Around 640, small groups of kyrthik began to settle along selected streams in the Barnstream regions, their presence stretching from the northern reaches to as far south as Rona. However, they confine themselves to tairan-led communities, avoiding the more habitable southern lands. The bormen, who hold dominion over the fertile southern territories, actively suppress tairan influence and oppose any kyrthik settlements, for these peoples compete for the scarce fish that swam in the freshwater rivers.

Beyond fish, the kyrthik subsist on algae and the mineral-rich structures that forme when the rivers ran dry, exposing the riverbeds. Their hybrid bodies are a grotesque fusion of living flesh and a unique mineral that grows directly from their skeletal structure to form a rough, matte, grey-white exosceleton. To sustain this, they refine and consume calcified, clay-rich rock masses โ€” an unfathomable resource that neither the bormen nor the tairan can contest.

TRIVIA

Natural Attunement

Kyrthik have a natural attunement to vibrations and seismic shifts, both on land and in water.

INDIVIDUAL KYRTHIK

A glossary of characters that have been mentioned or appeared.

Harrow

Anomaly: Witch-Blessed.
Age: Unknown.
First appearance: [B1.C15] A member of the escorting party taking Yu to the Albweiss Mountain Guild.ย 
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APPEARANCE

She is a tall and muscular fighter clad in tunic and armour. In [B1.C15], Yu notes that Harrow is an anomaly. Her exoskeleton is dense and more pronounced than that of common kythik, and it is made of a crystalline substance:

"Her upper torso was covered in intricate, multi-layered structures, forming a seamless, natural armour. Her elongated body bore a shimmering, breastplate-like formation. Her multi-jointed limbs ended in sharp, claw-like protrusions that shifted from an almost transparent exoskeleton to the rough, matte extensions that formed her fingers. In the fire's glow, the crystalline surfaces caught the light, refracting it in shimmering hues. It was a sharp contrast to the brittle, organic forms of her kin. Yu stared at her from across the fire. Her body seemed to be wrapped in liquid gemstones."ย ย  [B1.C15]

Harrow gained this appearance because she is a Witch-Blessed.

โ€œIt means the world gives to me. Changes me. Makes me hard. Resistant.โ€ย ย  [B1.C15]

CHARACTER

In [B1.C15], Yu describes Harrow as pragmatic.

LANGUAGE

โ€Yu was greatly intimidated by her, but also hated the way she talked. It was incredibly annoying โ€” the drawn-out sibilance, the strange cadence. There was just so much noise and nonsense between what was actual words."ย ย  [B1.C15]

Harow is not fluent in Teh, and known to underline her sentences with various guttural sounds.

ABILITIES

Her ability to notice even the slightest vibrations and seismic shifts allows her to sense danger long before others in her party can. She fights with a grand sickle.