Caspana Curse

General Information

In the last few moons of the war of the gods, one sole goddess of darkness, by the name of Duana, cursed her herd with a unique curse unlike any other. It later got called the Caspana Curse, while the name Caspana is an abbreviation to the core words of the curse's spell:

Cerenailja’t Aos Sí Peres Arensis Nora’u Alidou.

After the war ended and Duana was disbanded from her land, the curse kept slumbering in the herd members, waiting to awake upon an unfortunate death.

Within the following centuries, the curse slowly spread in Mereldia, though no one can say how much.

The curse is easily recognised by its unique way of bringing the bearer back to life, which actually is something that goes against the laws of magic itself, for the dead cannot come back. In order to do this, the curse transforms the body of the mortal into that of a fae. Unable to bear this overwhelming amount of magic power, which a fae possesses, the body of the mortal is from then on forced to shift into a form at night, that looks drastically different from their day appearance. A black base coat with markings of all different forms and varieties, but unique to oneself still. Those markings represent the curse bearer's very soul and being. Additionally to this, their mane and tail, as well as their hooves, change to a black colour. This is due to the curse being pure dark magic. To prevent such a dark power from blackening the cursed one's soul, it blackened their looks instead, with only the soul itself shimmering through in the form of the markings and the glowing eyes of the same colour. The colour of the markings at the same time is the colour of one's soul. What it means and stands for depends on the cursed one's interpretation of this specific colour.

Since the curse changes one's body from a mortal one to a fae one, one also gains the quirks of one. This, for example, would be the possession of fangs, which's visibility are forced in the night form and choosable in the day form. They are made for hunting and also the cursed one's protection.

The downside of having attained a fae body is the sensibility towards iron. It burns one's skin like acid and is highly toxic for every fae and therefore also for Caspanas.

One of the most remarkable features of the curse is that it strengthens the bearer's magic and enables them to accomplish feats they would have not been able to do as a mere mortal. More on that later though.

The Unawoken Stage

In this stage, the curse is not active, which means that the horse who bears it is still mortal. It is absolutely impossible to detect the unawoken curse in a horse if you are a mortal. Only other Caspanas are able to tell if a mortal has the Caspana curse as well. It is a complicated procedure though.

Most mortals are unaware of their possession of the curse, which is why it is impossible to tell how far spread the curse really is. Regardless of being able to tell or not to tell if one has the curse, it is common for those, that bear the curse, to show a just slightly stronger connection to their physical element. So if a filly, for example, likes to play in the water a lot, it can be said that she has an affiliation to water and that she will become a water mage if she chooses the path of magic. But since this is a common way of discerning one's magic, it cannot be used to test if one bears the Caspana curse or not.

The Death

While not completely counting as a stage of its own, it still is important to mention how a Caspana can die and how the curse awakens from it.

Basically, every sort of death is able to awaken the curse, every sort but the death of old age. This is due to the curse depending on the body's natural magic. As we all know, magic is the life source of every living being. Without magic, it dies. One dies a natural death if the magic source has gone dry. The curse needs the magic that is left from the magic source to activate, so if there is no magic left, it cannot awaken.

The most common death cause is murder, but also poisoning, suicide, being burned, drowned, and so on are possible death scenarios. Basically every death that does not cause the magic source to run dry.

When death comes upon the individual, the curse prevents the soul from leaving the body and at the same time chains it into an inactive state while the body is transformed to one of a fae. Since this is a process that under different circumstances would drive one mad, the soul is unchained by the curse after the transformation is complete. The Caspana then will awake only when the soul is set into the body again.

This process takes a few minutes up to one hour, depending on the damage of the body. If the damage is huge, more time is needed to regrow missing body parts and essential organs in a considerably rapid speed.

Most would think that it would be it once the Caspana wakes up again, but really this is just the beginning.

The Initiation Stage

After the curse awoke, the Caspana immediately enters the initiation stage. This stage is named after the so-called initiation magic which the cursed one possesses right after their awakening. This magic is a rest magic from the curse itself. One can imagine that both the process of fixing up lethal injuries perfectly and transforming the body into the one of a fae at the same time requires an immense amount of magic. To ensure that really every death cause can be healed and the horse be transformed to a fae, the curse comes naturally with a godly amount of magic which would put an S-Class mage to shame.

