Irisi

What would you sacrifice in order to not be forgotten?
If the answer isn't everything, then you don't deserve to be remembered.
~ ??????

While the other groups of Ikona that managed to survive the events of the Second Spring at least somewhat managed to cope with the supernatural afflictions caused by the unraveling of the Fifth River, the Irisi -to their eternal shame- lost this fight and were subsequently driven to extinction.
Or so the story goes.
Yet while it is true that the original Irisi are long since extinct, their death by no means marked the end of the story of their species, for shortly before the last of their kind succumbed to the brain-melting effects of their affliction they managed to find a way to ensure that their legacy would live one far beyond the existence of their decaying bodies.
The method that they found to ensure this, was as costly as it was genius, as instead of eternally struggling against their affliction like the Curnias or fully embracing it like the Agsimer, the Irisi simply choose to become an affliction themselves.

Basic Information

Anatomy

What is the body, but a vessel for memories?

Individuals who have only recently been exposed to the Memorium retain their original appearance for a considerable amount of time, which makes it incredibly difficult to identify them, without engaging them in a conversation, which due to the nature of the Memorium could potential expose oneself to its influences.
Individuals that embraced the memories of the Memorium gradually change their physical appearance -both active and unconsciously- in order to better fit it to their implanted memories.
Once this metamorphosis has finished the Irisi closely resemble the lithe and slender appearance of the Pre-Spring Ikona. Yet due to the blurred nature of the implanted memories uppon which this appearance is based, there are still clearly visible differences between the Irisi and the shapes they wish to emulate.
The most notable of these features is the so-called "Hat" of the Irisi, which is a mushroom cap-like structure on top of their heads that serves as the storage unit for the core memories of an Irisi's Alias. Additional the Hat also serves as the origin for the numerous feeding tendrils freshly created Irisi uses for the acquisition of physical sustenance.

Biological Traits

If you want to know who we are, you have to find out by yourself.
~ A Shade in the Candle

Forget-me-now

The Irisi possess a peculiar ability that interferes with the memory formation of other species and creatures which prevents them from retaining knowledge about the Irisi.
This ability already manifest in individuals that have been exposed to the Memorium, though these early forms only cause minor interferences, which for example make it notably harder to remember specific details about an encounter with an infected individual and also cause an accelerated decay of memories pertaining to the infected individual.
In its more developed forms, the ability is not only able to completely prevent the formation of even subliminal memories but also retroactively deletes any memories that pertain towards that specific Irisi, which not only makes the Irisi practically unobservable to Non-Irisi but also causes the entire world to forget he even existed in the first place.
The only known way to at least temporarily counteract this ability is the consumption of various psychoactive fungi, such as Candle Mushrooms. Yet due to the hallucinations induced by these fungi, most individuals that stumble into the hidden world of the Irisi simply dismiss it as another part of their drug-induced dreams.

Host of Memories

The minds of the Irisi contain hundreds if not thousands of foreign memories, which either originate from the members of the "Forgotten Generation" or have been picked up from other persons and creatures during their feeding procedure.
Given that these memories are often connected to highly conflicting opinions, experiences and emotional imprints, newly created Irisi usually act in a highly erratic and paradoxical manner as they are unable to balance the influences of these memories against their original personality.
As they grew older most Irisi manage to gather a group of selected memories known as the "Core Memories" upon which they base a newly formed version of their personality. This so-called "Alias" then serves as the central guideline for their overall behavior and determines in which manner they react to newly acquired memories.

Genetics and Reproduction

Bodies may decay, but memories never die.

Similar to other Ikona subspecies, the Irisi procreate their species through the infection of Non-Ikona with a magical affliction, which in their case is known as the "Memorium-Complex".
Unlike every other type of infectious agent, the Memorium doesn't require any kind of direct or indirect physical contact in order to be transmitted. Additionally, even vast spatial or temporal distances between an infected and uninfected person offer any form of protection from the Memorium's unrelenting grip.
The reason for this is, that unlike other pathogens the Memorium is not a physical object but instead an information-based construct created from the combined memories of the entire Irisi species. This means that every individual which manages to acquire knowledge about the Memorium, will be affected by it. The manner in which this information is acquired is irrelevant as is the time it takes for the individual to gather enough fragments in order to piece together the infectious components of the Memorium.
Due to these factors, it is incredibly easy for the Irisi to increase their numbers, as even a single infected individual can potentially expose dozen if not hundreds of persons to the Memorium before the later stages of the memory-induced metamorphosis inhibit the exchange of pathogenic information.

Growth Rate & Stages

Once an individual has been exposed to the Memorium they undergo a creeping metamorphosis, which slowly changes their physical and mental anatomy into that of an Irisi.

