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The Qadir hail from the desert continent of Farah'deen, home of storming sands and the scorching heat. The Qadir are a relatively unseen force in Farah'deen politics due to the dominance of the Songaskia, though large numbers of Qadir still live in their homeland, mostly staying away from the urbanized Songaskian cities. In many ways, the Qadir are a people of habit and tradition, though many outsiders simply see them as stagnant and lacking in ambition. This assumption often ignores their rich and deep history that suddenly crashed down around them at their zenith, which caused them to turn inwards and to focus on their traditions. They are a people with exceptional skill in crafts, unrivaled goldsmithing skills, gem cutting precision and an unending thirst for knowledge and machine crafts. Taking the forefront in precision crafts such as glasses and clockworks, the world is starting to take more note of the Qadir as of late, largely due to the newer generations venturing out into the world to remind the other Races of their skills and history. The Regalian Empire has been glad to count them as allies in the past and such an arrangement is likely to continue into the future.
| Qadir | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Race | |
| Pronunciation | Ka-dir |
| Classification | Human |
| Subraces | None |
| Common Nicknames | Machine-men (derogatory)
Book Priests (praising) Saar-Sariyd (Songaskian) |
| Languages | Faraddi |
| Naming Customs | similar to Arabic and Urdu names found on Earth |
| Racial Traits | |
| Distinctions | Dark-skinned desert nomads known for their advanced machinery |
| Maximum Age | 110 years |
| Height | 5’2 - 6’2 |
| Weight | 100 - 200 lbs |
| Eye Colors | Dark brown |
| Hair Colors | Pure black, almost always curly |
| Skin Tones |  |
Physical & Mental Characteristics
The Qadir look very similar to Ailor in terms of having the same average framework, however some of their physical characteristics jump out more, or are much more uniform across all members of this Race. Their hair, for example, is universally black, often slightly curly or at least wavey; it is almost impossible to find a Qadir with straight hair. Their noses tend to be larger than an Ailor’s, and their jawlines are more square. The men in particular have more aggressive and faster body and facial hair growth than Ailor, and their eyes are always a dark brown color. Their skin is often mistaken for Daendroque, though it is distinctly darker. It is often said that Qadir have mysterious eyes, owing largely to their dark eye lashes, giving even men an intense look as if wearing eyeliner.
The Qadir are a very overprotective and suspicious Race, developing these traits after the destruction caused by the Great Storm and their dealings with the Songaskia ever since. They are fiercely protective of their skills and treasures of the past, posting up in their Hadrityas (fortress libraries). Since the fall of the Sariyd Empire, there has been a growing sense they no longer have a proper homeland as the Songaskia remain dominant, though the splinter Cultures of Khaneh and Ardualnaar Qadir do not share this view. The Qadir are surprisingly pragmatic and innovative in the fields of scholarly pursuit and new ideas. Their concept of religion is both simple and versatile, leading other Races to consider them liberal but very shut off from the world. The Qadir are capable of great charity and compassion for one another, but tend to turn their back on foreigners unless they have proven themselves in service for many years. The Qadir have a natural aversion to Magic, it being relatively disallowed in their religion save those abilities which involve Soul Essence. They also have a severe distaste for fire, owing largely to their fear of Desert Dragons and now the Songaskia who are their children. This aversion likely led to the production of clockwork technologies and other electrical mechanisms in their early history as a way to avoid the use of an element used by several species of Desert Dragon.
