Uk'Zarai¶
"A massive hooded waterproof cloak that covers you from hoof to horn." — from the equipment of an Uk'Zarai warlock of Proturus (S009)
The Uk'Zarai are a people from another world: "8 foot tall primitive humans with stout horns, hooved feat and leathery wings," Fel beings whose every power is drawn from the corruption of the life around them. The Dwarrow brought their outcasts to Terrun as allies in the ancient wars with the Eldritch, and the Eldritch answered by turning the Uk'Zarai cities into the first Demons. In the Fifth Age they are known across the north simply as Angels, "the winged harbingers of the Divine," while their cast-out kin, the Dark Angels, are among the founders of Proturas.
Also called: Nefarim; Uk'Zerai (the Proturas timeline); Uk-zarai; Angels; the fallen (in Proturus).
Nature¶
They are Outsiders, creatures "with a connection to the Outer Planes or beyond," grouped with Demons and Angels. "They are Fel beings (different from Ethereal or Fae) which survive in a pyramid of life, where each Fel being greater than the others draws power (and life) from those below it. They can only draw energy from fel living things and so must corrupt their surroundings with Fel energy in order to draw power from them." Fel energy, deep green, is "a taint" that spreads and consumes; its lore belongs to Fel Magic. "Fel magic is imported from the world of Sharuvas by the Uk'zarai. Its use is discouraged and limited in Uk'zarai society due to its inherent nature."
The dead world¶
The Fifth Age sources name the world of the Uk'Zarai Sharuvas, the name also borne by the goddess who came from it to Terrun. The older history calls it Sukmaran, once Mafaeran before it "became a 'dead' world," and tells how it died. The An'Zarai were its first people; their god raised one of them to godhood as his wife, Sukmaril, and "with Mafaesial's help she created the Uk'Zarai as well as many other creatures." Phi energy was the An'Zarai's alone, but "Sukmaril twisted it and gave its secrets to the Uk'Zarai (creating Fel energy)." The god and the An'Zarai fought the new magic for millennia, until "it was determined that they entire race of Uk'Zarai were infected and would have to go. At this point, Sukmaril murdered her husband (Mafaesial) and waged war upon the An'Zarai until they were driven to extinction. After their fall, the world declined quickly into the dead world that it now is."
Under Sukmaril, "Uk'Zarai society is matriarchal, and males are legally treated as property/slaves." The goddess "requires the perfection of all of her subjects. Any sort of imperfection or non-conformance, physical or otherwise leads to a banishment from Uk'Zarai society and from the Goddesses' sustenance. Male Uk'Zarai form the majority of Uk'Zarai outcasts." On a dead world the outcasts "scrounge what they can from the barren countryside, but most die of starvation or a Fel energy death within a short period." The population "has steadily declined over the millenia and has now stabilized at around 500,000 total on the planet, roughly 25,000 of which are outcasts at any given time," consolidated into "a handful of the most splendid cities" while the outcasts are chased even from the ruins. "Many Uk'Zarai breathe in the quietest of whispers that the Goddess is insane."
Coming to Terrun¶
"The Dwarrow brought the Uk'Zarai outcasts to Terrun to save them from the Goddess Sukmaril and to act as allies in their wars against the Eldritch." Long after the Dwarrow had faded into the depths and the Elder Gods had fallen, a few Eldritch who had studied Fel magic for thousands of years built the Elda'Primu, the Spiritfire Orb, "a device of powered by an imprisoned god which was used from afar on Uk'Zarai cities and settlements. Basically it refocused Fel energies inwards. Without their external web of supporting energy, the most powerful Fel beings consumed themselves quickly. However, the Orb's energies bound the souls of each of the consumed creatures and they became what are now referred to as Demons." Almost without exception "the process left a crazed bloodthirsty animal in place of a Uk'Zarai," until the Fel sorcerer Mephistus found a way to shield the mind, and "a small segment of the remaining population" became the first intelligent Demons and took their revenge on the Eldritch. This is one of several accounts of the origin of Demons; the others are weighed on that page.
