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Crystal Clear As Mud
One of the so-called outlier races who breathe neither oxygen nor hydrogen, the Warlocks are generally known for being somewhat amoral, extremely self-centred, enigmatic to a fault, and very, very powerful. They herald from the outermost planet of an ancient red dwarf that hovers precariously within the dim halo stars beyond the edge of the Galaxy. Their world, listed as Karys in the Conclave’s libraries, is a wasteland of ice and rock with the merest wisp of a nitrogen/methane atmosphere upon which the Warlocks are the only signs of life - this mystery is but one of many that remain unsolved.
Appearance & Biology
While the particulars may vary between individuals all Warlocks share the same basic shape - an irregular heptagonal prism of smoky crystal between 60 & 80cm tall that comes to a point at the top and bottom. Within the crystal is a pattern of striations that glimmers in a variety of colours -these lines and marks are presumed to be the seat of Warlock consciousness and the colours have been noted to change depending on the Warlock’s apparent mood, but no regular pattern has ever been reported.
Little is known about Warlock biology (for lack of a better word); the crystal that makes them up is exceedingly tough and further reinforced by their magical nature. They are equally at home in atmospheres of any composition, from caustic pressure-cooker worlds to the stormy outer layers of a gas giant, and neither do they appear to require any sustenance beyond the ambient mana field. How, or even if, they reproduce is unknown but their numbers do not seem to have suffered from being scattered across space, and while they do not seem to age their bodies are not invulnerable and Warlocks have been killed, by accident and by design.
History & Culture
Almost nothing is known of Warlock history. From references made to ancient events or long-extinct species it is commonly believed that they are by far the oldest sapient people in the Galaxy, with ages measured in millions of years being bandied about. When questioned directly in full Conclave one Warlock famously stated that they were “much older, but no wiser” than their interrogators and refused to answer any further questions on the matter.
Their culture is, if anything, even more mysterious. The legendary Warlock self-centredness is the only thing most people will ever hear about, which has lead to a number of jokes, and some ill-will. A Warlock will never say, “I will meet you here in three hours,” but rather, “You and this place will come to me in three hours.” A Warlock does not move, instead the Universe moves around them. This might seem laughable, a minor quirk on their part, but those scholars who have taken the time to learn from them, to understand their views and their magic, they say that there might be something in it after all.
Magic
To say that the Warlocks live and breathe magic would not be over-stating the case. Lacking any limbs or recognisable technology, they interact with the world around them purely via magic, creating mana fields of breathtaking precision and delicacy so that they can affect the world around them as readily, if not more so, as those species formed more conventionally.
One oddity about their facility with magic is that any effect to do with movement does not appear to originate with them, as far as Conclave magic and technology can detect, but rather with the world around them. This manifests itself in many ways, but the most visible is the mana field that forms when a Warlock moves - as far as anyone can tell, the field comes from space itself and it pulls the Warlock to where it should be, rather than the more conventional pushing fields used by other species’ magicians. Hence the following joke:
Q: What’s the difference between an egomaniac and a Warlock?
A: Both believe that the Universe revolves around them, but the Warlock might be correct.
