The Numenshara

The very first species in all of reality, defeated and sealed away

The First Species

Though only 12 in number, the Numenshara, better known throughout the rest of the lands of the world of Ea as the "High Vampires", were the first and only true 'species' created by The Old Gods(And first of all species to be created in reality, made even before The New Gods, better known as The Yema, had taken form) at the same time as their formation of The Spirit Kings - their one complete and intact race of children crafted by their own ineffable hands before their deaths at the hands of The Yema who slew them for giving the species they had created freedom and sentience.
Whereas their siblings, The Spirit Kings, are not a true 'species' and are instead the literal embodiments of the various aspects of reality so immense and omnipotent that they slumber most of their infinite lives away as formless Overdeities, dreaming and interacting with the world where possible, the Numenshara were smaller-scale and more tangible 'prototypes' of those same beings designed by The Old Gods to act as agents, envoys, and protectors of all that The Spirit Kings embodied.
In truth, they served as the second half of the 'whole' of a symbiotic relationship between them and The Spirit Kings, whom they were to act as living conduits and siblings for and towards - a species whom could carry out the will of The Spirit Kings in ways that their lieutenants, the Elemental Lords, could not - beings to walk the material worlds and wield literal, total control over the aspects of reality in similar ways to The Spirit Kings. However, they were also an experiment by the Old Gods in making true, free-willed sentient races - of which in all reality they were the first.

Destroyed from Within

The Numenshara met their end at the hands of The Yema, but ultimately their own deaths and/or sealings were their own fault - though their relationships and bonds remained steady for eons, they eventually fell to division after their leader, The Ultimate First who held sway over Life, Death, and Entropy, saw fit to exterminate the other 'inferior' races made by their mortal enemies The Yema - to wipe them out and do as their creators wished(so he believed) and bring about new races, better and more strictly in line with the ideals of they themselves and their creators.
Though some of the twelve Numenshara saw fit to support their leaders mission of extermination, several sprang to the defense of the fledgling races and sought to defend them despite their origins hailing from The Yema - they saw these new races as flawed, yes, but worthy of a chance to thrive and flourish. These supportive Numenshara saw the creations of the mortal races such as art, war, love, and such as beautiful things they themselves could not make(as they mostly lacked imaginations or capacities for such things), and as such went to war with their own kin to defend the mortal races.
This schism, though kicked off internally, gave The Yema, who had long schemed for a chance to strike out at The Old Gods, a way to destroy their first and most fervent protectors, the Numenshara - so, by leaping to the defense of the faction of the Numenshara which supported the survival of the mortal races, they divided the previously undefeatable 12 Numenshara and destroyed them from within, turning on the rebel faction once the destruction of the faction beneath the leader was confirmed...finally obliterating them and, not long after, their masters The Old Gods themselves...now bereft of beings strong enough to protect them, and facing adversaries that had tested horrific divine weapons on the Numenshara that were designed to kill and scatter the previously thought invincible Old Gods.

The Twelve Numenshara

The Numenshara numbered only twelve, and though information has been completely lost on them elsewhere across the planet of Ea, on Zheng-Kitar they are remembered as heroic martyrs and most honored divine beings, first creations of The Old Gods themselves, and holy beings who, while flawed, were nonetheless tricked and murdered by The Yema, who many believe were responsible for The Schism in the first place.
Information on the Twelve Numenshara is listed below:

1. Fabius, the Ultimate First. Held Dominion over Life, Death, and Entropy. The ultimate leader of the Numenshara, who was known by many as a Scheming, Manipulatative man who sought to use the lives and races created by The Yema to fuel his and his brethren's ascendance into a higher state of existence, that they might finally gain the power to truly create sentient life and fulfill the dreams of their creators, The Old Gods. A man burdened by his duty, he was self-centered, egotistical, and manipulative, but was believed to be the only one of their kind who was truly privvy to the wishes and thoughts of their creators - and so burdened by the maddening weight of his duty, was warped in the process of living up to the expectations of The Old Gods.
   He was the leader of the faction of the Numenshara bent of exterminating all other beings and species(creations of The Yema) to make reality in an image which he believed better suited him, his kind, and their creators.
   Status: Unable to be killed or sealed away, he was sent into The Dark Tapestry, domain of the Eldritch Deities such as Cthulu, Hastur, and the like. Believed to yet drift, mindless and broken, across the space between spaces.












