Hamatusha

The Living Fire

In isolated environments, delicate miracles of nature can flourish. The underworld of Kuradnati hasn't been connected to the overworld for millions of years and never saw the rise of animals on dry land.
Some 500 million years ago, a truly miraculous process took place, unprecedented in nature. A gas eruption from a Geiser was ignited by a spark from a grinding flint and burst into a beautiful flame with intricate patterns.
And it was alive.
Millions of years passed. The flames grew more complex patterns over time, evolving sentience, evolving sapience, and eventually even society. The age of Fire had begun. The Hamatusha were born.

(Emblem of the Hamatusha)

Biology

The Hamatusha are passively adept at Tulpathy, similar to the Katarai seen in humans. They will conjure exoskeletons for themselves to protect their fragile forms against the elements and to increase their mobility and senses. Their exoskeletons feature holes, too small to see with the naked eye, to detect even minor changes in temperature and air pressure. Their vision is similarly based on arrays of small holes in their heads causing a pinhole camera effect. Their vocal communication is based on whistling sounds emanating from an internal complex of pipe-like structures.
The creation of their exoskeletons is a natural and passive process, but they can choose to conjure unique exoskeletons for specific tasks. The guards of their strongholds wear heavy metallic shells, while their pioneers and explorers have light and sustainable forms.

History

As they are forms of life, the Hamatusha share a fate with humans. Demonic Reversal.
During the Age of Fire, untold flames fell to this cursed affliction. It's victims go by the name "infernals". The most devastating and terrible of them was only known as "The Azagadra". The Hamatusha do not speak of it with outsiders. What little we can gather about it suggests that it may have been an immense conglomerate of infernals, composed of an entire kingdom worth of fallen souls. Together their consciousness synchronized into a single entity of unimaginable power, whose roars felled forests, and whose steps thundered over the planet. A wicked downward burning blaze ravaged the Earth. Extinction was near.
The Hamatusha kingdoms united against this monstrosity, led by their revered king Girresh. They ordered their united court of Tulpathic Scorcherers to craft them a suit of armor unlike any seen before. A perfect body of unending intricacy to challenge the Arch-infernal.

Continents were torn apart. Oceans evaporated. Lush forests burnt to ash, and deserts molten into glass. But the king prevailed. The Azagadra was slain, but not destroyed. No matter how the king tried, the demon would not be extinguished. Instead, it was imprisoned in the core of Kuradnati, in a tomb suspended in the air by giant chains for all to see. Monoliths of blistering heat were buried near the surface of the planet, siphoning demonic power away from the tomb and keeping the Infernal dormant. Over time, the energy from these monoliths eroded into massive caverns around them. The Hamatusha stood victorious and united over their defeated enemy. They would forever retreat into Kuradnati to stand guard by the monster they unleashed upon the world, ending the Age of Fire.
Shortly after their Arch-enemy's imprisonment, Girresh vanished, only leaving shards of their armor behind. But the Hamatusha did not panic, for they knew their king's motive. Girresh had declared that the armor would be too powerful to ever fall into the wrong hands and had exiled themselves to the overworld to bury its shards. The Hamatusha humbly respected the wishes of their king, loyally standing guard until their return.
But Girresh never returned. for 400 million years, the candle kin have protected their stronghold at the core of the Earth, waiting patiently. Kuradnati has since been buried beneath the crust of the Earth, its only remaining exit being through Agartha. The overworld has not witnessed their kind in ages.
But in the last century, an event has shaken Kuradnati to its very core. Ekshaseth the Liberator, a human-descended arch-demon, had broken into a cavern created by the siphoning monoliths which chained the Azagadra. This Cavern was known by the Katarai inhabitants as Refugium Olympus. Ekshaseth, together with his grim cabal of demons, devastated the populations and destroyed the Monolith, dooming the Refugium. The shockwave was felt throughout the planet.
At long last, the tomb of the Azagadra began to stir.

The Rekindling

Legions of pioneers have emerged from the Hamatusha, willing to explore this strange new overworld in a desperate search for traces of their lost king. They are the Order of Gerramar, and the fate of the world depends on their expeditions. The shards of Girresh's armor have not been lost in time. They are indestructible relics of great power, even individually. They present tempting additions to the collections of ambitious warlords, unwilling to give them up to the strange creatures emerging from the Earth. Even if their king no longer lives, there is still hope. If all shards of their armor can be gathered and reassembled, the candle kin may yet stand a chance against the dreaded Azagadra.
And in time, a new eternal Age of Fire may engulf the world.