Chapter XI: The Chaja

Chaja: Section 1

Chaja are a subterranean race, strong and healthy despite generations of systematic enslavement by the shuddeni. Few are born feral, with the vast majority born into bondage in the underground cities of their masters. Traditionally meek and servile, those chaja who know war are often notorious for their bloody and sudden rampages.

The story of the chaja is a sad one, as they did little, if anything to deserve the suffering which has been inflicted upon them. The precise origin of the race is not wholly understood, but the general consensus is that they were already living in the underworld that the shuddeni would eventually come to inhabit. At that point, these giants were peaceful, or at least tolerant.

The few scholars study the history of the chaja suggest that their first interaction with the eyeless began with shuddeni overtures of peace. However, in time, they drew them under the lash and reduced them to never-ending servitude; a model the shuddeni would seek to duplicate in the lead-up to the War of Night on the races of the surface. If the chaja had a culture of their own, it has long been forgotten, even amongst themselves.

Chaja: Section 2

At the bidding of their masters, the chaja constructed the vast underground empires of the shuddeni. They are credited with the construction of their great temples and the carving out of their cavern walls. The chaja were so thoroughly dominated by this process that they wholly accepted their slave-role, their minds and wills growing ever weaker with each generation.

With each new construction came more shuddeni power, and the chaja were darkened by the many evils that suffused their masters. They often came to share the bent of the shuddeni, and savored the ability to crush those who they were tasked to face. In time, the beginning of the War of Night would give the chaja untold legions to face.

The crushing defeat of their masters by the ch'taren gave the chaja an unusual opportunity. Scattered by their foes, some used this short window to escape from bondage and strike out into Avendar proper. Unfortunately, chaja were as mistrusted as shuddeni, and without the leashes of their masters to lead them, those who were free eventually longed to return to servitude.

Chaja: Section 3

With the coming of the modern era, the chaja have existed both within and outside shuddeni society. Those who have been a part of the major shuddeni campaigns have been as virtually all of their ancestors: the powerful right hand of their masters. As for those who do not, they have managed a quiet existence either living ferally beneath the earth, or as servants to tolerant humans.

Chaja average between six and eight feet in height, and have dusky, black skin. They have milk-white eyes, and possess no affinity for magic. As well, their minds are notoriously weak and prone to fear after generations of torment at the hands of the shuddeni. Thick hair covers their bodies, and gives even the "civil" among them a wild and animalish look.

The chaja demeanor is often one of extremes. They trend toward meekness and suggestion, but also are prone to extremely violent rages. An innate bloodlust has become a part of them over the long centuries of battle, either for pleasure or war, which only serves to make them more dangerous. Although some compare them to the alatharya, the two races serve far more to contrast one another than to find commonality.