Dessan

Dessan are an amphibious race of humanoids. Their lungs have the capacity to breathe underwater and on land. They are generally lean and not overly heavy, as they spend most of their times swimming through the words' oceans. Dessan have some limited night vision, though not as powerful as that of the Katar. Their build and general mystery means that Dessan make for excellent spies and assassins.

The Dessan live in underwater 'conclaves' groups of their people who have formed together, usually far away from shore, to avoid detection. Most of these conclaves are in the warmer waters, along the south and south west coasts of Anendior.

While the Dessan have no military force capable of fighting in large scale battles, they do have elite cadres of warriors that protect their homes. The Dessan are ruled by a council of conclave elders'.

Description
Dessan were generally not very tall, usually less than two metres in height. They are covered in pentagonal scales, that are leathery in texture and provide very light natural armour. The armour provides little protection against actual weaponry, but might be more designed to protect against natural dangers, such as sharp outcroppings.

They had membranous flaps of skin between their fingers and toes, to assist with swimming. The neck had thin frills on the side to make their bodies more streamlined in the water. Male Dessan had short crests atop their heads, and both males and females had ridges instead of eyebrows.

Both genders had nictating membranes, protecting the eye while they are under water. They were also often used to keep dust and other debris out of the eye when on land.

The majority of Dessan were coloured a variation of turqoise or sea green, but blue and grey are not extremely rare. Red or black scaled Dessan, however, were considered extremely rare, and often considered bad omens by the more superstitious of their people. While the colour of ones' scales had no true impact on the life of a Dessan, both their own people and those on dry land were prone to leaping to a judgement.

Abilities
All Dessan had lungs capable of breathing both below and above water. They had thin, leathery scales that provided little protection against actual weapons, but offered limited protection from natural dangers. Most Dessan of young to middle age were extremely athletic, whether in the water or out of it. Due to having lived in the ocean, Dessan established limited dark vision, though it is not as good as Katar,vampires, or purely nocturnal creatures.

Psychology
Most dessan were humble and altruistic individuals, as living together in the closer quarters of a conclave encourages cooperation with one another. Outside of the conclave, dessan were usually open to working with other races, though they were some times distrustful of their motives. Many times, dessan found themselves calling that helped the weak and innocent.

There were, however, some dessan that could be just as cruel and selfish as any other race, though they were often cast out of conclaves, or chose to leave on their own. However, some of these individuals were employed by the council of elders, and were known as Redscales, assassins trained to serve the elders for the good of the race.

History
No one is quite sure where the dessan people come from, as they first appeared several thousand years after the events of the Morning War. Though the Aeldrathi of the diminished and crumbling Aeldramar empire attempted to conquer them, but the dessan quickly evaded their elven pursuers. Though they could have taken the opportunity to wreak havoc on the weakened elven empire, the dessan were more interested in peaceful co-existence.

As the Aeldramar were eventually pushed off the mainland, back to their home, the dessan began to show up on land as well, making alliances, mostly in the way of trade. They made no real settlements on land, preferring to meet with potential allies near the edge of the water. However, they did claim several islands near the southwest coast of Anendior, which they used to build embassies to host foreign diplomats.

Dessan had little interest in the dealings of the surface folk, aside from trade. The wars and troubles of the 'land walkers' were puzzling to the dessan, as was the frequent civil strife that plagued the land. For much of this time, they withdrew from their embassies to avoid being drawn into any sort of conflict.

As time passed, more and more dessan became curious about the world outside of the sea. Many formed adventuring and trade parties that ventured to many parts of Anendior. Often times, these groups would not return, slain by prejudiced Aeldrathi or monsters they came across. Most of the time, these parties returned laden with exotic goods and tales of their exploits.