Sunrunner

Every person is made up of colours and shadows. Each person has a unique colour pattern, which, for faradh'im, defines them more completely than their names. These colours are the person's mind and soul; if they are lost, the person dies, forever in darkness.

Faradh'im can touch these colours and weave them into what only they - and diarmadh'im - can see: the light. They use their colours to weave themselves into the strands of sunlight and/or moonlight. As they weave into the light, they can travel over great distances, viewing the land below as if they were flying. Starlight, thought inaccessible by many, is forbidden to Sunrunners.

To communicate, a Sunrunner weaves light and travels to another Sunrunner. The approaching faradh'i gently brushes the other with his or her colours, so as not to intrude. The receiving faradh'i usually weaves his/her own colours around the others and the two speak as their minds are essentially woven together. Powerful and/or well trained Sunrunners can also view images of memory from another's mind. In less polite circumstances they can pull memories forward, force their presence on others, and even seize minds in order to use those faradh'im 's powers to augment their own. Another person can also be used as a vessel from which a faradh'i can see and hear the activity around the other person.

Faradh'im can create a large weaving by adding their colours and power together. Usually one Sunrunner acts as the focal point of every mind and controls the weaving. Only very skilled Sunrunners - traditionally only the Lord or Lady of Goddess Keep - can weave many minds together and keep each unique colour pattern straight in their own mind. If the focal Sunrunner were to lose track of a colour pattern, that mind would be lost on the light.

Being Shadow-lost is a Sunrunner's greatest fear. Shadow-lost is the term given to a Sunrunner who was Sunrunning and failed to make it back to his or her body before the sun's rays disappeared. In essence the soul is lost to the Dark Waters with the setting sun. The faradh'i 's mind unravels in darkness and his or her colors are scattered and forgotten. The Sunrunner's body fades and eventually dies without the mind and soul.

If the mind begins to fray or is lost in shadows, a sharp pain slices through the skull. The person feels as if a part of them is missing; the mind tries to reach out to its missing pieces, but it cannot as it is no longer whole. The bright colours that normally swirl around a faradh'i become dark as the shadows of his or her own mind encroach, ready to consume the mind. Physically the person begins to shake wildly, their heart races, and pain shoots through bones and especially the head.

A mind not entirely lost can be retrieved if its colours are known by others. The process of filtering out the shadows, unweaving the wrong colors, and sorting the lost faradh'i 's colouring into their proper order is difficult work. It is painful for the fading faradh'i as the colours around him/her feel like needles stabbing into the brain until (and if) the right pattern is restored.

Crossing water and being pierced by iron while casting are Sunrunners' two major weaknesses. All full Sunrunners get violently ill when faced with having to cross a body of water (i.e. rivers, lakes, and especially the ocean), though a 'cure', with a heavy price, for this has been found in the drug dranath. If a faradh'i must cross water they lose their stomachs and their consciousness. The Sunrunners remain insensible after they've been returned to land, the duration of their sorry state dependent on the water crossing's violence and expanse. As the Sunrunners wake their vision is often skewed or blurry.

If a faradh'i is pierced by iron while casting, they will die. This was the main reason for the tradition forbidding Sunrunners from participating in battle and using their gifts to kill. If the iron is removed from the Sunrunner quickly enough and the wound is not fatal, it is possible for the Sunrunner to survive, though he or she will have experienced a great, mind-numbing pain and will be very weak for a time afterward.

• 1 middle finger, right hand, silver - Call Fire
• 2 index finger, left hand, gold - Call Air
• 3 index finger, right hand, silver - Conjures in Fire
• 4 pinky finger, left hand, silver - Apprentice Sunrunner
• 5 thumb, right hand, gold - Sunrunner, Apprentice Moonrunner
• 6 pinky finger, right hand, silver - Moonrunner
• 7 middle finger, left hand, gold - Conjures without Fire
• 8 thumb, left hand, silver - Teacher
• 9 ring finger, right hand, silver - Master
• 10 ring finger, left hand, gold - Lady/Lord of Goddess Keep

• 6 pinky finger, right hand, silver - Apprentice Moonrunner
• 7 middle finger, left hand, silver - Moonrunner
• 8 thumb, left hand, gold - Teacher, Master (later Master Physician)
• 9 ring finger, right hand, silver - Devri (Lords of Light)
• 10 ring finger, left hand, gold - Lord/Lady of Goddess Keep