2. Camilla, the Sanguine Second. Held dominion over Liquids, Diseases, and Decay. A cruel and sadistic woman who saw all other creatures, creations of the Yema, as boring, uninteresting things whose lives passed in an eyeblink and who left nothing of worth behind. She saw them as useful, interesting, and "alive" only when they suffered or underwent tragedy, and desired to turn every living creature into Undead to lock them in eternal torment, and thus make them the perfect beings. Believed Undeath was the natural state for all living things to end up in, and saw it as an improvement over life in every way. Obsessed with torturing and tormenting mortals to see what they did under such duress, and continuously strove to create better, more sentient undead and thus give mortals more suffering and tragedy after their deaths. Was known to collect the screams and voices of mortals, as she thought they were the key to the very soul of mortal life. Was the first being to discover how to manipulate souls and death, and is believed to have been the first necromancer, and the mother and creator of normal Vampires. She was also known to be an incredibly close friend and sister to Isabella, the Rampaging Eighth, as both delighted in the snuffing out of Mortal Life, and holding absolute control over their lives and souls as Goddesses to make them denigrate and suffer at their whims.
   Camilla joined Fabius and sided with him to kill all beings, in the hopes of resurrecting them all as undead that they might be servants of 'more interesting' beings they would create in the aftermath.
   Status: Sealed away in the far off land of Numiastra in a prison of Yema Design.





3. Xander, the Melodious Third. Held dominion over Sound and Electromagnetism. A spontaneous, artistic man who saw value in the beings and creations made by the Yema and all the beautiful variety their lives could have compared to the stagnant lives of the Numshara, but believed that mortal life had no future without the guidance of him and his kind, and that mortal life would tear itself apart and cause itself undue suffering without them. Wanted to put all life in a cage and watch them grow under strict supervision, to 'remould them' into a form that would better suit their creators. Respected the spark of mortal creativity and artistry, and enjoyed the ideas they could come up with, but hated the notion of letting them control their own destinies as their creators, The Yema, were traitors of the highest order.
   Xander joined the side of Fabius and sided with him to kill all mortalkind, in the hopes of guiding the next mortal races, created by they themselves, more strictly. Persuaded by Fabius to abandon the mortal races in hopes of "getting it right next time for their creators".
   Status: Sealed away in an Inverted Soundless Spire deep in the reaches of The World Below, where neither sound nor Magnetism can reach in a prison of Yema design.








4. Ritsuka, the Imperious Fourth. Held dominion over Mind, Will, and Growth. The youngest of the Numenshara, and is believed to either have been a young girl or young adult or had the body and/or personality of one. Spoken of as Naive, and was believed to be heavily influenced by the teachings of both Fabius and Xander. She was infinitely curious, and loved studying the creatures made by the Yema and life itself, but saw both as dolls to be both collected and controlled. She saw Fabius like a father and believed wholeheartedly that letting mortal races made by the Yema have free will was a silly notion and wanted to control them all like dolls to make sure they didn't do anything evil, unsafe, bad, or stupid. She loved mortal creatures and life, but more as dolls and statues than as actual sentient living beings, and wanted to store them all away and help them by controlling them.
   She was believed to have such an oddly young mindset and/or physical form due to her dominion over Growth, which was believed to have allowed her to grow and develop as a mortal might, though on a scale so slow by the end ofthe Rapture War she was barely either a young adult or an older child.
   Too naive to know any better, and was influenced to side with Fabius to kill all mortalkind, creations of The Yema, to start over and create life of their own in a more proper image.
   Status: Unknown. Was the only High Vampire to escape imprisonment at the dawn of reality in The Rapture War. Location Unknown. Many believe her dead or lost - to have existed for so many untold millions of years would, many believe, make even Numenshara irreparably mad.