Depending on the death cause and therefore the amount of the body that has to be fixed, a certain amount of magic is left in the body from the awakening. Those who have died of minor injuries (being hanged, poisoned, frozen, drowned, etc.) usually have over half of this magic still left. Magic is an evanescent power though. It cannot be collected or stored, so the initiation magic, may it be as godly as it is, will also fade. When there are insanely big amounts, it usually takes one moon or up to one and a half moon until all of it is gone. At other times, when the injuries have been more severe and the amount of magic used therefore has been bigger, only about a quarter or less is left of this magic, making it fade away more quickly at a time of a few weeks at most. When the death cause was something like being beheaded or crushed (by a rock, a big fall, etc.), then the amount of magic needed to revive the body is so big, that almost no initiation magic is left at all.

While the freshly awoken Caspana has the initiation magic in their more or less control, they possess a next to divine power. They still can do nothing that goes against the laws of magic or do as impossible things as to move a mountain or the sea, but their powers are still very remarkable and in that sense also dangerous. Most of the time they don't have any practice with magic before their awakening and therefore they can cause all kinds of chaos and destruction when they're not being careful.

The Post-Initiation Stage

When people think of Caspanas, then usually the first thing that comes to mind is a gory image of a horse that mauls innocent people for their own sick amusement. While this is not the entire truth, this prejudice still has some true things to it and all of them have to do with this very stage of a Caspana's life.

After the initiation magic disappears, the godly protection one had while possessing it, is also gone. This leaves a fae with a mortal mind. An almost paradox combination.

The instincts of the fae body, who were uncovered more and more during the fading of the initiation magic, start to take control. It is not like they will appear from one day to the next, but it's a process of the instincts getting worse. The instincts to hunt, kill and maul, are the strongest of those instincts. The Caspana will find themselves questioning their morals a lot during the initiation phase, getting phases of thinking lowly of mortals and wanting to just get rid of them, before snapping back almost instantly and fighting against those urges, since it goes against their still mortal morals. Those phases still happen in the post-initiation stage, but now it is harder to snap out of them.

Fae are beings that depend on magic to live. In contrary to mortals, they need a bigger amount of it though. The Caspana, therefore, finds itself running out of magic very quickly when they stick to their previous plan of getting energy. In other words, they have to change their diet. In order to uphold the amount of magic they need, they are required to eat a lot of protein. Otherwise, they die. If someone refuses such a diet or does not eat enough meat, their instincts will overwhelm them, making the hunger of meat an unbearable urge. This can drive the Caspana insane to the point where they might even attack loved ones and resort to cannibalism. Therefore it is important to make enough meat available for a Caspana in this phase.

The Awoken Stage

Generally, after awaking from their death, the Caspana is in the awoken stage. There is no name for a stage after the Post-Initiation stage, so the time after it is usually just referred to the fully-awoken stage.

Some Caspanas never get out of the Post-Initiation Phase, which are those that are more ferocious and easier to anger than most others.It depends on the person and on life circumstances most of the time if they come out of the Post-Initiation Stage or not. If one decides to succumb fully to the ferocious instincts, one poses a danger to everyone around them.

Most Caspanas find back to a more or less normal life after passing the Post-Initiation Stage so that it is even possible to trick normal people and act like they would be one of them.

They still need to eat meat because they require the protein and energy of it to uphold their magic and therefore to stay healthy. If a Caspana stops eating meat, then the first signs will show after as early as five days with irritation, increased brutality and mood swings. It will get critical after ten days, when they start to physically crave meat and therefore snap after everything their subconscious makes out as food. If a Caspana then holds up another week, they are at the point, where they would willingly harm loved ones to get meat. During those three weeks, the Caspana will also have become visibly thinner, since the magic will then take all other available ressources the body has stored. It will physically starve the Caspana, no matter how much non-carnivorious things they eat.

