#cardali things

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Giver of their light, Valias is the patron deity of Cardali born without a glow, though few and far in between that they are. It is believed that they gave up the light from their star so that their creation might have the chance to glow as brilliantly as they once have. Any Cardali hailing from the southern regions of Cardalith may have a different telling of their tale, however. It is believed that their star collapsed into a blackhole that, instead of killing them, only seeped the light up from their being, in this regard they consider Valias a false deity, born of mistake. Valias is only brought up in these areas as sign of omen or death.

Giver of his stars, Diollea, is attributed with sewing the stars from his body into Cardalith Herself, he is considered to be responsible for all life on the planet, commonly it it written that this was in joint effort with Valias. Sewing his stars, and stitching in their light, gave life to the planet and all of it's inhabitant, though again the story varies in different areas of Cardalith. Unlike his counterpart, Diollea is known for his magnificent glow; It is said that he outshines and star in the universe, and certainly Cardalith's own star. If not for he, there would be no empathy in their creation, that is for certain. He is considered the patron deity of those who keeps their own well being as an afterthought, putting others very far before themselves.

Celebrated for her strength, Inoirae is the patron deity of those who hold their passion in their fists and emotion on the sleeve. If not for her, Cardali certainly would not have the strength or resilience that they do. She is known for her courage, her wisdom, and her sheer bullheadedness-- It is said that she would rather beat her way through a problem before speaking through it. Should a war be fought in the name of Cardalith or on her soul,  Inoirae is who the soldiers would pray to and call upon for her strength. It is written that she relinquished her passiveness for her children, so that they would not know the anger that she holds in her chest.

The deity of protection and safety, Axenas is considered the patron to all who call Cardalith their home. According to legend, among the four it was she who made the ultimate sacrifice and spilled her blood so that it may fill the veins of their creation. Without her, surely there would be no physicaly form with which to celebrate. Private celebrations are often held in her honor, ships do not leave the planet without first being blessed with a prayer to their protector. The most well known theory of Axenas, is that she is able to split her consciousness among several different vessels, it is believed that this is to make up for her inability to shift her shape. While being the Great Protector, she is also believed to be the patron deity of the disabled, or though who only have one form.

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It is believed that the four of them have built the species and the world around them after suffering the loss of a loved one.

They are believed to have used the ashes of a nameless God, only referred to as The Fallen in texts, in an act of grief, having lost someone so dear to them.

Though all are created with their essence, every few thousand cycles the Cardali whose star shares a system with The Fallen s given the right to ascend and join them up in the stars. The ritual is celebrated throughout every region in Cardalith.

It is believed that Cardali rarely fall in love because in their grief, the Creators neglected to grant the ability. Widely, it is believed that this act was intentional.

Another theory is, like the stars from their creators eyes, Valias has stolen the ability to love from their creation and is now ready to steal all of their light.

Though the Gods similar stature to their creation, a very easy distinction is the lack of stars or any glow in their eyes. Looking into the eyes of one of their Gods is akin to staring directly into a dark void where light seems to never have existed, no one is sure if this is natural to them or if the lights have simply gone out.

Areas that denounce Valias as a God believe that they sucked the light from their eyes in an attempt to steal their Gods glow.

Centuries ago the Northern and Southern regions waged war against each other, in the name of Valias, this dispute was quickly squashed by the Gods and is the only recorded instance of the Gods intervening with their creation since the Beginning.

Alien refugees are not expected to praise of believe in these Gods, but they are very welcome too. More often than not, the first God they are introduced to in Cardalith theology is Axenas, as she is to be their protector now as much as she is the natives of her planet.

Divines are chosen by the individual regions previous divine, typically they seek out someone who reminds them of themselves, but they are willing to teach anyone who takes on the challenge.

Each prospective divine is put through trials that determine their ability to delegate, teach, and learn.

As the margins are so narrow for divines, many of whom who do not make the cut are recruited into council (Running a planet can be super taxing on just four people!)

After the trials take place a ceremony is held in honor of the new Divines.

Town's will separately celebrate the life and death of a Cardali, as they have such long lifespans birthdays are seldom celebrated in between.

There are celebrations for when a Cardali is revealed to be the descendant of their God once every thousand or so years. (This is both because of the length of their lifespans and also to allow the child to enjoy their life before they are introduced to their true purpose)

Depending on what region an individual Cardali is from determines their feelings towards this legend. Ranging from praise to fear throughout the planet.

Cardali blood, as one might imagine, is a blackish sludge that is tinted in their color with, for lack of a better word, sparkles layered throughout.

If the weapon was no made on Cardalith good luck getting it through a Cardali's skin. It is not impossible, but very hard, as they are an incredibly thick skinned people.

Their seasons are literally just “when the sun is up” and “when the sun is not up. It is often, if not always, very cold.

Rain while it is sunny is considered good luck. As rare as both occasions are, Cardali born in such weather are considered especially lucky.

Very little Cardali possess the ability to change their base color, once upon a time it was only something found in childrens tales.

When a Cardali is old enough to leave their host town/family, there is often a small celebration held in honor their future endeavors.

Cardali with learning disabilities spend more time with their hosts, they are invited to stay where they are comfortable or leave whenever they find themselves ready too.

Children, and adults, are rarely if ever stigmatized for things that things that they cannot do, rather celebrated for what they are capable of.

Disabilities range anywhere from being unable to shapeshift to being incapable of retaining knowledge.

