Okonia

Description

While technically an Okonia may be made in any shape, they are typically carved into a humanoid form.  Okonia are made from gems, metals, or other types of stone.

Okonia are not so much born as their perspective is shifted. In this world, stone is sentient but it perceives itself as a continually shifting whole rather than as individual rocks. Making stone into an Okonia causes it to perceive the world in a more person-like way.

The transformation is rarely entirely successful. The Okonia have spent far longer as infinite stone than as an individual, and they still tend to judge their world from that perspective.  Okonia tend to use “we” as a personal pronoun as the concept of “I” is strange to them. The idea of gender is not particularly relevant to stone, so many Okonia are agender. Of course this varies from Okonia to Okonia, and their identities may shift as they settle into their new state of being.

Okonia do not age and can’t reproduce. An Okonia can make another Okonia, however.

History

The first Okonia were the Stone Judges who were created by the founder of the Trilith (the Great Smith) to fight a war. Hundreds were created from diamond, gold, and iron. All shared the same memories and acted with one mind.

After the war was won, several thought to copy what the Great Smith had created.  Many fine Okonia were made but none could replicate the shared co-consciousness of the Stone Judges. Making them into Okonia seemed to irrevocably separate them from the stone they came from.  Most Okonia makers gave up on the idea of recreating the Stone Judges, and switched focus to making the most individually perfect Okonia.

Most Okonia have been made in the Trilith, though over the years some have migrated to Khemet and the Grove.

Currently

While everyone considers Okonia to be “people”, most Enia and Mangaro find interacting with them difficult, or at least odd.

The Okonia are best integrated with society in the Trilith. This is most likely to do with the Trilith acceptance of the Okonia's differences, and not any effort by the Okonia to fit in.

In Khemet and the Grove, Okonia are rather rare and tend to stick out.