Races of Eden: Rhonnu

Not all of Eden’s races are entirely pleasant to be around. Spirits come in many shapes, sizes and ideologies. While the Rhonnu are not strictly evil beings, they are tinged with an aura of distrust, mischief, arrogance and anger that can make them hard to get along with. The Rhonnu devils have a privileged position in society and they exploit it to its fulllest. If anything like a racial nobility can be said to exist in Adel, it would be the Rhonnu. But they too have their own contribution to make to the melting pot that is Adel.

Physiology

These creatures are instantly distinct to an observer. While humanoid, with body and facial structure indistinct from that of any other person, the Rhonnu have traits that vastly differentiate them from other races.

Rhonnu don’t grow to a very imposing size. They always stand roughly between 5′ and 5’4″ with very tall ones being 5’8″ at best. Rhonnu tend towards lighter body types. Rhonnu men tend towards wiry musculature, and never seem to grow so bulky as to be noticeable under the rich silks they wear. It is easy to underestimate such dandy men, until one throws a punch. Rhonnu women on the other hand can grow to be pleasantly curvaceous, unlike creatures of roughly similar size like the Iomadi, who tend towards more slightness of curve and form. In this, Rhonnu women have been compared to Athirua.

A Rhonnu’s skin color ranges from blue to light purple to a fiery red and sometimes rarely brown or black, with lips and other soft flesh of a slightly offset color. A pair of bat-like wings stretch out from the Rhonnu’s back, often folded over the shoulders like a cape, or around the body like a makeshift corset. Some Rhonnu can fly with these wings but most of them cannot. It’s just a minor trait, to those that can’t employ them. They have thin, elegant tails ending in curious club or fork shapes. These areas are very sensitive and the Rhonnu rarely allow anyone to touch their tails for any reason. Rhonnu also have ears that are sharp and shaped slightly in the same fashion of their wings.

Staring deeply into the eyes of a Rhonnu, one can see a myriad of concentric rings around the pupil that make up the color of the iris. Sometimes, these rings are different colors, producing an exotic iris of many hues. A Rhonnu’s sclera might also be black, which combined with the last trait would make an eye that would be hard to miss.

One of the more immediately obvious traits are the Rhonnu’s horns. A Rhonnu’s horns are black or dark silvery grey and have multiple divisions as though made of an insect’s carapace and sprout from the sides of the head, just above the ears. The surface of the horn feels smooth, like good rubber. The shape and direction of the horn vary with the individual and a variety of myths and stereotypes have been drawn from these. Rhonnu with curled, ram-like horns are said to be easy to anger. Those with forward-facing bull horns are said to be very sexually forward. Those with skyward-facing horns are said to be impenetrably arrogant and conceited, impossible to impress.

Unlike Ainyu, Rhonnu do reproduce sexually despite being spirits, and give mammalian birth to children just the same as Iomadi and most other races do. They are compatible with practically any other race, but they usually give birth to Rhonnu children, with the odds stacked in their favor. Rhonnu don’t tend to get romantically involved with other Rhonnu, oddly enough – they find it boring and only do it for political or familial reasons.

History

Like most spirits, the Rhonnu don’t have a lot of history. They’ve existed since the dawn of civilization as spirits of temptation, arrogance and vice. Rhonnu always carried an air of royalty, and many of the myths surrounding them stated them to be devil nobility from Septinum, the “cruel masters” of the Ainyu. Given their distaste for Ainyu, this might not be far off. During the revolutionary period before the Intolerable War where the Aptoas empire began to seek out knowledge and to improve its organization, the Rhonnu displayed an incredible affinity for planning and bureaucracy that solidified their privileged position during and past the Intolerable War. The Rhonnu were quick to organize and developed planning schemes and laws of living that are used to modernity in Adel. Even the most rag-tag groups of laborers were quick to follow Rhonnu command, making their imperious powers of morale quite valuable. The Rhonnu became treated like nobility for their cunning, intelligence and in many parts because of their beauty and majesty. To this day, it still seems almost natural for Rhonnu to be high class.

Way of Life And Social Standing

In this article, these parts will be fused together as they are both similar for Rhonnu.

The most legendary thing about the Rhonnu is their attitude. Rhonnu are said to be generally conceited, sarcastic and temperamental. Rhonnu are hard to convince to do anything selflessly or for a good cause that won’t directly benefit them. Even in romance, Rhonnu are very jealous and selfish, and while they are generally good and kind to the person they love – kinder than they are to anyone else – they can still be fairly inconsiderate even to those they share a bed with.

Rhonnu are usually middle to high class. Most do not live in villages, and if they do, they’re used as guardian spirits, which to them means they get to be the boss and that’s good enough for them. Some Rhonnu set up shop in villages to exploit the locals, and thus expose themselves to village living, which tends to make them rather grumpy. But most are not so. Rhonnu are spirits of empire, majesty, vice and command. They are at their best when they have people to order around. The voice of a Rhonnu has a natural glamer that encourages compliance from those around, making them natural leaders.

In the mercantile nation of Periterim, Rhonnu make up large quantities of the high class that forms the ruling oligarchy. If they are not directly in the council then they are married to someone who is, or engaged in an illicit relation with someone who is, or otherwise in a position to affect, however subtly, what goes on there. In Andaliel, five of the 50 Andalian senators are Rhonnu, despite Andaliel having a fairly limited population of Rhonnu. In Vedaria, many of Magdalena Keehl’s advisors are Rhonnu and in Emderuer many of the extended royal family and royal court are, after many years of interbreeding, also Rhonnu. As such, Rhonnu are an indivisible part of nobility.

Not all Rhonnu are, of course. Though many have ambitions to ascend, most are still middle class land-owners, merchants or even, much to their own chagrin, mercenaries or adventurers. Rhonnu are opportunists by nature, and if the payoff is good enough they will take the gambles, but they certainly won’t like it. Anything less than perfection will cause a Rhonnu to grumble and become moody. Particularly in romance, Rhonnu can become confused as to why their hearts would soften for a certain, often less-than-perfect person, and thus play hard to get or feign disinterest. When they do melt and succumb, however, even these generally difficult people can be very satisfying and warm lovers.

Rhonnu are spirits, and as such it is hard to get them to completely change their habits. While life-changing events like falling in love, near-death experiences, being taken care of while very injured or sick, and accomplishing a lifetime goal can get them to soften so that they are just difficult rather than outright toxic, Rhonnu will be Rhonnu. To many people, however, these are very alluring and desirable traits. Yin attracts yang, it is said. And despite being so mythically ill-tempered, Rhonnu are still quite beautiful and exotic which by itself will attract the eyes. They are definitely popular.

Rhonnu In Play

A Rhonnu’s life experiences, almost invariably, either get them to soften up or to harden the shell of vitriolic temper that they have for the outside world. When creating a Rhonnu character, think about the state of your character’s personality to date and figure out what events caused him or her to be this way. How successful was your character, in romance, in business, in accomplishing his or her life’s goals? What obstacles has he or she faced and how did they change him or her? Is your character’s current personality immutable, or can good or bad events cause him or her to soften or harden from here on? Another thing to consider are the many exotic physical traits that Rhonnu possess. Rhonnu, like other races in Eden, can look very different from one another and with Rhonnu these traits might say something about how the character is perceived and how he or she really is.