Myridna

A sentient race of bipedal feline rodents found primarily in the Hot Lands. They are renowned for their skills at mining and working metal, their enduring construction and their sense of loyalty. There are three notable Myridna cultures: the **Highland Myridna**, the **Lowland Myridna** and the **Coastal Myridna**.

## Biology

Myridna have fur that shields them against extremes of temperature and comes in shades of yellows and oranges for females, reds and browns for males. Females stand on average at 120 cm, males at 150 cm.

They have strong longer upper arms, a pair of smaller secondary arms on the upper waist and legs that in normal sitting position look short and stubby, but can stretch to be quite long. Myridna middle arms are short with three clawed stubby fingers well suited for gripping, while the upper arms have three fingers flanked by a pair of thumbs; the three fingers each have retractable claws. Male claws are shorter and sturdier and better suited for digging through tough surfaces; while female claws are longer, sharper, and better suited for cutting through softer substances. Myridna tails are short, strong, and sturdy on the males, while females have thinner, longer, prehensile tails.

Myridna live long lives, up to hundreds of years, but this can vary immensely as more sedentary and passive individuals die out faster, while more active lifestyles can prolong Myridna lives to exceptional length.

Myridna are well suited for living terrestrial, semi-aquatic or even underground lifestyles. Their lungs and digestive systems are especially hardy. The lungs are both capable of breathing in all but the most toxic of environments and holding air for extreme periods of time. Their digestive systems are highly efficient and capable of digesting practically any biological matter. Myridna are partial to darker locations, with eyes well suited for dimly lit places. While not blinded by bright lights, they are not fond of them and can grow irritable if forced to be out in sunlight or other bright places without means to dim the light their eyes are exposed to. Myridna are particularly fast and dextrous, making for exceptional climbers - a process aided by their claws.

## Culture

Myridna love to craft and build, especially with metals. Myridna culture holds to a practical, utilitarian mindset and thinks little of unnecessary ornamentation and designs in the things they make. As a result, most other races find their architecture and craft skillfully made but bleak. Ornamentation tends to be formulaic if it exists, applied solely to increase its value for outside trade.

Labor is heavily divided by sex due to the significant dimorphism of the species. Myridna couple in monogamous pairs. Attachment to one's mate is so strong that widowed Myridna are unlikely to remarry. Loyalty in general is at core of Myridna being, with betrayal the gravest sin one can commit.

Myridna feel an affinity towards cats, having some feline features in their own appearance. Myridna homes and sailing ships tend to keep cats for company and vermin extermination. Some big cats have been tamed among the lowland Myridna to act as a guard and war animals.

The Myridna worship Yggdrasil, Fiel, the High Moon Holder, the Hollow God, Vanti, the Ember, Lazat and Vathys most of all. Worship of YORCTOL is widespread, especially among the Highland Myridna, where it approaches the status of a state religion. Some Myridna worship Nehu Farstrider, the Void Huntress, with rituals asking for forgiveness for their ignorant shunning of her in times long past.

## Highland Myridna

The Myridna of the mountainous interior of the Hot Lands are known as Highland Myridna or highlanders. They tend to be on average shorter and more stunted than other Myridna due to their largely underground lives and scarcer nutrition.

### Society

The vast majority of the Highland Myridna live under the rule of the Mountain Kingdom. This feudal empire consists of dozens of vassal clans sworn to the Mountain King. Subservient lords provide warriors and taxes in exchange for royal privileges and protection. The Mountain Kingdom has a distinctly martial and belligerent culture, with lords known more for their fighting skill and their weapons than their learning. Artisans, smiths, architects and builders of all kinds are nevertheless greatly respected and valued. Weaponsmiths are particularly prestigious, with lords and warriors competing for the services of master smiths.

Highland Myridna dwellings are always built into mountain stone and may extend deep underground. To outsiders, they are lightless labyrinths answering only to bizarre Myridna logic. For the inhabitants, they are perfectly structured and sensibly ordered. Forges and furnaces are the most important places in a settlement. At least one forge is always left open for any inhabitant who wishes to try their hand at smithing, though waste of ore and materials is harshly punished.

Other races are rare but not unknown in Highland Myridna settlements. Humans are the most common outsiders, tending to Myridna fields and gardens as well-paid specialists. Where the Highland Myridna settle, the slopes of mountains are reshaped for terraced fields and gardens; egg-laying birds and hardy mountain cattle are also kept in high pens and pastures. Fungi are also cultivated in underground pits as great delicacies.

