Leklek

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Appearance

Full grown lekleks stand anywhere from 2.5 rands to 4 rands tall, with very little height difference between the male and female members of the race. Their bodies are well proportioned for their height, with arms, legs, and torso at nearly the same ratio as a human. An average leklek weighs between 30 to 40 crowns with most of their weight centered in their upper torso. Being the smallest race on Primordiax, lekleks are very careful of their physical appearance as well as their dignity and pride.

Leklek facial features are extremely refined, well-proportioned and expressive. They often have large, wide set eyes that vary widely in color from bright blue to dark brown. Most of them sport button noses though a very few families have large, prominent noses. (Unsurprisingly, one of the largest perfumery leklek families in Primordiax is marked by bulbous noses.) Lekleks have slender limbs and a rounded torso. Leklek females are often slimmer, shorter and more curvaceous than their male counterparts.

Leklek coloring tends to run towards very warm colors. Blond, auburn, and brown hair are all extremely common to the race. Brown, hazel and green eyes are seen more than any other color, though a very few lekleks will have amethyst eyes. Male lekleks can grow a beard, but they cannot grow mustaches. Most are clean shaven, though elderly lekleks will begin growing beards when they hit their sixtieth year of life.

Most lekleks do not sport any tattoos due to a cultural taboo towards permanency. They do, however, love to adorn themselves with gems, jewelry, and face paints. Clothes and decorative scarves are also in high demand for most lekleks. Any leklek worth his weight in primordium has a different outfit for every single occasion that might come his way.

Society

Lekleks built the black stone city of Troj in a span of ten years, quite a remarkable feat for people so small in stature. A leklek's pride and dignity is her/his most valuable possession. Thus, the entire culture is extremely polite (almost painfully so), meticulous, and filled with rituals and customs that often seem random to outsiders. Leklek etiquette books weigh more than three large pokkas ripe for market. In negotiations with these diminutive folk whether it be for trade, cease fire, or a peace treaty, anyone who wishes to have a chance of success must have studied leklek cultural norms for years and memorized the Encyclopedia Etiquetta, a collection of ten volumes detailing over one thousand years of leklek customs and etiquette practices compiled by the Argentine Collegia and Science Museum.

Lekleks normally live in large communities that thrive on barter and trade. These people are natural, but tasteful, pack rats due to their curious and innovative natures. Their culture promotes exploration and education, often to excess, and invention becomes a natural hobby for most lekleks. Wherever magical experiments, an expedition into the wilds, or interesting battles can be found, lekleks are also there.

Everything in a leklek's domicile is scaled to their size for convenience as well as in tribute to their great love for everything miniature. All the great nobles of history have had doll houses or miniature armies created by renown leklek toy makers. The lekleks' love for detail and for all things small translates into some of the most precious toys and board game pieces available to humanity. Great war generals have ordered full scale models from these toy makers as part of their strategic planning, ensuring that lekleks, despite their small stature, often play an important role in the greatest battles on the face of Primordiax. Within their own homes, lekleks meticulously decorate everything that they can, using vivid colors and complimenting materials to enhance their space. A leklek's home is a piece of art.

Most leklek houses are built on stilts to allow for airflow under the house. The wide doorways and windows also keep their houses cool during the hotter seasons. A very small group of lekleks live in the colder regions as servants or caretakers in trulloc or human towns. Their generous nature allows them to live happily as servants or lords, for they find interesting aspects in all works.

Almost all lekleks come from huge extended families with more aunts, uncles, great-uncles twice removed and children than can be counted without the aid of massive charts. A few lekleks will rebel, finding the close family confines to be too much, and leave their ties behind. The majority, however, often take great pride in the size of their families, sometimes to the point of pulling out large genealogical charts and family trees to show to all their friends, lekleks and non-lekleks alike. The average leklek household often has five to eleven children in a course of a lifetime, and those children are heavily encouraged to procreate. Lekleks are the fastest growing singular population on Primordiax.

History

Historical accounts on the origins of lekleks contradict more than any other race on Primordiax. All accounts, however, agree that lekleks did not exist before 2900 BU or before the Sundering. In fact they suddenly appeared on Primordiax in mass numbers, living in drab, dirt huts on the continent of Katayvan. They appeared as if dropped from the sky by the hands of a god. What a god it must have been, for the lekleks came into being with a vengeance. They immediately began to construct homes for themselves from anything they could use. In the beginning, they built with mud and straw, but they soon progressed to using wood and stone. Also, they began trading with several tribes of nearby salamae and humans. The leklek population flourished, but it truly boomed when the first leklek sailor, Jitamo Redhat, took his family on his [[Voyage to the Edge of the World]]. Instead of reaching the world's end, Jitamo discovered the continent of Mitralon and established trade with a mining village there. With an influx of metal into their society, lekleks began producing exquisite jewelry. Out went the jewelry and in came fresh grain, milk, and produce for the villages.

In 998 BU the lekleks built one of the greatest masterpieces of the realm; the statue of [[Phinaou Boss], possibly the greatest leklek tinker to ever live, stood nearly 200 rands tall upon completion. Unfortunately, the great quake of 512 BU reduced the grand statue to rubble, sending pieces of it flying to the sea. Amateur archaeologists still supposedly find chunks of Phinaou Boss from time to time, though no one knows exactly where the original statue stood. (At last count, Phinaou had twenty-nine toes, over fifty fingers, and fifteen ears. More are being found every day.) Lekleks continued to build and innovate until, finally, they built the great temple city of Troj in the middle of a tropical jungle with the aid of several tribes of salamaes. Soon, they began to attract other races to populate the city while some of the lekleks who lived there moved on to other projects. Troj is still considered the greatest building project performed by any one group of people.

Racial Bonuses

+ tinkering
+ dexterity
+ perception

SEE ALSO: Races