Guardians

"There have always been 7 of us; forever shall we exist, and for eternity we watch."

The Guardians are the seven near-omnipotent mortal incarnations of the First Children, and the default leaders of the Academy. Cosmic essences cohabiting within mortal bodies, the Guardians are the sworn protectors of the planet Earth, watching over its inhabitants and ensuring the well-being of the planet as a whole. Ever since the creation of Keleron in 1388 A.D.

The current Guardians are, in alphabetical order: Alexandra, Augustine, Damon, Liana, Liam, Samuel and Savannah.

History
The existence of the Guardians began when the seven First Children first made the decision to become mortal. Cosmic as they were, they were unable to directly interact with the protective charge they were given by the One Being: guardianship over humanity. By unanimous vote, each of the First Children decided to give themselves a mortal life, by binding their very essence to the soul of a human child upon its birth.

During a binding, the human child's soul would not be consumed by the essence of a First Child, but rather live symbiotically and in complete balance with one another. Thus, each newborn child would be free to grow as any other would, with their own unique circumstances, experiences and personalities that differed from the previous incarnation of that Guardian's cosmic essence.

The child would then become part mortal, yet part cosmic, and would grow as any other human child would, before the eventual Manifestation of their abilities and simultaneously, their identity as the mortal incarnation of a First Child. These human beings became known as the Guardians.

There have only ever been seven First Children on the planet, a fact that did not change upon their becoming mortal. Thus there have also only ever been seven Guardians at any one point throughout history; when a Guardian passes away, they are reincarnated as a new person entirely.

The Reincarnation Cycle
At the end of each of their mortal lives, a Guardian's soul becomes separated into its two constituent parts: their human soul and their cosmic essence. While their human soul enters through the First Gate of Death and travel through Death's River as with any other mortal being, their cosmic essence instantly binds itself anew to a newborn human child, and so continuing the Guardianship anew.

After reincarnation, each Guardian progresses through life similarly to a potential Descendant, though without memories of their past lives until their abilities manifest. During this time, their abilities also remain completely dormant and subconscious until Manifestation occurs.

All Guardians are born as humans and remain so for the duration of their lives, unable to become any other being/creature other than human. Thus, a First Child's essence will not bind to a werewolf child, nor a witch child. Should a Guardian attempt to undergo the transition into a vampire, the process immediately fails at the death stage, where that Guardian does not awaken after death and instead undergoes reincarnation as per any other form of death.

A Guardian's Abilities
Being mortal incarnations of a First Child, Guardians are gifted with the sheer ability to manipulate energy and reality. Each Guardian has a natural affinity with a certain element, and will often manifest abilities related to that element foremost. Shortly thereafter, their other abilities will also manifest at a speed that is almost near impossible to control.

It is during this short period that Guardians must learn to control their vast abilities within an extremely short period of time, harnessing all their abilities (of which there may be a limitless number thereof) swiftly and efficiently.

Though their human souls pass onto the River of Death, their memories are retained by the cosmic essence of the First Child and thus are passed onto the next incarnation. As a result, all Guardians are capable of accessing memories of their previous lives, a trait that becomes useful when attempting to learn how to control their powers within such a short time. It has been found that the more an ability was learnt within past lives, the easier and/or faster to control that ability would be in the Guardian's current life.

While a Guardian verges on omnipotence - that is, they possess near all abilities known to the Academy within a single being - they are still completely mortal as a result of the First Children's essences binding to a mortal human to experience mortality. Thus they do not possess in any way a form of immortality nor longevity.

To ease the sudden burden of gaining a tremendous amount of power within such a short time, many Guardians opt to further separate their power. By splitting a piece of their abilities off from themselves, that power then physically manifests as a Companion.

Neutralisation
Should a Guardian befall a mortal fate (such as death by age, injury or disease), they undergo reincarnation as per usual. However, should their fate be by their own hand or that of another Guardian, they become neutralised.

Once neutralised, a Guardian is rendered completely inactive until reawakened by another Guardian, or if all other Guardians have been neutralised as well.

During a period of neutralisation, a Guardian enters an absolute stasis: immune to the ravages of time. This includes an immunity to decomposition, disease, rot, ageing, and any other external interference.

The only exception to this however, is death at a mortal's hand; that is, a neutralised Guardian may only be slain by a completely non-supernatural human being. Any attempt to do so by anyone of any species other than human will kill the being in question, without affecting the neutralised Guardian.