The Caspanas Curse
It originates from the times of the warring gods. One such god, Duana, cursed her herd in hopes it would help them survive the attack from an enemy god. However, the war ended before this scenario came to pass and the curse remained. Its function is to give those who died before their time a second chance, reviving them and healing their body. In order to properly fight back and not just die again instantly, the curse also grants the bearer a higher capacity to use magic, especially directly after awaking from it.
It is a hereditary curse, passed down from parent to child as long as the other parent doesn't carry different magic in them. Fae, demons and chimera blood would make the curse non-functional, as the horse being mortal is a pre-requisite for the curse's spell to activate.
Caution!
Only characters from the Derenta faction are aware of the entirety of the information on this page. Characters from other factions are not knowledable of the curse's details, not even those from the Heranor family!
Index
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Initiation Magic
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Magic Capacity
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Specialisation
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The Night Form
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Fangs
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Curse Covering
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Soul Fissures
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Eyes
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Longer Life Expectancy
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Hunting Drive
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Feyness
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Inheretability
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High Risk Pregnancy
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Prejudices
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Genocide
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Features (overview)
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Initial burst of extremely powerful magic for the first few weeks
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General higher magic capacity
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Different appearance at night (unsettling to look at)
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void-black coat and mane/tail
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colourful "markings" in shifitng hues of one or two colours
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glowing eyes
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fangs
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Hunting Drive
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Feyness
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Twice the initial life expectancy
Magic
Initiation Magic
Due to not knowing what the cursed horses could die from, Duana made it so that the initial magic granted to them would be enormous enough to reverse any and all possible causes of death. For example, being reduced to ash would take about half of that magic to be made whole again, while dying from a stab wound would only use 1/20 of that magic.
Due to this huge redundancy in available magic, the curse bearer will be able to perform almost god-like feats of magic during the first few weeks after their curse awakes, until this initial magic—also referred to as initiation magic—is used up. The lighter the cause of death, the more of that magic will be available and the longer it lasts. However, it is only an initial boost, and not permanent. Magic levels will settle into a regular range once the initiation magic fades.
The increased magical capacity during the initiation phase also erases the need for more sustenance to uphold the magic demand physically since the body automatically repairs any physical damage it could take from it with the remaining initiation magic. While not able to bring someone back to life a second time, it is still capable of healing grave injuries a lot faster than usually possible. This disables the hunting drive for the entire initiation phase of the curse due to lacking demand during this time. After the initiation magic fades, the hunting drive will show itself to make sure the body can sustain the magic demand.
Magic Capacity
Even after the initiation magic fades, curse bearers will be able to use magic greater than they ever would have been able to as rootkin. While their magic is intended to be able to kill fae, it is still not fully on the level of a magically capable fae. However, when classified for Magic Academies and other legalities requiring an estimation of maximum magic capacity, they are usually registed as faekin anyway.
Specialisation
When the curse awakes, the death cause commonly is in the past, so after the body is reformed and brought back to life, no further action is required by the curse itself.
However, there is also the situation where the peril leading to the death remains even after the curse awoke. This usually happens in perilious environments (area on fire, buried in an avalanche, etc.) or when the individual in question is under direct attack. When this happens, the initiation magic shifts into survival mode and automatically aligns the individual's magic capabilities with a magic skillset most guaranteed to survive the situation. This alignment of the initiation magic with a certain skillset creates a power imbalance with other skills the individual is capable of or may develop later. The result of it is referred to as specialisation.
It allows the individual to use a stronger version of the specialised magic skill than they would normally be able to use, but at the cost of any other skills being weaker than they usually would be if the specialisation hadn't occurred.
The amount magic permanently allotted to the specialised skill depends on how serious the perilious situation was and what sort of skill it is. Complex skills like "shapeshifting" usually take a large amount of magic, reducing all other magic skills to mere rootkin levels of capability. Simpler specialisations, like the manipulation of an element to escape a perilious environment, do not require a huge amount of magic, leaving an individual with only a minor magic allotment imbalance.
Restoration
When the curse awakes, any damage that led to death is fully reversed. Older injuries are also erased, leaving the body in a pristine state, free of scars or lingering harm. However, the curse does not alter the body’s original composition. Traits determined at birth—such as fur colouring, body structure, or other inherent features—remain unchanged.
Because of this, any alterations made before the curse awakes, such as tattoos or other physical modifications, disappear as well. In contrast, conditions present from birth are unaffected and will persist after the curse's awakening. This also includes physical disabilities, such as a crippled limb, blindness, deafness, mutism, etc.
Physical Changes
Despite being the most recognisable trait of the Caspanas curse, the “Night Form” is not a true physical transformation. The only real change is the temporary fangs the curse grants at night. Everything else is an illusion created by the curse’s spell, which is powerful enough to visually alter the equine’s appearance. It is only visible at night because the curse, as a spell made up of purely dark magic, is strongest at night time.
