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Rephaim (pronounced: REFF-eye-im), also called Rephs and Rephaite (pronounced: REFF-ite), are a powerful, clairvoyant race from another dimensional world called Netherworld. They are currently led by the Sargas family through the two blood-sovereigns, Nashira and Gomeisa Sargas.

Physical Description[]

Rephaim are biologically immortal humanoids, known to feed on the aura of clairvoyant humans. Their spoken history has been distorted, but they are thought to have been in Netherworld from "time immemorial."[1] As a result of being immortal, Rephaim are unaffected by the passage of time and are never children. They still have trouble grasping the concept of time. Instead, they emerge from the Netherworld fully formed. It is impossible to tell how old a Rephaite is. They appear to be anywhere from twenty-five to forty. They cannot cry. They are immune to all human pathogens. The only sickness they can get is the half-urge. Rephaim are muscular, statuesque creatures, impossible to take down with physical force. Even at their weakest, they are still stronger than a human. Rephaim are most vulnerable at the point where their bodies are most closely aligned with the physical world. Thus, a stab wound to the heel, knee, or hand hurts more than stabbing the head or heart.

Rephaim are tall and have chartreuse yellow eyes. Their eyes change color to reflect the aura of the person they're feeding on. Their eyes are also bioluminescent.[2] Instead of blood, ectoplasm runs in their veins. David tells Paige that Rephs are "something like the æther in flesh. Their blood is the æther liquified."[3] Their immortal flesh is called sarx, which does not age and cannot be extensively harmed by amaurotic weapons. Warden tells Paige that even if she buried a knife in his heart he wouldn't die. They are immune to bullets. Sarx has a slightly metallic sheen that is either silver or gold. Rephaim can heal themselves by using the aura they get from feeding on humans. Rephaim are intrinsically strong. They tend to dress in head-to-toe black. All Rephaim wear gloves in the corporeal world, apparently out of disgust toward all matter that isn't as eternal as they are. Touching a human without gloves is especially taboo. As revealed by Warden, the Rephaim are unable to digest dense substances thicker than broth, and would throw up after swallowing it.[4] He also claims that Rephaite hair does not grow back, therefore the act of cutting it is irreversible and only attributed to the Ranthen.[5] The Rephaim have ironclad dreamscapes, and unlike human dreamscapes which are warm, Rephaite dreamscapes are cold and hard. Rephaite dreamscapes have a distinctive armor about them. All Rephaim auras look unstable, like sparking wires. Rephaim usually only need rest once every four days or so.

History[]

The Rephaim were originally mediators between life and death, between the two planes of Earth and the æther. They would send spirit-guides called psychopomps to escort the spirits of dead humans into the Netherworld. When humans had first appeared in the corporeal world, the Rephaim elected to keep close watch over them to ensure they did not do any damage to the fragile balance between world. As humans became increasingly divided and full of hatred, they fought and killed over everything imaginable. When they died, many lingered refusing to go on to the next stage of death. These lingering spirits caused cold spots, which create an opening between the æther and the corporeal world. Eventually the ethereal threshold rose to dangerous levels.

At this time, the leaders of the Rephaim were the Mothallath family. The star-sovereign, Ettanin Mothallath, decided that Rephaim should enter the physical world to soothe the ethereal unrest and encourage the spirits to go into the Netherworld where they could come to terms with their deaths in peace. The Rephaim’s intentions were pure. Their purpose was to prepare spirits for their journey to the last light, which is their true, second death. However, a proud and respected family of scholars whose duty had been to study the ethereal threshold, the Sargas, had decided that crossing the veil would be an act of inconceivable desecration. The Sargas counseled the Mothallath that interaction between Rephaim and humans should be avoided and that Rephaite flesh would perish on Earth. But the ethereal threshold was climbing higher, so the Mothallath rejected the Sargas family’s counsel. As the judgment was theirs, they would send one of their own as the first of the “watchers.” The Sargas were immensely angry when Azha Mothallath successfully crossed the veils and lowered the ethereal threshold.

