A pair of Haruchai stand, sure-footed and alert on the hills above Revelstone. The harsh peaks of their homeland, the Westron mountains, can be seen in the distance.
The Haruchai are a race of stoic martial arts masters, some of whom have achieved near immortality through an Earthpower-sponsored Bloodguardianship. They live outside The Land proper, and only the men have ever been known to explore realms unsung. Whereas Giantesses usually lead the Searches of their own kin, these blokes deem that 'em wommyn oughta stay inna yurt cookin', cleanin' an' nursin' 'em babbies, daym!
Appearance and Character[]
Shorter on average than Linden, they have dark hair cropped short, light brown skin, slanting eyes, and usually wear ochre tunics sewn together from a material resembling vellum. Due to their prowess in battle, perhaps nobody has dared to lift the hem and find out what lurks underneath. In many aspects, they stand as the polar opposite of the Giants: their range of expressions embraces a grand amount of precisely one (impassivity), their speech is entirely without emotion and they would rather face a Sandgorgonado (the Land's version of Sharknado) than crack randy jests or sing.
Talents[]
The Haruchais' talents are legendary. They are supreme masters of unarmed combat and a single one of them could kick the combined asses of Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat and Mr. Miyagi while blindfolded and with one hand tied behind his back. So profound is their mastery of bare-handed martial arts that they generally eschew all forms of weapon, though it turns out that, when in the direst of straits, they're just as proficient with these too.
The Haruchai are also preternaturally hardy with awesome reserves of stamina, so, like mini-terminators they just keep on going without ever seeming to tire. They are equally incredibly agile and have the balance and senses of a cat. On that basis, it takes an awful lot to incapacitate a Haruchai and a whole bucketload more to kill one.
By the time of the Third Chronicles, it is made clear that the Haruchai are also blessed with a form of mental telepathy which they with an all too typical Haruchai lack of imagination call "mindspeak". By means of this they are connected to and communicate with all the other members of their race. If this sounds all a little Borg and hive-mindish, that's because it is - the Haruchai are not for the most part renowned for their individuality. A number of things are uncertain about the Haruchais' mindspeak, namely 1) how long they've had this ability and 2) what its range is. Either way, they're very obviously not going to prove a fruitful market for any mobile phone manufacturer.
In the 1st Chronicles[]
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In the 2nd Chronicles[]
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In the 3rd Chronicles[]
By the time of The Third Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Haruchai have become the Mini-Hitlers of the Land, joined THOOLAH, and overall not only lost their mental marbles and chesspieces but the entire gameboard as well. To fend the realm from all evil and a new desecration, they have banned the usage of Earthpower, forbidden all accounts and stories of the Land's history, and even kicked the Giants out, possibly bruising their toes on the way.
Now calling themselves the Masters, the Haruchai have founded their lair of unwitting tyranny in Revelstone where they sit with their fingers steepled or stroke white, fluffy cats, while plotting novel, nefarious means to maintain the Landers in blissful ignorance.
Fandom[]
While many readers admit to admiring these sisu-fraught warriors, they possess a surprising fangirl in the form of a highly stylized and half-deformed equine, namely Maud Pie from Ponyville. She does her best to imitate their expressionless expressions and inflectionless inflections, to the point of making Bronies wonder if she's a robot after all.