Ershelkuskelets

The Ershelkuskelets, known as Ershkeri to the Ximi, are a race of humanoid rabbit like people native to Helvetya.

They are servants of the Goddess Helgya, acting predominantly as Her emissaries and assistants. Initially having both males and female, the survivors are all female.

Their language is called Ershelyauta (Ershkerisikum in Ximi).

## **Story**

According to legends, the Ershelkuskelets wandered the plains of Helvetya for many years, taking camp, but never staying for longer than a few weeks, months at most

Tired of the nomadic life, they settled near a river whose waters ran gold and whose flora was the colour of the sky. The town would be named Szet Shyolkashkaazor, after their leader, Sentse Te Etsegos Inas Shyolkash, who had been guiding his kin for many years.

For a while, the town prospered, and soon they had a small nation going.

Religion was big for the rabbits and they worshiped the same pantheon the Ximi did, excluding Ximizhle. Many shrines were built in honour of the Divinities.

When the Goddess Uvu began Her conquest of Helvetya, She offered Her hand to the eager Ershelkuskelets, who agreed without hesitation. As their culture dictates, only the men were sent to war, while the women took care of the homes and children.

As Uvu's ambitions on the world grew, so did the demand for soldiers. Younger and younger men, some as young as 10, were sent to fight in Her name.

At some point unknown, Uvu left Helvetya to focus all Her power on Ximizhlum, leaving the greatly weakened Ershelkuskelets to deal with the aftermath.

The Kumiho, lead by the Shogun Tantvits, took opportunity of the power vacuum and begun their conquest of Helvetya. Kumiho warbands ravaged Ershelkuskelets lands, pillaging, raping, and murdering all. All the males were exterminated. All pregnant females were forced into abortion, and if the baby survived, it would be killed in front of its mother.

What few survived were all females. With no males to fertilize them, the Ershelkuskelets people were effectively extinct.

Desperate, they prayed to Uvu, their patron, for salvation, but She did not respond to their wails. While Uvu ignored them, another Divinity did not. It was Helgya.

Helgya, Patron Goddess of Technology, Magic, and Dreams, heard the cries of the forlorn. Having gone through great pains Herself, She felt pity for the victims, and so She bound their souls to Herself, making them immortal for as long as they serve Her. Henceforth and forevermore, the Ershelkuskelets people would live and die along Her side. Never again would laughter of children fill the houses of Ershelkuskelets, but at the very least their legacy would not disappear.

Just like their patron Goddess, Ershelkuskelets are an enigmatic and solitary sort, leading to very few interactions with the Ximi.

## **Design**

Height wise, they stand at around 150 to 160 centimeters.

Their skin is remarkably similiar to that of humans, smooth and pale, and they seem to get sun tan as well.

On the top of their heads, they have two upwards pointing rabbit ears. These vary in shapes and sizes.

A couple of short whiskers reside on their cheeks. Their hair and fur are purple, likely due to the contract with Helgya, and so are their eyes which in addition have plus shaped pupils, similiar to Lyublya's. The knowledge of what the original colours were has been lost to time.

Their limbs start out relatively smooth, but get fuzzier the closer to the hand/foot they are, ending in fuzzy stubs with five fingers or four toes. Their toes are round and fluffy, like a rabbit's, however, their fingers are slender and hairless, closer to a human's, albeit it lacking nails.

As with most Helvetyan inhabitants, they posses a tail. Though varying in appearances, most tails are between one to three meters long, covered in short negligible fur or in very dense fur reminiscent of a bear's. More often than not, their tails will either be long and slender, or short and thick, but, of course, there is nothing stopping them from being different.

Very rarely, an Ershelkuskelets will have two tails. The reason why is not known. Strangely, these bitails look very similiar, being long, slender, and almost furless, suggesting the members may be related to one another, perhaps even part of the nobility as their leader is often shown as having had two long tails.

## Random

The Ershelkuskelets believe that each star in the night sky is a soul of the dead, that when you die, you become a star which shines down on the living.

In turn, the Kumiho joke that the skies are so densely packed thanks to them bringing the Ershelkuskelets to extinction.