Kalus are the very distant cousins of the myst. The average male kalus height is 5ft 7in, while the average female kalus height is 4ft 8in. These heights vary in either direction by several inches.
It is said, thousands of years ago, the scergs found the myst city. They sought what they had always sought, destruction and power over the ancient race. The myst were too clever however, and most escaped. The scerg were able to take nearly a hundred of the myst as slaves, the weaker willed that could not escape. The scerg brought these back to their city, making slaves from them. However, when they tried to return to the myst city, they could not find it again.
The scergs used their new myst slaves in many ways, however, when a child was born from a pairing between a scerg and a myst, the babe was more powerful than both. Seeking new allies, and new powers, the scerg attempted to bring the myst and their own race together, but the four hundred children born of these unions had a new mind set, and did not want to be used as the pawns. Escaping from the scerg clutches, this new race was born, rearing its head.
Over the thousands of years, the four hundred children became their own race, building up from the rock bottom they had been born in. The race of the kalus was born, combined from the myst and the scerg, though not many know of this to this day. If one were to pair a current day myst and scerg together, they would not have a kalus, for the kalus are built from thousands of years of their own culture. They are a race to their own.
To this day, many do not believe this tale of how the kalus came to be, for it would be proof of myst existence. They would rather believe the kalus were born like any other race, from the hands of their god. Though kalus are rare, they still function in society, around others, and are seen, unlike the myst.
Kalus themselves, look much like the myst. They are lithe, with long elvish like ears, and curving, tapered horns that normally begin just behind and above their ears. Kalus are a tundra thriving race. They can be found deep in the uninhabitable snowy wastelands. Though, they can also be found in the forests. It is highly unlikely that kalus will be found in any climate over 80 degrees. This affects the kalus skin tone and other features. There are two common types to the kalus.
Kalus that dwell outside of the tundra have black horns, while those that dwell within the tundra have white horns that fade into black tips. The most common flesh colour to those that dwell outside of the tundra is that of a dark tanned tone, that fades into a darker tone on their hands, feet, and the tips of their ears and tails. Kalus have been known to have a skin tone that can be compared to black, that fades into lighter colours on their hands, feet, and the tips of their ears and tails. The most common flesh colour to the kalus that dwell within the tundra is that of a vanilla or white skin tone, that fades into a light tan or black on their hands, feet, and tips of their ears and tails.
It is unknown how the kalus developed tails, only that they have them. The tail is not too long, normally about five and a half feet, and is the same tone as their skin. The tail, however, can branch near the end, giving them a sort of snake tongue style tail. The most common hair colour of the kalus is a deep, very dark, almost black, violet. The least common kalus hair colours are black or white. The kalus hair colours never appear to be what one could call a normal hair colour, such as brown, or blonde. Their hair always seems to hold an exotic colour, such as blue, violet, even green.
The kalus have short claws upon their fingers and toes. Kalus nails are one of the hardest substances in the world. Because of this, they cannot trim nor file their nails, and they stay at an almost perfectly sharp state. Their nails are normally the same colour as their hands. Kalus also possess small fangs, much like that of the dune raptors and the klavden.
The kalus society is a harsh one. They have no law enforcement among them, nor do they really have any laws. There is no leader, no one that is above anyone else. There are only those that have more, and those that will take to put each other on equal ground.
Within a family will be two female kalus, and one male kalus. Children will only live with the parents for five years. When the five years are complete, the child is taken away from wherever the kalus family has made its home, and left. Kalus children have been known to have been left in streets of cities, deep in the forests, or even upon the tundra plains.
Kalus are very harsh to their children as well. Though they do not dispose of any child if it is born with a defect, their children are weaned from the care of the parents at almost five years of age, just when they are old enough to understand and run from dangers. To the kalus, that is all that is needed, understanding, and self-preservation. If a child is born with a defect, it will be raised like any other, and left to fend for itself at five years of age, if it can or not.
Kalus are not normally found in society, where one can see them anyway. They keep themselves hidden, but understand they need to be part of life. The kalus can be more often found on outskirts of cities, or in small towns where people are fewer, and things can be more simply dealt with. These are the peaceful ish kalus anyway.
Most still operate on a black market level, keeping themselves backstage as they live their lives. They will attack the richer, and the leaders in any community, seeking to make everything and put everyone on even ground.
Leather Hides
This term came about from the common skin colour of the kalus, a tanned leather tone. It also refers to their personalities, and uncaring, bitter dispositions.
The kalus believe a male was created for the female, and the female was created to accept only the male. This balance should not be tampered with. Homosexuality is looked down upon harshly in their society.
