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 that flicker in the night. Such individuals are viewed with a mixture of awe and suspicion, for their power is unpredictable and seldom understood.

Dryn occupy an uneasy place in the world. They are more accepted than Scourge, yet rarely welcomed. Some communities tolerate them; others shun them outright. A few Dryn manage to integrate into Anthrope settlements, but most live on the fringes, forever caught between two worlds. Many Anthropes believe Dryn are the “lesser half” of a cursed people — those who resisted the fall but could not escape it entirely. Dryn themselves reject this notion, claiming instead that they are the rightful inheritors of an older path, one nearly forgotten yet not entirely lost.