Planetouched is a term used to refer to those heritage from the Elemental Planes via genie ancestry. Each planetouched is attuned to a specific element which determines their appearance, such as blue skin for those attuned to the Plane of Water or flaming hair for those attuned to the Plane of Fire. Becoming a planetouched is not inherited, and is believed to be a magical latent gene that awakens itself incredibly rarely - and only in regions with significant amounts of genie relics.
Scholars believe this related to the specific genie usage of magic, as they drew upon the energies of the Elemental Planes themselves - in the process, leaking that energy into the world around them, with the result being that certain babies born in certain regions absorb enough ambient elemental energy for it to change them fundamentally, granting power over the corresponding element. Attempts to reproduce this process have generally failed, as most have used short bursts of a lot of magical energy, which simply kills test subjects. Current scholarship therefore believes the process only works through long-term low-level exposure, but attempts to acquire pregnant test subjects to prove this hypothesis have so far failed.
Secrets of the Planetouched Excerpt
Excerpt from the 1895 book "Secrets of the Planetouched” by the Kuino master poet sage Ngolo Modibo
Planetouched in Sarhaly Culture
While the nature of being a planetouched can occur amongst the civilized peoples of the world, the people of Western Sarhal have a higher than usual prevalence of all four elements of planetouched amongst them. Within Western Sarhaly culture, and indeed much of Sarhal as a whole, those who are born with the strange attributes (an arm of stone, blue skin, gills, flaming hair) are either killed at birth due to fear or grow up to do great things, be it a great warrior, cattle breeder, healer, mystic, warlord, artist, thief or poet.
Inheritance Theories
Why is the blood of planetouched most thick in the people of West Sarhal? It is said for every one planetouched elsewhere there can be three or more in the Western Sarhal. Whatever causes a planetouched to to be "born", planetouched can not be “bred”, though many kings and queens have tried. The child of a planetouched does not inherit powers or appearance of their planetouched parent but superstition believes the offspring will have an innate affinity of their parent: a daughter of a water planetouched would be believed to become an amazing swimmer or a son of an air planetouched may be more nimble or quick. Despite this, no matter how many prayers are made or how many rituals are cast, a prince or general is just as likely to be born a planetouched as a cattle herder or slave.
Still the most popular theory is still ancient “inheritance” within the bloodline of the Western Sarhaly peoples. It is said that West Sarhal was a nexus of genie activity in the time before time when the world was young and the Salahad desert was more green. We do not know why it was such a hotspot. Perhaps it was a gathering place for genies to settle disagreements? Or simply a vacation spot for powerful elementals? Or perhaps West Sarhal's position between all four elements might have something to do with it. Whatever is the case Western Sarhal does have the highest density of genie artifacts and ruins from all four elemental planes (compared to the Salahadesi Desert, which has mostly air genie/djinn artifacts) and many myths and stories of the Sarhal peoples involve an otherworldly helper, villain, patron or a powerful otherworldly outsider founding a chiefdom's dynasty. Which stories are more fact than fiction is hard to judge but it gives credence to planetouched having the blood of these elemental elemental in their veins. Some priests have alleged that planetouched are created by the lost spirits of the ancient genies unable to return to their elemental planes who bind themselves with newborns. Scholars on the other hand suggest that genies interbred with the ancient humans of the region, and thus a latent gene more prevalent in the Western Sarhaly peoples is what causes these rare outbursts of planetouched. Whatever the case may be we will likely never know, as even bound genies when asked are give contradicting answers or are largely uninterested of how the planetouched came to be.
Earth Planetouched
As an earth planetouched, you are descended from the cruel and greedy dao, though you aren’t necessarily evil. You have inherited some measure of control over earth, reveling in superior strength and solid power. You tend to avoid rash decisions, pausing long enough to consider your options before taking action.
Elemental earth manifests differently from one individual to the next. Some earth planetouched always have bits of dust falling from their bodies and mud clinging to their clothes, never getting clean no matter how often they bathe. Others are as shiny and polished as gemstones, with skin tones of deep brown or black, eyes sparkling like agates. Earth planetouched can also have smooth metallic flesh, dull iron skin spotted with rust, a pebbled and rough hide, or even a coating of tiny embedded crystals. The most arresting have fissures in their flesh, from which faint light shines.
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