Overview
The Wraeththu appeared amid humanity's downfall. Humans viewed them as nothing more than aggravating street gangs recruiting young men and inhabiting cities of North America (always called Megalithica in this story as old "human" place names are never used). The Wraeththu, however, are a new species, born from a mutation of unknown origin; Constantine implies an apocalypse, but the history is mysterious. They are destined to take over the mantle of rulers of the Earth. Their bodies fought off the environmental damage wreaked by human war and pollution well - much better than the human population they are swiftly replacing.
The first Wraeththu har (pl. hara) infected a human male with his blood and thus transformed the man into Wraeththu. The species spread via a blood-sharing procedure that came to be known as inception. Gangs of hara became tribes, which eventually began a war against humanity that resulted in Wraeththu's supremacy. Many human males and all human females die during inception, with the exception of the rare few which later became the sister race of Wraeththu, the Kamagrian. Late in the story, there are Wraeththu communities where the human community is protected, and human males are incepted after fathering a human child.
Wraeththu are true hermaphrodites, possessing both male and female sexual organs and appearing androgynous in general outward appearance. Although they appear superficially as a mix between men and women (no breasts, slim hips, but feminine body structure with no body hair or facial hair), there are numerous physical and mental differences between hara and humans . One of the biggest differences is in the genitalia and reproductive organs. Unlike humans all hara have genitals that are simultaneously both male and female (described as 'colorful' and 'flower-like' and 'like a sea-anemone'), able to fold flat and open or retract inwards or protrude, and thus reproduce and experience sex differently. Hara have different bodily processes in other areas too, including more efficient digestion, better regulation of metabolism or perhaps faster metabolism (they cannot grow fat), and better resistance to toxins, including alcohol, drugs, and poisons. Hara also have a much stronger ability to access and manifest magical abilities, such as telepathy, healing, psychokinesis, etc.
One additional notable characteristic of Wraeththu is their need for regular hermaphrodite sex, known among Wraeththu as aruna. Hara who are deprived of aruna suffer, as their bodies require exchange of essential life essences in order to run properly. Wraeththu even use aruna in magic, performing the ritual of sex magic, grissecon, in which aruna is used to work great acts of healing or the creation of magical weapons.
In the early years, Wraeththu did not have knowledge of their own ability to reproduce. Hara are able to conceive during an unusual, elevated type of aruna, with conception taking place inside the Cauldron of Creation. The harling gestates inside a pearl and is born after a period of about two and a half months. The pearl is a leathery egg where the harling continues to develop for one to two weeks, at which point it hatches. Harlings develop far more rapidly than human children and are fully grown and sexually mature by the age of seven or eight, at which point they undergo Wraeththu puberty, feybraiha, and are introduced to aruna.
For more specifics on Wraeththu biology, see Wraeththu Explained.
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