The Mauhn

The mauhn were the first sapient beings ever created within the world of the Selvan and served as the base on which all other intalli species were modeled. While unable to shapeshift or cast spells, they were an incredibly hardy and influential species.

Brought to a devastating rage, their creator, Oiana, brought about the extinction of his own creation several thousand years ago.

Biology

The mauhn were a largely hairless, exclusively bipedal species. What hair they did have were on the top of their heads and could be styled to various lengths. While not the fastest, their stamina was impressive over long distances.

Abilities

In Spite

Unlike the rest of the intalli, the mauhn are distinguished for their extraordinary resilience rather than supernatural ability. They have a unique resistance to dehydration, hunger, extreme temperatures, and even injury.

Ecology and Behavior

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Mauhn possess a holder-giver reproduction system with holders giving birth to live young. Pregnancies lasted for 9 months and typically only produced one child at a time.

Diet

Mauhn were highly omnivorous and were the first species to start cooking food.

Hybrids

Mauhn hybrids were extremely common. They did not suffer from fertility or health problems and would often go on to reproduce. Because of this, some mauhn genes have persisted among the Intalli to this day.

Psychology and Culture

Ideals and Instincts

  • The mauhn were a highly social species. Lone mauhn suffered greatly from duress and anxiety.
  • Most teretosi carry a natural attitude of enthusiastic pessimism, believing that the worst will happen and finding entertainment in spite of it.
  • Mauhn are highly curious and had a unique instinct for exploration and technological innovation.
  • Most mauhn had a strong sense of justice and morality and would seek to impose that morality onto others.

    • Trivia

  • The mauhn largely live on in ancient depictions in art and writing. More notably, they live on in the term "mauhnic form," a phrase used to describe the shape-shifted bipedal form of modern-day Intalli species.
  • Oiana had exclusively taken on mauhn as mortal vessels until their extinction. He has refused to take on another vessel ever since and has not been seen in the mortal realm in centuries.
  • In ancient medical journals, mauhn facing severe back and knee pain are often mentioned. Based on excavated remains (Of which there have been very few found), their bones were found to be set up in a very peculiar way compared to modern Intalli. It's theorized that the mauhnic forms of present-day Intalli had been refined from the mauhn and thus prevented a majority of the joint issues faced by the mauhn.