The
Euaira are a sub-species of Nuaira, long divorced from their heritage and twisted by the influences of their environments. The Euaira are a twisted parody of their light-skinned cousins, ruled by the most powerful priestesses and sorceresses, a true matriarchy defined by who can hold power the longest. As a result, their culture is marked by intrigue, murder, and anarchy. Despite their bloodline allowing centuries of life, the average Euaira seldom lives beyond three-hundred years of age before succumbing to an unnatural death.
History
The Euaira were once light-skinned members of the
Nuaira people, members of the
Nation of Nuaira. Their origin is traced to the Haphrises Expedition, when Letelyn Euanor and a group of nearly one-hundred Nuairan citizens opposed the interaction with the
Ezirandi tribe. When the Expedition proceeded to integrate themselves with the Ezirandi, the Euanor Caucus again opposed, though they remained ignored by the Council of Speakers and the High Throne. As word reached
Nuaira of the Haphrises teaching magic to the Ezirandi, the Euanor Caucus voiced their objections, demanding the Expedition be recalled to Nuaira. They were overruled.
In light of the developments, Letelyn Euanor and his contingent, now numbering nearly five-hundred, withdrew from the government and fled
Leithlein for parts unknown. They settled in the western-most region of
Omath, in what is modern-day
Fieren. Branded as traitors by the crown, the Euanor were forbidden from returning to the Nuairan homeland or trading with any Nuaira upon pain of death.
The Euanor settled in dark places, out of sight of the other peoples who were beginning to settle the lands, secreting themselves away to avoid conflict and confrontation, and their numbers swelled over time. Within two generations, the Euaira spread into multiple settlements to avoid overpopulation, their chaotic nature, and their desire for autonomy driving them apart.
The Fall
The Euanor of the Weirwood were the first to stumble upon the evil that had already occupied the forest. It offered them the power to defend themselves, and the promise of bountiful harvests to feed themselves, an offer readily accepted by the starving people. Their desperation was the catalyst that began the downfall of the Euanor. The power they gained was cursed, and so too was the bounty of their harvests.
Soon, the Euanor of the Weirwood began to resent their neighbors, growing paranoid of them and resenting their successes. They continued to trade their crops with their cousins outside the wood, unwittingly spreading their curse into each community of Euanor, readying them each for their downfalls.
It came subtly, the evil of the Weirwood striking first. In the dead of night, groups of young Euanor slipped through each settlement and slew the elders of each village in a coordinated attack, bodies dyed with paint from the darkest depths of the forest. When their crimes were discovered upon sunrise, the murderers were killed on the spot. Their blood, corrupted with the evils of the deep wood, released its curse into each surviving member of the villages.
The Euanor of the Death Marches were next to fall, though with less bloodshed than the Weirwood uprising. In the earliest days of the curse's effects, the restless spirits of the marshes began to manipulate the paranoia and resentment of the Euanor, creating anarchy in each settlement as those with power fought to hold it from those who wanted to take it from them. Into this chaos came Keizis, the Nocturne. A wyrm that had long enjoyed the solitude of his swamps, Keizis initially had intended to destroy the Euanor completely. Instead, his first appearance saw him revered as a god by power-hungry people. Keizis, unfamiliar with such worship, allowed them to live, forming the base of a cult that would spread like wildfire in the shadow of his wings, the Euanor taking on traits that they saw as pleasing to the dragon, passing them on to their descendants.
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