Ankasu
High above the clouds, among the towering peaks and cliffsides of the Retsovora mountain range, lives a small but flourishing population of learned scholars and wise sages. These are the avian Ankasu, destined to live eternal cycles of death and rebirth from their perch above the world.
Isolated Mountaintops
The Ankasu make their homes among the steep, rocky peaks of the Retsovora mountains, largely isolated from the rest of society. The steep slopes and ragged cliffs of their home are difficult for any but the most skilled of climbers to scale. In addition, the entire range is prone to sudden and powerful snowstorms and the lower elevations are teeming with ice trolls. This adds to their isolation, but that is how the Ankasu prefer it. They would rather live separated from the world and choose when to condescend to visit the rest of society than to have others encroach on their lands and enclaves.Eternal Sages
As beings that are instantly reborn into hatching versions of themselves each time they die of old age, the Ankasu have found the opportunity to spend centuries in quiet meditation and study. They are masters of philosophy, science, discipline, magic, and more. Many Ankasu have personally witnessed the entire course of Iskatel's history, though generally from a reserved distance that allows for painting that history only in broad strokes. While the Ankasu prefer to remain on their mountaintops, each will take a year or two of every lifetime to travel into the world and make observations about the goings on of other races and cultures. They will then take what learning they have collected and return home to transcribe it into the collection of one of their great libraries hidden above the clouds.Sworn Enemies
While the ice trolls of the lower elevations may inadvertently insulate the Ankasu from incursion by other races, they are also a mortal enemy of the Ankasu. The ice trolls, calling themselves the Usagi Dag, hunt Ankasu for their magical feathers (a key ingredient in many fire & air based magical items) and the Ankasu often swoop down on ice troll goat herds and take an animal or two into their talons for a meal. The ice trolls have a rite-of-passage that requires any child crossing into adulthood to climb high among the mountains and return with an Ankasu feather. While most of these feathers are found among the rocks, having molted naturally, sometimes a young troll will take it upon themselves to attack an Ankasu for the prize. Whether it is the troll or the Ankasu that wins, the result is almost always an increased animosity between the two species.Physical Appearance
An Ankasu stands roughly five feet tall and weighs anywhere between 80 and 100 pounds. They are bipedal, with clawed hands and bird-like legs and feet that easily latch onto cliffsides or large branches. Their bodies are covered in feathers, with their heads taking on an appearance similar to that of an eagle, hawk, or falcon.Relations
The Ankasu do not maintain strong relations with any of the other civilized races of Iskatel. Other than their mortal hatred of ice trolls, they hold nothing but academic curiosity toward other sentient beings. Occasionally, an Ankasu will travel to the Whispering Woods near Fortunebound in order to converse with the Wood Elves. The long lifespans of elves provide the Ankasu an opportunity to discuss events of the distant past to develop a more complete understanding of Iskatel’s history. Further, a rare few of the Utforsk and Negovki human cultures have succeeded in climbing to an Ankasu enclave in order to receive wisdom. As such, these cultures may look upon the Ankasu as respected repositories of wisdom.Religion
In the Ankasu pantheon, there are four gods. Two, a husband and wife with avian features, represent the sky and the sun, and are gods of all things right and good and happy in the world. The other two, a mated pair with troll-like features, are the gods of earth and ice and symbolize all that is evil and wrong in the world. These two gods also happen to be the gods worshipped by the ice trolls (though, of course, the ice trolls view all four gods in the opposite light). The Ankasu refer to their gods as the Father and the Mother, while they refer to the gods of the ice trolls as the Brute and the Hag.Adventurers
Ankasu adventurers are rare, though every Ankasu is likely to spend at least a short time out in the world gathering knowledge to bring back to their libraries. The reasons for their scarcity among adventuring circles is primarily based on their relatively low population, that they often return home after only one or two years of traveling, and that if an Ankasu dies of unnatural causes it will cease to be reborn. This last trait tends to be what encourages Ankasu to be quiet observers rather than direct participants in dangerous activities.
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