Children of the Hourglass

This piece is about the actual people that reside within The Dream Tower of Gloria. To read about the legends surrounding these mysterious people and their magical home please read The Dream Tower of Gloria and The Children of the Hourglass or read about the actual place The Dream Tower of Gloria.

Uncertain Origins

The Children of the Hourglass are a mysterious people, many tales of them have been told but most do not know their true nature or abilities. They are born within the shifting walls of The Dream Tower of Gloria, which grants them strange abilities and imbues them with a mischievous and flamboyant nature. The Children of the Hourglass wish to experience all they can within the shifting walls of their home, and outside of it if they can manage to find their way. They are not mean-spirited in nature, not one bit in fact, however, their playful and easily excitable nature often leads them, and others, into trouble. And while they do not intend to cause harm they typically hold no understanding of repercussion. They are natural-born shapeshifters both physically and in personality and have a huge appetite for discovery and adventure and will often jump into grand or ridiculous endeavours on a whim.
The true origins of the Children of the Hourglass are unknown, however, this is mostly in part due to their intimate connection to The Dream Tower of Gloria. A place of myth and lore said to exist in between the realms, outside of the constraints of time and physical law. Very few people have first-hand accounts of meeting one of their kind, as it is very difficult to leave the tower's walls, even for ones so magical in nature as the Childen of the Hourglass. There are many stories of the children though, many of which have been told down through multiple generations with some even finding their way into popular writings. Only those individuals who have found themselves within the walls of the Tower of Gloria are able to see them in their natural habitat though. But at that point, it is unlikely these visitors to the Tower will ever reach their homelands again to ever tell these tales.
If, however, these tales were to reach the ears of those uneducated in the ways of the Tower of Gloria they would learn that the Children of the Hourglass are even stranger than the numerous stories told about them. Born within the shifting walls of the Tower of Gloria, their essence and mischievous nature are tied to the very energies that keep the tower wavering in between all of existence. And while many have found themselves wandering the limitless halls and rooms of the Tower, all are imports from another land. Only the Children of the Hourglass are born of the Tower, they are its children, and they hold a very special and important place within their walls.

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The End and the Beginning (Or is it the other way around?)

Growth

Children of the Hourglass are beings that are born outside the constructs of time and material existence. In fact, they are not born in your typical biological sort of way at all. Instead, they are formed from the very same energy that permeates the walls of their home and keeps the fabric of the entire Tower stitched together. They are born as pure chaotic energy and may construct and mould themselves in whatever way they wish, right from the very spark of their existence.
The Dream Tower of Gloria is a place in which time occurs all at once and not all simultaneously, its mere existence occurs in between the folds of countless realities. A strange place for certain, and one that has had extreme effects on those within its shifting walls. Especially so for its own children, who are born shapeshifters with the ability to bend or shift their own personal clocks. Children of the Hourglass are not burdened by, nor who care to understand the effects or flow of time.
Straight from their birth, they are able to choose how they grow, how fast they age, when or even if they age, in which order they age? Frontwards? Backwards? At Random? It is whatever they wish it to be, at any point they wish it to be at. Confusing for those of a material plane shackled by the constructs of time but for the Children of the Hourglass, it is nothing but natural to control one's own flow time in whatever way they wish, straightforward, strange, or otherwise. The only moment that is fixed for them is the moment of their birth, which always happens suddenly and without warning. And is usually accompanied by an explosion of some sort. But, after that, they can proceed however they see fit.
But, you may ask, wouldn't it be catastrophic for an infant of pure chaotic energy to suddenly decide they wish to be an elderly man or even a grotesquely tentacled monstrosity? As they on occasion see fit to take the form of. For the laughs mostly. And, in some ways, it may well end up being a disaster, but for them, there is very little consequence for experimentation over long periods of time. Often they will spend thousands of years doing such experiments, taking different forms and ages, and seeing what fits for them. And it often works in their favour as they don't suffer from ageing or starvation, nor do they require air to breathe or water to drink. Very little causes them harm within the walls of the Tower, so they are free to learn for themselves what may or may not work for them. Though this often comes with a harsh consequence for any being not of their kind who have found themselves in their company within the Tower of Gloria.

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A Form Untethered

Appearance/Biology

Children of the Hourglass are natural-born shapeshifters and much like their ability to control their ageing they may also choose whatever physical form they wish to at will. This ability mirrors The Dream Tower of Gloria itself, as this strange reality constantly shifts and changes whenever it pleases. Because of their spirited and playful attitudes Children of the Hourglass often choose flamboyant and colourful forms. Commonly selecting bright and sparkling skin tones with popular colours trending towards vibrant pinks, deep purples, and royal blues. It is even common to see shifting gradients of colours that seemingly glow from beneath the skin.
Children of the Hourglass choose many forms within their long, arguably eternal, lifetimes but will often keep a common bipedal form in order to interact more easily with curious wanderers, potential new companions, or residents of the Tower. They have found that their more ostentatious forms can cause some discomfort, and while it is fun to pull the occasional prank, they would rather have the company.
And while they often spend much of their time in more practical forms they can choose to be whatever they wish, shifting and changing into all kinds of form ranging from the ordinary to the incomprehensible. They have been known to shift into common creatures like dogs, cats, birds, and more but always with some sort of fun twist to keep things interesting like sparkling eyes, garish colours, or the occasional added limb or two.

