The Charred

Visual representations of the Charr.

> *“The Charr race was forged in the merciless crucible of war. It is all they know. War defines them, and their quest for dominion drives them ever onward. The weakling and the fool have no place among the Charr. Victory is all that matters, and it must be achieved by any means and at any cost.” ~ Seriah the Pathfinder*
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The Charr are a race of large, savage, feline creatures that occupy much of eastern Conatasia. They have renounced all gods as false and instead view all of life, from magic to combat, with a hard, cynical eye. Their culture has developed into a military state where they are raised as warriors from birth.

The Charr are the first Inhumans to be created in the existence of Conatasia, they are simultaneously the first manipulators of the energy known as Conatus. Their Conatus is primal, raw and untempered like a raging inferno. Due to their mistreatment and abusive existence serving the Precursors, they have known only pure hatred and endless warfare.

## Physiology

The Charr are carnivorous feline-like humanoids. They stand on their hind legs and are taller than a human, standing upwards of 8 to 9 feet in height, and weighing upwards of 500 pounds. They prefer a hunched pose when standing, but will on occasion stand tall and straight. When they are moving, and their paws are unoccupied, the Charr favor running on all four limbs with a loping gait. The males are described as being generally stronger and the females more lithe and quick.

They have a short fur from head to toe in a variety of colors and patterns, many of which are similar to those of lions, cheetahs and tigers. Their fur patterns are also like that of leopards, snow leopards, and even some fur types of common housecats. Many Charr have a longer mane of fur between the shoulders and on the back of the head and neck. A male Charr has less fur on the tail with longer fur only on the tip, while the female's tail has longer fur from top to bottom.

The Charr muzzle is elongated and the mouth filled with prominent sharp teeth suited for their carnivorous diet. The teeth are larger on the males, particularly those on the bottom jaw which are usually considerably smaller on the female. The head has four horns, those from the top of the head are more prominent than those between the two sets of ears. The top pair of ears hears high frequencies or ultrasound such as a dog might, while the bottom pair hear low frequencies or infrasound similar to an elephant.

The Charr have a set of sharp claws which can be used as knives for general tasks but it appears the charr tend to favour pseudo-conatus infused weapons when fighting.

Cubs are born fully furred, with open eyes and functional limbs. Within a few days, cubs can follow their mothers over even the harshest terrain. They eat meat within a month of birth, and are fully independent several months later. Charr mature at about the same rate as humans.

The Charr are a military culture and their society, technology and relationships are very much focused on supporting war. Society is built around military units which Charr become a part of from childhood. Non-military tasks, such as farming and trade, can be left to the young, retired, and injured. But no matter a Charr's vocation they are always viewed as a soldier and view life like a soldier. Weakness and foolishness from individuals is viewed with particular contempt, some of such acts can result in a Charr becoming a gladium, or in a worse case, the Charr's name being stricken from the race's history.

Charr on occasion mate for life, but most relationships are more casual than that. Families are recognized but adult charr have very little contact with their parents or offspring, but sometimes keep tabs on each other for events which could reflect back on the family’s reputation. As soon as a cub is weaned, around being a year old, they enter a fahrar of one of their parents' legion. The fahrar is the cubs' first warband and they are trained as a military unit under supervision of an adult and are considered an adult when the warband no longer needs supervision. The cubs are taught to unify and define their own social structure and the warband shares a root name which they incorporate into their surname. While ancestry is known and acknowledged, the parents have little to do with the raising of the cub, and as such warbands are viewed as a Charr's family and the bonds of loyalty and kinship formed between them are stronger than those of other races' families. Though some Charr leave, change, or lose their warbands, these strong bonds usually leave a deep impact on the Charr; Charr changing warband must change their name and fit in quickly if they are to survive. However, Charr have been known to choose the fate of becoming a gladium rather than risk losing those bonds again.

The Charr are highly industrious, their forging superior to even the human kingdoms, and are renowned and feared for their military technology – weapon development, war machines and mass production, having pioneered the creation of airships and submarines. Their rifles and pistols are particularly finely made.

## Religion

Due to their history many Charr shun religion. They do not accept any god's authority and quickly anger on topics of Charr worship or manipulation by god-like beings. Charr acknowledge other races' gods as beings of power but do not see them as something worthy of worship. In the case of the Human Gods, the Charr view the deities as beings to fight and strive to kill. At best, their reverence and respect is limited only to great heroes and their deeds in their history.

## Government

Charr society is built around the military chain of command which every charr is brought up to respect. The true head of the chain of command is the Khan-Ur, considered the primus imperator. He ranks above the imperators of all four High Legions and coordinates all the armies of the charr. There is currently no Khan-Ur because no charr holds the leadership artifact, the Claw of the Khan-Ur.

Each legion has a primus warband which the legion is named after and is led by an imperator, a descendant of the original Khan-Ur. If an imperator can obtain the Claw and perform a great deed, that charr will become the next Khan-Ur.

All of the four legions are fiercely independent from the others, maintaining their own lands and city-state strongholds. Three of the primary legions – Ash, Blood, and Iron – are allied and work together to maintain their lands and push for military conquest of lands outside those already held by charr. The fourth legion, Flame, is outcast and at civil war with the other legions. No legion allows the other three to rule over them, but the Iron legion is stated as taking a leading role within the lands of Ascalon.

In times of emergency, the High Legions are known to hold defense quorums in which the highest ranking members of the area meet to plan out a solution to whatever the emergency is – be it repelling enemies, or managing refugee movements.

## Military ranks

The charr military has a multitude of ranks. Directly beneath each legion's imperator are the tribunes; there are rarely more than ten tribunes per legion (Iron currently has six), and this office oversees an entire theatre of war or large swath of controlled territory. Centurions command a number of warbands (a "company") and coordinate maneuvers on a broad scale under a tribune's authority. Legionnaires lead their warbands on missions and guide them to victory. Under their command are the soldiers of each legion. Officers cannot officially order soldiers of other legions, unless given permission by an officer of said other legions.

The bottommost rank in the High Legions are the gladium, charr without a warband. They are the lowest grunts, given little respect or responsibility – regardless of their previous titles or rank. A charr away from their warband on assignment or on duty is not viewed as a gladium.

There are also other ranks and titles within the structure of the High Legions that do not contribute to the direct chain of command.

Main chain of command ranks

* Khan-Ur
* Imperator
* Tribune
* Centurion
* Legionnaire
* Soldier

## Trivia

* The Charred/Charr are inspired from sources in Guild Wars.
* The Charr take inspiration from the Mongols of human history.
* Their Conatus is entirely flame/explosive based.