The Fifth Age¶
Among the lesser races of the Fifth Age are the "Uk'Zarai (Known as Angels... most live in the 'sacred city' and are the winged harbingers of the Divine)." The Divine, Sharuvas, "traveled to Terrun from the planet of the Uk'zarai" and has "her own distinct Einar-like soul"; her Divine Alliance fields Angels among its soldiers, and the Divine "has been very careful with Fel-magic so far and hunted down non-Uk'Zarai Fel users. Fel magic is strictly forbidden in domains of the Divine." The outcasts of Proturus know "that there are others of his kind (who still have their wings) that have been corrupted and deceived by Shuruvas, the great enemy of his people."
Dark Angels¶
"Dark Angels (fallen/cast-out Uk'Zarai... Marlezan (rez'd) is the leader of the largest faction. There are many factions with differing ideals)." They "are the primary users and purveyors of Fel Magic." Proturus, the hidden city outsiders call the Grotto, "is a refuge for outcasts of all races and castes and is home to the fallen (fallen angels of the Divine), riftborn, fae creatures, magic-users, witches, etc." Proturas "was founded in 626 AL as a secret refuge by exiled and outcast Kalari priests & Uk'Zerai from the Sancturi Empire and Northern Kingdoms"; when Lorsythe grew orthodox, "Kalari and Spellcasters were declared pagans and Uk'Zerai as heretics. All were hunted and many of these fled to Proturas." The Exiles of Proturus "are hunted at every turn by the peoples of the Divine Alliance."
Their society in Proturas is the Marlezai, "a group of Uk'Zarai outcasts who worship their ancestors, chiefly Marlezan. They are known as scholars and the wealthiest faction. They are also the most reclusive and tend to stay within the areas they administer. One of the three original founding factions." They hold two of the eleven seats on the Proturan Council, rule the High Terrace and the Upper Reaches, meet their military quota with "well-equipped mercenary companies," and are "allies with the Wood Elves, whom they share many ideals and a desire for isolation/non-interference with." Under the councils of the Pallidines, "Uk'Zerai and Wood Elves have so far had the political clout to continue to effectively appoint their own Counts and Countesses to govern their domains." Their students of the Fel arts bear the title Adiuverent of Marlerai; they write in Sharuvian; and the lesser Uk'Zarai of Proturus may lack the wings their kin keep. Not all are loyal: an Uk'Zarai fire priest condemned for treason in Proturus escaped to lead a cult of fire elementalists in the Rift.
An'Zarai¶
The An'Zarai, or Seraphim, "were the chosen ones of Mafaesial," the first people of the world before it died. "They appeared as primitive humans with Feathered wings, half circle ivory bony protrusions from their heads, clawed feet and glowing countenances. They radiated Phi energy (blue-white colored), healing and sustaining everything around them (and each other)." When Sukmaril drove them toward extinction, the Dwarrow "offered them sanctuary," found "a nearly uninhabited world (Efferhien)" and settled many of them there. "Given the history between the Uk'Zarai and An'Zarai, they did not settle them both on Terrun, nor did either of them know of the fate of the other." Later notes on the goddess Anariel nonetheless count an An'zarai, Azrael, and an Ak'zarai, Telephior, among her Ascendants, the one leading the Vindicators of the Dawn and the other the Sunstone Sentinels, Phi-casters who "regulate the use of Phi Magic, counter Fel corruption"; the spellings An'zarai and Ak'zarai are that document's.
Gap
The sources do not say when the Dwarrow brought the Uk'Zarai to Terrun, how many came, where the "sacred city" of the Angels stands, or how the An'Zarai of Efferhien came to serve a goddess of Terrun. Nothing is said of Uk'Zarai lifespan, language beyond its name, or customs apart from Sukmaril's law.
Earlier accounts¶
The 2016 history, quoted above for the dead world, names it Sukmaran, not Sharuvas, and its goddess Sukmaril; the Fifth Age documents of 2021 and 2022 name the planet Sharuvas after the Divine who came from it. The same history has the Dwarrow bring only the outcasts to Terrun, as allies; the Fifth Age sources, which know the winged Angels in the Divine's service, do not say how the loyal Uk'Zarai came.