When Azha Mothallath successfully crossed the veils, returned safely, and lowered the ethereal threshold, it seemed that the Sargas had been wrong and there was no harm in the crossing. The watchers would go through the veil whenever the ethereal threshold pushed too high, wearing armor to protect themselves from corruption. To further protect themselves, the Mothallath made a strict law that they would never reveal themselves to humans. They were always to maintain their distance. It’s unknown what exactly happened, but the Sargas informed the Rephaim that one of the Mothallath had crossed the veil without permission. After that, everything disintegrated. Clairvoyance entered the human world, the Emim appeared in the Netherworld, the Rephaim were no longer able to exist on æther, and the veils between the worlds grew thin enough to let all of the Rephaim through.

Civil war tore through the Netherworld after the Waning of the Veils. It was Rephaite against Rephaite and all Rephaim against the Emim. The Emim had crawled out of the shadows like a plague, rotting the Netherworld in their wake. This caused the Rephaim to stop being able to exist purely on the æther, which is much like air is to humans. The Rephaim starved and perished in their thousands, as the Sargas had predicted, inconceivable desecration occurred. Finally, Procyon Sargas, Warden of the Sargas, declared himself blood-sovereign and waged war against the Mothallath and their supporters, blaming them for letting death into their realm. Those who were still loyal to the Mothallath called themselves Ranthen, after the amaranth, the only flower that grows in the Netherworld. The Sargas won the civil war. The Mothallath were usurped and destroyed, but the Netherworld could sustain the Rephaim no longer.[1] To save themselves, the Ranthen declared loyalty to the Sargas.

By this point, Procyon was incapable of leadership and two new members of the Sargas family had risen to take his place, Nashira and Gomeisa. Nashira declared that she would take one of the traitors as her blood-consort, to show them even their leaders would conform to the new order. She chose Arcturus Merarthim. As the Rephaim could no longer connect to the æther, Nashira said they would have to see if they fared any better on the other side of the veil. The Rephaim waited for the ethereal threshold to reach its highest ever point before a large party made the crossing in 1859. Upon arriving on Earth, they discovered that they could feed on the link certain humans had with the æther and thus could survive. The Rephaim could have survived in the shadows, but Nashira was determined that they had to be apex predators not parasites.

Nashira led the Rephaim in revealing themselves to Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister of England. Nashira told Lord Palmerston that the Emim were demons and the Rephaim were angles. Almost without question he surrendered control of the government to Nashira. Queen Victoria was allowed to maintain an appearance of power until she died. On the day her son, Edward VII, was crowned, Nashira orchestrated his framing for the Jack the Ripper murders and accused him of bringing unnaturalness into the world. The inquisition into clairvoyance and the establishment of the Rephaim's control began.

According to Nashira, the Rephaim have "taken humans under their wing." In exchange for protection, the Rephaim train clairvoyants to destroy the Emim and protect the amaurotic population as part of a penal battalion. Nashira makes sure to point out that the Rephaim don't have to work with humans. When they came to Earth, they found it vulnerable. They could have let the Emim eradicate humanity. Instead, the Rephaim "negotiated" with the rulers of England. The humans gave the Rephaim the city of Oxford, which they renamed Sheol I. Sheol I acts as a beacon to the Emim, drawing them away from the rest of the corporeal world. Humans send the Rephaim a certain number of clairvoyants each decade. In exchange for the Rephaim's "service," they have vowed not to destroy Earth. Instead, they plan to take control of it.

Culture[]

The majority of the Rephaim agree with Nashira that it is humanity's fault that the veils between Netherworld and the corporeal world tore because humans can't stop killing each other and destroying the planet. This is their justification for subjugating the human world in order to prevent further damage. To most Rephaim, humans and animals are on the same level, and they don't consider human life to hold value. They don't like the syndicate because it keeps all the good voyants for itself, especially the higher order voyants that Nashira wants in her colony. This is why they are going to sign the new Act.

The Rephs are very secretive about their relationships, anatomy, etc. They are led by two sovereigns, known as the blood-sovereigns. Just as there is a male and female blood-sovereign, there is a male and female blood-heir. The blood-sovereigns are always Sargas, but they aren't mates. Rephaim touch their foreheads together instead of kiss to show affection. Kissing is something they do when they're already mated with someone. Touching foreheads is considered an intimate gesture that speaks of equal partnership and the desire to know someone on a spiritual level. The Sargas choose their own mates, but Nashira has decreed that the rest of the Rephaim are not allowed to. Warden tells Paige that when it comes to love, "for Rephaim it takes a long time for a flame to catch, but once it burns, it cannot go out."