5. Decius, the Fortressed Fifth. Held dominion over Solids and Atoms. A stubborn, cruel man who despised both The Yema for making the mortal races and the mortal races themselves for so pitifully weak. Wanted to put them to use, or find some use for them, but hated how weak they were that they proved useless in everything he tried to do with them. He thought they were a waste of space that had the potential for greatness, but thought of them as "failed experiments" best destroyed so new and better life could be made in their place under the guidance of him and his kind, and by extension the Old Gods, their creators.
   Decius sided with Fabius to kill all of mortalkind for their creators The Old Gods.
   Status: Sealed away in the Elemental Plane of Water, domain of the Spirit King Yezhiha, in a twisted prison of Yema design.
















6. Ana, the Crushing Sixth. Held dominion over Gravity and Space. A tomboyish woman who respected strength above all, and was infinitely interested in mortalkind, creations of The Yema, for the fun, smiles, and varied lives they led, but despised them for being so weak and "falling apart" whenever she went out and tried to interact with them. A somewhat muscle-headed woman who enjoyed challenging herself, and was notoriously terrible and holding back or controlling herself in most ways. Likened to a force of nature. She often went out and killed entire villages after demanding that they send out their strongest fighter to challenge her, then killed them all when their champion invariably lost to her in a single blow. Was incredibly isolated from the rest of the Numenshara aside from Fabius and Gill, and always seemed invariably lonely, like she was searching for something she never truly found.
   Ana, though she was conflicted, sided with Fabius to kill all of mortalkind after failing to find what she sought. She nearly sided with Wham and the Pro-Mortal Numenshara, but Fabius persuaded her to stay with him out of loyalty to their creators and his own supernatural charisma.
   Status: Unknown. Conflicting reports speak of her possibly being freed and appearing all across the continent in flickering, ghostly appearances, but this has not been confirmed.







7. Kalgar, the Shining Seventh. Held Dominion over Light and Dark. Flamboyant, Theatrical, and Loved Mortal Life despite its origins as a whole, though he rarely cared about individuals. Hates Undead. Obsessed with life and the "Beauty" of living creatures, and saw Undead as the definition of Ugly, and things to be destroyed. Fascinated with the potential of mortal races, and loved watching them grow. Saw himself as a glorious golden god sent to shepherd the Mortal Races, and saw them as worthless without the guidance of a higher power to gently nudge them along the proper paths. Famous for loving mortals because of their short lives, and understands and is fascinated how their limited lives inspire them to grow so much in such a short time compared to him and his kin's eternal lives. Saw Mortal Races as worth protecting as a whole, and valued their continued existence, although he thought nothing of destroying a city or country if suited his whims, so long as the whole would live on.
   Kalgar joined his brother Wham in defending mortalkind despite their origins from Fabius and his faction.
   Status: Freed very recently by an unknown third party. Dwells atop a floating island in an unknown location kept aloft by his own massive power. Most recently was spotted in Tarthus-Tetsu in the courts of Amenmeses Ra-sen Shakanasa I.








8. Isabella, the Rampaging Eighth. Held dominion over Souls and Emotion. A power-hungry, scheming woman who reveled in her absolute power and saw herself as a Goddess. She relished the feeling of holding absolute power over another creature both body mind and soul, and machinated and schemed until she held the souls, emotions, and minds of mortals in the palm of her hand, sadistically cherishing the absolute power she held over them, able to snuff out their lives or make them obey her at her merest whim, which she used to make others carry out her bidding and obey her every desire, often the more humiliating and denigrating the better so as to remind them of their worthlessness. Although she did enjoy the existence of mortals and didn't wish them exterminated per se, she saw them as little more than dirt, and cherished them only because they were pitiful, weak, and she enjoyed not only holding absolute sway over other creatures, but also seeing their pitiful struggles against her overwhelming power, and watching them slowly break down and give in to her awesome and evil desires. She loved toying with their emotions, making them do debased and horrible things to their loved ones and closest allies, and loved the feeling of power and control she had over them, as she enjoyed crushing and squashing them at her whims in the most humiliating ways after toying with their emotions to make them ruin their own lives. Delighted in capturing their souls after she crushed them in the most humiliating ways and tormenting them even after death. Was known to be incredibly close friends with Camilla, the Sanguine Second, as both reveled in the death of Mortal Life, the tormenting of them after death, and both delighted in the sadistic control they wielded over their puny existences.
   Unlike Camilla, who mostly focused her wrath on the beings and species created by the Yema, Isabella was the main 'bad apple' of the Numenshara - the first and biggest hint that the species had been somewhat of a failure in the eyes of their creators.
   Isabella, though she toyed with the idea of preserving Mortals to continue playing with them, was persuaded by Fabius and became enraptured with the idea of finally collecting the minds and souls of all Mortal Beings to hold them all in the palm of her hand and control them absolutely, and joined Fabius to kill all mortalkind.
   Status: Unknown, but known to be sealed away in an unknown location. Her prison is spoken of as "the most secure and eternal of all her kind" by Yema and ally of the Old Gods alike.







