Lunarin

The Lunarin are winged humanoids resembling owls, with broad soft-feathered wings, round amber or moonlit-silver eyes, and feathering in barks, creams, and dappled greys. They are among the most respected peoples in Ardelûn, known for their wisdom, their patience, and their sagely (occasionally maddening) advice.

Mystic Sage — You can fly and have +2 to your Lore, Science, and Survival Skills.

The Lunarin descend from the ancient Aelvarin, the bird-like first race of northern Hildahn. When the Aelvarin community split in 316 DC during The Accitaran Divergence, those who remained in the Ancient Oaks took the name "Lunarin" to honor their adherence to the traditions of Sylûne. Geographic separation did the rest: by around 1,000 DC the Lunarin and Accitara had become truly distinct species, and their Aelvarin ancestors were no more.

Lunarin history since has been deliberately quiet, with one great exception: The Erefra War (1,057–1,060 DC), fought after the fire at Oaklight Sanctuary, which ended with the expulsion of the Accitara from Erefra — a victory that many Lunarin, then and now, regard with more grief than pride.

Lunarin live together in treetop parliaments — extended communal households in the high canopy — and govern themselves by gerontocracy, honoring their eldest above all (see Duveil). They are largely crepuscular, conducting business at dusk and study at night. Their twin passions are memory and the sky: the Sylûnian Moonclave Society has charted the heavens for over a thousand years, Lunarin scholars co-created Dimedo's Calendar, and the moon Belsuna bears a Lunarin name. The practice of Rootcraft, inherited from Sylûne herself, keeps the Ancient Oaks alive and growing after millennia.

Most Lunarin remain in Duveil, but Lunarin scholars, physicians, astronomers, and advisors are found in courts and universities across the world, where the sight of an elderly owl dozing through a council session — then waking to deliver the only sensible opinion in the room — is a beloved cliché.

Duveil's military is the Wind Guard, a flying corps of scouts and skirmishers. It has fought one war in its existence and would prefer to keep the count where it is.