Though the Nagassa are long gone and forgotten they have left some lasting legacy for Eidon in the form of the Aardn, allthough the Aardn don't remember their own origins. They were originally created by the Nagassa as living tools for construction and digging the vast underground passageways connecting their cities, after the Nagassa vanished the Aardn were left behind on their own, barely more intelligent than simple beasts they evolved over time and formed their own civilization, far away from the Nagassa ruins. They eventually found the Nagassa ruins again many generations later and blocked off those tunnels that opened up into the abandoned Nagassa cities, though they don't know why they fear those ruins and believe it is best they remain lost and forgotten.

These days the Aardn are doing fairly well for themselves, having created their own underground kingdom and cities, and trading gems and ores with the surface through the Lipane with whom they have direct access to their cities unlike the other races on the surface who have never even seen any of the Lipane cities since hardly anyone is allowed to enter. While the Lipane can live above ground the Aardn tend to avoid the surface where they are as good as blind during the day so they only come out at night or during a cloudy day, always wearing their hoods or closed helmets to shield their eyes from the light, or darkened goggles if they really must venture to the surface on a sunny day. When dealing with any surface dwellers other than Lipane they often wear large mitts to hide their large claws which can be unsettling for some, but these claws and large hands help them dig through the soil with great ease, and where digging is more difficult they can use their weapons to dig and mine. Their weapons in fact are a reminder of their origins as they were based on the tools they would use while serving the Nagassa, preferring to use war picks and shovel-like polearms. Due to their poor eyesight on the surface they do not use ranged weapons often, relying on their mages for ranged combat if they can't rely on their tactic of tunneling under the opponent and attacking from behind enemy lines.

A select few Aardn have found employment on the surface as spies, thieves and assassins with the underworld guilds, being well suited for those jobs as they are exceptionally stealthy despite their more bulky stature, and even their heavy armor is designed to be nearly noiseless. This is because there are things in the underground that are rightfully feared which react to sound, making stealth a necessity in their daily lives and it is a lesson they learn from a young age when leaving the safety of the city. Though omnivorous their diet mainly consists of domesticated rock worms but they also keep and breed a type of blind cave lizard and catch bats in the upper caves by the surface, and they have also learned to farm several types of roots and root vegtables such as rock carrots which are their main trade goods with the Lipane. (Aparently the Lipane absolutely love the rock carrots, more so than the regular ones grown on the surface.) Mushrooms are another type of produce cultivared by the Aardn as a food source and an ingredient and reagent in potions and spells. Aardn mages use a form of sonomancy, though it differs from how the Dakkaran sonomancy works as theirs is on a higher frequency which most cannot hear, including the creatures of the underground. They can also use this as a kind of echo location to allow them to see ahead of them in the pitch black darkness.

Though you might not expect it the Aardn are quite musical and probably would make decent bards, even though their claws make it difficult to play some instruments, so they had to create some new ones for themselves to not only use with their claws but also resistant to being damaged with them. It's not uncommon for the Aardn to hold big musical events in the city as the noise helps to prevent some monsters from gettign too close to the city, but also for religeous ceremonies. Since the Aardn have forgotten their origin they created their own religeon, worshipping a diety called the Mother of Worms who appears to be a snake of some sort, perhaps an unconcious memory of the past when they were kept and fed by the Nagassa, since their deity is responsible for providing them with food and protection.

Made in Hero Forge
Characters belong to me  Chakat_Blackwater