Kalus have a very harsh personality. They do not enjoy any creature that follows any sort of extreme. Kalus hate the scergs for their visions dead set on destruction and death. They hate the desislav for their goody goody attitude. Kalus never seem to get along with anyone, for they can always find faults in others, and do not care about pointing them out. Most kalus have a very bitter attitude toward life, and all those that partake in it. Because of this, the kalus are hated by many.
Mostly, the kalus have become rogues to society. They are not found in other cities very often, and to many of the world, they are the scorn of the earth. Kalus are often known to take odd jobs, such as ship crewmen, and those that would operate in the back stage of life.
They will start brawls at the drop of a hat, wanting to force others to know their place in life if it must be beat into them or not. Kalus have a very bitter outlook, and all seem to know their lot and place in life. They despise those that think they are better than anyone else.
It is said the kalus have no conscience, and will kill or steal from anyone without the slightest remorse. Kalus are not evil, but bitter and hateful. They can justify their actions with simple excuses. The death of a man can be justified by his stepping on an insect, or glaring at a stranger.
Because of their attitude, and often, their actions, the kalus are branded by many to be as evil as the scergs. The kalus have gladly bowed to this title, though they only sneer and hiss at being compared to the evil Black Hearts.
Clothing depends heavily upon the individual kalus. However, as a race as a whole, the kalus have a very odd since about clothing. They don't really like it. Male kalus will mostly go without wearing a shirt, and a pair of tight pants that allows for their tail to have freedom. The same for the female kalus, though, they will wear a shirt that covers only their breasts. Because of this, the kalus are normally looked down upon as barbarians, and uncivilized creatures, barely a step up from the beasts themselves.
Kalus do not normally prefer jewelry either, or any other decoration for their bodies. They are very simple when it comes to such things. This leads much into their ability.
Kalus do not wear shoes. Despite the fact that they walk flatfooted like humans, they do not like to wear shoes. This is for several reasons. The first would be their hate of restriction. They want to feel the ground beneath their feet. The second would be the increased concentration it would take to teleport while wearing shoes as well. And the third would be their claws. They use their claws to walk upon ice surfaces without slipping. Shoes would hinder their ability to use the short claws on their toes.
The kalus believe in one god, a god known as Sergja. Sergja is a little known god, who could best be described as the god of lightning. He was an ancient god, from far into the beginnings. He was said to have looked upon the kalus when they first entered the world, and taken pity upon them. He is the one who is given credit for giving the kalus their ability to teleport.
Priests of Sergja gain a few exceptional powers. All of the powers affect the ability of teleportation. Kalus priests can place a ?ause on their teleportation. When they decide to teleport, and the black, flame like smoke appears around them and their destination, they can ?ause as they teleport. The kalus will seem to disappear, drifting in the void between their destinations.
Coupling with the Pause ability within their teleportation, they can change their minds. When the kalus begins to teleport, and the black, flame like smoke appears around their destination, the kalus can change their minds, teleporting to a different spot than they originally decided.
The final, and most powerful, ability of the kalus priest is that of an ?llusion of movement. This is a masterful, lightning quick teleportation. The kalus will teleport in various numbers around his opponent. Each time in the same exact location. The teleportations happen so rapidly, that it appears as if there are more than one kalus, circled by black flame smoke, attacking or scaring the enemy. The amount of times the kalus can teleporting ?llusions the kalus can form, depends upon his skill. A kalus of low skill can only form two or three teleportation illusions. A kalus of higher skill can form up to 20 kalus illusions.
Despite the legend of their birth, the kalus do not have anything near what the scerg and myst have as their abilities. Kalus have a few, but powerful abilities. The most notable is their ability to teleport. This relies upon the senses. The kalus must see, or hear where he is teleporting. These two senses rely heavily upon each other in the kalus ability to teleport. If the kalus cannot see where he is teleporting to, but he can hear, he is able to, but with less accuracy. This is demonstrated in such instances where the kalus is outside a building, and wants to get in. If he can hear inside the building, perhaps a party, or dinner time, he can teleport himself into their midst by judging where the objects of the room, and the people are, much like a bat's sonic hearing. If a kalus can see where he is teleporting to, this works just as well as hearing. But like just hearing where he is teleporting to, there may be error in his ability. Sight does not provide a perfect 3D image in their minds of where they are teleporting to, as there are many different angles, and unless he takes the time to stand three inches from where he is teleporting to, and checking every available point of view of the spot, there will be error in his teleporting.
The skill works best when they are using both sight and sound together. Their teleportation works best upon places that are visible and very noisy. A busy street or battlefield would be a good example because both sight and sound can work together to perfect the abilities inaccuracies.
