Izerah

(Header image by Lesseras)

What is an Izerah?

The Izerah are wingless dragon-raptors. They are obligate bipeds who cannot drop to all fours; they have well-developed hands. All Izerah have earfins and horns. Izerah earfins are highly conserved, varying only in color from one individual to another, but Izerah horns vary widely in shape and count, sometimes even growing in elaborate shapes. The two-horned izerah is stereotypical, but four- and six-horned izerah have been observed. Counting minor horns (such as breakthrough points along the snout), even higher horn counts have been known to occur.

What is the magical gift of the Izerah?

The Izerah resist fatigue exceptionally well, and among their fatigue resistances their ability to run is the greatest of all. It is sometimes said that Izerah can sleep on the run, which is an inaccurate belief; Izerah who attempt to truly do that can however skip an occasional night of sleep that way. Izerah who try to skip more than one night of sleep at a time risk "running the dreamlands" and discovering that a lack of sleep causes them to hallucinate.

The magical gift of the Izerah is usually summarized as "endless running", and marathon endurance is normal among their society. This makes them capable of great feats of hard work as well, though their endurance is merely excellent for tasks other than running.

Where do Izerah prefer to establish their settlements?

Majority-Izerah settlements are quite rare, but many settlements in open terrain were originally founded by Izerah. Izerah build in a spread-out pattern that invites outsiders to claim the empty lots that Izerah typically leave between their homes and businesses, and so a number of plains cities were originally founded by Izerah who welcomed outsiders that built in-between Izerah structures until the Izerah themselves became a minority. Izerah majorities develop only in communities which set land-use restrictions early, most commonly by staking formal land claims that extend property rights across unusually large plots of land.

Adoring their gift of running, they are rather suburban in their settlement patterns whether they are majority or minority in their communities. It is not abnormal for a prosperous city to have a fringe of Izerah houses lived in by Izerah who 'commute to work' so to speak.

Beyond plains settlements, Izerah are an exceptionally common minority. They have a cosmopolitan bent and a wide-ranging curiosity that causes them to show up everywhere in small numbers, even if exotic adaptations are necessary.