Worldholes
Concept
The generally accepted notion of a "worldhole" is that of a creature belonging to a group vaguely understood to be a threat to humanity, whose body operates outside of the non-magical real laws of the human body. The actual idea varies from culture to culture and time to time, with worldholes being almost an almost arbitrarily attributed title for beings to be exterminated. Despite the name "worldhole" being a direct reference to the manner in which their bodies distort the usual laws of reality, even their abnormality isn't anything phasing for Euphorium's inhabitants. Their existence is like a car crash, a hurricane or a genetic disease, while it may be odd and unexpected, it is still within people's normality, within their common sense, in this case the common sense of Euphorium.Worldholes and Magic
Seldom is the individual in Euphorium that understands the relationship between worldholes and magic. Since the existence of worldholes is taken for granted, the presence of magic in them is not given it's due in the ways may scholars look at worldholes. The reality of it is, however, that worldholes (the properly classified ones anyway) have an entirely magical origin. Primal magic is an uncontrollable, natural form of magic which permanently alters a body with properties that would not work within the laws of the universe. A sufficient gathering of this magic is all it takes for such a mutation to take shape and thus it plays a big role in Euphorium's history. In the case of worldholes, primal magic affects the body to such an extent that it's connection to the original center of the body, the inner self, is destroyed. This in turn makes it so the free will within the worldhole's body cannot be controlled, causing them to freely and virtually without coordination unleash their potential. Thus, one could argue a better description for a worldhole, or a more accurate to their reality, would be "a being distorted by primal magic which does not possess an inner self". This is partially what leads to their overgrown ferocity, as well as the unnusual might of worldhole magic users.History
Origins and Evolution
Worldholes were the first beings to come to exist in Euphorium, speaking from the more rigorous definition of them, as the first life forms in Euphorium were shaped by primal magic but had yet to develop an inner self. From these beings many, many world would come to mutate, and over generations the animals and general inhabitants of Euphorium would start to take shape. The existence of worldholes played a major part in Euphorium's history, shaping culture, means of life and so on. This is due to them occupying the vast majority of all inhabitable land for the majority of that history and even simple ones like giant boars being far too dangerous for the average person to deal with on their own. Worldholes are the result of primal magic mutations. These mutations tend to be quite beneficial to the recipient, greatly strengthening their body. As a result, it is often the case that a species of worldholes persists entirely because the worldhole was innitially the winner of natural selection by a landslide.Worldholes in the Tribal Era
During Euphorium's tribal era, human tribes were often led by worldholes, specifically worldholes born from a human mother. The primal magic mutations were viewed as a sign of blessing and power which none other could mimic, and thus to follow them was to be a stronger tribe that could face up to the dangers of inhabiting or passing through worldhole territory.Extinction
The tide really turned against worldholes after the end of the oblivion wars and the expansion of the number of otherwolders in Euphorium, especially after the formation of the adventurer company TEICO. Even with the broad strokes defintions of worldholes, the push back into their territory and often getting locked from being able to reproduce as a tactic lead to a massive extinction of worldhole species. Not only hunt, but also destroyed ecosystems were to blame for this. In Euphorium's modern era, not only have worldholes been virtually all been driven to extinction, but the remaining ones and even some previously considered derivatives were twisted into being great enemies of humanity by political propaganda in response to incited public outrage. In the end, plant mimics, ghosts and some bug-like worldholes were the only species to survive the extinction event, being too small a problem for anyone to really step in, but too dificult to deal with for the affected to be able to deal with them themselves.Classifications
"Monsters"
The concept of "monster" appeared rather late in Euphorium, brought about by the otherwolders that would describe worldholes with such a word. Given the sheer popularity of otherwolder culture, the use of the term monster when referring to worldholes grew more common, to the point of the two terms becoming synonymous.Derivatives VS Worldholes
Although closer to the modern era the lines became blurrier, for the majority of humanity's history on Euphorium it was considered that beings known as "derivatives" were not the same as "worldholes", despite similarly having their bodies distorted from the common sense of the world's law. The difference laid, therefore, in the fact that derivatives were, if reluctantly a lot of the time, precious allies to the human kingdoms against the massive presence of worldholes. It was often the belief that derivatives were all, in some way or another, descendants of the former human tribes. Examples of derivatives include elves, dwarves, and ethereals. It is important to understand, however, that while one of the priviledges of being considered a derivative over a worldhole was cohabitation with human society, some worldholes could do so without being derivatives. Fairies and beastfolk often managed to achieve such a status, the latter in particular with the coming of otherwolders, however such beings always lived as "potential threats" and were considered second class citizens at best, often being enslaved.Sentient VS Non-sentient Worldholes
Not every worldhole was a ferocious animal. Many worldhole species had sentience and societies of their own, even customs and the ability to use spells the way humans did. The vast majority of worldhole was indeed essentially wild animals, and even sentient worldholes could often become savage should given conditions be met, particularly if they abused their bodies or magic and thus spent too much free will to be able to properly resist their natural impulses.List of Worldholes
- Breant
- Beastfolk
- Dread Fisher
- Giant Boar
- Elemental
- Fairy
- Kayeri
- Mantid
- Stone Crab
- Vampire (...)
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