Welcome to Gaia! ::

Muzin and the Muzina:

Muzin consists of both the high Fire Mountains and the rocky Flatlands. Although the Fire Mountains are volcanic, their name derives from the type of tree which grows on their slopes. The trees have black bark and coppery golden leaves that do not fall, merely go red at the tips in the colder seasons. With the warm winds blowing through their branches, from a distance it looks as though the mountain writhes with smokeless fire.

The Muzina people come in two main types, the Rn clan which live on the Flatlands, and the T' clan which live up in the mountains.

The Rn clan tend to be a little strudier in shape, with hard, dense muscle and glistening golden tanned skin. Their air s deep wine red and their eyes dark blue or deep gold. They are a little more open to foreigners than the T' clan and have a greater love of travel and curiosity for foreign goods.

The T' clan are lighter in colourations, with fiery hair and light gold or crystal blue eyes. They have a lighter hue to their tanned skin and a slimmer build with sleeker muscle. They are very concerned with tradition and loyalty and often reject new innovations of the Lisdanese and Suoro by claiming them to be a 'lazy' approach without 'honour'.

All Muzina have one of three afflictions as children. They are either squashed looking, have purple blotches on the skin, or have huge monkey-like ears and very large (in proportion) hands and feet. The old wive's tale says that each of these maladies becomes a different type of Muzina at puberty. And, in truth, around the age of 15, the Muzina become beautiful or handsome enough to attract mates. The monkey-looking children become strong and agile, with youthful looking features and endless vitality. The squashed looking children become very physically strong, with rippling muscle and serious features. The blotchy ones gain smooth and flawless skin, with incredible beauty and brilliant minds.

While the men and women of Muzin are equal in rights, there are expectations of the genders. The Men are expected to be strong physically, so that they can handle labour, and defend their women and children. The women, on the other hand, are expected to be strong emotionally, so that they can make clear-headed decisions to run both their households and their country. In order to ensue this strength, the Muzina must take a Test of Pain. While the women's Test of Pain is optional, and only arises should she decide to bear a child, the men must take theirs when they hit puberty (around 14, 15 years old).

The female Test of Pain revolves around the belief that the first born of a woman's womb is filthy and evil. The first born is cursed because it holds all of the pent up evils of failed children that have gone before and left their ghosts in the woman's womb. Therefore, the first child of all Muzina women is to be slain, thus purging the evil, and setting good luck for any children to follow. The woman's body is filled with hormones that make her violently and possessively protective of her child when she gives birth. It is up to her to overcome these maternal instincts, get a grip on he mind and override her emotions enough to cut the umbilical and pass the infant to its father, who will then kill the baby before her. If she fails and refuses to give up the child, or interferes with the killing, she is branded with the mark of failure. If the cursed child lives, she is given two weeks to run from her husband and her town and try to raise the cursed offspring alone. If she does not flee, she is fair game for the Hunters of the Regent.

The male Test of Pain sets up where a Muzina boy will be in his adult life by giving him a status and start to a career. The Administors of the Test give the Muzina a blood drug that enhances the sensations of pain in the body. As the poison works its way through the boys system, everything becomes painful, breathing, moving, thinking, and they know you're ready to begin when they breathe on the back of your neck and you flinch. The rules are simple: Take the ashings of each of the three levels without screaming, vomiting, passing out, or bawling. Depending on where you fail, you receive a different prize. First level is 10 lashings with whips and switches of wood. If you fail before 3 lashes you get another chance to pass the following year. If you fail after 5 you are given a job to do, such as waste removal. if you succeed 10 but fail before the first 5 lashes of the lext level you are given a choice of a certain nubmer of jobs. The second level is 20 lashes with metal chains and whips. If you pass the 10 mark, you are given a small sum of money and you can choose your own career. If you succeed all 20 but fail before the first 10 of the third level, you get a small plot of land to live on and can choose your own career, with which they will try to find a mentor to help you learn. The third level os 35 brandings with hot metal pokers. If you make it through 15 brandings and then fail, you are given a plot of land of your choice from a selection and can choose your own career and are given 10 men to work under you. If you succeed the entire Test you are given a platoon of men to follow you and you can choose any plot of land that is unoccupide in the country on which to live. The number of people who have completed the entire test in all history is less than a thousand. Most Muzina make it through level 1 and then fail before half way throgh level two.

