All Merideti can 'dream walk', which is a slow-cooker version of teleportation. They must be in deep meditation (or an equivalent) for dream-walking to get them further then a hundred meters from where they started. They must have walking space, so that they can move from their section of universe and into another one--and when they transfer over, they bring everything that they are carrying, and to a certain extent, that they are touching. This means that they'll bring air and soil as well, kind of like the 'smudge' tool in an art program, their native surroundings will peter out against the foreign ones.

All Merideti have the potential to find and bond a special piece of material in order to perform vast varieties of magic that aid in every-day life. These objects are usually no larger then what is easy to carry, and are carried at all times. These objects are usually searched for in the Merideti's teenage years (three and four, for them) and take a long time to fully utilize. When a bonded-piece breaks or goes missing, the Merideti will simply have to search for a new one. Bonded pieces do not lose strength over time.

Merideti communicate solely through verbal speech. They are not telepathic. They can adapt relatively easily to other spoken languages, however, their 'e's will always sound like 'ay's, their 'i's like 'ee's, their 'a's like 'ah's, their 'o's like 'oh's and their 'u's like 'oo's. Their 'y's are similar to the english language, and can be pronounced however. Their speech is fairly drawn out and melodic, and all Merideti are versed with their aural histories, so they have very good memories.


Life Cycle

A Merideti typically lives 60-80 years, depending upon their life-style and unpredictable circumstances. When a mother gives birth, it is usually to three or four offspring (more often four then three) at a time, and all are live-born. A mother can choose to bear her children while in humanoid or draconic form, and can shift back and forth until her third trimester. The fetuses shift with her during this time. Usually humanoid children are born when times are good. They're more difficult to give birth to, but they develop a lot more quickly, mentally, then their draconic-born cousins. Either all of the offspring are born draconic, or all humanoid. There's no mixed bags! The ratio of humanoid litters to draconic ones is about 1:4, give or take.

Children take about five years to mature. During their fourth or fifth, they're expected to go out and wander around, either singly or in groups, with no destination in mind, or on a tour of the five Elkere (clans) that these Merideti are composed of. It really isn't uncommon for a Merideti to just up and wander off for a few days, whatever its age is!

The Merideti also host large parties every year around mid-summer. The host-Elkere rotate, so that each Elkere runs the event every five years. The other five usually travel by foot or by dream-walking to the event en-masse, with only the youngest, oldest, and a few who draw watch-duty left behind. This is a time for Merideti to party it up (because they really are social creatures) see old friends, renew old flings--for children to run in hordes in the woods and hold massive games that last for the full week--and for adolescent Merideti to decide if the Elkere is a place they'd like to call a home base. Most adolescent Merideti don't stay in their home Elkere, though it's not terribly uncommon if they do. Adolescents from the host Elkere can choose to return to a visiting Elkere, as well, making it a friendly competition between all five Elkere to draw in the various youths. This makes the event fairly showy, with every day getting more flashy, as each Elkere pulls out all the stops to try to impress potential new Elkere-members!

Once the Merideti has chosen their home-Elkere, he or she can settle down and expect to go straight to work, either with the small farms that the Merideti run, in hunting, gathering, searching for rare or mysterious items that could serve as bonded pieces for themselves or others, and all other sorts of Elkere-management. (If a Merideti can find a bonded piece at home, it saves a lot of searching! There are mixed opinions about this, however.) Merideti females tend to become pregnant fairly quickly into adult-hood because don't have a particularly strong fertility-cycle. Once a female gives birth, the children are considered children of the entire Elkere, and while their names strongly reflect their parents and origin, they are considered everyone's responsibility. Likewise, Merideti don't have permanent mates, and are very lenient about sexual relations--save with close relatives. Usually a Merideti will acquire a sort of confidante to whom they can ask advice or voice problems to, and as a Merideti gets older, he or she is likely to have more people come to them in this way. Older Merideti are considered very important, as they have had a long time to master their magical practices and memorize myths and history. They're treated with respect and are often spoiled rotten if the younger Merideti really like them!

It isn't yet known if Merideti can cross-breed with other species, though the potential seems likely.


Magical Practices

Are marked with piercings or jewelry. When a Merideti chooses and successfully bonds to whatever piece they've found, they receive a simple chain-necklace, usually silver in colour. Depending upon what they choose to practice in, they will gain acclaim--piercings, amulets, rings, bracelets and tail-lets set with various gems. The more acclaim they have, the more proficient they are--and they'll certainly flaunt it, never taking the jewelry and piercings off! These gems are usually manufactured through magic, rather then dug from the earth. Those rare things are reserved for the masters, and are usually set into circlets that rest on a master magic-user's head.

Training is life-long, but special effort is rewarded with acclaim, and a Merideti can challenge their master yearly to gain new acclaim if he or she has improved visibly. Failure is met with mild chiding. Multiple failures are often met with gentle suggestions to search for a new bonded piece, or if that isn't the problem, to let magic-using go entirely.

Bonded pieces are absolutely required for magical practices, and the Merideti must be holding the item or have it touching them while performing. The bonded piece serves as a focus-point for the merideti and is a magical 'recharge battery'. Without it, the Merideti can't perform any spells. Once the Merideti has a bonded piece, it is over this that they usually meditate. Before they find a bonded piece, their meditations are usually more generic (and are taught from a young age, serving as a kind of 'nap-time' for youngsters!)


DUE DATE

May 24th, 2006

NOTE: These Merideti are being sent out by their elders either to map out the Nexus, try to persuade outsiders to come and visit (and stay!), to search our rare and exotic likely bonded pieces for themselves and others, or else they've just run off from home by themselves to see what the rest of the Nexus is like, never to return.

If you would like to write stories for these guys, please note that I'll be setting up a cyborware-like section, once I put a site up, where you can apply for various kinds of acclaim-adornments for all Merideti that have found their bonding piece. Better stories mean better acclaim! You can apply more then once, but there will be a minimum time between requests, just in case it gets popular. Pimp your Merideti out with bling!

Once I get the Merideti site up and running, there will be rules for how to get more of these guys. If you have a giveaway Merideti I'm letting you know right now that having them show up again in 'candidate' stories is going to earn you bonus points. XD

Please link back to http://deviant-uprising.com/dray/merideti . There is no page there as of this moment, but I'll be working on that!