Summary of Racial Abilities
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit Force | Racial Passive | Qadir are the only race that can use White Qatil Cores in Clockwork Hardware. Additionally, Qadir can channel their Soul Essence to their hands, which lights them up into a gentle orange glow. While this glow is active, any metals that they rub their hands on cause their hands to act like polishing, or rust removal. Any rust their hands encounter is scraped off, while any dull-ness or roughness is smoothed out in a polishing manner. |
| Sariyd Attendant | Racial Passive | At birth, all Qadir have a part of their Soul Essence split into a flying essence called an Attendant. It quickly attracts junk scraps of clockwork, forming a discus (similar in size to a throwing disk) that acts as a mechanical familiar. This device can fly or levitate anywhere in Emote Distance of the Qadir, and can also return to a resting position on the back of the Qadir where it will attach like a backpack. Sariyd Attendants can be modified in appearance over time, some have faces made out of clockwork, others have engravings, and they can be made of any metal including rare metals and even gems. The Sariyd Attendant cannot be destroyed permanently, but if hit three times with an Ability or melee attack (they are immune to mundane ranged attacks), the Sariyd Attendant will go into a malfunctional state, return to the Qadir’s back, and be non-functional for 2 hours until it can be repaired. Sariyd Attendants can also siphon Soul Essence from the air around them to fuel Qatils. If the Sariyd Attendant is in a malfunctional state, it cannot use any of the following abilities. |
| Sariyd Point Defense | Racial Spell | The Sariyd Attendant latches onto the Qadir’s hand, then hovers around a foot away from it in a stationary position. The Qadir can then swing their arm, with the Sariyd Attendant following the motion of the hand, each swing causing a splash discharge of Soul Essence towards a target object or person as a ranged projectile, as if the Attendant was a sling. This projectile counts as a mundane Ranged attack. Each hit does no damage, but knocks back its target by 2 blocks from the impact force. After five hits within 10 minutes, the 5th hit causes an additional knockdown that causes the target to land on their back. The Qadir cannot use their wielding hand for anything else, however the other arm is still free to be used. Point Defense can only be used on one target at a time, and can only be used to keep that person at a distance. The time between shots is not fast enough to actually push someone backwards if they keep charging or running at the Qadir, but there is no upper limit on the amount of slings used. |
| Sariyd Blank Defense | Racial Spell | The Sariyd Attendant levitates in front of the Qadir, hoving a foot away from them with the face-side aiming at the target. Then, the Attendant projects a forward facing shield out of Soul Essence. This Shield deflects incoming ranged projectiles and melee attacks and Abilities, but each successful hit on the shield counts as 1 attack landing on the Attendant. This means that if in shield state the Attendant is hit 3 times, the Attendant goes into a malfunctional state. This hitpoint counter is consistent both outside of shield state and inside of it, meaning if the Attendant was already hit 2 times outside of shield state, it only needs to be hit once while in shield state for it to become malfunctional. While this Ability is active, the Qadir cannot move, and if they move, the shield disappears and the Attendant returns to idle levitation around the Qadir, however the Qadir can always perform actions from behind the shield that is just big enough to cover just them from the front only. |
| Sariyd Mem Bank | Racial Toggle | The Sariyd Attendant can store up to 3 personality traits or behavioral quirks that the Qadir wants to get rid of. Popular traits transferred are conscience, guilt, sorrow, pride, or just other destructive behavioral quirks. While any such trait or quirk is transferred, the Sariyd Attendant gains the ability to speak, and has a personality based on what was off-loaded onto it by its owner. If for example rudeness was offloaded, the Sariyd Attendant will mock others nearby or even its owner. If cowardice was offloaded, the Attendant will constantly second guess the owner's actions and ask what if's. Additionally, the Sariyd Attendant stores a backup of all the Qadir's memories. This means that Qadir are immune to memory altering Abilities, however this does not include in-the-moment memory alteration, like Alais Vampires that alter perception of their feeding on their victim. It only protects the alteration of memories after they were acquired cleanly. |
| Sariyd Forge Vault | Racial Spell | While the Sariyd Attendant is on the back of the Qadir, the Qadir can cause a part of the disk to open revealing the clockwork fabrication chamber. It will then rapidly fabricate a weapon or tool out of compound clockwork and soul essence. This is so fast, that the Qadir could instruct it to produce a weapon, and the weapon would be produced in the time that it takes for the Qadir to reach to their back and unsheath the weapon out of the Attendant. The tool or weapon handle is usually made out of Clockwork, while the active or blade part are made out of solidified Soul Essence. Only one such tool or weapon can be active at any time, and must be returned to the Attendant to be consumed back, before it can produce something else. The only tools and weapons that can be made are standard melee weapons from the melee combat Proficiency category, or non-combat tools used for art or science. The Qadir can fabricate a Light Bow Combat, Heavy Bow Combat, or Crossbow Combat weapon, but cannot manufacture any ammunition for it, and must have that on hand. |
