Wights

Generally, "**wights**" is a term used in the Rabydosverse to refer to any spirit in nature that is less powerful than the Gods, or that are the servants of those deities. They are also known as **dryads**, **fairies**, **earth spirits**, **guardians**, or **fey**.

## Characteristics

Wights tend to appear in many different forms, depending on the culture, folklore, or religion that mentions them. They usually appear as humanoids, although many also take the form of animals.

Vozonid wights usually appear as colourful humans wearing splendid and beautiful robes, with the feature that they inhabit being the pattern in their attire. For example, a river wight would wear flowing cyan and green robes dotted with lilies; while the certain wight warrior of a mangrove tree wears a suit of green suit of armour made of leaves and roots. According to Vozonid mythology, wandering souls, ghosts, or the souls of plant-based sentients that linger too long near any natural feature or plant gain colours as they turn into wights; and the plant-like Porasonids believe that their souls turn into wights after they die.

Wights tend to be venerated in the form of idols inside shrines, or simply by the feature that they inhabit (like a tree, a forest, a large rock, a field, a road, a hill, a mountain, or a river). More prominent or popular wights reside in larger temples. Even houses have their own wights who are given offerings for their blessings.

## Specific wights in human cultures

### Nordic

* Vættir
	+ Landvættir (land wights) and Landdísir (land mothers)
	+ Sjóvættir (sea wights) and Vatnavættir (water wights)
	+ Skogvættir (forest wights)
	+ Húsvættir (house wights)
* The Aesir and Vanir gods, the jotnar giants, the dvergar (dwarves), and the ljosalfar, dokkalfar, and svartalfar elves are also wights.
* In some Nordic cultures, a ráð (rå) is a king or queen among the vaettir, as in skogsrå ("forest queen")
	+ Skogsrå (forest queen) - she sometimes seduces men, especially hunters. She can be known for her hollow back and her tail.
	+ Bergsrå (mountain lord or lady)
	+ Sjörå (sea queen) - she sits and combs her long hair, seducing men

### Slavonian

* Dukhi
	+ Domovoi (household guardians)
	+ Leshi, Leshachikha (forest wights)
	+ Vodjanoi (water wights)
	+ Polevoi, Poludnitsa (field or farm wights)
	+ Boginka (water and wind goddesses)
		- Rusalka (river maidens)
		- Vila (wind maidens and other related wights)
		- Samodiva (forest nymphs with fire)
		- Navia (ghosts of tragic or premature deaths and the drowned, nymphs)

### Dasadeshan/Prisapuran

* Devatas
* Yakshas and Yakshinis
	+ Porasonids consider them to be their ancestors, because both of them are related to plants. They also believe that if a Porasonid dies, he or she will become a yaksha who protects the living and lives with Shiva in his paradise at Mount Kailasa.
	+ These beautiful giants are ruled by the dwarf god Kubera, the god of treasures.

### Pjuvian

* Nat
* Thirty-three High Nat, Ahtet Nat
	+ Among all the nat in the country of Pju, thirty-seven are their rulers. And among this group Thagyamin is their king.
* Thagyamin
	+ The king of the nat. He is considered to be Indra, the god of the weather.
	+ Every year on April (the new year), he visits every inhabited world to observe every living mortal while being invisible. For two days, he writes the names of good people in a golden book, and records the names of evildoers and sinners in a book made of dog's skin, before returning to Heaven to send forth rewards and punishments.
* Maung Po Tu
	+ The nat who protects traders and rides on a tiger. In nearby countries he is seen as a symbol of good luck.
* Bhummaso, Myae Saung Nat
	+ Wights of the earth. People call upon them to bless the lands that they inhabit.
* Rokkaso, Thitpin Saung Nat
	+ Wights of the trees. They are considered to be beautiful people. Some artists look to them for inspiration.
* Akathaso
	+ Wights of the sky and winds. These handsome spirits are regarded as the heralds and messengers of King Thagyamin.

### Daizhouvian and Siangwaanian

* Wongʟ Ye and Wongʟ Po (隍爺, 隍婆)
	+ Formerly a term for a city moat god that protects his respective settlement, this term now refers to any wight of any location. More specifically, it refers to earth spirits that look after homes.
	+ Like most countries on Jerde, almost every house and business has a shrine to its local Wong Ye or Wong Po nearby.
	+ They are honoured with offerings of food, drink, or incense twice a day, at sunset and sunrise. Optionally, they are also given flowers and garlands.
	+ They tend to be represented in idols carved like Vozonid men and women, complete with silk robes and golden helmets. Their idols and shrines are sometimes accompanied by statues of gryphons holding swords, and sometimes nearby consecrated trees have sacred bands tied around their trunks.
	+ Stronger or higher-ranking wights are known as Wong Ye Zün Wong (隍爺尊公) or Wong Po Zün Haau (隍婆尊后). These spirits are likened to minor gods.
* Kei (祇)
	+ Earth spirits. Now a title addressed to prominent wights.

