Yirsi

The Yirsi are the national race of Anglunia. They are descendants from the Hyakki. Long ago, they settled on the peninsula of Mirau, specifically in the region of Nefelis. Yirsi are a blue kind of elf, with white or blue hair. Their eye colour is usually red or blue, but due to intermixing, there are some Yirsi with green and brown eyes. For example, Yinower Delas-Nuwan and his descendants have green eyes because of their human blood.

Migration
The Yirsi of Anglunia are descendants of the Hyakki, who travelled north through Rathnir and settled on the continent of Astios. There the Yirsi differentiated from the Hyakki, some developing blue hair and red eyes, and then travelling to the east and eventually settling in Mirau.

The Ice Elves migrated in one large group, of around a thousand men, women and children, first landing next to a settlement known as the Black Citadel, inhabited by an old wizard named Morgrend. Morgrend was a powerful master of the Arcane Arts, that resided in the Black Citadel before the arrival of the Yirsi.

Morgrend
As the newcomers were just around the corner, the dark servants of Morgrend saw them coming, and they alerted their master. Morgrend was pleased, as he found great specimens for his experiments, that were not human, but descendants of the Rathnirian elves. At first, he presented himself as a grand lord, fashioning a court, servants turned from foul beasts into men and women of noble standing, and invited the ice elves into his dominion, promising them lands if they would come and work them.

The Yirsi could not be happier, after so many years of searching for a home, they've found it. They preferred snowy, colder environments, such as tundras and taigas, so Morgrend settled them near the snowy mountains of Mount Arros, south Nefelis. Each and every night he would steal children and women from the Yirsi to use them for his horrible dark experiments.

Pretending to be a good lord, he said to them that other humans are around here, bandits that came from the south, who would steal women and children. The Yirsi marched with an army of their own to fight those humans, and after being utterly defeated, they returned and found out the truth: as Morgrend was standing to wait them, with his army of dark beasts, showing a siniter grin then laughing loudly, he would take them prisoners into the deepest parts of the Black Citadel, where they were put to work to exhaustion or used to different experiments. A hatred grew in them, one that they never felt before.

The Yirsi were known as proud warriors but peaceful in nature and jolly yet here, into the bowels of the earth, Morgrend sparkled in them a true hatred. The Yirsi plotted their revenge for fifty years, and one day, they were ready. A rebellion started, and they were almost defeated if not for a young blacksmith who had found Morgrend's black tome, and used it to forge a deadly spearmade of divine metal that came from the sky, and called it Yirsi Yakkai (The Promise of Ice). They defeated Morgrend, and upon encircling him to give the final blow. All of them, in a choir, chanted "MORGREND, MORGREND, MORGREND!” From that day onward, Morgrend was not just a name, but a word, meaning "revenge". The Yirsi, peaceful warriors before meeting Morgrend, never even had the word Morgrend in their language. They would face the harshness of this world, nature's caprice, but not the evil of men that evil has shown them an ugly face of reality. The word Morgrend is not thrown around easily, only being used when a life must be taken for a score to be settled. Otherwise, it's a bad omen to use it lightly. Later, the word "Morgrend" would fuse with the Ice Elven word "Aeyya" (Beauty), forming a horrible malformation of a word: "Morgreyya". This word was engraved on a stone in Arador, where Panorh Panheddas-Penhator found it before the construction of his city.

Dispersal
The Yirsi had won over their great oppressor and started settling cities around Mirau. Notable settlements include Rezuraia, Isaz and Alunthaya (which would later turn into Lynnburg). They lived a peaceful existence, until humans came from the north, attacking through the fort Arrowfell and slowly but surely conquering Mirau. The Yirsi were dispersed from their cities, forced to lead a nomadic existence, roaming through the cold taiga of Yirsaad.

In Yirsaad, many ice elves befriended a mysterious race known as the Bellatar, a group of monks who lived high on Mount Arros, their name meaning "Cloud Strider" in Yirsi'tal. Ancient legends told of wizards who had such control over the air that they could lift themselves off the ground and fly. Nobody knows the source of their power. They intermixed with the Yirsi, and now their descendants, who branched off, are also Yirsi.

The Blizun, a Yirsi clan of the region of Yirsaad, had a claim to Isaz that dated back thousands of years. After years of oppression by humans, being hunted and being forced to lead a nomadic existence, they took back what was theirs. One hundred years they prepared, gathering warriors, uniting the clans of Yirsi. The clans of Nuwan, Rezuraia, Vindya and Betal'lan all came together to take back what was once theirs: Isaz. A long war between the humans and Yirsi led to devastation within the lands, but a victory for the Yirsi. They had taken back what was once theirs. Isaz from then on was ruled by House Blizun.

Gnome War
In the east, in the lands of Phoenix, there was a race known as the Gnome race. It is unknown how this came to be, but for some reason there was a conflict between the Yirsi of Isaz and Yirsaad and the Gnomes. This war, which lasted a long time, led to years of oppression by the Gnomes toward the Yirsi. They were cast as slaves, forced to do labour in the sand mines, horrible places for Yirsi.

