Snowborn Kiari

Summary

The Aerust population of the Kiari diverged quickly from the primary Kiari race, known now as Truebloods, due to the conditions of their new home (and possibly the tampering of their god to protect them from these conditions). They are even smaller than the already diminutive Trueblood, and are more resistant to cold climates. They make their homes in the deep caverns under Aerusts mountain range where their keen eyesight puts them at an advantage against the often blind cave-dwelling creatures of their natural ecosystems.

Physiology

The Snowborn Kiari have pale skin and white hair, which serves the dual purpose of camouflaging them in the snow above their mountain homes and making them more visible to each other in the darkness of their caverns. In the eternal night of the caves and tunnels between their settlements their night-sight improved greatly (particularly in the Sentinel cast) allowing them to hunt on the surface across the lengthening nights of the pre-winter period and to see in the dark tunnels that connect their tribes.
The Snowborn were divided into the same two Casts as all Kiari, the Sentinel and Provider Casts. The Sentinel Cast was the taller and larger built of the Snowborn, being more adept as guards and hunters than the more subtle and meek Provider cast, who were better suited to working as healers and caretakers. The Snowborn Kiari were even more diminutive than their Bevrasten counterparts, the members of their Sentinel cast standing between 3'11 and 4'9, while the provider cast of the snowbloods stood shorter at 3'3 to 4ft.
Both casts of the Snowborn have eyes that glow intensely in the dark that allow them to see in the dark without compromising their ability to see in daylight, allowing them to emerge from their deep caves during the warmer months without being blinded by the glare of the snow as other cave dwellers would be. They have the greatest range of eye colors of any of the sentient races, and as such the glow of their eyes in the dark serve the dual purpose of night-sight and of identifying each other in the dark.

Culture

The Snowborn Kiari are more accustomed to living in small clans made up of five or so extended families, building their homes in the deep caverns of the Aerust mountains. Although they still possess the caring nature of their Bevrasten kin, they seldom show this side to outsiders. They are a suspicious people, and seldom except members of the larger races as their own. However they after their re-discovery in the second age they did open up trade with the surface, trading the gemstones and jewellery of their homeland in exchange for food, causing their population to explode in size (although they are still somewhat rare).

Settlements

The homes of the Snowborn are carved into the edges of their caverns, which are themselves cut from smaller cave structures. These settlements are called Stone Lodges, which take the form of wide, elongated semi-spheres carved from stone with wooden platforms, behind which are long, short windows and thin doorways cut into the rounded stone walls of the bowl. Near the roof is an inverted tower of circular platforms suspended from the ceiling with a rounded hole in the middle. This tower lowers itself to roughly one third of the total height of the lodge. The lowermost ring of the circular tower is connected by two or more rope bridges to the uppermost platforms along the walls of the structure.
The platforms lining the walls of the Stone lodges are linked by a series of rope bridges that criss-cross the lodge and connect the levels of the lodge. The platforms and bridges are illuminated by small crystals hewn from a single crystal hanging from the roof of the lodge. The crystal is implanted as a single seed crystal and grows through the rings of the central tower into a large and colorful Aerustan crystal, where the smaller branching growths can be harvested from the primary crystal for use in crafting the most valuable tools and jewellery in east Tor'Saarn, if not the entire continent. The crystals give of a bright multicolored light in the darkness, and are useful both as lights to see by and at keeping most cave-dwelling predators at bay. Tools made from the Aerustan crystal are durable and colorful, and are best suited for tearing through dense stone (as they are used in Aerust).

Clothing and equipment

The Snowborn Kiari are masterful silk-weavers and jewellers, and are famed for the beauty of their clothing and jewels. They typically wear light clothes woven from silk and inlaid with silver, however they do wear animal hides when traveling on the surface. Even the poorest of their populace adorn themselves with silver jewellery inlaid with the more common gemstones of their caverns, which are still incredibly valuable by the standards of other cultures. The clothing of their clan leaders have high collars that are held in place by a ring of silver that is situated just bellow the neck, flowing sleeves inlaid with silver or rose gold, and a wide fanning crest behind their neck and head inlaid with silver, gold or rose gold.
Each Snowborn carries a small trinket made from the Aerustan crystal located in the Stone Lodge of their birth. These trinkets are bound in a silver chain, and are inlaid with scripts written in gold. These trinkets serve both a sentimental and utilitarian purpose as these crystals may be used as a compass that leads them back to their siring crystal with the use of a way finding spell taught only among the Snowborn.
The Kiari of Aerust inlay their chisels and picks with crystals harvested from the Aerustan crystals of the Stone Lodges, causing them to glow faintly and help them cleave as easily through stone as the crystals from which they are made. It is not fully understood what force is at work that assists the crystals to carve through stone so easily, but it is believed by many of the mages in Tor'Saarn that this effect is caused by a form of powerful primal magic.