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1. #1Gelfling

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   While phenotypically variable, all Gelfling shared a number of characteristics. They were four-fingered, slenderly built bipeds[2] with wide, triangular faces tapering to a pointed chin. They had large, wide eyes that were set apart on either side of a flattish nose. Many had long hair, from which their large, pointed ears protruded.[3] The color of their blood varied from red[4] to pink.[5] Highly adaptable, the Gelfling could thrive in almost any environment and rapidly adopt new traits better suited to their surroundings, with examples including the amphibious Drenchen, who evolved gills in order to live in the swamps of Sog, the Grottans who developed night vision in their cavernous home, and the Firelings, whose biology permitted them to live comfortably in the volcanic realm of Mithra. Like all of Thra-kind, the essence of Gelfling would return to Thra upon death, thus restoring the planet's balance and preventing the outbreak of Darkening.[6] Flight Females differed from males in having a pair of diaphanous wings which emerged upon reaching early adulthood,[7] allowing them to fly, glide, and hover, as well as aid in swimming. Accounts as to the origins of these wings differed greatly. One account stated that a Gelfling girl once touched a cloud and knitted it to her shoulders, while another described how she had touched a rock, and wished for crystalline wings. A darker tale, How the Gelfling Maid got her Wings, told of how a Gelfling maiden, exhausted with having to take care of a large group of orphaned children, sought out Aughra for help. Aughra took a pair of Cragraptor feathers and stabbed them into the maiden's shoulders, fusing with her body and allowing her to keep track of the orphaned children more easily.[4] During the Age of Power, some females were born wingless.[8]Gelfling were the closest creatures to Thra,[9] and as such had a direct link to the Dream Space, which granted them several special abilities.[10] Dreamfasting allowed two or more Gelfling to meld their consciousness and pass on memories to each other, an ability which proved invaluable for learning and storytelling throughout the race's history.[2] Other than Gelfling, Aughra was also a practitioner, and used it to teach them of the dangers of Thra during the race's infancy.[4] Another ability granted by the Dream Space was Dream etching, an ability similar to writing which permitted Gelfling to leave messages on physical objects or surfaces.[2] These etchings, when used for making rock carvings, were achieved by applying intense heat to the object's surface.[1] Other, sometimes more localized abilities, included healing among the Drenchen,[11] Far-Dreaming among the Sifa[12] and casting charms on crafts among the Spriton.[13] Some Gelfling, such as Argot and Kira, even mastered the usually Podling ability of Animal Soul Speaking.[14][15] Culture Although differing in traditions and specific beliefs, all Gelfling shared the same basic tenets, valuing above all the virtues of peace, harmony and unity.[16] The latter value was eroded during the Age of Division, with most Gelfling in that period having a "clan-first" mentality.[17] Throughout much of their history, Gelfling societies were matriarchal. Most Gelfling societies were sedentary, though the Dousan and Sifa were nomadic. All Gelfling cultures were essentially peaceful, hardworking and playful, and knew how to cultivate crops and tame animals.[18] They always strove to live in harmony with the natural world,[19] and their greatest joys lay in song, dance and stories.[4] Most Gelfling were illiterate,[20] thus they placed great value on orally transmitted generational knowledge.[21] Festivities celebrated by all Gelfling included Name Day,[22] the Day of the Great Sun,[23] the Celebration of the Sister Moons,[24] and the Spring Festival.[25] Languages The Gelfling originally spoke the Old Gelfling language, which survived in Modern Gelfling through titles, ritual pronouncements and some nouns. Modern Gelfling became a lingua franca of the Skeksis Empire, though some Gelfling were fluent in other spoken languages such as Skeksis and Podling. Some Gelfling clans had their own non-verbal languages, including vojeye among the Dousan and Finger-Talk among the Grottans.The Gelfling originated during the Age of Innocence, though the exact chronology differed according to source. Aughra claimed to have been present to observe them "[rise] from the soil",[26] while another account had the Gelfling emerge before Aughra's birth.[2] The Gelfling creation myth, the Song of the Six Sisters, narrated how the Gelfling descended from six founding matriarchs, each one a maternal Clan ancestor,[27] though this contradicted later accounts which credited the Skeksis with creating the Clan structure two thousand trine later.[2] In any case, Aughra favored the Gelfling above other races on Thra, and helped them develop language, culture and ethics.[19] During the first thousand trine of their existence, the Gelfling were a primitive race, who relied on Aughra to teach them of the dangers of Thra and of the properties of the Crystal which kept their world alive.[4] Originally divided in a tribal structure, Aughra tutored them to the point where they formed a single unified culture.[2] They initially lived as hunter-gatherers in forest regions,[4] though they eventually colonized the Crystal Desert, where predation from Arduffs prompted them to develop the first rudiments of weaponry and civilization.[28] At this time, the desert-dwelling Gelfling had armed themselves with spears and lived in fortified yurts.