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Kender are short in height and have pointed ears. They live between 70-120 years. Kender is born with their birthright lockpicking tools and Hoopak Staff or another type of keder weapon. There only grow up to be about the size of a dwarf but a foot or so taller...or the size of a 12 year old.
Most kender are usually mistaken for young humans upon first glance, but a closer inspection will reveal pointed ears, face wrinkles, and pouches that indicate this is actually a kender. Kender find these face wrinkles, highly attractive. The older a kender is the more complex the lines become and over time they give a kender a "wizened" appearance. Kender continue to look young their entire life despite this network of wrinkles and some kendermaids even try to cause wrinkles by drying out their skin with mudpacks. Kender are fair-skinned, but tan very quickly becoming dark in the summer and lighter in the winter.
Whatever the color it is usually light from the amount of time spent outside. Most kender wear their hair long. The most common hair style among kender is the topknot. A topknot is made by allowing the hair to grow to a very long length and then tying it up on top of the kender's head. There are numerous combinations of this style. Some will wear their topknot in one braid or many braids. Sometimes colored ribbons will be braided into the hair. Kender do not grow facial hair. As kender get older their hair turns gray.
They have almond shaped eyes and pointed ears that give them and "elfish" appearance, although most elves would tend to disagree, since beyond the eyes and ears kender do not have the slanted and delicate features that all elves possess.
Intense facial expressions are another trademark of the kender. Most of the time kender have a wide-eyed look of an inquisitive child and sport an infectious smile that causes friends spirits to lift and others to automatically suspect the kender is up to no good. When a kender is happy the whole world knows it, and when they are sad it's enough to make you cry. A kender that is taunting an enemy appears most impish and verbally assault their opponent with a screeching or grating tone of voice.
Kender have a wide range of voice pitch ability. They tend to talk in high tones, but their vocal chords allow them to speak in low tones as well. They can usually imitate animal sounds very well. Children speak in shrill high pitched voices while older kender will tend to have lower voices. When kender become excited, they tend to speak very quickly, loudly and rambling all at the same time, making it hard to follow what they're trying to say.
Kender typically favor bright colors. Most kender add accents to their clothing and weapons by tagging on ribbons, feathers, beads. Males wear shirts, pants and soft leather boots or sandals. Females wear a tunic or dress, pants and soft leather boots or sandals. Whatever a kender is wearing you can be sure it will contain pockets somewhere. They hide pockets in the lining of coats, vests, and belts. A kender is rarely ever seen without at least two or more pouches. If they are seen without a pouch people would think the kender was crazy or sick.
Kender Nature
Ansalonian Kender are curious about everything and fear nothing, not even death. They are completely irrepressible. Nothing but death can stop a kender. They are very independent, striking out on their own to wander Krynn frequently. They will not take orders, only suggestions.
Kender do not know the meaning of ownership. If they see something they need or like they simply take it. This is not done for gain they simply forget they have due to their short attention spans. They are not thieves.
Just after the age of twenty kender are afflicted by wanderlust and leave their homes and travel Krynn. This wears of at the age of around fourty. The cruelest form of torture that can be inflicted on them is to lock them up.
Wonderlust
Wanderlust is an affliction that is particular to kenders. Other races get it on occasion, but not as seriously as kender do. It is a phase in a kenders life that begins around their early twenties and last anywhere from twenty to fourty years. The kender's natural curiosity and desire for action is thrown into over drive. They need action and they need it now! They thrive on the excitement of meeting new people and seeing new things. This is how kender get around the world and are seen everwhere. Heck you may even run into the same kender more then once.
The Creation Of The Kender Race
When Reorx created the world, he began making things tough for us, Historians. He was responsible for creating races not originally planned for. According to most people, he was the one who built such things as the world of Krynn, the stars and the planets, the Greygem...
One of the aspects of Reorx, as a god, is craft. So he wanted to teach humans how to use their brains and muscles to create things. He took some with him. They were called the Smithes. Yet they didn't do what the god wanted, so he transformed them outright. Whereas they wer formally human, they became shorter, and lost the way of the Forge, yet the desire to build remained. Thus were born the gnomes. After an alteration between the gods and the intervention of those of magic, Reorx was tricked by Hiddukel.
The god of betrayal had Reorx build a gem, which was later placed on Red Lunitari. With the help of another Evil god, Morgion of the Diseases, Hiddukel won the Greygem, and tricked a little gnome. This gnome thought about a machine, as do all gnomes, that would be able to ascend into the sky. He built it successfully. Then, he went up into the sky, up to Lunitari, and with a net of his, he captured the Gem. Of course, that which nobody knew, Hiddukel had infused the power of row chaos into the Gem, that was alive.
The Gem escaped, and the gnomes were forced to follow it accross an ocean, and sailed from Taladas where they lived to Ansalon. There, the Gem was captured by a human, Gargath, follower of Zivilyn the Wise. Under the spell of two gems, it was held in place.
When they arrived, the gnomes took knowledge of this, and they wanted the Gem. So they asked Gargath to give it back. As he refused, they did what they could. They built machines to invade Lord Gargath's fortress. After the third try, they did it, though not like they thought they would. One of their machines broke down and began a fire. When they would have fought, they suddenly realized they were bathed in a strange kind of red light. All of them transformed. Those who sought the gem for its value became Dwarves. Those who thought it was just marvellous, and beautiful, and it would look pretty on them, became Kender. Those were not the only one affected by the gem : some sea-farers among the elves became sea-elves, Dargonesti or Dimernesti. Some bunches of ogres were made into Minotaurs, some humans living in mountains received the ability to fly, and grew feathers...
And the greygem escaped once more.
