Argol

The argol are a race of humanoid beast-men in the world of Liravythn. They are native to the Ronsenferg Forest in the upper half of the Syntallis continent. Their patron deity is the God of Lightning, Ronto, and they can use lightning magic thanks to his Blessing.

Argol possess an innate ability to shift between animal and humanoid forms. Which animal any given argol can transform into is dependent on what clan they were born into. The argol's patron deity, Ronto the God of Lightning, took the form of a panther back when the Gods walked the earth, and as such he molded his race of beast-men to take on the attributes of apex predators. What this means in a wholistic sense is that while the argol are not limited to transforming into only one animal, the types of animals they can morph into must be land mammals with predatory instincts, fur, claws, fangs, and a tail.

The specifics of their appearance, such as the color of their fur, are dependent on the animal they can morph into. When in their animal form, they are indistinguishable from an actual animal of the same species. While in their humanoid form, they retain most of their animal traits, such as their fur, claws, and tails, but take on the body of a human.

The ability to morph between their animal and humanoid forms is independent of their Blessing, meaning that this is something every argol can do even if they are born Stricken.

For those argol with magic, the color of their lightning is determined by the strength of their Blessing. Every argol born as a Lowborn casts white lightning, while every Adept will cast yellow lightning, every Highborn casts blue lightning and every Touched will cast purple lightning. The shades of these colors vary from argol to argol, but every shade will fall within the given spectrum.

On average the height of a grown argol man is eight feet eleven inches tall and the average height for a grown argol woman is seven feet nine inches tall. Regarding aging, their average lifespan is seventy-two years, but some of the oldest argol on record lived into their one-hundred and forties.

The most notable aspect specific to the argol is their commitment to the sypor. While the vast majority of argol that live within the Ronsenferg Forest do not undergo imprinting, virtually every man-beast that leaves the forest does. This is because, according to argol scriptures, their patron deity, Ronto, God of Lightning, issued a single commandment before The Departure: Protect the sypor. Those three words have shaped the totality of argol foreign policy for generations upon generations as the man-beast’s solitary concern regarding the world beyond their forest is the well-being of the halfling race known as the sypor.