The Rephs generally speak in a dispassionate, precise, and technical manner because English is not their first language. They avoid contractions, adhere to proper grammar, and choose their words with precision, making them sound conspicuously formal. This serves to highlight their distance from human society as well as the fact that they've had two hundred years to perfect their English skills. Glossolalia, also known as Gloss, is the Rephaite language. It is the ancient language of the æther and the language of spirits. It's impossible for humans to learn, with the exception of polyglots. Gloss has no discernible words, just a long, flowing series of sounds. The Rephaim favor impassive stares and speak at a steady cadence, making them difficult to read. This seems to be partly cultural, as they place great value on their own dignity and self-possession, and partly just a natural difference between humans and Rephs. One of their more disconcerting mannerisms is the tendency to hold eye contact without blinking. There is something about Rephaite faces that discourages emotional guesswork, which is another contributing factor that makes them very hard to read. If a Rephaite breaks a true oath, they must live with the ramification for eternity. They will be forever known as a liar and a backstabber.

Rephaim are never eat food or drink, except for wine, especially the Ranthen. Instead they live on aura. When they haven't fed for a while, their irises become increasingly dull. They feel a strain in their aura since they arrived on Earth and began feeding on clairvoyants. It's like a hunger in their aura. Their culture is heavily based around not touching anything of the mortal world. Human blood has a natural immunity against the half-urge, a kind of infection fatal to Rephaim. The Rephaim can become infected by the half-urge if an Emite bites or claws them hard enough to break their sarx. As soon as this happens, they begin turning into an Emite. Injecting a Rephaite with pure Emite blood speeds up the process. The cure to the half-urge is aura. However, they lose the ability to feed on aura as soon as the half-urge is in them. Salt and human blood restore that ability long enough for them to find a voyant and start healing by feeding on their aura.

The Rephaim are not born the way humans are, instead they emerge fully formed from the æther, and exist indefinitely without every aging. The Netherworld produced the same number of Rephaim in each swathe per spawning. Members of the same family emerge from the same place in the Netherworld, and they all look similar and share similar gifts.[6] Like the Netherworld, they are untouched by time and sometimes find it difficult to understand the concept of time. They cannot die of “natural causes.” That being said, they are not indestructible. The closest equivalent to mortal death is sequestration. The only way to sequester a Rephaite is by beheading them with a blade made from opaline. Rephaite bodies don't rot, and their dreamscapes remain in the æther. There is no way to free their spirits at that point. They can't truly die, but nor can they truly live. Sequestration is essentially eternal imprisonment.

Some Rephaim have a psychopomp, which is the spirit form of their companion creature known as a Chol-bird. Chol-birds are winged sarx-creatures. Rephaim can mask their presence, even from dreamwalkers.

The Mothallath claimed to know if there was a final resting place beyond the last light. They told the other Rephaim that they were sent from it by higher beings, called the Anakim, who were the creators of the æther and compelled the Rephaim to worship them. Some Rephaim resented being told they were inferior. Nashira was the most out spoken of these dissidents. Warden kept the faith of his sovereigns.

Since humans, excepting polyglots, can't speak the Rephaim's true names, they are named after stars. Since humans have long associated stars with the divine, Nashira decreed that they would use the names of stars. Each Rephaite chose their own names after consulting the æther.

Known Rephaim[]

There are at least seven Rephaite families:

Mesarthim[]

Sargas[]

Chertan[]

Sualocin[]

Sheratan[]

Mothallath[]

  • Ettanin Mothallath
  • Azha Mothallath

Sarin[]

Miscellaneous[]

  • Mirzam
  • Heze

Etymology[]

In the Old Testament, the branch of the Nephilim who are the inhabitants of She'ol, also known as hell, are called the Rephaim. They are also mentioned as a race of giants. The Rephaim named themselves after stars when they established themselves in the corporeal world,[7] especially the ones named in the Bible. Their language, Glossolalia, is also known as the universal language of pre-Babel times, and referred to as the language of angels.

Trivia[]

  • Rephaites are nocturnal.
  • One of the gravest insults in Rephaite culture is calling someone a rotmonger.
  • In French, a Rephaite is called a Réphaïte.
  • A Rephaite term for any language spoken by humans is "fell tongue."
  • Rephaim can't get drunk.

References[]

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