Ereva
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The Ereva are a race of humanoids with ears and tails resembling those of animals, commonly those considered canine or feline in nature. They have a high affinity with Mana and are often considered peaceful by the standards of other races.
At some point near Standard Canon Time in the Prime and Alter Timelines, the Ereva are invaded by an unknown third party, driving them to the point of extinction aside from individuals who escaped to other worlds or to a nomadic lifestyle.
Appearance
Ereva appear mostly identical to humans, though may have wildly different hair and eye colors and are typically fair in complexion. Most notably, Ereva have ears and tails resembling those of canine and feline species, with vulpine traits being particularly common.
While rare, it is a known phenomenon for Ereva to be born with multiple tails and tends to be hereditary.
Physiology
Ereva are almost completely identical physiologically to humans, aside from anatomy accommodating for sharper hearing.
Abilities
Ereva are naturally highly attuned to Mana. This evolutionary trait developed not as a means of harmonizing with Mana directly, but rather as a way to filter it from the environment and safely store in their Mana Circuits. Mana in Rinul is metastable due to the nature of the world, with potents of Mana occasionally suffering from spontaneous decay much like radioactive particles; as a result, Ereva adapted a way to safely neutralize the commonplace aetheric resonances that occur in the environment, which would otherwise negatively affect the Mana Circuits and even Spiritual Body of other creatures. This has evolutionarily manifested in the form of a filter.
The primary mechanism of this filter consists in a crystal that develops alongside the Ereva during gestation, denominated the birthstone. The birthstone serves as a physical extension of an Ereva's Mana Pool, as the vast majority of their Mana Circuits are fundamentally bound to the structure of the crystal. This specialized structure allows for much more efficient routing and filtering of vast quantities of Mana to the Ereva's body, even if the Mana Circuits continue to develop, allowing Ereva to subsist on potentially dangerous environments like Rinul's biosphere with no repercussions.
As the birthstone contains the majority of an Ereva's Mana Circuits, significant damage to it will negatively impact the Circuits directly. Breaking or destroying the crystal altogether invariably results in most of the Mana Circuits of an Ereva being irreversibly lost, permanently impairing their ability to store (and thus, efficiently utilize) Mana. The quantity of Mana Circuits within an Ereva's physical body is negligible, and as such, the birthstone can effectively be considered to be a physical form of their Mana Circuits.
Ereva have more efficient and thus sharper senses than humans, particularly hearing.
Behavior
Ereva are sapient and have the capacity to form and maintain civilization. They have a highly progressive culture with little to no discrimination, and less severe poverty. Their economic system can be summarized as "capitalism done correctly".
Ereva are highly expressive with their ears and tails; most of their body language is in one of these, or facial expression.
Evolution
The Ereva share a common ancestor with the Rhivica of Almathea, but have developed a less survival-based build in response to having formed relatively safe civilizations. This led to shorter fur and ears, the loss of their claws, and developing plantigrade feet rather than digitigrade.
