~The World and People of Shafta~
Overview
Ruled over by the powerful, insidious and disillusioned *Elder, Shafta is a beautiful paradise world painted exclusively in white, violet, and gold. There are two moons, which tug restlessly at the churning sea and create jagged shorelines filled with many small caves. Shafta’s vibrant, immortal inhabitants, called Shaftans, are as simple and idyllic as their world, and live together in one vast, sprawling city. Only a few dare to be adventurous and live on the outskirts of the golden fields, or are chosen to serve the Elder in the palace at the heart of the city. Delicate and lightweight, Shaftans can be likened somewhat to birds. Like many bird species, the males are the most beautiful, and constantly obsessed with preening and appearance. All Shaftans exist to love and to be loved, driven at the start of adulthood to seek a lifemate. They are easily pleased by pretty, shiny trinkets, and concerned only with keeping their families close under their soft wings and purring with the coming of night.
However, many dark secrets lurk beneath the guise of harmony in this world. Shaftans are deeply frightened by pain and sadness, and only a brave few dare to look through the bright haze to find the shadows beyond. The most determined of these rebels dwell within those shadows, survivors of the periodic exterminations arbitrarily instigated by the Elder to control the thriving population. The most recent of these “Purges” is known only through terrified whispers as “The Blackness.” From such malicious acts have spawned the BlackWings, a reclusive, infamous tribe of creatures similar to the Shaftans in form, but predatory in behavior. They are the Elder’s servants, a constant, undermining menace to the peace and security of a tranquil world.
*The result of an out-of-control experiment, the Elder is the last living member of an ancient and powerful race known as the Worldcrafters. Out of boredom and loneliness, he created Shafta and its winged people for his entertainment after glimpsing the worlds of Everra and Earth. It is his own form of experiment, and one that will eventually go as unforeseeably astray as the one that created him.