Ignans

**Ignans** are a race of fire-influenced humans who live in deserts, using their fire-altered physiology to resist the extreme temperatures. Almost all of them are born with latent fire magic, allowing them to collect unique resources from the desert to trade and to fight off the dangerous creatures who also inhabit the desert wastelands.

## Lifestyle and Culture

### Desert Traders

Ignans are found in the largest deserts of Aurora or in locations with intense fire influence, withstanding temperatures and conditions that almost no other creature would be able to tolerate for long. However, Ignan communities are extremely isolated; most Ignans find it unpleasantly cold outside of the desert, and most visitors don't have the constitution to stay for a long period of time. Ignan cities and towns are shaped with fire magic, with buildings constructed primarily out of colorful glass.

Despite this, Ignan settlements are centers of trade, manufacture, and the arts. The deserts are home to unique resources that are traded out to major cities, where the rare materials and textiles the Ignans produce are prized as status symbols of wealth or well-connectedness. One of these textiles is "wyrmsilk," a kind of silk spun by fire-adapted dragons that live in the deserts. Wyrmsilk is fireproof and almost entirely impervious to blades, and while it is the standard dailywear of the Ignans, it is a highly valued commodity outside the deserts and is usually woven into elaborate textiles that have little in common with the simpler Ignan styles. There are also unique spices that grow in the underground caverns of the Rauan desert, found nowhere else on the planet, and which are thus extremely valuable to traders.

Unlike outside the desert, Ignan cities don't have gods; instead, the god Caliban is the god of the Ignans as a people. Caliban tends to take a hands-off approach to civilization management, and rarely picks emissaries. They are a trickster god and guardian deity, tending to focus on promoting the good of the Ignan people as a whole, rather than individual Ignans. There are shrines to them in the desert and occasional burnt offerings, but Caliban is mostly left to themself by the Ignan people.

Volcanic Ignans are a subrace of Ignans that are even more fire-influenced. They are adapted to live exclusively in active volcanos, as any other place would be too cold for them to survive. Very little is known about them.

### Monster Hunters

The deserts that Ignans inhabit are fraught with danger; along with the dragons and the volcanos, many of the fire-adapted creatures of the desert are large and predatory. Half-broken Ancient war machines are also buried in the sands and occasionally reactivate and cause havoc. Rarer, deadlier monsters, like Obsidian Ghouls, can also appear. The peace is kept by a standing militia of Hunters, who's job it is to defend Ignan settlements from threats. These Hunters also work as scavengers, venturing into the desert to gather food, wyrmsilk, and more dangerous resources. Ignan Hunters are highly trained, and work best when fighting in groups. They use a style of Ignan martial art that is designed for mobility, allowing the Hunters to use their superior agility to their advantage against larger targets.

Due to the isolated nature of the Ignans, many of their stories aren't known outside of their borders. One of the most conflicting of these myths are those of what the Ignans call "Demons" or "Crucibles" - terrifying monsters of fire that seem to have first appeared after Fire's truename was discovered by an Ignan fire mage. Descriptions clash and are unreliable, and none had been reliably recorded in centuries until one appeared in Dainix's settlement, two days after Ishva's Turn.

## Physical Characteristics

### Appearance

Ignans can vary in coloring depending on their home desert, but all of them will have flame-like patterns all over their bodies. Ignans from the Rauan Desert are recognized by their red-gold hair and eyes, with paler flame patterns on otherwise tan skin. Volcanic Ignans have coal-black skin, and their flame striations can be a much brighter yellow.

### Fire Magic

Ignans are nearly all born with latent fire magic, with their abilities typically manifesting before age 10. While spellcraft is not formally taught (except for learning a specialized trade, such as blacksmithing or glass-sculpting), most Ignans can perform basic elemental manipulation magic, such as large fireballs or focused beams of fire. They are also extremely temperature resistant and fireproof, able to reach into open flames or boiling water without apparent discomfort. Only "soulfire" feels hot to them - a kind of fire that is infused with soul energy and is thus alive.

## References

1. ↑ Are Ignans found only in the Rauan desert... (tumblr.com)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Sorry for asking so much, but. What can you tell us about Ignans (tumblr.com)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Could you explain the Rauan dessert? (tumblr.com)
4. ↑ What kind of textiles are there, besides our "normal" ones? (tumblr.com)
5. ↑ How does Caliban get emissaries of all Ignans are fire wizards? (tumblr.com)
6. ↑ How does Caliban generally feature into Ignan culture. (tumblr.com)
7. ↑ Would Volcanic Ignans be able to survive living among normal Ignans? (tumblr.com)
8. ↑ Hi red! Hope youre doing well! I saw Dainix doing his punches... (tumblr.com)
9. ↑ Did Crucibles and Stormbreakers appear before or after the true names for fire and lightning where discovered... (tumblr.com)
10. ↑ "*The ignans don't talk much about what happened when...*": message in #aurora-discussion in the OSP discord server (discord.com)
11. ↑ Page 1.13.23 (comicaurora.com)
12. ↑ Is spellcraft just, like, standard curriculum in Ignan communities because so many of them are mages? (tumblr.com)