Jakkai

Jakkai are a small, reclusive race. They usually live in hidden villages away from other races, although they’re not usually hostile. Sometimes, individual Jakkai may even live in cities and towns. The city of St. Curtis is an exception in that it is a completely integrated Human and Jakkai city. Rhea Snaketail’s village is known to visit the nearest Human town in order to celebrate special events and trade goods. Jakkai villages are few in number and extremely widespread across Medius. They can be located just about anywhere, from mountains to forests or even near the ocean.

Spring through Autumn, Jakkai look like this. They have light goldenrod fur, a cream-colored belly, and brown on their feet, hands, back, heads, and ears. Their fur is short, except on the tops of their heads. All Jakkai have different cheek patterns, and their eye color is extremely varied.

In the winter, Jakkai grow a white and gray winter coat. This way, they don’t need extra layers of clothing to deal with the cold like Humans do. It would be effective camouflage in the snow if they didn’t wear colored clothes… But anyway, Jakkai from the country of Nirveus have white coats all year round.

When born, Jakkai are barely half a foot long. Fully grown, Jakkai are approximately 2’6″ to 3′ tall. Their flexible ears are usually held up, but flop down to the sides of their heads when tired or to express emotions. While omnivorous, Jakkai usually prefer meat over fruits and vegetables. Their diet mainly consists of fish, birds, small mammals, and eggs.

Jakkai are great climbers, and their strong prehensile tails help them hang from branches or anything else like monkeys with ease. Jakkai are quite dextrous and nimble, and are surprisingly powerful for their size. Among the Median races, they are second only to the Khamega in terms of physical strength, outclassing Humans. Howevery, they are poor magic users; the worst of the Medians. While a Human may be able to learn dozens of spells in their lifetime, a Jakkai will typically learn only one or two spells.

An interesting fact about Jakkai is that they do not give live birth, as one would expect. Instead, they lay eggs. Jakkai can lay eggs in their twenties, and then only every ten years after that until they are 60. Their mating season is during the beginning of fall. Eggs are laid in the late winter and placed into a large house or nursery. The eggs are put together in a large, hidden nest until they hatch in the late spring. The hatchlings are nursed by the Jakkai who laid the eggs of that year’s children, even though they do not know which child is theirs by blood relation. Then, for the next decade the Jakkai children grow up together in the same house. They are not raised solely by their biological parents; they have no idea who they are. They are raised by the community as a whole, with designated members of the village and rotating volunteers in charge of the hatchling’s house.

Jakkai have a unique naming system. When they hatch, they are quickly named after their most defining characteristc by the village leader(s). In Rhea’s case, her extra long tail (yes I know I don’t emphasize it a lot in my drawings) lead to her being named “Snaketail”. This name becomes a Jakkai’s surname when they are old enough (usually around 10 years old) to choose their own first name.

When they reach 13-15 years of age, Jakkai move out of the hatchling house and into empty homes in the village. Sometimes a young Jakkai will move into (with permission) a Jakkai couple’s home, regardless of blood relationship, for a few years until they find or build a new home within the village.

The average Jakkai lives to be 100 years old.

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