Tragaran Species 126

Tragaran knight of the Council of Bile
CategoryRaces
Typehuman sub-race
AliasSpecies 126
Creation17 Witchrite 9001 GE
LanguageTragaran
NativeBal-Kriav

In the God Era, four centuries before he became a Higher Power, a Covenant general named Lukoon was one of dozens of heroes that would eventually rise beyond the mortal realm, becoming deities. On Bal-Kriav, a world of the Quarat'um System, Lukoon created his own personal army. It was for his own protection, and one he planned to indoctrinate with his interests. Lukoon was then a Tier 3 Creationist, able to create humanoids in limited numbers. He branched from Species 32, creating the Tragaran race. He named them after the Traga plant, a fast growing plant on Muspelheim which is hard as iron, and grows so entangling that even giant-kind struggle to pass.

Listed as Species 126 in the Archives of Creation, Lukoon created five hundred Tragaran infants on 17 Witchrite 9001 GE. By this time in the God Era, the act of creating new life forms was becoming more difficult by the year. The creation of a new race, and so many at once, was so taxing that Lukoon was unable to use his Creationist gifts for many years thereafter.

With no time to spare in raising so many, Lukoon sent his Tragaran infants to the care of the Covenant crèches at Gamba-Nîr. One group of children were raised in the upper elevations of Kilth, another in the lowlands north of these mountains, and a third in the jungles to the south. All three were heavily trained in jungle warfare, practicing in the Bopharan and in the coastal jungles flanking the Kraaroz inlet. They were being prepped for the demon invasion of Ma'Ohari under Graz'zt. Like many other peoples, they joined the Covenant against the demon invasion sweeping across the lands.

Graduates of Gamba-Nîr, usually around the age of 16, were sent east, joining Lukoon's Krotoan Army. During this service, partners served alongside each other in battle. When one became with child, they had it in the field, taking children along with the army. At the age of two, they were sent back to Gamba-NîrIn for more formal schooling.

In 9343 GE, the year of the Great Betrayal, Lukoon's Krotoan were duped into thinking they were following their master's orders. At the time, Lukoon was thousands of miles away, a prisoner of Barhaz Halarax. The person impersonating Lukoon was "The Chameleon"; better known in ancient lore as Rilthang. She turned Lukoon's army against Silvanus's troops stationed at Caralda. The surprise attack by an allied army was a total surprise, inflicting heavy casualties. Before the attack, Lukoon - really Rilthang, gave the order "give no quarter". Any reservations by her commanders were quickly dismissed after they heard their leader's slippery tongue, dosed with strong charming magic.

Interred in Graz'zt's prison, Lukoon got wind of what happened when guards were laughing and joking about the massacre at Caralda:

So Lukoon, you turned the Krotoan on Silvanus, does that mean your on our side now?

- demon guard at Barhaz Halarax to Lukoon

Hours later, Lukoon escaped Barhaz Halarax and made for Ma'Ohari. When he reached his Krotoan army, he found them forming up in lines to go through Grazaghast, better known then as the Suicide Defile. Now led by the true Lukoon, he gave orders to halt the movement, saving them from what would have been a massacre by Mo'tzor's crack demon archers. The demons were so enraged at the feint, that some left the security of their great hold and flew after the Krotoan where they were easily put down.

Lukoon then ordered his army into the heart of Gurutharni Swamp where he told them he no longer wanted anything to do with them. He warned them that not to side with the demons and that redemption would come from destroying them. For the rest of the Demon Spawn War, they operated as an independent guerrilla force against the demon armies of Grazz't.

In the Lith-Crillion Era, some Tragarans began a transformation into another species. The afflicted were cultists worshiping a dark god named Blibdoolpoolp. These cultists grew webbed-feet and gills, adapted they said, just like the Gamba-Nîr students of old. Long abandoned by Lukoon, few still prayed to him, so they turned to other gods. A small population of them worshiped Phalgas, later becoming the nucleus of the Radiant Cross.

When the demon empire Varelay came to power in 684 LE, Lukoon returned to his Tragarans. He promised to forgive them if they helped bring down the demon empire. The Tragarans could do little, they were suffering as much as Varelay from the Varelay Upheaval (2608 LE - 16 HE), and worse seeing their capital city Rolipoon slowly sinking. Each day the Tilnangau capital sunk a foot. When the city was on the verge of being swallowed, the cultists of Blibdoolpoolp offered them a choice of life with Blibdoolpoolp. A few dozen figuring any life is better than none, pledged worship to Blibdoolpoolp. They were immediately changed, acquiring gills and primitive webbing hands and feet, they would become Kuo-toans. Like that which changed them, they became dark and sinister. As Rolipoon descended, they went with her.

The city, slid into the mud and murk of the swamp, sliding towards the great whirlpool, on the last day as the city begin to drift into the whirlpool, the masses embraced the word of Blibdoolpoolp, and were blessed with the tools to live both on land and in the deeps.

- Nemerass, excerpt from the book "Rise and Fall of Tilnangau"

The Varelay Upheaval proved so bad that most Tragarans migrated south towards Azrik and later into Gulimbor where they would go on to found the Tragaran empires Borillisk, Burterinii, the Cal-Thaoun Dynasty and the Niratar Theocracy. In the Great Exodus (998 - 1017), these empires were scattered across many regions.

Tragaran Migration Routes in the Great Exodus
EmpireRegion Migrated To
BorilliskAzrik, Necrocrypt
BurteriniiMa'Ohari
Cal-Thaoun DynastyHells Womb, Lands of Purity
Niratar TheocracyAzrik, Lands of Purity
Racial Traits
TraitDescription
Lukoon Crafted +1 Luck
Gamba-Nîr Trait 1 trait from following table
Racial as human
Schooled at Gamba-Nîr, Tragarans spent a lot of time in a particular environment. As part of their Creation, an adaptation trait was seeded into them. Gamba-Nîr's task masters did this by design, making them better suited for certain environments. Still able to adapt, but now taking hundreds of years instead of a few, left three Tragaran variants. The Tûrugul were those that lived and trained in the Bopharan Jungle. The Adûni adapted to the highlands. There distant ancestors began their existence in the Kilth Mountains. The Punir began in the lowlands north of Kilth and Bopharan.
Gamba-Nîr Trait
VariantTrait
Adûni +5 Balance, operate at high elevations equal to stone giants, 25% less susceptible to normal cold
Punir +5 Handle Animal, free Endurance feat
Tûrugul +1 vs disease, +1 saves and -1hp/die vs nature energy