Banshees

Banshees are soulful creatures that posess a queer and specialized kind of empathy which allows them to detect illness and death in other beings. They are able to project their souls, and have minor magical abilities and foresight as well. Banshees appear completely human, though they are like the faes and have never been anything but magic-folk. (Because of this, they are unable to contract vampirism or lycanthropy and cannot reproduce with humans, witches, vampires, or werewolves.) The final definding trait of a banshee is psychic vampirism: they survive off of the life energy of others. Banshees were born of old gods, now long dead. Like their fae cousins, banshees were once immortal but their severed connection with their gods has forced them to taste mortality.

Physical Description
Common traits of banshees include: thick and unruly hair, possibly with reddish undertones; fair skin; freckles; pale eyes; and, heads that are typically longer than they are wide. A banshee will often exhibit at least one of these traits, if not all of them.

Diet
Sustenance, for a banshee, comes in the form of the life energy of others. They feed off the auras of other beings, absorbing their energy simply by being around them. (The being having their energy absorbed feels nothing.) This is called psychic vampirism, and requires close proximity to the food source (directly touching, or within three feet). In order for a banshee to remain healthy, they need to spend around three hours a day in the presence of others.

They cannot kill a person in this way, however they are able to absorb the entire life force of a person when they die, explaining the banshees' obsession with death. Banshees are unable to eat human food, and as a result produce no bodily waste.

Aging
Banshees live as long as 600 years, and after reaching puberty, physically age about 1 year for every 8 human years.

Views on Death
As banshees literally need death in order to survive, it has understandably become a very large part of their culture. Their fascination with death is something that only other banshees seem able to understand, and as a result this means they tend to spend a lot of time around one another. They tend to take up jobs where they can put themselves near the dead and dying as well- a hospital job for a banshee is a veritable smorgasbord.

Few will claim that they have unlocked the secrets as to what happens after death, however, there is one idea in banshee culture that is commonly accepted: after you die, there is nothing.

Thrill-seekers
Those that subscribe to the idea above tend to want to live life to its very fullest. Banshees will seek excitement in any form they possibly can in an effort to make every day unique and special. Of course, all banshees have their own preferences; they do not all share the same idea on what is fun and exciting.

Calm & Contained
The majority of banshees are very calm, contained, and professional when in the public eye or around those that they do not know. Very little seems to get under their skin and they always seem able to avoid causing offense; every situation appears to be under their control, or they have some way to regain composure should their hold on something begin to slip. For these reasons, it has become a widely-accepted idea to the more open-minded individuals of other races that if you want a job done right, you hire a banshee.

Personal Space Invaders
Although some are more conscious of this than others, most banshees tend to invade the personal space bubbles of others. They are often also extremely "handsy;" due to their specialized diet, they are often looking for ways to get their hands on you without your noticing.

Empathy
All banshees are able to sense illness and death in others, oftentimes before the victim comes to realize that there is something wrong with them. (This ability for them is very similar to that of certain animals, which can recognize when others are sick or are about to experience some sort of attack.) Their empathetic abilities do not extend beyond this; banshees cannot tell what others are feeling or thinking.

Foresight
Although certain banshees have the gift of foresight, they never 'see' too far and the future is never certain. This is a very valued ability to banshees in certain professions, however, as it is often reliable enough to detect when a person may die. This does not allow a banshee to see into someone's past, nor does it grant them ability to tell fortunes.

Disguise
Most banshees have the ability to magically shift their shape into that of a small animal, such as a crow or rat. They can never turn into anything larger than a house cat.

Astral Projection
Every banshee has the ability to project their soul out of their bodies, across space and time. In this form they may visit and even haunt other individuals, though they do not have the ability to physically manipulate any objects or change the course of events. This process is described as being extremely exhausting and requires a great deal of energy.

Isolation
Because of their unique diets, banshees cannot be left in isolation for more than 72 hours, otherwise they begin to starve to death.

Iron
Iron has an adverse effect on a banshee. Being around it prevents them from using any of their abilities, and direct contact with iron ore will cause the skin to burn.

Astral Projection
In order to safely project their souls, a banshee must find a safe place to leave their bodies. They literally need a palce to hide it for the duration of their projection, as they are unable to defend themselves whilst outside of their bodies. If their bodies are attacked, damaged, or even killed while they are projecting, the connection between their body and soul will be severed and they will be unable to return. It is possible for the severed soul to enter a vacant body, however, whenever this happens, a banshee loses all of their powers and abilites as the magic is tied to their banshee bodies, and not their soul.

Some banshees may choose to astral project in the presence of others; as this consumes a great deal of energy, having others near their bodies provides them with a constant source of sustenance. This is sometimes required for prolonged projections, however a banshee must choose their guardians with great care, as their bodies are completely at the guards' mercy once their soul leaves their body.

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