[4] Once Aughra was satisfied that they had achieved a measure of independence, she left the Gelfling to their own devices as she focused on studying the Uni-Verse.[4] Gelflingfishing A Gelfling fishing during the late Age of Harmony When the urSkeks arrived and began the Age of Harmony, they taught the Gelfling how to tame nature and advance technologically.[29] With the urSkeks' assistance, the Gelfling further expanded their territories,[4] and it was during this time that they made first contact with the Podlings.[30] As time passed, the Gelfling soon began to venerate the urSkeks, giving them credit for bestowing them with culture and language. Aughra's son Raunip, however, resented the Gelfling for having forgotten that they had these traits long before the arrival of the urSkeks, and attempted to incite them into attacking the Castle of the Crystal and reclaim the Crystal of Truth, but was stopped by his mother.[4] A millennium later, when the time came for the urSkeks to return to their homeworld, delegations representing some of Thra's sentient races were invited to witness the event, with the Gelfling delegation consisting of Lady Kel and the song-teller Gyr. However, when the second Great Conjunction arrived, the urSkeks, rather than being transported home, were divided into Skeksis and urRu. In the ensuing confusion, the Crystal was cracked, and a single shard was lost.[31] Alliance and resistance And now we are creating weapons? This is not the Gelfling way! In our fear, will we turn our backs on the very things that have defined the Gelfling race since the dawn of Thra? Peace? Harmony? Unity? Kartak[16] Alliance of the Crystal Elder Carn and Emperor skekSo proclaim the Alliance of the Crystal. At the start of the Age of Division, the Gelfling were impacted by the Makrak crisis, prompting elder Carn to form the Alliance of the Crystal with the newly proclaimed Skeksis Empire.[16] The Skeksis subsequently divided the unified Gelfling culture into seven different Clans in order to keep them weak and divided, and created the position of All-Maudra to rule over the Gelfling race as a vassal queen,[2] spreading the lie that the Gelfling had been fighting among themselves before the system's introduction. The Vapra of Ha'rar were chosen to be the prime beneficiary of this new order, with most All-Maudras originating from this clan.[32] In the ensuing thousand trine, most Gelfling, with the exception of the reclusive Dousan Clan, were indoctrinated to see the Skeksis as gods.[33] Attempts at unifying Gelfling culture were hampered by the Skeksis sowing suspicion among the Clans and promoting derogatory stereotypes, such as considering the Dousan as death worshippers[34] and the Sifa as untrustworthy and superstitious.[10] This institutional provincialism developed to the point where mixed marriages were largely taboo, with the Vapra having been known to send erring members to the Order of Lesser Service,[6] while some Dousan xerics considered such acts as capital offences.[35] Castle Guards Gelfling guards serving at the Castle of the Crystal Under Skeksis tutelage, the Gelfling were required to supply able-bodied members to act as guards in the Castle of the Crystal,[9] as well as form a conscript army.[36] During the Skeksis' period of expansion, the Gelfling became enemies of the Arathim, who had refused to submit to the Empire. This resulted in the forced seizure of the Arathim homeland of Grot by Stonewood soldiers, which was given to the ancestors of the Grottan Clan as a reward for their loyalty.[37][36] This lead to a ninet-long feud between the Gelfling and the Arathim, which culminated in the Arathim Wars. At one point, a group of Gelfling exiles lead by the Dousan Chal colonized the underground realm of Mithra, eventually giving rise to the race of Firelings.[35] As the ninets passed, the Firelings gradually forgot about their origins and almost never resurfaced to make contact with their Gelfling forebears.[38] While most Gelfling were happy under the Skeksis,[39] the benefits of Skeksis patronage were spread very thinly, with mostly the ruling classes being the primary beneficiaries.[9] The economic system imposed on them was based on bartering, with the Skeksis apparently being too apathetic to introduce a more efficient currency based system, thus leaving many Gelfling in poverty.[40] This was exacerbated by the imposition of tithes, which were taken as a form of taxation intended to keep the Gelfling dependent on Skeksis charity.[9] Tensions arose between the Skeksis and the Gelfling when All-Maudra Seladon I sought to further unify the Seven Clans, though her efforts were seen by some members of the Sifa Clan as an attempt to erode their distinct culture. After Seladon's death, the Skeksis exploited Sifan discontent by sending skekSa to covertly lend moral support to Fenth, originator of the secessionist Age of Sifans movement. The plan ultimately failed, as Seladon's successor, Mayrin, succeeded in convincing the Sifa to remain within the union, and married Kam'lu, a non-Vapran.[41] Several trine later, the Gelfling were negatively impacted by the Skeksis' secret abuse of the Crystal, which spread the Darkening, causing the Gelflings' crops to fail and their animals to go insane.[9] When the Skeksis began harvesting the Gelfling for their essence, the Gelfling resistance was formed, resulting in the defeat of the Skeksis at the Second Battle of Stone-in-the-Wood. Aside from uniting the Gelfling clans as one, the battle saw the rediscovery of the lost Shard of the Division, the key to ending Skeksis rule.[42]

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