Phoenix

The phoenix are an Ancient, rare, and powerful species of creature believed to be separate from and possibly older than the Fae with powers of fire and healing.

Introduction
Phoenix are creatures of beauty, fire, and love. They are typically overly trusting and curious, genuine, empathetic, passionate, thoughtful, demure, talented, and graceful. They are the epitome of everything wholesome and good, but regrettably, this makes them incredibly naive and susceptible to other people's trickery and deceit.

In the bottom of their chests, between their lungs and below and connected to their hearts, is a magical fire, the source of phoenix's power and life. It is both there and not there; its heat is detectable and affects the phoenix's physical body, but if the chest were cracked open, it would not have a visible form that can be affected directly. It is the metaphysical center of their souls. It's because of this fire that phoenix have an inhuman internal body temperature. Normally, they run about 150ºF (65ºC). When their fire is burning brighter (while making love, in a battle, etc.), they can reach temperatures of 200ºF (93ºC). When their fire is burning low (sick, dying, heartbroken, exhausted, etc.), they run much closer to normal human temperatures.

It is in the nature of phoenix to be caring and kind and to value all life. Killing for any reason goes against their very programming, as does causing pain, suffering, and strife. Because of this, phoenix are exclusively associated with the Light Fae, though almost all phoenix choose to live a life of seclusion and secrecy, pulling away completely from the very society that hunts them, going against their often natural curiosity and naive desire to seek out the good in, to heal, and to aid other people.

Phoenix are typically physically beautiful and tend to have golden or fiery characteristics that may not match their heritage (i.e. Blaine's golden eyes, Ariana's red hair despite being Asian).

History

 * Phoenix are one of the rarest and most ancient creatures. Some believe the Phoenix to be one of, if not the first form of thinking life on Earth. It is legend that they are the Guardians, or possibly the Creators, of Life. To those who know of the Garuda, it is believed Phoenix predate even those evil creatures.


 * Before the rise of the Fae, the Phoenix held dominance over the world with love and nurture. But as the Fae rose to power, they started to hunt the Phoenix, desiring the magical properties of their skin, tears, and hearts.


 * As creatures of peace, most Phoenix refused to fight back, choosing instead to withdraw from the world and flee the growing persecution. But some disagreed. A small faction of Phoenix decided to fight back, choosing the path of darkness and destruction. Their anger corrupted them, mutating them into dark and terrible beings, eventually coming to call themselves Firebirds. They found a way to make themselves almost invulnerable, even nearly invincible. They could only be killed by their own kind and were so powerful that few other creatures even had a chance of withstanding their attacks.


 * The Firebirds rained devastation upon the world and the Phoenix could no longer stand idly by. The Firebirds had to be stopped. However, the decision to ruthlessly commit a calculated genocide would cause them to mutate into that which they fought. A select few Phoenix took upon the burden to hunt down the Firebirds, but at a terrible price. Once their mission was complete, they had to end their own lives or risk falling to corruption as well.


 * After the Purge, their numbers had taken a harsh blow, barely recognizable to the magnificence they once held. The Phoenix continued to be hunted by the Fae, and over the millennia, they effectively disappeared from the world. Now there are only a handful left, and luckily, knowledge of their existence has almost entirely faded. With numbers so low and their kind knowing nothing but a life of persecution, few Phoenix know of the previous glory of their race.

Origins

 * In Greek mythology, a phoenix or phenix (Ancient Greek φοίνιξ phóinīx) is a long-lived bird that is cyclically regenerated or reborn. Associated with the sun, a phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of its predecessor. The phoenix was subsequently adopted as a symbol in Early Christianity.

Avian Form

 * All phoenix have both a human form and an avian form. They can partially shift as well, usually by exposing and spreading their fiery wings while in human form.

Healing

 * A phoenix can heal anything from a simple small cut, to bringing the newly dead back to life, even disease. To do this, the phoenix must summon their inner fire and strength, and pull light energy from the individual to help the fire grow. Then a tear is produced (or as many as needed to heal), and dropped into the injury, onto the skin, or into the mouth. The power manifests in this form because the suffering of any living creature brings great heartache to the phoenix. The fire and energy mix together and spread to heal the person. Because energy must be pulled, if there is nothing left, or if there is far too much darkness surrounding the individual, the Phoenix may not be able to heal them, unless they draw power solely from the inner fire, which may cost them their life. The Phoenix cannot heal themselves.

Enchantment

 * The phoenix are typically gifted with the ability to sing. Something about phoenix forms an innate connection to all forms of life, leading to the legend of them being the guardians or creators of life and their ability to sense the energies within a person. Their voices seem to produce a pitch that affects the inner ear, both in human and Fae alike, and elicits a strong connection toward the Phoenix. Most of the time, when phoenix sing, the individuals listening in (which can be within a one mile radius), are typically brought to tears, even if the subject matter is not saddening. Similarly, the cry of a phoenix in suffering can be cause empathetic feelings of heartbreak in anyone who hears.

Fire Manipulation

 * For most Phoenix, the ability to utilize their inner fire with the added force of the Sun's energy can allow them to manipulate fire into magnificent forms. They can throw it at will, control it's intensity, and direct it.

