Renurians of the Black Coast

📎 Quick Reference

🧠 Overview

🎨 Physical Traits

• Height: 5'10" - 6'8" (177–203 cm)
• Build: Lean and sinewy, defined musculature but lacks bulk. Feline-like build and movements
• Complexion: Pale, cool-toned or ash grey is most common. Skin appears slightly desaturated
• Eyes: Highly distinctive. Commonly gold, silver, crimson and steel blue, usually with dark limbal rings. Intense, piercing, predatory
• Hair: Almost always dark-colored (black, charcoal, deep brown), blood red, and silver. Hairstyle varies based on caste and status and practicality.
• Distinct Features:
• Naturally cold or unreadable expressions, commonly mistaken for apathy or menace
• Sharp bone structure—hollow cheeks, angular jaws, prominent brows
• Blooded marks are common among Dominarii and Venarii as symbols of power, allegiance and marking victories

🌍 Region of Origin

Renuria, homeland to darkwater denizens of the same name, frames the eastern shell of greater Sahana known collectively as the Black Coast.

A patchwork of marshlands, mires, and murky coasts, Renuria boasts the most complex, diverse ecosystem of the continent largely due to its unique mixture of fresh and saltwater biomes creating the delicate framework for the rarest, most potent, and most deadly flora of all Sahana.

It fuses this haphazard ecology alongside the jagged maws of basalt that bite against the coastline from which it gains its namesake, creating a sturdy bulwark against the treacherous eastern tides that none but the most daring can sail. In this, Renurians have eked out a life of extensive mercantile success, hauling such rarities from coast to inlets by the greatest sailors in all creation.

Although Renuria is now diminished and has been largely abandoned, pockets of Renurians held fast where they’d settled in the swamplands up until the war.

🎭 Cultural Identity

Renurian society was not built on law and codex. It was built on power. In Renuria, lawlessness and violence were just the way of things. Under Hladamor’s hand, there were no courts or kings—only those strong enough to take or clever enough to survive. The only order was in control, and the only law was in dominance.

This legacy of chaos and cunning is what shaped Renurian culture. They were taught that nothing is owed to them and that everything must be earned, by any means necessary. Through strength, strategy or blood, if you want it bad enough, you will do anything to get it. And if you fail, you didn’t want it bad enough. They are not people of mercy or passivity, they live and breathe ambition.

Renurians are blood-drinkers. They are able to draw power from blood in order to heal or empower themselves, but they don’t require it to live. The absence of need only makes it more dangerous. Blood isn’t nourishment, it’s a weapon, and it is often strategic and predatory.

There are no codified laws, so Renurian society historically operated on a caste system. The hierarchy was fluid. Status could be seized or lost by anyone, though not easily. A servant who killed her master and survived could just as easily become Dominarii. A warlord who showed weakness or mercy could vanish in the night. Power wasn’t inherited, it was proved.

Renuriains value dominance, ambition, reputation and cunning. They don’t show emotion unless it serves them. Even now, many Renurians still walk as if the world belongs to them.

The only exception to any of the above is their penchant for piety. Considered nontraditional in their worship, Renurians devote their faith to Hladamor through acts of profane triumph, victory, and ritualistic sacrifice.

📖 History

Lawless by nature and influenced by Hladamor’s teaching of strength in chaos, the Renuri evolved around dominance, ambition and control rather than peace or unity.

In the early years of the world, Renurians were already drowning in conflict. The wilds were unfriendly and hungry. The flora and fauna were eager to devour anything they could, from men to entire villages. They had no formal government, and so society was ruled by power, a fluid caste system was established where status could only be earned through true ambition, cunning and violence. As was Hladamor’s will, order was forged in fear, and chaos was a foundation of life, not a flaw.

When the Danhil were forged by their Lord’s hand, the Renuri were ecstatic to see their Lord’s power given shape once more. But, seeing the dragonkin’s crass rebellion toward their Maker enraged the pious populace into churning the engine of war. Gathering together their Miranese allies, they launched a systematic genocide of the Danhilian race, which was only stopped by the Dark Lord himself proclaiming an end to the bloodshed.

Later, when Hladamor called on the Hladari to aid in the Malvigo D’arim, the Renurians answered eagerly: the firstborn sons would prove their mettle at last. The Renurians led Hladamor’s armies with ruthless efficiency. Renurians’ blood-fueled abilities and hunger for control made them terrifying leaders and tacticians. Their talent and enthusiasm for war was uncanny.