What might sound like an addiction is actually a necessary, life-conserving part of the diet! No Caspana is an exception to that. When a Caspana doesn't eat meat for a whole moon, they will die.

Also keep in mind that hunting is as important as the meat itself. Their urge to kill has to be satisfied, otherwise it could lead to accidental brutality.

Stages of the Curse

Most people, who have heard something about the Caspana Curse but have not experienced it with their own eyes, think the curse to only have two stages. The unawoken stage and the awoken stage. While this technically is true, there are two more stages that follow after the awakening itself: The initiation stage and the post-initiation stage. Especially the latter is the cause for the Caspanas' bad reputation throughout Mereldia. Let us start at the beginning though.

Breeding, Pregnancy and Motherhood

Caspanas are no witless animals. There are no specific rituals that have to be followed. Despite the seemingly minuscule difference to how a normal child is raised, there are things that are worth noting when it comes to a pregnant mare or a mare who already has given birth to a foal.

The foal of a Caspana will bear the unawoken curse and will be born as a normal mortal, despite its mother having a fae body. The curse can only be inherited when at least one parent bears the curse - it doesn't matter if it is awoken or not - and the other parent either does too or if they are a mortal. A cross of anything else will prevent the curse to function because it is programmed to transform a mortal body into a fae body. If the body is not "mortal", it cannot work. Please note that we speak of usual people without any special magical or other supernatural abilities (or extra appendages like for example wings) here when we say "mortal". The term does not refer to all beings mortal since also chimaeras like pegasi, some races of demons or even some fae are mortal in an ageing, lethal kind of term. Also Caspanas are mortal in that sense, though they, due to their increased magic power, live twice as long as a normal person would.

While the Caspana mare is pregnant with the foal it will need to be provided with enough magic (life energy per se) which it needs for its growth. Therefore the mare should prevent using her magic carelessly, since stripping the foal of it could hinder their development. Furthermore, it is important to be extremely careful when it comes to receiving blows on the belly. If the foal happens to die in the womb, it would already have its curse awoken then and would, therefore, rob the mother of her magic faster than she can recharge it, which in the end often results in both the mare and the unborn foal to die.

When the foal is born, it is recommended to stay as far away from the mare as possible. The strain of giving birth has cost her a great amount of strength and therefore magic. Additionally, the hormones drive her into an overly protective mood. She will protect her foal with everything she has and she will not let anyone come near her and her offspring for at least a few minutes. Only approach the mare if she allowed you to approach, otherwise, you might soon be missing an ear or two.

The protective manner of the mother cools down a little after a couple of hours so that she eventually will have a normal level of protectiveness for her child.

Fae Abilities

By gaining a fae's body, the Caspana automatically also gets access to a fae's abilities and features. There are a few every Caspana has in common and then there are more specific ones which only apply if one's fae side has unique abilities that come with it. But let's talk about the common abilities first.

Common Traits

There are certain abilities and features that are shared by each and every Caspana, which also happen to be traits of fae. These would be:

Fangs

Not longer canine teeth, but additional fangs in front of the canine teeth

Sensitivity towards Iron

It burns one's skin like acid does

Fae Voice

A magic voice which's purpose is protection in emergency situations. Those who hear it will deadly fear one immediately and run away. Doesn't work on other fae

Fast Healing

Injuries heal incredibly much faster than they normally would. They heal even faster than that at night. (they don't heal fully immediately, it takes a few hours for a small flesh-wound and a week for a broken bone to heal) Injuries caused by magic cannot heal on their own but have to be treated. Only injuries caused by magic can leave scars!

Feeling the Pull of Faerie

Also when much less strongly.

Telepathy

The ability to read someone else's mind when looking them into the eyes. This works without any needed pratice on mortals and with some practice also on mages, druids and even other Caspanas. To read a real fae's mind is very challenging though and only suceeds when one either has the ability to break a fae's mind shield (a lot of training is needed to erfect that) or if the fae allows it.

