Sarkrith

Sarkriths were a species of reptilian humanoids that abhorred magic and waged a quiet war against all tainted by it. They were divided into two physically similar but quite different castes: spelleaters and thanes. They were counted as scalykind by other Scaled Ones.

Description
All sarkriths were at least and weighed about. Spelleaters had light blue scales that dulled to grey as they aged. Both castes were muscular and generally lizard-like humanoids in appearance.

Personality
Sarkriths were cold, calculating, and entirely logical in their thinking; they were both patient and deliberate in their quiet war against magic. To the sarkrith, peace meant having control, and magic was far too unpredictable for them to accept, and magic in the hands of anyone meant that the sarkrith lacked control.

Spelleaters were obsessed with individual might; people were either stronger or weaker than one another, which was how the chain of command was established. They had a difficult time even grasping the concept of an exchange of equals and expected obedience from all other creatures. They saw all other peoples as being tainted by magic. Even in battle, they never seemed rushed or hurried.

Thanes were fierce, loyal, cruel, and hated magic just as much as the spelleaters. When dealing with less powerful creatures, they only spoke in the imperative; when dealing with spelleaters, they always responded with instant obedience.

Abilities
Sarkrith spelleaters and thanes were most divergent in their abilities and resulting tactics; the only abilities they had in common were their darkvision, keen sense of smell, and the ability to mask their own scent.

Spelleaters were capable of generating a ray that canceled any magical effects on whatever it touched. Additionally, any time a sarkrith spelleater successfully resisted a spell, they healed in proportion to the tier of the spell.

Thanes only took subdual damage from bludgeoning attacks, and any time they were hit with a spell that caused energy damage, they gained a measure of resistance to that energy for a day afterwards. At times, adrenaline releases in their body could boost them for a short time in combat. Thanes could also created an antimagic field with a radius around themselves once each day.

Combat
When sarkriths made forays into the wider world, they fought in coordination with each other. Spelleaters commanded the thanes, who obeyed without question and always protected the spelleaters. The spelleaters would always direct their own attacks and those of the thanes against any foe obviously using magic. If there were mutliple spelleaters in a group, then half used their dispelling rays and they other half used the composite longbows they typically carried. Thanes always preferred to use their size and numbers to crush foes in melee combat; they were dangerous, but predictable, focusing on one foe (typically the closest unless directed otherwise) until the enemy went down, then going to the next. Thanes wore plate armor and wielded greatswords and mighty composite longbows; thanes typically wore chainmail shirts and carried shields, and were known to carry either composite longbows or longswords.

Society
Sarkriths had an orderly, regimented society that had room only for those other peoples that were tractable enough to be citizen-slaves; anyone else, especially anyone who used magic, the sarkrith aimed to kill. They typically lived in underground city-states. Sarkriths on most worlds lacked the numbers to have any real power.

Spelleaters were the heart of the sarkrith species and almost always traveled with a squad of thanes for protection. They also drove the sarkrith's hatred of magic. Thanes were bred to obey spelleaters and their superiors without question.

Since spelleaters were so obsessed with individual power and chain of command, very powerful creature such as dragons sometimes established dominion over groups of sarkriths. This was a risky undertaking, however, as sarkriths were never loyal to other species.

Sarkriths spoke the Common and Infernal languages; sarkrith spelleaters also spoke the Draconic language.