| Sariyd Light Spark | Racial Spell | Once per day, the Qadir can instruct the Sariyd Attendant to use Soul Light Spark to illuminate a piece of paper or art work. While illuminated, the Attendant will reveal any fabrication or forgery made with Conning Rogue Proficiency on the item, usually lighting up what part was forged, or the whole item item in red if a forgery is found. If no forgery is found, the light turns yellow. |
History
The history of the Qadir has no clear starting point, though many surviving records of the Sariyd Empire indicate the Qadir are at least 1000 years old. During this time, the Qadir were at the mercy of the Desert Dragons, retreating away from them toward the coastline or setting themselves up in small communities which eventually rose into large cities. Some of these cities then united and became the Sariyd Empire, stretching inland with multiple member cities and several colonies in the south of nearby Essalonia. Unknown to most, however, was the fact there were a plethora of free and independent Qadir city states which existed alongside this great body, many being allied but remaining separate from the Sariyd Empire. Contact with the Altalar of the Allorn Empire was known to occur, sometimes peacefully on trade missions but also not; sometimes, whole villages of Qadir were swept right off the coastline and into Altalar slaving ships. However, they were always careful to target just the minor city states and never hit the Sariyd Empire. This continued for years, though contact with the Altalar faded as their Empire began to decline, and the Sariyd Empire remained powerful on Farah’deen. When the Cataclysm hit, their land was minimally impacted though they lost contact with their Essalonian colonies and coastal travel became very difficult. From this came more insular trade across the deserts of the region, which brought the Qadir into more direct contact with their continent’s many dangers. The greatest of all these were the Desert Dragons.
Varying in size and power, these animals had always been a nuisance but sensing the opportunity of the Cataclysm which resulted in uncertainty for the Sariyd Empire and the Qadir people as a whole, these scaled creatures began to interact more directly with the dark-skinned Race. Eventually, the most aggressive members of the species forced the hand of the Empire and they inflicted the Red Hunt onto what were seen as dangerous creatures. Thus, many Qadir cheered as reports came of the last Dragons fleeing away from their few remaining stomping grounds. These celebrations, however, were the death knell of the old Qadir. Within weeks, the Great Storm was raging across their land and untold hundreds of thousands were killed or died in the aftermath. When the remaining Qadir emerged, they were met with the tips of spears in the hands of a new power: The Songaskians. They blazed a path of conquest across Farah’deen, taking many of the formerly populated areas under their rule and enslaving many Qadir to their will. However, they failed in capturing all of the formerly powerful Race, with enclaves fleeing out into the deserts and away from the failing, crumbled cities. This led to a dark time in Qadir history as they fled to the distant edges of the new Songaskian Masaya. Ultimately, all hope seemed lost at a rebirth for their people.
Then, there came a beacon of light. The Qadir City of Mooriye along with several of the southern pearl cities had survived the Great Storm and then beat back the Songaskian Masaya, helping to guard what was developing into the homeland of Qadir culture in nearby Al-Alus. From this great bastion of Qadir knowledge, individuals traveled out into the world and helped corral the people together into settlements known today as Hadrityas which were often built on top of ruined structures from the age of the Sariyd Empire. Qadir art, purpose, and religion were reborn in the following years much to the displeasure of the Songaskians. However, they were quick to learn the Qadir had value due to their unique skills in clockwork design and engineering. Massya Djibril Koné the First formally ended the Qadir persecution after a traveling caravan of the Race had come to Korbamakora and aided in constructing its water distribution system. On the other hand, the Qadir say he essentially enslaved this caravan but details are murky. Regardless, most Songaskians stopped seeking out the Qadir and thus the Race began their new lives, either on the road serving in trade and supply caravans for their home Hadritya or in these vast citadels, innovating and categologing new and ancient knowledge. This way of life has rarely been interrupted, even by the many wars fought on their continent as the Qadir have long been neutral. Now however, they favor the Regalian Empire, remaining friendly with the Ailor in many cases after their key role in helping the world defend from the Bone Horrors spawned by the Bone Horror Crisis. The Qadir have also spread out across the world, building Hadrityas as far west as Ithania in an attempt to ensure their legacy and Race is never extinguished by a freak event like what almost occurred in the Great Storm.
