Alvalrak - Trolls

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The Falkish, or more commonly known as trolls, or trollkind are a highly mystical race originating from the Deadly Swamps of Alvalrak, in which they had established an expansive network of villages, towns, temples and cities deep in the deadly marshes. With the short lifespan of about 50 years, they try to make the most of it, working generally harder than other species, rarely taking a moment for themselves. The Falkish are a highly tradtionaly minded race, generally distrusting outsiders, and prefering to keep to themselves. These factors caused them to isolate themselves from the other races for about 300 years. They share a close working relationship with the Orcs, and by extension, the rest of the Orcoid races.

Physiology

The Falkish are a bidpedal race of warm blooded mammals, with tall, slender bodies, yet densely muscled bodies and hollow skeletons filled with air that are composed of more cartilage than those of other races such as humans. Falkish heads are elongated, and swept backwards, and are capable of growing hair at the top of their skulls. Skin varies in hues of blue, from a pale teal flush to a deep blue hue. Their blood is a dim silver. Falkish eyes are small and oval . The pupils are a small slit, oriented vertically, as if of a reptile's, and the irises can be dark green, purple, or brown. Falkish blink utilizing full Nictitating membranes, allowing it to be drawn across the eye for protection and to moisten it while maintaining visibility.

Falkish reproduce unlike mammals, instead laying eggs. embryos do not have sex chromosomes, and unlike humans, sex is not determined genetically. Sex is determined by temperature, with males produced at around 31.6 °C , and females produced at slightly lower and higher temperatures. The average incubation period is around 50 days, and also is dependent on temperature

Falkish are noted for their slow-speed metabolism, which allows them to function with minmal sleep and food for long periods. They are indeed, capable to slowing down their hearbeats, preserving the need for sleep and food, but causing their minds and bodies to be sluggish as a result. Their minds and bodies work slower than most sapient Species, however, due to the denser than normal muscles packed in their bodies and their larger brains, they have higher physical and mental potential than other Species.

All Falkish have photographic memories and rarely forget a fact. They also possess a form of genetic "imprinting", allowing a falkish to tap into the memories, skill and wisdom of the past sires, inspiring them to higher acts of valor and talent. something that concerns the other species greatly, as more and more powerful Falkish magi are making their mark on Gweralle.

Falkish sex drive and reproduction differ from that of humans. Reproduction is more of a necessity and an act of trust, as Falkish do not seem to recieve pleasure when undergoing intercourse.

Culture
"We commune with our ancestors for guidance, we commune with our gods for protection, and we commune with our brothers for strength"

Falkish are considered one of the most magically attuned races on Gweralle, and most of their society revolves around magic, however, unlike the natural talent the El'thres or the Viszers display, their power comes from their Genetic imprinting, or from their "ancestors" as the Falkish believe. Most Falkish pursue the path of the magi, but there are a small ammount that prefers to take up skills in arms to better protect their magi brethren, Falkish warriors are highly respected in Falkish society.

Due to the treacherous geography of the Deadly Swamps, their chief exports are mostly difficult to obtain herbs that grow in the marshes, which are easy for the Falkish to obtain due to their natural immunity to the toxins of the marsh. The highly addictive, and potentially fatal illegal narcotic, Navic is originally produced by the Falkish as well. Falkish smiths are third rate at best, mostly due to their lack of raw materials to practice their craft on.Falkish food range from inedible to disgusting by the standards of the other races. Their food mostly comprises of easy to obtain insects, and herbs from the Deadly Swamps. Still, there are some who appreciate the Cruisine of the Falkish.

Falkish buildings are mostly constructed from materials readily available in the marshes, such as Brackwood trees, causing most buildings to decay faster than the buildings of the other races. They have learnt to adapt to this, and their paticular method of construction work quite well in the conditions of the swamp, but not well outside of that paticular enviroment. They build their buildings high, to avoid the treacherous creatures that dwell in the undergrowth.

