Baatari (baa-tar-ee)

Bipedal humanoids with voluminously furred bodies, cloven hoof feet, and tiny vestigial horns on their foreheads.   They are moderately sexually dimorphic, with the males being physically lean and the females sturdy. Females also have wider hips and enlarged breasts. Notably, the males tend to possess bodily fur growing mostly on the arms, legs, and upper chest. Females, while similar, have smaller but thicker growing patterns, as their fur conveniently avoids cluttering up their breasts and thighs. They possess a short but wide tail jutting out of their tailbone, right above the buttocks. Their fur is fluffier for the females, and males tend to be sleek or 'short furred'.   Their color range is mostly mountainous, earthen colors, chiefly in the brown and gray ranges. Their eyes tend to be in the greens and blues, but gold isn't unheard of, either. Their sclera is always black, and their pupils can be sharply horizontal.

They do not inherit any of the attributes of the primary baarham species.   High Quality Fur – Their woolly fur is exceptionally insulating, soft, and overall superior for clothcraft than most naturally grown alternatives.   Mana Reinforcement – Unlike baarham spellcasting, the baatari instinctually reinforce their bodies with mana. While this severs them from magecraft as a whole, it enables them feats of physical prowess many do not expect their kind to have.

Hybrids readily inherit their father's coloration, and their wool-like fur can change in texture and thickness.

Interpersonal compatibility is the most ideal thing baatari look for overall. This check ranges from themselves to their family and friends, as they're particular about fitting their spouse(s) into their lives. If they find someone who is a good or workable fit, then they start considering the merits of the person/people.   While not strictly monogamous, the escalating complexity of multiple partners in their social network makes it an uncommon feature. This is most often found in worker related areas, such as clothweavers, miners, and other similar avenues. Given that good cooperation is necessary for much of these jobs to work, the baatari often pursue jobs for personal wealth as they do as a kind of dating service. This is such an issue that a number of guilds and companies specifically ban them from dating (or ban the baatari outright) to prevent workforce disruption.

Baatari love to live, and they live busily, especially having lost the bloodlines that produce venerably long lives. Whether working or socializing, they try to stay engaged and active. While not to the extent of the rachtoh, their communal connectivity makes blurs family life and others together. Much of this somewhat stems from their biology, as baatari wool dirties easily and is very high maintenance. Grooming, thusly, takes up a great portion of their time, and so they try to pack in socialization and work where possible.   Having shaken off the thirst for power that defined the baarham, the gentle baatari are not to be considered docile or easy. Through particular refinement and some rudimentary editing of their own bloodlines, they've internalized their magics, and adopted highly introverted teachings for self-improvement. The net result is a more intellectually inclined people who had some of the best physical-reinforcement magic the world has ever seen. While they may not suit for full-scale war, they're more than capable of even handling a few rogue dragons in their territory.   With a natural curiosity of the world's workings, and that of other cultures, the baatari like to range free and far. As many consider them directly alongside (if not properly apart of) the baarham, much of the stigma attached to their progenitors falls onto them.   Baatari of all kind love games, be it simple cards, or more complicated ones involving miniature figurines or proxies. Whether for fun, for glory, or for money, they play, gamble, bet, and enjoy themselves thoroughly. To the baatari, specializing in playing a game for a career is unironically a viable choice, and these players enjoy strong patronage if they perform well.

In the twilight years of the baarham before their exile, a growing cultural schism formed between the power hungry and those who rejected it. This schism came to a head between King Ghown and his most beloved consort, Blerthorn. Unable to resolve their differences, Blerthorn made a fanciful show of departing from Ghown's court, and many of the dissident baarham followed him. Were it any other, they might've been killed or enslaved on the spot, but Ghown forgave their leave, and none were allowed to interfere.   The dissidents, calling themselves the baatari–those who reject strength–left to the colder regions of the world, establishing themselves in a fertile but otherwise secluded location. From there, a long, arduous process began of decoupling their racial compulsion for power, sparking a cultural revolution as much as physical modification. Still, lacking the wider resources of the baarham, their future prospects looked grim.   It was, with some surprise and horror, they watched as their fellows were ejected from the world. In the ensuing aftermath, Blerthorn and the other high ranking baatari could not find almost any surviving baarham. Faced with the unleashed anger of their once oppressed slaves, they hurriedly fled back to their homes, and sealed it away. Many years passed in isolation, and the baatari, faced with the reality that they alone carried their people forward, changed.   Stripped of their incredible magical prowess and long lives, they almost completely expunged their kind's cravings for power. As the old, true baarham died and more and more baatari children replaced them, the old ways faded, only the most vestigial of relations remaining. With their reclusive home becoming depleted of resources, the baatari left in vast caravans, seeking new lands to settle.   It was, with quite some shock, they encountered all the other peoples of the world. Some succeeded in finding new homes, but others struggled, suffered, and died. Among some of these caravans, they even found their ancestor baarham, returned to the world at the head of an enormous Forsaken horde. The baarham beheld their changed kin, and none more than King Ghown was overwhelmed with emotion.   Though many speculated on his reasons, King Ghown turned upon the very Forsaken he helped bring into the world, and committed a terrible battle. Though he ultimately fell in it, along with many other baarham, the survivors emerged victorious. The baatari at the site hurried them away, and it is since known for them and the baarham to have settled onto Mount Skyreach.   As for the other, unaffiliated baatari, their fates have become their own in the world.