Society
Qadir society is fairly flat, but strongly dominated by their seemingly conflicting nomadic culture and sedentary intellectual centers, worship of all things technological and their hatred for the Songaskia. The Qadir are always very distrusting of outsiders, but extremely calculative and pragmatic as well. If assisting an outsider stands to benefit them, they would certainly extract as much favor from the situation as they could. Their mainline culture is split though into two groups, caused by the ideas of the Time of Tajul and the Time of Tasil. During the Time of Tajul, Qadir families and individuals are called to serve the Hadritya they live in as traders, travelers and suppliers out in the wider world. Each Hadritya has a different system for selection, sometimes by lot, sometimes by simple rotation while in a few rare cases, one group of families is always in the Time of Tajul. The Time of Tasil, on the other hand, is the sedentary, studying and working life at a Hadritya. Here, everyone works and spends time together performing regular tasks to upkeep their shared home as well as creating and learning everything they can involving mechanics, clockworks and machines. The two Times function on a cycle of three years each though it is likely a Qadir will have multiple Times of Tasil over maybe one or two Times of Tajul. All ultimately do return to the Hadritya, at least for a short time.
Politics
Mainline Qadir politics are shaped by Hadritya elders leading their societies. Clockwork experts in these councils of six or more are often held in high esteem among the Qadir, thus filling the role of leader, elder, and so forth; however, the technical law giving power to the Qadir are the so called Almuttaq. The Almuttaq are artefacts of great power and mystery, clockwork engines in the shape of metre long and meter wide cubes that can seemingly come to life and speak to those who operate them. Very few Almuttaq’s actually exist in the world, intensely guarded by the Hadritya’s inner sanctums. These devices seem aware of the world around them and grant cryptic advice to their operators: the clockwork masters and engineers. For outsiders, the Almuttaq seem heretical and obsolete. The reality however is that whenever a clockwork elder dies, their soul is transported from their dying body to an Almuttaq, adding to the internal collective that is somehow sustained inside the device. As such, every Almuttaq could be considered an elder council in of itself, which speaks with one voice to guide their people from centuries past. Whatever the exact nature of the devices, they were revered to godhood by the Qadir and their word is often law. As for the Khaneh and Ardualnaar Qadir, they have their own unique forms of leadership.
Culture
The Qadir, while a practical people, are hardly a society of base and simplistic existence. The Qadir value, seemingly above all else, innovation and invention, shun the simpler skin of outside knowledge while delving into the intricate mysteries of their world. It is this sort of innate drive of the Qadir that built their given identity, a kind of self-perception of greater purpose to learn and indulge in knowledge to be found. No mystery or hidden knowledge is too daunting for them, no tome too old to translate or machine too difficult to construct. Qadir have given Aloria some of the most fascinating technological and innovative advances largely unseen or unthought of before. Likewise, their ways of art, fashion, food, and language tend to model this seemingly desperate climb for greater achievement. In the likeliness of artistic gifts, the Qadir tend to value productivity, efficiency, and innovative use; Qadir art tends to not be art because it is beautiful, but because it is so intricately made, modeled, and researched that it creates its own beauty. Qadir carvings often resemble complex patterns of cog works, symmetrical and geometric shapes, granting a much more machine-like appearance to their art as opposed to for example the flowing organic styles of the Altalar, or the crude squares of the Dwarves. Qadir fashion is also not a movement of adornment and useless decoration, but of glamorous function and perhaps sometimes outrageous invention. Bracelets always have some sort of tool function hidden in them, earrings can be keys, and even the lining of a shirt can be used as a makeshift copper coil wire. As for the cloth parts of their outfits, it varies but can generally be summed up as desert-colored and made to breathe, with turbans, head coverings, and sandals being the most obvious features of their style. Food for the Qadir is perhaps more base in this, as it is usually basic grains grown in small, clockwork supported gardens with the rarity of spices and exotic items like fruit coming out only for special occasions. Qadir language, however, is eloquent and perhaps even elegant, each word or phrase calculated for intellectual or perhaps more meaningful prose and elaboration.
