Eka-Serenghe

"It's difficult for anyone to say they are more misunderstood then the Zaderei--except for the Ekae."

~Meili Zuroc Meisha~

An Eka-Serenghe, more commonly known simply as an Eka [plural--Ekae] is a Serenza Creature that is almost identical in build and nature to a Serenghe. The biggest difference between an Eka and a Serenghe is the way they come about. They are creatures surrounded by mystery, and are a very misunderstood 'race', to say the least.

Origins
Eka-Serenghe are produced through ancient malicious rites. The exact nature of the rites are kept secret, but there are a few tidbits about the rites that some of the more educated Serenghe outside of the Serenes Clans are aware of. The rite includes the use of some of the target's blood, which in turn is used to help construct a body. The Serenghe whose shape is copied to create the Ekae becomes known as the ''kuelez. ''The body takes on the form of the body whose blood was taken, and thus, it is almost like cloning. The largest difference is that the color of the Eka's hair, wings, eyes, and elemental affinity will all be opposite of the kuelez.

The Rites of the Ekae do not create life, however. The spirits that are put into the Ekae are actually Renzegei that come from Rorret, but pass through Latua before coming to Mencu. During this time, they are converted into Serenghe spirits by the deities themselves, who do so to keep the Renzegei out of Lautia--for if one gets in, it opens access for the entire legions of Rorret to follow, even up to Leaxyk himself. The spirits that occupy an Eka's body are treated by the deities as regular Serenghe, and they have little interest in being restored to their original Renzegei status.

The Ekae are most often produced by malicious ritualists during times of extreme war, where they are used as weapons, or as sources of information. Most of the kuelez used in producing Ekae are unwilling participants. However, there are occasional volunteers, and such was the case in the creation of Eka-Zakuya and Eka-Misaha. Originally, they were created by an extremist Ukezal in response to Tazakrelu's creation of the Zaderei, but the two have since righted those wrongs, and they are both sympathetic towards Zaderei and Ekae, both of whom in the eyes of the deities are simply misunderstood variations of Serenghe.

Nature
Instead of coming down as normal Serenghe spirits or malicious Renzegei, the spirits that are put inside the Ekae bring them to life as empty shells. A freshly created Eka-Serenghe has no real personality, and he or she learns based on those who taught them. In cases such as these, the deities hold the teachers of said Ekae more accountable than the Ekae themselves, who were simply doing the only things they were taught.

There are sets of simple rites that can free the Ekae from the servitude of their creators, and this also puts much more accountability on the Ekae themselves, who are then fully free to do as they please. After The Shitenou War that took place during the events of The Princess of Koldia, almost all of the Ekae created were freed and went into the world to try and integrate into Mencuan society.

Apart from this origin, an Eka will remain emotionless until freed from the servitude. Keeping an Eka bound in this type of servitude outside of a combat situation has been seen to be a poor choice, as the Ekae will typically grow restless, and may even turn violent. To free them is the best way to alleviate that problem, as then the Eka will care for his or herself.

Once freed, an Eka-Serenghe is fully capable of experiencing all of the same emotions that regular Serenghe do. They have been seen to laugh, cry, smile, frown, be excited, depressed, and everything else in between. Incidentally, Eka-Zaderic Serenghe are generally not treated any differently then non-Zadereic Ekae.

Relationships with Serenghe
Blood Rites can be performed on Ekae, and the resullts come back unique. The blood sample is very similar to the blood of the Eka's Kuelez, but there are differences that keep an Eka and a kuelez from being considered the same person. On a similar note, an Eka should not be confused for a zemik, as while an Eka is a distinct, although similar-looking being, he or she has their own soul, while a zemik is a much more direct copy of an existing Serenghe, body and spirit alike.

Biologically, Eka-Serenghe are nearly the same as regular Serenghe. There are male Ekae and female Ekae, and they have the same type of bodies as the Serenghe, which function in similar manners. The largest physical function that differs between Ekae and non-Ekae is that Ekae are less dependent on energy, and so they do not need as much food or sleep as regular Serenghe, and they are also able to hold their breaths longer than usual. It was simply another convenience of craeting them during war--they were resilient warriors that needed less to get by.

Physically, there are only two major differences between Ekae and Serenghe. An Eka's ears are an unusual black and orange color, often referred to as a similar color to that of the deities. Simiarly, an Eka's blood is blue. However, it is still warm, and is generally darker in its way back to the heart. Strangely enough, on the external side, such as in blushing, an Eka's skin appears a dark red instead of the suspected shades of blue. The explanation for this has yet to be discovered. ultimately, the only real difference between Eka-blood and normal blood is the color.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect about the Ekae to skeptics is their ability to reproduce, and more prominently, what the result is born as. The child of Eka-parents is born as a normal, red-blooded Serenghe with normal colored ears. When Blood Rites were performed on a child of a pair of Ekae, the results showed that the child carried blood from two Ekae, one being the child's father, and the other being the child's mother. Simiarly, not even Ekae families are immune from birthing Zaderic children.

Ekae in Society
"I don't care what you want to call it. That man and that woman are in love, and the fact that they are both Ekae should not be a factor to tear them apart."

~Koshu Varada~

Most Ekae that are freed from servitude end up as Serenghe that try to integrate into the society surrounding them. Most of them simply wish to be treated as normal people and want to live normal lives. This typically involves bringing children into the world to show that there are very few differences between them and normal Serenghe, and so Eka-families tend to be very large.

Another point in the Ekae's campaign to be treated as normal Serenghe comes from the significant but trivial differences between the two types of Serenza. They paint the skeptics as people who are afraid of some Serenghe "simply because our blood's a different color and our ears look different." So far, it has been received rather well.