### Vozonid

#### Specific

* Ape-Wight of Mount Mandil (Josol, Siangwaan) - he guards Mount Mandil until the destruction of the planet. Wears a golden suit of armour and wields a spear and shield: his shield bears the names of those who were killed for damaging the mountain.
* Dragon of Lake Zavo (Narivo)
* Blue-and-Green-Clothed Wights of the Great Forest (in western Vozolaz or the Paharal jungle to the south) - venerated during Sarmelonid times and again with a modern revival
* Chellarcha/Shyllashau (Siangwaan and nearby countries, in some cases) - the more popular ghosts are venerated as wights.
* Dūbokhôn, the Pumpkin Lord - he is Hannahanna's scribe who records each harvest
* Nai Saremau/Nai Saremai (Porashon) - cherry tree dryads that represent the people of Porashon, their origins as plant-like humanoids, and their beauty. Any male cherry wight is a brave Nai Saremau, while any female cherry wight is a gentle Nai Saremai. Both names mean "beautiful cherry [tree/flower]".
* Mount Tunavjon - a mountain-wight that refuses to "eat" the victims thrown into his caldera, either letting them land on some dry land away from sight or fall to their deaths.
* the Twelve Ministers of the Underworld, who assist the death God Zōval as he judges the deceased. One of them, Katazoripo, is the most popular as he records the good deeds of the deceased, ensuring a better chance for a better afterlife.
* Heralds of Metsharoz - the guards of the Sword God of Peren, Metsharoz. They forged a sword made of meteorite iron, engraved with twelve runes, given as a gift to Zieu Mengdo for destroying the undead who terrorised the land. They were unable to save him when he fought another demonic tyrant, but they avenged him by killing the tyrant in a fit of rage.
	+ When they mourned, the forest around the very spot where Zieu Mengdo died wilted, and every animal avoided it for three months. The other wights left the spot, causing the trees to die.
	+ Some of the wights later launched another purge to kill more demons and ghosts. They later helped some hikers recover Zieu Mengdo's body, and place his magical sword in a shrine.

#### Types and races

* Berzadun - The wights who serve as Zoval's guards and soldiers.
* Berzatri - The heralds of Zoval who wear white or black. Black berzatri retrieve souls of victims of disasters or cruel deaths, and the wicked; while white berzatri retrieve people who pass away peacefully. Both berzatris bring the dead to Zoval's court, where they are judged and sent to their respective afterlives.
* Blue-and-Green-Clothed Wights of the Great Forest (in western Vozolaz or the Paharal jungle to the south) - venerated during Sarmelonid times and again with a modern revival.
* Chellarcha/Shyllashau (Siangwaan and nearby countries, in some cases) - the more popular ghosts are venerated as wights. The superstitious fear of those ghosts attracting more harmful ghosts causes the eastern lands to become a laughingstock.
* Hōnjon - desert wights
* Jōnduri - wide tree
* Jopakkon - tree-wights bound by oaths sworn by humans. They are armed with axes to cut down any who break their oaths to them.
* Jõndoz - road wights. Shrines were set up on resting stations where travellers pray for their favour as they continue their voyages.
* Rūnon - mountain wights
* Shunjarau/Shunjarai - river wights
* Spinel Wight/Karkishai - supposedly a bringer of wealth and good luck. She tends to appear as a young woman who wears red robes and a gleaming scarlet hat, that rides on a white horse.
* Tshuvarjoz/Tshuvarjaz - beach wights
* Ultashōrin - jungle or forest wights
	+ The most common kind of wight, as they represent any forest and group of trees. Many of them tend to wear silk robes or leaf-like armour.
	+ Their enemies include anyone who desecrates their forests, and various evil ghosts and demons who seek to kill their forests and creatures. Their weaponry range from magical swords and spears, to bows and even muskets and pistols (if they are near humans who use firearms).
* Voinjaraz - vineyard wights
* Zirakon, Zariloi - tall tree

### Vovtarlan

The wights specific to various locations on the planet of Vovtarla, based on Monterjo folklore. The most powerful of these wights, who govern its continents and oceans, are honoured by the king of Vovtarla in certain ceremonies with a ritual banquet.

They either are represented by empty thrones which are burned with the food after the ceremony as sacrifices, or priests who become mediums of the demigods, who will then burn the thrones and the food. Each priest, who represents a great wight of a region, prays for his region as he lights his throne and food with a torch, drumming as they burn. When the last priest burns his throne of offerings, the ceremony ends, and the priests revert back from their trance to their usual lives.

