Jalenga

*"We were this close to entering the realm of the gods before everything went wrong. Were my people still alive and my world still intact, we would no doubt try The Ascension again."*
*~Zivia Severa Vizori~*

 The Jalenga were an unnatural race of Serenza shapeshifters who could essentially alter reality itself. While they originated on Sayenzi-Jorgomna, the 201st Facsimile, they spread throughout many of the other worlds over time, and nearly every facsimile including The Archetype have all experienced the impact of these men and women. Limits to their transformative abilities were almost nonexistant, and because they were one of only two races not to have a deity that created them, many of them thought themselves as deities of some sort. They are also responsible for creating the Kumenza, as well as the Zaderei.

Their initial fall from grace was during an attempt to ascend into the supposed realm of the gods, during the 195th Age. Whether it was divine retribution, miscalculation, or something else entirely, this attempt backfired, and caused the aetheric balance of their homeworld to tilt so swiftly and drastically towards Light that it caused irreversible damage, and thus triggered the 196th Age. The remaining Jalenga disappeared after the aetheric destruction of Kulak-Fe, which in turn triggered the 197th Age, at which point the Jalenga were believed to be extinct.

A single female Jalenga named Zivia was rediscovered in the remains of Pikas-Jorgomna in the 4677th year of the 197th Age, but she was proven to be the endling of her species. This aspect, coupled with the recessive aspects of Jalengan genetics, means that there is no feasible way for her to repopulate her race, and that Zivia is therefore the true last of her kind.

## History

### Origins

While most of the Facsimiles and their destructions (as well as the causes) have been lost to history, the Jalenga first drew attention to themselves after the destruction of the 186th Facsimile, an event that triggered The 1st Age of Aetheric Dissipation, soon shortened to "The 1st Age". While their cores, which serve as reservoirs of energy for their people, seem otherworldly, they are actually just a product of Jalengan alchemy. While it is unclear who or what exactly created the Jalenga, it swiftly became clear that whoever or whatever did so, built them with endless curiosity and a drive to solve the world's mysteries. It was believed that there was a far more sinister purpose behind their creation, but whatever it might have been has gone the same way as the Jalenga.

### 195th Age (The Ascension)

In the 1915th year of the 195th Age, King Ajun Vizori and his wife Zivia waged an intense war against the citizenry of Mencu. Ajun lost spectacularly, and while Zivia did a great deal of damage including nearly wipe out the Shinzoka, even she was eventually defeated, and by the year 2035, they had begun their decline. It took decades to actually destroy the imperium, but in the 2102nd year Zivia was defeated by a Zukuren general, causing the Jalenga to fall back to make preparations for their final assault after a large ritual. However, this assault never happened, for on the 27th day of Giléa in the year 2548, all of the Jalenga suddenly disappeared, having been called back to their home world of Sayenzi-Jorgomna to perform The Ascension. This attempt failed, and the resulting event triggered the destruction of the 201st, thus causing the 195th Age to come to an end.

### 196th Age (Jalenga Wars)

Knowing not to put all of their eggs in a single basket, not all Jalenga had gone to perform The Ascension ritual on Sayenzi-Jorgomna, and thus some of them were able to survive unscathed. The surviving Jalenga, equating to less than 10% of their original population, took refuge on different worlds, primarily Kulak-Fe and Mencu. For several centuries, they lived fairly peacefully until the aetheric balance on Kulak-Fe began to tip dramatically, causing a phenomenon that no one would have predicted on such an otherwise stable world. Blaming the Jalenga and their tinkering for this instability, the citizenry of Zurado-Kura, Sepher, and Kalmora exiled what few Jalenga remained on their worlds back to Kulak-Fe to try and fix the mess, while the citizens of Mencu declared an all-out war against them as retribution for the damages caused, as well as for the war they had waged against Mencu during the previous Age.

### 197th Age (Post-Jalenga)

Despite people's original beliefs, the Crown of Zivia was not merely a trophy from a defeated Jalenga monarch, but was actually Zivia herself in an intricate form (that was actually devised by one of her disappeared daughters). As such, Zivia Severa Vizori, former Empress of the Known World, lived to see another age, albeit as the sole living member of her once-inexorable race. Despite her abilities and the magic she and her people were capable of, their abilities did not and do not entail reproduction, and as such, it is impossible for Zivia to continue her race beyond the legacy she leaves.

### Effect on the Kumenza

As creations of the Jalenga, the Kumenza revered them as deities in their own right, and so Zivia's return was hailed as a miraculous and momentous occasion all across Shahar-Eka.

