SHRuss

The SHRuss are incredibly similar in their appearance to hyenas. They have beige or bronze coloured fur with darker spots or stripes. These patches of fur usually cluster on the back, the upper chest, the arms and around the face. They have much shorter tails compared to the other races and have much scruffier fur. Regardless of their sex however, they tend to be more broad-shouldered than other races.

They are ever so slightly taller than the Feng-hait, but on average are just a few millimetres more than three times the size of an Ahmegg. They are often muscular in their build with broad shoulders and have a more macho attitude, which derives from a higher amount of testosterone in both genders.

Do I really need to elaborate on this?

They tend to reach maturity at 14 years, a little later than most other races, but they do live longer than them as well.

Their towns and settlements are usually placed in areas were there is little cover. They live in basins were rivers frequently flood and so they build their houses on stilts at least two feet high.  More built up towns and cities are often found further up in the mountains where they prefer to hunt rather than farm.

The SHRuss are entirely carnivorous.

They don't have the same ability to grow a winter coat, so they create pelt clothing to combat the cold.

In the more isolationist settlements, the social structure is more matriarchal than most of the other races. They have a queen and subsequent duchesses whose roles are passed down to the next generation, the eldest daughter usually. The females are responsible for hunting and preparing the food and they are very touchy about who gets the first meal. The males get little choice who they get romantically involved or mate with, if they mate at all. Most males will usually end up forming more meaningful relationships with each other.

Long muzzle and small ears, spots on the back of the head and around the edge of the face.

South Hoolye and far eastern Yeg.

The same as a medieval society, with most academic knowledge poured into astronomy and enchantment magic.

Being higher on the food chain, they don't rely as much on their senses, but similar to dogs they have a very good sense of smell.

Most SHRuss names involve the letter Z. It is a common sound in their language and they often utilise it in names and nouns. Examples include; Jez, Motoz, Angza and Kalenzi.

Ezhroizaan Dynasty (usurped)- 623 Pre Absence-452 The Tjaznaean Dynasty (overthrown)- 452-903 Thrazash Dynasty - 903- (unwritten)

Usually they are very muscular and broad in their builds, most SHRuss have a sexual attraction to those with well formed muscles.

In SHRuss society (which is very similar to how hyenas act in real life) the females have the final say in most matters. They are in charge of hunting and defending the homestead. The males work more as builders and farmers, depending on how strong and sturdy they are. The smaller-built females are in charge of looking after the young as they still don't trust the males enough to look after them. Because of this obvious hierarchy, some males are very spiteful towards the females, going to such lengths as killing young. There was one town several decades ago where the all the males refused to produce any young, unfortunately this act of rebellion was thwarted by Tjaznae the 21st.

Females are definitely the dominant force in the romantic world. However they are expected to approach the male they wish to be romantically involved with. Most relationships are short, only existing to produce more young, however some do last forever. Some females have completely changed their personalities when in a long lasting relationship and claim to actually love their partner. In homosexual relationships between males, they often proclaim their desires and be together in private as the common MACHO mindset makes the SHRuss quite homophobic. SHRuss who moved into Ahmegg dominated lands such the two city clusters of Loftwater and The North Ring behave far differently, adopting the values of the populace. Females still have the upper edge in terms of strength and size but they tend to be more caring than their southern cousins.

The SHRuss have two common dialects in their language, SHRusmar. There is Base SHRusmar that is spoken in the more southern areas, and Migrant's SHRusmar that is closer to the many Ahmegg accents where words and sounds have transferred over.

The SHRuss tend to wear leather clothing from the animals they hunt. They often decorate themselves with teeth, claws and polished stones.

Feasts are a common occurrence within the SHRuss populace. They reserve a large amount of meat from their larger catches to hold a night of music, dance and recreational fighting. This has only been a recent addition as during the Tjaznaean rule, food was far more scarce.

The SHRuss have a track record of being the most boistrous and energetic of the intelligent species on Haert. This unfortunately translates in negative ways to species like the Ahmegg or the Skoshi who have much more mellow temperaments. Their size and overall impressive nature, as well as their wholly carnivorous diet, can scare Ahmegg away and has lead to many keeping far away from them. As fear and misunderstanding tends to do, stories and rumours would arise about the SHRuss that painted them in a very negative light. Those that lived near SHRuss towns were on far better terms however, and coexisted for centuries as allies against invaders. But soon an authority arose within the city of Kikiwez known as the Tjaznaean Dynasty, began by Tjaznae the first. They were a usurping family that took the throne from the Ezhroizaan Dynasty in Calandar 452. They pushed every ally they had away including the Ahmegg, the Naag and the Feng-hait, and built a border that forbade anyone from getting in. The hostility that the Tjaznaean family showed towards the other civilisations strengthened the divisions between them and the groups of Ahmegg that already distrusted them. These rumours they had created grew and soon there were whole towns in Yeg and Hoolye that believed they hunted Ahmegg for food. And while the few SHRuss that managed to escape tried their hardest to quell these unwarranted fears, Tjaznae the 1st saw this as an opportunity, strengthening these rumours so the Ahmegg would retreat further, allowing them to grow their borders. But Tjaznae was also brutally cruel to her own people, using gladiatorial combat as a way to punish criminals. Any servants that made even the simplest mistake were beaten until unconscious. Those that were caught trying to escape were tortured before being sent to the gladiatorial arena for her own entertainment, her nickname for these arenas being The Blood Pits.   (This lead to a large influx of SHRuss escaping into west and north Hoolye and some heading south, finding themselves in the lower forests of Yeg, many finding homes in the Midland Ridge, the Hills of Hallow and Loftwater. North and west Hoolye has the highest population of SHRuss besides the SHRuss peaks and over the centuries, bonds that were broken by rumour and falsehood have been mended. And now some SHRuss families had become native speakers of the northern Ahnw dialects. Some areas such as north and west Yeg still were unwittingly ignorant to these events and unfortunately still had these stories floating around.)   Even within Tjaznae's family laid a deep hostility as each one clambered to find a tiny bit more power than before. Tjaznae therefore did not give up her throne until the day she died and her eldest daughter, Tjaznae the 2nd fought her way through to claim the crown as Empress. This line of brutal successors continued until the Calandar 903 when Fable Mollie Kingsjade defeated Tjaznae the 22nd in gladiatorial battle, but refusing to kill her. Tjaznae, so enraged at this defeat, tried to kill Mollie after the fight had been called, therefore besmirching what was left of her family's honour. The family was so riddled with shame that they failed to notice the rest of Mollie's group snatching the crown and giving it to a lower Dame called Thraz who's family had secretly helped smuggle many SHRuss out of Tjaznae's borders, as well as helping many escape the Blood Pits. This put the SHRuss peaks under the control of what was later named the Thrazash Dynasty. In recent Calendars, Thraz and her Brother Jez have been trying to fix what the Tjaznaean family was doing for centuries. It was only then when SHRuss started freely migrating from the Peaks and into the rest of Haert. And news spread of the fall of the Tjaznaean Dynasty. People as far as the Freth Forest and the Skoshi Cluster began learning the viciousness of Tjaznae had ended, and that the SHRuss wanted to mend the broken alliances her ancestors had shattered.