Allar

Allar
Race
Pronunciation	All-lar
Classification	Gorr
Common Nicknames	Slimescales (derogatory) Wisescales (praising) Clawgnashers (Elven)
Languages	Zasta
Naming Customs	Varying vowels with double L,S and Z
Racial Traits
Maximum Age	130 years
Eye Colors	Slitted pupil (some also round) with a bright yellow iris and white sclera

Originating from the mysterious and unmapped jungles of Sendras, the Allar are a diverse and varied race of reptilian humanoids known for their towering intellect and scientific capacity, their long-term defiance of the Regalian Empire, and their boundless capacity to thrive in the harshest of societal conditions. The Allar have weathered many setbacks over the centuries, surviving that which would have crushed any other race into oblivion, and turned detriment to their advantage. The most recent of these setbacks occurred during the Chrysant War, in which the Humans of Regalia attempted to inflict genocide upon the Allar. In the fifteen years since, the Allar not only overcame the losses of that war, but turned public opinion on them around, and became one of the founding races of the Crown Alliance of the Regalian Empire, being some of its most prized and loyal citizens. While many other races still have disdain for the foreign lizard-looking Allar, their influence on global events as shrewd, capable and flexible people cannot be denied. With their diverse cultural caste system and specialized sub species all fulfilling a specific role in their society, Allar have quickly risen to become an intricate race rivalling even the complexity of Human society in the Regalian Empire and eclipsing the Elves in their unity and recovery of past glory. Allar remain known as highly efficient, knowledgeable and adaptable, seeking fortunes in the shadows of others, or benefit where others would not deign to look. Their alchemists are the leading alchemical inventors of the world, having unrivaled skill in the identification, mixing, and application of alchemical substances. Their gladiators remain some of the fiercest and most popular ring-fighters, being able to rip even the strongest of warriors of other races to shreds. And finally, their politicians remain flexible as ever, adeptly weaving themselves through the ruling classes, aiding in their public perception and their profiting from good relations with other races, for good, or nefarious purposes.

Physical and Mental Characteristics

Fierce and isolated from other Allar, the Mai-Allar have a unique appearance.

To call Allar a Reptillian race, is not quite accurate. While the majority of the Allar are reptilian in nature, there exist also amphibian Allar, and even aquatic Allar that have more in common with fish than with either reptiles or amphibians. The only true aspect that unites Allar, is that they all have some form of scaled skin, as those with reptilian physiology enjoy reptilian scales, those of aquatic origin have small shark-like scales, and those of amphibian origin have smooth scales. Stature wise, Allar are also very varied based on their subrace. Their largest subrace can reach up to 6’6, while the shortest of them is as short as 5 feet tall. There is no gender dimorphism in their race, which can sometimes be hard for non-Allar, since female Allar rarely have a tell as to their gender, save for a more elegant voice, lacking any other female specific body parts externally. Masculine and feminine body shapes do exist in their race, but only in the sense of the overall silhouette, and they appear in equal measure among females and males of their gender. In fact, gender isn’t always strictly set for Allar. If they exist in an environment where it is necessary for more females to reproduce, a male might spontaneously change to become female, while having no visible changes externally, as all Allar reproduction organs are internal. These changes can occur to satisfy compatibility with a lover, but can also spontaneously occur if a large group of male Allar are frequently grouped up, and have little interactions with female Allar. To Allar, this change is normal, and most Allar in fact go through life swapping between genders a few times, and it can even occur in compatibility with other races. Proportion wise, Allar are the same as other races, having two arms and two legs and a head, set on a torso. The only appendage they have that other races do not, is a tail. The length of this tail can vary from Allar to Allar, and is not necessarily consistent even in subraces. For example, while all Cro-Allar have roughly similar head shapes, their tails can vary in length, some of which are only a short little stump, while others are the length of their legs and then some, thick, and dragging over the floor behind them. Allar tails are strong, and prehensile. They are not able to wield any objects or weapons with them, but they can wrap their tail around things, with about the same force as two hands applying pressure. Allar live for 130 years, but rarely reproduce during this period. A couple of Allar may only lay eggs once every ten years, though when they do, a female Allar can produce anywhere between five and thirteen eggs after a carrying period of about a month. The siblings born from the eggs are rarely ever identical, in fact there can be extreme variance between the Allar. The Allar have developed so called Castes to support this random birth of children, called Uz-Cazz. Each Allar child that is born is classified along these subraces, or Uz-Cazz, has different physical and mental characteristics. To understand each subrace, they are divided in sections below.

Als-Allar

Als-Allar are the most commonly seen Allar, both domestically and abroad, and are the most commonly born Allar. Als-Allar are seen as the general Allar population, and are also the least specialized in the sense that they are flexible. Among the Allar, they can in theory fulfill all roles, but do so at a lesser efficiency than the other races. Als-Allar are commonly more nervous or skittish than the other subraces, preferring desk-jobs over field-work, and excelling particularly in intellectual positions and fields. Als-Allar are capable of being the most skilled alchemists in the world, largely due to their Racial Abilities, but also because of their ability to hyper-focus on their craft, and their extremely steady hands. Als-Allar are described as social, when they want to be, but very prone to anxiety when they are uncomfortable, and quick to hide or seek the comfort of other Allar in a situation where they feel exposed. They are generally friendly, and don’t want to offend anyone, through have been known to have a mean streak when it comes to playing pranks on those they feel comfortable around. In Allar society, the Uz-Cazz of Als-Allar fulfill the roles of alchemists, bureaucrats, craftsmen, shopkeepers, cattle tenders, farmers, and any other position in the service industry.

Physical Trait	Type	Range	Description (All Als-Allar have these Traits)
Als-Allar Appearance	-	-	Als-Allar are generally slim or athletic, while having a general reptilian body. Their heads are usually shaped like those of most lizard species (such as gecko, iguana, chameleon, etc.), most sauropod species (such as diplodocus, brachiosaur, etc.), or ornithopod species (such as parasaurolophus, pachycephalosaur, dryosaur, ouranosaur, etc.). They can also have any of their scale patterns and colors.
Exclusive Body Trait (Only Als-Allar can have this body trait)	-	-	Als-Allar exclusively have some form of horns, either at the center of their forehead, or on the sides. These can be single horns, double horns, or multiple smaller horns. These can also be a cranial crest, or a combination of the two. Als-Allar always have either horns, or some sort of cranial crest, as this is their racial identifier.

Ability Name	Ability Type	Ability Range	Ability Description
Body Mend 2	Trigger Passive	Self	Grants the user Body Mend 2
Skin Purge 1	Toggle Passive	Self	Grants the user Skin Purge 1
Honed Skill 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Honed Skill 1
Super Self 3	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Super Self 3
Allar Biology 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Allar Biology 1

Maz-Allar

Maz-Allar are the second most commonly seen Allar, and are most frequently seen in Allar armies, as well as the fighting rings. While it is not impossible for Als-Allar to have a job in the army, Maz-Allar are far more suited at it both temperementally and physically. While Als-Allar are commonly seen as omnivores, Maz-Allar are almost exclusively carnivorous, with a temperament to boot. Due to their large raptor-like claws on their feet and their energetic nature, they are ferocious fighters that give their all in battle, and can literally rip others to shreds with their claws. Maz-Allar are generally more muscular than Als-Allar who remain more athletic rather than broad. Maz-Allar also have larger teeth, and a more muscular tail that is frequently combined with some sort of weapon to use. Maz-Allar are boisterous and can be violent, relishing in the victory and thrill of battle, and may sometimes be prone to just starting a brawl with other Maz-Allar just for the sake of it. Their Racial Abilities also uniquely suit their combat abilities, and as such, even in Regalia, most Maz-Allar can be found in military positions, either as a soldier, or a guard, but also as a gladiator or some other form of ring champion. To say that they are entirely war-oriented is not entirely accurate however. The Maz-Allar temperament also uniquely suits them to theatre and acting, as well as having a surprisingly soft touch, despite their claws, for bodycare and the training of others.

Physical Trait	Type	Range	Description (All Maz-Allar have these Traits)
Maz-Allar Appearance	-	-	Maz-Allar are generally athletic or muscular, while having a general reptilian body. Their heads are usually shaped like those of most theropod species (such as dilophosaur, allosaur, velociraptor, etc.). They can also have any of their scale patterns and colors.
Exclusive body trait (Only Maz-Allar can have this body trait)	-	-	Als-Allar exclusively have a raptor-like large claw on their feet that has a wide range of motion. Additionally, Maz-Allar exclusively can have feathers either covering parts of their body, or forming a crest. While Maz-Allar can exclusively have colored feathers, this is not a consistent trait that all Maz-Allar have, only their raptor-like claw is. The feathers however can have a wide range of vibrant colors.

