Baull-Wûkarian

The Baull-Wûkarians are a race of pale, blue skinned humanoids who come from a realm known as Baull. They are tall, usually hairless, and have brightly colored eyes which are usually in the green/blue/purple color range. They are known to be fairly private people, but have a unique culture and unique traditions.

The Realm of Baull
The Baull-Wûkarian people are native to small realm known as Baull. Baull-Wûkarians recall their home realm as being a place of vastly dense forests and impossibly grand mountain ranges full of exotic and dangerous creatures. Baull had a sense of luster and magic that flowed throughout the unseeable weave of the realm; a magic that the inhabitants of Baull could manipulate with enough training and meditation, as the people of Baull are very spiritual.

Baull has four regions: Vir'Kirthia, the forest region named after Kirthia, an original Arch-Champion of Baull; Vir'Hissaria, the mountain region named after Hissaria (and location of the capital city Severthsens), another original Arch-Champion of Baull; Vir'Thannis, the coastal region named after Thannis, another original Arch-Champion of Baull; and Vir'Rathim, the tundra region named after Rathim, the last original Arch-Champion of Baull.

Settling of Baull
The origins of the people of Baull are hard to trace, and it is a mystery that Baull-Wûkarian scholars are still trying to find out. What is known is that the people of Baull were floating in the void in a sort of statis for many years before gently drifting into the world of Baull.

It is said that the Baull, being as cold as it is, was completely frozen over and all the drifters were still frozen when they arrived, except for one: Baullorios. Baull did not have a rising sun, and so Baullorios went on a great pilgrimage by himself to save his people. After years of searching and subsiding on only wild game and herbs, Baullorios found a lone sky entity, but the sky entity refused to make the sun rise.

Baullorios fought the sky entity, hand-to-hand, before the sky entity finally surrenders and acknowledged Baullorios' strength and conviction. The sky entity started the sun cycle once again and the people of Baull were saved, earning Baullorios the title of "Sky Tamer" as well as having the Realm named after him.

The Baull Clanrealm
Since the dawn of history on Baull, the inhabitants had been known collectively as Baullites. About 30 years after the settling of Baul, the Baullites moved on from a tribal civilization to a more united and centralized civilization known as the Baull Clanrealm, which was led by a Realmlord. Each region of Baull was governed by the most powerful clan at any given time, and the entirety of Baull was ruled by the Realmlord, which was elected from a group of possible successors, being the head of each governing clan after the Realmlord died.

The First Realmlord was Baullorios II, son of Baullorios the Sky Tamer, Head of Clan Esrillia. The Second Realmlord would be Hunderthinn, Head of Clan Minnis. The third was Gurthiss IV, Head of Clan Jurrn. Finally, the Fourth Realmlord was Frenyith III, Head of Clan Esrilla.

All of the Realmlords led a peaceful society void of conflict and destruction besides natural disasters and petty crime. However, Frenyith III is often considered to have been the last great Realmlord of Baull.

The Great Baullite Schism
The Fifth Realmlord was Zerxios V the Serpent, Head of Clan Dekatiss. In a time where regional tensions were beginning to heat up, the high council of Baull chose to elect a more "iron-fisted" (for lack of a better term) ruler to keep the governing clans in check. A mistake that prove disastrous. Zerxios V immediately began scheming to replace the High Council with members of Clan Dekatiss only. Afterwards, he began to strip the rights of individual regions and increase taxes to a near-oppressive amount. To enforce his policies, he built up a powerful military.

Eventually, individual factions, full of discontent, began to advocate for the overthrowing of Zerxios V, but the High Council, under the control of Zerxios V, and the military, which was treated much better than most people in Baull, were loyal to Zerxios V and went out to crush these factions, causing the Great Baullite Schism. The Baullites began to separate from unity and see themselves as different types of Baullites.

The Baull-Verdanites were to become the people of the forest; The Baull-Korthians were the become the people of the coasts; The Orjinite-Baullites were to become the people of the Mountains; and the Baull-Wûkarians were to become the people of the plains and tundras.

Zerxios V and his supporters did not see these new classifications as real Baullites (and they still considered themselves as 'Baullite') and ordered them to be decimated, leading to the...

Great Baullite War
The Baull-Verdanites, Baull-Korthians, and Baull-Wûkarians all allied with each (First Baullite Forces) other to fight the armies of Zerxios V (New Baull Faction). The Orjinite-Baullites, being a very small group as most of the mountain people were supporters of Zerxios V, went into hiding.

The First Baullite Forces, despite being made up of more groups, was still at an extreme disadvantage. They did not have a supply of weapons and armor like the New Baull Faction did, and most of their soldiers were untrained. The forest people of the First Baullite Forces waged guerilla warfare on the New Baull Factions, while the coastal people and tundra people attacked their enemies head on.

Even after two years of fighting, the only consistent result was losses for the First Baullite Forces. Victories for the First Baullite Forces were inconsistent and small, but served to maintain the morale of the soldiers. Sadly, the coastal people would be almost completely wiped during the third year of the war, and the forest people during the fourth.