9. Wham - the Whirlwind Ninth. Held dominion over Air/Gas and Weather. Was a stalwart, steadfast warrior who had a strong sense of honor and disliked titles and useless decoration. Respected strength, and liked mortals for their short lives which inspired many of them to possess such powerful drive, willpower, and courage. He saw them as weak things, but recognized their infinite potential and believed that, given the room to grow, they could blossom into beautiful things despite their unholy and blasphemous creators The Yema. Humorless, and was notoriously harder on himself than he was on his enemies. Saw the weak and/or noncombatants as beneath his notice, and rarely cared to exert the effort to kill them and saw it as a stain on his honor.
   Wham was the founder of the Pro-Mortal faction of the Numenshara, and staunchly believed they were worth keeping alive despite their origins as creations of The Yema.
   Status: Freed very recently by an unknown third party. Dwells in the upper atmosphere of Ea in the center of massive superstorms alongside Kaminari Kami, purpose unknown.












10. Bellatrix, the Temporal Tenth. Held dominion over Time and Reality. Was the eternal rival of the Yema God of Death and Time, Molt, and a notorious control-freak who grew obsessed with not only making Mortals dance to her commands but all of reality as well. She is believed to have become overwhelmed by the awesome power of her dominion and was unable to handle the pressure associated with it. She never held any desire to make herself known outside of her kin, and saw Mortals only as One-Dimensional objects of entertainment to help her relieve her stress at what she saw as her duty to bind all of Reality beneath rules and order so chaos might be obliterated. Referred to mortals as little more than specks of dirt, gave as much thought to killing them as she would stepping on dirt or flattening gravel. Spent most of her time focusing on the grander scale of things and controlling The Planescape, while simultaneously trying to destroy The Yema and make everything listen to her command, and thus rarely even interacted with her own kin.
    Though not as evil as Isabella, Bellatrix saw little point in the goal of either side of the schism - she disliked the mortals, creations of the Yema, and sought their destruction, but also saw no point in creating new mortals, nor in protecting existing ones. She thought that they alone were all that needed exist - any other beings need be nothing but servitors or slaves.
    Bellatrix mostly stayed uninvolved in the schism, but in the end sided with Fabius but contributed little to the final conflict, too busy and bound by controlling reality and time and fighting against The Yema, who she cared more to destroy than anything else.
    Status: Sealed away in a prison that drifts in The Astral Sea, created by the Yema God of Death and Time.









11. Iris, the Erudite Eleventh. Held dominion over Magic and Fate. Was the perpetual rival of the Yema god of Magic, Tet, The Adamantine Sage in the early days of creation, and sought to catalogue and discover all knowledge both Magical and Mundane in The Planescape. Like Fabius, was a master manipulator and always spoke in half-truths and would say anything to make others subtly move according to her plans and schemes. She saw Mortals as valuable, but more as lab rats and experiments than actual sentient creatures and wanted to preserve them for that purpose and for the eventual goal of creating new life that better fell in line with their ideals and those of The Old Gods. Served as a mother for the Numenshara, and specifically cared for Ritsuka, The Imperious Fourth.
    In addition, she was said to be the original master and possible founder/creator(?) of The Lattice, as well as The Web. After her death, the former was overtaken by the Yema god of Magic Tet, The Adamantine Sage while the latter was overtaken by the Yema god of fate, Lolth, The Spider Queen.
    Unwilling to abandon her precious lab rats, Iris joined her brothers Wham and Kalgar to defend all Mortalkind.
    Status: Imprisoned and sealed away in the divine planar realm of the Yema God of magic, who keeps her as a treasure to consult and learn from.