And yet, even their ambition couldn’t outmatch the resistance of the Etharim. When the war was lost, Renuria was crushed. Its cities were ruthlessly destroyed without consideration for innocents, and to this day, Renuria is by far the most overrun with Fraythane. There was no home to return to. Many of them were captured and executed, scattered and hunted. Even more fell during the Aureate Trials. Hladamorian worship was outlawed and Renurian bloodlines were branded with suspicion and hatred.

In the Refectionem Era, the Renurians are still a proud, arrogant people. Their affinity for mercantilism and martial dominance ensured that, despite being on the losing side, they would be critical to the budding empire’s growing infrastructure. Establishing the Renurian Council, the mireborn are commercial juggernauts in everyday life of Farus, and their timetested devotion to battle and swordcraft in Hladamor’s name sustain them as a force to be reckoned with.

🧬 Racial Affinity / Unique Trait

The Renuri inherited from their Dark Lord the Birthrite of Neosis – the capacity to manipulate, alter, and subdue the divine corpus. Neosis branches itself into two distinct functions - the manipulation of the body and the manipulation of the mind.

Renurian’s profane body manipulation resembles greatly the demonic shapeshifting prowess of the vampire, in that they can often exaggerate body parts, burst into shadow, conjure enormous claws of blood, or otherwise become a monstrous form in battle. The extent of how far one can twist the organic framework of a Renurian is contingent on their sanity and personal power, with the blood-drunk and the mentally insane being able to permanently scar their corpus into an abomination, trading beauty and mentalism for absolute, incontestable, monstrous might.

In the other vein, Renurians house a natural affinity for mental magic, especially illusion, charmcraft and the manipulation of perception and emotion. Their presence often carries a subtle pressure or a charm of unease. Even without casting spells, more powerful Renurians can bend the mood of an entire room or influence thoughts and feelings through presence and force of will. Combined with their naturally cunning demeanor, it makes them frighteningly effective in politics, interrogation, seduction and psychological warfare. Extremely powerful combatants can spiritually strike their opponent through sheer bloodlust or similar mental attacks.

Renurians are known to be blood-drinkers, and they are capable of gaining strength, speed and even restoration through consuming blood. Unlike vampires, they don’t require it in order to survive, however, its consumption is a catalyst to temporarily enhance their physical and magical strength. Some Renurians ritualize consuming blood, but others use it openly in battle, especially as a tactic to instill fear.

Novian Erstatz is an extremely dangerous substance for Renurians to get their hands on. The high and addiction rate are through the roof, as are the amplification effects Renurians have been known to develop obsession with Novians, not out of necessity but for the thrill, taste and high. Malvigo Eternum would cause insatiable bloodlust and insanity if they are deprived of it.

⚔️ Racial Strengths

(Optional — for roleplay flavor only, not stats)

• They are hardest to kill when wounded and pain often sharpens their resolve. Like Novians, a decisive blow is required to end the fight.
• Renurians are excellent manipulators. Their innate affinity for illusion and charm grants them the ability to bend perception and sway thoughts with dangerous ease. Even outside of magic, they’re naturally persuasive.
• Raised in chaos, even in modern eras, Renurians rarely flinch. Fear, grief and rage are all tools to be used or hidden. This gives them unsettling stoicism, especially in violence.
• Renurians often have unshakeable resolve and ambition. They are willing to exchange their lives for their causes and goals. There is no greater loss than failing and so Renurians can be dangerous to go up against because they would sooner do the unthinkable than fail in achieving their goals.

“Quote”

— Author

🎲 Trivia

• Renurians can taste different factors in blood, such as adrenaline, illness, magic and more. Some even develop preferences.
• Public executions in ancient era Renuria were performed by blood duels. No matter the accusation, the guilty could walk away so long as they could survive their executioner. Thus they were often conducted by Vernarii or Dominarii
• Renurians are extremely appearance-oriented and will use illusion magic to alter their appearance subtly to appear more intimidating, attractive or unreadable.
• Renuria is extremely patriarchal and inequitable. Women and children were often more closely equated to tools, pets or trophies than people.

🌀 Levelled Forms / Advanced States

Describe any evolutions, awakenings, or transformations a member of this race may undergo as they grow in the story.