Jumi
The Jumi are a race of near-humans native to Alter-Mana. With the Elves and the Mavoles, they were known as one of the Three Immortal Races that ruled the world in antiquity.
Jumi are the most human-looking of the three Immortal Races: their skin colors are within the normal human ranges (from pale pink to dark brown and all the tans and fleshtones in between), and their ears do not come to points. Set into their chests, however, is the thing that makes them different: all Jumi possess a crystal core that is the source of their extreme longevity. The cores of Jumi come in all the different colors of precious stones: rubies, emeralds, topaz, amethysts, diamonds and et cetera. A Jumi's hair and eye color will always match the color of their cores, and Jumi tend to take names which are derivative or reminiscent of the names of the gemstones that match their core's color.
History
The libraries of the Jumi city of Etansel are said to possess the most complete accounting of the Alter Dimension's history that is known anywhere in the Web of Worlds. Only bits and pieces of this history, including the history of the Jumi race itself, are known to outsiders.
The Jumi tell a tale of their origins that hints at their not entirely being native to Alter. The Jumi tell of an ancient race of creatures, the Tsnng, whose bodies were mineral-based: they were tall, beautiful people whose entire bodies were crystalline. They shared their world -- which existed on a different physical plane from the Web -- with another race of creatures whose bodies were made of rough stone. (scholars have speculated that these were Reklar, but there is nothing other than speculation to support this). For centuries the two races lived in harmony, until, eventually, the rock-men began a war of conquest against the Tsnng, smashing their delicate bodies with their rough, hammer-like hands and weapons made from stone and hard metals.
The tales only hint at the reasons for the hostilities: the Jumi speculate that the Tsnngs' natural crystal-like forms made them adept at channelling mana, and the rock-men were quite jealous/fearful because of this. As the war dragged on, the Tsnng fell back farther and farther, until at last they were near to out of places to run and hide. The wisest among them, whom the Jumi call the First Clarius, realized that his people would all be dead unless they fled their world. So that is what the Tsnng did: they pooled their magic, and used the power of Mana to escape the wrath of the rock-men.
(Some question whether the Tsnng could have realistically cast a spell to flee their homeworld, since teleportation is impossible. Speculating again that these rock-men were Reklar, it is much more likely, these scholars contend, that the Tsnng were once natives of the Mana Pureland, and that this First Clarius simply lead his people through a portal into Alter-Mana)
The Tsnng arrived in the physical world near to where the city of Etansel now stands. They established friendly relations with the nearby tribes of humans (who were gentle forest-dwellers at this time), and went about the business of settling themselves in their new refuge. However, soon there came a problem. As creatures of magical crystal, the Tsnng found that they were unable to gain the mana-based nourishment in the physical world; for in their home world the ambient mana was much, much higher. In short, the entire race was slowly starving to death.
The Tsnng were faced with a dilemma. They could not go back the way they came, for the rock-men would sieze them (this portion of the story seems to support the theory that the Tsnng migrated through a portal, rather than by way of a spell), but to do nothing the whole race would die anyway.
The First Clarius then determined a course of action that would mean both the death and the survival of their race. He approached the native humans, and he told them the Tsnng's story. When he came to the end of his tale, and explained that his race was dying, the chief of the humans asked if there was anything his people could do to help. This heartened the First Clarius, and he then explained to the chief of the humans the idea that he had had. The Clarius proposed a willing merger of the two races: the symbiotic creation of a hybrid race that would mean the survival of the Tsnng, in some form. From the humans, the Tsnng would gain the ability to survive in the physical world. From the Tsnng, the human hosts would gain the longevity and magic of the crystalline refugees.
The human chief asked for a day and night to consider the proposal, and it was granted. In the end, he chose to help the Tsnng. And thus the Jumi were born.
Jumi Cores
The Core is the distinguishing feature of a Jumi. It appears as a mass of gemstone, prominent from the Jumi's sternum. Jumi clothing is often tailored to expose the core, because Jumi are more comfortable when the core has access to open air and ambient mana (though when travelling in human lands, Jumi will often conceal the core to protect themselves). The core is the last vestige of the Tsnng. Through it, Jumi are always in-tune with the mana around them. Because of their cores, Jumi do not need to eat the way that humans do, although most Jumi eat anyway (for pleasure's sake alone).
Jumi cores are also the source of a Jumi's magical potential: all Jumi are taught from a young age to channel the powers of Earth through the elemental Gnome. Once Gnome is mastered, many Jumi go on to study other magics, but because of their own elemental natures Gnome is always favored.
The core is also the Jumi's most glaring weakness: cores are prone to being damaged, and only the tears of the Clarius (see below) can heal a cracked core. A Jumi with a cracked core loses his ability to subsist off mana, and will eventually die if the core is not healed.
Jumi cores are viewed as valuable as the gemstones they resemble. For this reason, Jumi are always wary about dealing with outsiders, and only very rarely leave their homes on Etansel.
Jumi Society
Jumi society is somewhat rigidly structured, though there is no hierarchy of rank among the Jumi. All Jumi view each other as equals, and most see themselves as higher lifeforms than the races outside their island.
Knights and Stewards
Generally, Jumi can be divided into one of two classes: Knights and Stewards. The Knights are the fighting class, and are trained in the use of special razor sharp crystalline swords that can channel spells and raw mana energy through the blade.
Stewards are non-fighters, who practice the Arts of Peace. They tend to be healers or proficient spellcasters, or they may simply belong to some other occupation that does not involve fighting. The choice is made between these two paths (the path of the Knight and the path of the Steward) early in a Jumi's life (when a Jumi matures at around age 16) and this decision cannot be reversed once made.
In almost all things, Jumi act in pairs of Knight and Steward. A Knight's charge is the protection of his Steward, and the Steward's charge is the support of his Knight. Knights and Stewards change hands frequently; Jumi are only allowed to marry those of the opposing class, so when a Knight meets a Steward of the opposite sex that he/she might like to marry, the existing partnership is dissolved in favor of the marriage.
The Clarius
The Clarius is the leader of the Jumi, and the spiritual inheritor of the First Clarius' essence. The Clarius' tears have special healing qualities that are vital to the Jumi race, and so the Clarius cries often in order to replenish the race's stock of curative tears. Oddly, no other Jumi is capable of crying at all. None are sure, exactly, what it is that makes the Clarius cry, whether it is just something the Clarius can do at will because it is his/her duty, or whether (as in humans) it is a response to some deep sadness.
