A gokr warrior; not worth shittin with

rocky-looking creatures who can inhabit the harshest of habitats. Gokr are jolly sorts who are most recognizable for their chalky skin and angular frames that are created by a secondary skeleton just under their skin, making them extremely hearty and powerful.

Stats: Strength +3, Toughness +6, Reflex -3, Intelligence -2, Mana -2, Will -2. Gokr specialize in direct combat, but have little experience with magic and can be rather clumsy in their stiff movements.

Anatomy: gokr have rocky appearances, but this is simply a related to their abnormal skeletal structure. As well as a solid skeleton as is common, they have a series of bones similar to plated armor just underneath their skin. Even their eyelids are tough as a thin plate of steel. This protects their organs and muscles far better than other races, but gives them very heavy frames and stiffer movements. Gokr muscle must be especially strong to carry their bodies, and a sense of reservation must be considered or else they will become too weak to lift their own bodies before starving. Their unique bones also make them resistant to heat and cold, and so gokr are notorious for being able to inhabit places where other races cannot.

Genders: gokr have internal genitalia, and so other races can find little evidence towards any gokr's gender in terms of physical traits or behavior. Females in other cultures may wear more feminine clothing or bodypaint to indicate their sex to avoid awkwardness. Among their own kind, gokr have little concern for each other's gender until breeding season. At this point, some sort of marking or clothing is used to indicate their sex. Breeding is actually done through a type of oral exchange very much like kissing.

Youth: Gokr are born without this secondary skeleton, mainly to ease the birthing process. Rather, they have tough, leathery skin that will gradually become their second set of bones. Gokr are watched carefully in childhood, as they must learn to ration their strength so that they do not simply become trapped under the weight of their own skeleton. Gokr are gradually introduced to harsher and harsher diets based on their surroundings, so that a gokr comes to age ready to take on the harshest of lifestyles.

An uncommon sight: an openly female gokr with an interest in magic

Diet: while humanoids have the greatest adaptive abilities, gokr are naturally built for harsh survival. As such, they can eat nearly anything they come across. For some of the gokr who inhabit areas like the lava plains, they have evolved the ability to eat rocks, including an exotic recipe for cooling lava into a dish even suitable for humans. Their bony armor also makes them good with handling almost anything for preparation, making barbs, heat, horns, and other defenses almost nothing to stop a gokr from getting his food.

Names and Language: gokr language is rough and guttural, involving more use of the throat and chest than the tongue itself. Names are often short, blunt, and consonant-heavy, often with implications of earth. They frequently resemble either kirr tol or construct names. They find relatively little importance on names, though, and so do not bother much with creativity or surnames. Shard, Judd, and Ell are common gokr names.

Territory: gokr inhabit less hospitable regions, mostly out of courtesy. While they can survive in common territories, they are unusually courteous and willing to populate areas such as deserts, arctic regions, and volcanic areas. This is possibly out of an urge to avoid conflict and be left alone, which would be made all the easier by dwelling in more hostile environments. They thus mostly inhabit the less… habitable islands in the southern and northern regions, as well as the eastern mountains.

Psychology: a gokr's largely protected body gives them a strong sense of security, making them easygoing and comfortable in nearly any situation. They are often seen as jolly sorts, though with a slightly detached nature that can make them careless in less stressful situations. Violence is fairly uncommon among them, as their natural habitats tend to be fairly demanding. This too makes them quite resilient to stress.

Technology: gokr homelands rarely have much to work with, and so invention is fairly uncommon. Their general talent for manual tasks also make the demand for technology fairly low among them, even among other cultures. Their sense of natural ease makes them also less prone to bother seeking better solutions.

Your friendly, lumbering neighborhood gokr

Politics/Law: gokr are largely communistic, appointing no leaders or having no apparent government. The intelligent simply dispense advice rather than orders, and the others gladly appreciate the help. Disputes are always talked out in gokr lands, because their harsh worlds and naturally heavy loads of their bodies make strength not something to waste on petty disputes. While not overly intelligent, gokr are very reasonable and have surprising developments in a peaceful, cooperative culture. Some other societies have attempted to mimic this, but these have all failed. This seems to be attributes to a lack of trust and a presence of malice, unlike the hard-working gokr.

Religion: gokr, as natural workers, don't find much time for religion. However, most tribes have some form of shrine in their lands, in hopes of getting whatever help they can get. They have a natural kinship with Gode of the earth, and can hold Morlai of the wilderness as a kind of ideal. They are very cautious of the darker gods, such as those of war or chaos.

Entertainment: gokr work for most of their time involved in some form of labor, and so have no time set aside for enjoyment when they are beyond childhood. As such, gokr create simple games within their labor, mostly in the form of competition. Gokr see who can gather the most food, move the most stones, or stack firewood in the most creative shapes, and so on. When in more comfortable lifestyles, gokr find that sometimes they just need a good, friendly brawl (friendly qualifying as any kind of brawl, due to their extra protection).

Interspecies Relations: gokr seem to be very pleasant neighbors to most of the other races. They are not territorial, which seems to be aided by the fact that they inhabit some of the least suitable lands on The World. They will welcome any they can accommodate, and will do their best to make friends in any society. Some may find them a bit too intimidating or overwhelming cheerful, but people find them to be some of the more likable among the races.

Warfare: gokr want little to do with combat, since their resources may be low just by surviving day to day. However, survival through supplies is nothing when threatened by survival through combat. The gokr became involved late in the War of the Dragons, after being convinced that their lands would be conquered regardless of their position. Gokr are normally left alone, though, since their lands hold little value and they pose little threat (in terms of aggressiveness) to anyone. When they do battle, though, they do so as human tanks, absorbing countless damage while breaking through steel with their bare hands. Obviously, gokr have little need for armor or weaponry, though they may be applied as needed.