## Language & Religion

### Language

The Jalenga actually played a major role in creating a common language for the races of Mencu to speak due to their freewheeling nature of finding homes in every corner of the world in the early ages. They of course had their own dialect, and while there is no telling some of its intricacies due to most of the speakers being dead by the 197th Age, the Old Zaderic Language is a byproduct of the Jalenga as well; as is Kumenzic. The Old Zaderic language is also still commonly used by ritualists across Mencu.

### Religion

Jalenga had no formal religion, but had a staunchly libertarian view on life, seeing bounds and restrictions as unnecessary roadblocks that were meant to be overcome rather than followed. Even against the deities themselves, Jalenga played by their own rules, bending and defying reality at any opportunity. They are, however, revered to some extent by the Kumenza, who were created by the Jalenga.

## Biology

Because of their nearly limitless ability to transform, a Jalenga's "true form" was arguably nothing more than the spherical core on the back of their necks. However, in reality they had a humanoid form, with physical builds and heights similar to Renkida. Most Jalenga were dark-skinned, with dense wavy/curly hair that they usually wore long and wore down. Their eyes were often bright and exotic colours, including red, blue, green, gold, purple, orange, pink, and silver. While Jalenga were compatible with one another, it was unclear if they were biologically compatible with the other races, and Zivia's general behaviour seems to hint that they are not.

### Physical Appearance

Most Jalenga followed the same model as other humanoids, with males usually ranging between 5'7" and 6'4", and females ranging between 5'3" and 6'0". Many of them generally chose skin tones in shades of brown, with hair colors in browns and blacks to match. Their eyes were often exotic colors like indigo or turquoise, and their clothing was usually elaborate and exotic, resembling that of gypsies. They generally kept themselves in fit shape, with lithe, athletic bodies, notwithstanding their unfair advantage of being able to change their forms at will.

The only major "rule" to the Jalenga's transformations barring equivalent exchange was that covering the core was not possible due to them gradually absorbing energy from the world around them. As such, it remains visible and exposed on the back of the neck, which in turn had all Jalenga wearing their hair long enough to pass the shoulders. Similarly, this "rule" extended to any object or creature the Jalenga morphed into. Thus the core once again had to be exposed in some way, furthering the belief that these cores drew energy from Mencu itself in some way. While sometimes a Jalenga would transform into someone of the opposite gender, the color of a Jalenga's core always betrayed their real gender: male cores were a soft sky blue, while female cores were amethyst purple.

### Lifespan, Age, & Population

Because of their abilities, a Jalenga could essentially live on Mencu forever as long as they desired. Many of them did not mind aging, but when they grew too old they would often let their forms shift back into a younger version of themselves, or would simply "reincarnate" by disintegrating and bring born again somewhere else in the world. Sickness or injury could be abrogated in the same manner, and their enemies quickly learned that stabbing a Jalenga's heart would do nothing, and that decapitating a Jalenga would do one of two things: either the body would grow another head and get right back up, or the body would dissolve and the head would essentially grow a new body--depending on which half had the core.

These transformative abilities manifest themselves in Jalenga at birth, but it usually takes them 15-20 years to get a wide variety of shapes down. As such, Jalenga children are similar to the children of other races for the early part of their lives. Many Jalenga lived for literal ages, however, being thousands or tens of thousands of years old. Queen Zivia, for example, lived into the 196th Age while being born in the 170th Age.

## Roles in the Series

*See also: Zivia*

Because the main series takes place primarily in the 197th Age, Zivia is the only actual Jalenga met in the story, although an Eka-Zivia appears in some of the later volumes. On the other hand, because of the influence they have had on Mencu, a great deal of their old rites, culture, and even history are mentioned or brought up numerous times throughout the series.

### *The Crown of Zivia*

The titular Crown of Zivia appears as a major object of interest in *The Crown of Zivia*, although it winds up having a much closer connection to Zivia than most people first thought. Zivia herself also obviously appears and is a major character throughout the story, but no other Jalenga appear in this manner.

### *The Crusade of Zulera*

Zivia's role in *The Crusade of Zulera* is slightly smaller than in the previous volume, but much more information about the Jalenga's culture and magical abilities is disclosed. Like the other books, however, no other actual Jalenga exist in this volume.

### *The Shadows of Shinzoka*

Zivia remains the only Jalenga to appear in person in *The Shadows of Shinzoka*, but since Isikiro's efforts to remove her vampirism are a key focus of the book, she explores a great many Jalenga ruins, including the glorious ruins of Pikas-Jorgomna.

## Trivia

* Outside of a few mentions, no male Jalenga appear in the *The Crest of Zabutur* series due to them being extinct by the time the events in the series take place.

## See Also

* Zivia Severa Vizori
* The Great Jalenga War
* The Crown of Zivia (artifact)
* Kumenza
* Zaderei