Paragon

Paragon, commonly referred to as Paragonites, cavemen and mercenaries are a humanoid-like society living in Haven, Chakamul, also scattered in cave/underground systems throughout both Rathnir and Eldham. They are a mentally deteriorated, yet powerful physical high-strengthened society. Bridged the gap between proto-humanoid groups and modern mankind.

Description
Paragonite cavemen prefer humid, isolated and dark environments. Preference relies on underground systems regardless of outside climate. There are no known subraces and overall they appear to be the ancestors of most human-kind, yet due to their self-isolating history, they also appear underdeveloped.

Overall confrontation with other modern societies are very rare, and are mainly done if beneficial for themselves, such as acting as hired-arms. Only known exceptions of further interactions happened with Chevkri and Simulami.

Physique
At first they appear like any other muscled great-physique humanoid, they are relatively average in height, broad-shouldered and hairy. They possess a sort-of stonish hardened skin. Can lift several pounds/kilograms with ease and appear very barbaric in image.

Their bodily features are very primordial. Large bulky hands and feet, sinked-in heads with shorter thick necks, easily maintained abdomen and chest. A paragonite’s face is usually widened with a smaller upper-skull, yet huge forehead and wide-jaw. Eyes are underdeveloped, capable of seeing in dim-dark, yet color-blindness affects 95% of their population. Brain-capacity is also underdeveloped even for larger species, therefore many are analphabetic.

Lifestyle
Paragonites are a very herbivorous race, they live off of eating vegan and vegetarian, they often smash, prepare and maintain basic deep-root and rock-based diets with an alcohol-free mainly water and juice substance. They gained nutrients from the ground, composting useful portions of vegetables, seeds and any soil-based product. Best sources for their special diet were nuts, leaves and berries.

Reproduction biologically is similar to any other humanoid race and mammal. Paragonites tend to bear a single or two children at a time. Unique for their cultural inbreeding with one-another, to traditionally “keep the strength” within and enforce the apex humanoid perspective over themselves. Due to this might be the reason for their constantly worsening mental-health and physical greatness. Their intelligence is close-to equal with dogs or dolphins. Life expectancy is between 50 and 60 years, though unknown (due to rare cases of death by old-age).

There are no known paragonite subraces to this day.

Society
Already a private and isolated race throughout their lives, a paragonite violently seeks adventure, battles or any sort-of progress. On very rare occasions closing to months of winter they introduce other societies and races with a weird-welcoming “skull-bashing” behavior. Maintaining their own ecosystem, they stick together with their own for generations and kin. A sole/lonely paragonite is therefore a rarity.

History
Paragonite history is short yet plenty. Their ancestors from millennia ago were apparently technologically-developed proto-humans from the ages of non-avian gargantuans such as feathered-dinosaurs they called “Llama”s. Not much is known from this time apart from reliques they use for today's brewery and product-process.

According to small texts a paragonite extinction event ended this period, where a so-called “Giant Llama”, presumed to be a feathered dinosaur infected one or several members with a rare disease today known as rabies, and presumably destroyed settlements on their own. The last members of the society isolated themselves into the cave systems they live in today.

For millennials the last survivors resulted into today’s traditional inbreeding, and blamed technology for their demise. At the same time this resulted in the birth of one of the first paragonites carrying the name “Dom”, and also their religion “Rok”. Not much known for the following millenia, though presumed the local community of Chakamul-Mountain were de-facto “frozen in time” either through hibernation or unknown petrification. On theological terms this might have been the doings of their “overgod” above Rok, that the society gave little to no attention, and froze them as revenge.

After the Battle of Northport, Chakamul was struck by earthquakes due to the immense bombardment of the city. The same earthquake opened up the underground caverns once more, and unfroze the proto-humans living inside them, beginning a new age.

Culture
For foreigners their culture is very primordial and brutalistic. It is infused with both religion and desire of might. Paragonites are known to preserve and value nature and earth-made architecture.

Crafts: Cavemen art is known throughout history, talented individuals may use fiber-based paint to cover monoliths and walls to show their jokes or craftsmanship of their own. They have a drum-based taste of music that pairs well with their bone-culture.

