Phoenix

Risen from the embers of Azril's nest, the Phoenixes are a race of sentient avians who embody their creature's tempament and visage.

Physical Attributes
At three meters tall and six meters wide (wingtip-to-tip), a Phoenix carries themselves with an imposing avian stature, accentuated with the flames them waft off their golden plumage. More dangerous than their beaks or their claws, the heart of a Phoenix is a fire that can burn anything for fuel or in retaliation against an attacker. So hot is this fire, that the usual food of a Phoenix is simple water, burned up in the heartfire of a Phoenix. It warms and protects them and when a Phoenix grows too old to contain this fire (about three to five hundred years, give or take) it consumes them, erupting in a multicolored fire that covers the surrounding areas for hours. From the ashes of this explosion arises one to three Phoenix chicks, protected by their sire's deathplume for the hours they need to gain enough mobility to re-join the flock, welcomed to the flock as the next stage in their sire's life.

Society
To an outsider, a Phoenix is the vision of an apex predator - large and viscious looking, a vision of certain death. Their society defies this expectation, with Phoenixes forming peaceful flocks located around natural resources. The deathplume of a Phoenix ravages the surrounding area of flammable life and the plumes of larger Phoenixes can burn even their flockmates, so Phoenxes are peaceful creatures that avoid violence and prefer to live peacefully with their neighbours. While their claws are (just about) prehensile, their avian bodies make certain tasks difficult and thus highly lucrative for those willing to barter with a flock. Phoenix society is welcoming to a fault, with the only two forbidden acts codified in the Twin Laws of Tyranny and Harm. In practise, Phoenix society is too slow and meandering for many, but for those who can stand the endless debates and discussions, there will always be a place for the peaceful.

Emberclaves
The Utternorth Emberclave

The first of the emberclaves, and the model for all others. A total democracy consisting of all its members, the Utternorth is a peaceful nation of contemplative phoenixes who spend their days interpreting the will of Azril in the howling winds that surround their nests. The heat of the phoenixes produce an effective radius the size of a small city that is temperate for most life.

The Nevershift Emberclave

The next great exodus concerned the more materially inclined amongst the phoenix, who wished to raise great nests of stone and glass to proclaim the will of Azril across the skyline. Outvoted repeatedly by the majority of Phoenix at Utternorth, they broke off and have built a cold citadel on the peaks of the Quartz Mountains, with smaller interlinked outposts around it. They have even built two extensions in the Changelands, as the ultimate challenge to their architecture.

The Crownmakers
As a rule, Phoenixes will go out of their way to accommodate rebels and agitators, seeing them as the sign of a free society. The territories of Phoenixes are a day's flight apart, and expansions into new territories are considered a great event worthy of collaboration. But when a Phoenix cannot tolerate the democracies of the Utternorth, nor the endless drone of the Nevershift architects, this normally means they are one of the Crownmakers. Heirs to the First Tyrant or merely admirers, their is a persistent sect of Phoenixes who wish to institutes leaderships, monarchies and most heretical of all, theocracies. With the death penalty being too dangerous to institute, breaking the law of Tyranny merits banishment beyond the horizon, with death meted out if the criminal were ever to return. The vast majority of Crownmakers have settled with the disparate enclaves of Ashtiri, where they are given "leadership" roles of hunter and defender to placate them. For some, even this is not enough, and barbarian kings of Phoenixes and their terrified subjects flock the landscape between the Utternorth and Nevershift enclaves.