The derkusi- dare-KOO-see means "children of heat" or "the burning children" in Primal- are the desert Elwens, one of the most adaptive races on Arcadia. They evince no desire for green or growing things, and they viciously fight any attempts to reclaim the desert for any other purpose. They like it the way it is.
Come among them, if you will- the desert Elwens, the Children of the Sands.
PHYSICAL LOOKS
Derkusi are the tallest race of Elwens, rangy and lean in every line of their bodies. This helps to shed more heat in the desert environment, and is one of the many adaptations they have made to their home. Most derkusi are at least 6'5", and most grow taller. Shorter derkusi often have some admixture of outside blood. Most desert Elwens weigh between 140 and 200 pounds, making them appear gaunt.
Their skin is red-brown, the color of the dunes in the southern area of the Barren Desert where most of them live. It is also incredibly thick and tough, resistant to the spines of cacti and the stings of scorpions. Derkusi are capable of running across the sand like camels, on tough, hairless feet that splay so they do not sink. They do not drink very often, and it is unknown to any but their most intimate friends if they ever sweat or execrete.
Most derkusi have fairly dull colors (as other races understand them) of hair and eyes. Hair ranges between red-brown and red, with brown hair slightly less common, and gold slightly less so. Completely black hair is sometimes noted, but very rare. Gold, blue, and black eyes seem to cover the acceptable range of eye colors, though occasionally a derkus is born with green eyes, and a derkus whose ancestors bred with outsiders may show a wildly unpredictable eye color several generations later.
Their adaptations go further than this, however. All derkusi have flaps that they can slide over their nostrils during sandstorms, and a "second eyelid," clear but impervious to sand, that slides down between their normal eyelid and the eye when they will it. Their earlobes are also flexible, curling up to hide the vulnerable inner ear. A derkus crouched without any other protection in a sandstorm can survive it.
Derkusi can, like all Elwens, sprint briefly at cheetah speed when they really must. They have blood the color of their skin, and live about ten thousand years, unless slain earlier by violence (the most common cause of death among them).
PSYCHOLOGY AND EMOTIONS
Most derkusi are isolationist; that is, they think only about their own people and homes, not at all about the outside world. If trading agreements are broached, or outsiders make some other effort to reach them, a person or group of people is quickly delegated to deal with it. These people may not always be willing, but they undertake the trouble so that other desert Elwens do not have to.
This sense of isolation springs partly from the knowledge that other races do not consider the desert beautiful, and may even try to take it back and plant trees on it if the derkusi are not careful. The Children of the Sands, in contrast, fiercely love the desert and protect it, sometimes even draining oases if it seems that they might be establishing too large an island of green in the center of the desert. They revel in the heat, and quickly wither in the cold climates of other countries. They also have an aversion to bright green, or indeed to any bright colors but the gold of the dunes and the hammered blue of the desert sky.
The derkusi often venture into the wild desert that brings death or madness to other races. They may go to wander, to be alone and contemplate, or to do their dances. These dances are famous, and often outsiders attempt to watch them. Desert Elwens are reluctant to let them do so unless the outsiders are particular friends, however. These dances are sometimes rituals of worship to their most commonly accepted god, Epakohta, and sometimes done for the sheer delight of the dance.
Derkusi tend to despise the "water-dwellers" of the outside, particularly if they come into the desert for no good reason, but they respect enemies who can face them with a sword. Derkusi take a pride in fighting with the blade, even though their magic is deadly enough that they don't need to. Desert Elwens are trained to the sword from a very young age, and they take delight in ambushing and challenging each other, as well as travelers. Defeating a derkus is one of the few reliable pathways to gaining the friendship of desert Elwens.
However, in addition to being devoted to their land, derkusi are devoted to their people, and if an outsider kills one, they will hunt him down and dump him to die in the middle of a sandstorm. Their children and cities are very well-protected.
MAGICAL GIFTS
The magic of derkusi is not terribly varied, but their few gifts are highly powerful and very effective.
Calling sand. A desert Elwen can call sand no matter where he is, and use it to sculpt things or create a shield wall. This talent is used to survive on the rare occasions when a Child of the Sands ventures outside the desert. They can warm a dying derkus back to the proper temperature.
