WOrlD Of ArOkA

Dryn

The Lost People

Dryn are a wandering, half‑forgotten people who walk the uneasy line between the Anthropes and the Scourge. Though often mistaken for a lesser branch of the latter, Dryn insist they are something older and truer — a remnant of a path nearly lost to time. They stand roughly the same height as most Anthrope-Kin and possess similar builds. Their speech is clear and their minds sharp, yet they rarely form lasting communities. Most Dryn live as hermits, rangers, or wanderers, drifting between the territories of Anthropes and Scourge without fully belonging to either. Settlements that do form are cautious, insular, and fiercely protective of their autonomy, shaped by generations of mistrust and the constant need to remain unseen.

Unlike the Anthropes, Dryn are not believed to possess an innate capacity for magic. True magic among them is rare and often unstable, appearing only in those who have lived in places where the land seems imbued with magic — ancient craters, forgotten ruins, old valleys, or regions where the land glows with strange lights. Such individuals are viewed with a mixture of awe and suspicion.

Most Anthropes believe Dryn and Scourge to be a cursed people that were once Anthropes, but lost the features that made them unique, devolving to a mere template of a sapient being. While the Scourge fully fell to something little more than a bipedal beast, the Dryn are said to have halted their descent, retaining their tongue and wit while still losing what made them Anthropes.