Aspects¶
The Aspects are draconic gods that predate the Deities, being responsible for much of the early history of the realm. In the modern era, however, their influence is very rarely felt.
Creation¶
The first Aspects—the Major Aspects—were created directly by the Primal Tree, likely before the nominal start of the First Avihm. The first Aspects were the Elder (or "Great") Aspects, who represented extremely important, fundamental parts of the physical world, and helped to create those pieces of the physical world. These were Taihgel, the Aspect of Land, Rihelma, the Aspect of Sky, Dahr, the Aspect of Sea, and Khive, the Aspect of Magic. Together, they made the fundamental physical matter of the Av1 world. The other four Major Aspects, coming in two pairs, were created by the Tree afterwards to add more detail to the world: Lai and Loe, Aspects of Warmth and Cold, as well as Vayniklah and Voynahla, Aspects of Life and Death.
Children/Reproduction¶
The Minor Aspects are, for the most part, not direct creations of the Primal Tree. Rather, they are children of the existing Major Aspects. It appears that the Aspects are capable of asexual reproduction, simply excising their children from themselves. One in-game source suggests that in doing so, the parent Aspects forget what they know about the details of their child's domain, passing that knowledge fully along to the child.
Child Aspects' domains are therefore derivative of their parents. The three Emotion Aspects are children of Khive, dealing with matters of the soul. Dahroehl, Aspect of Freshwater, comes from Dahr, while the Wind Aspect Rihalae comes from Rihelma, and so on.
There are two instances of child Aspects having parentage from two different Aspects, and it seems unlikely that this comes from a sexual relationship. These two examples are Palaesida, the Aspect of Storms who was born of both Dahr and Rihelma, and the Aspect of Harvest, Noha, born of a mix between Taihgel and Vayniklah.
It is stated in Vayniklah's +3 relic that she was the first to create the first of the Minor Aspects, done so that more specialized Aspects could help her with "designing viable vessels for souls". This likely means that Mari, Aspect of Drehmari, and Muhs, Aspect of Beasts, were the first of the Minor Aspects.
Appearance¶
Aspects vary in physical appearance, but they are all described as being reptilian or draconic in some way, although some significantly stretch this definition. Many incorporate parts from different real-life and fictional animals, almost always associated with the domains that they govern.
Aspects are, for the most part, much larger than Drehmari or other humanoids, although this also varies greatly by individual. Some Aspects, such as Nahyn, are much smaller than the others, possibly even smaller than a Drehmari, while the largest such as Noha were almost the size of small towns.
Activity¶
Each of the Aspects is believed to have had a massive hand in creating their respective part of the natural world: Taihgel created the world's initial landforms, Mari helped to design the Drehmari form, Dahr created the oceans, and so on. This was true of the world in the First Avihm, but after the Felling and the birth of the three Deities, Drehmal took on the Herculean task of completely rebuilding and reshaping the world. Today, it is unclear how much of the natural world was made directly by the Aspects, and how much was Drehmal's own creation.
The Aspects are believed to have once been extremely active on the disc, living among the mortal Drehmari, but since early Av2, they have gradually moved to the moon of Lo'Dahr. The reasoning for this is not entirely clear, although it seems that some of them have been scarred by negative interactions with mortals, including whatever mysterious events led up to the Felling.
Following the events of the Divine Schism, most of the Aspects became reclusive, realizing that they could die and fearing that they would be killed by their brethren just like Palaesida. The death of Muhs shortly thereafter was the final nail in the coffin for most Aspects, with very few spending any time on Drehmal since late Av2.
It is unclear to what extent the Aspects are all necessary for the continued function of the world, long after taking part in its original creation. There are some clear effects to the death of Aspects, as seen in the late game, and some Aspects, such as the Emotion trio, are still said to manage their respective emotion within the Drehmari population.
The Aspects and Deities together make up the Prismatic Council, the official governing body of the divine moon of Lo'Dahr.
Aspect List¶
| Aspect | Classification | Title/Domain | Gender (Pronouns)1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Khive | Major (Elder) | Aspect of Magic | M (he/him or they/them) |
| Dahr | Major (Elder) | Aspect of Sea | M (he/him) |
| Rihelma | Major (Elder) | Aspect of Sky | F (she/her) |
| Taihgel | Major (Elder) | Aspect of Land | N (it/its or they/them) |
| Vayniklah | Major | Aspect of Life | F (she/her or it/its) |
| Voynahla | Major | Aspect of Death | M (he/him or it/its) |
| Lai | Major | Aspect of Warmth | M (he/him) |
| Loe | Major | Aspect of Cold | F (she/her or they/them) |
| Verrhys | Minor (Disputed) | Aspect of Silence | N (it/they) |
| Lahrs | Minor (Disputed) | Aspect of Resonance | M/F (he/him or she/her) |
| Moen | Minor | Aspect of Pleasure | F (she/her or they/them) |
| Maen | Minor | Aspect of Pain | M (he/him or it/its) |
| Tethlaen | Minor | Aspect of Fear | M (he/him or they/them) |
| Dahroehl | Minor | Aspect of Freshwater | M/F (he/him or she/her)2 |
| Palaesida | Minor | Aspect of Storms | M (he/him) |
| Rihalae | Minor | Aspect of Wind | F (she/her or it/its) |
| Nahyn | Minor | Aspect of Mountains | M (he/him) |
| Koh | Minor | Aspect of Stone | N (it/its or they/them) |
| Noha | Minor | Aspect of Harvest | F (she/her or they/them) |
| Mari | Minor | Aspect of Drehmari (People) | M (he/him) |
| Muhs | Minor | Aspect of Beasts | M (he/him or they/them) |
| Lailoehn | Minor | Aspect of Fire | M (he/him) |
| Loeleyhn | Minor | Aspect of Snow | F (she/her) |