Human (XC3)

Humans are a race in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

Physical traits
The humans of Aionios are similar to Earth humans in physique and age at a similar rate.

Aionios humans may possess traits of various different races from the worlds that their nations came from. For example, some Kevesi have High Entia-like wings or Machina-like skin, whereas Agnians may have the ears of a Gormotti or even a Core Crystal. However, the differences appear to be mostly cosmetic, unlike with the pre-Aionios races.

Kevesi/Agnian humans
The Kevesi and Agnian soldiers are artificially created within so-called Cradles at their respective nations' castles. Newly-created soldiers are physically similar to a 10-year-old, so the Cradles must also provide conditioning to make up for the solders' missing childhoods. These humans live for a maximum of 10 "terms", with each term lasting for one year. Humans that survive until the end of their tenth and final term will receive their "Homecoming", reaching the end of their lives at a physical age of about 20 years. However, the vast majority of Kevesi and Agnian humans die as soldiers. Receiving a Homecoming ceremony in the presence of a queen is considered a major honor and is the lifetime goal of many soldiers. Soldiers that are killed before their homecoming leave behind husks.

Soldiers that die before their Homecoming are reborn from the Cradles, with their lives being "recycled". Memories of their previous lives become inaccessible to them, but may still appear as dreams. The cycle of rebirth is not known by the soldiers themselves. Individuals who live long enough to receive their Homecoming are generally gone forever.

Most Kevesi/Agnian humans are bound to Flame Clocks, and will die if the Flame Clock becomes empty. As the Flame Clocks are filled by taking lives, the soldiers are forced into constant warfare. However, there are several ways to free someone from a Flame Clock, such as destroying the Flame Clock or turning the freed person into an Ouroboros. As humans can only be initially bound to a Flame Clock during their creation, freed humans can only be bound to a new Flame Clock by forcing their rebirth.

The true purpose behind the fighting and the rebirth is to provide fuel for Moebius, who feed on the lives of soldiers stored in Flame Clocks. The Consuls prefer to have their soldiers die in battle, but are also shown capable of directly harvesting the lives of still-breathing soldiers.

Term marks
Every human born from a Cradle has a mark on their body, which starts completely red at their first term. As they go through their 10 year lifespan, each side of the mark gradually gets darker. Once the mark becomes completely dark after the end of their tenth term, their life ends and evaporates into golden motes during their Homecoming.

Naturally-born humans
Humans born naturally are physically similar to humans born from Cradles, but are able to live full lives from infancy until death by old age, as they are not bound by the same ten-year lifespan as a Kevesi or Agnian human.

The only known naturally-born humans of Aionios are those belonging to the City, which tries to keep itself hidden from Moebius. All citizens of the City are said to be descendants of Ouroboros, and have inherited some of its traits. Unlike Kevesi and Agnian humans, if a natural-born human dies, they don't leave a husk behind, instead the body dissipates into golden motes.