Nagylvi
We were born of seed and soil. As eons passed, our roots grew, and the star's sacred power granted us autonomy. You call this power “aether,” or “magic.” As our understanding of it blossomed, we shaped forest into foundation, city into civilization.
— Nagylvi Bud during The Songs of Distant Trees
The Nagylvi are a leafkin-like non-playable race first introduced in Patch 7.41 as the Voyagers and later expanded on in Patch 7.51 as the Nagylvi. They are a major focus in Cosmic Exploration. They hail from the planet Auxesia.
Physical Characteristics
Through the Terminal Bud, a rough blueprint of the Nagylvi form can be understood.[1] Despite this, the Terminal Bud is diminutive in it's form, and the technology of the Nagylvi that still remains on Auxesia and Oizys (such as their vehicle seats and UI interfaces on their machinery) implies they were more comparable in size to playable races.
The Nagylvi in their original forms are humanoid in appearance, though with a distinctly plant-based appearance due to them having evolved from the flora of Auxesia. They possess leaves on the top of their heads that extend downwards along their body akin to hair or a cape, with a central set of leaves on their chest. They possess two eyes but no other visible facial features except for a large blue orb on their forehead. Their hands are large, with 3 digits on each hand, with their legs ending in stubs rather than feet.[1]
They reproduced via pollination, with new generations sprouting every few turns of the sun, following an event known as the great pollination.[1]
In current form, the Nagylvi remaining on Auxesia have rooted themselves into the earth and became one with the forest. The trees that canopy over Auxesia the grown forms of the slumbering Nagylvi.[1]
Diet
Though the diets of the original forms of the Nagylvi is not known, the Nagylvi in their tree forms feed upon the star's remaining power.[1]
History
Originating from the planet Auxesia, the Nagylvi were born of seed and soil. As eons passed, their roots grew, and the star's aether granted them autonomy. As their understanding of it blossomed, they shaped forest into foundation, city into civilization.[1] They built roads to bridge the treetops, then developed vehicles to facilitate high-speed travel. Teleportation, too, was common.[1]
In time, they became a space-faring civilization, first teleporting themselves to one of the two moons orbiting Auxesia, and from there, journeying unto the stars using their gravitational magicks with alternating relay points to reduce the strain inflicted by the magicks. They were unaware of the adverse effects that their manipulation of aether could have at first. When they arrived at Oizys (referred to by them as the wasteland), they discovered a mystical stone, which they named the dew-stone (also known as oizys jasper). A mere pebble was enough to make their spirit flourish, allowing the sacred power within them to grow all the more. The Nagylvi continued to voyage there regularly for supplies of dew-stone, overuse of gravitational magicks on the planet created the anomalies that exist there today.[1]
As the the veins of dew-stone ran dry on Oizys, the Nagylvi began to wither. A choice was upon them to either seek a substitute from another star, or suffer stagnation without the dew-stone's benefits. Some courageous few journeyed back into the great expanse, never to be heard from again. The Nagylvi who remained on Auxesia chose to lay roots deep in the earth. Entwined in sleep, they lift their arms to the sun, the rustling of leaves their hymn to the world. Together, they endured through ages untold as a collective consciousness they refer to as the forest.[1]
In their form of the forest of Auxesia they sleep, memories indistinguishable from dreams, fleeting as bubbles in a stream. Even in this new form, the forest grows, feeding upon the star's remaining power. Without their former bodies, they were powerless to prune it as they once did. The very stasis by which they hoped to staunch their avarice sowed the seeds of their destruction. As millennia passed and engorged tendrils began to throttle the natural order, their systems (such as the drones meant to maintain the forest) failed—and they laid dreaming. Unaware they one day would have withered, and never even noticed we were rotting until they experienced true and total death.[1]
The Nagylvi were saved by the unexpected arrival of the Cosmic Exploration Initiative, and their operations to prune the overgrown forest, introduction of new fauna such as the interstellar dhalmel, and re-activation of Grandma Laurel. Much like the Cosmic Exploration Initiative encountering them as their first contact with surviving extraterrestrials, the Nagylvi also found themselves meeting extraterrestrials for the first time. Using the Terminal Bud the Nagylvi were able to directly communicate with the members of the CEI, providing them with a tour of the city and answers to their questions. As a token of their budding connection, they offered the Terminal Bud to accompany the Warrior of Light on their journey. Through its eyes the Nagylvi hope to see pleasant dreams a while longer.[1]
Society and Culture
Little is known about Nagylvi society save for enlightments provided by the Terminal Bud[1]
The Nagylvi are familiar with concepts such as Family, though they find the Source's understanding of family to be different from theirs.[1]
Structures
The structures with triangular windows around the city on Auxesia were known as G-onylin V-er, or “sunlit greenhouses.” Most served as residences, or facilities seeing daily use.[1]
Sacred Power
Instead of using the term Magic or Aether, the Nagylvi refer to it as "Sacred Power". To them, the reality that others can develop and hone skills without the use of aether manipulation is miraculous.[1]
Technology
The Nagylvi had advanced technology and sophisticated city management networks. They referred to their drones as Zysero-or, named "Timberdrones" by Namingway. These automated machines would take care of the city and the forest both in a myriad ways.[1] They also had drivable vehicles that served a similar function to cars on highways on the source. Their highways included street sign systems in order to disseminate news and notices of congested areas to those in wheeled vessels.[2]
The technology of the Nagylvi was one that interplayed between natural resources and advanced infrastructure. What plummeted off the edges or gaps was often salvaged by the branches or wetlands below.[1]
Mining
Extraction of resources such as the dew-stone was the primary driving force behind Nagylvi expeditions to Oizys. They also extracted indicolite, like the dew-stone, it was a vital resource upon which they grew reliant for the maintenance of their infrastructure.[1]
Once the Nagylvi had began interstellar travel, they used a metal known as Myag-ygam Yd-y: “root silverfruit” as a rare source of workable metal. The metal would rise out of the ground on Auxesia, and even aided by sacred power, the Nagylvi struggled to sculpt with it.[1]
Ancient Records
The Nagylvi have left several ancient records about their civilization that are still being uncovered. These records can be found on both Oizys and Auxesia.[3] They are repositories of data found within ancient artifacts. Not all ancient records are created equally, though. Each is assigned a grade based on the volume of information contained within─the higher the grade, the greater the research value.[4]
Examples of the contents of the records are:
- Information on the Auxesia's flora
- Information on the Auxesia's urban environment.
- Information on the Nagylvi on both Oizys and Auxesia.
Relations with the Cosmic Exploration Initiative
The Nagylvi were surprised to find the suffocating shroud trimmed back by the explorers from the stars beyond, relieving the undue strain upon the star. Their once-forsaken city pulsing with new life, their trees anointed with new names. Due to this, they express that they experience happiness. In the coming of the Cosmic Exploration Initiative, their home has been healed. Though their intent in reaching out to the new arrivals to their planet was to teach, they express that they also have found themselves enlightened.[1]
The forest collective that the Nagylvi now represent has expressed gratitude. But that you preserved them in their slumber isn't the half of it. The members of the initiative sought to know of them. To entwine roots with them. Henceforth, the Nagyvi go with the explorers from the Source—until their canopy reaches across the stars.[1]
Gallery
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The Terminal Bud appearing from Grandma Laurel -
The Nagylvi Bud, previously known as Terminal Bud before being renamed
