| "....the mistake, wasn't locking them away." |
| Being born under the Eclipse comes with an influx of magic that usually presents itself in the form of Elemental Mutations - Eclipse Mutations, some call them now, as the changes seem to reach beyond just affecting Raveen Kats. Those born beneath the most recent Eclipse are no less affected than those that came before, but something unusual and unstable sparks in their magics upon that first day of life. They're dangerous, though they do not intend to be. Too young to know their magic can cause harm, and too young to begin to control it. Left to their own they would take themselves and their families into the embrace of ruin. A force beyond comprehension offers a steadying hand. A way for the young to survive the ordeal of their magic; but at a cost. "I can keep them safe," they say, they promise. "The cost will be time lost." The Mages of the Eclipse, too young, too dangerous, are given a path different from previous years. Where those that came before are given the time to grow naturally, to ease into their worlds with the clumsiness of youth, the Mages are given over to Sleep. For two hours each day they are awake and aware, but for the remainder of the day they are held within an enchanted sleep. One where their souls and mind are embraced by a place beyond time's knowing, where the weeks and months it would take them to naturally grow seem to happen in their dreams. In this place they are not alone. It is a sprawling valley of lush forests and mountain passes, filled with everything necessary to keep the illusion of a real world. It feels alive, like a place that could exist out in the worlds, but the rocks are midnight black, and the plants a deep verdant green that shift violet in the night hours. It is no place that exists on the Ice Plains. Within this sleeping Valley the Mages are all astrally projected, as physically present as anything in the dream. They can meet and interact with one another, and spend their sleeping hours amongst each other's company - gaining connection with one another; friendships, rivalries, or indifference. As they age within the dream their magic slowly grows alongside them, allowing them to ease into learning how to control it. The knowledge transfers to their real physical body - a body that, while they sleep, ages rapidly. Where a Raveen would take several months to reach adulthood, they are instead pulled into the sweep of time and aged to full maturity within two weeks time. For the Azama and Coraz, the time is even quicker - and they are the first to leave the enchanted dreams, to wake from their shared-dreamworld and fully inhabit the waking world. Once the physical body is fully grown the dream-world is no longer required to keep the Mage (and their family) safe. They wake from that final dream, never to return to that enchantment. They do not forget those they met in that other-world, and their Moonamis retain the ability to teleport and communicate with the other Mages they gained connection with. All Mages of the Eclipse are born with Nebulous Chains - incorporeal chains that wrap around a limb or two, vanishing the areas in-between into a field of stars and intangibility. These chains can only be touched by the Mage they belong to. Another distinction is the red-crown that sits atop their forehead. |