Mya

The Mya (pronunced "MY-ah") were a race of beings who lived on Althanas prior to the Wars of the Tap. They were beings born of the Eternal Tap itself, and as such possessed significant magical abilities. They were in a position of nearly unchecked power at the onset of the Wars of the Tap, and by the end of it were no longer in existence.

Origins, Reproduction, and Physical Characteristics

The Mya originated as streams of the Eternal Tap that coalesced into sentience. They were formed at first randomly, although soon after their first formation they learned how to form new members through their own craft. One Mya could form two more, but the cost of the creation would be the creating Mya's demise. The result was a very slow rate of reproduction; Mya were seldom willing to sacrifice their own existence simply to propagate their race. In addition to this reproduction-by-immolation, the occasional randomly produced Mya did appear. When the Tap came together properly, a new Mya would be born.

Why the Eternal Tap suddenly, after eons of existence, started producing Mya is a mystery that has never been fully solved, though numerous hypotheses have been offered. The most common comes from Galatir Aryontis's seminal essay "On the Sentience of Magic," which pointed out that the historical record attests that Mya first appeared around the same time that recorded history first appears. Galatir Aryontis argues within this work that magical sentience was impossible prior to the production of recordable language, and that this appearance of sentience among physical races served to introduce such a decisive change in metaphysical realities that magic itself began to "strive towards thought without even comprehending its yearning," to quote Galatir's famous preface.

The Mya were generally anthropoid in appearance, though most sources tend to indicate that they could change their physical appearance in radical ways. They were susceptible to death by weapons, as their bodies were physically located despite being metaphysically created, but they could take damage well beyond what the normal physical body is capable of withstanding. They appeared to be immortal, though this is not certain; they were around for nearly 4000 years, and there is no record of death by old age, but it may still be that their life expectancy was merely extremely high. They were susceptible to disease, but not the normal common colds of the physical realm. Instead, the diseases they contracted were always related to miasmas and impurities within the Eternal Tap. This evidence of a link between their existence and the health of the Eternal Tap would have grave repercussions at the conclusion of the Wars of the Tap.

It is thought from extant documents that the number of Mya never reached higher than 2000, which was their number at the height of their power prior to the beginnings of the War of the Tap.

Initial Activity

What the Mya did when they appeared is uncertain. However, it is often remarked that extant records seem to indicate that humans of the time were more prone to their worship than elves, though the Mya seemed to consistently refute the idea that they were gods. But it is clear that Mya held positions of prominence and respect, even to the point of lordship and overwhelming political power, throughout the known human lands of the time. They were respected with collegial deference by the Raiaerans, but never seemed to gain footholds of political power within Elvish society; most Raiaerans argue that this is due in part to the peculiar nature of Raiaeran song-magic, which seems to be separate from the Eternal Tap even though it is integrated into its fabric.

The Mya did appear, however, to in places exercise their power with cruelty and exploitation. Their race was powerful, but not perfect, and as such their overlords in places turned humans into chattel slaves and otherwise abused the populaces they rose to control. In other places the Mya did not take power through the institutions in place, but rather wrested it by the raw power of their existence.