The Oolay are an avian race who dwell amongst the peaks and valleys of Snowclutch Mountains, named after the first citadel, Snowclutch, built into one of the peaks. The Oolay are not miners though they are accomplished stonemasons whose holiest temples are built on mountaintops, though most of the population live within the snowfed fjords of the lower valleys. Unlike most of the other Vasathan races, the Oolay are a conglammeration of numerous racials castes, each with their own race of Oolay created, according to Oolay histories, for specific purposes within the society. Though by no means encompassing all the castes, the most notable castes are the priests, warriors, craftsman, and serfs, each with differing physical, magical, dextrous, and mental capabilities. The priests are the physically weakest of the castes, though they are the defacto leaders with powerful elemental and supernal magics and keen intellects. The warriors are simple minded, though the physically strongest with magics limited to supporting their physical abilities, including the ability to glide on zephyrs, though lacking true flight. The craftsman are physically weak, though keen of mind, with high dexterity allowing them to provide the crafts needed for the society. Lastly, the serf classes possess relatively little physical and mental acuity, created seemingly for the sole purpose of tending to the estates of the priests. All castes readily acknowledge the priests as the ruling classes, for they rule from the mountaintop citadels. The Oolay perform ancestor worship, with powerful ancestors rising to the power of demi-gods in other pantheons, though unlike other races, the Oolay have hundreds of these powerful ancestors in comparison to the usually few families of most true pantheons. Each citadel is its own city-state, with a ruling priest caste over the citadel and its nearby estates. While the Oolay feuded with one another, city-states were rarely pillaged or fell, and instead war-payments were made in light of further bloodshed. The Oolay were left relatively unmolested by outsiders until the recent invasion by the Auklesi who recently captured minor coastal towns from one of the citadels. Though the Auklesi considered such a great victory, the citadels look upon the invaders as little more than lucky barbarians, and rather than uniting to aid the affected citadel, the other citadels use the opportunity for political maneuvering amongst their priestly castes. While the citaedels deal with internecine warfare and the emerging Auklesi race, their true focus is on the Windgates, large boreholes of Aethyrian magic which erupt with Aethyrian invaders from the earthen depths from time to time. Each citadels primary purpose is to defend their citadel against the Aethyrians with other issues seen as secondary. For Players who enjoy the idea of a highly structured caste (and its faults), along with an ancestor worship model to support them against Aethyrian or Auklesi, the Oolay offer numerous oportunities for roleplaying and adventure within the Snowclutch Mountains.
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