Not even Aos Sí can see through this magic, which has led to the common misconception that the entire change is physical rather than an exceptionally strong illusion. If a hair were plucked from a cursed equine at night, it would actualy appear in its natural daytime colour the moment it is separated from the body—rather than looking like the void-black coat or the unnatural-coloured markings seen during the night.
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The combination of looking at raw dark magic and the bare soul causes the uncanny valley effect and usually invokes instinctive terror upon first seeing it. Most react with a fight/flight/freeze response to the sight. Only those used to it or those logically prepared for what they're looking at are be able to suppress that instinctive response.
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The change from night and day form occurs at sunrise and sunset and it visually looks like a shadow overtakes the curse bearer or gets stripped from them from front to back. Consult the graphic for a visualisation.
The fangs are the only physical change to the body at night. Their purpose is to supply the increased magical demand of the curse through hunting. The natural canines lengthen and sharpen, and an additional pair of teeth forms between the incisors and the canines, resulting in four extra fangs overall. These teeth are specialised for gripping, tearing, and quickly killing prey.
The Night Form
Fangs
Curse Covering ("Black" coat)
The coat of a Caspanas appears void-black, so dark it seems to swallow all light. This is not a true colouration, but rather the visible manifestation of the curse itself. As a form of dark magic, the curse's spell pattern manifests itself as darkness that does not allow light to exist within it. This outer layer is therefore not a natural coat, but raw magic covering the body. Gazing upon raw magic is uncanny in its own right and often triggers a fight or flight response in unprepared onlookers.
The only coloured parts on a cursed equine appear as strange “markings,” though they are not actual discolourations. They are fissures in the curse’s void-black outer layer through which the individual’s soul becomes visible.
Seeing a soul in its raw form evokes the same uncanny, disorienting feeling as witnessing a will-o’-wisp. Souls are not meant to be perceived directly. When exposed, they appear ever-shifting and usually cycle between one or two coloured hues, which contributes further to the unsettling effect.
Because magic does not follow physical patterns, these fissures form unpredictably and are unique to each individual. They most commonly take the shape of swirls, dots, slash-like lines, or larger patches of colour on areas such as the ear tips, muzzle, or legs. Their edges may appear soft or sharply defined depending on how thickly the curse covers that area and how clearly the soul can show through. Since the soul’s light must force its way through the curse’s darkness to be seen at all, these fissures do not glow and instead appear as simple colouration.
The soul fissures are essential to anchor the curse itself onto the individual, so every Caspanas has them. The mane and tail, however, always remain purely black at night. The reasoning to that is unknown but it is theorised that it serves as a form of camouflage and that these parts are therefore anchored as set points where the soul's shine cannot penetrate.
The eyes are the only part of the body where the soul always shines through. Because sight depends on light, the curse’s spell matrix never covers them, leaving the iris unobstructed. As a result, the soul shows most clearly in the eyes, producing a faint glow and granting heightened senses, including functional night vision.
blue-hued soul appearance
pink-orange-hued soul fissure appearance
Soul Fissures (Markings)
Eyes
Longer Life Expectancy
The curse, upon awaking, grants the bearer twice of their remaining life span. For example, if someone is estimated to live for another 50 years, they will now live for another 100 years.
However, this mechanic can also come with its downsides, especially when the curse awakes in someone young. The body starts physically aging at half the pace the moment the curse awakes, while the mind ages the same as the actual age. So if someone had their curse awake as a 4-year-old child, then by the time they are 18 years old, they would look like they're 11 years old physically. While mentally an adult with their 18 years of life, it would still take another 14 years at that point until their body would look like that of an adult.
Psychological Changes
Hunting Drive
To make sure the formerly rootkin body can sustain the higher magic demand, the hunting drive shows itself after the initiation magic fades. The more magic the curse bearer uses, the stronger the urge to hunt will become. If hunting is put off for too long it can have mental consequences, driving them insane like a withdrawal, which can express itself in violent tendencies—especially snapping and biting. While eating enough fresh meat helps lower the urgency of it, the instinct to catch something with their bare teeth remains. It is recommended to go hunting every two to three days at the very least in order to keep it in check.​
Most of the violent and nightmarish prejudices connected to the curse likely stem from a curse bearer's hunting urge getting out of control.
Feyness
The curse grants the bearer fey features besides the higher magic capacity—one could call this the downside to the curse. They gain all sensitivities and restrictions fae also have—like the prominent feature of iron burning them when touched. Some mannerisms like uncanny instinctual noises also add themselves to their repertoire, as well as a general eeriness to them overall.​
Procreation
Inheritability
The Caspanas curse cannot be transferred through bites, rituals, or other means. The only way for it to appear is through inheritance from at least one parent who carries the curse.
However, inheritance is only possible in rootkin equines. The curse was originally developed for rootkin horses—individuals without fae or demon blood and without chimeric elements—and it cannot properly manifest in other bloodlines. As a result, only rootkin offspring are capable of inheriting it.
