Esolans (local name undecided)

• Esolan ("of the sun," Vagapariñe)

The race of humanoid people living on Esole, this universe's sun. The planet's surface is hard and crystalline, so Esolans tend to live underground in caves. The light from the ring of fire refracts down into the caves, creating a near-constant, pulsating, multicolored light in which the Esolans live.

They tend towards tallness, by human standards. 5' is considered considerably small, whereas 7' is not unheard of, but considered large, though 8' is considerably large.

generally vibrant skin tones, taking on various hues due to the minerals in their main food source: the fungi that grow along the walls of the crystal caves in which they dwell. For the most part, Esolans’ hues trend towards dark blues and greens, though a more Azafati brown is not uncommon, and reds/ pinks and purples pop up from time to time.

POSSIBLY: the colors relate to the different kinds of fungi/regions and colors of crystals that the fungi grow out of; maybe there is some classism according to the different regions/accesses to kinds of fungi, thus leading to some skin-based prejudices

Sparse: the planet below them is so hot that they only wear what they need for protection

similar variance to humans, but with different traits (ie skin tint rather than eye color)

Like their crystalline surroundings, Esole’s people have grown hard, brilliant, and durable. After millennia under the refracted light (heightened by the Ring of Fire), their skin has toughened considerably, and many have pitch-black irises for this reason to fend of the intense light around them, too.

Heavier than they look, considering they are semi-crystalline

the Select: Selected Esolans' do not present with the same non-pigmentation as Azafati Selected. While most complexions remain fairly even, Selected Esolans have a marbled/ varied tonality akin to impure/cloudy crystals

Their eyesight has dulled out significantly over the millennia to protect them from the intensity of the light around them.

They primarily eat a wide variety of fungi that grow underground in Esole, where they can make their homes and cultivate what little plants they can.

The culture is highly stratified by class, visually represented by skin hue due to the hoarding/ stratified access to the different colors and types of fungus that are the most common staple of the people.

Note on Naming Conventions:
- Esolan names vary by status- Highpeoples refer to themselves as connected to the rocks, where Lowpeoples’ names tend to be virtue names that refer to the light that both keeps them underground and allows them to distinguish between the classes
- Examples (High-Class)
- Two syllables, one for the call-sound and the other for the response-sound
- Kzul-Zrüm
- Deep-throated, like the rumbling of voices off of rocks deep underground (dangerous)
- Ktink-Tin
- Like a fine object tapping against a crystal cup (fine and precious)
- Name of the person who takes in Prip?
- Prip-Tqua
- Like water dripping into itself in a cave (distant from the crystal itself but still precious)