Overview

The Scions “tap” people to be their aid the gods. Usually, after a period of repairing the timelines, they are allowed to return home and go back to life as usual. For the races known as the Angelics and Demonics, life as usual is repairing the timelines. Unlike the other races involved in the fight to stabilize the timestreams, the Angelics and Demonics are willing participants and usually have volunteered for their duty.

From a sheer technical standpoint, although the two races appear to be very different they are actually one in the same. The mortals they work with have given them separate distinctions almost purely based on physical appearance, and even the members of the races themselves tend to follow the same distinctions.

Amongst themselves, they refer to themselves as the “Shards”. This is probably the most accurate description, for they are in truth the souls of dead mortals who have been granted new life from the gods themselves. They become avatars of their respective gods, although are comparatively limited in raw power compared to some of the more powerful avatars the gods use when dealing with mortals.

Each Shard is granted their powers for a different reason. For some, being devout to their god in life has given them an additional chance in the afterlife to serve their god. For these, the transformation is seen as a positive thing, and their appearance reflects this. Most Angelics take on the appearance of a good-looking humanoid with vestigial birdlike wings. Their skin generally has a sparkle to it, as if it was partially generated from crushed gemstones. They tend to dress in light, airy clothing such as robes, flowing capes, and loose fitting, comfortable clothing.

For others, the need to repent for a bad life has led them to try to redeem themselves in the afterlife. These “Demonics” have usually hideous appearances and vestigial wings that are more leathery and bat-like than the wings of the Angelics. Demonics are generally significantly more pale or significantly darker than their angelic counterparts, and their skin generally looks more sunken than normal.

This isn't true with all of the Angelics and Demonics. For most of those who serve the good gods, those rules work most of the time. For those who serve the evil gods, however, frequently followers choose a form based on their preferences and motives. Some of those that see themselves as monsters or instruments of evil become demonics, while frequently those who wish to have the appearance of being good for whatever motives; followers of Isikil tend to take the appearance of Angelics in order to more easily sway the minds of scorned women to the worship of their vengeful goddess.

HISTORY

The Shards have no actual history to speak of. Although they are a race in the classification sense, they have little sense of cultural identity. For them, the history of their god is the history of themselves - their entire being is partially due to the simple divine will of their patron deity. The first shard is thought to have been created by Orn in order to gather more knowledge of the worlds, although each deities' shards claims that their god was the first. Worshippers of Fiera are particularly adamant about this, claiming that their presence was created to help right wrongs in the mortal planes, although most scholars see that as more pride than anything.

Since Shards are uncommon anywhere, they tend not to establish any kind of real settlements or create any history of their own. They are frequently noted in the history of other cultures, Isikil's shards are quite frequently found amongst the legends of the dark elves. In addition, they tend to perform their designated assignments and get transported into another plane, so they are rarely in any one location long enough to establish permanent roots. This causes many non-shards to find even the good shards to be cold and somewhat heartless - to the shards mortals are both the means to the ends and the ends themselves, but are thought of more in terms of statistics than individuals.

Society and culture

The society of the shards is also almost nonexistent. As a general rule, a shard takes orders from their god and occasionally a more experienced shard from the same god. All others, including other shards, are below them.

Shards of Fiera and Isikil tend to be the only two that demonstrate a great deal of passion for anything, Fiera's in the pursuit of justice and Isikil's in the pursuit of revenge. The shards of Orn tend to be solid bookworms and don't notice much of the goings-on of the mere mortals, unless being asked for obscure knowledge that only they possess. Garguth's shards are virtually devoid of passion of any kind, and are frequently compared to the undead that they fight - although never in the presence of the shard themselves. Silveen's shards seem to be the only ones that really give a damn about the mortals at all, while Rend's care about them only in the context of how much torment he can inflict upon them. Shards of Risirr are rare, and usually when they appear don't seem to have a very clear purpose, much like the god of shadows himself.

Shards usually make up their “society” of other adventurers caught up by the Scions, and generally take a leadership role in their team. Rarely do they engage in friendships outside those they “travel” with, and even with people they work with things are held at arms-distance. Since a shard cannot die unless killed by some means of violence, they tend to see non-shards as fragile and temporary although in truth the nature of the work the shards engage in means that they're likely to die younger than the mortals do.

