Esterm's Races - Fire Keeper

A Fire Keeper clad in its shell, the real being rides inside. The leaking flames are apart of its body.

Named rightly so for their unique and fiery anatomy, the FireKeepers house living flame throughout their ventilated bodies. They are so incredibly fire resistant, they do not realise the heat they emit most of the time. This heat courses through the inside of them and exits through numerous ‘vents’ along their back. Such vents often make it appear like the FireKeepers have a flaming head of hair, although such fibres would be unable to exist on such searing skin.

One of the iconic features of a FireKeeper is their chest which is reminiscent of an oven. Their rib cage is capable of opening and releasing vast fans of flames. With this oven-like chest, Firekeepers never have to worry about needing a flame as they can forge within themselves.

Most FireKeepers stand bipedal on a pair of jutting hooves. Minotaur-like in stature, they have broad necks upon high shoulders which carry their forever shaven faces. They are incapable of hair or fur and instead are made up of hard scale-like skin which is hot  to the touch. The vents across a FireKeeper’s body are primarily along the ridges of their back but can be found just about anywhere, leading to a diversity of effects. For example, some FireKeepers spout coils of fire that wind around their arms and legs and due to the placement of these vents, some can even spout flaming wing-like appendages, although the vast majority still remain incapable of flight.

But even so, these minotaur like bodies are not a Firekeepers true form and in fact are just shells to house the living flame within them. This is a common fact that most people forget when conversing with a FireKeeper. These ‘shells’ act to stop the true Fire keeper form from leaking as the FireKeepers are a bizarre manifestation of combusting gases and energy orbiting around a magos core – their mark – to be able to move, think and radiate flaming energy. These bodies, made from burning rock and ores are created entirely by the hands of the FireKeeper that then houses it, much like a hermit crab to a shell. Although sometimes a Gemini may lend a hand in the forging of new bodies.These bodies then act as a layer of defense from the radiating heat, not just to the environment in preventing accidental burnings and fires but to the Fire Keeper too, against rain and water, both lethal to a fiery soul.

A FireKeeper will go through many of these bodies within its lifetime. Constructs usually start off small to infant Embers and steadily change to match the contorting flame. Most FireKeepers prefer to create bodies from scratch than extend and change existing shells. These bodies often reflect a FireKeepers personality, with the flashier ones having more vents to spout flame, or the strong, presenting more dynamic and bulkier forms. Sometimes through cycling through these bodies, it can be hard to adjust to the new faces for non-FireKeepers – because well, their entire outer physical form just changed! Who are you and what have you done with my friend?

These used bodies can be broken down and used as base material for a new body or recycled by another FireKeeper – which again can lead to quite the identity confusion. Thankfully they do not cycle through these bodysuits too often though.

As to be expected, larger constructs are harder to move than smaller ones.  Animating these bodies involves manipulating the gas and energy of a Fire Keeper through these bodies like you would move an armoured construct from within. Firekeepers can freely exit and reenter these bodies, although prefer the comfort and safety provided from them, especially on rainy days.