Specific Traits

The fae side of a Caspana is not the same for every cursed one since fae come in all variations and forms. So when a Caspana shows traits that are affiliated with a specific fae, then it is most likely that their fae side is also that fae. The stronger they feel a connection with it, personality-wise and power-wise, the more of the fae side's specific trait. It is always narrowed down to one trait only! Listed below are some traits that have occured over the years.

(Note to the Caspanas-RPG people who read this: please consult on specific fae traits with Lilafly first!)

Siren Voice

Gives one the voice of a siren. This means one can sing endlessly beautiful and charm men seemingly without any effort. Whatever one says, it is law for the men who are unfortunate enough to hear the siren voice. The use of the siren voice has to be trained, or in other words, the not-use of it has to be trained, since it often can happen that one shifts back and forth between one's normal voice and the siren voice without noticing.

This ability has only been seen on mares (of course) and also only on those that are either water mages or air mages.

Shapeshifting

One of the rarest traits to exist. While one can technically learn how to shapeshift, the natural gift for it surpasses this learnable ability by far. One's limits depend on the fae one most resembles and who one therefore got the ability from. After all, there are many different shapeshifters among the fae.

Cry of the Banshee

The banshee is a fae that wails when tragedies are about to happen. Her voice is very shrill and can even cause people who are too close by to go deaf. If a Caspana has this ability, they will only be able to use it in a moment of great distress. Using it on command is not possible for the Caspana.

Look and meaning

A Caspana changes their look when the sun crosses the horizon line, which means that they change at the beginning of the day and at the beginning of the night.

At daytime, you would not be able to tell a Caspana apart from a regular horse. They look completely natural and do not show any indication of bearing a curse.
Additional appendages like wings, horns, or anything that you would otherwise never see on a normal horse, will also never be seen on a Caspana. This is because those things are all trace of a fae heritage. Fae magic corrupts the curse so that it cannot function anymore. The same goes for the coloration. An unnatural coloration does also lead back to fae heritage. Caspanas have completely natural coat colours in their day form. Only the eye colours can be literally any colour.
A Caspana furthermore does not have a specific built. They can be any breed and any size since the curse is not genetic but magic. Any breed, size and shape of horse is possible!

example: Meredith (day look)

● any breed possible
● only natural colouration
● nothing a normal horse also would not have (wings, etc.)
● natural marking shapes only!
● specific breed colorations (genetics) are not important, things can be mixed
● eye colour can be anything

example: Meredith (night look)

Once the sun crosses the horizon line and night falls, the Caspana will change its look. Their coat, mane, tail and hooves become black, while unnatural coloured markings appear on the body. Those markings usually have unnatural shapes and 60% of the time they also fit the horse‘s magic by shape and colour. The latter does not always apply, though! The markings do at most take up 30% of the horse‘s body and, even while being of an unnatural colour, are nothing more but usual markings. They do not glow or hold any powers! But they do represent an image of the horse's soul.
What glows though are the eyes. They are always the same colour as the markings, just a little brighter, and they glow. With them, the Caspana is able to see in the dark (the glowing does not cause this but is just an optical feature).
Another optical change is the teeth. The Caspana gains fangs, which look like those of a demon and which can also be used this way. They are very useful in fights.

Apart from the optical difference to the day form, the Caspana also gains more physical strength when they are in their night form. Injuries also heal three times faster than at day time. This comes from a minor increase of magic. The curse is dark magic and therefore works best at night. This is also why the affected horses only change at night.
Once the sun rises, they change into their day form again. At that, they keep their magical abilities, fast healing, etc., but they do lose their night form and the little extra strength they gained at night.

● black coat, mane/tail & hooves
● unnatural coloured markings
● glowing eyes in the same colour as the markings (just a little brighter)
● additional fangs (not the canine teeth!)
● markings may take up at most 30% of the body
● more physical and magic strength at night
● injuries heal 10 times faster than at day

A Caspana changes their look once the sun crosses the horizon line in either direction. The change is always a flowing one. The previous form fades away in the direction of the tail. The change always starts at the front and flows over the body to the tip of the tail! There is NO exception for that from of changing! The whole transformation does not take more than three seconds at most.