• Lord/Lady of Goddess Keep: The Keep and all Sunrunners are governed by the Lord or Lady of Goddess Keep. This Lord or Lady is the 'closest' to the Goddess, who sometimes communes with the chosen Lord/Lady in the form of visions. The Lord/Lady represents the impartiality of the Goddess at such gatherings as the Rialla. He/she stamps all new treaties and laws with the seal of Goddess Keep. It is also the duty of the lord/lady to call a council of Princes in order to confirm a new ruling Prince or High Prince. While the Lord/Lady is required to follow the general laws of the Continent he/she is not directly under the command of any Prince, nor is Goddess Keep itself under the governing of the Princedom of Ossetia, within whose borders the Keep resides, but is held of the High Prince. The position of Lord or Lady of Goddess Keep - contrary to recent history - is not hereditary.
• Chief Steward of Goddess Keep: This is the traditional second in command position at the Keep. This Steward oversees the training of young Sunrunners among other duties. A chief duty is to create the rings of faradhi. Until Riyan, ruler of Skybowl and half-faradhi-diarmadhi, discovered that his rings burned in response to nearby sorcery no one knew why Sunrunner gold was special. This special gold was embued with power by Lady Merisel, and Lords Gerik & Rosseyn.
• Devr'im: This position was created by Andry, Lord of Goddess Keep. The term means 'Lords of Light' in the Old Tongue. These Lords of Light were trained to defend Goddess Keep by way of the ros'slath, to use their gifts in combat, and even to kill if necessary - something hitherto forbidden to a Sunrunner. Devr'im also developed the faradhi technique of shape-shifting, an illusion they wrap around themselves to change their outward appearance. Devr'im are also identified in several cases to be diarmadhi. The Old Blood in them helps them to use their gifts to construct the ros'slath and protect the faradhi participants from iron piercing the constructed wall. Devr'im are also the only faradhi that are permitted the use of dranath, an addictive drug that enhances gifts and cures the Vellanti'm plague.
• Teacher/Master/Master Physician: These are the trainers of young Sunrunners. After Andry became Lord of Goddess Keep the position of Master Physician was created to teach and administer the Healing Arts. This was done after an incident involving a Sunrunner who accidentally killed a wealthy merchant, Master Thacri. Cabar, prince of Gilad, and Andry fought over jurisdiction to punish the faradhi and when they appealed to Rohan to decide, he took the decision from them based on the fact they both had equal claims of jurisdiction. Rohan and Sioned then used this incident to establish the Physicians school in Gilad.
• Second Steward of Goddess Keep: This steward takes care of the everyday running of the Keep and does not have to be a Sunrunner nor one in training.

• Man-making or Woman-making Night: The night after the reception of the first ring - for Calling Fire - the Sunrunner is cloaked in darkness and visited by trained Sunrunners of the opposite gender in order to learn the pleasures of the flesh and the joy and light experienced in the bedroom. The faradh'im wear no rings, cannot speak, and can only feel a vague male or female form in the darkness. One of the lessons learned in this ritual is the difference between bed sport and love, the latter being much preferred. This ritual enables the Sunrunner to visit the Mantree or Womantree. The visiting faradh'i must wear at least six rings. Precautions are taken to ensure no child is born of this night.
• Faces in Fire: In a grove near Goddess Keep there is a spring surrounded by five pine trees. Each tree represents Child, Maiden/Youth, Woman/Man, Mother/Father, and Hag/Graybeard, respectively. Sunrunners go to this grove in the hope of seeing a vision of their future. They approach in the nude and kneel before the trees. They take Water from the spring and offer it to the appropriate trees. For example, the morning after the woman-making night, the Sunrunner offers the Water to the Child, Maiden, and Woman trees. She then calls Fire, blows Air onto it, and cuts a piece of her hair to represent Earth. She concentrates on the Womantree with her hands in the Water. The Sunrunner's reflection stares back at her, then the Fire leaps and reveals an older version of the Sunrunner. Often the Fire will flare again to reveal the face of the man with whom she will spend her life. However, these visions given by the Goddess can be changed as they can be warnings as well as promises.
• Court Sunrunners: A Sunrunner who has earned six often is appointed to a Court by the Lord/Lady of Goddess Keep. These Court Sunrunners act as communication beacons and are also seen as symbols of prestige to the Lord whose Court houses one. After gathering and sharing information as at a court, a Sunrunner can return to Goddess Keep and either continue their training or help as needed around the keep.
• Itinerant Sunrunners: A Sunrunner who travels from place to place, working as needed. These Sunrunners have at least five faradh'i rings, so that they can use both sunlight and moonlight to communicate and perform other duties that befit a Sunrunner.