Ahn'Qa

Overview
The Ahn'Qa (Ǒnk-uh) are a peaceful, intelligent humanoid race that seem to be closely related to Humans. They are denoted by their ability to Shift into a quadripedal, flying creature with a birdlike face, talons, a furred and clawed hindside and a long tail. Their humanoid forms are typically quite short, only ever reaching around 5.5 feet tall at most and generally measure around 5 feet.

"Honestly, I'm a little curious about their origins myself. They were first contacted in the Spine just south of the Rift, the Heartland Elves had been finding animal carcasses and bones of massive birds washing down the nearby river and mounted an expedition up the slopes. There were about 5,000 of them up there, nests everywhere and mated pairs walking around in both their humanoid and animalistic forms, passively staring at these understandably cautious wood Elves. The accounts from the Heartland historical documents and recounted stories of the locals indicate they lived even higher up the mountain before, having been driven down by a scarcity of food, likely due to the recent introduction of the mystical Dragons in the area."


 * -Cole

Culture
A mountain-living race, the Ahn'Qa have lived in the higher points of the Spine for thousands of years, peacefully hunting and scavenging before they were discovered by the Heartland Elves around the same time as the First War.