View source for Children of the Light

{{EmpireBox
|game=CYOE1
|player=Shard
|positive1=Capital Ship Doctrine
|positive2=Strike Craft Doctrine
|positive3=Salvage Initiative
|negative1=No Colonisation Initiative
|negative2=Research Reduction
|neutral=Inherent Violence
}}

==Information==
The Children of the Light are an extremely hardy, militaristic civilisation. Since they never found a world they could settle on, their ships and technology are in advance of most other worlds settled during the Scattering, and the extreme conditions imposed upon them by the twin suns of Deathspire have left them mutated and violent.

The Children are fuedal in nature; each 'Spire' is ruled by (in theory) a hereditary Shaper (a title dating back to the period of controlled mutation). In practice, a weak Shaper will simply be replaced by a challenger. The Shapers form a council, led by the Seer (a Shaper in his own right, and chosen by the other Shapers).

Because of this, the Children can be argumentative and conflicting much of the time, unless another enemy arises - in which case, their collective efforts turn on this outsider without mercy.

==History==
During the great exodus during the first Nodestorm, some ships were inevitably lost for one reason or another. Some were unable to find a place to settle, some simply suffered accidents that prevented them from going further.

The colony ship Questing Angel suffered both. The system that would eventually be known as Deathspire was a harsh, unforgiving system. The twin suns put out enormous amounts of heat and radiation, and every planet was scorched bare by the them. Life was little more than bacteria, nestling in dark corners.

Stranded in orbit of one such world, the people aboard were forced to adapt. Thousands died of starvation as supplies ran low, and even more from the inevitable squabbling over what was left. Eventually, the scientists aboard developed a solution, devising a way to make the ship into a self-sustaining ecosystem. The downside was, the conditions necessary would be highly uncomfortable for human life.

Over the next hundred years, through natural selection and gene therapy, the Children of the Light turned into something not quite human. Wiry, thin and pale, hairless and apparently weak, they became extremely tolerant to the heat and radiation generated by the twin suns of Deathspire.

As their bodies changed, so did their culture. Slowly the worship of 'Father Deathspire' became the core of life; a deity of enormous power and quick temper, with no tolerance for weakness. Even with their adaptations, life expectancy was no more than forty years, even their enhanced bodies unable to hold off the radiation forever.

As time passed, the Children of the Light began to expand. Adapting old shuttles and tugs into mining craft and construction tools, the colony ship was expanded and converted, eventually allowing more ships to be built and the system to be explored.

As a people, they became much like their deity; aggressive, harsh and destructive. Civil war became a constant state of being, although never to an extent that threatened the safety of the race as a whole; it was almost a diversion, a way of passing the time and ensuring the survival of only the strongest.

Thus, when the jump nodes began to form, conflicts were forgotten and the Children of the Light unified. The old tales spoke of soft, weak beings elsewhere, like they had been before Father Deathspire changed them.

They must be shown the Light...

==Organisation==
Political/Military
Each Spire is commanded by a Shaper, who acts as both a political leader and a military commander, equivalent to an Admiral.
Below the Shapers are the Soulcallers. Soulcallers are senior ship captains; to become a Soulcaller, one must not only display skill and experience, but an ability to lead their troops and forge them together - or 'Call forth the souls' of their underlings.

Outside of the direct command of the Spires, but ultimately loyal to the Children and the faith of Darkspire, are the Withered. Withered have a fearsome reputation as warriors and tacticians, lethal predators who patrol the edges of explored space. Although they prey on all, they obey the collective will of the Scyen and the Council.
Religion
The Scyen, a corruption of the word 'scientist' from the old times when they first became the Children, are present in every Spire. They stand apart from their kindred and the conflicts, simultaneously encouraging it in the name of Deathspire and pronouncing the need to eliminate weakness, and cautioning and reconciliating to remind their charges of the fragility of their race. It is thanks to them that the Children are able to maintain their constant state of war without a significant negative effect on their civilisation.