Castes
The caste system in Maya a cultural response to a natural law. Each is determined by how much a given Prani is connected to the elements -- their specific element and the unseen world in general.
The Castes
There are four castes for the Prani: Pudgala, Adharma, Suddha-dharma, and Akasakala (in order from lowest to highest). Pudgala appear completely humanoid, with no extra extremities, third eyes, or non-human features. Their skin colour, hair colour, and eye colour will be determined by their particular element. They are the shortest of the castes. Adharma will appear taller than Pudgala and with extra extremities, usually arms. These arms are usually kept in a pocket dimension controlled by the Adharma, though there have been Adharma unable to create pocket dimensions to store their additional arms when not in use. All Adharma have a (physical) third eye. They are longer-lived than Pudgala, and can go longer without food or water, though they cannot forgo it entirely. Suddha-dharma are even taller than Adharma. They have extra arms and legs; physical third eyes and usually more than just three; varying non-humanoid features such as scales, talons, horns, or more; live twice as long as Adharma; and can forgo food, water, and other mortal needs for a period of years. Akasakala are able to exist in non-corporeal form and thus rarely appear in a physical body. When they do they are only vaguely humanoid in shape and appearance, having extra extremities, several eyes, and many non-humanoid features. They tower over the other castes. It's unknown if they require food and water to survive; they may be able to exist without it. While not immortal, they are generally extremely long-lived.Abilities
Each caste and elemental pairing has a different set of abilities, but there are some that are pan-elemental for each caste. They are outlined below. Psychic Third Eye (All Castes) Every member of each caste has a psychic third eye, if not a physical one. This allows them to see many things in the unseen world that cannot be seen by the physical eyes. The only exception to this are those Prani who suffer from Ajivism -- they have no psychic third eye and severely limited abilities in general.Manifestation
In Maya, spirits are connected to the elements. When a spirit takes corporeal form, their connection to the element may vary in strength. As the Prani evolved, they began to develop four distinct categories of connection to the elements, eventually becoming less elemental and more humanoid.
Humanoid Prani will appear differently depending on what element they are and what caste.
Elemental signs include skin, eyes, and hair; body composition; core temperature; presence or lack of body hair.
Caste signs include height, number of extremities, non-humanoid features, presence of a third or additional eyes, longevity, and differing amounts of requirement of certain things to live (food, water, etc).
Localization
This law has applied all over Maya, though some areas seem more likely to birth higher-caste Prani than others.
However it only applies to the Prani, and not the other Jiva of the planet. While the other Jiva of the planet are undoubtedly connected to the elements, they seem to not have the same caste system. Or if they do, they haven't told the Prani about it and it's not easily observable.
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