Bravas

Physical Features
The Bravasians are a race of grey skinned, short, bizzare looking humanoids. Their skin is rough and leathery to the touch, and a deep ashy-grey to the eye. Their faces are nearly identical to their humanoid cousins, two eyes, two ears, one two-nostril nose and so on, though they differ in that they appear to have no chin. Their faces do not form a point at the bottom like most other races, instead making a much more ovular or even circular shape. They stand at around Dwarven height, if a little shorter, though much less rotund. Their legs take up almost 50% of their height, and are impressively muscled pretty much as a rule. Their arms always (except in the case of a deformity) have a lenght of 3/4 the length of their legs, and do not have a rule on musculature. Their torso's are unremarkable, and mostly simmilar to everyother humanoids. On the Bravasian's head, in place of hair, is a horn, usually kept honed to a point.

Male Vs. Female

 * Males and females of the bravasian race are completely indistinguishable to the untrained eye. One tell tale sign of gender is the curve of their horn. If curved upward, the Bravasian is female, if downward, male. Other than that, the two are completely the same, with what non-bravasian's would call male features.

Culture
Bravasian culture is a tightly knit clockwork of efficiency and speed. Children are parented for up to 6 months before they reach maturity.

Bravasian cities and towns are always built very spartan, with no luxuries or unneeded buildings.

All Bravasians are taught from birth that their number one priority in life is to sustain their own species and tribe from extinction, thus selfishness and greed is almost non-existant in their culture.

Love and Romance are seen as uncalled for in Bravasian culture, traditionally, when a Bravasian reaches the age of ten, he will seek out a member of the opposite gender with good characteristics, and the two will agree to mate. After 7 months (1 month for conception, 6 months for parenting) the two will go their separate ways, their task completed.

Outsiders to Bravasian Culture are very strictly monitored when in their cities. Settlement leaders know that outsiders, as necessary as they may be as allies and trading partners, can spell death to entire regions if their notions of "love" and "free time" infect the populace.

Bravasian's almost never go to war, they all realise just how fragile their existance is, and just how easily their culture could be shattered. They only go to war if it is brought upon them, or if Bravasian leaders see the need for more lands to sustain their population, and even then, they take the time to ask whoever currently owns the land, very politely, if they may have it.

The only punishment for crime in Bravas is the death penalty. Prisons are unheard of, and even if introduced would not be used anyway, as they take up both space for good Bravasians, and waste Bravasian labor on guarding them. No matter what the crime happens to be, from petty theft to mass-murder, it's the axe for a criminal.

All of this said, that is not to say Bravasian's are mindless, all-work drones. No Bravasian is ever forced into any kind of labor, and is free to do as he pleases (it just so happens that working is usually what he pleases). Many Bravasians make a living by being merchants, providing services, or even exploring the world, though these are the exceptions, and not the rule, and even if one does choose an unorthodox lifestyle, they are still almost always concerned with getting things done quickly and effectively.

Clothing

 * As much as Bravasian's hate inefficency, and as inefficent as clothing is, Bravasian's still possess some small portion of modesty, and thereby wear very simple clothes made from whatever is quickest and cheapest to make in the area, usually white cotton, or linen. No artifical dyes or complicated patterns are ever used.

Religious Beliefs

 * There is no official Bravasian Religion, though singing the praises of a mythological creature named Inevitas, a large beast made entirely out of clockwork gears and thought to be a patron god of efficiency, while working is becoming increasingly popular amongst smaller, outlying tribes and villages.

Social Structure

 * The methods of the Bravasians are fairly simple. Once every 5 years, a vote is taken for one hour of one day in every Bravasian city, this vote is done by a show of hands in the settlement's town square, or other similar plaza. This vote determines the leader or "Mak" of the Settlement, the backup leader, or "Mek" of the settlement, and the foreign ambassador from the settlement (only if a very large settlement and on a border with foreigners), or "Tel".


 * The leader stays in office for 5 years or until dead, when he is then succeded by the Backup Leader. The Leader is mostly like a mayor or govenor of any human settlement deciding law, directing public works, and so on.


 * There is no centralized power in Bravasian culture, no kingdoms or empires exist. They are merely a small conglomoration of semi-unified cities that stay out of each others way and band together in times of war(think ancient greece during the Persian Wars for an example).


 * Males and Females are, again, completely indistinguishable, not only in looks but in social status.

Names

 * Bravasian names are purposfully simple, as to save time when being spoken. All Bravasian's have one name, chosen at birth by their parents to be very short, simple, and not a repeat of a name used by anyone else in the village, as to avoid confusion.


 * All names are between 1 and 3 syllables long. Some popular names include:

...and so on.
 * Wa
 * Ko
 * Sena
 * Meta
 * Telen
 * Morth


 * When a Bravasian leaves his town, he uses his town name to identify himself in the next town, incase his is taken. So, if a Bravasian by the name of Tre moves from the town of Went to the town of Melf, he'd call himself "Tre no Went", meaning Tre from Went.

Racial Powers

 * When angry, scared, or provoked, their horns release a few drops of a powerful poison, that, when entered into the bloodstream (usually by act of goreing their opponent) paralyzes their opponent instantly for several seconds, usually long enough to get away.


 * Their long, muscular legs make the Bravasian's extremely fast on their feet, moving at top speeds of up to twenty miles an hour with a massive acceleration rate, going from 0-20 in less than ten seconds.


 * Long, hard hours of labor has honed most Bravasians into endurance champions, being able to last in a fight longer than any other race (in game mechanics, i suppose this would translate into a 10% HP bonus or something)

Racial Weaknesses

 * Lack of contact with outsiders has made Bravasian's almost unaware that magic even exists.


 * Easily spotted when trying to sneak due to their somewhat bizzare appearance.


 * Tendency to avoid war has reduced their general fighting skill, as no fighting trainers exist in their culture.

Architecture
The buildings of a Bravasian settlement differ in stages. At first, the buildings will be simple log-cabin-esque homes and buisnesses, built cheaply and quickly to get the settlement up and running, and through time and generations, they will be upgraded to diffrent materials, though they are always simple, functional, and strong.

The most common type of house you would find in any bravasian settlement would be made of wood, built in a large, perfect square with a flat roof and no windows.