An old Cardali saying can be translated to “No star is perfect, rarely does the universe have the need to hold a form”

Criminals fleeing from other planets are welcome to Cardalith, they are a people that very much believe in second chances. But those seeking refuge for these reason are monitored closely.

Prisons are learning camps, and inmates are required to teach and learn in order to pay their dues.

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A common game for Cardali children is making their birth marks twinkle and light up in a certain pattern, while the others in the group try to copy it to the best of their ability. This game stems from a language best described as their version of sign language.

Children also play games where they see who can shapeshift more animals (and how accurately they can do so). Since Cardali can only shapeshift into a species they've been in contact with, it doubles as a game that expresses their skill and knowledge on a given creature.

Typically Cardali find it very easy to sustain themselves, but the more a cardali shapeshifts and the longer they hold that form, the harder it would be to keep their body energized. Depending on the individual Cardali, the amount of sleep needed to function can range anywhere from fifteen to a full twenty-four hours.

Cardali technology is pretty advanced, as they've devoted a much time as possible to the sciences over thousands of years.

Cardali ships are more often than not confused with shotting stars.

When adopting a new culture they will do their best to completely blend in with it's native species, down to walking and talking like them. Again, this causes a great strain to the more devote Cardali, as they are likely to hold these forms for longer than is recommended.

A Cardali will absolutely break their pacifist vows in order to protect things and people important to them.

The two continents are divided into four regions, each under the direct guidance of a given priest or priestess (this is the closest word in the english language to describe the title)

Given the nature of Cardali life and death, when a young Cardali is found on their own, the community that finds them gains a shared responsibility to raise the child.

*Sometimes the individual that found the child takes it upon themselves to raise the child on their own. This is also accepted.

When dealing with aliens of a hostile nature, Cardali have no qualms providing evidence that they are in fact capable of protecting themselves, regardless of being a peaceful society

*They have a “non-active military” that protects their planet, should invaders try to chance it.

They appreciate all life and will take in refugees from other planets should their assistance be required.

Because they allow aliens on their planet and are very heavily into exploration themselves, Cardalith has a rich culture with dialects of Focal'Raeltian that sometimes blends in words borrowed from other languages

Many Cardali are more passionate about teaching what they learned than the process of gaining the knowledge itself.

Cardali do not have assigned genders, but upon migrating many do adopt gendered terms for themselves to better acquaint with the planets natives.

Cardali – Fallback, i.e human. Dena Raeltian – Species name Terrena Adjutor – Name most adopted upon settling on Earth *Height: 7'0-7'5 *Lifespan: Varied

*these stats are average Personality: The Cardali are a peaceful people, they have been around for a very long time and are not partial to the use of force or violence to get what one wants. They believe all living creatures in the universe are of importance and should be treated with respect and care.

Very few Cardali are known to be aggressive, but it's not unheard of, many of which are only so in order to protect something they earnestly care about.

Appearance:

Looking into the eyes of a Cardali is a lot like looking into a night time sky, they are dark and seem almost empty. Upon closer look, one can see the stars themselves sprinkled around like a thousand tiny pupils. They inhabit bodies that look as though they were taken from the cosmos and arranged into living beings, they have skin like the void peppered with stars and galactic swirls (such marks are known as their “birthmarks”)

Cardali possess bioluminescence in their joints, hands, feet, and birthmarks.

Like the eyes and birthmarks, the hair is also a constellation of stars to behold on it's own.

Cardali are a shapeshifting bunch, they are able to take on the form of most any species they've come into physical contact with – The form they take on is exclusively original to them and them alone, no Cardali is capable of taking on the exact appearance of another person. Wherever the galactic swirls or stars are located on their body is where they will have odd marks on whatever form they take, these marks are also highlighted by the color they are in their natural form.

Homeworld: The planet itself was large with expansive fields that stretched over most of it's two continents, nights were longer than the day time, one Cardali night was often the equivalent of one week on Earth. The sun burnt brilliantly, for what little of the day that it did, the Cardali were not much accustomed to it's brightness, but they appreciated it just like they did the moons and any other star in the solar system.

The nights were cold as they were long, and the days were short spurts of warmth that spread over the land just long enough to give them something to miss when the sun was gone. Language: Focal'Raeltian –  As they were a peaceful people there was no need to have territorial disputes, Focal'Raeltian was the language that was spoken globally. Dialects did vary from ones location, but there was nothing too severely different that couldn't be deciphered with some good patience.

They are capable of learning new language, and a lot of them are very eager to do so. They are very social creatures, and will go through any means to socialize with new people.

Intelligence and Emotional Capacity: Cardali are a very quick to learn people, they are typically fast learners and are often caught teaching what they'd just learned to the next person. Knowledge is very important in Cardali society.

As stated before they will go to any lengths to reach out and contact other races. They cherish friendships like they cherish the stars in the sky. They don't usually take on mates, but on the rare occasion that they do the love they share for that significant burns brighter than their sun. Extra: It's unknown why the Cardali left their planet, but there are many Cardali scattered throughout much of the known universe, they're really good at blending in. They become passionate about the planets that they migrate too, and begin to act as sort of guardians to the denizens of that planet. It is speculated that Cardali's have lives linked with stars, when the star linked with one burns out, they die. The stars collected from the deceased then move onto grow into small, toddler like versions of the Cardali, until eventually becoming adults themsleves one day. One death creating many lives, but these theories are neither confirmed nor denied.

Cardali will treat any and all living things as if they were the most important thing in the world. Everything is important, and everything has a purpose.