Return to Index

Visari

The visari are a strange race of bipedal, sentient beings covered in a coat of feather-like down. These organisms stand 7-9 feet tall and bear a single horn on the top middle of their faces. This horn is hollow and filled with beads which produce a rattling when the visari are in movement. These horns never stop growing, meaning the older a visari is, the longer their horn will be. The visari have three long, clawed fingers on their hands and small hooves as feet. They can possess various traits resembling other species, such as insectoid abdomens, wings, and antennae, avian wings and tails, sheep, goat, or cow-like horns, antlers, or other strange features. The appearance of these features is thought to be a result of the Brilliant Cataclysm. The color of their downy coat can range from black to various shades of brown and beige. White coats are especially unusual, and seen as bad omens among visari communities. Individuals with white coats are killed, imprisoned, banished, or subjected to other unspeakable cruelties.

Visari start out as larvae birthed by the colony's queen, fertilized by a Ka-Vaar. Queens give birth to multiple dozen larvae at a time. As larvae, visari are grub-like in form and lack cognisance. During the larval stage, which lasts around 10 years, larvae are kept in well-guarded communal nurseries, cared for by trained adult visari with the utmost attention. Caretakers of larvae spend time feeding and watering the young, harvesting their silk, and teaching them basic concepts, such as language and culture, to prepare them for adult life. Larvae produce a strong silk-like substance which is used by the colonies in numerous ways, from more utilitarian uses such as rope, nets, and structural support to more esoteric uses like rituals, potions, and ointments. The silk has long thought to contain medicinal uses for non-visari and is a highly valued commodity among outsiders.

After approximately 10 years as a helpless, squirming larva, the visari will enter pupation. A larva undergoing pupation will form a hard shell around its soft, grubby body. Inside of this shell, the body will liquefy and reform into the body of an adult visari. Pupae are moved to a special room in which they can pupate properly with minumum risks, with pupation lasting approximately 4 years. Each pupa is put into a ceramic vessel that is filled with a special milky fluid produced by the queen. A latching lid is put on the vessel and the pupae are left undisturbed other than during regular wellness checks. At the end of pupation, the adult visari will emerge from its cocoon and shatter the vessel (unless it is too weak, in which case it will drown in the now-fermented queen's milk). Each vessel sits in a larger pan or bowl, the purpose of which is to collect the fermented queen's milk after the vessel shatters. This is later drunk by the young visari in an initiation ritual to bless them with the queen's protection. Pupation can also be induced early in a larva to guarantee it pupates far faster and becomes a soldier as an adult, though this process is at a detriment to its mental faculties and lifespan, potentially causing multiple different degenerative health issues. This ritual is only done in times of war, when a colony is in dire need of warriors.

After emerging from pupation, the newly adult visari is greeted by the colony with a grand ceremony held after the final visari emerges from pupation. At this point, the visari are confused and know very little about the world, but a young visari's mind is remarkably plastic and excels at intaking and retaining information. Physically, the visari is smaller in stature, generally standing around 5.5-6 feet tall, with a short horn that has only just begun to grow. If the visari is not a warrior, they are then given a specialization to pursue in order to serve the colony's interests. Some colonies let the individual choose for themself, but others dictate that a Ka-Vaar or appointed overseer must choose their role for them. Other colonies even use forms of divination to determine which path a visari will take. After a specialization is chosen, the visari becomes an apprentice and is taught by multiple experienced tutors within their field. Throughout this time, they learn the ins and outs of their new job as well as basic fundamentals, such as math, ritual magic, language, and history. Some of the many specializations in which a visari can find themselves are larval caretakers, medics, construction workers, farmers, potters and craftsmen, scholars, attendants to the queen or Ka-Vaar, or ritualists, otherwise known as 'Uhd-Klir' or fate-artists.

The majority of visari communities reside in the Yxyltryptyc Forest Southwest of the City. Visari live in complex, large colonies that span from underground burrows to arboreal constructions. Visari colonies are comparable to ant colonies, possessing queens, soldiers, and workers. Soldiers are denoted by their broad, forked horns and thicker coats. The status of a visari as a worker or soldier is decided by fate during pupation. The colonies are governed by groups of six to twelve 'Ka-Vaar,' or Nobles. Ka-Vaar are appointed by the queen or selected in trial-by-combat, where a challenger duels a Ka-Vaar to the death. If the challenger wins, they must consume the body of the Ka-Vaar they killed, which will trigger a hormonal change that alters their body to possess the traits typical of a Ka-Vaar. Ka-Vaar possess elongated horns and limbs, a second pair of smaller arms below their main arms, and increased height, ranging from 12-14 feet tall. The average lifespan of the visari is 167 years, but Ka-Vaar can live up to the 300s, and queens can live seemingly indefinitely.

Each colony can possess one to four queens, depending on the size. The population of common visari can range from the hundreds to the thousands, with approximately 1/20th being soldiers and the rest being workers. The queens are large and generally possess much more bestial forms which can vary wildly in appearance.