Ability Name	Ability Type	Ability Range	Ability Description
Body Mend 2	Trigger Passive	Self	Grants the user Body Mend 2
Hunt Sense 1	Toggle Passive	Self	Grants the user Hunt Sense 1
Nature Gift 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Nature Gift 1
Power Howl 1	Trigger Passive	Emote Distance	Grants the user Power Howl 1
Allar Biology 2	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Allar Biology 2

Izu-Allar

Izu-Allar are not frequently seen, but only because of their nature, as they are still the third most frequently born Allar subrace. The Izu-Allar are more of amphibian nature, in contrast to the Maz-Allar and Als-Allar which are exclusively reptilian in nature. The Izu-Allar are still covered in small smooth scales, but have a smooth and slippery skin oil that makes their scales appear like actual hide or skin. Izu-Allar are more spiritual in nature, having Racial Abilities that make them more suited to the pursuit of arcane matters, or general arcane knowledge. They are curious and hungry for more learning, while this boundless knowledge also makes them excellent advisors and strategists. Most if not all leading Cro-Allar have a host of Izu-Allar known as the Advisory Body that provides the leading caste with the necessary knowledge on how to effectively rule. Izu-Allar are excellent planners and are uncannily capable of thinking outside the box, deploying unusual strategies and using unusual skills to turn the tables in any sticky situation. They often prefer to stay hidden among crowds, even among Allar, as many of them also double as spies or infiltrants, relying on their slippery nature as opposed to any great skill at deceit or subterfuge like other races.

Physical Trait	Type	Range	Description (All Izu-Allar have these Traits)
Izu-Allar Appearance	-	-	Izu-Allar are generally slim or short (being the only ones capable of being 5 feet tall, with all other Allar having a minimum of 5 feet and 5 inches tall), while having a general amphibian body. Their heads are usually shaped like those of most amphibian species (such as frogs, toads, salamanders, etc.), and they have webbed feet and hands. They can also have any of the aforementioned species skin patterns and colors.
Exclusive Body Trait (Only Izu-Allar can have this body trait)	-	-	Izu-Allar exclusively have larger eyes that are able to rotate in a much larger degree than that of other races. While most Allar have eyes that are set forward, Izu-Allar can see in a wide range around them.

Ability Name	Ability Type	Ability Range	Ability Description
Body Mend 2	Trigger Passive	Self	Grants the user Body Mend 2
Keen Mind 1	Trigger Passive	Emote Distance	Grants the user Keen Mind 1
Keen Mind 2	Trigger Passive	Emote Distance	Grants the user Keen Mind 2
Keen Mind 3	Trigger Passive	Emote Distance	Grants the user Keen Mind 3
Omniaware 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Omniaware 1
Sorcery Skill 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Sorcery Skill 1
Empath Sense 5	Constant Passive	Emote Distance	Grants the user Empath Sense 5

Cro-Allar

Cro-Allar are the most rarely born Allar, and as Uz-Cazz, are often the ruling classes as well as their most prized honor guard. Cro-Allar are born considerably larger than all other subraces, but generally lack the energy to be effective frontline soldiers like Maz-Allar, preferring the role of heavy brute, or vanguard protector. While they are very clever and calculative, they lack the capacity to focus on their work like the Als-Allar, and lack the ability to truly repress their presence in a crowd like the Izu-Allar do, because of their vanity and pride. A Cro-Allar is immensely self-aware and vainglorious, speaking with a cadence that presumes royalty on their part, even when they are in a losing position. It should be no surprise that in Hadar, the homeland of the Allar, the only ruling Allar are Cro-Allar. Indeed, Cro-Allar also fulfill the roles of aristocrats, governors, or leaders of any other kind. It is they who own the businesses that the Als-Allar work for, it is they who own the gladiator schools and armies that the Maz-Allar fight for, and it is they that employ Advisory Bodies of Izu-Allar to increase their governing efficiency. Any Cro-Allar that did not make it into aristocracy or nobility usually ends up owning some sort of business, or becoming a highly prized ceremonial guard or personal bodyguard to another Cro-Allar. Cro-Allar love to be at the center of attention and love talking themselves up among others, but never in such a way it becomes just empty flattery, always with a purpose to be seen as less harmful despite their size and stature, to extract some benefit at a later time.

Physical Trait	Type	Range	Description (All Cro-Allar have these Traits)
Cro-Allar Appearance	-	-	Cro-Allar are generally muscular or bulky, while having a general reptilian body. Their heads are usually shaped like those of most crocodilian species (such as crocodile, caiman, alligator, etc.), most sauropterygia species (such as plesiosaur, nothosaur, pistosaur, including having a longer than usual neck, etc.), or most mosasauridae species (such as mosasaur, thylosaur, prognathodon, etc.), while they can also have any of the aforementioned species scale patterns and colors.
Exclusive Body Trait (Only Cro-Allar can have this body trait)	-	-	Cro-Allar exclusively grow taller than 6 feet, as all other Allar are shorter than 6 feet. Additionally, while all other Allar are capped at Muscular Body Shape, Cro-Allar are the only ones capable of becoming Strongman.

Ability Name	Ability Type	Ability Range	Ability Description
Body Mend 2	Trigger Passive	Self	Grants the user Body Mend 2
Brawn Power 2	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Brawn Power 2
Great Force 1	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Great Force 1
Honed Skill 3	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Honed Skill 3
Gate Smash 1	Trigger Passive	Direct Touch	Grants the user Gate Smash 1
Battle Sense 1	Control Power	Emote Distance	Grants the user Battle Sense 1

Mai-Allar

Mai-Allar despite being born more frequently than Cro-Allar are in fact the least seen Allar species around, purely because they are almost entirely aquatic. Mai-Allar are more fish-like than the other Allar species, having webbed feet and hands, as well as fins on their forearms, back, and even on their tail, with their tail usually having a large shark-like fin at the tip. Mai-Allar live mostly underwater, though are capable of living on dry land perfectly fine. It should be noted however that Mai-Allar do become sluggish if not submerged in water at least for a few minutes every 48 hours, and much prefer to speak to others while half submerged or otherwise partially touching water. Mai-Allar have the role of hunter or scout for Allar society, but their loyalty isn’t always consistent with Allar society as a whole, and many Mai-Allar in fact live outside of Allar society, having chosen to not be a part of it anymore. They are avid collectors and love shiny things, while they also seek the thrill of the hunt, often being compared to aquatic Url in that sense. Mai-Allar are perfectly capable at being social even among other races, but are sometimes prone to saying strange things, or things that are awkwardly worded, that cause them to be misunderstood, as they have their own aquatic language that has a vastly different grammatical construction, resulting in mix-ups of words. Mai-Allar can be very comedic, seeking ways to prod fun at others and situations that seem otherwise dour, preferring to look at life from a positive angle at all times. They remain however also very rebellious to the Uz-Cazz of the Allar, resulting in them being somewhat mistrusted by other Allar, even if permitted to live on the fringes of their society.

Physical Trait	Type	Range	Description (All Mai-Allar have these Traits)
Mai-Allar Appearance	-	-	Mai-Allar are anywhere between slim and muscular, while having a general aquatic body. Their heads are usually shaped like those of specific marine species (orca, most shark species, hammerhead shark (including the head shape), dusky dolphin, or dunkleosteus). They can also have any of the aforementioned species skin/scale colors and patterns (including a shark-like appearance, with orca body coloring)
Exclusive Body Trait (Only Mai-Allar can have this body trait)	-	-	Mai-Allar exclusively have fins on their backs, forearms, and tail, and sometimes on top of their head like a mohawk.

Ability Name	Ability Type	Ability Range	Ability Description
Body Mend 2	Trigger Passive	Self	Grants the user Body Mend 2
Allar Biology 3	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Allar Biology 3
Super Self 2	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Super Self 2
Super Self 6	Constant Passive	Self	Grants the user Super Self 6
Element Control 1	Magic Spell	Self	Grants the user Element Control 1
Morrolond Gift 3	Void Spell	Self	Grants the user Morrolond Gift 3

Further Information on Allar Behavior: https://forums.massivecraft.com/threads/case-study-on-allar-behavior.67577/

History

Throughout history, the Cro-Allar have led the Allar in military pursuits, for better or for worse.

The earliest records of Allar appearing in Aloria are through various snippets from Altalar explorers around 1200 BC. At this time, the Allorn Empire labeled the land of Sendras dangerous and uninhabitable, mostly due to the unfavorable climate, but also partially due to the frequency of tropical illnesses striking foreigners in the dense jungles of the continent. As such, there is very minimal historical writing on the Allar in their early days, though what can be told from Altalar sources, is that the Allar subspecies all existed around this time in lesser kingdoms. Somewhere around 800 BC, the Allar seem to have unified into one massive spanning Empire, though the exact circumstances that led to this unification remain unknown to this day. Comparatively speaking, the Allar developed a system of writing far later than any other race, and in many ways, what alternative methods of historical recording they did have were lost to time. It is assumed that in many ways, early Sendrassian civilization (while unified) resembled primitive Ceardia with numerous fledgling kingdoms and warlords controlling local areas in a very rudimentary pre-feudalism manner. During this era, the Allar's major form of combat was born, the School of Krzsallaz, though its focus was largely on hunting during these early years.

