Bakarans
From DevroWiki
Hardy, tall, lean, and the undisputed masters of the deserts, the Bakarans are a tragic people relegated to their barren wastelands for past atrocities and their dark beginnings. Regardless of their progress, their bodies are undeniably built for war, and their minds still bear the scars of years of rage and battle.
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Personality
Bakarans are overall quiet; when they do speak, however, they are direct and honest. They carry themselves with pride and are quick to defend their honor. Years of control by Tulaire channellers and Drak necromancers (as they were originally created by the Tulaire Empire from captured Elves) have left the Bakarans with a rash nature, or a tendency to go off half-cocked. Their habits are marked by stubborn persistence and resolute tenacity, even to death.
Physical Description
Bakarans males stand usually no less than six feet tall and females are rarely less than a hair shorter. Both are solidly built, with muscular arms (useful for melee combat) and thick, powerful legs (for long runs). Both males and females are entirely devoid of body hair. From their forearms, Bakarans sport a set of bone spurs; these grow over the course of childhood (Bakarans are not born with them already fully extended) to their full size, which is usually to about the shoulder (around 20 inches long). The faces of both males and females bear twisted resemblance to the Elven face of their forebears – angular chins and pointed ears, but paired with sharp teeth and red eyes.
Relations
Humans do not normally associate with the erstwhile creations of the fallen Empire; when the Bakaran tendency to attack uncontrollably became clear, their human masters abandoned them to the deserts. Bakarans are also not welcome in Elven lands, and receive no warning volley before Gunjai border scouts strike to kill.
Bakarans hold only one true ongoing dispute with any of the other races or peoples nearby – Drakenmoore. As one of the only remaining human kingdoms or city-states that continues to uphold the role they originally held during the time of the Empire, the necromancers hold little love for their erstwhile creations, and the Bakarans loath their use of the deserts as a dumping ground for other failed experiments. Draks are normally met with direct hostility if they are found in the deserts, and most Bakarans refuse to associate with any obvious Draks or Drak sympathizers. Otherwise, no real stereotypical feelings towards the other races exist among the Bakarans – people can usually expect to be judged individually by a Bakaran.
Government/Organization
There is no overarching government that holds the Bakarans together. Twelve nomadic tribes roam across the deserts, and each has little interaction with the others unless absolutely necessary. A chieftain, who is normally counseled by one or more shaman, or tribal lore-keepers and medicine men, oversees each tribe. Only adults may hold these positions of leadership – those who have proven themselves worthy, are at least 16 years of age, and have received their scars of passage.
Religion
The histories, as handed down, tell of the enslavement of a vibrant people, who lost their histories and their language during the years of enslavement. These stories differ from many of the histories of the other Elder Races, who say that the Bakarans were a construct, a tool for war – nothing more. However, the Bakarans feel that, as an existing race, they have as much right to live as any other race, and to realize their full potential in the deserts where they were born. It was the environment in which they were born that made them strong and fierce, the perfect warriors. The deserts were where they first came into being, it is their domain, and the other races travel the deserts only with their leave. These beliefs give the Bakaran a sense of purpose and pride. History and family is very important to Bakarans, to the point that such filial piety can be considered religious. Shaman oversee the rites of communion and reverence for Bakarans past within their tribe.
Alignment
Bakarans have a strong tendency towards complete neutrality. This neutrality may stem from their creation (a hopeful fallback to keep them docile, which unfortunately did not work) or it may be due to the harshness of their environment.
Bakaran Lands
The Bakarans control much of the desert north of Drakenmoore, and no one really wishes to claim their lands. These deserts are incredibly dry and barren, and possess little in the way of useful resources. They were not always as such, though – before the Fire, these lands were part of the great, bountiful plains that made up much of Central Devro. However, with the rising of the Great Crater Mountains to the west, much of the moisture that could reach these lands falls to the west or over the Great Crater Wastes themselves, and thus was the Desert of Fire born.
Language
Bakarans speak a pidgin language with elements of Common, Gun, and Fae called Crae; to the untrained ear, it sounds like nothing more than a collection of snarls, grunts, and growls. The pidgin has diverged enough from its parent languages that one cannot make out enough of Crae just simply by speaking the three original languages. There is no written form of Crae, however – it is purely a spoken language.
Racial Traits
- +2 Strength, +2 Constitution, -2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom, and -2 Charisma: Bakarans were created for war, and hence they are incredibly strong and hardy. However, their creators warped their minds to make them more easily controllable, and warped their faces, marking them as predatory and feral.
- Medium-size: As Medium-size creatures, Bakarans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Bakaran base speed is 30 feet.
- Immunity to magic sleep spells and effects: Bakarans bodies were taken from Gunjai Elven stock, and then fused with Faelun Elven essence; this mixed lineage, along with other ministrations of their creators, made sure that these soldiers need not sleep at all; present-day Bakarans, however, do sleep – over the years, this complete non-requirement has lapsed into a general immunity to unnatural sleep.
- Low-light Vision: Bakarans can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
- Bone Blades: Long bone spurs sprout from a Bakaran’s forearms, growing up along the length of the Bakaran’s arm to about the shoulder (a length of approximately 20 inches). Most Bakarans sharpen the outer edges and points of these spurs, making them into effective weapons, which was their original purpose. A Bakaran with sharpened bone blades gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat when using them as a weapon. A sharpened bone spur is effectively a short sword, except that it deals slashing damage.
- -2 racial saving throw penalty versus Enchantment spells and effects: Bakarans were made to serve, and their creators made them more susceptible to controlling magics.
- Imposing: Intimidate is always a class skill for Bakarans, and they substitute the higher of Strength, Constitution, or Charisma as their ability modifier for Intimidate checks.
- Automatic Languages: Crae. Bonus Languages: Common, Dwarven, Goblin, Draconic.
- Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass Bakaran’s barbarian class does not count when determining whether he suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing. The harsh lands the Bakarans inhabit breed ferocious warriors.
- Restricted Class: Wilder. Bakarans may not take levels in the wilder class. The circumstances of the creation of the Bakarans required twisting their bodies with the power of the Essence. This perversion forever separated them from the natural order, and broke their ability to wield the Essence.
- Regional Feats: Axethrower, Blooded, Dauntless, Dreadful Wrath, Fearless, Furious Charge, Horse Nomad, Thug, Tireless
Upcoming Additions
- Bakaran Myths - The Mattasai
- Blademasters and Shaman in Bakaran Society
- The Tribes of the Desert of Fire
