The Mutari

[Demeter]

The Mutari

Fire – Ignis
Air – Aether
Water – Unda
Spirit – Animulus
Earth – Terra
Electric – Fulmeni

Though commonly referred to as vampires (they use the term themselves), the Mutari are actually an offshoot of the Alati species. They are the descendants of 20 Casurai (Fallen Alati) who were transformed when a spell to return their wings went wrong.

These 20 Casurai had lost their wings not through accident or illness but by falling from the grace of their deities. Each had caused some offense so great that their wings were torn away and they were condemned to live as outcasts. Most of the Casurai accepted the loss of their wings yet many were unable to come to terms with their sins.

After the fall of Atlantis and the other Alati cities, there was nothing but chaos as the world struggled to find new leaders. It was a time of warfare and many tried to make a name for themselves. One of these men was Drovan, a sorcerer born of a mortal man and an Alati female. He saw himself as a powerful leader but he needed an army to see his plans become reality. He doubted that most Alati would remain loyal to him. Instead, he turned to the Casurai, promising them wings in return for their loyalty.

He selected 20 Casurai; 10 males and 10 females, from those who used to be Custos Alati. He selected those 20 as much for their blood thirsty nature as the sins they’d committed. They would be the experimental group and would be the leaders of his force.

He took them to his remote island home north of Scotland. Drovan lived there with the Alati female he’d taken as a lover and apprentice. Tirzah, a Custos devoted to the Atlantian god of Chaos, had escaped the sinking of Atlantis. She’d grown bored of practicing her sexual ways on mortal men so she let herself be apprenticed to Drovan. Within a few years, she gave him a son, Caedmon.

The boy was eight when Drovan brought the Casurai to the island. It would be another year before he thought the spell was ready for use. When he’d prepared, he set the spell and cast it over the 20 Casurai. And things went horribly wrong. He’d thought of every possible issue and planned for it except one. Drovan hadn’t considered the deities of the Casurai.

Their wings had been ripped away for a reason and to try and regain their wings in such a fashion was seen as cheating and disobedience. Angered, the Gods sought to punish the sorcerer and his chosen twenty.
For his arrogance in thinking to undo what the Gods had torn asunder, Drovan was killed; struck down by the God’s power to rework the spell. The 20 were given wings but they were ugly, deformed, useless things that would forever be a reminder of their shame. Tirzah, seeing that something had gone wrong, took Caedmon and fled to the mainland before the dust settled.

Those 20 Casurai were altered in more ways than their twisted wings. It didn’t take them long to discover the other changes. They had been denied sunlight. The slightest bit of natural daylight would cause their skin to burn and, fearing the sun, they embraced the night. The other change was an unnatural thirst for blood.
It would be hundreds of centuries before scientists determined that the bodies of the Mutari simply produced little to none new blood cells. It has been decided that the Mutari’s craving for blood is a way of the body’s need for vitamins or minerals. Wither or not this bloodlust is a side effect of the spell or part of the damnation of the gods, the altered Casurai were given the tools they needed to survive. The gods gave the Casurai fangs and they used those fangs to drain the blood of the people still living on the island dry. And then they left the island.

For many years they lived a rough life, moving from place to place at night and always on the hunt for fresh supplies of blood. It was during these years that they discovered additional changes. They could control the elements. For example those of the Alati Ignis line could create, manipulate and control fire and things associated with fire. The same was true for those who were of the Aether, Unda, and Terra lines. Those of the Animulus lines, well, they were gifted with all sorts of mental abilities, such as a telepathy, telekinesis, teleportation, mind control, divination, and anything else associated with the mind.

They remained a group of twenty, roaming the length and breadth of what would become known as Great Britain for several decades. As things happen, they paired off and had children. That is when the Mutari, as they were known calling themselves, felt the true punishment of the gods. Their children which should have been born as Alati, were just like them. Light sensitive, blood thirsty creatures but they’d also been born wingless.
They screamed and cursed the gods for visiting the sins of the parents on the children. Determined to reverse the situation, they sought out the son of the sorcerer. Caedmon was now a young man with more power than his father ever had. Between the natural world magic from his father and the incubus magic from his mother, Caedmon had the ability to do something. And he’d agreed to try and heal the children in order to fix what his father had done.

He created the spell and, using his incubus powers and talents, pulled energy from the mortals that were enslaved by him in order to have the strength to run the ritual. He cast the spell but not even his strength was enough to fix the children. He was able to help one thing though. He brought sunlight back into their lives.
Caedmon was not only able to reverse the extreme light sensitivity but he was able to create an entirely new group of Mutari. He literally gave them light. Some of the children were able to handle and control lightning. They could even create it. They became known as the Fulmeni and later generations would harness electricity.
Disappointed that Caedmon was unable to give the children wings but not willing to anger the gods anymore, the Mutari continued their wanderings. They soon discovered that they could turn people of any race into creatures like themselves through biting.

They continued to live this way, draining blood and turning mortals into Mutari. They eventually established rules and councils to govern their race.