Visari colonies are largely subterranean, consisting of tunnels and rooms burrowed deep into the ground. There are above-ground portions of many colonies as well, with buildings of wood and stone built on the ground and even high up in the towering trees of the forest. Due to their physiology, visari are not adapted to efficiently burrow by themselves. Instead, the colonies cultivate hives of burrowing arthtropods called grk-ryxyt, meaning dirt-movers. To dig tunnels, grk-ryxyt are released on an area that the visari want excavated. The visari will use strategically placed heat sources and decomposing organic matter, the preferred food of the animals, to direct them to dig the tunnels and rooms to the visari's desired specifications. During this process, the loose dirt will be moved to the surface by visari workers. As the grk-ryxyt dig the tunnels and rooms, they secrete a sticky substance. called grk honey, along the surfaces that significantly increases the integrity of the burrow. Due to variations in the diets of grk-ryxyt between different colonies of visari, it is noted that the ambient aroma of each colony's burrow is markedly different. Colonies that feed their grk-ryxyt large amounts of decomposing meat are said to have burrows that give off a heavy, metallic smell. Visari also have many other applications for grk honey, such as a flavor additive for food and beverages. Grk honey is also used in incense and sold as glue. Grk-ryxyt are kept in specialized rooms in which they build their underground hives, where they burrow small tunnels into the walls. After the appearance of the Pale Sun, the global temperature dropped dramatically. This resulted in mass die-offs of grk-ryxyt. As a result, physical expansion of visari colonies decreased severely, leading to overcrowding in the colonies. This created uncomfortable, unhygienic conditions and increased spread of disease amongst visari. Visari quickly realized the issue and started to keep heat sources near the grk-ryxyt colonies, allowing the populations to slowly rebound. Some colonies suffered far more than others.

The diet of a visari generally consists of fungus cultivated in subterranean areas along with meat and other products created by livestock. The main livestock of the visari are giant mites and isopods, generally kept in pastures or underground caverns. Visari are also known to actively forage, hunt, and fish. The fungus grown by visari can be used to produce psychoactive substances used by humans and daemyr. This drug, when overused, can transform the user into an orck. The drug of choice for visari is Buul, a drink produced by fermenting yonderwort flowers, with various other ingredients mixed in for flavor. The beverage is said to produce a euphoric, stimulating high that increases focus, productivity, and pain tolerance. Buul can have potentially severe adverse effects if overused, such as inducing nausea, irritability, weakness, heart palpitations, high blood pressure, and confusion.

Communication is done through speech in combination with chirps, whistles, gestures, and pheromones. Visari in the outside primarily speak the same tongue. A simple language with short, choppy words. The colonies each have vastly different dialects and accents from one another, meaning one can often identify an individual's mother colony by how they speak. As visari speak, they incorporate chirps and whistles, used in certain words or frequently as shorthands for certain terms, exclamations, or other miscellaneous vocalizations. As a result, it is challenging for most non-visari to speak the language fluidly. Visari also use gestures while speaking, just as non-visari do. Most of their gestures closely resemble those commonly found in non-visari communication, though some are strange and unique to visari culture. Visari colonies that interact with other societies, such as the Old City, typically speak the common language as well as the visari's for the sake of diplomacy and commerce, though more isolated colonies tend to only speak the visari language.

Visari have a number of different pheromones they can produce, often given off unconsciously to act as indicators. They can also be intentionally secreted to non-verbally communicate signals to nearby visari. Many pheromones are social in nature, and are used to communicate feelings and emotions. Other pheromones might be used to mark possessions and territory, communicate a visari's health, or indicate the presence of danger in an area. Certain pheromones are specific to their respective colonies, with only visari of those colonies being able to produce and recognize them. There are, however, a number of universal pheromones that can be produced, as well as detected and recognized by all visari regardless of colony. Each visari has a distinct pheromonal profile that denotes their home colony. Individually, every visari has a subtly distinct "scent" that they can be recognized by, generally only detectable by other visari or even close non-visari friends of that individual. A large number of pheromones are indetectable to non-visari, though some are mildly aromatic. While some may be commonly considered unpleasant to smell, certain other visari pheromones are highly valued in the aromatics industry. Although it is taboo, there are black market perfumes, oils, lotions and incenses using pheromones extracted from visari. The primary procedure to extract visari pheromones involves surgically removing the pheromone glands, customarily after using some form of mind-alteration to induce a mental state necessary for the visari to begin producing the pheromone desired. The glands are then extracted and the organ is kept alive and continually producing the pheromone for a time by using special equipment. Such extractions are usually done against the will of the visari, and done so with little regard to their safety or health. Nevertheless, there are visari that opt to sell their glands in exchange for monetary compensation.

Visari culture is highly dogmatic and superstitious, putting an emphasis on hierarchy and connection to nature. Visari colonies are very secretive, rarely allowing other species to live among them. It is considered a great honor to be accepted into a visari colony. War is common among visari colonies as they fight for land, resources, and ideals. Visari colonies are rarely on good terms with each other, but are willing to trade with other species on occasion. Visari are also commonly scavengers of the Yonderlands, using the resources collected to produce various goods used in daily life or trading with others inside and outside of the City.

Due to their magical nature, the Visari played an instrumental role in both the Ritual of the Pale Sun and the ensuing counter-ritual that blanketed the world in cloud cover.



Click the images to see them at full size.