Falkish clothe themselves diffrently from other races, due to necessity rather than fashion, they cover themselves head to toe in clothes weaved from the tough yet flexible Dredgestump leaves. They had grown adept at weaving the material, making some of their clothing exotic garments for the nobility of the other races.

Falkish society is known for its self discipline and work ethic. Faliksh are willing to do what needs to be done, and they always follow through. They are very difficult to spur to violence, and they in actuality despise it, but when conflict is inevitable, They understand a concept of "total war", indeed it was the Falkish that taught the other orcoid races the concept. They do not believe in skirmishes or small-scale battles; they use massive numbers and unleash the species's sheer brutality to crush an adversary so completely that they remove any threat of having to fight the same opponent more than once. They do not exterminate their enemy, but so completely devastate their military and crush their morale as such that the opponent have no choice but to sue for peace.

Falkish put the highest amounts of trust in their communities, anything less, and they would probably not manage to survive, or even thrive in the deadly recesses of the Deadly Swamps. Each member of a Falkish village have their own duties, and they put extreme amounts of work into fufilling their duties. Falkish have a strong inclination toward public service and self-sacrifice, so they tend to be poor entrepreneurs, instead relying on the other orcoid races to assist them in that endavour.

History and Tradtion are very, very important in Falkish society, and there are those who devote their entire lives to chronicle battles, festivals, competitons and every single event in detail. The oldest have records dating back to the Falkish stone age. Falkish society revolves around deeds, not words, as such, strong warriors and powerful magi lead the Falkish society, however, no matter how powerful or inteligent a Falkish is, they must still heed the words and orders of the elder.

Due to their method of reproduction, Falkish have little concept of romantic love, sexual attraction, or the biological impulses and social rituals that complicate other species' lives. Male-female relationships and more akin to human friendship. Sexuality is for the purpose of reproduction, or as a gesture of extreme trust.

War Tactics

Falkish forces do not use Calvary,Archers, or any other combat units they only comprise of Falkish warriors armed with a suit of scale armor, a close combat weapon (Mostly Scimitars or Waraxes) and a shield, and Falkish Magi in diffrent specializations, such as mysticism, elemental magic, and such. Falkish armies comprise of about 70% magi, and 30% Warrior, demonstrating their preferance of magical abilities than skill in arms. The Falkish armies begin their engagements with long range magical attacks, if possible, they prefer to crush their enemies this way, as to prevent the necessary deaths of their brave warriors.

After the opening phase of attack, the vanguard of the Falkish army surges forwards to hold down the bulk of the enemy's forces, allowing the magi to pepper them with magical attacks, while the Flank of the Falkish melee units fall back to protect the magi if any enemy slips through or breaks through the Falkish Vanguard.Most engagements end at this point, as the constant attacks from the powerful Falkish magi would destroy most forces, however, if a sizable enough enemy force survives, the falkish magi would be vulnerable at this point, mostly due to the expenditure of the most of their mana.


Religion

The Falkish revere their ancestors, they believe in times of great mental or physical duress, or when deep in meditation, the ancestors would offer their aid, by allowing them to tap into the collective conscience of the Falkish ancestors. In truth, it is their Genetic imprint that allows them to tap into the wealth of information.

Other than their ancestors, most Falkish worship the Old Father of the Mountains, the patron god of the Orcs. They picked up the worship of The old father due to their close relations to the orcs. In their words, The old father is not a jealous power, and would gladly extend his gaze to the Falkish.

The third, and perhaps the most important Falkish dieties are the four ancient guardian gods. Kurankth, the God of Conquest, according to the Falkish, it was he who shaped them into what they are, to conquer their enemies. Zalaas-Enach, The God of intrigue, the god who taught the Falkish to give their allies absolute trust, but to decieve the enemies. Palasakh, the God of Mortality, the god who would welcome the Falkish with a kind smile when their time had come, to bring them back to paradise, and Qalacahcl, the God of Wisdom, the god who bargained with Palaskh to allow the ancestors to assist the Falakish.

