Theme:FFAC-1 Ifrit

IFRIT, THE RADIANT SANDS

OVERVIEW

The scorching heat that is inflicted upon the Ifriti day and night comes not from the sun, but from their land; the children of the First Flame love the heat, and often feel cold in any land that is not their own. The Ifriti, as a rule, do not build; they are a nomadic people, travelling as one great convoy known as the Bonfire. However, the Ifriti take full advantage of the cities that spring up on their continent; the Bonfire visiting a city is considered a wonderful moment, as the sheer influx of tourism and purchases is often enough to spur incomes to all-time highs.

CLIMATE

Ifrit is a land of extreme heat. Even at night, as the continent spins away from the sun and passes to the other side of the Core, Ifrit burns with the cooling remnants of the day, and the internal heat that rages from inside the continent itself. Water is a scarcity and a luxury, outside plant life and the mysterious creatures known as Cactuar. Ice is functionally unheard of outside the domes without magic, and ice magic is the rarest and best-loved of all magics on Ifrit. It is said that a man with ice in the drinks of those he loves is richer than a man with a wallet that never run dry.

Windstorms, glass geysers, and sand waves are the biggest threats Ifrit has to offer besides the scorching heat of the desert. Windstorms can scour the flesh from bones, leading many creatures of Ifrit to evolve tough outer shells to protect themselves from the harshness of these stoms, colloquially known as Sandblasts. Glass geysers, moments of heat and sand bubbling together to spray molten glass from the continent’s surface, can coat whole regions in beautiful, deadly-sharp iridescence, and are marked by massive glass domes and pillars frozen like ice in the midst of the sandy dunes. Sand waves are the worst of the lot, however - these sudden shifts of sand can cover domes as easily as Levitani tidal waves, devouring anything in their wake and trapping people under layer upon layer of deadly, crushing sand.

PEOPLE

The Ifriti are one of the more uniform lots of Humes, as Humes go. They tend towards darker skin, darker hair, and bright eyes in the red-to-yellow spectrum, often with spiral or flame patterns in their irises. They also tend to be extremely dextrous, thin, and nimble; like the sands they are descended from, they shift with ease and settle reluctantly.

Uniquely, the Ifriti are also the most bonded subrace. Closer even than the Odynari, the Ifriti travel in a single caravan, known as the Bonfire. They do not build cities or permanent structures, preferring easily-mobile tents and vehicles over buildings and towns. They are a nomadic people, going where their own sense of heat encourages them to head - always staying near the coolest parts of the continent, following the heat trails with natural sense and instinct as they migrate away from the more dangerous places. The Bonfire is led by a Navigator; the current Navigator is Ogier Chase (Geomancer/Black Mage), a blind mute who leads and communicates through his excellent tactile perceptions.

The Ifriti are also a festive, mercantile people. Shrewd traders, competent crafters, and delightful partiers, the Ifriti love a good party and a good deal more than anything except each other. When the Bonfire swings through one of the dome cities that dot the continent, it’s always a big occasion; money changes hands, dances spin out into the streets, and everything becomes one big party. Life is to be celebrated, the Ifriti culture teaches; like sand it is transient, like sand it slips away, and like sand it crystallizes into something beautiful under pressure.

It should not be mistaken that the Ifriti are a carefree people. They put themselves through rigorous, constant tests of character and endurance utterly unknown to outsiders. The Ifriti believe that a life without challenge is a life without worth, and so frequently seek out adventure, excitement, and danger wherever it can be found. There is a strong cultural emphasis on proving oneself to the Bonfire, through word and deed, and promises and boasts are held as sacred. The act of boasting is almost an art form unto itself.

The most well-known Ifriti art is of course cactus juice, alcohol made from the innards of a cactus (or, again, a Cactuar, in a pinch). It is a sweet and delicious alcohol the secrets of which are closely guarded. Even children in the Ifriti culture grow up drinking it - it is nutritious, delicious, sweet, and filled with vitamins and minerals. As a result, Ifriti have a very strong alcohol tolerance and a very discerning taste for the Good Stuff. Other arts the Ifriti practice include dance, weaving, and glassblowing, with Ifriti glass being second only to cactus juice in its popularity among non-Ifriti.

THE DOMES

Ramuha culture is strongest on Ifrit, second only to its place on Shiva. The Dome Cities, thirty massive edifices encased in glass and steel, are testaments to Ramuhan ingenuity. They run off the geothermal heat of the continent itself, pumping fire from the heart of Ifrit to replace the lightning from the skies of Ramuh. Otherwise, the Dome Cities bear great resemblance to Ramuh itself.

It is important to note that the Dome Cities have neither a unified government, nor do they owe allegiance to Ramuh itself after the al Cid revolution. The cities are a series of city-states rather than a nation. They developed similar to Ramuh itself, and after the revolution and their independence, they kept up trade with the City-Without-Sun, exporting native creatures, goods, foods, and resources and importing Ramuhan technology and ideas.