Sabragash

**Sabragash** or *"Windwalkers"* in their language, is a race of intelligent beings that lived on Earth from 67 Million Years BCE to 66 Million Years BCE, and was an advanced civilization that combined magic and technology to thrive on Earth. The Sabgrabash evolved as an intelligent reptile species, similar to the Dinosaurs, although they would consider it an insult for their race to be compared to their livestock. They thrived in floating artificial islands high in the atmosphere until their civilization's demise when a cataclysmic disaster in the form of an asteroid crashing into the Earth. While the Sabragash were highly advanced and possessed some means of protection, the scale of the disaster was beyond their capabilities to mitigate. With their global infrastructure breaking down, a sect of the Sabragash, cast an intricate ritual on the elite magi class of their society and turned them into ethereal beings that were fueled only by mana. The ritual was so taxing that they had to use the souls of the Sabragash who died in the cataclysmic disaster to properly cast it. The source for this ritual was linked to the primordial progenitor entity that also sired Human Vampires, but instead of undeath, the Sabragash became entities of spiritual energy that needed the sustenance of mana to survive. The easiest source of mana was to consume souls of intelligent beings, but as they preferred not to cannibalize themselves unless absolutely necessary. The surviving animals from the asteroid crash were poor sources of souls due to their lack of intelligence, but the Sabragash learned that they were a source of nourishment. In desperation, the remaining Sabragash had to either swallow their pride and consume what they deemed "lesser souls", or kill other Sabragash and absorb their souls, which can sustain an individual Sabragash for thousands of years.

The competition for sources of mana resulted in conflict, as many of the Sabragash that became spirits were from also from a warrior class in their old society. The wars for "feeding grounds" and mana-rich areas of the world resulted in the surviving Sabragash losing even more of their dwindling population, and their inability to procreate after becoming ethereal beings made it even worse. For the next millions of years, surviving Sabragash were either sustained by scavenging animal souls, or the occasional cannibalism, resulting in Sabragash isolating themselves from others due to paranoia. Their numbers dwindled drastically ,and were even close to extinction, if not for the evolution of intelligence in primates and the rise of humanity.

The surviving Sabragash rejoiced that intelligent life finally returned and immediately used this to their advantage, with many outright using humans as mere cattle for souls. Many Sabragash disagreed with this notion, stating that the early Humans would be more useful if they if they become even more advanced species instead of being turned into mere livestock for souls. The Sabragash once again erupted into conflict, between those who wish to protect primitive man and those who wish to exploit them. This conflict became engraved in the consciousness of humanity as a motif of a "War in Heaven" between supernatural entities or deities. Sabragash realized that instead of bleeding a human's soul dry, they could also gain sustenance from the reverence of humans and slowly siphoning mana from their souls as the humans showed gestures of worship and offerings, in exchange for the Sabragash's knowledge, protection, and magic. They soon became the inspiration for gods, demons, and other supernatural entities throughout humanity's Mythic Era. While dwindling in numbers, those who lived on the worship of humans or through simply consuming human souls, persisted in the world, and became the basis in many myths and religions, until the start of the Collapse, and the Decay spread across the world, threatening their existence once again. The Sabragash were the first to be attacked by the Earth's "Horrors", and many of them perished, none could make it to the Mythic or Border Realms in time, and those who were able to evade the Horrors had to rely on humans to anchor their existence to the Physical World instead.

The most prominent group of Sabragash that continue to exist in the world are the ones who became the "Angels" of the Heavenly Hosts. Their symbiotic relationship allowed for the Sabragash to don new identities and continued existence in the world, in exchange for giving the Hosts a share of Sabragash power. As many Sabragash have been called different names and worshiped as different entities, becoming Abrahamic angels was just another role for them to don if it meant continued existence of their people. Over the course of millennia, the original Sabragash identity has been blurred, and there are only extremely rare individuals who still wish for their old lives before becoming Ethereal. Their existence is constantly vilified by groups such as the Martyrdom, who see them as nothing but heathen entities, and is one of the main factors why the organization treats groups like the Heavenly Hosts as heretics for claiming that Sabragash are the messengers of God.

## Abilities

The Sabragash are a naturally magical species, even as an ethereal being. Many of them have high levels of intuition, the ability of flight, which manifests as ethereal wings, as well as using their spiritual nature to interfere with other spirits and supernatural beings. They also have the ability to change their appearances, such as shifting into what the ancient people believed as gods, demons, and other supernatural beings. Some Sabragash chose to embody the titles and figures they were worshipped as, and even choose to be referred to what Humans see them as instead of a Sabragash, while others view this as a Sabragash being delusional and forgetting their origins.

Due to their progenitor, they have vampire-like traits, such as the ability to siphon sustenance from living beings, but instead of blood they directly drain mana from the soul of an individual or a creature. They can also create a pact or a metaphysical bond that anchors their existence to the Physical World, either through symbiotic relationships, by possessing a human body and running on their life force and therefore save their own ethereal form's life force from being used up, or by being worshipped as a deity, the latter of which became virtually impossible after the Earth entered it's Post-Collapse Era.