Goverment

The Falkish government, known as the Elder councils is a hierarchical meritocracy. While it has great potential for misuse, this is tempered by the civic duty and personal responsibility Falkish learn during their childhood.

Falkish have many citizenship tiers, Higher-ranked citizens are expected to protect and guide subordinates. Lower-ranking citizens are expected to obey and support superiors. Promotion to another tier of citizenship is based deeds, and actions. The Falkish follow the recommendations of their Elders, who spend years poring over ancient records of jurisprudence to determine the precedent that should be followed in any given situation. The Falkish record closely argued and minutely detailed instructions on what course to follow in any theoretical crisis. These are filed away in huge libraries. and their genetic memories and are consulted when needed. This makes Falkish policies very predictable, provided one has done a great deal of research

Falkish enjoy broad freedoms. So long as one completes his duties, and does not prevent others from completing theirs, nothing is forbidden. For example, there are no laws against recreational drug use, but if someone is unable to complete his duties due to drug use, his superiors step in. Judicial proceedings are 'interventions.' Peers express their concern, and try to convince the offender to change. If rehabilitation fails, Falkish have no qualms about sentencing dangerous individuals to death, however there had been no failed rehabilitation for quite some time.

Names

Falkish names consists of three parts, the first part, the given name, which is given by the sire of the child, most of which are Celtic or Central American names. The Second Part consists of the location of which he had acomplished brave deeds. The Third part consists of the Bloodline of which the Falkish hails from. An example of a name would be "Halaj Uthaa Xanai Ysan Vanasq Falasang"

History

The Falkish history texts cite that the first falkish were a group of soldiers from an unspecified race who were weary of their life of constant war, and, with the assistance of the four guardian dieties, managed to escape from the clutches of their masters and escape to Gweralle. When they first arrived, there were already many other races. Rather than taking up a place that many coveted for, they opted to live in the deadly swamps.

The guardian diety Kurankth, touched by their self sacrifice, changed them into what they are now, in order to survive the deadly swamps. At first, they struggled to survive, even with their new forms, but over time, they adapted and learnt, and built up a meager living in the swamps. Occasionally, they dispatched scouts and listeners to observe the outside world, but they mostly kept to themselves, as they had already a hard enough time attempting to survive.

Slowly, but surely, they carved out a small kingdom for themselves in the swamps. As their kingdom grew, so did the needs of the people. The swamp did not have much raw materials other than wood and valuble herbs. Utilizing the information from their scouts, they opened up communications with the Dwarves, hoping to trade their valuble herbs for metals, stones and other Raw materials.

The Dwarves, always glad to trade, readily agreed to the proposal and begun trading with the isolated species. The humans, at the height of their power however, were less than thrilled when they have heard of this. They staked a claim on the Deadly Marshes, even though they previously never had any intention of claiming, or exploring the land. This led to a short war between the humans of Fiore and the Falkish, in which the humans foolishly marched into the Deadly Swamps and were mostly killed by the land they were unprepared for. In a few months, they sued for peace, which the Falkish readily agreed.

While the Falkish were quick to forgive, the humans were not. They held a grudge against the Falkish, which led to the second war for the Deadly Swamps, which resulted in the razing of several Falkish villages. The Falkish fought back and demonstrated their power, but the Human advance was too overwhelming. Falling back to their capital, an unexpected aid came from the Orcs. They demanded the Fiore Humans to cease their assault, at the risk of the Orcs joining in the fray, however the Humans refused, and marched onto the Capital.

The war concluded when the Humans were beaten out of the Swamps. Thankful for the aid at their darkest time, the Falkish drew up defence pacts with the Orcs, which the Orcs would draw upon when they faced their own extinction. Realising their best chance at surviving was to work together, The Orcs and Falkish were the founders of the Orcoid Union.

Now, with the collapse of the Human Empire, the Falkish stand strong with their allies, habouring no hatred to the humans even thought they attempted to exterminate them a few decades ago. They strive and work hard for the Orcoid Union, and will perhaps inherit the world of Gweralle.