12. Gill, the Gigaton Twelfth. Held dominion over Power, Fire, and Combustion. Was the strongest and the most invincible of all the Numenshara, on par and maybe even stronger than Fabius the Supreme First. A muscle-headed battle-maniac to the core who loved hedonism and physical pleasure, and treated all others with the same equal raucous barbarism no matter if they were mortal or not. Said to have had "the soul of a mortal", and wanted nothing more than to grow, get stronger, learn, and experience all the experiences the Planescape had to offer. He was impulsive, liked to roam about the world, and rarely associated with his Numenshara kin, instead preferring the company of Mortals, who he loved and enjoyed the company of and sought to actually learn and improve from. Believed to have sealed most of his power away to train himself as if he were a mortal, to learn how to become stronger as they did. Overall a chaotic tempest of a man, and was the most pure and beloved of them all but mortals and gods alike. He was the caring big brother of Ana, The Crushing Sixth, and the two were said to be incredibly close, and preferred almost exclusively each other's company among their kin, as they were both misunderstood and outcast from them.
    Perhaps the most adamant defender of mortalkind, Gill joined the defense of mortalkind with the wrath of a rampaging volcano, and was the main reason the outnumbered Pro-Mortal High Vampires could hold out against their kin in the Schism until the intervention of The Yema in which they were eventually betrayed and destroyed.
    Status: Freed by an unknown party very recently. Location unknown. Hundreds of conflicting reports mention him wandering the world, doing as he pleases, training and seeking ever more strength. He was spotted conclusively only once, at the ancient Gigaton Temple built in his honor eons ago, to announce his arrival to the throngs of loyal priests that had long worked in his name, but quickly returned to anonymity after his proclamation, moving in secret across the world and living his life simply and in search of life's simple, enjoyable pleasures.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Numenshara typically choose to appear as humanoids that stand around 1.5 to 3 meters tall, with two arms, two legs, and a head located atop their torso. Otherwise, thanks to their unique bodily makeup Numenshara are thought to have had a highly dense skeletal and highly developed musculature system, but due to their ability to freely change, alter, and move their own bones and muscles around in and outside of their bodies this claim is almost impossible to prove. They always appeared to those who viewed them as the objective form of physical perfection.

Biological Traits

Numenshara could freely manipulate their bodies at will, moving their bones around, compacting their muscles and bodies to become liquid or gas, and a myriad of other feats achievable through simply modifying their own makeup.
They could also, at a touch, absorb the blood, flesh, bodies, and even the very souls of their target, absorbing them entirely in a matter of seconds. This is thanks mostly in part to each cell of their body containing highly potent digestive enzymes that with but a touch can break down and destroy flesh and bone...and then it is their unique divine nature that lets them suck the souls from those they feed upon.

Genetics and Reproduction

Numenshara had no genes. They were partially divine in nature and thus existed outside the bounds of normal life...though due to their innate ability to freely manipulate their own bodies they could perhaps give themselves genes if they so chose, but such an act would be useless and of no value.
They lacked the ability to reproduce, and could thus never make another of their kind.

Growth Rate & Stages

Unlike mortal races, Numenshara did not grow, age, or advance themselves often, if at all. They were the ultimate lifeforms and as such never saw a need to grow or advance.

Ecology and Habitats

Numenshara had no need to breathe, eat, sleep, or any bodily or mental requirement and as such could survive everywhere and anywhere. Wheresoever they went they thrived.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Numenshara were neither alive or dead, and thus had no need for food or dietary needs. However, they could innately feed off the flesh, body, and even lifeforce and souls of those they feasted upon and did so often out of boredom, maliciousness, or sometimes even sport.

