Yet the Lazurus have never been conquered, not once, not in record. They have never succumbed to plague or famine, not truly. They have disappeared for centuries, into their honeycomb mountains where the rain is precious and the junipers life itself, only to return as powerful as ever. A sapphire terror from the cragged lands.
They appear only to hum, constantly, like a small a capella band always warming up, most of the time, and they always travel in groups. It is extremely disconcerting. They are simply speaking through their lips, though not in the usual way.
The Lazurus are not bloodthirsty or conquest-minded but they represent the surest threat to the world, for the Lazurus have the power to turn the world blue. This is a metaphor, too, but I'm not using it as one right now. The Lazurus have the ability to turn material a rich, deep, velvety blue. They can use this once a day per hit die and may affect a total surface area equal to their number of hit dice x10 in inches. Young Lazurus must be in skin contact with a surface in order to affect it, while the elder witchmaking Lazurus can affect anything within their line of sight.
Those things which are remote (I wrote this phrase and forgot what it was going to finish with but it affects me so I'm leaving it in. It's also an apt description of Lazurus.)
That is a creepy enough power and has the ability to blind and destroy magic scrolls and stuff so it's cool. However, Lazurus also have the power to control blue things. A thing which is completely blue and weighs less than their current HPx10 can be manipulated by Lazurus if it be within 30' (+2 feet per HD) and moved up to the Lazurus' own speed in a round. They can also control the mutability of their own form; Lazurus may improve their AC by 4 as an action, and the rules governing this follow whatever edition you're playing's rules on dragon breath.
The Lazurus' senses are also blue. All Lazurus can hear from one blue to another blue of similar hue, even if otherwise deafened, which is why no one has ever heard the Lazurus tongue (mm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm-mm-mmmm-mm), a sibbilant and clicking plosive-free jabber. Elder Lazurus can also see through blue, and can see blue even in perfect darkness, even if otherwise blinded. The truly powerful among them can also step from blue to blue, so long as the area they pass through is enough for them to wriggle their slender, slightly flexible bones through.
They are beautiful and tantalizing, which explains why they have had so many enemies. They are Lazurus, which explains why so few of those enemies ever endure.
This is also the secret to the power of their nation. FACT: Few Lazurus still live. FACT: The ancient azure regents of the Lazurus commanded the power to shake the sky and wrack flesh. FACT: The Lazurus nation numbers in the millions. This is the truth behind the hollow eyes and slacked jawbones of Lazurus wanderers and cerulean centurions, behind the twisted god-mummies who sit in waiting. Any blue skinned man you meet may be a man, or else may be another man, far away, whose initiative is a sugar-burning fire within the emptying chest of the spearman before you.
The unreliable reports of Lazurus society suggest that even they have a hard time telling on most occasions.
Do not fuck with Lazurus or your lands will run blue with blood.