Physiology

Shard physiology is completely unlike that of any other races. They are made up of pure energy, but take a form similar to that which they had as a mortal. This “form” includes things such as internal organs and blood vessels, although in most cases things aren't completely the same as their mortal counterparts. For example, a shard who isn't aware that they had a spleen doesn't have one in their new body, and most former human shards have hearts roughly where the left lung should be because their anatomical knowledge is commonly inaccurate. When injured, blood rarely comes from veins or arteries but instead comes out of the wound itself, and wounds frequently just disappear after they've been forgotten about, usually with no scarring. Healing, rending, magic and other similar things work on the shard form exactly as it would on a normal mortal, since the shard thinks they should be taking effects they do. Surprisingly, most shards are completely unaware of this, and even when it is explained to them that they could be invincible simply by force of will alone they can never seem to grasp the ability.

All Shards take on an angelic or demonic appearance. No one is quite certain why, but the most popular theory is that like everything else, the choice to appear as angelic or demonic is rooted in the shard's own psychology. How the shard views him or herself seems to be the primary factor in determining whether it will become one of the beautiful or one of the corrupted.

Shards also have vestigial wings, which in most cases are incapable of anything other than flight. Some historical accounts point to shards that could use their wings as weapons, additional appendages, or for flight, but if this is true it is incredibly rare.

As would make sense, shards and all other form of lesser godlings are completely sterile. The only way for a new shard to be created is for a god to grant an energy “body” to the spirit of one of their worshippers.

Government

The shards only have one system of government - the Scions. They obey no laws except the laws of their god, and live only to serve the will of that god and the Scions who serve them. Most shards will follow the local laws of the areas in which they travel only to avoid complication in the mission, but barring the presence of someone capable of enforcing the law they completely disregard it. Individual shards have rules that they have laid down for themselves, but even those rules are directly tied to the doctrines of the religion they follow.

Most of the shards are smart enough not to recklessly perform actions, however. Stealing a valuable artifact or killing someone whose great-great-great-great grandson is meant to lead the world can corrupt the timestream worse than it already is, and those actions are avoided as much as possible, even by followers of Rend.

Roleplaying, Costuming and Makeup

The first and most important thing to remember is this: Angelics are not necessarily good and Demonics are not necessarily evil. The difference between the two is completely a matter of self-opinion. The only thing that decides a shard's “goodness” or “evilness” is the religion they ascribe to. Conventional wisdom says that the angelics are the good guys and that demonics are the bad guys, but this is usually brought on by the uneducated people who have little or no experience with actual shards. The second thing to keep in mind that anyone else you interact with is only a piece on the board. Shards are probably the only race that sees the entire world as a game board, although a game board with much higher stakes at risk. At one point in time they were one of those stakes, and the current stake they gamble for is existence itself. A shard will do or say virtually anything it takes to complete the mission, unless it directly conflicts with an edict set down by their god.

Makeup for an angelic is fairly easy - many stores sell body glitter type makeup, this can usually be applied to exposed skin areas quickly and doesn't matter much if it looks 'perfect' since it's not intended to be as fully covering as the makeup used for some of the colored races like dark elves.

For a demonic, there are a variety of ways to go about your makeup. The easiest is powdering to wash some of the color out of your complexion. Some people like to tint their skin a slightly different color, so light applications of makeup are an easy way to accomplish this. For more monstrous appearances, costuming stores sell a variety of “monster” kits to darken or lighten and tint as appropriate. Demonics can also use a variety of prosthetics if desired, although this is by no means required. Usually the scarier the better, although few demonics take it too far and many like being subtle.

For both types, wings can either be purchased at costuming stores or made from easy supplies. Bird, butterfly, or other insect wing styles work well for angelics, while more mammalian and reptile styles such as bat or dinosaur wings work well for demonics. Wings can also be made from cardboard or other similar materials and covered with feathers or other things as appropriate. Simple harnesses can be made from cloth or wire and can easily be fitted to anchor to the body.

Many shards are of nonhuman heritage, and elements of their former race are frequently present. Some have the pointed ears of elves, animal features or blue skin, but it is important to remember that you cannot appear to be of a race other than angelic or demonic, so care must be made to keep your costume appropriate. If you wish to use these types of elements in your costuming, you can reference the appropriate race packet for costuming tips.