Muzina - Blood Toll

The Racial Ability of the Muzina is optional. Many Muzina go their entire lives without ever using the Blood Toll, but once you begin, you must continue for the rest of your life.
The Blood Toll begins with the act of Bonding. The Muzina selects a Muzina to whom he wishes to bond himself to. It can be a sibling, friend, lover or even parent. To make a Bond 1/3 of the total volume of the Muzina's blood must be exchanged. This is done by biting the throat, wrist or thigh of the one you will Bond to, whilst they bite you. Then, as they drink, their blood mixes.
Now, Muzina Blood is not like Human Blood. Our blood contains Red Blood cells, which transport Oxygen, C02, and other nutrients our cells need; White Blood cells, which contain the antibodies to fight off infection and destroy malformed cells; and Platelets which block tears in the blood vessels and allow the body to heal. Muzina Blood cells are a combination of all three. They carry nutrients, and they are amoebic in nature, so they engulf and consume anthing foreign to the system. This means that any malformed cells - such as tumours or cells retrograde-tampered with (such as by viruses) are consumed and broken down, recycling the still usable elements, like iron and oxygen. It means that any foreign agents, like allergic irritants, unfriendly bacteria, poisons and alcohols in the blood stream are targeted and broken down. If a cell gets worn out from breaking down possibly dangerous matter, it breaks up into platelets and floats in the blood stream to repair damaged dermis or vessels.
As this is the case, the Muzina are highly resistant to poisons and alcohols, and can on average consume 3 times that of a human before their blood cells are unable to consume anymore without first breaking down what they have consumed.
So what happens when you introduce another like blood cell into the Muzina's system?
The result of the struggle that ensues is a symbiosis. The blood cells partially consume each other, and fuse. The mutant cells move more rapidly through the system, can hold more nutrients and are more efficient.
On an exterior level, this means that the Muzina is faster, stronger and his senses are more alert and sharp. His vision improves greatly, being able to focus on small details at great distances and movements, and their night vision is nearly 50% better. Their hearing and sense of smell double in the depth they can distinguish and recognize and their sense of taste and touch heightens about 30%. Their mental clarity increases and they find magical and intelectual endeavours much easier.
That said, why wouldn't EVERY Muzina make a bond?
The Bond must be repeated every year, within one week of the original bond. If not, the body begins to go into shock. After a year, the bonds between the symbiotic cells break down and fail to replicate properly and the body believes itself to be one third short of blood. Both members of the bond, whereever they happen to be suffer from chills, aching muscles, fever, delerium, wretching pain in their abdomen, ceaseless vomitting, and the gradual dimming of their senses. This state of pseudo-death drives the mind to the point of madness, and the majority are not strong enough to fight it, and lash out to consume whatever blood is closest, be it animal, or person. The problem with this, is that now they have three different sets of DNA in their sytem. The Heiughtened senses return, but the madness lingers a little. This makes the possibility to fail the proper bond increase, and each time it is failed, the body fails to adapt a little more.
Eventually the Body becomes a Lizka. A Lizka is a sort of monster that gives the Muzina such names like Fire Demons and Blood Dogs. The only thing that occupies a Lizka's mnd is the need for Blood - insatiable and unquenchable. They develope grotesque and terrifying powers, such as flight, telekinesis, spontaneous combustion and the ability to draw blood from a victim without even making contact. They roam the contryside devouring the blood of animals, people, anything they encounter. Lizka are hunted down by Hunters, who's dangerous job is to bring these nearly Godly powerful beasts down and destroy them.
The other danger of the Bond is the Addiction. The heightened senses, strength, speed and clarity of mind are addictive mentally if not physically. This addiction leads to drinking more from your Bond Mate than you should, meaning you're drinking more than once a year. The problem with this is that you're putting already symbiotic cells into an environment with other simbiotic cells. The powers become too intese for the mnid to comprehend or control, and again, the body becomes a Lizka.
On very rare occassions, at the moment of frenzy, when the mind should turn into a Lizka, the Goddess Isham intervenes. She selects souls she likes, and takes them into herself, replacing them with fragments of her souls, also known as her Avatars, or Incarnations. These are known as Anteki, and have as much potential for good as they have for evil. The symbiotic creature that is formed is called a Yath Ragazi, or Flame Stalker. Flame Stalkers are like multiple personalities. When under stressful or dangerous situations, they lose control over their bodies and go into a mental coma. In their stead, the anteki takes control and fights to the death for whatever was most prominant in the Flame Stalker's heart at the moment when consciousness was lost. If your most desperate thought was: Must survive, they will fight until you are safe and then you will wake up, remembering nothing of what occurred. If you desire to protect loved ones, the Anteki will kill any threat to your loved ones. If you wish to take over a conutry, the Anteki will fight to that end. Because the anteki possess as much power as the Lizka as well as a rational and brilliant mind, the Flame Stalkers are considered more dangerous than any other monster. Hunters also try to kill off Flame Stalkers just in case the host gets it into his head to aspire for the country. The only time a Flame Stalker will not be hunted down is if he leaves the conutry of his own free will and does nt return, nor make any foul play against Muzin.