Igundans

Adult igundans typically stand about feet tall (though they often slouch). They have roughly three foot long tails.   Their heads and faces are a combination of humanoid and rat, leaning heavily towards rat.   Males and females average the same size, agility, and strength as each other.   Igundans are equally comfortable standing upright or taking a quadruped stance. They have greater speed on all fours than when walking upright, but their front paws have the full dexterity of most mortals so allows full tool use and all the other advantages of bipedalism.   While not especially mighty in battle, igundans are noticeably resistant to extreme cold, extreme heat, hostile spells, external mind control, passive magical mutation effects, disease, and poison.   They are not immune to any of these things, but they have above average resistance to all of these things. They can also hold their breath a fairly long time and they can go longer without food or water than most other mortals but they do have to gorge themselves after fasting or die painfully.

Igundans reproduce sexually in the matter of most mortals. Pregnancy tends to last about 170 to 180 days. Roughly half of births are singular and roughly half are twins. Twin pregnancies take a bit longer to gestate, so they rarely are a surprise for the parents.   Igundan ratlings are typically weaned after about two years and grow into full adults by age ten. Their typical natural life span averages around 57 years.

Igundans prefer to live underground but they don't have to stay underground. They aren't harmed by sunlight or any other aspect of the surface of Scarterra.   Korus created igundans to survive. As such, they can survive almost anywhere. That said, Korus did not create the igundans to be survivors, not conquerors or invaders. Most of the surface of Scarterra is already claimed and Scarnoctis has far greater empty territories to claim.   Igundans are naturally skilled swimmers and can hold their breath longer than most other mortals of comparable size, but they aren't fish and they cannot survive underwater though they can and do thrive in wetland areas.

Igundans are omnivores, able to eat a wide variety of animal and plant matter. They have strong perpetually growing teeth, so they can chew and swallow foodstuff than humans and demihumans cannot handle.   Igundans on average have stronger constitutions against illnesses, poisons, and toxins than most other mortals, though they still prefer to cook their meat, and they can still get intoxicated from alcoholic beverages.

Igundans have human equivalent intelligence in reasoning capacity, maybe even a bit better because igundans, especially young igundans, are fast learners.   Igundans pick up new languages and new skills easily but they rarely reach the heights of specialization and rarified knowledge of the greatest human subject experts and sages.

Igundans have visual acuity slightly below that of humans but their smelling and hearing is far superior. On the whole, Igundans have great sensory abilities and the intelligence to gather information from the "noise" around them.   Igundans have a phenomenal innate sense of direction, even if an Igundan knocked unconscious and dragged a long distance away into unfamiliar territory, he or she can instinctively know which direction to go to find familiar territory.

They have assimilated the basic technological practices of most other races in Scarnoctis though the ratfolk usually take a jack-of-all trades approach leaning many skills and practices but rarely rising to the level of true experts.

The igundans have their own language. Which is difficult for outsiders to learn because it involves very high and very low pitched sounds beyond the hearing range of most other mortals.   Igundans can and do learn the languages of other mortal races fairly easily.

Igundans can handle fairly hot and fairly cold climates naturally, so they rarely require clothes, so they normally let it all hang out.   Igundans recognize that other mortals often have nudity taboos, so If they are trying to approach outsiders, they will often cover up their naughty bits.   They also will wear simple armor if the situation calls for it, but they dislike heavy armors that constrict their movement.

Nearly all igundans view Korus as their main divine patron and protector though they tend to at least give lip service to the rest of the Nine.   It is generally believed but not proven that Korus did not make the igundans alone since almost all theologians agree that mortals with multiple creators are stronger than those with one creator and if Korus clearly wanted the igundans to be surviors so he probably brought in help.   Korus is on fairly friendly terms with most of the Nine and is speculated to be romantically on and off with every goddess among the Nine so it is widely believed that Khemra, Nami, Greymoria, and/or Mera were involved with the creation of the ratfolk.   Whether or not these deities had a hand in their creation, igundans are more likely to worship Phidas, Greymoria, Mera, and Nami comparably more often than the rest of the non-Korus members of the Nine.   As the igundan races grows and disperses, new cultural groups are emerging from among the ratfolk, and this means each new group is developing it's own cultural and religious practices.

The Nine are very powerful, but their power has limits.   In Scarterra, it is argued whether or not the Nine are truly equal to each other, but when theologians speculate that the Nine are not fully equal, it is common to assume Korus (full name Korus Mubete) is one of the most powerful if not the most powerful among the Nine.   In Scaraqua, Mubete (full name Mubete Korus) is one of the Seeyirah, the daughters/sisters of the Sea, the most important goddesses of the sea. At worst, Mubete is equal to her sisters. At best, Mubete is actually the strongest of the Seeyirah.   The point of this is that because Korus/Mubete is a big dog/big fish in Scarterra/Scaraqua, his/her power is being stretched thin. In Scarnoctis, Korus is easily the least influential deity underground. For a long time, Korus barely lifted a finger to address Scarnoctis at all.   After not one one, but two cataclysmic Unmakings, Korus wanted to hedge his bets against a potential Third Unmaking.   He noticed that a lot of subterranean races weathered the storms better than surface dwellers and that eons of evolution and disaster was reshaping Scarnoctis in unforeseen ways as the Nine's collective rejects were often sent underground.   The igundans were created to be Korus' eyes and ears underground. Also, they are Korus' contingency plan, so he can have still have servants to carry out his wishes if all of his older followers are lost.   Igundans' influence on greater historical events is relatively low so far. They are younger than humans(species:3500e1e3-3c3f-4e32-87d9-8c53faa2dd1d) and not especially numerous.   Generally when they move to the surface world in numbers, they are met with hostility "EEEK giant rat!"   Their numbers are growing and expanding, and the igundans are already one of the most numerous races underground.

Most igundans try to work peacefully with other races or avoid them but as the igundans grow and factionalize, more individual rats and groups of rats are considering adopting more aggressive stances towards outsiders.   But for now igundans were created to survive anything and more often than not, their drive for survival leads them to conflict avoidance.