Dietary Needs and Habits

For the first few days of their existence newly created Irisi sustain themselves through the same diet as their original species. As their metamorphosis progresses their diet quickly switches towards the consumption of decaying organic material, which they consume via the various feeding tendrils that begin to emerge from their "Hat".
Once an Irisi managed to acquire a substantial amount of insight into the hidden memories of the Memorium, his diet changes to a far more esoteric kind of nourishment, in the form of thoughts and ideas, which are acquired through further developed forms of the Irisi's feeding tendrils.
Given that the feeding procedure is not only very quick and painless but also inhibits the formation of memories for the entirety of its duration, practically all victims are unaware of the feeding ever taking place.

Additional Information

Social Structure

The hidden society of the Irisi is organized around the so-called "Pillars of Wisdom", which represent various milestones in the comprehension of the deeper mysteries of the Memorium.
Due to the direct connection between the Pillars and the Memorium very few information about the nature of the Pillars is available to Non-Irisi as any form of focused research on the Pillars inevitably exposes one to the Memorium.
Furthermore, all Irisi that are still able to communicate with Non-Irisi during their drug-fulled dreams also only possess a sound understanding of the lower Pillars as insight into the nature of the higher Pillars enhances their memory inhibiting properties to such a degree that they not only become completely unobservable to Non-Irisi but also begin to affect lower-ranking Irisi, which strongly inhibits the exchange of information between them.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

The Irisi presumably inhabit numerous places all over Cenorad, but due to their hard to observe nature, this is hard to confirm.
Furthermore, all individuals who manage to acquire such deep knowledge about the Irisi are undoubtedly be exposed to the Memorium and thereby become Irisi themselves.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

The ways in which the Irisi perceive their environment are not yet fully understood, though it is assumed that they are able to utilize one of the Great Rivers in order to perceive their environment similar to the other Ikona subspecies.
Given their great skill in the manipulation of Fungos-flavored fairy dust, it is safe to assume that in the case of the Iris this River would by the Brown River "Kyfe".

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Given the corroding effect, they have on the memory formation of other species and the fact that they carry the memories of potentially hundreds of long-dead persons in their heads the Irisi don't possess a name and instead refer to themselves as either as "We" or Aletut ("Hat").

Major Organizations

An entire kingdom of mold-covered mutants puppeteered by the memories of a dead species, living within our midst and only you can see them?
These Candle Mushrooms definitely did a number on you, didn't they?

Major Language Groups and Dialects

Most Irisi speak a garbled version of the Ikona's Omres, whose exact dialect depends on what kind of memories they inherited from the Forgotten Generation.
In addition to this common language, each Irisi is also capable of speaking numerous other languages in varying levels of proficiencies, as a handy side effect of their memory-based diet.

History

Given that most of the Irisi's history is inseparably linked to the Memorium, only the Irisi themselves can safely share detailed information about these events.
Other species which attempt to explore this forgotten part of history, are only able to write down cryptic references and convoluted metaphores before they learn too much about these events and thereby trigger the activation of the Memorium.

Rotting Brains

One of the only concrete and comparable highly detailed parts of the Irisi's history are the descriptions of the magical affliction, which decimated their species and forced the members of the Forgotten Generation to develop the Memorium.
This affliction, which is often referred to as "Aletut" or the "Hats of Dying Thoughts", was a terrifying fungal disease that infected the central nervous system of the first Irisi and slowly degraded their memories and mental capabilities, until they had been reduced to nothing more than mind- and brainless husks that slowly rotted away beneath a layer of festering fungal matter.
Given that the tales of the devastating effects of this disease are the only piece of non-pathogenic information readily available to Cenorad's inhabitants it is no wonder that it is generally agreed upon that the perceived absence of the Irisi in modern times is a clear proof that they succumbed to the horrors of the "Brain Mold".

Historical Figures

~ List of famous Irisi know to outsiders

The Forgotten Generation

The Forgotten Generation is the name given to the original Irisi, whose memories make up the major part of the Memorium.
Due to this, the Alias of every modern Irisi is heavily influenced by the thoughts, ideas and general mindset of the Forgotten Generation, which allows them to still influence the proceedings of Cenorad, even though they have been dead for a couple of centuries.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

Given that the majority of Cenorad's inhabitants are unaware of the Irisi existence, there really is no room for any kind of interspecies conflict as even the most aggressive species will find it difficult to start a war with an enemy that they don't know of.

Theme song

Genetic Ancestor(s)

• Ikona

Lifespan

Unkown, as all records and memories of their birthdate are erased by their memory corroding abilities and they themselves carry memories about half a dozen different birthdates.

Average Height

Unknown

Average Weight

Unknown

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Most Irisi cover their bodies with a meshwork of fungal hypes in order to mimic the white-silver colored skin of the first Irisi.