Îwark

(Concept Sketch by Joe Shawcross)

Height: 5’0” (male) 5’5” (female)
Build: Lean and rangy
Hair: None
Eyes: Black, brown, gray, gold
Lifespan: 35-40
Decoration: Simple jewelry from semi-precious stones and piercings with carved wood are very common with both sexes.
Weapon Preferences:
Language: Werkê
Currency: Barter system, and they also use burnished pieces of rare wood as a form of exchange
Religion: The Spirit Woods
Religious Tolerance: Lenient
Skill Bonuses: 

The Îwark are a forest dwelling people who are rather frog-like in their appearance, more specifically tree frogs. They have long lean bodies dominated by rangy arms and legs that are double jointed at the shoulders and hips, allowing extreme flexibility. Both their hands and feet will excrete a sticky substance unconsciously whenever they try to climb, making them perfectly suited to the dense forests of their homeland where they live high in the trees. This ability to climb also translates well to stone features. The Îwark have moved beyond simply being insectivores, as they have developed two rows of small teeth, that assist in their eating meats. They are, however, mostly carnivorous with only a smattering of berries and fruits in their diets.

The social structure of the tribe is matriarchal, with elder-mothers making all decisions. Men are well-respected but smaller both in physical and social stature, but they still make up the bulk of hunting parties, even if party leaders are predominately female. The head of the elders is an elected figure with no bloodlines followed for inheritance.

The Îwark believe that every tree in their forest is inhabited by a spirit and their religion is based entirely around the worship of these spirits. Every tribe has a particular tree, or grove in some cases, that is inhabited by one or more tree spirits. These tree spirits are ethereal, shapeless beings and they do indeed look after the Îwark on many occasions and sometimes impart magical energies to the shamans. There is no central theme to this religion and they have no issues with other folks worshipping different gods. They also have minimal loyalty to the Tree Spirits, as those who travel outside their forests will easily adapt to other local religions, and then revert upon return to their trees.

A highly territorial people, the Îwark are prone to tribal conflicts as well as making foreigners feel very unwelcome in their woods, as they almost always employ a wide variety of exotic poisons and attack from range in the forest canopy. Their metallurgy is lacking, so most iron and steel weapons are “borrowed” from other cultures and the remains of past civilizations. Some members of coastal tribes do trade with the outside world and the rarer Îwark will strike out into the world on foreign ships. They remain a mostly isolationist society for the better part of the first millennia F.E. until the outside world forces itself upon them. By 1500 they are a violent hateful people held in sway by corrupted Tree Spirits, as the one they call Môlark-Pôlark (Twister of Trees) conquers the entire region.