Cythai
The Cythai, or Awakened, were the first Aelves to be formed by Teclis from souls extracted from Slaanesh. While he intended them to be a noble, scholarly people, something was terribly wrong with them. When confronted, they collectively fled to where they knew Teclis' light could not reach: the bottom of the oceans. It is here they became known as the Idoneth Deepkin.[1a]
Origins
The last elves devoured by Slaanesh in the World-That-Was were the worshippers of the sea-god Mathlann, who secreted his worshippers' souls in the deep places of the world's seas. The Cythai, as the first souls removed from Slaanesh, were created from these sea-elf souls.[1a]
Appearance
Teclis intended for the Cythai to in the image of his best memories of the elves of the World-That-Was: noble spirits, graceful and beautiful. Physically, at least, the Cythai were perfectly in line with his vision: they and their descendants are aesthetically flawless beings with the lithe, athletic physiques for which the aelves are famous.[1a][1b]
Temperament
Despite their creator's best efforts, the Cythai did not take to his lessons on the history and lost gods of the World-That-Was, nor did they work together as he envisioned. They were withdrawn and irritable, prone to factionalism and beset by a brooding darkness. Teclis could perceive a shadowed stain on their souls that even he, as God of Light, could not see into.[1a][2a]
Attempted Enlightenment
When Teclis attempted to examine and dispel the darkness on his creations' souls by weaving powerful spells of enlightenment and purification, the Cythai recoiled from his light of truth. Some were driven mad by the glare of their creator's gaze peering deep into their souls. The others, fearing for their lives, fled from the sacred city of Léiriú to the depths of Hysh's oceans - as far from the brightness of their creator as possible, a place that smothered the sensations that they feared, and perhaps a soul-memory of the last place where they had felt safe. Teclis took this flight as proof that the Cythai were fatally flawed, and he resolved to destroy them. His brother Tyrion argued for mercy, and so Teclis allowed them to escape.[1a][2a]
Dispersal
Initially, the Cythai settled in the city of Gealrachi under the Gealus Ocean. However, the factionalism that plagued their society in Léiriú still existed, and once they discovered the whirlways they scattered across the realmseas in like-minded groups.[1c]
Deepkin
Ever since Teclis' discovery of the dark stain on their souls, the Cythai feared that they were cursed in some deep, fundamental way. Their fears were confirmed when the first aelves were born in these new undersea kingdoms, and their souls proved to be withered things that led inevitably to their death in infancy. Worse, the incurable, frenzied madness of mallachi afflicted many adult Cythai, who had to be killed by their fellows. Between curse and madness, it appeared the Cythai were doomed.[1b][1c]
Through years of trial and error, the Cythai - now calling themselves Idoneth, a term derived from a word meaning "extreme seclusion" or, as was darkly remarked in later ages, "desperate measures" - learned how to use souls of other beings to reinforce the spirits of their weak-souled children. The age of the isolationist Cythai ended, and the age of the soul-raiding Idoneth Deepkin began.[1b]
Survivors
As of the Age of Sigmar, only one true Cythai remains: Volturnos, High King of the Ionrach enclave.[1d]
Sources
- 1: Battletome: Idoneth Deepkin (2018)
- 2: Age of Sigmar: Core Book (3rd Edition)
- 2a: Idoneth Deepkin, pg. 150-151