Religion
The Qadir uniformly believe in the divinity of the Esrah Alwattah, the belief the world’s gods are long dead and mankind should construct its own divine being to protect it. The Qadir once had a complex polytheistic religion in the times of the Sariyd Empire, counting over 2,400 gods and goddesses, however with the collapse of their Empire, the Qadir blamed the gods, or more specifically claimed the gods had died and failed. With that thought in mind, notable Qadir prophesied that, with their technical skills, they would construct a new god, the Esrah Alwattah. Some claim they already have and the machine-deity is hidden in the temple complex of the City of Mooriye. But if this is true, the suspicious locals have yet to even tell their own brethren of their success. Regardless, the faithful built the Almuttaqs over a hundred years ago (based on even older religious technology). These devices were originally early prototypes for the development of their machine god which ultimately never developed further and now continue to guide the Qadir. All innovations and inventions made by the Qadir can through one way or another be related back to the Esrah Alwattah and their wish to give life to a massive clockwork giant, powered by the soul energies of thousands of their best and brightest. The Qadir have always had a long aversion to Magic, believing it was something belonging to the gods in the ancient times and mankind should not have the hubris to meddle with the powers of the gods. With the fall of the Sariyd Empire, it was deemed only Magic involved in Soul Essence was acceptable for the Qadir. It allowed the Qadir to take control over their own souls, and use it to fuel the creation of the Esrah Alwattah and the continued functioning of the Almuttaqs. Most Qadir families or individuals have some form of small clockwork shrine, often disguised as a clock, on which they have incense and bring small coin offerings. Despite all of this, the religion of the Qadir is largely very disorganized and personal. There are no temples or priests, nor any sort of communal worship in a large part of their society, most Qadir engaging in private faith and devoting themselves to technological progress for the benefit of the Esrah Alwattah.
Combat and Warfare
The Qadir don’t often engage in war as they have long held ideals that promote diplomacy and compromise. The Sariyd Empire was not a military Empire but an economic and diplomatically linked political entity. Despite this, Qadir Hadrityas are perhaps the most well guarded fortresses on Farah’deen, with multiple clockwork and Soul Essence weapons on the walls and within the halls. Most local Songaskian rulers tend to ignore these fortresses as conquering a Hadritya has no real advantage, as most of the technology within does not work in the hands of those without the skill to operate them, and Qadir have been known to use explosives to destroy anything of value if their home was at risk. As for personal weapons, most Qadir make use of devices they themselves developed, like switchblades and gear powered crossbows with fold-able parts. Qadir weapons have never been particularly strong or made for war, rather they were made to be compact and easily transportable. Reassembly is one of the strong suits of the Qadir soldiers, especially when it is considered that their weapons cannot effectively be captured by others as they would not possess the knowledge to assemble the weapons into functional condition. The Qadir often favor a very defensive stance, using ranged weapons over close combat. When in close combat however, Qadir fight with ferocity, usually by a driven to protect those they keep close to them and to maintain their soul does not leave their bodies before it is proper.
Economy and Technology
Qadir trade is surprisingly dependent on major foreign nations, especially Regalia. The Qadir have a bit of a unique relation with the Regalians in that they provide Regalia with engineers and mechanics as well as basic prototypes and inventions for war, while Regalia provides them with expensive or rare materials to craft intricate or experimental parts the Qadir need for their machines. It could be said that the Qadir are even fully dependent on Regalia to continue their technological pursuit, though they would often deny this. Inversely, it could be said that Regalia is assisting the cause of heresy by working with the Qadir to build their Esrah Alwattah, however the Regalians are reportedly extremely interested in the war-time applications of clockwork machines powered by the souls of fallen soldiers. As such, the Qadir economy can largely be described as an uneasy cooperation between the Qadir and the Regalians. There is another angle to their economy though, and it is their dependance on the Songaskians. As much as many Qadir would loathe to admit this truth as well, the Songaskia help the Qadir to survive, their large cities providing materials for those Hadrityas too far from the pearl cities and other settlements of the coastline. Those in the Time of Tajul often travel to these settlements in order to conduct their trade, giving their technology away for raw materials and small comforts. What little is left of the independent Qadir economy is mostly being geared towards agriculture and husbandry in order to support their often isolated Hadrityas.
Trivia
- An Almuttaq once went “insane”. When activated, the cogs started whirring and the entire machine started emitting high pitched shrieking noises until it finally ruptured an important hydraulic valve and the entire thing shut down. Later it was discovered Void Essence had somehow seeped into the machine and infested the Soul Essence within.
- Qadir society makes use of the Bakhshuna Jamal for their Times of Tajul, traveling across the desert on the odd creatures. Songaskians rarely use them because they consider them too ugly and ill-mannered.
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