Kâlindur

From Codex Vocrotha

Physical Description

The Kâlindur are a short, wide race of beings that would appear nearly Human if they had two arms instead of four. Their extra set of arms is jointed with an odd, rotating front-to-back arrangement that allows them to hinge and unhinge them in as many as six different configurations, combining maximum usefulness with maximum mobility. This allows them to complete tasks with better coordination, and it is not at all uncommon -- though somewhat disconcerting -- to watch a Kâlindur set each of their four arms to different tasks.

As for their girth, very little of it comes from fat; as a race, they are extremely large-boned and muscular, even with only minimal exercise. They rarely grow over five feet tall, and average out at around 4'4". Despite their lack of height, they are often over two hundred pounds in weight. Hair colors are usually red or black, though there is an occasional blond-haired one amongst the rest.

Kâlindur rarely wear full beards, though they take great pride in wearing their hair long and braided. Scruff seems to be greatly in fashion amongst the Kâlindur, with goatees and handlebar moustaches making a close second and third. Young Kâlindur rarely wear facial hair, since it doesn't really grow in earnest until their fiftieth year. Baldness is a rare (5%) occurence past a Kâlind's 150th year; those that "suffer" from this malady often go completely clean-shaven, as if to wear their complete lack of hair as proudly as they did the full head.

Sociopolitical Outlooks

At one time, the Kâlindur ruled Vocroth. Once, they were even more numerous than the Humans. Once, wealth and prosperity were theirs. Their incredible focus and attention to detail mastered the magic of the Runes, produced wonderous items from volcanic and glacial forges, and peacefully conquered all the other races. All came to them for protection and care, for in the hands of the Kâlindur, there was power.

No more. The Kâlindur were hunted almost to extinction by the Daloric Warlord, Paldor Daln, after he conquered the Dwarven Kingdoms in 1559 DR. While many of the other races have forgotten this Golden Reign (and the shorter-lived ones now even doubt that it ever existed), the Kâlindur have not.

Unknown to them is the reason for the Warlord's nearly-successful attempt at genocide, though they surmise that they were the only race he believed powerful enough to challenge him. But even now, when the Kâlindur are no longer numerous or important enough to warrant such attention, still they plot their revenge. A race with a razor-sharp focus turned towards vengeance, the Kâlindur will not. Ever. Forget.

Allies & Enemies

Of allies, the Kâlindur have few enough, and this may well be one of their greatest downfalls. The Kâlindival have a strange affinity for the Kâlindur, and this is something they grudgingly return, though the Kâlindival are often such abhorrently happy creatures that a self-respecting Kâlindur will lose his patience quickly with them. The Feralis can be trusted, but they are just plain unnatural. The humans, on the other hand, can't completely be trusted, but that actually makes them easier to understand, and, well, at least they aren't damned freaks.

The Kâlindur and the Zephriel have come to disagreements many times over the course of history, and while the Kâlindur respect a worthy opponent, the Fey are just a little too strange, too intense, to list as "allies." Their kin, the Solindriel, are proof that acorns don't fall too far from trees.

The Tenebriel, however, are just one of a long list that the Kâlindur consider enemies. They joined the Daloric Warlord in the destruction of their race. They, the Drakkhozhn lizards, the stupid Ur, the damnable Gochin, the treacherous Dolgothros -- all these are responsible for the near-genocide of the Kâlindur. And the Kâlindur do not forget.

At the very top of their list of foes, however, sits the Lyđuđræ. Bitter enemies from the very beginning, contenders for mines and ores, filthy mind-bending ridiculuously dressed unscrupulous traders, these bugs have defied the Kâlindur at every turn, hoarding rare minerals, caving in competitive Kâlindurian mines, and covertly killing Kâlindur when they can get away with it. They are and always have been the enemy, collaborators with the Warlord, and are not to be tolerated. Even with the surge in population of the Lyđuđræ, and their holding of the lands that used to be rightfully theirs, the Kâlindur will not associate with, deal with, trade with, or do anything but fight with the Lyđuđræ. Ever.

Because the Kâlindur Do Not Forget.