Rakarian Customs Most of what outsiders know of the Cozeners comes either from direct experience or the writings or rumors from freed Vezhika who recorded much of the evils they witnessed • Personally Reclusive: Rakarth speak as little as possible and never touch anyone else directly unless a spell demands such contact • Respectful Distance: Rakar never come close to one another or exchange words, instead standing at a distance and communicating magically or with hand signals • White Clothing: The wizards wear clean, white shrouds or white straps, and tend to wear kneehigh boots • Mehkblades: They use bone-splinter rapiers called mehkblades, although apprentices beneath the Rakart rank can only polish or carry them rather than wield • Elitist Sociopaths: They are dismissive of all other wizards and have no regard for other life if it serves their physical or magical needs • Disdain for Authority: On the surface, Rakarth claim a desire to serve, though they have deep disdain for authority (unless it comes from their own ranks) • Decoy Users: The original Rakarth invested all their love in pets—mainly felines and spiders—and found wrathful magic directed its energies against these animals; learning from this, they soon used decoys hypnotized to think they deeply loved their Rakar masters Dark sorcery is fooled and directs its wrathful energies against the Vezhika innocents • Inevitable Rule Prophecy: The Rakar foresee a time when they are the rightful rulers of Khitus • Emergent Leader Prophecy: They predict that a Rakart child will emerge with unusually strong powers and any who fall under its gaze will become Vezhika…including dragons Rumors & Whispers • The common folk are dreadfully cautious of the Rakarth, terrified of becoming one of their zombielike Vezhika and unsure of exactly the methods by which such slaves fall to them • Many fear the Rakarian Apple, a drugged bit of fruit fed to new Vezhika to make them docile • Commoners are sure the Rakarth unspeakable things to their Vezhika before they are expended All hope against hope that Vezhika souls gather somewhere to exact a terrible revenge against the Rakarth one day 26 The Unknown While Dramidge lays claim to the oldest magical college on Khitus, there were far more in existence during the Classic Age than common history remembers today The ever-shifting wastelands have buried or revealed more ruins than most scholars can count over the past decades, and only the brave who find such ruins may benefit from knowledge and power previously lost to the ages • The Arklarn Door: Rumors persist of a small door, seemingly carved of moonstone or ivory, appearing on the White Spire (or other random buildings) in Brokkan Legends say that the right person’s touch on the door sends her to the off-world College of Arklarn The Arklarni were a group of female wizards and practitioners whose powers waxed and waned with the moons When a full moon sparkles, some say Arklarn’s Door has opened to send a moonmage back to help cure Khitus…though few dare venture to Brokkan to see if any such healing is imminent