Mirage. All derkusi have the ability to create mirages, often ones of quite elaborate detail, such as whole oases. They will sometimes use these to mislead and fool their enemies, more often in contests of art.
Calling sandstorms. All derkusi can call a sandstorm, and against very powerful enemies, they will use this gift. However, most of them would like to face sword-skilled enemies with the blade, and using it simply to escape having to face a duel is considered highly unsporting.
Sensing water. A desert Elwen can "listen" to the sand and learn where any water within thirteen miles is. Most of them don't spend much time doing this, as they know most oases and don't very often need a drink, but it has saved the life of more than one person of alien race dying of thirst.
Ascension. Most derkusi know when they are about to die. This seems to function as a kind of precognition that tells them the truth about the skill of a foe once they have entered battle (not before), and which tells them a few minutes before they may resonably expect to die. Sometimes a desert Elwen will accept the idea and die, but at great need, they may exercise their most powerful magic and rip the soul from an opponent's body, sending it directly to the afterlife. This is also considered unsporting, and leaves the desert Elwen very weak, so that any companions his supposed killer might have could easily kill him.
ORIGINS AND MODERN SETTLEMENTS
Derkusi tell some strange tales of their birth- though they call themselves the children of the stars, as all Elwens do. They claim to have been born in a green, forested land, and filled with a loathing for trees and greenery that endures to this day. They left as soon as they could, and traveled across Arcadia to the deserts.
Other legends claim a similar birth in high, cold mountains, a similar aversion, and a similar migration.
Migrating derkusi, however, found very few deserts, and none of any size. Therefore, they began on purpose to annoy the ulmoni, the rain Elwens, when a good number of them had gathered in the once fertile province of Lishimon. Legend does not record what this annoyance was, but whatever it was, it made the ulmoni turn their rains from Lishimon. The province became the Barren Desert in about a decade, and the derkusi have dwelt there in contentment since.
Most derkusi live still in the four great southern desert Elwen cities of the Barren, and rarely leave it, for the reasons discussed earlier. There are a few scattered settlements elsewhere, however:
Jelarta. This is a northern city (though south of the Barren) in the shadow of the Athalustera Mountains in the Tableland. Most unusual for desert Elwens, it is set amid greenery. The derkusi here control their loathing and work to change at least part of the Tableland into a desert. Most of the curalli of the Forbge Forest work to stop them.
Arsili. This is a desert Elwen city in the northern Barren, close to the land Elwen city of Siau. The two races have made an alliance of convenience, and trade with items that are sent north from the great cities. Siau's items flow steadily back south in return. Many desert Elwens who have been charged to deal with outsiders ultimately wind up coming here, as they are slightly ostracized (as for a lack of purity) in the southern cities. Some even leave here and depart the Desert altogether.
LANGUAGES
Originally, all derkusi spoke a single language, Keshua, of which some records still survive. However, this began to fracture with the arrival of other races in the Barren, and has never quite come back together. Today descendants of it are spoken by most derkusi, but in several different forms as several different langauges:
Kessuma. This is the major tongue of the four great desert Elwen cities of the Barren, and the one most directly descended from Keshua. It is unlike the other languages nearby, having retained remarkably little influence from them. Heavy in cases, it uses triconsonantal bases for verbs and biconsonantal bases for nouns.
Erista. This is the language mostly of western desert Elwen villages on the edge of the great semicircle of cities. For a long time, it was claimed that Erista was merely a dialect of Kessuma, but linguistic investigation reveals quite separate languages. Erista has sustained draconic influence and some somak influence from Alora, and tends to have abandoned the consonantal bases, though it is even richer in inflections.
Kelles. The language mostly commonly used in the city of Arsili. It is largely Keshua blended with the Arilic that the land Elwens of Siua speak, and the young of both races tend to use it in preference to their native tongues.
Shuldon. The eastern equivalent of Erista, though not as widespread and not as different from Kessuma. This has sustained mostly planet dragon influence, and tends to construct word-sentences and put its pronouns last.