Allar civilization did not truly civilize (the way Regalians understand it, with formal writing, governance, and culture) until after the Sendrassian Civil War, an event that has marked the development of the Allar as a whole greatly. The Sendrassian Civil War was an event in Sendras that occurred between 73 BC and 22 BC, making it one of the longest, if not the longest, military conflicts in Alorian history. The civil war started over religious differences as the Allar had long held the faith of the Dragons in high regard, but the growing influence of Void worship caused social unrest. Important distinctions should be made in contrasting the rise of Void worship among the Allar in comparison to the Altalar, however. While the general population of the Altalar was converted at a slow, but steady pace, such a thing did not occur among the Allar. Due to the pyramid structure of Allar society, it took only a few Izu- and Cro-Allar to convert, for vast swathes of their population to fall in line without necessarily converting. As such, it was possible for only a handful of leading Allar to convert to worshipping the Void, while thousands of their subjects remained loyal to the old faith, but simply went along with their rebellion because of their docile attitude to their leaders.

Small skirmishes between loyalists and Void converts eventually broke into open rebellion, which culminated into the civil war which is marked to have started with the Void convert attack on the capital of the Sendrassian Empire, the Golden Soor. From very early on, the Void converts (largely by act of the Izu-Allar) engaged in magical terrorism to shock and awe the loyalist Als-Allar into line. The capital of the Sendrassian Empire, led by a strong loyalist Digmaan (Cro-Allar Noble), was completely eradicated when a group of Izu-Allar used magic to create a massive acid cloud that killed every living being in the city. The rival Izu-Allar and Cro-Allar continued to wage their civil war for decades in a conflict where the death toll has never been fully recorded, though often assumed to be in the hundreds of thousands. Towards the later years of the civil war, the void converts appeared to be losing the war, as the Digmaans of the loyalists and their Maz-Allar armies seemed to be gaining the upper hand. This turn of fortunes caused the Izy-Allar who worked for the Void worshipers to increase their magical terrorism, which would prove the final blow in the Civil War. While the loyalist Digmaan and Maz-Allar were prepared to continue the fight, the civilian Soor-Rassa-Allar (which was entirely comprised of Als-Allar) made plans to flee the continent. Many of the Cro-Allar lineage and Maz-Allar loyalists still resent the Soor-Rassa-Allar to this day for essentially betraying the military castes of the Allar Empire, as they were of the belief that they were winning, but only fled because of the cowardice of the Als-Allar.

Regardless of the circumstances of the loyalists losing the civil war, The Soor-Rassa-Allar organized a massive flight of loyalists out of Sendras, of all subspecies of Allar, fleeing north to the sparse continent of Hadaria which at the time was barely populated save for a few wandering groups of Slizzar and some Allorn outposts. While the Cro-Allar and Maz-Allar originally resented the flight from their homeland, their overriding protective nature of the other Allar species eventually took the upper hand, and they escorted the flight out of Sendras. To many, after the flight of January 12th 22 BC, Sendras became a dark continent, both in a literal and figurative sense. The Void convert Allar won the Civil War and shut off the continent from the prying eyes of outsiders. To this day, few adventurers have ventured to the shorelines, and even fewer have returned with tales of abominations and savagery in the dark jungles to the south. The Regalian Empire, in fact, has a general bar on anyone approaching the continent, and likely with good reason, as no state that has allowed to fester in Void devotion for as long as Sendras has, could reasonably maintain normality.

The Allar settling in Hadaria eventually splintered into the lesser kingdoms often called the Chrysant Kingdoms by the Regalians, though they often maintained a unified aspect despite the implication that they were separate kingdoms. The Soor-Rassa-Allar remained an organization that loosely tied the Allar together, even if individual Digmaan would continue to wage war against each other over land squabbles. The move to Hadaria caused the Allar to be more frequently exposed to the rising Regalian Empire and the collapsing Allorn Empire. Contact to civilized states in this manner (largely through trade and diplomacy) caused the Allar to rapidly standardize their language, writing, and historical recounting. While much was lost in the flight from Sendras, the Allar who lived in Hadaria quickly recovered and even managed to thrive in their new environment no less than twenty years after arriving. Hadaria, however, was already natively inhabited by the Slizzar. Over decades that turned into centuries, the Slizzar slowly integrated into Allar society and managed to infiltrate every level of politics. From the lowest caste of the Soor-Rassa-Allar, Slizzars seduced the timid Als-Allar, up to the highest ranks where Slizzar became consorts to the Cro-Allar. This slow and steady seduction of Allar leadership is what many today consider the reason why the Allar never fully unified in a way other Empires did. Eventually, this led to one particularly successful Slizzar called Miko Missa seizing power over all the Chrysant Kingdoms by seducing the strongest Digmaan and using them to force the others in line. This sudden and dangerous skirmishing with the power balance of the region caused aggravation of the Regalian Empire, which would soon declare war on the Essa Empire (the Allar name of their new realm in Hadaria) in 286 AC.

While the Maz-Allar and Cro-Allar proved competent on the field of battle against the inferior Regalian troops, the Ailor were far too numerous and outclassed the Allar navies to a laughable extent. Attacked from all sides, the Allar military eventually cracked, and the war changed from military conflict to a civilian genocide, fueled by Ailor racism. By the time Fessa Huallo (the new capital) fell, the Allar were completely at the mercy of the Ailor. Surprisingly, however, unlike other races, the Soor-Rassa-Allar quickly subjected itself in a very submissive manner, even if the Cro-Allar and Maz-Allar resisted. This quick submission and docile compliance to Regalian overlordship would later prove to be the greatest boon the Allar could have employed to secure their future.

Immediately following the Chrysant War, Hadaria was divided into numerous Ailor-led governorates, subject states and puppet kingdoms that continued to wage war on one another for various reasons. While Allar sovereignty was crushed, they were released from the Slizzar grasp who were eradicated with a much higher degree of efficiency than the Allar were and retreated to the far corners of the world. The subservient attitude of the Soor-Rassa-Allar turned around Regalian attitudes to the Allar in record time. It was their loyalty, their silent public relations struggle, and willful obedience that turned the Allar into a valuable ally. This eventually culminated into the Allar collectively integrating into Ailor society, becoming the first non-Ailor race to become first-class citizens in the Regalian Empire, and even having the Digmaan recognized as non-Human nobility in their own right. Needless to say, out of all races, Allar have suffered the most in terms of setbacks against their race, yet overcome all of them. Furthermore, they are also classified as the second most successful race in Aloria, having created a strong working relationship with the Ailor (though racism against them still exists), and being present in nearly all layers of Ailor governance of the Empire.

Society

Despite their short size that often gets lost in a crowd, many Izu-Allar contribute a valuable service to Allar history and society as the Mages and Arcane specialists.

Allar society is remarkably complex yet completely organized due to the caste structure that has been observed in practically every era of their existence. Every subrace of Allar exists in a separate caste that grants them specific rights and duties, though also centered around occupations and life ambitions. While there is no real discrimination between the castes, all Allar are expected to fulfill the roles within their caste. Any Allar who refuse to perform caste duties or constantly rebel against their Digmaan are exiled into a separate outsider caste known as Mutasj, in which an Allar is forbidden from joining a Digmaan and is overall ostracized in Allar society. Als-Allar are the general craftsmen and civilian population of the Allar caste system, responsible not only for the creation of common goods but also food production and being the backbone of alchemical business. Maz-Allar are the general military population of the Allar caste system, trained from birth in schools and combat grounds such as the School of Krzsallaz to hone their skills. They are almost exclusively soldiers and guards, though in peacetime they are permitted to engage in other professions or activities like gladiatorial combat. The Izu-Allar are the caste responsible for both arcane and subterfuge matters, covering mages and advisors but also acting as spies and assassins, though others also serve responsibility for spiritual matters and taking care of the natural world since they are the only caste able to see the Soul Rivers. The Cro-Allar are the ruling class and nobility, and always sit at the top of any local Allar social pyramids that exist across Aloria. Like some other Races, Allar are extremely cooperative within their own Race, to the point of having some sort of positive disposition towards even stranger Allar that they have never met before. The Mai-Allar often fall outside of Allar Society as many abandoned the Allar caste system after the Sendrassian Civil War, entering the broader oceans of the world than just the rivers and coastline of Allar-dominated territories. Due to this distance, and their generally mercurial nature when it comes to the Allar social structure, most other Allar do not trust Mai-Allar as they might others of their kind. Still, many Mai-Allar serve roles for Allar society as hunters and scouts, and exist at the fringes of the caste system without being completely outcast like the Mutasj.