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Crosses that can inherit the Caspanas curse:
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curse bearer x curse bearer
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curse bearer x rootkin horse
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curse bearer x rootkin zebra
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curse bearer x rootkin donkey
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Crosses that cannot inherit the Caspanas curse:
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curse bearer x fae
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curse bearer x demon
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curse bearer x chimera
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curse bearer x mixed blood (rootkin + any of the above)
High Risk Pregnancy
Any mare carrying a foal that bears the Caspanas curse is considered a high-risk pregnancy. Due to the curse’s nature of reviving the cursed individual and amplifying their magical strength, a foal that dies in the womb would undergo this process as well.
However, an unborn foal is not yet developed enough to survive independently. If the curse revives it in this state, the restoration of life and the accompanying surge of mana occur while it remains confined within the mother's womb. The sudden regeneration and violent increase in magical output frequently rupture the uterus and surrounding organs, causing catastrophic internal injuries. In most cases this results in the death of both mother and foal.
For this reason, abortions are widely regarded as a death sentence and must never be performed on a pregnancy suspected to carry the curse.
Once the foal has reached a stage at which it can survive outside the womb, the greatest danger becomes keeping it within the uterus after revival. Immediate induced labour or emergency surgical delivery may allow both mare and foal to survive if performed quickly enough.
​Since the curse does not awaken following a natural death, a fetus that dies in the womb through natural causes does not revive. This includes cases where the pregnancy fails because of complications affecting either the fetus or the mare, such as illness, placental failure, or severe physiological stress. Once the death has been confirmed, the fetus can be removed safely.
Cultural Significance
Prejudices
Despite what it might look like in Derenta, the Caspanas curse is actually quite rare. Due to the sparsity of recorded cases and the resulting lack of ability to properly educate oneself on the topic, many prejudices have formed over the centuries. The most prevalent ones are the following:
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Caspanas are demons
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Caspanas eat children
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Caspanas are changeling children
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Caspanas are inherently violent, evil creatures
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Caspanas can eat your soul
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Their markings are trapped souls of the creatures they killed
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Caspanas pretend to be normal during the day to lure victims
Most of these beliefs originate from superstition rather than documented behaviour. Due to the rarity of confirmed Caspanas cases, fear has often filled the gaps left by missing knowledge, allowing exaggerated tales and bedtime stories to shape public perception far more than factual observation ever has.
Genocide
In 1308 A.W., on the Summer Solstice, a fire destroyed most of Cellaryre, the palace of Monabur. Hundreds perished within the palace walls, among them the crown prince, Draco Caelion Fintan Astralis.
The surviving Princess Preciosa Astralis declared that her brother had not died in the fire, but had been assassinated during it by an unknown equine. Reports of a void-like creature seen at the scene shortly afterwards further fuelled suspicion.
Following an anonymous tip, the suspected killer was identified as an individual bearing the Caspanas curse. In response, the king issued the Caspanas Execution Order, declaring that any individual bearing the curse must be apprehended and publicly executed to prevent further tragedies.
Your Character
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If your character is a curse bearer, then they will have been brought up in Derenta and therefore have learned all the information on this page
- If your character is NOT a curse bearer and they do not live in Derenta, then solid information of the curse is very sparse!
- A lot of misinformation and prejudices have started spreading about the nature of the curse after the "Caspanas Execution order" was established in 1308 A.W. in Koruna, so if your character knows about the curse, it will very likely be this false information.
- Even older depictions of the curse before 1308 A.W. have not shown the curse in the best light, so whatever you find has a lot of stigma and exaggerations surrounding it.
- Even the Heranor family is not as educated on the curse as this page is and they only know the very basics.
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Caspanas characters are limited to the Derenta faction!
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Do NOT create a curse bearer for other factions unless you have unlocked a rare character slot and received permission!
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Your character will have been born in Derenta! While adding outsiders to their numbers is possible, it is a rare occurence at this point.
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Your character can only have rootkin design specifications for their day form. Unnatural colours, except for the eyes, do not occur!
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Additional features like wings, horns or fins of course do NOT occur either.
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- A maximum of two distinctly different colour hues is allowed for the night form markings (soul fissures).
- A third hue that bridges the gap between the two hues is allowed as long as it harmonises colour-wise.
- Example: using violet as a bridge between hot pink and a bluish purple.
- They constantly shift colour, so colours don't stay locked in the same place. Patterns within the soul fissures (markings) are not possible.
- Soul fissures (markings) can only occur on the body itself and never in the mane or tail.
- A third hue that bridges the gap between the two hues is allowed as long as it harmonises colour-wise.
- The eyes are the same colour as the soul and glow.
- Two hues can be expressed with a gradient or with heterochromia.
- Your character will have a hunting drive that needs to be accomodated! Just eating more meat alone won't satisfy it. Going hunting every 2-3 days is recommended, otherwise it could cause mental issues and express itself in violent tendencies.
- This trait can become dangerous in areas where hunting cannot easily be accomodated.
- For detailed design specifications, as well as examples of what not to do, please consult the Night Form Design Tutorial.