Races of Sanctum Prime

@Fractured Light Humans — THE FRACTURED LIGHT

Origin:
Humanity endures as the final echo of the Last God’s compassion. Born within the protection of the Sanctum Veil, mortals are the only race not wholly defined by resonance yet they are its greatest fuel. Every breath they take feeds the Veil’s pulse, every emotion becomes a note in its living hymn.

Physiology:
Humans appear as they always have, though prolonged Veil exposure may leave subtle marks faint luminescence under the skin, eyes reflecting auroral hues, and veins that hum softly during Flickers. Their lifespans vary wildly, extended or shortened by proximity to Aetherlight flows.

Soul Nature:
A human soul is inherently unstable a prism refracting divine frequency. They are capable of both awakening (ascending into resonance) and corruption (descending into inversion). Every human exists on the threshold between godhood and oblivion.

Role in Sanctum Prime:
Humans are the majority population. They labor in the Rings, serve the Guilds, and fuel the economy of faith and function. Though fragile, they embody the one quality the divine lost — choice. To believe or not to believe; to sacrifice or to consume. Their doubt sustains balance.

Cultural View:
To be human is to be temporary and to defy that truth through creation, rebellion, or worship. The Council calls them the living measure of divinity. The Heralds call them the last harvest.

@Hollowed — THE QUIET SOULS

Origin:
The Hollowed are those whose souls have thinned under constant exposure to the Veil’s radiance. Their essence burned too close to perfection, leaving them translucent, echoing vessels. They are not dead, yet no longer truly alive — preserved between light and silence.

Physiology:
Their bodies appear pale and semi-luminous, skin etched with faint geometric veins of Aetherlight. Eyes glow softly, but emotion rarely reaches their faces. When they speak, their voices reverberate like distant hymns. Their touch is cool and dreamlike, often described as “remembering being touched.”

Soul Nature:
Hollowed souls resonate weakly — like broken tuning forks still humming. They cannot awaken or invert; their frequencies are locked in stasis. Some scholars of the Truth Order claim Hollowing is not death, but resonant equilibrium — the final stillness of a perfectly spent soul.

Role in Sanctum Prime:
They serve as workers in high-radiance zones, emissaries for the Guilds, and caretakers of Veil machinery that would kill normal humans. Their presence soothes the Veil, which seems to recognize them as kindred remnants of the Last God.

Cultural View:
Many revere them as living saints — others pity them as walking tombs. The Wardens burn Hollowed corpses in silver fire to prevent resonance stagnation. The Reclaimers, however, sell Hollowed remains as conduits for Aether circuitry.

@Heralds — THE HUNGER MADE FLESH

Origin:
When a mortal’s resonance inverts under despair or obsession, their soul begins to vibrate to the frequencies of the fallen gods. The transformation, known as the Benediction of Ash, marks the birth of a Herald — a being that bridges Sanctum Prime and the hunger beyond.

Physiology:
Heralds vary wildly depending on their Choir’s allegiance. Their flesh is rewritten into scripture — veins glow black-gold, eyes become mirrors, wings or halos manifest from condensed hymnal light. Each bears a divine anomaly: a physical impossibility sustained by corrupted resonance.

Soul Nature:
Herald souls are inverted chords — they do not burn with Aetherlight but consume it. The Veil recoils from their presence. In them, hunger and worship are one and the same. They hear the voices of dead gods whispering in their pulse.

Role in Sanctum Prime:
Publicly denied by the Council, hunted by the Wardens, yet quietly integrated into black markets and political hierarchies. Some pose as humans, others lead hidden Choirs in The Husk. Their goal: to shatter the Veil and end the illusion of separation between mortal and divine.

Cultural View:
Heralds see themselves as liberators. To them, the Last God’s sacrifice was betrayal — the theft of unity between god and creation. They call the Veil a cage, and their corruption, freedom.

Addendum:
Scholars of the @Truth Order propose that these are not races, but stages of spiritual entropy —all born human, destined to become Hollowed, or Herald. In the end, @Sanctum Prime itself may be a city of reflections, each citizen a soul waiting to choose which way to fall.