Culture

Families and Romance

Allar distinguish no difference between gender, and in many cases, they also do not distinguish between age (though some military castes prefer older Allar for experience sake). Allar can have romantic relations between castes, there are no specific rules against this, though most Allar stick to their own subspecies due to the impracticality of a bulky male Cro-Allar mating with a small female Als-Allar. Despite the strong relation between Allar mates (which, in their society, makes no distinction between same-sex and opposite-sex relations), parent and child relation is often a bit odd. Any Allar mating pair that can produce offspring are told not to attach themselves to the eggs they lay early on. Female Allar that have completed their carrying period and are ready to lay eggs do so in a specific building where the egg birth is properly recorded. Eggs that do not fit either the caste of the father or the mother are removed from the offspring and placed with another couple to be raised in the proper caste. Fittingly enough, despite the infrequency of birth, Allar couples tend to produce enough eggs never to require an adoption. As such, adopted eggs usually end up in same-sex couple’s care, meaning the Allar are the only race with a functional system for same-sex adoption. Allar still retain a sense of family towards their biological family, however, even if they are of a different subspecies. Throughout their raising, adopted Allar are informed of their parentage and sometimes their biological family is even directly exposed to their upbringing. This in many ways helped foster the very strong bond Allar have with one another, even strangers.

Language

Having existed since the days when the Allar people were united on Sendras, Zasta is the only uniform language among the Allar. Zasta is both a written script and a spoken language. Many describe it as sounding smooth and rolling off the tongue, emphasizing letters such as ‘Z’, ‘S’, and ‘L’. The Zasta spoken by the Hadarian Allar is believed to be a particular dialect carried over by loyalists fleeing the Sendrassian Civil War, as old Sendrassian Zasta was known to have at least a dozen regional dialects.

Traditional Allar naming follows a “first name-last name” structure typical of most naming conventions, though they do not have a concept for a middle name as they view such a thing to be arbitrary and pointless. At birth, an Allar shares the last name of whatever Digmaan they were born to, though being taken into another Digmaan as part of carrying out caste duties results in the Allar taking on the last name of their new Digmaan. Each subrace of Allar also places a certain prefix in front of their last name if they are in a Digmaan, the prefix corresponding with their subrace, though this prefix is not present for a Digmaan-less Allar. Als-Allar add on the ‘Als-’, Maz-Allar add on the ‘Maz-’, Izu-Allar add on the ‘Izu-’, and Mai-Allar add on the ‘Mai-’. Cro-Allar are the only subrace with an exception to this rule, placing their ‘Cro-’ prefix in front of their first name instead of their last name. As an example of an Allar name, a Maz-Allar named Sselthyx is born to the Digmaan Cuatl, with their name being “Sselthyx Maz-Cuatl.” They are given to a different Digmaan to serve as a warrior there, known as the Digmaan Mixca, so their name suddenly becomes “Sselthyx Maz-Mixca.” If they are somehow left without a Digmaan for whatever reason, Sselthyx can keep either their birth Digmaan or whatever Digmaan they joined after, but are only known as “Sselthyx Cuatl” or “Sselthyx Mixca” without the prefix.

Lifestyle and Leisure

Much like the rest of their society, recreational activities are usually dependent on caste as each of them have developed leisure designated to their societal roles. Allar social life tends to be very communal and it isn’t uncommon for Allar from different castes to be hanging out with one another, even if not sharing the same caste-based activities. Alchemy is perhaps one of the few leisurely pastimes that does not confine itself to a single caste (even if used the most by Als-Allar in practice), mostly because of how culturally vital it is to Allar society. One other recreational activity that’s considered universal is the board game called Ssenet, where two players each move three pieces across a board. Both players start their pieces on a “dragon head” tile and roll dice to determine how many spaces their piece can move, with the winner being determined by whoever gets all their pieces onto the final “golden tile” first.

Als-Allar are perhaps the least specific in their recreational activities due to being a very generalized caste, though most are centered around crafts and services. Glassworking is the most culturally prominent of these activities for the Als-Allar, with the Allar being the first Race to use glass for their windows and decorations, and multiple alchemical enhancements such as powders and mixtures have been utilized to create colored glass. Maz-Allar recreation is almost exclusively sports-focused and physically intense, with the idea being to maintain the Maz-Allar’s athletic physique and better serve their role as the military caste. Gladiatorial duels and team-based wargames are common among the Maz-Allar to keep up their discipline and strength, with one particular sport known as Zzachok being especially popular, in which two teams try getting a ball through a vertical hoop placed on the other team’s side, with the twist being that they cannot use any part of their arms to bounce the ball.

Izu-Allar either enjoy board games and brain-teaser puzzles meant to stimulate their critical thinking and advisory skills, or dexterous physical activities that cultivate effectiveness in stealthiness and subterfuge, though almost all Izu-Allar spend some time with activities centered around magic use. Cro-Allar have a range of hobbies afforded to them due to their noble status, with the Cro’s able to theoretically enjoy any amount of high-tier activities. Grand parties, celebratory gatherings and especially theatrical performances all serve as both a way to have fun but also as culturally important methods of perfecting a Cro-Allar’s leadership and charisma. Mai-Allar take part in “glory hunts” where they track down and kill some beast on either land or water to prove their own skill and strength, along with water-based sports that keep up their physique in a similar manner to Maz-Allar. It is not forbidden or illegal for an Allar to take up a leisure pastime that is strongly associated with a differing caste from the particular Allar’s own caste, especially since various Allar from different castes are fine with socializing with one another, though it is traditionally frowned upon as more conservative Allar believe that doing so encourages social deviance from the caste system.

Clothing

Allar fashion tends to make use of more bright colors and tropical styles, usually reflecting the extravagant tastes carried down from the Cro-Allar aristocracy who absolutely enjoy showing off what they wear. Symmetrical and geometric patterns often cover an Allar’s clothing to appeal to their logical nature, seeming in contrast to the otherwise flamboyant outfits popularized by the Cro-Allar. Blues, greens, and whites are the most popular colors, though the Allar make use of almost the entire color spectrum as long as it appears flashy. Expensive silks are popular among the elites of the Cro- and Izu-Allar, with furs and cloth imported from Regalia becoming increasingly common for those Allar more adapted to Regalian culture. The climate and temperatures of Hadar have resulted in many outfits leaving the top half exposed, combined with loose clothing that allows the skin to “breathe” more easily. Allar fashion loves to make use of accessories such as feathers, flowers and jewelry, with necklaces and bracelets made from colored glass being fashionable due to the skilled jewelry crafters among the Allar. Sapphires are periodically used in the jewelry of the Cro-Allar, though mostly as part of adaptation to the Regalians that now monopolize Sapphire production. Strangely, face paint of various patterns has become a fashion trend across castes, likely originating from Maz-Allar's use of war paint making its way to the Cro-Allar. Izu-Allar usually wear more light clothing such as silks or cloth that allow ease of movement, due to their caste roles and the fact that their height and stature can struggle with heavy clothing. Maz-Allar do still wear bright colors in civilian life and during peacetime, but their wartime attire is darker and more practically fitting to the jungle environment they’re used to fighting in. Mai-Allar have clothes made from leather or Elastaan which allows them movement and flexibility in the water, with jewelry made from coral, shark teeth or precious stones being popular among them.

Cuisine

To an ignorant outsider, Allar cuisine appears simple and often divided by caste, with the Cro- and Maz-Allar usually feeding on meat, Izu-Allar eating vegetables and Mai-Allar resorting to fish and other aquatic foods as part of their diet. Due to their ability to taste substances and determine ingredients, the Als-Allar have cultivated a vibrant cuisine culture found today among those assigned to be cooks and chefs, able to take just about anything and figure out the perfect combination of spices and ingredients needed for tasty meals accessible to all castes. To an Als-Allar, cooking can be very similar to alchemy in that both require ingredients and mastery to concoct into a digestible product, and therefore culinary practices have stood out among their caste. Tropical fruits such as coconuts, mangoes and Banasque Sunspears can be found in plenty, with some Als-Allar having found a way to make fruit drinks out of them enjoyed often by outsiders. There are insectoid dishes such as Hadarian Beetle Steak and the grub of Bugutza which are enjoyed by most of the Allar, along with more vegetarian dishes such as Rubyflower Salad, with the rubyflower often used in healing having both petals and seeds taken to create a somewhat bitter vegetarian cuisine with a sweet aftertaste. The Mai-Allar enjoy an array of seafood due to the diversity of ocean life available to them such as crustaceans and fish, though they have also been noted to hunt sharks and whales, bringing their remains back as both hunting trophies and cookable meals. While the Allar already enjoy the use of spices and flavorful ingredients in their food, a boom of such ingredients brought in from the trade networks of the Regalian Empire have allowed them to take culinary practices even further.

