Uris
| Scientific Name | Homo Ingeniosus Bellicus |
|---|---|
| Plural | Uris |
| Possessive | Uris |
At a young age, Uris children might challenge one another in a competition of who can hit themselves in the head the hardest with a stick. With encouragement and training from parents and village leaders, they grow to make these competitions more applicable to real life, and heat each other with sticks, and later spells and swords.
There is no time in the life of an Uris Kuulik where some form of violence isn't shaping them. By the time an Uris has been recruited to the battlefield, they will have delivered and received hundreds of small wounds. What an ordinary strain would call "training", the Uris regard as simply "growing up".
When Uris receive their call to adventure, they answer the call with thicker skin than their other Kuulik cousins, having practiced for battle most of their lives. When anyone tells you that they are afraid of the Kuulik, they are most likely imagining an Uris Kuulik, whose martial gaze has the very look of death.
Physical Characteristics
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Uris Kuulik have more severe facial features than their other Kuulik cousins and are often slightly larger, standing anywhere from 130 to 150cm (5ft) tall. They have greyish-green skin, and sometimes their complexions can be very dark. They are typically more muscular than other Kuuliks, though this is a result of their lifestyle and not their genetics.
Like the rest of the Kuulik, they sport black hair, which begins to gray in their 40s. Males can start to experience baldness as early as their 30s. Their eyes can be gold, yellow, orange, or red. In rare cases, their teeth sport extended canines. Rumors of their poisonous bite are untrue.
Uris Culture
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Core to the Uris creed is to subdue an enemy with the minimum of violence. This seems counterintuitive, but the Uris have an instinctive drive to protect their weaker cousins, the Sawdager and Tenizi. Protection often involves a de-escalation of a violent situation. If a combatant can be disuaded from violence with a look, an Uris will give that look.
Throughout the Uris' childhood training, they learn to mitigate violence with such tactics as disarming or disgracing a leader, overstating or understating their prowess in battle, exploiting weak spots, and the list goes on. While an ordinary warrior is deciding which weapon to grab, a typical Uris has contemplated a full set of tactical options that might apply to the situation.
This penchant for dominance in combat is the cornerstone of Uris culture. Their events and observances celebrate the greatest of their wizards and warriors. Their idle conversations almost always turn into tactical "what if" scenarios. Battle tactics dominate other aspects of Uris culture as well. Their songs are about battles, their sculptures of great warriors and their dances are dangerous if one stands too close.
Uris Geography
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About three-quarters of all Uris live on the Kuulik Peninsula and the neighboring islands. They are there to protect against rogue intruders and surprise attacks. There are not enough Uris to defend against the full might of most other nations; however, the battles would not be easily won by any nation.
Uris will travel abroad, often in clandestine caravans and disguised as merchants, even reddening their noses to complete their disguises. They will be dispatched to deal with persons or organizations who have wronged or otherwise cheated the Kuulik Trade Company. They are not necessarily assassins, but rather elite combat forces so formed to complete a specific mission, which is usually to eliminate the cheats and recover any missing goods.
These extrajudiciary teams sometimes set up permanently in large trading centers where their unique sets of skills are needed regularly. They, like the Sawdager, eventually learn to blend into the local culture, which ultimately aids their work.
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