The Charu Race

 

Origin

The first race of beings created by Cha. The name means "Children of Cha". A bird-like race, the Charu are intelligent and noble. Cha placed them on the world of Taok, a forested world with no seas or oceans. There the Charu lived in peace and worshipped their creator.

 

Science

The Charu began to study the world and the heavens above it and chronicled their findings, at first on stone, but later as their technology advanced over hundreds of years they were able to store information using their sun-stone memory cells. They were extensive historians.

 

Technology

Charu technology advanced quickly through their deep love of knowledge. The Charu discovered sun-stones and used the energies provided by them to build all manner of new technology. Memory cells were used to store visual and audible histories and instructions. Several Charu cities were built, powered by sun-stone technology.

 

During the wars with the Dibok race, the Charu took their knowledge of the sun-stones and used it to defend their civilization. Weapons and armor were made. Some examples are:

• Weapons
  • Hand Cannon: A arm gauntlet, that when charged with a sun-stone, fired a burst of energy that could stun or kill.
  • Rail Cannon: A larger form of the Hand Cannon that it was necessary for the Charu to sit in and operate.
  • Great Weapon: The destruction of a fully charged sun-stone by aiming an intense beam of energy from another sun-stone triggers a tremendous release of energy. The discovery, occurring by accident, completely destroyed one of the five major Charu cities and all those within it. The Charu elders in their direst straits chose to use the weapon against the Dibok invaders. Eventually the Dibok used the technology against the Charu leading to the destruction of the Charu world.

• Armor
  • Battle Suit: A suit of armor powered by a sun-stone that granted improved physical prowess and strength.

The Charu realized that the Diboks would not stop until they had completely wiped out the Charu. In their distress the Charu chose out a number of their people to leave their world and travel to Uthrac, whose location they had long known through astronomy and their spirit-travel. Vehicles used to traverse land and sky were adapted to travel beyond their world. Two starpods were made, and this was the means by which the Charu would ensure the survival of their race. The Charu adapted their Great Weapon, harnessing the immense energy released, to provide the energy to fly their starpods. Those chosen to pilot the vehicle to their new world were picked first by intelligence, spiritual understanding, and finally age. Of the two ships launched, only one successfully made it to Uthrac. The other exploded in the sky of Taok due to an energy leak in the sun-stone engine.

 

 

Religion

The Charu did not focus solely on the sciences but were also very spiritual. They ardently worshipped their creator and followed strict societical guidelines based upon the teachings of the great Charu philosopher Gildeems. These guidelines called for peaceful living between the Charu and the environment they lived in. War was unheard of.

 

The Charu lived long lives. Using the Uthrac calendar year, some could live to be over 200 years old. The oldest known Charu lived to be 400.

 

The Charu became obsessed with the afterlife. They felt the presence of the spiritstream and believed that it was the source of life. The desire to feel and touch the spiritstream led to a period of spiritual meditation amongst the Charu. It became a religion. Over time the Charu were able to feel the spirit stream and even draw power from it. With more intense meditation some Charu claimed to be able to communicate with the spirits of the dead. One well known encounter occurred when the high mogon Jarak claimed to speak with Gildeems, the father of Charu society. Gildeems instructed Jarak that an evil force lay dormant within the universe. This force, later called chaos energy, would be what gave rise to the being Kelshek. Gildeems also instructed the Charu on how to further their society, leading to the establishment of new laws.

 

The Charu elders were eventually able to seperate their spirit from their bodies and travel within the spiritstream itself. These spiritguides took to spending long periods of time in meditation. Some died from the neglect of their physical bodies. It became forbidden for anyone save the mogon to practice spiritwalking.

 

 

Uthrac

The starpod carrying the few surviving Charu landed safely on Uthrac on the continent of Tara. By this time the Aten had already created the Eldrin race. The Eldrin welcomed the Charu and offered them sanctuary. The Charu immediately began tunneling out a home in the forest. Using the sunstones they carried, they protected their underground labrynth with all manner of security devices. Storing their vast wealth of knoweledge in their great hall, the Charu left the labrynth in the forest and began living secluded lives in small villages in the Eldrin's territory. They lived peacefully in Uthrac avoiding the wars between men and Eldrin, but always chronicled the events of history as they happened. The practice of spiritwalking was lost to the Charu, and their thirst for knowledge was replaced with the desire to simply ensure the survival of their race. The Charu retained the ability to tap into the energies of the spiritstream and communicate with the spirits within it. The Charu had little impact on the history of Uthrac until many eos had passed and men used their technology to defeat the dark force. Later when the maven Gersh pulled a stream of chaos energy into Uthrac, bringing about the freeing of Kelshek, the Charu would be instrumental in defeating him.

 

 

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