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Ura, the Bard by Cindy Avelino

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They also enjoy taking on the forms of other races, in which they have seen in their journeys. They are especially smitten with the form of the Avanii people, due to the seemingly endless options they are able to make on items like feather colour, wingspan, and beak shape. And on rare occasions, they may even decide to take upon the shape of something unspeakable and impossible to comprehend to the uneducated or weak-minded. Creatures with shifting masses, wriggling tentacles, and gaping maws. Though they really only do this when playing pranks or attempting to scare the other inhabitants of the Tower.
They don't often take their natural form as most of their kind believe it to be boring and not overly fun. If they do decide to take this form, however, they appear as a swirling mass of shifting sand and light. This mass of energy alters in size, shape, and colour at random, but is roughly the size of a large apple or orange. To eyes that are not accustomed to viewing beings of energy this form may be difficult to view and could cause discomfort or in more extreme cases severe and painful sickness.

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Far Away from Home

Leaving the Tower

Children of the Hourglass are rarely able to leave the Tower, this is because finding an exit within the Tower is rather difficult, even for those familiar with its ever-changing hallways. But on the rare occasion that they do, they are in for quite the shocking change if they decide to stay for longer than a few hours. You see, once they leave the Tower there is a chance that they may never be able to return. It is a strange effect but once one leaves the tower, including the Children of the Hourglass, knowledge of the Tower begins to fade as well. With the first thing being their knowledge of the tower's location, the memory of where they last saw its location typically fades within a few short hours. And for beings not used to time restraints, this is a dangerous gamble to make. And yet many Children of the Hourglass continue to seek the exit to the Tower, for the potential for adventure is too great to pass up.
If one of the Children of the Hourglass does lose their way, having forgotten the location of the Tower they will begin to notice more dire effects to their physiology. First, their ability to control their age and rate of growth fade, quite quickly in fact as these realm-breaking abilities do not sit well with the constraints of a fully formed realm. Thus, Children of the Hourglass must quickly choose at which age they wish to continue, for if they dally they will be stuck that way and be beholden to that form for some time. And while they will still live much longer lives, several hundred years at least, they will eventually die. So, choosing the proper form is important, if they are stuck as an elder they may have less time than they could potentially have. But if they choose to be a child their social standings within their new home may be restricted for an extended period of time, and restrictions are not something Children of the Hourglass tolerate well.
Next, their ability to shapeshift begins to wane, though not as quickly as their ability to alter their personal flow of time. Within a few months, they will lose the ability to shift into their stranger forms and instead are restricted to creatures they have seen on the plane in which they have found themselves. Eventually even this ability wanes, within a few years they will notice that they are only able to shift into the common forms of animals that are of small or average in size, and only those that live within a close distance of the individual's current location.
One of the stranger side effects that occur when one of the Children of the Hourglass leaves the Tower is related to their simple shapeshifting ability to alter their skin tone or eye colour. For the most part, this ability stays with them until their eventual demise or their hopeful return to the Tower but it becomes limited and restricted in an odd way. During the day Children of the Hourglass are restricted to having a stone grey skin colour, if they are lucky their skin may shine or sparkle in the right light. But during the night, they may shift into whatever colour skin tone they wish, and they often do in order to shed off the frustrating restrictions of the day time. Though they can choose whatever eye colour they wish to have, once they choose they are locked until that colour until the next night.

Golden Breath by Max Berthelot

Children of the Hourglass often choose flamboyant and colourful forms

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What Even is a Name?

Matching their often chaotic nature, Children of the Hourglass hold no common conventions when it comes to taking on a name. Much like their physical forms, they will often take on random names with no rhyme or reason, and often change them when they are feeling bored or anxious. So it is certainly possible to meet someone named Frank, Areio, Persephone, Doorknob, or Sparkle. The possibilities are endless.

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Don't know. Whats the problem? by Pascal Härter

Their natural forms may be difficult to perceive

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Spoken Word

Children of the Hourglass have no problem communicating with any of the residents of the Tower of Gloria and are able to instinctually pick up on any language that exists within the Tower. However, if they find themselves outside the Tower for too long they will slowly forget all the languages they picked up in the Tower. Nothing is more frustrating for one of the beings than not being able to converse with a new companion.