Paragonites are craftsmen and tend to use both humanoid and bestial bones to create trinkets and weapons or everyday items such as cups, knives, spoons. Many times, they tend to use them for ritualistic purposes when it comes to religion.

Entertainment: Many members inside paragonite communities love their unique way of sports. The so-called “drip-gyms” are a local curiosity in their society, where one may use naturally-formed dripstones as weights to build up and maintain muscle mass. Body-building and contests between one-another such as arm- and standard-wrestling is an everyday activity.

Workshops such as breweries, fungal-cheesemaking and smithies are also common.

Tribalism: Today’s paragonite society is tribal, and acts as a band of groups with limited instances of social rank and prestige. There are four maintained hierarchical titles at decision-making, yet rarely exercised.


 * Bottom of their communes are the “Helite-s” or warriors, who are the common adult-folk grown to be fighters and maintainers of the Paragon values. Above them are “Enolite-s” or officers, sort of group-leads when it comes to individual battles or projects.
 * Zenith-s or leaders act as strategizers, are usually not-analphabetic and capable of reading and writing in basic Traveler’s Tongue, in the absence of higher-ranked officials they fill in the position.
 * Auctor-s or founders are the first paragonites less-affected of inbreeding, and act as the head of their nation.
 * Most notable paragonite called “Warchaka” is considered an Auctor, he is both the son and father of “Dom”, the last ancestor of proto-paragonites. Warchaka’s ability to read, write and communicate in Traveler’s Tongue elected him to be the head of their society.

The current known location of the tribal paragonite society is within Chakamul-Mountain, or Chakamul in short, which acts as their ancestral homeland and also base of operations. The famous “Rok” is also located here. They refer to themselves as Chakalaka, or cavemen.

Religion
Paragonite religion and faith is called Rok, a monolit-like stone entity, its portfolio includes life, hunt and war. It is physically located inside Chakamul, though seen as a formation intervening the whole Material-World/Planet through its roots.

Rok is actually a deity behind the obelisk-like creation, that was destined to save the cavemen from extinction through raising/dropping a great rock-shape on rabies-infected cavemen and the death-figure called “Great Llama”, though by pure accident the ones it saved praised the huge Rock as their savior, entitling it as their God, instead of the actual deity behind the act. This unnamed God kept an eye on the Paragonites for a while, until indefinitely froze them as revenge.

The huge stone made out of different materials pummeled into the earth in the middle of Chakamul. It is decorated with bones and cavemen art-drawings from bottom to the top, the near vicinity and itself is considered sacred, and only approachable from a few angles to gain knowledge or praise before battles or hunt.

Religious figureheads are called Bone-shamans, they are the ones maintaining the rock or decorating it with pristine or new presents and gifts. If one serves the Rok long enough, tales say that it empowers them with gifts on its own, such as longevity of life, or skill to lead. True lifted-shamans believe that the days never progress, but actually resets with each dawn. They also tend to succumb towards Barbarian-like rage due to consuming a brew that gives them mild day-long rabies, but also insight.

Dom: A famous bone-shaman and notoriously the last proto-paragonite from the technologically-advanced society. Dedicating its mental and physical body towards the Rok, he forgot to count his own age, and therefore his body forgot to age. Probably millennia-old and the father of Warchaka, now also acts as a son of the same person, stuck at age of 17.

Great Llama, or the greatest enemy of Paragon and the Rok, was responsible in the almost total-extinction of the old paragonite society, presumed to be a dinosaur like feathered creature, it bit several paragonite infesting them with the deadly disease known as rabies, then charged at Chakamul. The creature met its end under “The Rok”, when it descended from the top of the cave, precisely pummeling its long-enemy to the ground. Saving the last paragonites from their demise.

Freeze, in other names, great petrification happened when the actual god behind the Rok froze/petrified the society as revenge due to their inability to praise the true deity, instead of the stone-monolit. It ended when the wars of Rathnir shaken Chakamul, unfreezing Paragon and creating a new exit/entrance to the outside society.

Standard symbolism for the Rok appears by the form of a nicely-curved stone, or the painting of a large obelisk.