Immortality

 * Phoenix are immortal and live in cycles of about 1000 years before they go through a process known as rebirthing. They begin to gather their nest together to burn, and, at the end of their natural cycle or when they're murdered, if their inner fire is strong enough their body is consumed by it. Inside their fire are the building blocks to create a new infant body, which is left surrounded in the ashes of their old body. Because the fire feeds into a phoenix's heart, when the heart is cut out, it holds the rest of that cycle in it. If the heart is consumed, those years are absorbed into the eater, among other powers and magical properties. Phoenix age slowly, where about every ten years is equivalent to one human year. (i.e. Blaine is physically 17, but he was born about 170 years ago)

Heartbond

 * Since phoenix predate the very idea of marriage, they tend to not believe in the institution. However, they're innately monogamous creatures of love who naturally form bonds with other creatures. Over the millennia, phoenix developed the ability to form literal, metaphysical bond of pure love to their partners. A heartbond between two phoenix is considered the purest and ultimate expression of love, unbreakable and eternal, the phoenix equivalent to marriage.


 * A heartbond can be one-sided, where the phoenix can bind their heart to another's and an echo of that person's heart and emotions can always be felt by the phoenix, though the greater the distance, the weaker the feeling. The phoenix's life then becomes tied to that person and the love they share. If the person breaks the phoenix's heart or dies, the sorrow slowly extinguishes the phoenix's inner fire and kills them.


 * If the other person so chooses, with the aid of the phoenix they can form the same bond and receive an echo of the phoenix's heart, and therefore, their fire. At that point, the bond becomes symbiotic. They become just as attached to the phoenix as the phoenix has become to them. They are tied to the phoenix and the love they share, and if the phoenix breaks their heart or dies, the person sinks into a nearly inescapable depression and might die. Only a person with extremely strong willpower or external intervention by a powerful enough force will be able to survive and escape the depression.


 * There are two ways to break the heartbond. First: If the phoenix is dying, the phoenix, and only the phoenix, can choose to permanently sever the bond to spare their partner the strife. The sudden severance would still cause the other person great pain, but over time it would dissipate. In the highly unlikely event that the phoenix survives, they will never be able to reconstitute the severed bond. Second: Either of the bonded persons must murder the other. The cruelty and hatred of the act corrupts and destroys the purity of the bond.

Reproduction

 * Once, phoenix reproduced through physical sex, but due to millennia of persecution, having such physically taxing, delicate pregnancies that could happen at inopportune times grew increasingly dangerous. Phoenix's already passed on a small bit of their fire to all their offspring, whether or not the child was physically a phoenix. This made reproduction tied to their fire, and their fire was tied to their heart. It was a small evolutionary step to connect reproduction to phoenix's hearts, and therefore any heartbonds they might make. They developed the ability to reproduce completely by choice, no longer slaves to timing and fertility. Everything developed with ways to protect the child, alleviate the bearing phoenix, and was suited for a existence on the run, also ensuring their genetic line. However, because few phoenix are ever safe for long, it is rare for them to even decide to reproduce. Reproductive organs weren't a detriment to their survival, so they continued, although non-functioning uteri dominate the gene pool.

Gestation

 * After a heartbond is made, a phoenix can electively decide to reproduce through it. Because of how their rebirthing process works, their fire holds the building blocks to make a child. The echos of the two hearts and the phoenix's fire allows them to take the the necessary DNA to complete a new child after combining it with the phoenix's own genetic material. The child is then encased in the phoenix's fire, taking on the metaphysical nature of the fire, where it grows much like an egg, protected and safe. All its nutrients and energy come directly from the phoenix's fire, so the hotter the fire burns, the better the child develops. This makes the pregnancy much less physically taxing since phoenix don't necessarily have to eat or be in good physical health to maintain their fire.


 * However, because the child is still held within the phoenix's body, as it grows, the fire must spread and drop into the phoenix's abdomen to accommodate the child's size. Much like the phoenix's inner fire, the child is both there and not there; it can be detected and felt, but it doesn't have a physical form inside the body. Therefore it cannot be directly affected by external forces and it's not as much of a weighted burden on the phoenix, though it still does cause phoenix's abdomen to stretch to accommodate its metaphysical presence.

Birth

 * Because the child is held within the phoenix's fire and not a physical organ, it is possible for a phoenix without a uterus to get pregnant. However, because the child is not in a physical organ, labor and birth are different than the typical mammalian and avian processes. The child is held within the fire, therefore the fire spreads throughout the phoenix's body, eventually seeping outside the body and enveloping the phoenix in a large ball of fire, allowing the child to materialize physically from the flames. This is also a defense mechanism, in case the phoenix is being attacked during labor. Because the child is created within and born from the phoenix's fire, it is inevitably a phoenix, or at least a hybrid.

Drowning

 * Water tends to eliminate or extinguish the flame inside of the phoenix. Showering or bathing is a controlled amount of water that merely causes the flame to weaken for a time, but can easily be rekindled through meditation and other calming activities afterwards. However, large bodies of water such as pools, oceans, and lakes can put the fire out entirely and kill the phoenix if submerged in it for too long. As phoenix are typically quite warm to the touch, they are not made hypothermic easily, but the cold water can aid in draining life from the Phoenix.

Enslavement/Torture

 * As mentioned before, Phoenix are soulful creatures, and capturing one for its healing powers or its heart, or forcing it into slavery and utilizing its powers can crush the Phoenix's soul, and therefore extinguish the fire. Torture methods are typically the preferred choice, as it can produce several vials of tears stolen directly from the Phoenix's own fire until it is extinguished.

Common Vulnerabilities

 * Phoenix are not immune to physical wounds. Though they have extended lives, a phoenix can be killed in any physical method or manner, though the most common is from having their heart cut out.  They have no known natural enemies, other than those who wish to possess their heart for themselves. A phoenix cannot heal themselves under any circumstances.

Feeding
Phoenix do not feed of the energies of others. However, their fires do grow stronger from collective positivity and good choices of those they have aided, though this is not at the detriment of anyone.

Known Phoenixes

 * Blaine Anderson
 * Ariana Anderson