Holidays

Allar holidays can be viewed as strange affairs filtered through the more pragmatic and logic-minded nature of the Race, with religion-specific holidays being minimal and localized among various Digmaans because of the secularism of Hadar. Perhaps the only exception is an annual week-long celebration known as the “Days of Creation" that take place in the summer months, during which representatives of the Soor-Rassa-Allar invite all alchemy-skilled Allar to cities across Hadar to present their new alchemical creations for judges to inspect on behalf of the Soor-Rassa-Allar, celebrating the teachings of Alchzech through innovation. Rewards and prestige are presented to those Allar who come up with particularly creative or useful alchemical concoctions, or even for normal creations such as culinary or weaponry crafts that were improved with alchemy in some way. Part of the intent behind this holiday is to improve alchemy use for the elite by taking note of the better alchemical creations, though also potentially recruit budding alchemists into the Soor-Rassa-Allar’s bureaucracy and intellectual think tanks intended to help society at large. This holiday was actually once banned by Regalian authorities during the legal crackdown on alchemy that followed Regalian victory in the Chrysant War, but this ban was retracted when alchemy became legal again and Allar were granted Regalian citizenship, with the condition that the Regalian Scholar’s Court receive copies of any alchemical innovations taken in by the Soor-Rassa-Allar during the holiday.

Another holiday that’s less universal but still very popular is Commemoration Day, where the Allar of Hadar stage theater productions that tell the story of the Sendrassian Civil War in memory of the loss of their homeland. Digmaans love to promote this holiday in times of war as a method for boosting cultural and national pride, reminding the Allar what was lost and what shall be reclaimed from the Sendrassian Void Allar, with productions receiving promotion during the reign of Miko Missa when she was consolidating popular support. This holiday has only become more prominent in wake of the Sendrassian invasion of Hadar, reminding the Hadarian Allar of their greatest enemy and what else they could lose.

Allar Politics

The Digmaan

Allar Politics is multilayered, meaning that politics can often become very complicated as if multiple sovereign entities overlap one another. At a base level, all Allar exist within the realm of a Digmaan, which is their feudal overlord. A Digmaan is always a Cro-Allar, but a Digmaan does not always own land. Allar fluently move between Digmaans assigning their loyalty to whatever Digmaan they believe does them right, or has subjected them to their rule. This makes Allar akin to having a clan-like structure, without actually working like a clan. Digmaan without land who rule over other Allar have a family-level of disciplinary authority, but their control usually ends there. Digmaan with land can subject Allar within their realm to their own laws and rules, as long as they are not in contrast with the rules of the states of Hadar in total (you can make your character an under-Digmaan in Character Applications, but need a Noble Family permission to be a land-owning Digmaan). Sometimes, Digmaan even overlap one another where one Digmaan can exist inside the realm of another, where this landless Digmaan effectively becomes an under-Digmaan, but not by choice. In such instances, the Allar of the under-Digmaan are subject to the under-Digmaan, but the under-Digmaan is subject to the Digmaan of the lands. Digmaan as such act very much like warlords, owning their own private armies, and holding their own court. Generally speaking, the fortunes of Digmaans waxes and wanes. It is a commonly accepted norm that most Digmaan engage in frequent wars with each other, even under the noses of their overlords, and that petty infighting often results in the loss of a succession or chaotic implosion. This provides catharsis for the Maz-Allar who frequently need a way to express their martial blood lust, as well as the Cro'Allar's natural desire to plot against other Cro-Allar for more power.

The Soor-Rassa-Allar

Completely separate from the Digmaan is the Soor-Rassa-Allar which acts as a secondary authority ruling the civilian bureaucracy and science board. The Digmaan have a disciplinary authority and often also law-of-the-land based authority over the Allar, but the Soor-Rassa-Allar controls the flow of information between the Allar states and Digmaan, as well as centralizing research and scholarly pursuits through their boards of review. The Soor-Rassa-Allar is headed by 24 famous or infamous alchemists, which control smaller regional councils, usually overseeing a province. The regional councils in turn control chapter houses, which are usually established from city to city, each with an elder and several Rassarians, which is the name for representatives of the Soor-Rassa-Allar. Regalia for example currently has three functional chapter houses each with their own elder and Rassarians. (You can make your character a Rassarian in Character Applications, to be an Elder requires a Special Permission for Chapter House Leadership). Rassarians travel between research institutes, gathering information, and demanding submission of orderly documents on research conduct and outcomes. These are then transmitted to the Soor-Rassa-Allar who test the validity and credibility of the finds and publish a memorandum outwards to all the regional councils on the findings. This process can however get political since many of the Rassarians or even the Soor-Rassa-Allar highest council are ambitious researchers of their own who have not been known to shy away from stealing work from others. Elders in local chapter houses are voted in by all other Rassarians, meaning they are generally more reliable however, and seen as fatherly figures when it comes to engaging in safe and rewarding research conduct. In civilian life, the Soor-Rassa-Allar also demands the inclusion of information such as births, deaths, marriages, and other life decisions made by the Allar. Much of the Regalian bureaucracy is said to be based on the Soor-Rassa-Allar's dutiful accounting of civilian information, but this remains only speculation among the nationalistic Allar. The Soor-Rassa-Allar does have the authority to shut down or outcast a controversial alchemist or researcher if the need is there, which will result in them being banned from all alchemist shops and resource vendors.

The Local Level

On a more local level, each town, village or city, is generally governed by a steward. Stewards do not have executive authority within their land, since the land is ruled by the Digmaan and they only act as a delegate of the Digmaan, but a Steward which is called a Lazzai, acts as the final representative of a Digmaan, and is also in charge of ensuring the proper functioning of all other offices under a Digmaan. The Digmaan rule, but their actual day to day ruling of their lands is practically wholly delegated out to other castes to ensure effectiveness, and also because most Digmaan simply want to enjoy life as rulers, not as bureaucrats. Regalia also has a Lazzai, even if the city is not ruled by Allar, purely because of the number of Allar living there. The positions in Regalia tend to be more ceremonial than formal purely because the Regalian authorities take care of a lot of the day to day business for the Allar within their Regalian Bureaucracy, but many of these positions as appointed by the Qar-Digmaan or Lazzai still have some prestige associated with them. Next follows a list of all the various positions that one can find in the court of a Lazzai, or the positions given away by the Digmaan to divide up their authority and control so they have to spend less time directly ruling.

• Lazzai: A Lazzai is a diplomatic representative and steward to a Digmaan's personal court. This position is generally seen the most respectable.
• Rhax: A Rhax is in control of the ceremonial guard of a Digmaan. The position of Rhax is generally considered the most prestigious.
• Ghizzal: The Ghizzal (plural) are the Digmaan's personal favorite pet-warriors or bodyguards. These are subservient to the Rhax, but have a unique favored position.
• Nash-Avaq: The Nash-Avaq is considered the most esteemed adviser of a Digmaan above all other advisers. This position is exclusively held by Izu-Allar.
• Tol-Zzeem: The Tol-Zzeem controls the agenda and direct communication of the Digmaan, though does not represent like the Lazzai does.
• Tol-Uvzzal: The Tol-Uvzzal controls the entertainment and event hosting of a Digmaan, as well as the acquisition of art and food produce.
• Tol-Maarq: The Tol-Maarq controls the sanitary conditions among the Digmaan's subjects, inspecting their homes and businesses.
• Tol-Iyaz: The Tol-Iyaz controls the business and trade of a Digmaan, also inspecting businesses and investing in them from the Digmaan's wealth.
• Tol-Chroq: The Tol-Chroq controls the Digmaan's treasury and has to ensure that it remains in surplus despite all the lavish spending.
• Tol-Kkhit: The Tol-Kkhit controls the Digmaan's personal estate, but is notably also responsible for the Digmaan's personal hygiene and physical needs.

The States & Qar-Digmaan

Completely separate yet again from the Digmaan and the Soor-Rassa-Allar exist the sovereign nations. The sovereign nations are state entities that exist in their own right, often ruled by Digmaan, but not always. The borders of these nations fluctuates frequently, since the majority of them derive their authority and land borders from the Digmaan that exist within their core regions. These Digmaan pick fights with Digmaan from other regions, resulting in shifting borders depending on the fortunes. In theory, it is almost impossible to enumerate all Allar sovereign nations, because there are hundreds of smaller one-city or even one-village sovereign nations, some of which would even cease to exist or come into existence the moment their names are being written. As such, the following list covers only the major nations that are staples in Hadar and outside of Hadar.

