Book of Knowledge

Once, in the early days of Allyr, the people knew the ways of the world. They knew of the Three Spheres which made up the sum of life upon the globe, and they knew of the creatures therein. But now the Book of Knowledge (Ed Kadynad, “The Knowable,” in Ka; and the Kenen, or Known, in Lyric) is locked away in the vaults of the capital, gathering dust in the gloaming. After the Great Battle of the Powers which destroyed the Great Forest and rendered it into two separate groves, the Coalesced who are the Creatures of both Flesh and Spirit, or both Flesh and Being, withdrew from the presence of men. Now that their knowledge has been withdrawn, so has the belief in their existence.

The Sphere of Flesh
Within the Sphere of Flesh there are three Great Races who exist only in Flesh.

Men – the mortal children of Ladÿn, or the servants of the Xen (depending upon which religion you follow)

Witches – the Blessed men who were born with the gift to touch the other spheres with their Magick

Animals – all creatures elsewhere upon the world who do not touch the other spheres in consciousness but only in instinct.

The Ferrishym, or the Still Folk
These are the Coalesced, the four Great Races who form the bridge between the Flesh and the Spirit. They originally taught the Witches how to use their inherent magical skills. They are at home in both the Sphere of Flesh and the Sphere of Spirit.

Tree-dryads or Draoy: appearing in flesh sometimes as small, green-skinned women who nest in trees, and sometimes as young deer with the upper torso and head of a woman. Sometimes they are also the trees themselves. Their Queen is Sun, the Great Tree who was separated from them in the Great Battle of the Powers when her leg of the forest was wiped clean.

Water-nymphs or Merrows: these appear to be small mermaids, with extravagantly long fish-tails, who are invisible until they break the surface of the water because their scales reflect light and cause a shimmering on the surface. Their Queen is Maor, the Spirit of the Waterfall who appears as a woman in white whose white hair falls endlessly from her shoulders.

Air- sylphs or Leshiye: Air manifests itself as tiny men with wings rather than arms that glow with the light of the sun. Their King is Tor the Face on the Clouds, who blows the winds from his puffy cheeks.

Fire-wyrms or Wyverns: Appearing as snakes, salamanders or lizards who are an impossibly bright orange in color, they sometimes look more like they are made of flames than of muscles and bones. Their King is Keryn, who dwells in the Heart of the Earth but who visits the surface as a man made of fire.

You could call these faeries but you would be wrong.

The Sphere of the Spirit

If humans could transcend the Flesh and enter the realm of purest Spirit these are the six Great Races they would encounter.

Demons – the malicious remnants of those who did not pass from Flesh to Ayrn, which is the Allyr version of Heaven but is more like a higher dimension than an island paradise. In their raw form these bodiless souls are deprived of all reason or thought and become creatures of purest instinct and chaos. Once a Demon has been manifested in a Flesh host (typically a man), it has a sort of physical form which is more of a lack of form. When you see a demon in the Sphere of Flesh it is more like a tear in the fabric of the world than a three dimensional animal.

Sages – the benign remnants of those who did not pass from Flesh to Ayrn. The men who these creatures once were, were the most ascended of humans, so that instead of being raw instinct they are raw reason, brutal at times with their logic. But they have no bad intentions towards the living. (Note: no one is sure what keeps a man from traveling to Ayrn, though many have speculated that it has something to do with love.)

Sxi (shi) – These are the Spirits of the Earth, who are the will of the rocks and trees. They are generally considered female and nurturing.

Muryans – These are the Spirits of Water, who are the will of the rivers, lakes and sea. They are also considered female.

Aery – These are the Spirits of the Air, who are the will of the winds and clouds. They are considered masculine and bring death as well as restoration.

Draake – These are the Spirits of Fire, who are the will of the flame and molten rocks. They are also considered masculine.

The Sphere of Being
This is the Sphere which describes the purest and simplest of all possible states of Being. The following four Great Races inhabit this place alone.

Aryn – these beings consist of pure Hope. They have been known to touch members of the human race at their birth, instilling the Race of Humanity with its characteristic unswayable hope for the better.

Wyrd – these beings consist of pure Change, who touch the Ferrishym and give them their inherent ability to ignite change in other Races. (Teaching the Witches is a good example of how the Ferrishym bring change.)

Boyd – these beings consist of pure stillness, and they bring the frustrating lack of change and progress which sometimes triggers a sudden realization (writer’s block, for example,) or can be the end of something (like when a story dies because the writer cannot find a way to change it.)

Rynn – these beings consist of pure despair, and they bring the sorrow which can sometimes obliterate (suicide) or can heal the heart (mourning for lost loved ones.)

The Divinity
These Coalesced creatures do not touch the Sphere of the Flesh, but make their homes bridging the Sphere of Being and the Sphere of Spirit. There are only two Great Races who are Divine.

Elaph – these are the angels of hopeful earth, who are constant and unchanging (like the humans who always hope even in the face of the worst enemies.)

Sorn – these are the angels of despairing water, who flow and forever change (like the Ferrishym who are always crouching, expecting a new transition.)

The Feorin, or the Veiled
These are the Coalesced who connect Flesh with Being. There are four Great Races who can live in both the Sphere of Flesh and the Sphere of Being.

Dragons – these majestic creatures are the physical manifestation of hope. They are always there but rarely seen.

Butterflies – these delicate beings bridge flesh with change. This is shown through their evolution from worm to cocoon to beautifully patterned wings on a fine insect body.

Sphinxes – these are the puzzling embodiment of stillness. They ask questions which keep the answerer paused in thought, but sometimes these long pauses cause sudden realization of the answer- and sometimes the sphinx kills its victims when they know no answer!

Ravens – these birds are black despair-bringers, who recycle the waste of the Flesh (by feeding on carrion) and have a reputation for the sadness and solemnity they cause in humans who see them.

The only living thing who can walk from sphere to sphere is Elwyn.