Race in Progress: The Sabasslians

[Polycarp]

So, I'm adding a new race to the World of Ralum; it's just too human-centered, and I feel some variety is in order.  I have a name and a basic history for this race, but I can't seem to come up with any good ideas as to what they look like, what their abilities and stats are, what their society and day to day life is like, and so on.  All I really know is that I want them to be "demihumans" in the sense that they would fit visually with human society, like an elf, dwarf, or tiefling would, and like a lizardman or 10 foot stick of ambulatory margarine would not.

So, without further ado:

The Sabasslians

The Sabasslians are a human-like race from the land of Sabassl.  Practically no inhabitant of Jadanar had ever heard of Sabassl until their arrival, which heralded the end of the period known as the Migrations.  What follows is all I've written about them so far.

- The Sabasslians are, like humans and halflings, creations of the Shadan.  This means that there would probably have to be a "point" to their existence; they were useful to the Shadan in a way that humans were not, or for some reason one of the Shadan Dominions decided they were superior to humans.
- In their homeland across the sea (Sabassl), the Sabasslians were organized in a rigid heirarchy of castes, i.e. feudal India on steroids, with a magocratic upper caste.
- Their homeland of Sabassl was destroyed during the Dream Rending* when their ruling caste, the Dreamers (working title), went mad and killed most of their people.  The current Sabasslians in Jadanar are the ones that fled over the seas to escape the insane wrath of their rulers.
- The Sabasslians follow a single deity they call "the Tide."  I'm not sure if this was their deity before or after their 2-year flight by sea.  They are fanatical in their faith, and upon meeting the Ulabrians (humans) in Jadanar, proceeded to launch a bloody crusade against the "heathens," in an attempt to carve out a new land for themselves.  The Ulabrians consider them cruel zealots.  I have as of yet no idea what this faith specifically entails.
- The Sabasslians carved out an empire in Jadanar soon after their arrival; though it was short-lived (eventually overturned by the Ulabrians who they had subjugated) they succeeded in crippling the Empire of the Red Claw, at the time the greatest empire ever known since the Manifest Ruin.
- They have a distinct hatred for arcane magic - really, who wouldn't, if your ruling mage class went insane and destroyed your homeland.
- After the Ulabrians rebelled and brought down their empire, a treaty was signed between the two peoples, giving the Sabasslians land to settle in (now named Sabassl, like their old homeland), in exchange for the disarmament of their people.  Though tenuous - there is still a great deal of mistrust between them - it has managed to hold, more or less, for over a century.

*The Dream Rending is a period of time covered in my thread on Ralum in the Homebrew section.  You can check it out there if you want.