Bastborn

The Bastborns have been through ancient scrawlings and paintings in desert temples, the writings and stories of desert villages, and even from folklore from many different Desconhecido tribes, most bordering eithers mesas or deserts. From the bits and pieces collected from all those sources, a timeline was constructed that helps paint a bigger picture of what the Bastborns were.

From what was gathered, it is assumed that Bastborns were once Felines that migrated to the warmer climate, either from a need to avoid enemies, a desire to explore the world or from finding a new purpose.

Their society was built around pyramids, temples, and along coasts, savouring the structured stability of life in deserts while avoiding the harshness a desert holds. Building tight knit houses and wells, they centred themselves on communal living, worshipping the sun for the bounties of harvest and for not drying out their land or food. For this purpose, they built or integrated temples into their communities to have a gathering place for sun worshippers, a place to commune in peace.

To those who were devoted beyond devotion, they underwent a transformation process that spanned a week. In their temples to the sun, they would craft a casing, about 3 blocks tall, 1 block wide, out of gold for a day, making sure it could contain their size and their growth, followed by utilising a recipe gifted to them from far away to craft a catalyst to harness the sun's power. From there, they would go to the centre of their temples, placing the catalyst where all the light of the sun and moon could focus on it, casting a glow on where the casing would be, and dig down so that the casing is completely covered by sand. They would then lie down inside the casing, closing it off and being submerged in sand for a week, sun and moon shining onto the catalyst, aimed at the spot where they're buried the entire time.

Once the week is up and the catalyst crumbles and blows away like sand on the wind, they are dug out, taller, more golden, and more regal in nature having been granted the Sun God's blessing. This new form offered them the grasp of the land, the speed of the sun, and a new height to achieve for the remaining feline population.

As a side note, due to their society and where they live, Bastborns have taken a liking to gold above all other resources, mainly due to the fact that gold and the sun mesh well together, and the fact that, like themselves, gold melts to the sun.

Written by Desconhecido
Transcribed by Desconhecido

Bastborns are, in theory, just sentient sand, but in fact  it's more complicated than that. They are a soul, spread over a substance. They are fluid, solid, and shifting, like the sun’s grace, power and will. Bastborns can utilise their sandy physique and the area around them to their advantage, gaining the ability to fly in the form of a sand cloud, they can sharpen and harden the sand in their body in the form of a spear to launch at people, wounding them deep, and have kept their inherent Desconhecido traits of speed, jumping, and claws, along with their night vision. Now, due to the blessings granted to them, these origins have a unique reaction to the sun, granting them even more speed, but when the sun goes down, their movement is somewhat stifled, as their gift giver is hidden away for the time being. Sand is also very hard to kill, giving Bastborns an easier time avoiding death, reforming once giving them an easy getaway.

Although the Bastborns are sand, they do have something similar to a lifespan in this undying state. As the years go on, their bodies start to slowly erode but, being sand, they can live up to 1000 years without any intervention. Their ageing is similar to humans, just multiplied by 10, and as they get to their 1000’s and their erosion isn’t taken care of, they simply crumble into a vegetative sand pile, losing who they are. This process is inevitable, but can be slowed down by constantly adding more sand to their body, only delaying their vegetative state by 200 years or so. The longest recorded age of a Bastborn was 1207 years old before it died, teaching the ritual to over a hundred future Bastborns.

As sand, they can mould their body to a certain degree, changing their perceived gender, their height to a small degree, their perceived weight, their voice, and to the most skilled sand manipulators, they can even take on the form of origins similar in height and build, but only for a few minutes.

Though being sand comes with many great advantages, they are also susceptible to its weaknesses as well. TNT has an enormous effect against Bastborns, blowing their bodies apart, giving them little time to reform, while water can simply melt their bodies. Although not normally an issue, fire, at great temperatures, can even solidify Bastborns into glass, a fate that most try to avoid. 

Written by Desconhecido
Transcribed by Desconhecido