| Category | Races |
| Type | centaur sub-race |
| Creation | 13 Saunas 43 |
| Language | Langurâpha |
| Native | Bal-Kriav |
Legend has it that the Tribe Steppes was tamed by a race of humans that revered horses more than the gods themselves. Some say that the punishment for this sacrilege was a powerful divine curse that changed the people into malevolent bestial centaurs. If this is true, the Jara people do not remember, and do not care, for they are anarchists, hateful, and bloodthirsty carnivores. They don't have much art, except perhaps intricate Blood Warnings. These are markers that use a victim's blood to warn others to keep away. This is mainly used internally by tribes to warn rivals to keep out of their hunting ground.
They do not hesitate to devour their enemies as well as their own fallen comrades, they lack any trace of compassion. Linguists have been unable to recover any word for love in their dumbed down version of Langurâpha. This language is perhaps the last Theegan vestige in them.
My general opinion is the Jara are base, simple in thought yet efficient, brutal in dealing with others as well as their own, burning with hatred of their own personal demons.
- Serenmourn, Khazarkar sociologist, from 1642 lecture - "Our Jara Neighbors"
The Jara race is a new one. They came about from a god's jealousy over the fact that several thousand followers had given him up for something unusual, as if taunting him. This god was Krak-Oth. He had led the Theegans for as long as anyone could remember, beginning with the Horgon Empire (159 HE - 537 HE) on the faraway world Osâchar and ending with the Araj empire on Bal-Kriav. When he became a god, the people of the empire that he built, took to worshiping him. On 13 Saunas 43, Krak-Oth decided to make an example of the cultists that gave him up for zoolatry. In violation of the Mandate of the Heavens, thousands of Theegan cultists were cursed. This curse turned them into a mockery of what they worshiped, bestial centaurs. These creatures became known as the Jara; the name of the largest sect of Theegan horse cultists turned into centaur abominations. The bipeds turned quadrupeds migrated southeast from Emeldimir into the Tribe Steppes. In this region, they joined up with others that suffered the same fate across the Araj Empire. Only a few hundred were saved from the curse. Krak-Oth's magic was simply too strong for dispelling. The descendants of these first Jara are no longer considered cursed, but a pervasion of Creation by magic.
Jara have mangy manes, long horse limbs, and powerfully built humanoid torsos. The horse part of their body varies in color, with black, russet, and gray being most common. The jaws of the creatures are similar to that of a hyena. They are barbaric, bloodthirsty, cunning, cruel, and show little or no emotion. They are also always chaotic evil. The jara is one of the more dangerous races to encounter with one a match for 2-3 warriors of most other races.
A cloud of dust rose over the horizon, it grew darker with each passing hour, and then thunder rolled from the plains, ten thousand sets of hooves galloping. The horde of jara swept through the frontier outposts, trampling livestock, woman, children, and the aged as if they were nothing more than grass. The elves blanketed the skies with arrows, their song in flight like a swarm of bees. Hundreds of the marauders fell under the missiles. The massive half-horse and half-humanoids were an ugly, bestial race. Their hairy and heavily muscled legs were scarred from riding through briars, thickets, and wounds from many battles. The jara's breasts, arms and faces were tattoo with spiders, hawks, dragons, snakes, and other predatory beasts. The thick and misshapen heads were set with piercing black eyes and bushy eyebrows. Some had their scraggy hair in topknots or in braids, while the chiefs were bald with a tattoo of a web and spiders. The horde wielded the cruelest of weapons, serrated and saw-tooth swords, spiked bucklers, chains, torque bows, composite bows, and lances with pennons representing their tribe, Blood Bringer, Hawk Screech, Vulture Marrow, Bone Grinder, Entrail Eaters, and an untold number of other evil tribal names. The slaughter they brought spared no living creature in their path. A few of us, lucky to hide in the reeds of a river were spared the grisly fate of the fallen.
- Leekal the Fletcher, of Amanwen - "Last Day of Amanwen"
Jara have a word for all non-jara, "kamatar", which simply means food. The favorite drink of the jara is a mead called Englas. Jara do not have a religion and pay homage to no being. Jara are at their worst when they are rallied together under a Jara Khan, becoming a Jara Horde.
A place of reverence to the jara is the ancient ruins of Zînin-Gulc.
Jara are 15% to 20% larger than a heavy warhorse. A jara is about 9 feet tall and weighs about 2,400 pounds.
| Trait | Description |
|---|---|
| Might of Krak-Oth | +10 Strength |
| Long Lasting | +8 Constitution |
| De-Evolved | -4 Intelligence |
| Gallop | speed 60ft |
| Racial | see below |
| Trait |
|---|
| Monstrous Humanoid |
| Large Quadruped: –1 penalty to Armor Class, –1 penalty on attack rolls, –4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed, overran, or tripped, lifting and carrying limits three times those of Medium bipedal characters. |
| Space/Reach: 10 feet/5 feet. |
| A jara’s base land speed is 50 feet. |
| Darkvision out to 60 feet. |
| Racial Hit Dice: A jara begins with four levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice, a base attack bonus of +4, and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +4, and Will +4. |
| Racial Skills: A jara’s monstrous humanoid levels give it skill points equal to 7 × (2 + Int modifier). Its class skills are Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival. |
| Racial Feats: A jara’s monstrous humanoid levels give it two feats. |
| +4 natural armor bonus. |
| Natural Weapons: 2 hooves (1d8). |
| Weapon Proficiency: A jara is automatically proficient with all simple weapons, the longsword, and the longbow (including the composite longbow). |
| Favored Class: Barbarian. |
| Level Adjustment: +2. |