane luminescence is when an animal or plant produces light via what is commonly referred to as magic). The Siovarshí used this to gain the ability to have arcane luminescent eyes, and as a side affect, the Siovarshí gained the ability to produce arcane energy in the same methods as glow berry. The Siovarshí would later begin to develop the ability to use the arcane energy further primarily in order to send distress signals of light in the air if being hunted by a predator.