Valmar

General Summary
The Valmar are a race of water based elementals encased in clay humanoid bodies, they live wherever fresh water flows and clay is plentiful. They live in tightly knitted tribes through the lands that were once known as Xeka to the lands of Vanshire, practicing their water magic, alchemy, and brewing alcohol.

Biology
As stated before, the Valmar are a race of elemental beings with humanoid clay bodies, they are created with the mixture of clay from the Polarixi mountain range and magical spring water that come from underground springs, the ritual that creates a Valmar is only known by the Valmar themselves and his or her partners. When two partners decie to craft a child they collect three things, one, clay from the Polarixi mountain, two, either grass from the plains or kelp from the sea, and three, two of a type of gemstone, after all materials are collected the two partners would form the body of the child, place the kelp or grass on their head, and place the gemstones where the eyes of a creature would be, once the shell is complete the partners take the child to the spring water and dip the shell into the water, once the shell comes back to the surface, the magical essense of the water is absorbed into the body and a child is born. With the magical water that flows through their bodies, they are able to manipulate water from any source that contains water (lakes, rivers, puddles) and with enough training they can manipulate liquids that contain some amounts of water in them (potions, alcohol, etc)

Culture
Valmar are very friendly and jovial people. Instead of wars and swords, Valmar were more for agriculture and brewing, they use the rivers and seas of Serrona for trading and diplomacy with the other races of the continent, the closest allies of the Valmar are the Lo’oix from the Sérotat Kingdom (which is now modern day U.S.S.E) who traded farming equipment and weapons for alcohol and potions. With what time they have not waging war, the Valmar take on many professions, those who studied the effects of the mixtures of certain items and their reactions studied and became Alchemist, those who took ingredients from the fields and brewed them to make drinks to dull the mind and lighten the mood became Alemaids and Brewmasters, and those who found the freezing power of ice and used it to form weapons and tools to help out their communities became Vicreil (translation: ice shaper).

Festivals
There are three notable festivals the Valmar take part in, The Valcine, The Harlach, and the Bhshlán

The Valcine (Water Race)
The Valcine while being about a race is more so a festival dedicated to the enjoyment and respect of the river that separates the Vansharii borders from the U.S.S.E, the festival takes place entirely either in the waters of the river itself or on the banks of the river. The majority of the festival is dedicated to the enjoyment of various activities and treats that are offered with the last part of the festival pertaining to the race, each tribes representee starts off at the top of the caves mouth where they dive into the river and swin to the very end of the river and back, the first one to make it back to the mouth of the cave receives a prize and the joy of their tribe.

The Harlach (Harvest festival)
The Harlach is the celebration of the bountiful harvest of the crops of Vanshire, the Valmar take all the crops they have collected in the months and create a great feast with fabulous food and kegs filled with the finest mead created by the Alemaids and Brewmasters of every tribe, while this is a Valmar celebration, many races from across Serrona have come to enjoy the feat and compony of the Valmar, though it is said that many people have come back from this event severely drunk or with alcohol poison due to the drinking contest, Valmar seem to have the advantage by seemingly not having the ability to get severely drunk.

The Bhshlán (Tribe Challenge)
The Bhshlán is a once-a-year event where every tribe comes together and challenge each other to make the best of the best of each profession. Each profession is tasked to make an item (Alcohol, potions, food, tools, or weapons) an present it to the master crafters of each tribe to be judged on which item shall be the masters new asset. Younger Valmar like to compete with others to make the best item while the older generation use this time to perfect their crafts.

History
During the earlier days of Serrona the Valmar lived in relative peace with their neighbors, trading, fishing, and having a good time. Some years into the Rathnirian colonization craze, the Valmar would encounter incoming Human colonizers in the form of the Vanakunirii, Vlads, and Nazakei, along with a mysterious colonizer who came and staked all of Vansharii land under his name. After a few years and a build up of tension between the newly formed U.S.S.E and the newly formed Newkunir, an incident in Alicuna would cause the Semi aggressive Newkunirians into a war that would carve out a path of destruction not only in the U.S.S.E but also back in the occupied vanshire. The Valmar who wanted nothing to do with this war were chased out of their riverside home of Alicuna and into the Mesa where the intense heat of the sun turned a vast majority into terracotta corpses, those who remained in Alicuna were under constant threat of the Newkunirians and their sadistic hunts for people. Years went by and the Newkunirians left the area and the land given back to its original nations, from what was documented, it seems that only one Valmar is left in the Vansharii region, though it has been stated that there might be more across serrona and or even further beyond, that coinciding with people's reports on seeing clay skinned people who seem to control water.