Il

The Il are a race of magical beings that feed off the emotional extremes of other beings. They are sometimes called Hungry Ghosts. They alternately take the form of a beings' greatest fear, greatest desire, greatest shame, greatest joy, greatest sorrow, greatest pet peeve, et cetera. They take great pleasure from rousing beings into high states of agitation, but are not generally malicious. For the most part, they do not realize the harm they do, or understand why other beings are afraid of them. They themselves are not easily roused (in fact they have very few emotions at all), but have great power in the art of illusion and deception. Their greatest secret is the location of their hearts; every Il that reaches a certain age removes his heart through magic and places it in the Sanctum of the Heart, a mysterious underground temple whose entrance is hidden and which is guarded by a great number of traps and magical wards. The children of the Il are made invisible by their parents, and they love mischief like their parents do, but they are nowhere near as aloof in their mischief-making. Some children of the Il have been known to run away, not wishing to resign themselves to the terrors of entering the Sanctum of the Heart and ultimately giving up all their extreme emotions by removing their hearts. These children are cursed to remain invisible their whole lives, and many become embittered and dangerous creatures. A few learn to live peaceably among other races, however, and there was even an incident in the history of the Strein where a child of the Il saved the life of one of their kings. Because of this, the Heid greatly respect the Il. Most Il cannot swim, child or adult. They live in the Southwestern Desert, also known as Manticore Desert. The energy for their magic comes from the many hearts buried in the Sanctum, and it is drawn on through proximity and incantations. The Il were created by Iei the Trickster God in 2 A.B., and moved from the distant continent where they first lived to Duskain in 995 A.B.