Biological Cycle

Numenshara were immune to aging and had no biological cycle. Unless outside forces intervened they would exist as they were forever.

Additional Information

Facial characteristics

Numenshara often changed their faces and bone structures, but often had very prominent and idealized features as if they were living statues.

Average Intelligence

Mythically Intelligent. Each had the mental capacity of a hundred normal minds.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Numenshara were thought to have seen and perceived the world similarly to how life in the current era does, but they were also said to be able to see perfectly in all environments and could see mana itself, and thus could see magic as easy as light. Nothing was said to be able to escape their senses, as each was honed so far they bordered on divine.

Origin/Ancestry

The Old Gods

Lifespan

Immortal

Conservation Status

The Numenshara are extinct - or were until recently, when some of their number have been re-awakened by an unknown third party.

Average Height

Varied. They could change their height freely and at-will. Generally between 1.5 - 3 meters.

Average Weight

Varied. They could change their weight freely and at-will.

Average Physique

Each Numenshara was objectively physically perfect in every way, and often looked different as a result of this depending on who views them.

Body Tint, Colouring and Marking

Numenshara existed as neither alive nor dead, and thus had normal complexioned skin that could run the range of normal color, from pale white to dark, dark onyx.

Absolute, Omnipotent Power

Each of the twelve Numenshara were supposedly capable of manipulating, producing, and controlling a certain aspect of reality as easily as breathing, empowered and born to embody an aspect of The Spirit Kings such as Gravity, Time, Wind, Light, Fire, and more...and as beings born even before the Yema or any other form of life themselves they were said to have dominion over reality in a way no other beings before or since have. Very much like gods, they could manipulate their dominion with but a thought, controlling water or air or wind or whatever they held dominion over with but thought and gesture...entire tidal waves, hurricanes, and more could be summoned at but a thought.
This put them on the level of Gods in their own right(Though they paled in comparison to the true and terrifying might of their siblings, The Spirit Kings), and indeed, in the end, it took the power of the mightiest of the Yema and the Foreign Yema Primordial Gods to kill and/or imprison them all during the Rapture War, in which they were slaughtered and/or imprisoned to the last for helping their creators The Old Gods give the races made by the Yema freedom and intelligence.

Infinite but Stagnant

Though they were merely twelve in number and are widely accepted as a species by the modern day peoples of Zheng-Kitar(As a sort of Proto-Species of Demigods), in truth they were a failure on most accounts in the eyes of their creators The Old Gods. Their number was not the issue - though they were designed with free-will in mind, their personalities and excessively free-spirited natures meant that they deviated in ways that could not have been predicted from the design of their creators. In addition, they were beings 'stagnant' in every sense of the word - they were not capable of growing, evolving, or changing in any way since the moment of their creation, as a side-effect of their own immense power...the ways they thought and believed would change very little over millions of years, which, while they were intelligent and free-willed, meant that the thought-patterns they developed on their own would be incredibly hard if not impossible to change.
This, combined with their eventual schism which tore them apart when they were faced with an internal conflict over whether or not to exterminate or spare the other mortal races created at the hands of the Yema, meant that they only proved an inherent fallacy in the methods of extremely minute and small-scale creation(Specifically that wielded to make sentient life) wielded by The Old Gods...that they were beings who were much better suited to macro-scale creation and altering the creations of others rather than birthing true and free-willed life, as their own alien mindsets made it difficult for them to make 'successful' mortal species.

Recently Freed

In the ancient temples and memorial complexes built eons ago to honor their memory, the ancient memorial obelisks dedicated to the Numenshara across Zheng-Kitar have begun to slowly relight one by one as the ancient magicks tied to them by The Old Gods to monitor their statuses work their ancient magic, responding to external stimuli.
Very recently, an unknown party has somehow awakened some of these previously honored but sealed away beings through means unknown...and while many Zheng-Kitarans eagerly await the return of these most holy beings, others wait in dread as they realize that none truly know the agenda of this mysterious party who seems to be freeing them one after another...and that this might all be a Yema plot to destroy Zheng-Kitar once and for all.