Xahnans have a strong sense of the common good and a deep work ethic. They are willing to sacrifice individual freedom for collective safety. They also have a deep connection with the environment, as well as “the veil”, which humans can’t even sense at all.

Xahnans look similar to humans in appearance, save their partially webbed fingers and the three feather-like tufts behind their ears.

Xahnan adepts have a unique access to the power of the creator through gaps in the veil of creation. By trading their own willpower, these adepts can force their will on the objects, animals, people, or chemicals around them. The adepts have varied abilities ranging from feeling or suggesting the emotions and thoughts of others to altering the forces of nature. Partly as a result of the tremendous power of their supernatural abilities, Xahnan technology has progressed relatively slowly, remaining at steam-era levels for centuries.

The Discovery of Xahna:

On their quest to reach the Prime Star and discover the mysteries of the creator, the Believers were the first to locate Xahna. After refusing to share the location of Xahna with the powerful corporate conglomerate known as ASP, their enemy declared an interplanetary extermination order on Believers and anyone who harbored them. The hammer fell first on the planet Avalon, where the Believer fleet was lucky to escape. They headed for the last possible safe haven in the galaxy: Xahna, the ninth planet.

Xahna held a surprise greater they could have ever expected.

Life on Xahna is inextricably linked to a microorganism called sayathi. These tiny organisms live in rings of coral pools, turning salt water into fresh water. But one drink of a sayathi-filled pool will kill any creature, unless that animal first offers a blood sacrifice. By bleeding into the pool, the animal allows the sayathi to develop antibodies to that individual. Once recognized by the pool, the person or animal can safely drink, but the sayathi enter their systems. They are then bonded to that specific sayathi colony and can drink no other without suffering a terrible death. The creatures who have drunk sayathi gain increased immunity to disease, faster healing, and longer lifespans.

At the center of each sayathi pool is an amber-like crystal called the bloodstone. The bloodstone sends electrical signals through the conduits in the pool, allowing the ruling sayathi in the bloodstone to control their colony over great distances.

The people of Xahna have developed a ceremony called The Exalting where an adept consumes the bloodstone and becomes connected not only to the sayathi in the pool, but to every person bound to the pool. For a city with a common source of drinking water, this can mean tens of thousands of people. By drawing on their will and their gifts, the Exalted adept can reach levels of power far beyond what one individual can do.

This power is greatly sought and is a major source of conflict between the various nations of Xahna.

The story of The Exalting:

The greatest ka on Xahna is a despot known as Vetas-ka. Seeking to extend his rule to a new continent, he attempts to seize the bloodstone of the largest city in Aesica, Shoul Falls. When the bloodstone ends up in the hands of a young adept named Dana with the ability to control animals, a deadly game of keep-away begins, with the fate of a whole city, and possibly all of Aesica, at stake.