Because hecallsmehischild asked for a ref of Syhasashi. pr. Sigh-ha-sash-ee
They still have tails. I was just rather opposed to drawing the darn things this time. Also wings. Use your imagination. I haven’t delved too much into the internal workings of wraiths and it’s subject to change but if they do indeed have a skeleton when corporeal then that’s basically what it looks like. The areas filled with blank space are of course, muscle only, including that “abdomen”. They’d require a strong bridge of muscle between thorax and hind limbs to move their hind limbs, especially at high speeds. The power of fast moving animals is in the spine, not the legs. Sure, they don’t have to run at all and by all accounts, anything faster than a trot may as well be flitted instead. They’re oddly leisurely moving creatures in their physical form though; something about keeping that air of elegance. I don’t expect they’d look so graceful at a run, but you can think greyhound. They have two sets of scapula: one set for the forelimb and one set for the wings. Therefore the wings need not move whenever the wraith takes a step and the shoulder slides back and forth. As seen in the skull, they have no molars, just incisors which aid in speech, and a space with room for a tongue. Eye sockets are the exact size and shape of the eye itself - the sockets themselves are technically empty and their orbs are thought to be the glow of their very souls. They walk on their toes and fingers, which are double jointed and capable of hyper-extension. The last bone of the fingers/toes extend partly into the talons. Talons have a blood supply, and sensation as well as an ability to flex very slightly. Wraiths are capable of breaking bones and bleeding, however, it is darn near impossible to do given their fluctuating states of matter and has very little advantage even if such a slight possibility occurred. Any single part of them may disappear to the Ethereal Realm to heal, leaving the rest of their bodies perfectly capable of fighting and the ether may heal them fully in a matter of mere hours. As well as that they show an incredible resilience to pain, able to block it out entirely if necessary. Fractures may still be walked on and gaping wounds will not weary them. Their endurance is infinite. Severed limbs may be re-attatched in the ether, including, the head. For fuelling movement of a physical construct (their body, muscles, bones), they require oxygenated blood and therefore lungs and a heart, hence their possession of organs that should otherwise be moot. They bleed very dark red blood - nearly black - and bleed fast but should they pass out from blood loss (assuming something even manages to get a hit on them) they will immediately return to the ether. The only way to kill one is to extinguish them with extreme light and heat. Heat alone will not kill them however, and the light required to destroy one could blind a human being to look at. Wraiths feed on moonlight. It acts as a kind of lunarsynthesis to provide their corporeal forms with energy and is absorbed through the skin.
Syhasashi, the original, eldest, immortal, mother of all wraiths; finally gets a design ref. She is literally a living, breathing 3D shadow. Her outline gives a suggestion of muscle, bone and structure but she is otherwise a silhouette of darkest black (though your monitor may not reflect this because oops I coloured under the lineart layer with a lighter black and I'm too lazy to correct it right now). Looking at her too long gives people a headache if they don't relax their eyes and accept her for what she is. Her markings, unlike her offspring's, do no not move. She does not have or need wings and does not need to feed on moonlight. Wraiths can appear fully corporeal and solid or choose to appear only part corporeal, where Syhasashi’s most solid form always has a flow of dark antimatter about her. While her offspring stand at 3ft from toe to poll, Syhasashi's height fluctuates depending on who she is addressing. She will always maintain eye-to-eye height to show equality, though if addressing a group she will be eye-to-eye with the tallest; she is after all an ancient god-like entity with a touch of pride and, possibly, disgruntlement at having been woken. Though you'd best hope you never meet her, because the eldest being awake means shit is really going down, apocalypse style.
