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FALSE HYPHAEL
This was the cluster of artificial brain structures which acted in place of the true hyphael, the soul-container of the mortal races. This was more like a black box and audiovisual transmitter as opposed to any sort of spiritual preservation, however, something which made all of nilkind into familiars of a sort. They could be commanded and controlled, and even killed with these structures. Fortunately for the lutrai, most of them are dormant or non-functional after seven hundred years of natural reproduction, the activation genes suppressed in most cases. These are the sections which respond directly to the secret military language called ‘Guide’.
All nilkind have some degree of these structures, this is just the lutrai variant. After the fall of the old Creator State, the false hyphael was largely forgotten, with only a vague cultural memory of how they were once ‘leashed’ to their masters somehow. They don’t understand that some of them are still capable of transmitting electrical brain signals to nearby equipment by way of the Link,or that they can access the rhythmic timer of the Lyre to vastly improve their fighting coordination.
Lyre: The Lyre, shown in red, was the receiver. It allowed lutrai to receive radio signals directly into their little walnuts. Usually this was battle commands, like the telepathic instructions of wizard to familiar, with a range of about a mile. As long as they had a handler, they could be directed from afar. Effects like Sending for long range, and Message for short range communication were the most common functions of the Lyre. It also let them listen to music, and receive bardic inspiration from far away.
Leash: Connected directly to the limbic system, the Leash allowed their handlers to activate the pleasure center with specific 'reward' words in Guide. When spoken by a kuil handler, all words are Commands, and could be resisted, but only with tremendous difficulty. Rather than the fear of pain, it was the eagerness of anticipation that was found to be more effective in governing lutrai behavior. Any kuil who knows Guide can issue Command and Suggestion verses to any lutrai.
Link: This was the audiovisual connection, an experimental new feature developed during the Automatic War. In a further immitation of Familiarity, this allowed the lutrai to broadcast anything they heard and saw directly to a piece of equipment called a tele-visor. A handler usually only needed one member of their team to have this feature.
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