The Highland Myridna are exceptionally skilled at digging stone and excavating precious ores and gems. Various metals are worked by Highland forges, with the secrets of iron carefully guarded from outsiders. Moonstone, Stillstone, Mithril, Adamantium and Orichalcum have also been encountered and worked by Highland Myridna in small quantities. Their miners regularly face burrowing Iktai, with many Highlanders considering them the nemesis of their race. Appeasing worship has even given birth to a dark Iktai Mythic god that hungers for Myridna flesh. Iktai-hunters remain an elite social class among the Highland Myridna, one that has essentially also become an influential cult of YORCTOL.

#### Notable Settlements

The most important Highland Myridna settlement is the royal capital at Hanehuramo, 'Ironmount'. Other important places are the Mikatena Fortress guarding entry into the lowlands and built by the great Unzo, Samokape in the shadow of Mount Matuname with its volcano-fueled furnaces and Vaturahane in the high north, now a border-fortress against the Druyul principality established there.

### Magic

Magic is known by individuals and usually taught by practitioners to one or a few apprentices. Ritual implements of different metals and materials are valued as empowering symbols. Mystical architecture is implemented into constructions in formulaic fashion. The Highland Myridna have a particular tradition of elemental magics; the Elemental Bloodline of Earth Surfing has spread especially among the aristocracy, with scions of their line prized highly as mates. Even the current King has a spouse of Earth Surfing descent.

The Entangled Wreathes are a kind of flower which form portals between themselves allowing for instantaneous travel. Certain strategic locations around the Mountain Kingdom have been linked with Entangled Wreathes to form the Wreathways, a young but powerful means of travel for the highlanders. Wild-grown Wreathes also connect to this network, making it somewhat vulnerable to intrusion from afar.

Holystone is a rare and sacred mineral of the Highland Myridna that absorbs energy directed into it. Much of it has been lost across the centuries, with surviving items and deposits guarded by the royal house of Samoza. The Mountain King wears a crown of holystone imbued with divine power. It grants its wearer cold and logical clarity of thought when they subconsciously wish for it, allowing the Mountain Kings to detach themselves from worldly prejudice and emotion in hard times.

### Notable Highland Myridna

* Samo I: The chief of the Holystone Myridna, unifier of the highlands and founder of the Mountain Kingdom.
* Gizu I: The third Mountain King, first wearer of the Holystone Crown and inciter of the War of Ash.
* Yezu: An Iktai-hunter, one of the three founders of the Cult of YORCTOL and slayer of Miho Longfoot.
* Unzo the Builder: The Legendary reincarnating architect of the White University of Wisdom, the Mikatena Fortress and other marvels.
* Hizu Twaintongue: A highborn warrior, who betrayed Unzo the Builder for sharing secrets of metalworking with the Hive Coast.
* Samo III: The ruling Mountain King of the Highland Myridna.

## Lowland Myridna

Myridna of the Lowlands live in the eastern hills and plains of the Hot Lands. They tend to be the tallest and largest Myridna, with higher standards of nutrition than their highland or coastal cousins.

### Society

Lowland Myridna build their burrows in soil and rock, with towns often built with both an aboveground and underground half. The influence and presence of other races in the Federation has led to lowlanders dwelling far more on the surface than their highland cousins. Whether above or below the ground, Myridna architecture is strong and sturdy, if not especially aesthetic in the eyes of outsiders.

In the past, almost all Lowland Myridna lived under the Federation of Horns, an union of clans led by the Mihoza family of beast-whisperers. The Federation has collapsed and fragmented after the Druyul and highlander invasions and the devastation of its capital by the manifestation of the mad Architect. Though the Federation still exists in theory, in practice its successor states govern themselves with no central authority. A significant part of Lowland Myridna now labor under the rule of the Mountain Kingdom, which has extended to parts of the lowlands.

The Lowland Myridna are known as the people of horns or the herding people. They are skilled pastoralists, the first to domesticate grazing beasts for their own use. At the heart of Lowland Myridna culture are the Hrududu and Nym-Haggis, the gifts of the Makers when the world was young. These docile animals provide the lowlanders with meat, milk, eggs, manure, furs and leather. They are also put to work in pulling wagons, plows and powering mills. Wealthy lowlanders can boast with their hundreds-strong herds of Hrududu and Nym-Haggis, where poorer pastoralists have to settle for less prestigious ungulate and avian cattle. Lowland Myridna are a hierarchical and authoritarian people, with stark differences between social classes. The poorest - those who labor for others and own no cattle of their own - have little in the way of rights or protections from abuse. Loyalty is nevertheless expected to one's clan and superiors.

