The Avarel are a strange race of winged humanoids who live almost exclusively in the southern region of the Roof of the World. Not much is known about them, as they do not leave their cities in the Roof often.

The Avarel are a slender, delicate-looking people, with great leathery wings spreading from their upper backs. These wings tend to be a dusky greyish color, but can be anywhere from black to grey to brown to flesh-pink to almost white. The wing-membranes are tough but flexible and very slightly translucent, so that the light glows through them. The Avarel are lightly built for flight, and their bones have a curious honeycomb-like structure, allowing them to be lighter than human bones but stronger than birds' bones.
The skin of the Avarel tends to be pale, and though their hair can be any color that a human's can they tend towards extremes; white, blonde, dark brown, and black. Their eyes can be any normal color; blue, green, brown, black, grey, hazel, violet, and amber. They tend to wear loose clothing that allows them free movement, cut to leave their wings free. The wings fold behind them, sometimes looking like a cape of leather.
The eyes of the Avarel tend to be a bit large. Avarel eyesight is exceedingly keen; they can see in great detail for phenomenal distances. The Avarel also have very efficient lungs, allowing them to breathe comfortably at heights which would strain the lungs of an ordinary person.

The Avarel carve beautiful cities into the sides of mountains, making graceful spires, columns, and arches from the rough grey rock of the Roof of the World. They are a refined people, very scholarly and artistic, with little interaction with the people to the south of the Roof. Sometimes the Avarel deal with the Dakoi, but very seldom is anyone else taken to the pristine cities in the mountains.
Most Avarel lead a peaceful existence, studying, worshipping their Goddess, gathering food for the community. They do not often train as warriors, but there are a small knot of Avarel that do so in each city. They are phenomenal archers, the bow being their weapon of choice, though some prefer light swords.
Some Avarel become priests of their Goddess of the Winds. These Avarel can invoke their Goddess's aid. Her influence is limited mostly to air and wind, but her priests can perform deeds of magic such as healing as well.

The Avarel worship Llirana, the Goddess of the Winds, devoutly. The High Priest (or Priestess) of Llirana leads his or her city; beyond that, they are not very cohesive and indeed more closely resemble some manner of cloister than an actual government.

The Avarel are completely vegetarian and look on eating animals with distaste. They take their food from the plant life of the lowest altitudes of the Roof, and subsist on surprisingly little nourishment. They make fine, soft clothing from the wool of the mountain sheep. Their currency is in the form of wooden coins, wood being somewhat scarce in the Roof of the World. Most of their metal tools and jewelry are traded for with the Dakoi, who give such things to them in exchange for the fine cloth they make and the delicate stonework they do; the Avarel do not mine, as they are claustrophobic and cannot stand to be closed up in caves away from the sky.

Copyright © 1999 Abigail Laughlin and the members of the Circle of Stone.