• Qozzrak: A major nation ruled by a council of powerful Digmaan in the south of Hadar. This is largely a federation of smaller Digmaan held together by a common distaste of other nations.
• Rosh-Akkahr: A nation entirely ruled by the Soor-Rassa-Allar in the north of Hadar. Digmaan do exist in this land, but the Soor-Rassa-Allar has become the most powerful ruler here.
• Mok-Throk: A nation ruled by a single Digmaan on the western edge of Hadar which engages in a lot of warfare with Altalar and Kathar.
• Vizzal: A republic ruled by a rotating elected Als-Allar ruler in the northeast of Hadar. This was previously part of the Regalian demilitarized done, hence the lack of Digmaan.
• Chazzrak: Another major nation ruled by a council of powerful Digmaan in the south of Hadar. Generally considered the major opponent of Qozzrak.
• Bizztal: A federation of city-states ruled over by viceroys of various castes. Yet again however, due to its very northwestern position, this region lacks Digmaan.
• Volosh: A small island chain nation to the southwestern tip of Hadar that is almost entirely dominated by Void Cults, who despite their Sendrassian outlook, are loyal to Hadar.
• Zeerak: A small kingdom to the very north of Hadar that is ruled by an Ailor family, but is part of Hadar proper. This state has a large rich Ailor minority.
• Itra: A very large single city-state that is known for its research and alchemy pursuits, but also its rampant poverty and caste divide in the center of Hadar.
• Oltenna: A series of islands in the ocean between Hadar and Etosil. This region is formally a part of Hadar, a major Digmaan-Yaotl stronghold, and crucial for the link between Hadar and Regalia.
• Vish: A number of smaller Digmaan who have all raised up the Qar-Digmaan as their main ruler. Vish is considered the heartland of Hadar and the core of any Qar-Digmaan's rule.

It is important to note here that generally speaking, the further south one goes the more Digmaan one finds, and the further north one goes the less Digmaan one finds. This is because the northern Hadarian states were previously occupied by Ailor noble families as part of the war settlement, and many Digmaan were either killed during the Chrysant War or were simply pushed out by their Ailor overlords. Even if a state like Rosh-Akkahr exists without Digmaan rule, Digmaan still exist as civilians in that region, and they still control most if not all the Allar as part of their Digmaan, it just so happens to be the case that they are all land-less, since all the land is owned by the Soor-Rassa-Allar. These nations, despite being independent of one another, act as a federation unity under Hadar itself, which is formally ruled by a Qar-Digmaan, or a king of kings-style title that is only formally recognized inside Hadar. This is because Hadar is also a subservient realm of the Regalian Empire, and royal titles aren't formally recognized under the royal Imperial administration. The title of Qar-Digmaan is currently held by Digmaan Yaotl, but the title is considered very unstable, based on historical precedent. Qar-Digmaan have existed before, most notably during or just before the Chrysant War, but none has ever been able to pass their title to an heir without either being killed before that could happen by another Digmaan, or have their heir live through the complete collapse of their power structure with infighting. Qar-Digmaan are generally well respected among all Allar, even if they are independent or live under other Digmaan, but the reality of the warlord-like nature of the Digmaan is never far out of mind.

The Regalian Level

Finally, the last overlapping authority that was mildly mentioned in the previous paragraph is the Regalian authority. Hadar is bound by a number of treaties and has also sworn loyalty to the Regalian Empire following the loss of the Chrysant War. While only 60% of their land was actually indoctrinated into the Regalian Empire, in more recent years, the rise of the Qar-Digmaan and the subsequent submission of the nominally independent states have resulted in 100% of the land falling within the borders of the Regalian Empire (even the heretical Volosh islands). This means that Hadar is subservient to the Regalian Navigation Laws, trade structure, royal monopolies and state laws, pays the Tenpenny Tax, and is also subject to other taxation and tariff arrangements with the central government, though it does have a couple of unique arrangements not seen among other states. Hadar has a complete freedom of movement arrangement with several Regalian sub-states, meaning Allar can seamlessly move between nations and become citizens and find work. Furthermore, the Qar-Digmaan (or any entity succeeding them), has been given the authority to deal justice onto its own subjects by laws dictated within Hadar. This means for example that if an Allar commits a crime in Regalia proper, they are judged by the Qar-Digmaan as opposed to the Regalian Judiciary, following the stipulations of Hadar Law, not Regalian State Law. This frequently causes a tug of war between the Digmaan and the Regalian Judiciary, who believe strongly in the concept that crime in Hadar should be punished by Hadar rules, and crime in Regalia should be punished by Regalia rules. That being said, the legal situation is considered a compromise and a concession from the crown to placate Hadar, and will most likely remain in place in perpetuity.

Combat and Warfare

Allar combat and warfare is surprisingly similar to Regalia, though their military structure could even be called superior. At the head of an Allar army stands a Cro-Allar general, though they frequently fight on the front lines also. Underneath them is a complex ranking system of Maz-Allar, far more complex than any other army in Aloria. Allar armies are almost entirely made up out of Maz-Allar fighting in the style of the School of Krzsallaz with supporting Als-Allar alchemical powered artillery units or skirmishers. Izu-Allar remain the only subspecies of Allar that do not formally take part in armed conflicts, largely because they are considered too frail to face a battlefield. Even though Maz-Allar armies can sometimes act savage and disorganized on the field due to their bloodlust, they are actually far more disciplined than meets the eye, and these episodes of bloodthirst tend to be referred to as “organized chaos,” and entirely intended.

Religion

Officially speaking, the Digmaans of Hadar rule a secular sovereign nation, though perhaps not in a way that others might expect. Jacobin thought processes reject the concept of spirituality through religion and instead glorify a form of atheism with mysticism, resulting in a school of politics that demands secularism of the state for the sake of the people. For the Allar however, secularism has become a norm through two principles that they hold as very important. Firstly, because of the relatively progressive thinking of the Allar, they detest the concept of the government interfering with their personal life. Indeed, with research into obscure and sometimes controversial topics and substances being the norm in Allar society, and some of the Cro-Allar engaging in hedonistic behavior, many Allar appreciate the concept of being able to live their private lives without the ever watchful eye of an all-encompassing repressive government, something that they often struggle with in Regalia. Secondly the main religion the Great Alchzech (which is in fact not a religion but more a life philosophy) demands the acknowledgement of all faiths and all beliefs and all spiritual concepts to be true. The Great Alchzech is a peculiar life philosophy bordering on spirituality that professes that all faiths have a core of truth in them, and that in order to understand the greatness of existence, one has to acknowledge all parts of the sum, not choose to repress one that does not suit one’s personal beliefs. As a result, Allar consider narrow minded preachers who spit and froth against other faiths as exceptionally blind and dangerous to progress. Allar society as such is one with the largest amount of diverse and varied public houses of worship, with a core of every faith in the world present in Hadar in particular. That being said, there are some major forms of worship that the majority of the population follows, which is the focus of this section.

The Great Alchzech

Most Allar don’t formally believe in a god, but rather hold that every being, thing, and an event is a part of a greater mixture that has a certain result - which is existence itself. They refer to this concept or philosophy as The Great Alchzech, while its followers are called Alchzekkan. They believe that the true greatness and vastness of reality can only be examined, by accepting and acknowledging everything that is, was, and ever will be as true. Variables factor into an outcome with a certain weight, and it was up to the alchemists to interpret the value and outcome of these factors. It could be reasoned that, in a way, the Alchzekkan believe every god and pantheon ever espoused truly existed, and every belief is right, and any future religion shall also be true. For example, they believe Ailors are destined to rule over all. They universally accept Unionism as a true factor in life. They also accept the fact that the sun is divine, as dictated by the Songaskians, and that there is a living Elven goddess statue for the Elves. The Alchzekkan factor in all these things and consider reality with the following phrase: “Nothing is untrue, every spoken truth is a variable with a degree of value in life.”

This furthermore makes it easy for Alchzekkan to integrate into other societies. They have no trouble accepting or adapting to new norms or peoples because they accept their beliefs to be as true as that of others. Alchzekkan religion thus is not active, but rather passive. They observe events and reason about them but make very little effort to change them. While The Great Alchzech is classified as a religion in Regalia and also considered legal due to its approval of Unionism (and passive worship), many Allar choose to accept a second faith, purely to satisfy their spiritual needs. In doing so, they do not say necessarily that other faiths are false, simply that they have a personal preference for one particular faith due to its communal aspects of life aspirations. Similarly, it should be said that there are plenty of Allar who do not believe in the Great Alchzech. The Allar are not so wholly more superior to other races to be immune to the concept of religious intolerance, and while The Great Alchzech is a chosen belief for the vast majority of the Allar, plenty of Allar exist that only belief in one religion, and denounce the others as false, similarly also believing that The Great Alchzech is a self contradicting lie, due to the nature of most religions professing the falseness of others.