Lowland Myridna are skilled workers with bone, leather and wool, with their textiles renowned across Aebrirea for their hardiness and quality. Metalworking has spread from the highlands, but is generally of a lower quality than in the Mountain Kingdom. As the Myridna have little interest in useless ornamentation, it often falls to human and Baólian workers in their midst to finalize crafts and pieces for trade. Humans serve important roles in Lowland settlements as planters and farmers of staple crops, which the Myridna consider an inferior trade to animal husbandry.

Hrududu riders are a recent development in Lowland Myridna culture, pioneered by young braves after the invention of suitable saddle and harness for the great lizards. Though naturally docile, selective breeding has produced bolder lines suitable as war-mounts. These can easily traverse even mountainous terrain at their rider's behest. Riders join together in secretive lodges with their own rituals and traditions, forming a new source of authority and power in the wake of the collapse of Federation government. Dawn Guards, remnants of the Federation's elite border force, are another influential force in the new order.

The Godblind are survivors of the Battle of Takohane, rendered blind and mad by witnessing the rogue Architect manifesting in its terrible glory. They are both feared and pitied, with most settlements and rulers cloistering them in special houses away from the outside world. Most Godblind remain in and around Takohane, surviving off the generosity of others. Wealthy and powerful families may keep Godblinded kin in their own houses, caring for them as their long lives near their end.

### Magic

Magic for the Lowland Myridna is either self-taught, learned from wandering masters, or taught to those with wealth and influence in the schools at the old capital Takohane. Certain kinds of magic are respected more than others and supposedly reserved for the upper classes, such as lunar magic and Shaping, 'the Breeder's Art'. Lowlander settlements often hold a ritual enclosure in the middle utilizing basic principles of mystical architecture to empower magic.

### Notable Lowland Myridna

* Miho Longfoot: The founder of the Federation of Horns and the divinely blessed line of Mihoza.
* Akim: A herder and one of the three founders of the Cult of YORCTOL.
* Soma: A highborn Mihoza and commander of the Federation fleet in the Battle of Temehake during the First Draghai Invasion.
* Fehu: A highborn Mihoza and commander of the Federation army in the Battle at Kahelawe during the First Draghai Invasion.

## Coastal Myridna

Myridna living on the coasts and islands of the Hot Lands are known as the Coastal Myridna or the shorelanders. Their fur is generally shorter and their builds leaner than other Myridna, which is more suitable for swimming and diving.

### Society

Coastal Myridna build their villages at the water's edge, often incorporating underground pools and streams in their dwellings. They are skilled fishers and sailors, with larger settlements boasting master shipwrights. Shorelanders delight in shipbuilding and its associated trades, as well as working pearls, shells and other bounty of the sea. Baólians are often found living side by side with Coastal Myridna, sharing their skills and affinity for the water. Coastal Myridna are not so given to roaming and exploring as the Baólians, however, and prefer not to take to the open seas if they can avoid it. The Baólians have introduced worship of the Sea-Spirit to Coastal Myridna as well.

Coastal Myridna prefer to sail at night. Their sensitivity to sunlight has led them to construct their ships with sealed, covered decks for daytime sailing. Myridna ships may seem abandoned during the day to outside observers, as almost all activity goes on inside. Magic is also used to provide shade at times.

There is no unified Coastal Myridna civilization. They live as scattered clans and small polities or then under Druyul or Lowland Myridna rule. Colonies exist in Arka and Stromhiem as well as the Clouded Lands. Coastal Myridna are roughly more egalitarian and individualist than their Lowland or Highland cousins, with those peoples often finding them irreverent, lazy and disrespectful, whereas Coastal Myridna see their kin as conformist, tyrannical and unintelligent. They value loyalty, but only when freely given or born of natural bonds.

### Magic

Sea-magic, lunar magic, elemental magics and shadow magic are favored Arts of the Coastal Myridna. Mystical architecture and ritual magic is incorporated into ships to varying degrees.

### Notable Coastal Myridna

* Nehu Far-Strider: An explorer fashioned into a weapon against the Outer Gods by the Makers.
* Mydrin: A sailor and one of the three founders of the Cult of YORCTOL.