Srryn

Overview
STR	22
INT	17
WIS	16
DEX	23
CON	23
CHR	15
Resists	Fire, disease, poison
Vulnerable	Cold
Special	Claws
Classes	Fighter, Gladiator, Swordmaster, Bandit, Thief, any Templar except Spirit, Barbarian, Druid, Ranger, Assassin

Cunning and adaptable, the srryn are one of the most ancient people on Avendar.

Biology

Srryn are cold-blooded humanoid reptiles. Their features are distinctly crocodilian, with vertically-slit eyes, tough scutes overlying a bony exoskeleton, sharp claws and teeth, and long tails. Their tails are not prehensile but they are quite flexible, being used extensively for balance and communication, as well as being capable of regenerating if severed. Srryn are omnivores, but their jaws, while powerful, are not well-adapted to chewing; food must be cut or torn into pieces that can be swallowed. They have tough claws on both their hands and feet, though they become brittle with length and are often kept short. Like most reptiles, they are adversely affected by cold, which slows their metabolism and forces them into torpor.

Srryn remain gravid for only a month, but their eggs must be incubated for over a year before hatching. Most hatchlings are able to walk within hours of hatching, and are talking by six months of age. Their clutches range in size depending on factors like local population density from one to over a dozen, but particularly in larger clutches, most hatchlings will not survive to their second year. They also beep.

Befitting the children of Fenthira, srryn are capable of adapting to their environment and imparting those changes to their offspring much more quickly than other species. This in addition to their extreme precociousness has lead to a huge variety in morphology across different communities of srryn. This adaptability has contributed to their tenacity and relative comfort in all manner of extreme environments, as well as ensuring that srryn can be found with eyes or scales of nearly any hue and pattern.

Culture

As a people the srryn are proud, though the form and justification for that pride changes depending on their ruling sept. Sotuei sept will point out their adaptability and ability to acquire knowledge. A Sythraki sept may point out that if not for the Compact-breaking divine intervention, they would have won the War of Fire. A Sithean sept will...probably try to kill you immediately. They don't like outsiders very much.

The srryn engage in meticulous grooming, outshining even the vainest aelin in terms of time, attention, and sheer array of products used. Their scales shed in patches which require exfoliation, for which exist many specialized tools. Unguents exist that lighten or darken the scales; yet other cosmetics are used to paint patterns on the scutes. Claws are kept trim whether sharpened or blunted, and ostentatious jewelry and garb are recognized as signals of status.

The srryn assign strict gender roles, but largely only to specific activities rather than people. The concept of fatherhood does not exist within srryn societies, for example; anyone who takes care of a child is considered their mother, regardless of relation or personal identity. A fisherman is always a fisherman, and the terms associated have a strong connotation of masculinity in their language. On the topic of sex however srryn are openly sanguine and flexible. The swamps of Sythtys for example are home to nkran blossoms, and it isn't uncommon for srryn to use them to change their sex to ensure offspring with a desired partner. Such offspring are then left in a communal birth-nest, to be tended and raised by elder srryn mothers.

Srryn language is a particular point of interest and frustration for outsiders, for movements of a srryn's tail are a vital component of it. The posture of the tail is used to signify all manner of things, including emotional state, sincerity, perceived status in relation to their audience, and so on. So much of their communication is nonverbal that it was difficult even for those non-srryn who knew the language. A method of sign language to emulate the presence of a tail was eventually developed by Ilhever Loshtera and Ysthorine Ssolenla, aelin and srryn scholars who made a study of the srryn language.

Sythtys is ruled by the Ysthael sept, following the tenets of Sythrak. They primarily hunt, fish, and gather; they have neither farms nor herds. Lacking both mines and quarries, they make use of wood, leather, and bone tools. More advanced material goods are generally acquired by raiding; Earendam's history of violent imperialism and multiple wars have left them famously aggressive towards outsiders, precluding most trade. This has locked them in perpetual tension with Earendam, as they simultaneously defend their homeland from the imperialist city, and raid said city's outlying villages and farms. They take not only goods, but people, and the stories of tortured human prisoners are not only Earendamian propaganda.

West of the Forest of Nendor, Vrystat fen has become home to the Thissa sept, bound in service to Sitheus. Banished from Sythtys, these Sitheans nurse a cold enmity against Sythrak's sept which surpasses even their hatred of warmbloods. Druidic cultists roam the fens, at one with the diseased energies of Sitheus' realm. They tread carefully around their militant leader, Kassitha, as they gather strength and bide their time.

Far to the south, the Sotuei sept keeps Fenthira's ways.

Many srryn have integrated into multi-species communities. Their reputation for violence precedes them, making prejudice a recurring barrier. Despite the prejudice, Fenthira's guiding hand pushes these srryn into the wider world, bringing forth their natural curiosity and adaptability. City srryn can be found as shopkeepers, porters, guards, and gladiators; village srryn are often fishermen. Among the Lsakia, srryn are tenders of their large docile reptilian cousins known as srorsians. Srryn have contributed much to the world's adventuring guilds, bringing their mastery of extreme environments, innovations in fire magic, and new fighting techniques.

Religion

The srryn gods are known for their reticence for divine intervention. Their children are expected to survive or not according to their own strength and cunning. Each god posits their own approach to this however, and each sept is arranged around one of their respective philosophies.

History

The srryn were one of the first people to emerge after the Sundering. Emerging triumphant from the jungles to the south, their divinely-spurred ability to adapt to extreme environments gave them a considerable edge in those early chaotic days. They soon began to leave the jungles of their birth, adapting to the then-fertile plains surrounding Ashta Harrud, the Ngahe desert, and the swamps of Sythtys.