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Description:
The hssaar are feared throughout Caevalonia for their relentless hostility toward all other races. Their cunning and cruelty are as infamous as that of the lunaris (dark elves) and they too have the backing of the dark gods on their side.
This reptilian race are descended from snakes. Hssaars resemble snakes with arms but no legs, however, due to a slightly different genetic make-up some (the 'warrior caste') are bipedal. They are much more intelligent than their burly lizardmen cousins and are distrusted by members of other races as they have made no secret of their allignments with evil. Also the hssaar race are reknown for producing some of Caevalonia's deadliest assassins and have little love for humans and other warm-blooded races and have waged war on them more than once in the past.
Hssaar live mainly in the hottest regions of Caevalonia like the Jerassy Desert where their city is found. They are governed over by a single Pharoah (currently Ssiron the Third) though their priesthood is perhaps even more powerful and much of their time is spent trying to drive other races out of the desert - which they consider to be their exclusive territory.
They are not as strong as humans, but are agile and experts at the quick strike. Much like their ancestors - the spitting cobra - they are able to spit venom through their fangs at those whom threaten them. Although the venom isn't toxic, it is a bad irritant and distracts the opponent long enough for them to either attack or run.
History:
It is said the hssaar once lived in peace in their small desert kingdom. Isolated from the world they were artisans and philosophers and though they were cold-blooded and unemotional they were not cruel. The great deserts of Caevalonia are an inhospitable land where resources such as water and food are scarce. However the land possesses a vast natural wealth of minerals and precious metals which other races soon discovered. The hssaar found their lands set upon from all sides and for trying to defend their land most of their small outlying communities were wiped out.
Feeling betrayed by their traditional gods, their priesthood led by the High Priestess started looking to other powers for help and found their prayers answered by none other than the dark goddess Anshu, Mother of Lies herself!In return for their undivided worship (sacrifices, blood-letting, the usual nasty stuff) Anshu gifted her new priestesses with the powers of dark clerics and taught her new children the ways of war, allowing them to defend themselves against the outsiders.
That was millennia ago. Now the hssaar are the terror of Caevalonia's deserts. The lure of wealth still attracts outsiders and merchant routes pass along the outer reachers of their lands and the hssaar take every opportunity to raid them. Meanwhile the Pharoah and the Priesthood seek ways to prevent their lands ever being plundered again... by any means necessary including the destruction of Caevalonia's other races!
Average Statistics
Diet: omnivourous but lean more toward carnivore.
Alignment (if any): evil
Life expectancy: 200-250 years
Main Deity: Anshu, goddess of lies.