Guardians

*"There have always been 7 of us; forever shall we exist, and for eternity we watch."*

The Guardians are the seven near-omnipotent human incarnations of the First, and the leaders of the Academy. Cosmic essences cohabiting with a human soul within human bodies, the Guardians are the sworn protectors of the planet Earth and of its cousin pocket-dimensional planet Keleron, watching over their inhabitants and ensuring the well-being of both planets as a whole.

The cosmic half of Guardians that constitutes the essence of the First are immune to the ravages of time and the limitations of space, an ability they can extend somewhat to their mortal halves; as such they are unaffected by Genesis Cycles, and have existed since the beginning of the first cycles.

The current Guardians are, in alphabetical order: Alexandra, Augustine, Damon, Liana, Mikhail, Samuel and Savannah.

## History

The existence of the Guardians began when the seven First made the decision to become mortal, in the middle of the eleventh Genesis Cycle. Cosmic as they were, they were unable to directly interact with the protective charge they were given by the One Being: guardianship over humanity. Understanding that they would only ever be seen as Gods who ruled over and were worshipped by humanity rather than as a guiding hand, each of the First elected to give themselves a reincarnating mortal existence and thus see human life through human eyes; they would influence life from beneath the surface rather than as unwilling rulers. So they bound their very essence to the soul of a willing human being, and upon their deaths, would pass to the next human born at the moment of passing; and so on in an endless cycle of reincarnation.

During a binding, the human child's soul is not consumed by the essence of a First, but rather the two "halves" live symbiotically and in complete balance with one another. Thus, each newborn child is free to grow as any other human child, with their own unique circumstances, experiences and personalities that differ from their previous incarnation.

The child is part mortal, yet part cosmic, and grows as any other human child does, before the eventual Manifestation of their abilities and simultaneously, their identity as the mortal incarnation of one of the First. These human beings are known as the Guardians.

At the end of 11 G.C. on Earth, the Guardians ceased to exist when Earth was remade, as humans had died out by this point. During the creation of 12 G.C. and for much of its beginning, the First did not take on a human host, existing solely in their cosmic forms while life continued to grow. Knowing that humans would again be the dominant species of Earth for a great period of the twelfth Cycle, the First only rebound themselves to a human being once their sentient ancestors first appeared on Earth, around 5 millions prior to Earth's current time.

There have only ever been seven First on the planet, and there have only ever been seven Guardians at any one point throughout history.

## The Reincarnation Cycle

At the end of each of their mortal lives, a Guardian's soul becomes separated into its two constituent parts: their human soul and their cosmic essence. While their human soul enters through the First Gate of Death and travels through Death's River as with any other mortal being, their cosmic essence instantly binds itself anew to a newborn human child, and so continuing the Guardianship anew.

After reincarnation, each Guardian progresses through life similarly to a potential Aldári, though without memories of their past lives until their abilities manifest. During this time, their abilities also remain completely dormant and subconscious until Manifestation occurs.

All Guardians are born as humans and remain so for the duration of their lives, unable to become any other being/creature other than human. Thus, a First Child's essence will not bind to a werewolf child, nor a witch child. Should a Guardian attempt to undergo the transition into a vampire, the process immediately fails at the death stage, where that Guardian does not awaken after death and instead undergoes reincarnation as per any other form of death.

## A Guardian's Abilities

Being mortal incarnations of the First, Guardians are gifted with the sheer ability to manipulate energy and reality itself. Each Guardian has a natural affinity with a certain element, and will often manifest abilities related to that element foremost. Shortly thereafter, their other abilities will also manifest at a speed that is almost near impossible to control.

It is during this short period that Guardians must learn to hone their vast abilities within an extremely short period of time, harnessing all their abilities (of which there are a limitless number thereof) swiftly and efficiently.

Though their human souls pass onto the River of Death, their memories are retained by the cosmic essence of the First and thus are passed onto the next incarnation. As a result, all Guardians are capable of accessing memories of their previous lives, a trait that becomes useful when attempting to learn how to control their powers within such a short time. It has been found that the more an ability was learnt or used within past lives, the easier and/or faster to control that ability would be in the Guardian's current incarnation.

While a Guardian verges on omnipotence - that is, they possess near all abilities known to the Academy within a single being - they are still completely mortal as a result of the Firsts' essences binding to a mortal human to experience mortality. Thus they do not possess in any way a form of immortality nor longevity.

To ease the sudden burden of gaining a tremendous amount of power within such a short time, many Guardians opt to segment their powers in the form of a creature companion, or familiar, known as a Companion. Companions exist for as long as their respective Guardians wish them to, and will often recombine with their Guardian upon their mortal death to become whole again, as part of the Reincarnation Cycle.

## Neutralisation

Should a Guardian's death be by their own hand or that of another Guardian, instead of a true death, they become neutralised. In this state, a Guardian is rendered in stasis until reawakened by another Guardian, or if all other Guardians have been neutralised as well.

In this period of stasis, a Guardian is immune to the ravages of time, including an immunity to decomposition, disease, rot, ageing, and any other external interference.

The only exception to this however, is death at a mortal's hand; that is, a neutralised Guardian may only be slain by a completely non-supernatural human being. Any attempt to do so by anyone of any species other than human will kill the being in question, without affecting the neutralised Guardian.