The teleportation skill has a second quirk to it besides just sight and sound. When a kalus teleports, he creates a black, flame like smoke. The smoke is not thick, and does not hide the kalus at all when it appears, but rather, just lightly encircles him. The skill itself is instantaneous, but there are several steps to it. The kalus will first decide to teleport, and his body will become surrounded by the black, flame like smoke. His destination will be determined, and the smoke will form where he is about to teleport. The kalus will then disappear from his current spot, and be formed in a sort of void between the two spots as he travels. The final step is appearing at the destination, within the black flame smoke that had appeared when he decided to teleport. Both smokes will then disappear.
This skill is instantaneous, but one who knows how the kalus fight, using this skill, will be ready, looking out for when the black smoke appears at the destination before the kalus has moved. If a sword or other solid object is thrust into the black destination smoke before the kalus appears, the kalus will form around the object, thus killing them as if they had been stabbed.
This forms another quirk of the skill. As stated before, the kalus teleportation skill has a certain error to it, as they cannot know EXACTLY where they are to teleport to upon just sight, or sound, or both. If the error should place them within a solid wall, tree, or any other solid object, their bodies will form around the object, as their bodies cannot displace the matter. This can be quite gruesome for a kalus that has to form around a wall, lining it with gore. The effect is an instantaneous, or painful death.
The final quirk of their ability lies in the power and age of the kalus itself. What the kalus wears and carries needs to be teleported as well. This takes a certain amount of concentration for the kalus to be able to manage. A kalus of young, or very weak status normally ends up on the other end of the teleportation, nude and without any of their items. These are left where they had teleported. As a kalus ages, they learn more to control the ability in this way.
Another kalus ability isn? so much of an ability as a strength. They have complete immunity to the cold. Oddly, they are never chilled, it never affects them. They can see perfectly in blizzard conditions, which makes them perfect hunters in the tundra conditions.
The kalus can also ?ly in a sense. The kalus can look up to the sky, and teleport himself high into the air. From there, they have the ability to teleport toward their destination. This isn? an exact way to teleport, as it is difficult to select a destination when the distance of vision is so far. Though, this is an easy way for quickly traveling far distances.
The kalus fighting style bases heavily upon their ability to teleport. They use it to attack their opponents from all directions. A skilled kalus will teleport around the opponent, striking from all directions, and teleporting above his opponent, falling atop him to attack from above. This also creates a strong way to scout about around them, or to escape. The kalus can look upward into the sky, and teleport. Though they fall, they can teleport before they hit the ground, or fall upon their enemies.
The kalus are very cleaver, not matter what their disposition. They are one of, if not the most, cleaver race of the Aztersil world. They are very quick, and their ability to teleport makes them a very deadly opponent. They adore the cold, and seem to possess great immunity to the cold. The kalus can move about the cold, naked, and not be bothered in the least by it. Their claws allow them to move easily over ice, as if the claws upon their toes were made, curving, to allow them to move easily upon it.
The kalus don? like heat. They hate the deserts, and fire spells can deal powerful damage to them. Swimming is difficult for them, though they can, they do not enjoy water, like a cat.
Zeergad
The capital city of the kalus. The city has been built of ice. No fire exists here, so many do not find it very welcoming. The ground has been packed to form roads of slick ice that could be very dangerous to any but the kalus, who use their claws to walk. Each building has been packed from snow into ice, or has been chiseled from ice. The city doesn? seem to be thriving with life, and the inhabitance are not very fond of visitors.
There are three known mutations of the kalus race. The first affects the horns, the second affects the tail, the third affects the claws.
The mutation that affects the horns is very simple. It may be nothing more than a single genetic fluke in the DNA from the thousands of years ago, given to them by the scergs. The mutation of the horns is simple, they grow more than the common one pair, or the horns will become overly large, never stopping growth in their life.
The second mutation of the kalus is that of the tail. The tail is normally, naturally split upon the tip like the tongue of a snake. However, the kalus mutation of the tail will split the tail far too early up the tail. Oddly enough, the tail can have three or four splits, making it appear almost like the tail of the korlx.
The final mutation affects the claws. Kalus claws are one of the hardest materials in the world. They can cut through anything. However, kalus claws stop growing after they reach a certain length, remaining quite short. The mutation to the claws affects their growth. They will never stop growing, becoming a great burden to the kalus that possesses this mutation as the claws cannot, very easily, be trimmed.
Kalus live what may be considered ?hort lives to many of the other races. The average age of a kalus that lives out its full life is about 230 years.
The kalus language sounds much like our own German language. It is very rough, and growling with many complicated sounds and words. The kalus language is known as Ryot.
