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The Iluayans of Caskaris

The Iluayans are a human race native to the northern continent of Caskaris, which is located on one of the seven worlds of creation which exists at the northwestern point from the elven world. Caskaris, also known as the ancient or ancestral world, is now a harsh place to their underclassmen, the Ayoskovic potentate having subjugated much of the land to serve their will, for little regard as to their subjects’ needs. It is thought by the subjects that the Ayoskovic potentate was elected as the ruler by the chief god of their religion, thus granting him political power throughout the land.

Origins

The Iluayanic people, as professed by the Ayoskovic kingdom, are thought to be the civilized descendants of the tribes which inhabited Caskaris in times of antiquity, and whose identification spread throughout all of known Caskaris so that they might regard individuals as congenial in some way, worthy of being converted into a subject of their potentate. As the Ayoskovic kingdom was founded, so too was the Iluayanic descriptor, which notably grouped all inhabitants of the changing and twisting forests of Caskaris together, based on their shared physical characteristics.

Though the racial classification described as Iluayanic was developed by the Ayoskovic kingdom, it is thought by some of the broader Iluayans that they claim descent from two main groups; the Ayanics, who inhabited eastern Caskaris since time immemorial, and the Neraics, who inhabited within the Garden of Runaral. As for the traits which they inherited from these two differentiating ancestors, it is thought that the Neraics were a particularly pious people who were governed by the Daevas, with their gift unto their descendants being a certain spirituality and intelligence, while the Ayanics were instead ruled over by the spirits of the mortal plane and passed on a propensity for suffering by the hands of the darkness.

Culture

The Iluayans, who belong to many traditions in both Ayoskova and the uncivilized wilds which the Ayoskovic governing does not reach, tend to share a belief that the darkness of night and winter is a necessary evil, where all of those beneath the darkness of the sky will be challenged and the world of darkness will be reborn into the first light of spring. The cycle of the seasons, as it is revered by them, is used to measure time as the world transitions from one state of light and abundance to another of darkness and suffering. Accordingly, they regard the season of winter to be a time of great destruction and chaos in the world, as it is then that darkness befalls their world, while the summer is rejuvenating in its warmth and life.

Considering the entire race of Iluayans as a unified whole, they also believe that the winds, which propagate the elements of the seasons into the changing world of Caskaris, come from each of the four cardinal directions. Notably, the summer wind emerges from a world of flame and heat that resides in the south, while the winter wind emerges from the lands of pure ice and frozen death in the north. Then, the spring winds which carry the love and warmth of fertility emerge from the east, blessing the land with great fruitfulness, while the autumn winds naturally emerge from the west, a place of wandering and accursed undead which is referred to as the Deathlands by the people. It is thought that these winds are brought about by a god, and that the elements themselves are the very essences of other deities that originate from the mortal plane, but have since ascended into a higher being. Another belief they tend to share is that in relation to duality, notably believing that winter and summer are opposed and yet, can not exist without the other, as one represents absence and the other, fullness of the same divine force. Thus, winter is the absence of heat and life, while autumn is the absence of fertility and birth.

Biology

The Iluayans who inhabit Caskaris possess the white skin which belong to the peoples of that land, as evidence of their time in the darkness of the mortal plane and the eternal artifact of its great power over them. These accursed people also possess blonde hair and blue eyes, the traits of their ancestors being passed down to them, those same who the darkness touched and embraced and, as a result, forever cursed. These colors are those which the darkness has affected, the lack of heavenly sustenance leaving them as beings that are incapable of the vast array of the colors contained within the light.

The Iluayanic peoples also tend to have a variety of heights, with some being shorter than others and some being taller than others, but with the average height remaining at about five feet and ten inches, significantly larger than some of the elven races and even other mannish peoples as the biting cold had instigated a rise in a larger body, along with the prevalence of the eating of meat in the times of winter where crops and other agricultural exploits do not grow. The sustenance which can be found in the wintertime has modified their diet from one which relies on the life and growth of plants to another in which those hardy and predatory animals that surround them are used instead.