Dragon Worship

Dragon Worship among the Allar takes a different form than the usual Dragon Worship as outlined mostly by the Dragon Cults among the Elves and the Isldar. Dragon Worship among the Allar is a form of polytheism where they personalize each subspecies of Dragon into a single divine deity to represent them. The Allar know very well that many Dragon species had different members with different names and personalities, but the Allar more-so acknowledge the divine commonality between them, rather than seeing them as individual divine creatures. Those that worship the Dragons among the Allar are called Drakkarav. The Drakkarav acknowledge the following divine beings. It is interesting to note that the Loong Dragon is not represented in Dragon Worship among the Allar. This is because the Loong Dragon was never acknowledged by the Allar as a true Dragon, and was only discovered very late in history due to the distance of the Sihai lands.

• Corozz the Blue Ruler represented the great Dragon-king in the court of divine Dragons. Corozz is worshiped by the leading castes for good fortune. The Dragon-king is seen as a well-intending but wrothful ruler who is wise yet quick to draw blood.
• Yavazz the Yellow Harlequin represented the great entertainer of the Dragon-king in the court of divine Dragons. Yavazz is worshiped by the entertainers and artists for good fortune. The Harlequin is seen as the one responsible for ensuring the Dragon-king’s mood is at an all-time high to prevent his outbursts and cause calamity.
• Bakazz the Black Lord represented the brother of the Dragon-king who was passed over from the throne and now stewards the dungeons of life. Bakazz is not worshiped by anyone in particular, but appeased to stave off death.
• Riziv the Red Architect represented the steward of all things earthen underneath the court of Divine Dragons. Riziv is worshiped by builders in particular. The Architect is seen as responsible for the creation of the earth and the soil everyone walks on, and building mountains and landscapes to his designs.
• Garaz the Green Consort represented the Dragon-king consort in the court of divine Dragons. Garaz is worshiped by the home makers, lovers and farmers for good fortune. The Consort is seen as the bringer of fertility and life, and is often depicted quarreling with Bakazz.
• Slzz the Silver Librarian represents the Dragon-king’s advisor and librarian of the great Dragon court. Slzz is worshiped by those seeking knowledge and self improvement, and a common choice for alchemists. Slzz however is also seen as a clever manipulator, using alchemy to influence the mind of his Dragon-king to make him pliable to his own needs.
• Vazmaz the Violet Singer represented the Dragon-king’s favored performer. While traditionally she could be worshiped by entertainers (much like Yavazz) she is actually worshiped mostly by diplomats and social caretakers and healers. Her songs are said to heal even the worst of illnesses and give life where it has all but disappeared.
• Rubzzalza the Rubine Guardian represented the Dragon-king’s guardian and executioner, worshiped by the Maz-Allar and other soldiers in particular. Rubzzalza is seen as just as angry as his liege lord and prone to outbursts of violence, with equal temperance in passion towards Vazmaz his consort. Rubzzalza is worshiped by those living life to their fullest.
• Grakazz the Gray Hermit represents the only outsider of the divine Dragon court, living away from the palace and hiding among the Allar as a mortal to ensure they continue their duties. The Gray Hermit is not formally worshiped, only sideways acknowledged in fear of him actually witnessing impiety among the Allar.

Central to the belief of the Drakkarav is that the Dragons come from a divine court of Dragons, where they reside in hidden palace somewhere on the tallest mountain in the world. The Drakkarav believe that in a primordial time, the Allar existed as the workers and servants in the divine court of Dragons, that this was a time of paradise where all Drakkarav lived forever in service to their greater beings, who were seen as their creators and ancestors. Curiously enough, the Drakkarav do acknowledge the extinction of the Dragons as a worldly event, but one that had been long in the making. In their version of history, it was in fact a subgroup of Allar that betrayed the Dragons and had designs on the world of their own, causing a loss of paradise. The original palace was destroyed, forcing the Dragons to make a new one that was hidden. To punish the Allar who betrayed them, the Dragons made them into the other races and removed their scales and lizard features, which bore their heritage to the Dragons. The Drakkarav were unfortunately also punished because they allowed this to happen either in ignorance or unwillingness to act, casting them down into mortality. This set the stage for thousands of years of decline that would eventually lead to the death of the Dragons.

The Drakkarav thus believe that the gods are dead, and that the Dragons have gone extinct. They believe that the original Allar who betrayed them won, but that the Gray Hermit still lives, and continues to roam among the Allar people to ensure their worship, lying in wait for the day when the Dragons will return through the cycle of rebirth as dictated by the Dragon-king. The recent appearance of the Imperial Dragon and the Dread Dragon have seriously complicated religious beliefs for the Drakkarav, as their behavior does not pattern into the belief of rebirth. Some yet believe that rebirth is among them and have flocked to the banners of the Regalian Empire in the hopes of serving the Imperial Dragon.

Draconic Unionism

Draconic Unionism is a more devolved concept of Ailor Unionism with serious Allar overtones and preferences projected onto it. Draconic Unionism is not an officially registered faith in Regalia, and probably would be illegal due to its fairly heretical concepts. That being said, those that follow Draconic Unionism can usually hide their beliefs under the Great Alchzech and life live fine with their worship intact, especially in Regalia. Draconic Unionism’s core concept is that the Spirit is in fact the soul-lineage of Dragons among mortals. The believers of Draconic Unionism, who are called Bondrakkar, believe in the divinity of Dragons before what they refer to as Convergence, the event in which the Dragons invested their souls into mortals. They believe that Dragons created the world and stewarded creation for all eternity, until all eternity ended when their creation turned on them. They then believe the Dragons invested their souls into the mortal beings of the world to continue to protect it, but leave the actual world’s fate up to the mortals themselves.

They believe in the concept of the Great Way through a more racially diversified vision, believing that all races should submit to the belief of Unionism one way or another, and that all races under the umbrella of Unionism can have their own version of Unionism made for their beliefs, as long as they worship the Spirit one way or another. The Spirit in turn is a more esoteric representation of the Dragon’s rebirth among the mortals, identifying individuals as Carriers of Dragons, which are akin to Herons in typical Unionism, except that they likely possessed part of or a whole Dragon soul in their being. Bondrakkar have increased in number recently, benefiting from both converts from general secular Alchzech as well as Dragon Worship due to the arrival of both the Dread Dragon and the Imperial Dragon in public conscience and existence.

The Bondrakkar have further expanded as a result that the Dragons now exist in a state of limbo. Citing the Imperial Dragon as an example, they state that the Imperial Dragon is the divine being and divine state deserving of worship and prayer, and that the humanoid form is the burden of all mortal sin made flesh. They essentially believe that the Dragons also bear the taint of sin of all other mortals, and that as such, they are forced into a humanoid form from time to time to expel sin from the world and become ignorant of themselves and their divine purpose. The Bondrakkar worship in the same Unionist churches and sermons as regular Unionists do, effectively blending into their population while keeping a keen eye on the Imperial Dragon, as opposed to the current Emperor. They believe only a hand few Emperors were ever Carriers of Dragons, and that only the Imperial Dragon right now is the true Emperor of the Regalian Empire.

Mother of Soil

Mother of Soil is a relatively small faith among the Allar which finds its basis in Estel Worship. Mother of Soil worshipers are called Soilists, which outsiders consider an insult but the Soilists actually use with pride. The main concept of Mother of Soil is that Estel, called Ezztahl by the Soilists, is the creator of all existence, and represents an earth-mother esque figure. She supposedly rests at the core of the world (as the fact that Aloria is round is well established nowadays), seeing the world as a shelter or cocoon for their divine earth-mother. The world is believed to be her bed in which she slumbers, and from her life sprung everything on the surace. Mother of Soil worshipers are very ecologically sensitive, being extremely anti-industry and mass resource harvesting, believing that explosions in particular hurt the Mother of Soil, and destroy her pristine beauty. Soilists are frequently seen around Yanar, who they believe have a unique and strong connection to the Mother of Soil. They also believe in the Elven Pantheon, but instead of seeing them as individuals, they see them as emotions. They believe that when anyone feels an emotion, that this emotion is sent to them through the Mother of Soil, and it is in a way expressing the Mother of Soil dreaming about them, and dreaming for them to do something.

