Harssaf

Harssafs are creatures that live in Tutskwahuuk in Aremia.

As harsh and unyielding as their desert homes, harssafs don’t typically deal congenially with others. Harssafs live in and wander the great deserts and barren places of the world. Seemingly composed of the fi re and sand of their home terrain, they live in nomadic bands and frequently raid settlements within or near their desert homes.

Harssafs live mostly insular lives, traveling and raiding throughout a massive section of desert. Harssafs have no compunctions about killing when necessary, but they take no particular pride in it. Killing to the harssafs is a necessary skill to survive the coming sandstorms that will carry the great desert to the far reaches of the world.

Both male and female harssafs stand about 6 feet tall and weigh about 190 pounds.

Harssafs speak Ignan and Common.

Harssaf clans are incredibly structured, composed of a strict caste system of scouts and tenders. Tenders comprise less than one-third of a band’s total population, and even they are capable warriors. Consisting mostly of scouts incapable of fighting due to age or infirmity, pregnant females, young children, and the few craftsfolk of the clan, tenders are regarded as second-class citizens. Leaders of the clans always emerge from the scout caste, which consists of any male or female of fighting age.

Males and females have an equal opportunity to prove themselves worthy of the scout caste. But females who have children are relegated to be tenders until their children are old enough to be left with others of the caste. Only then can these females return to the scout clan. As a result, children are raised by the clan as a whole, being alternately schooled by different members of the scout caste. These scouts have taken it upon themselves to educate the youngsters in various martial and religious mysteries to ensure they are prepared to choose their career when they come of age.

Harssaf clans sometimes skirmish over resources or territory, but they prefer to avoid fighting other chosen desert dwellers and focus their raids on the soft outlanders.

A harssaf camp is usually composed of several small tents shared by tenders, and a few large pavilions where the scouts stay. Due to their natural affinity for hot and sandy environments, harssafs have no problem sleeping in the open desert. Rumors exist of ancient harssaf structures in the deepest deserts, strongholds that all clans visit from time to time. These strongholds are said to hold the history of the mysterious harssaf people, as well as monasteries that devote themselves to schooling the many monks of the harssaf clans.

Harssafs worship no particular deity, but rather worship the desert itself. They believe their race once spawned from the desert, and that one day the desert will rise up to swallow the earth in its warm embrace. Only they, the faithfully prepared, will survive the onslaught of the desert. A few worship powerful lords of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Harssaf clerics can choose from the Fire, Law, Strength, and Sun domains.

Monks are common among the scout caste, as are rangers and fighters. Barbarians are almost unheard of among harssaf clans, since the race is typically far too ordered and organized and tend to a lawful alignment. Harssaf clerics are rare, but greatly valued for their healing powers; such individuals frequently become clan leaders due to their wisdom and leader ship. Harssaf druids are more common; many actively seek to expand the desert’s influence on the surrounding lands, hoping to hasten the day when the desert swallows all. Wizards and sorcerers are slightly less rare. The structured lifestyle of the clans appeals to those of a scholarly bent, and many harssafs take naturally to magic without training.

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