Qilin

The Qilin were a race of mortals native to Khyorgan, specifically originating from the island of Gomchar. Though they long predated the arrival of Man to Khyorgan, they had become an obscure race by the time of the Khyorganese Renaissance.

Physiology

The Qilin were a relatively tall and thin race, standing at around 5'5" to 6'0" (165 to 182 cm). They were bipedal, with two arms, and covered in feathers aside from their forearms and lower legs, which were bare and scaly. The Qilin had falcon-like heads with a sharp, hooked beak and a tomial tooth, and two large eyes that gave them superb vision.

The Qilin possessed large talons on their feet, which they could use for hunting smaller animals before they developed more advanced implements. They had strong muscles for stomping these talons down on prey, which also gave them great agility in running and jumping.

History

The Qilin were native to Gomchar, but would take war to the rest of Khyorgan. Often thought of by post-Theyrian historians as "flesh eating barbarians", the Qilin would happily feast on their fallen enemies. The Qilin would travel into the southern continents, Lexighor, Andavronia, and Obreidhion, to raid early settlers and natives alike. The Qilin, along with the colossal Golems and frightening Abominations, helped give Khyorgan a reputation as a vicious and untamed continent inhabited by monsters and violent warmongers.

It came to pass, however, that the Kingdom of Taurya, under the leadership of King Theyri IV, carried out a crusade against the abominations, and then purged many non-human races from Taurya, leading to his loss of the throne. King Theyri remained alive, however, and yet enjoyed wide popularity among large swaths of populations he had freed from the Abominations' reign of terror; King Theyri rallied armies and brought war to the Qilin, seeing them as yet another threat to be purged, eventually wiping most of them out and establishing his kingdom in their homeland.

After Gomchar was taken over by humans, the remaining Qilin had few places to seek refuge. Many of those who survived took great effort to preserve the complex traditions and history of their culture after the only Qilin nation had fallen, and thus, they were, by the time of the Khyorganese Renaissance, thought of by Khyorgan's denizens moreso as scholars and historians than barbarians and warriors.

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