Engu

Also known as: Eragu; Geth’ra

The Eragu of the Northern coasts tower over their southern cousins. They live on the borders with the Delgon lands and are bitter enemies of the Dhogu raiders who often launch attacks on their villages. Eragu Captains are often accompanied by their loyal Kahela hunting beasts.

The Engu have always been a very proud race. They live of some of the harshest regions of the Empire, having to survive bitterly cold winters and persistent raids from the Dhogu. They are renowned warriors and we employ numerous bands of mercenaries across the Empire. While they are too large to ride the enuk of the knightly orders, they are still valued as warriors in their ranks.

When the Empire was first formed, the Engu welcomed our emissaries and enthusiastically joined the fledgling empire. They had always been a remote, isolated people, but the Empire brought traders and access to a world that hadn’t previously been aware of. Since that time, many Engu have joined the knightly orders, or ventured south to find jobs. Those that remained enjoyed a period of prosperity as their skills and goods were highly sought after. The fubarnii of our Empire almost universally fear the sea, but the Engu will willingly venture into the unknown and are masters when it came to creating seaworthy ships. Their shipbuilders and crews are always in great demand and their ships and boats can now be found across the empire.

The greatest of Engu cities is that of Tonueil (pronounced Ton-ooway). The city itself is small by the standards of the empire, but has great shipyards stretching along the coast. It is situated on a broad bay, with rocky outcrops that shelter it from the worst of the storms. There are numerous smaller settlements in the caves in the surrounding cliffs, but the town itself is almost entirely above the surface. The main dwellings are concentrated together, with some even extending over the water.

The shipyards are supplied with wood from the south and the Engu seem to have managed to come to an unspoken agreement with the spirits of the forest to harvest the trees as long as they do not venture too deep. During the warmer months the logging crews have had to contend with raids from the devanu tribes that they refer to as ″ghost claws″, but those attacks are less of a nuisance than the Dhogu raiders that are a constant threat across the Enguan territories.

The Engu have many small settlements scattered throughout the islands off the coast. These islands are cold and windblown, but the residents nurture the dwarf yirnak that they share the islands with. The islands are also protected from the Dhogu raiders that only rarely brave the waters.

One advantage of the cold territories has been that the devanu have never been able to rule over their lands. This has not however made them soft, for they fight constant skirmishes with the Dhogu tribes that plague these territories. From my time spent in their lands it is clear that the Engu are very loyal to the Empire, I spite of the fact that it provides very few knights in their defence. There is a small garrison to the far south that watches over the borders with the Naralon forests where the devanu ″ghost claws″ are known to hunt. While our Emperor has increased the Knights in the Northern territories to try and deter the Delgon from invading too close to the heart of the Empire, the distant lands of the Engu have been left to defend themselves. I fear that the Engu may not be able to repel a large scale attack from the Delgon, should they decide to concentrate their attacks. I recommend we divert a portion of our forces to prepare for such an attack.

Fubarnii are quite diverse in their morphology. Engu have a more pronounced change when they transition to the kopa life stage than most Fubarnii. The nasal horns are rare in other parts of the empire, but common for the Engu. You could theorise that the development of the horn links to a small tusk often found on hatchlings that helps them cut through the hard shell of the egg, but the Engu would loudly disagree with that hypothesis… And mainly it’s because they are well’ard!