Years of hard labour made the Yirsi strong and fierce, opposed to the peaceful race they were long ago. They had gained hatred for the ones who oppressed them: Morgrend, gnomes, for some still humans. They cast off their chains and rebelled against their oppressors once again and freed themselves.

Biology
Yirsi are tall thin humanoids with blue skin and typically silver or blue hair. The most common eye colour is blue with red appearing in some rare mutations. The typical height range is 1.85m to 1.93m for women and 1.88m to 1.98m for men.

Yirsi blood contains a naturally occurring antifreeze protein. Consistent contact with the cold will increase the quantity of this protein in the blood while rarely experiencing near freezing temperatures will decrease the amount found in the blood. Yirsi skin also has cold resistant properties being thicker than human skin and conduct very little heat meaning their skin feels colder than the skin of humans. However getting cold is still an unpleasant experience for Yirsi as it not only leads to numbness but the body also stiffens and muscles become temporarily rock like because of a protein released when specific cells break down. The cell membranes of these cells rupture when they become cold leading to the release of the protein. This protein breaks down when the body warms back up again. When this protein is active muscle will be separated from the rest of the body where it will then twitch helping the body stay warm. In prolonged periods of cold they will curl up into a ball placing their head near their torso. This results in much of the body becoming frozen but the vital organs will remain undamaged, though their core temperature can get as low as 283k. If the environment warms or they are rescued a Yirsi will survive uninjured. However once they have fully entered this state they are unable to naturally survive for more than a few days, during which their pulse will slow to only a few beats per minute and they will enter a form of hibernation. If their core temperature drops below freezing death is certain. In some Yirsi clans weathering a day of extreme cold is considered a rite of passage, in which they will go naked into a blizzard. While such exposure would certainly kill a human or most other sapients, it is very rare for a Yirsi to die of it especially of cold.

Yirsi metabolism is higher than that of humans as a defence mechanism against the cold, this means that Yirsi rarely gain fat though still have the ability to quickly gain muscle. In fact freezing and thawing of the body leads to increased muscle mass because of the recycling of the muscle isolation protein.

Yirsi hair has more empty space than human hair and when in freezing temperatures the pili muscles will pull the hairs closer together to form a insulative lattice. The hair is somewhat harder than human hair which is one of the reasons that the majority of Yirsi have somewhat longer hair than the average human.

Being taller than humans, Yirsi are usually more massive. The average Yirsi woman has a mass of between 64.8kg and 76kg. The average man has a mass between 68kg and 83kg. They are however more slender than the average human. There are many places on their bodies where their bones have very little mass between them and their skin.

Yirsi life expectancy is typically around 250 however it is fairly common for those involved to dynastic struggles to to not get to 100. Yirsi become adults at around 18 years old and typically start puberty in their early teens. While Yirsi hair is usually greyish it will become more so as they age. Old age is accompanied with a very slight shrinking though not as much as humans. Because of the thickness of their skin wrinkles and many other signs of old age are far less apparent with Yirsi not visibly aging until they are 200 years old. Typically the best way to tell a Yirsi's age is via subtle skin differences such as tone, freckles and their voice. For male Yirsi facial hair only becomes significant after they reach at least 60 years old with large beards being rare until 100.

Yirsi bones are more dense than those of humans however are thinner containing more bone marrow. This increase in bone marrow allows for a faster production of blood cells. Platelet production is especially increased which leads to faster clotting which is useful for surviving injuries in cold environments. The Yirsi liver is proportionately larger than that of humans as it frequently has to produce anti-freeze proteins and other thermal defense proteins along with recycling the proteins. Yirsi blood is a rich blue colour, because of high quantities of Methemoglobinemia, which results in their skin becoming more blue when blushing or when bruised. The gene for blue blood is recessive meaning that half Yirsi do not have blue blood. The gene for pointed ears is dominant and so those with even a little Yirsi blood will have them.

Being significantly taller than humans Yirsi have a strengthened spine with more vertebrae which are wider. This along with increased back muscles lead to high amounts of mobility. However cartilage wear can be a problem for Yirsi especially after entering freeze hibernation. These back pains effect even the young however the cartilage does regenerate slowly.

Yirsi vision is specialized for both low light and highly reflective environments, along with being able to see a slightly higher range of colours than humans, being able to adjust their eyes incredibly quickly. Their eyes are also adapted for the cold and they have thicker eyelids than humans.

Yirsi are typically born at an average mass of 5 kg and have a protective layer of flesh that is a mixture of fat and muscle which protects them from the cold. This layer is typically gone by 3 years old as it impedes movement. The remnants of this reinforce the skin in older Yirsi. Occasionally it does not completely disappear and leads to some parts of the body having thick(1-1.2cm) armoured skin.