Harimari

Portrait of Harimar

### Skin Color

Striped orange, black and white tiger markings - on rare occasions black or white fur

### Distinctions

Humanoid tiger appearance, high affinity for muscular and martial builds

**Harimari** are a sapient bipedal feline race recognizable for their tiger-like appearance. Native to the Ascension Peninsula in southwestern Rahen, they came into existence during the cataclysmic Day of Ashen Skies, when volatile magic caused the spontaneous generation of the harimari, a phenomenon that is still not well understood.

In the aftermath of their "ascension", the harimari conquered much of Haless under the leadership of the eponymous Harimar. These initial conquests were infamous for the bestial savagery displayed by the harimari in combat, but their reputation changed drastically as Harimar conquered ever more land and adopted a policy of military integration, cultural acceptance, and enlightened rulership. The humanoid tigers have since become known as highly cultured thinkers and philosophers - so much so, in fact, that the term "philosopher-king" is said to have originated from the harimari rulers of Haless.

### Etymology

The Harimari derive their name from their legendary leader Harimar, the warlord who conquered most of Haless between 35AA and his disappearance in 70 AA. The sarniryabsadi language denotes something as belonging to a place or person by adding the “i” suffix to the owner - thus, Harimari literally translates as “Harimar’s People” or “Those who belong to Harimar”.

Harimar is noted in several historical writings as having been a member of the “second-generation”, and not one of the original members of the species to gain sapience during the Day of Ashen Skies. This has raised questions as to what name the harimari referred to themselves as before the great leader’s life - a lack of written records from that time period has rendered this knowledge lost to history.

## Origins

For as long as the harimari have existed, there have been competing theories among Raheni and Halessi philosophers of how such a people came into being. A handful of facts are well-established: they did not exist prior to the Day of Ashen Skies, they are confirmed to exist by 2 AA, and that Harimar the Great was a second-generation harimari. But details beyond that are largely confined to the realm of theory, though some may have more weight than others.

Ancient oral tradition passed down in the jungles of the south speaks of the legendary "Eye of Ascension", an artifact through which the tiger progenitors of the harimari passed and emerged as sentient beings. The logistics of such a process are dubious, and no such artifact has been recorded in any of the Order of Chroniclers' expeditions, nor do the harimari themselves claim to have access to such a portal. That said, given the volume of High Temples in the region, and their incalculable depths, it is impossible to fully rule out the idea that such an artifact exists.

A theory more popular in recent history also points to the High Temples, and their strong spirit-manipulating powers. It argues that the Day of Ashen Skies must have caused some sort of malfunction in Raheni temples, where instead of suppressing the local spirits of land and sky, they were channeled into physical vessels. For whatever reason, their receptacle was the Ascension's Peninsula tiger population, and the product of being imbued with those quasi-sentient beings' essence resulted in the harimari. The knowledge transferred in this process, it is argued, explains why the harimari did not behave with total bewilderment upon transformation from mere jungle beast.

## Anatomy and physiology

Harimari are often described as bipedal tigers, and this description is not warrantless - like their cousins, harimari are large cats with dark vertical stripes on orange fur. Delving deeper, however, would reveal massive differences in their musculoskeletal structure to support bipedalism. The legs, feet, spine, chest, and shoulders have all experienced major changes, and in many ways the harimari skeleton more closely resembles that of a human than that of a feline.

In the case of the skull, harimari jaws are less muscled than those of their tiger ancestors, with smaller teeth. The sagittal crest is significantly reduced on the cranium, and their face is slightly flattened and points downwards more due to the orientation of the foramen magnum beneath the skull. This change in orientation is not so prominent as that in humans, and does not produce a true chin from the lower edge of the jaw.

Remodeling of the hyoid apparatus allows the production of a wide range of sounds from the larynx, which combine with changes to facial musculature to enable formation of most sounds that humans can make. Lack of true lips leaves some sounds unformable in the way humans can - n’s and m’s are made in the throat, while b and p approximates are made through alterations to v and f sounds. Harimari retain the earth-shattering roar of the tiger, which can be heard nearly 3 km away.

The forearm modifications of harimari are extensive as well. Though they retain their retractable claws, the dewclaw is remodeled to oppose the four main digits, which are significantly lengthened. The metacarpals are molded to enable a smoother turning of the wrist but retain significant strengthening for flexion and extension while suffering reduced ab/adduction capacity. Together, these morphologies provide the harimari with a strong grasping hand that enables them to manipulate both pen and sword with ease. It is less dexterous than that of humans, however, making certain complex tasks difficult, and the differences that do exist make harimari much worse at throwing objects than humans are.

There is notable sexual dimorphism between male and female harimari, with males being consistently taller and heavier. Generally, males stand between 190 to 230 cm tall and weigh between 110 and 260 kg. Females vary in height between 160 to 200 cm and weigh between 70 and 172 kg.