Ulley is instead seen as arrogance, pride and justice. Ellea is seen as love, care and kindness, while Vallea is seen as courage, willfulness and anger. Sca’Elle is seen as inspiration, creativity and inquisitiveness, while Asc’tea is seen as connivance, trickery and malice. Tal’Sieth is seen as strength, stubbornness and wroth, while Ammu-loa is seen as grief and misery. Finally, Cae-Maen is seen as compassion and mercy, but also indignance and indifference. Soilists have a quirky habit to praise the name of an Elven deity whenever they feel one such emotion very strongly, almost like a habit that they don’t even have control over. Soilists are also generally seen as dirty by others, since they are perpetually followed by a root-like earthy smell, on account of their constant use of soil and incense. Despite being practically vegan, Soilists still eat meat, since Allar are obviously carnivores. The Soilists have found a solution by ritualistic sacrifice and bleeding of an animal, letting its blood run into the soil. Soilists believe that life is in blood, not in the flesh. As soon as such an animal is drained of their blood, they become Halazz or “holy meat” which is approved for consumption among the Soilists. Halazz butchers do exist in Regalia, using that specific title to be used by Soilists for food consumption. Soilist are however, due to this soil-bleeding technique, unfortunately frequently harassed by Vampires since their habitats are usually surrounded by either fresh or dried in blood that is frequently replenished. Vampirism is also very common among them, not by choice however, as drinking blood is considered vile among the Soilists, it just happens to be the case they frequently get infected because of the Vampires being attracted to their blood soaked surroundings.

Void Cults

Void Cults do exist among the Allar, and this is an often overlooked and uncomfortable fact for the Allar in Regalia, especially since they have to acknowledge them as having a right to exist and their faith being real, if the Allar believe in the Great Alchzech. The Void Cults among the Allar are not very small, but do cover the wide ranges of the Arken, directly worshiping them and their predominant traits as divine. Void Cults among the Allar are often considered the opposite of Soilists, desiring the ravaging and destruction of the planet’s surface to make it habitable to demons, and for vices to be worshiped by engaging in them, not shying away from them. While a Soilists home might be close to blood-soaked soil, a Void Cultists’s home will never have blood wasted so egregiously, as it is used up by sacrifices or ritualism. Void Cultist Allar are remarkably hard to spot, as most Void Cultist Kathar practically bear torches and bright colorful lights on them announcing how invested they are in the occult with their horns and mutations, while Allar remain surprisingly unmutated. This is largely because, as scholars have speculated, while the Allar worship the representation of the Arken, they don’t perform the “right” rituals to actually connect with the Void. Whether this is intentional or not is not entirely clear.

Void Cults among the Allar do however have one peculiar practice that is not seen among other races, and that is the creation of Shadowbrood. Shadowbrood are extremely rare, and the knowledge of their existence is not well known even among the Allar, but they can be identified with their red and black scales, and red eyes, even when they are not a Vampire. Shadowbrood are created during vast Arken rituals and age rapidly, meaning they are born and might be an adult the next week. Shadowbrood are not otherwise remarkable besides the fact that they are in essence made of Void Essence, and as such also trigger all bells and whistles to those who seek it out. The presence of a Shadowbrood usually means a Void Cult is nearby. Why Shadowbroods are created is also not entirely clear. They do not actually fulfill any worship role for the Void Cultists, the common belief simply being that they are a happy but unintended side effect of the rituals to please the Arken.

Economy and Technology

Allar economy and technology is practically entirely centered around Alchemy. Not only does nearly every non-essential employment (such as food production) serve Alchemy one way or another, the Allar have no actual use for many of the medical services they create, thus providing a massive export base. Allar can be found in practically all alchemical organizations everywhere around the world, especially in Regalia. Resource gatherers scour the world for new ingredients that are rigorously tested before the Alchemical organizations release new products onto the global market. Especially in Regalia, Allar medical concoctions are extremely popular and make some Allar exceptionally wealthy.

Interactions and Customs

• Although their communal way of life makes socialization between castes less taboo than in other societies, the Allar still abide by standards of social etiquette partially influenced by the caste system. A good few are defined below, though more can be expanded upon in-game by players as needed:
• When irritated or hostile, Allar will emit a reptilian growl from the back of their throat. This growl was likely first intended to warn rivals to back off, though has carried over into Allar interactions with people all over Aloria.
• Als-Allar chefs love to use spices in their cooking, and will often try to spice up any dish they might consider to be “bland.”
• Allar have a really long tongue. It can stick quite far out of their mouth, with Allar sometimes leaving their tongue hanging out if bored or tired.
• Chrysant Flowers serve as a painful reminder of the suffering that the Allar went through during the Chrysant War, and giving one to an Allar as a gift is considered an insult.
• Insulting or degrading a Cro-Allar’s outfit is considered highly taboo in Allar society, along with being one of the fastest ways to make a mortal enemy of a Cro-Allar.
• Cro-Allar are in perpetual competition with one another, even mates or lovers. They might be very fond of each other, but in public, their personal relation often does not matter and neither partner can stand being seen as inferior to the other.
• Als-Allar on average are the most sentimental romantic partners, with it being customary for an Als-Allar to give and receive gifts to and from a partner (especially flowers). This sentimentality carries over into their friendships, where they prove to be one of the closest friends a person can have.
• Deference is important among the Allar, especially when facing or addressing a Digmaan Cro-Allar; Als-Allar look down to the ground before a Cro-Allar as a way of humbling themselves, while Maz-Allar cross their arms and tip their snout upwards in salute.
• Izu-Allar and Mai-Allar do not have formal ways of showing deference, the former because of stature and the Izu role as advisors to Digmaan, while the *Mai-Allar’s tenuous position at the system’s fringes has resulted in them never developing such methods of deference.
• The Mai-Allar get along with Maz-Allar the most compared to other subraces, as the two share common interests in athletic lifestyles, and they often directly cooperate or compete with one another in physical activities.
• Als-Allar and Izu-Allar are the most likely to get along with one another within the caste system due to a generally shared interest for intellectual pursuits, though this can range from friendship to a casual business relationship.
• An Allar’s personal alchemical stash is to always be respected as their private ownership, meaning it is taboo and in some places forbidden to search through or intrude upon that stash without permission.
• Clockwork is a very controversial topic among the Allar, especially due to the Izu-Allar that are able to see Soul Rivers and therefore better recognize what harm Clockwork can do to Soul Essence. Some Digmaans have banned Clockwork entirely, while others debate its pragmatic usefulness as just another tool.
• Maz-Allar are even more intolerant of ‘sore losers' than other cultures, believing that any Maz who loses at something like a game should simply learn to better themselves rather than get angry about said loss. This is less out of a special value for sportsmanship or honor than it is a matter of “there’s no point in getting angry at something that was your own fault, pick yourself up and try again.”
• Among Allar, when normally an Ailor would attempt to kiss another Ailor, an Allar might use the inside of the palm of their hand to gently stroke the underside of the jawline of another Allar. This is (usually) done carefully by bending the fingers away from the jawline to curl the claws away from touching something. If an Allar rejects this gesture on the receiving end, they bare their teeth. If they approve of the gesture however, they let out a small growling noise.
• Allar claws are very sharp, even more so for the Cro-Allar. Soft touch with claws is almost impossible, and simple things like finger snapping even more so because of the presence of these claws.
• Allar don't have sweat glands and reduce heat through the mouth and tongue. Allar don't normally need to relieve heat because they are used to hot climates, but much like Ailor when their head turns red when feeling "excited," they will pant like a dog to get rid of additional heat produced by excitement. Allar don't blush.
• Magic has an unusual place within Allar society, as while all can use it the Izu-Allar are culturally the only ones expected to, whose role as mages and arcane advisors is valued, but otherwise most Allar maintain a policy of “distant but tolerated” when interacting with non-Izu spellcasters.
• While Void-based Magic isn’t illegal in Hadar because it still serves a purpose, and in fact is used often by the Void Allar of Volosh, most other Izu-Allar frown upon it due to historical stigma from the Void-Worshiping Sendrassian Allar.
• Sharing is a good way to make a friend with an Allar, such as sharing alchemical ingredients with an Als-Allar or food with a Cro-Allar.

Trivia

• The Soor-Rassa-Allar is filled with 24 members of varying ages, the only thing they all have in common is that they are considered to be the most skilled alchemists of the Allar race as a whole at any given time. Each member invented a certain alchemical composition that strongly contributed to their wellbeing, either in the Regalian Empire or before.
• Allar are, racially speaking, distant cousins of the much more different Dakkar, which have since been forced underground forever. They see the Dakkar as little more than alchemical ingredients; however, the difference in intellect between the Allar and the Dakkar results in the Allar denouncing the Dakkar as animals.
• The Allar were at risk of going extinct in 214 AC due to a terrible contagious disease that no amount of effort could halt. Through the work of one highly skilled Alchemist that made a cure called Eyssrokz, the race was not only saved, but the disease completely eradicated before it claimed more than 30,000 lives, ensuring the future of the Allar as a whole.

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Accreditation
Writers MonMarty Artists MonMarty Processors Percuriam, Scribbe, Aespair, SupremeCripple, HydraLana, Carlit0o	Last Editor Firefan96 on 09/24/2021.

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