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The Mar have fought the Drakes for resources for centuries, but even the wizards fear those rare times when the Drakes organize an invasion. To better understand why, read the book.

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Broken-kneed guer

Broken-kneed guer are among the most common known races of guer. They are not especially large, standing about half the height of a Mar, and most of their height comes from the backward-bending legs from which they get their name. These guer are warm-blooded creatures, though they lay eggs. They have four-fingered hands wth no opposable thumb, but they are nevertheless quite adept at building tools. Broken-kneed guer have enlongated snouts, which they often use as snorkels, but they more often employ them as weapons. A broken-kneed guer can fill its snout with a substantial quantity of water and fire it at a speed and intensity sufficient to shower targets up to twenty yards away or cut the flesh of those within a few yards. They use these bursts of water to stun prey and drive off competitors and larger predators. They are agrarian omnivores, cultivating wild rice and supplementing their diet with small game.

Broken-kneed guer build floating, domed nests at the center of artificial lakes, which they create by damming rivers. Communities of broken-kneed guer work together closely to gather food, maintain their structures, care for their young, and defend their territory. Faced with large predators, guer sentries hoot in warning, and all members of the community retreat to the safety of the nest. If attackers are not deterred by the expanse of water between them and the nest, the adult guer fire bursts of water from their snouts from between cracks in the nest walls, minimizing the danger of return fire. Because they cultivate wild rice and seek out good planting areas for this crop, broken-kneed guer often come into conflict with Mar communities near the Fens of Reur.

(Introduction contributed by Nightfire Tradition)

Tactics

Broken-kneed guer (commonly called "waders" by mapmakers) are awkward creatures when they don't have two or three feet of standing water nearby. As with most guer, however, you are unlikely to encounter a wader outside of its favored territory. Fortunately, wader nests are clear markers of their territory, so it is generally easy to avoid a confrontation with these guer.

Wader lakes provide their first line of defense. These bodies of water are often havens for leeches and konig worms, which do not appear to bother the guer. They also provide a hiding place for submerged waders, as one of their favorite tactics is to swim into a flanking position around wading attackers and then surface with snouts spraying flesh-slicing streams of water. Some waders even build submerged snares intended to knock down or even submerge and drown unwary trespassers.

Waders seldom wield weapons, but they really don't need them, as their snouts can spray a deadly stream of water at enemies. At short ranges, this stream can slice flesh, and waders are especially prone to striking the neck and face, where even a small slice can prove deadly. Even at long ranges, wader sprays often carry several strains of Dinah's Curse. Any assault on a wader must take this mode of attack into consideration. Shields are bulky but effective, but even thick cloth held away from the body can soften this attack enough to render it ineffective. The best defense against a wader's spray, however, is a well-aimed javelin thrown at a range beyond that of the wader's stream. This is much less effective against submerged waders or waders that have taken refuge in a nest.

Wader nests are domed, floating structures of wood, reeds, and other building materials. Waders leave small slots in the walls of the nest through which they fire streams of water. The only entrance to these nests lie below the water line, making it extremely difficult for a Mar to storm one. Nests are very defensible refuges for waders, and attacks against them usually fail. Like any fortress, however, it is possible to besiege a wader nest, provided you're patient. You can also reduce the defensive value of the nest by destroying the waders' dam, though this invites attack, as the waders recognize this potential vulnerability.

(Tactics contributed by Weard Girdag Langat)