Kâlindival
From Codex Vocrotha
Physical Description
Tiny in stature, and in no cases standing more than two feet in height, the Kâlindival have nevertheless flourished despite competition from the larger Sentients and threats from a much wider assortment of creatures than the average biped would consider dangerous. They look very much like slim dwarves with only two arms, and perhaps a slight upswept aspect to their features. Rarely muscular, the Kâlindival tend towards fleetness, agility and manual dexterity, and their ability to work with delicate objects, such as complicated machinery and gemcutting, is second to none.
Aside from their height, their physical appearance is relatively non-descript; they tend to wear beards of varying length, and hair color ranges along almost the same color spectrum as Humans -- the notable difference an odd steely grey, unlike the grey that comes with age. Perhaps their most unusual physical feature is their ability to blend in with their surroundings when threatened. A Kâlindival's skin will lighten or darken, or even change hue to a small extent, when placed in an uncomfortable situation, and a great deal of the population is able to use this ability at will.
Sociopolitical Outlooks
The Kâlindival are perhaps one of the most sneakily adaptive races to ever walk the earth, and in more ways than just their abilities to blend into the background night indicate. Very early on, the Kâlindival began co-habiting with the other races -- specifically, waiting for a village to be built by one of the taller races, and then discreetly moving in with them. For the most part, the original house owners never discovered their tiny companions, and the Kâlindival were responsible in their roles, ensuring the safety and well-being of the home and its inhabitants in ways the big people would never quite be able to do.
Over time, of course, their presence was discovered, but they kept to themselves for the most part, and eventually it came to be a sign of good luck if a Kâlindival made its home in one's house. In return for the various things the Kâlindival did to keep the house in good repair, it became tradition to leave out food, milk, and scraps of fabric the Kâlindival family could use.
As the Kâlindival became used to this way of life, they also began adopting the professions of the big people they lived with; Kâlindival who lived with merchants began to stock items for little people, clothiers, leatherworkers and smiths made items for the smaller set, and so on down the line. In fact, it has become almost a tacit expectation of a traveling Kâlindival that, in any town they enter, the goods they seek can be found in the same house as the bigger folk. Of course, as a corollary, if any such homes do not have a Kâlindival counterpart, it's a fair bet that the owners are either new in town or mean-spirited.
As a result of their social behaviour -- and their unusual physical abilities -- the Kâlindival place great worth on the ability to remain unnoticed; some even go so far as to worship Vran, Lord of Deceit, although the ones that do this also tend towards the more criminal side of life. Aside from this tendency, the Kâlindival worship as they please, and their society as a whole is unusually accepting of religious choices.
In Betril Town, the only known city made to Kâlindivalian scale, there are a form of competitive games held every year that test the Kâlindival traits of speediness, ability at hiding, and so forth. The winners of those games often find themselves recruited as spies, though some move on as free agents, and others find somewhat more lucrative lines of work.
Allies & Enemies
Given the cosmopolitan nature of Kâlindivalian society, it is rare for the race as a whole to develop enmity or hatred towards another race of beings -- Kâlindival tend to deal with individuals, not races, so the opportunity to develop a nationalistic hatred never arises. For this reason, they are best known to be neutral in political affairs -- though it is inevitable that Kâlindival living in a region will adopt at least some of the nationalistic views of the country they live in.
Even so, there are very few Kâlindival to be found either in the Drakkhozhn nation of Khozhn'ol or in any of their colonies -- there's just something uncomfortable about the creatures, and something unsettling about their homes, that keeps the little people away. Similarly, they are only rarely found in the underground homes of the Lyđuđræ for they enjoy the sun and the outdoors too much to be shut away from them. And, as a whole, the Dolgothros frighten the Kâlindival -- how much good is hiding when someone you think is your friend isn't?
