Médōnai

Médōnai are a proud people, born from the sun's rays and the summer's dust by Hopheht's hands. Pure médōnai are purely maiden, with only women bearing the crown of snakes that marks them as médōnai. In ancient times, they were revered as guardians sent by the gods, and they served the people across the lands as healers, heralds, and guides in dark times.
Modern times have pushed them into exile, and anyone bearing a crown of snakes is shamed and banished or put to death. However, médōnai blood runs diluted through a large portion of the land's population, and small details such as scales, golden blood, and snake hair sometimes appear in children. The stronger a child's médōnai blood, the more in danger they are for exile or death.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Pure-blooded médōnai look the same as normal humans, save for their distinctive crown of serpents and mottling scales scattered across their body. Some médōnai have no sclera to their eyes, instead bearing a singular color, typically gold or green.
In myth and lore, the original twelve médōnai had the ability to shift into the form of a large serpent. Such a talent does not seem to have passed to their descendants.

Biological Traits

While the original médōnai are impossibly long-lived (it is rumored that eleven of the twelve sisters still live, and that Marfal was the only one of them to die), médōnai of diluted blood live a substantial amount longer than humans.
It is rare that a male médōnai bears a crown, and there are only a few instances of it in recorded history. The trait is typically centric to females, although any sex may bear scaled features and other médōnai senses.

Genetics and Reproduction

When a médōnai has a child with a human, that child shares their blood but in a diluted form. As the blood becomes more diluted, the less médōnai features the child carries. A child who comes from a bloodline of a médōnai may carry scale genes that never show, but their children might display those genes, especially if the other parent carries médōnai blood as well.

Growth Rate & Stages

The original médōnai were born fully formed from Hopheht's hands. However, médōnai-blooded children grow at the normal rate of the rest of the common folk, although they often reach puberty later than their peers.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Those with stronger médōnai blood have sharp, angular features and slightly pointed ears. Some have no sclera to their eyes, and there is a strong ridge to their nose. Some have a splash of scales (the color of the scales varies, typically in earthy, warm tones) across their face while others have no scales. Unfortunate children of médōnai blood have a crown of snakes that grace their head.

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Médōnai blood has been spread across the lands, although they are sparser in the northern and southern regions, mostly because of strict prosecution against their kind.

Average Intelligence

Médōnai typically favor brains over brawn, so they are usually quick-witted and smart; however, one's intelligence is a product of their environment and education.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Médōnai with stronger blood typically have poorer eyesight but a much stronger sense of smell. A crowned Medusan almost has a sixth sense for danger, with their serpentine crown giving them a constant awareness of their surroundings. While the snakes' eyes do not see well, they have extraordinary infrared sight, painting a heatmap for the médōnai of the landscape around them.
The original sisters, namely Marfal, were said to have had healing powers.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

The largest concentration of pure-blooded médōnai are in Ataroun, the largest temple of Hopheht. There, they keep to themselves and continue the worship of the old gods. They are a peaceful group, and anyone inciting rebellion or violence is banished from the temple.
In the lowlands around Pageneid, there are pockets of a rebel group of médōnai known as the Visperus. They are far more violent than their kin in Ataroun, and they stage ambushes and battles against the surrounding lands. The fight against them has raged for nearly a century, and despite the common people's best efforts, they cannot sweep away every pocket.

Culture and Cultural Heritage

In pure-blooded pockets such as Ataroun, a separate music and food culture have branched from the local cultures. Their cuisine is whatever meat that can be found in their mountainous home spiced with whatever herbs can be foraged from the craggy rock. The clay soil does not grow much, so vegetables, fruit, and grain are reserved to prickly pears, squash and gourds, and millet. Most of their bread is made from millet flour and does not vary from flatbreads or small rolls.
Their music tends to be choral songs with the accompaniment of leather-stretched drums.

Common Customs, Traditions and Rituals

While most médōnai and those of médōnai blood simply share culture with whichever land they are inhabiting, there are a few traditions they reserve for themselves. For crowned médōnai, an act of friendship and trust is the washing and grooming of each other's serpentine crown.
They observe the old death ceremony where Estrosh is honored and given tribute, and they celebrate many of the old holidays such as Hophol, the Day of Light.

History

Created by Hopheht's hands in the year 1857 PL, the médōnai were originally seen as a gift from the gods. They were born on the summit of Motasicre, and from there they wandered to every corner of the land. Of the original twelve, nine médōnai bloodlines sprouted, each spreading and diluting with the passage of time.
Marfal was the firstborn of the médōnai, the Daughter of the Evening and the holder of warmth and light. Next came Silea, protector of laughter and family, the Light as it Dapples Through Autumn Leaves. Then was Munerok, crafter of secrets and whispers, the Daughter of the Moon. Then followed Dwyni, Zeniras, Setu, and Lacoht, courtiers of Dawn, Noon, Dusk, and Midnight respectively. Cadinth was the bringer of fire and candlelight, and Gintre was the guardian of the hearth and harvest, the Cold Winter Sunlight. Rinoas was the compass at sea and the one who pointed back to shore, the Daughter of the Storm. And last born were Inekye and Jusipe, the Twin Wanderers.
For a millennia, the sisters wandered, spreading their gifts and word of the gods' goodness. They tried to stem the tide of backlash at the gods' absence, and slowly, their reputation fell into ruin as did their father's. When the gods fell from grace, the twelve sisters and their kindred were exiled or murdered, although even in the heat of rejection, Marfal continued to speak out with words of peace. The rebellion got her killed as a martyr at the foot of her father's ruined temple, and it marked the end of the médōnai as visions of peace and goodness.
In the 120 years since Marfal's death, the pure-blooded médōnai have kept to themselves in their far-away temples while those of lesser blood have kept their heads down and lived their lives as well as possible amongst the common folk.

Historical Figures

Marfal is the largest and greatest historical figure médōnai history has to offer, although all of the twelve sisters are often spoken about with reverence. Although time has dragged their memory almost into myth and legend (especially among médōnai of more human culture), pure-blooded médōnai recall the stories of Marfal and her deeds by word of mouth and through art.

Interspecies Relations and Assumptions

The view on the world's other sapient species is split. Some médōnai see them as oppressors and demons who cast them away without reason, some even going so far as to see them as beneath their golden blood. Others are indifferent, typically those not raised among other médōnai or raised in a human city. And some, like the peaceful médōnai of Ataroun, accept that the people will hate them regardless and choose to simply stay away.

Origin/Ancestry

Celestial

Lifespan

150-200 years

Average Height

1.7-1.9 m

Average Weight

58-90 kg

Average Physique

Most of médōnai blood have a willowy or wiry-muscled build. It is rare to find one of médōnai blood with an incredibly muscled form.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Since their blood is so intermingled with the common people's, médōnai share skin tone with whatever is prevalent in the region they are born into. Some have scaled markings on their skin.