Yaref

Yarov (singular: yaref) or monsters are one of the two main races of Yona, besides humans. While they share in common a rather immaterial body and the property of being yahiric manifestations, they are extroardinarily diverse, with thousands of recorded types and often hundreds per region.

Origin

Yarov originate via the gestalt influence of concepts, often passively originated by human populations. They can be created with more intent by other yarov, acting as a form of reproduction (note that they do not reproduce via sex in the standard manner), although this often requires more than one contributing individual due to the investment necessary.

Characteristics

Social behavior

Yarov exaggerate the nature of human society to some extent, often having a very positive attitude associated with love, hope, and compassion. They also reflect the social context in which they originated. For example, some yarov in Liruzon are happy taking less "animate" jobs than humans would, due to the origin of the Liruzon yaref population in serving particular roles in donna societal circles. However, this is also contributed to by the general conception of a level of animacy somewhere between humans and non-human animals. Yarov are also rather impressionable to humans overall, along with being much weaker in general.

Physical characteristics

Yarov appear as many different things, from animals, to objects, to forms very similar to humans. Regardless, their forms are rather abstracted and do not take the internal structure or biological function of the things they represent. They have just enough physicality to enable their manifestation, resulting in exaggerated poses, proportions, and behaviors, inconsistent physical details, and rapid healing and recovery. They eat, and sleep, and talk, and feel pain, and joy, and have families, but they do not have stomachs, nor brains, nor lungs, nor nerves, nor hearts, nor reproductive organs. They also have extremely simplified and abstracted versions of physical needs, essentially being just a simple sustenance requirement

Yarov utilize "magic" to express themselves, though physical manifestations of yareva expression (along with other such things) are not considered "magic" in-universe. This can also be used for attacking or healing, or for other practical effects.

SOULs and death

Yarov have SOULs, though except for boss yarov the SOUL is not actually distinguishable from the yaref itself, and vanishes upon the yaref's death. Yarov given determination have their physical forms break down into a vague, amorphous state at the point where they would have otherwise died.

Yarov usually weaken with age. At the end of a yaref's natural lifespan, it enters a "fallen down" state where the body persists albeit unconscious. Within days to weeks, the yaref dies and turns to dust as the projected form dissolves. This dust carries an "imprint" of the yaref's identity the same way a human corpse does for a human.

Culture

Yarov often inherit cultural practices from the human cultures they interact with, though usually in a "broken", mixed up, and superficial kind of manner, lacking strict, rigid customs for... really anything. For example, most yarov in Liruzon and Ezvelan do not wear clothing and those who do follow a strange mix of customs. They also speak Panavic language for the most part, although their names can often be from a variety of sources, but they do not particularly follow either Panavic or Ezeva religious customs, besides some exceptional cases.