Iadryn

Appearance
Fish people. The average male member of this race has a stocky build and is around 7-8 feet tall average. Females are more slender, and 5-6 on average. They have dark grayish blue skin. They have fin like protrusions on their heads and dark sleek eyes. They have no nose, and their mouths are filled with many sharp small teeth. They breath either through their gills. They commonly wear drab clothing that is very simplistic and practical, and tend to leave jewellery only to be worn by women.

Behavior
Iadryn are very blunt and straight forward, and tend to be unfriendly to other races. Their culture leads them to be wary of any who are not part of their "Group" and treat those they are unfamiliar with with suspicion. Rain and humid environments always tend to raise their spirits, and find the company of any body of water calming.

Abilities
Originating from the sea, this species has natural gills on their necks, allowing them to breath in all forms of water. They are naturally good swimmers as well. The males are typically very large and strong, dwarfing many of the other species by comparison in both height and strength. Females tend to be more akin to the height of the more common races.

Iadryn lack normal noses, breathing solely through their gills. As such, they lack any capacity to smell.

Culture
They are generally religious and they are well-known for their bravado and militarized culture. Spreaders of “Followers of The One”. Their capital city rose from the ocean, their inhabitants seeing it as a sign of “The One” telling them to move habitats and explore the world to spread their religion

Their religion dominates their lives, being all branches of their society answer to their churches. Their leader is the "Drowned One", a Iadryn who has gone through various trials to take up the mantle as leader, and is sworn to remain in water never to touch land. He makes his home in a special temple on the edge of their home land, forever remaining just below the surface of the sea, and just a few dozen miles from the city that ascended. Should he pass on, another member of the hierarchy of the church must either go through the rites to take up the mantle, or find one worthy of bearing it. If they succeed, they leave the surface forever to return to the depths their species calls home.

Many of the other races find them to be a plain and boring lot, whom find joy in the rigors of work and spreading their religion. Hobbies, revelry, actions either not furthering their empire or gods will are seen as distractions meant to pull one away from The Dreamer's plan.

Many Iadryn spread through out to the Freelands are those who grew tired of their cultures ways, either fleeing the religion, or simply fleeing the endless toil their people enforce. There are those however that have gone into the Freelands, either wishing to spread the will of The One or find ways to extend their empires reach. The Iadryn empire has little sway in the Freelands, as the great desert of the Ekios keeps them at bay, for they do not survive well in dry and hot environments.

Despite they great numbers that have moved onto land, the vast majority of Iadryn still live under the water, outnumbering any of the other races would the entire civilization moved entirely above water.

History
The Iadryn have existed for longer than the other races realize, being the oldest surviving species on the planet. Before the Gyndril had their kingdoms, before the Manoi Dynasty, before the Ancients continent spanning reach, the Iadyn served their god in the depths of the sea. Paying little head to the world above, they kept to their dark depths, knowing their kind would survive so long as they served the 'one true god'. As kings and priests built great structures on land that always fell in time, the Iadryns great works all remain at the bottom of the ocean, some older than many of the Freelands peoples.

Nearly a millennia after the fall of The Ancients, their largest city, "Rey'lant" fell victim to an event unheard of. It rose. The very depths of the sea sprung up, lifting the city and the millions int it to break the surface of the water for the first time in the Iadryns history. To the shock of its millions of denizens, they did not die, but breathed the air just as easily as they did the oceans depths. The Iadryn were at first confused but upon setting sight upon the landmass to the east, and its weak and broken empire, they realized their glorious god was sending them on a mission. To spread his will. To bring the empty lives of surface dwellers meaning and purpose. And so they set upon the surface, for the first time in their history, waging a war upon the surface world.

The empire to bear this force was the Manoi Dynasty. Having just suffered and barely surviving the greatest plague of Forgotten known in history known as "The Erasure", they could do little to resist the Iadryn. Despite their superior weapons and technology, they simply could not stem the tide of Iadryn, who not only outnumbered them twenty to one, but where physically much more stronger and resilient than they.

The Manoi surrendered to the Iadryn, knowing it was the only way they would survive. Their religion was purged, its places of gods burned and destroyed. Priests and Priestess were all drowned in the sea, an offering to The One. Their society and way of life was torn apart. The Iadryn has made them their servants, and took the entirety of the Manoi Dynasty's lands for their own.

Soon they hit a road block. They came across the great sand, the natural barrier between the Manoi regions, and the Freelands. This land was inhibited by the Ekios, a race formerly enslaved to the Manoi and not willing to bend their knees to the Iadryn. When the Ekios stood tall, the armies of the Iadryn moved into the great desert. Nearly all of their thousands of troops died, unable to find a single Ekiosian city or land. Many died from sandstorms, dwindling supplies, and seemingly endless dunes of sand. Bewildered by these people and their magic, the Iadryn have since learned their lesson and not made a large scale invasion into the Ekiosian peoples homelands since, although every so often, small scale parties do attempt to scout their lands, ever hoping to find their city and bring another false religion into the holy depths of The Dreamer.

They do periodically move small invasion forces into the Freelands through the southern seas, but despite all the chaos of The Freelands, the lords, kings, tribes and free folk always find cause to put aside their differences and push the Iadryn back due to the terrain or combined efforts.

Now the Iadryn live their days, continuing to toil for their god, and always planning their next crusade in the name of the great Dreamer, knowing one day the Freelands will be joined into His great sea.

Other
Average Lifespan: 150 years Sexually Mature at 31 years (21%) Adult at 40 years (30%) Associated Religion: Followers of The One

Available Classes: Vanguard, Zealot, Knave, Herald