### Physical Capabilities

Harimari are extensively muscled and are capable of great feats of strength and speed, particularly in short bursts - harimari have been measured as being about to move 30 kph from a dead start, and most are capable of lifting twice their body weight over their heads. Retaining the natural claws and teeth of tigers, harimari are exceptionally dangerous even when unarmed, and tales abound of their terror in warfare due to their incredible strength, speed, and natural weapons. Like tigers, they are strong swimmers and have no natural aversion to water, are capable climbers, and can make horizontal leaps of up to 20 feet with ease.

Much like other felines, harimari possess the ability to sweat, but have difficulty shedding excess heat due to their coat. This makes them decidedly worse at endurance tasks than humans, particularly in hot and humid climates - ironically the very climate of their homeland. Their fur is highly insulating, however, and provides excellent protection against the cold - this has historically made mountainous and snowy locales popular destinations for noble harimari looking to escape from overcrowded cities during the hot summer.

While they are primarily diurnal, harimari have excellent low-light vision and can discern colors at far lower levels of light than humans due to their functional tapetum lucidum, which also gives them a characteristic green-yellow eye-shine at night. As humans, they have tri-chromatic vision.

Unlike tigers, harimari do not scent mark their belongings or homes to claim territory, but they do retain a keen sense of smell, and scent is a more critical part of social interactions between harimari than in humans. Harimari will accent their natural scent with perfumes and musks, and how one presents themself via scent is equally as critical as any other aspect of fashion.

### Color Variants

As with tigers, several variants on the normal orange coloration of harimari fur exist, though none are common. White, golden, and black harimari have been noted in the historical record, though completely black harimari are exceedingly rare and still display a deeper, black-purple striping on their dark fur.

### Life cycle

Like most felines, female harimari have an estrous cycle and can only conceive at certain times of year, though these periods of fertility vary and are unlinked to any seasonal cycles. Gestation is slightly longer than for humans, ranging from 290 to 330 days. Harimari typically give birth to one offspring at a time, though twins and triplets are more common than in humans. Cubs typically weigh from 3500 to 5600 g at birth, and are born significantly more precocial than human offspring, able to hold their heads up at time of birth and crawl in a matter of weeks.

Females harimari reach sexual maturity earlier than males, at between 9 and 12 years. Males typically reach sexual maturity at 12 to 15. Harimari females experience menopause between 45 and 50 years of age. Harimari can live to be over 100 years old, but (as with most peoples across time) most have historically lived shorter lives.

### Diet and caloric requirements

Harimari are obligate carnivores, a trait inherited from the tiger ancestors. They are unable to produce certain amino acids and vitamins found only in animal matter, with no known plant substitutes. While they do consume a variety of plants in their diets and are part of the rich culinary tradition of Rahen’s various cultures, foregoing meat entirely begins to cause ailments within a week. Symptoms such as muscular weakness, disorientation, and lethargy manifest first, followed by hallucination, gum bleeding, and eventually multiple organ failure if an insufficient diet is maintained for a long period of time.

Because of their significant bulk, harimari have higher daily caloric requirements than humans, consuming on average 6000 calories per day.

## Demography

For their recent origin, harimari are widely distributed across Haless and its immediate surroundings. Though their densest concentrations of population are found in the south of Rahen, the harimari diaspora is broad, and they make up integral parts of communities across Xianjie, Yanshen, Bomdan, and Thidinkai. Beyond Haless itself, small communities of harimari established themselves on the eastern coast of Sarhal during the centuries of cross-cultural exchange and trade between Rahen and Melekmengi - the most notable of these communities is the island enclave of Vandipha.

Though they are biologically nearly identical, harimari are divided culturally into four groups:

* **Primal Harimari** are those harimari groups who remained in the ancestral homeland of the Southern Rahen Jungles on the Ascension Peninsula. Their name was originally an insult from the Royal Harimari groups of the Dhenbasana river valley, who considered their cousins superstitous and old fashioned, but came to be a point of pride that accentuated their hardiness and lack of need for frivolity.
* **Royal Harimari** are the most numerous group, and are descended from those who came to rule over large human populations in Rahen and Bomdan. Rather than being seen as outsiders, Royal Harimari are very much a part of the fabric of the Raheni cultures in which they reside, and bring that cultural milieu with them to their diaspora population in Sarhal and those few who make their way across the Salahad to trade in Bulwar or further abroad.
* **Serene Harimari** are those harimari groups who followed Harimar to Yanshen and integrated with those cultures instead of Raheni ways. Though far less numerous than Royal Harimari, they are also highly integrated with the societies in which they dwell.
* **Roaming Harimari**, also known as the Itinerant or Wayfaring Harimari, are those populations that have traveled outside of the traditional harimari strongholds of western and northern Haless. Originally a name for those few who migrated to Thidinkai, the term also came to apply to the Harimari of Vandipha and other far-flung populations.