change from night form to day form

change from day form to night form

Extra Facts

● black mane (can only be fully black, no strands allowed. Can't even be dyed because the change is caused by magic that just generates the same look, again and again, nothing can be changed on the look)
● fangs (the natural canine teeth are also longer and sharper so that there are two sets of fangs)
● black coat
● unnatural coloured markings with usually unnatural shapes (at most 30% of the body may be covered in those markings!)
● faint glowing eyes in almost the same colour as the markings, just a nuance brighter (make night-sight possible)
● A Caspana can get up to 150 years old. They age like every other person in Mereldia but stop ageing visually when they are 10. From then on they can decide whether they want to keep ageing visually or not.
● Other people regard them as monsters or demons. It is one of the prices to pay for the curse so that the first impression of common people with a cowardly heart will be consumed by their fear of them. Only the ones who are brave might come over their shock quicker and stay long enough to break the spell of fear. It is not just a prejudice or because Caspanas are meant to look a lot like demons. Even people who never saw demons or monsters before would fear them. When spending enough time with them though they might start to fear them less or even drop their fear of them eventually.

Important Information About Design Variations

There are some things you really have to keep in mind when designing a Caspana, since even just a little, seemingly unimportant thing, will play a big role in the character's story and behaviour. First off, the markings are not just plain old markings you slap on your horse to let it look good. The markings of a Caspana reflect their soul and therefore their entire being.

The normal case

In the normal case, the soul is balanced, which means that the markings are the same on both sides of the body and appear in a uniform colour.

- symmetrical markings (same on both sides)

- markings have the same colour

- eyes have the same colour

Split Personality / Personality Disorder

The soul expresses itself in the personality of a being. If one has a split personality or another kind of a personality disorder that afflicts them (mostly in a negative way), then the soul will not appear in a uniform colour but in two colours which represent the back and forth between the contradicting personalities. In the most cases in which this phenomenon appears, someone suppresses certain parts of their personality on purpose but know that they could also not live without those parts. While there are many personality disorders in existence, only those that can be characterized in a separation of one personality type versus the other, are resulting in this expression of markings. Each colour, therefore, mirrors one of the two personalities.

Even though the markings are two-toned they are still symmetrical!

- symmetrical markings (same on both sides)

- markings appear in two tones

the less the colours harmonise, the more severe

the personality disorder is

- eyes appear in two colours, either full

heterochromia or partial heterochromia

full heterochromia partial heterochromia

Unbalanced Soul

If a person has an unbalanced soul it can mean several different things. Regardless of the cause, an unbalanced soul always expresses itself through unsymmetrical markings, meaning that the markings are not the same on both sides of the body.

The first possibility is that they have a problem of deciding what to do with their lives. They are indecisive and often do not finish what they start, always jumping around all kinds of different things. Those individuals can very well have phases of enthusiasm for the things they do, but they very quickly jump back to just not caring enough and being irresponsible. This is most common for teenagers.

The second possibility is that one while having a talent for an element does not quite manage to connect with it. This often results in them using one of the other elements one can use, more than the actual element one is talented in.

The third possibility is that one is confused about the person they are. This might sound similar to a personality disorder, and the difference really is just slim, but there is a difference. This case here more refers to someone with amnesia, so that they know that they are lacking something, but cannot grasp what it is.

The fourth possibility is the loss of something or someone. Similar to amnesia, one has the feeling of having lost something. This often happens after either losing something of oneself (physical or emotional) or losing someone else important to one.

In all of those cases, the markings can still change themselves within the lifetime of a Caspana. If they manage to overcome their problems and therefore balance their soul out, their markings can change into symmetrical ones again.

- unsymmetrical markings (different on each side)

- markings have the same colour

- eyes have the same colour

Absolute Wreck (personality disorder + Unbalanced Soul)

In the rare case, that one has both a personality disorder and an unbalanced soul, the markings will be two-toned and also unsymmetrical. The conditions for that to happen are the same as the ones described in both cases above, just put together. Please keep in mind that a combination of both requires extreme conditions, so please don't just design your Caspana like this because you think it looks cool or nice. There has to be a real serious reason for your character to look like this. Put the character itself before the design!