## Specific wights in non-human cultures

### Heronoi

* runitai - rainbow fairies or wights. Women dye their hair blue and pray to them to direct their archery or gun shots, and in later times some soldiers risked being mocked as "effeminate" for praying to them.
	+ These are considered the angels of the goddess Ruonditai, her knights and her warriors who fight her enemies.
* nawiruxa - blue water wights.
* múndirequa - purple wights of the night sky and wind.
* hōwaxo - red celestials who accompany the gods as soldiers.
* súruda - red celestials who aid fighters and angry people when they kill.
* omarexe - orange spirits of the dawn and the sun's heat. Male and female celestials who serve the solar gods.
* kesse - yellow spirits of lightning.
* ansunda - green tree wights who serve certain forest deities.
	+ These spirits are believed to aid the robotic kodequara after their banishment from Heronoi society, allowing them to live among them to help them defend the forests. Some ansundamai not only give the kodequara magical abilities, but they also turn the wooden kodequara into mighty treepeople.
* mentada - mountain spirits.
* kureteda - dancing mountain spirits.
* korybano - male mountain spirits who protect those who control the passes if they are propitiated and honoured. If they are not honoured correctly with offerings, they allow any enemy to cross the passes. They are depicted as bare-chested men wearing tunics and armed with maces and pikes.
	+ The mountains along the western border of Heronoja are also believed to be inhabited by their own korybanomai spirits. These wights are worshipped using syncretised Rakolan rites, such as dancing around a sacred fire after sacrificing an animal or meat.

### Resparin/Nandegakkovian

Some Resparins paint their blue skin with dye to invoke the wights of the forests and seas to aid them in battle, usually through magical means. Even some Nandegakkovian warriors do it as a cultural tradition, using their painted patterns for good luck or to honour a hero.

* réu - wight, nature spirit
* ráwi, ráwai, ráwajo - greater wight, guardian spirit, lesser god, minor god
* súrmei - sea wight, sea spirit. Sea-wights in Nandegakko are depicted as blue or green-skinned merpeople who are more playful than their mortal counterparts.

## Wight characters

### Rabydosverse

* Karkinja
* Athadol the Sentinel

## In other languages

### Rabydosverse (human)

* Baesorjan: *vættr* (pl. *vættir*), ráð
* Daleskarnian: *vettur* (pl. *vettar*), rádd
* Hothrovian: *vættur* (pl. *vættar*), rádz/ráz
* Prisapuran, Sanskrtam: *devata*
* Pjuvian: *nat* (နတ်)
* Pinogunian: *kami* (pl. *kamigami*)
* Bujanski: *dukh* (pl. *dukhi*)
* Gauvajut: *gurti* (pl: *gurties*)
* Sarmelonid: *nišaipau* (pl. *nìšaipauso*), *rjòšo* (pl. *rjòšoso*)
* Modern Eastern Vozonid: *rhysoi* (pl. *rhysoizo*), *nizājoz* (pl. *nizājozzo*)
* Siangwaanian: wongʟ, wongʟye (man), wongʟpo (woman)

### Rabydosverse (alien)

* Igarin: mɨrar
* Nandegakkovian: réu, ráwi, ráwai, ráwajo; súrmei (sea-wight)

### Rinnarverse

* Neo-Norse: *vættor/vesor* (pl. *vættir/vesir*), ráð/ráz

## Trivia

* The wights of the Rabydosverse were inspired by the Norse/Asatruar landvaettir, the Japanese kami, the dryads of Greek mythology, and Na Tuk Gong in Malaysian Chinese folk religion. In some cases, they were also influenced by elves and fairies in fantasy literature, which were already based on wights from ancient European religions.
	+ Perhaps the undead beings commonly referred to as "wights" in fantasy literature would instead be known by Jerdiskar as "cursed people" or "the cursed dead". Jerdiskar wights would either try to find ways to heal them from their curses, or fight and kill them if those "wights" have become too much of a threat to nearby lifeforms.
	+ Said "cursed people" or "zombies" would instead be called "plague-walkers", as most of them were said to have been infected by some kind of disease. Whether they are the same as "cursed people" or different usually depends on the author or artist of their depicted work.

### Rabydosverse wights

* Vozonids and Gauvajuts believe that fungi, such as mushrooms, mould, and spores, do not have wights, because they are parasites - in simple terms, that fungi do not have souls. They also believe that germs, diseases, and infectious organisms do not have wights, but are instead represented by evil spirits and demons, completely different from wights.
* Most grifajes - Igarin Imperials, Konjors, Resparins, superstitious or religious Nandegakkovians, and Malendors - generally believe that infectious algae have no wights, as they are considered as parasites, making them unworthy of life.
	+ Some species of algae, especially more-infectious or toxic variants, are believed to be demonic creatures.
	+ Others, which feed on sunlight to provide air for the creatures of the sea, do have wights because they are more useful to the ecosystem, so they are sometimes venerated as minor sea and harvest gods.
	+ Sea urchins, some starfishes, and sea slugs are considered demonic, so they do not have wights, but sometimes instead animated by demons.

## See also

* Celestials, spirits in astronomical bodies, stars, the heavens, and fire; and their allies.
* Demons, their enemies bent to the destruction of everything in existence.
* Ghosts, weaker spirits of mortals
* Ontemazei, a race of plant people who proudly revere the wights as their ancestors.