The tundra people, the Baull-Wûkarians, were forced to flee Baull. Not a single Baull-Wûkarian has returned since.

Voramiir the Path Tracker
The people of Baull had always been able to use magic, but the magic required to travel to other realms had never been perfected in Baull. The Baull-Wûkarians were running on very short time, as they would soon be flanked by the enemy and slaughtered.

One scholar studying the inter-realm travel, Voramiir, took the ultimate risk in a time of urgency. He would attempt to create a portal to another realm on very short notice, but he would not be able to choose where the portal led. Furthermore, if done incorrectly, a large explosion could kill all of the Baull-Wûkarians. They would have to take their chances.

While Voramiir was able to successfully open a portal, he died in the process. In his honor, he was given the title "Path Tracker" post-mortem. Brave heroes would also die defending the portal from enemy soldiers as Baull-Wûkarians fled, and while they waited for the portal to close.

Jagdas
The Baull-Wûkarians would find themselves in a world known as Jagdas. Jagdas was immensely vast, even more so than Baull. Some nations in Jagdas welcomed them, but others shunned them and feared them. The Baull-Wûkarians, being the people of the tundra, naturally found comfort in the coldest places in Jagdas.

Jagdas was a shock to the Baull-Wûkarians. They had never seen such diversity and so many cultures in one place! Before they traveled to Jagdas, they considered the existence of other species to be a theory at best. Regardless, they began to live their lives within Jagdas, and when it was time to leave for a new home like Rathnir or Eldham, so too did they.

Religious Beliefs
The Baull-Wûkarians are not particularly religious people, unless they have converted to other religions since leaving Baull. However, it can be said that the Baull-Wûkarians, even before leaving Baull, can be very spiritual. Baull-Wûkarian monks and spiritualists meditate and study to channel their "origin soul", which they believe is a deep inner-self that can make you stronger and smarter in every way. Baull-Wûkarian soldiers are known to sometimes meditate before battles to channel their origin soul to fight better.

There was no pantheon or strict religious beliefs in Baull, but some Baullites believed in some sort of God, although historical records of this church are inconsistent and hard to find.

Traditions
The Baull-Wûkarians have many traditions unique to their culture. For one, every winter it is considered a tradition to swim in a lake during the first snowfall. This is said to purge you of your impurities. Another culture is that of singing traditional Baull-Wûkarian songs. These songs might be war songs sung during or before battle, spiritual hymns sung chanted during pilgrimage or meditation, or joyous songs sung during celebrations. One recorded Baull-Wûkarian war song goes as follows: By the might of the man in the armor of no shine,

' 'o men! 'o men! 'o swords! 'e shields!'

Charge 'ye hardy stonebulls,

and into the army we do charge!

For the love of 'ye pride and soul!

Folklore
Baull-Wûkarians have a number of folklore stories. One of them tells the story of an invisible monster known as the Grimborrer, who is said to steal little kids away if they play around with flames and fire when they shouldn't be.

Another story is about friendly creatures, no bigger than mice, known as Wajajaks, who lead people out of forests when they are lost. However, the Wajajaks are, according to the folklore, also at war with the forest Faeries, who are actually considered evil in Baull-Wûkarian folklore.

Professions
Baull-Wûkarians have been known to be mostly scholars and mages, but have also made great explorers, writers, and soldiers. Baull-Wûkarian mages are known to be able to master the elements faster than other schools of magic. Baull-Wûkarian soldiers, while not as common, have been noted for their relentlessness in battle and usage of guerilla warfare as well as light magics alongside their swordsmanship. Baull-Wûkarian swordsmanship is unique in its form of relentless attacks meant to overwhelm the enemy, while finishing off weakened enemies with methodically violent strikes.

Language
The Baull-Wûkarian people natively speak a modernized version of a language known as Baullanish, but travelers tongue (common) is widespread among Baull-Wûkarians. Traditional Baullanish has certain phonetic differences, as well as being based entirely around symbols and different characters than common is. The modernized Baullanish uses (mostly) characters from the travelers tongue alphabet.

Baull-Wûkarian Biology
Baull-Wûkarians are quite tall with somewhat bony features and high cheekbones. Whey are usually naturally hairless, but Baull-Wûkarians can grow hair in rare instances. They have pale-blue skin that is often very textures and accompanied by bony accentuations protruding from around the front of their fair. They have very brightly colored eyes which are often a shade of blue/green/purple.

The Baull-Wûkarians exhibit and amazing resistance to the cold and have even demonstrated a resistance to the slippery effects of ice. On top of this, many Baull-Wûkarians have been known to show an aptitude for magic and the arcane arts. More spiritual Baull-Wûkarians find impressive luck as shamans, whitch-doctors, and monks of elemental mastery. The eyes of a Baull-Wûkarian can adjust to and see in the dark much easier than most.

Of course, the average Baull-Wûkarian does exhibit weaknesses, but this is to be expected. Baull-Wûkarians are extremely prone to burn wounds, which can last weeks longer than they normally should. In fact, Baull-Wûkarians are much more prone to heat in general, often suffering from heat stroke when in very hot places for too long.