The Kraelings are the children of Land and Fire. One myth has it that in the days when gods directed the dreaming humans to construct the wall, a number of the workers wondered out into the Treacherous Lands. A few of these were taken and changed by Fire and Land, and became Kraelings; others were changed by Ocean and Sky and became the Ghouls. In this myth both races are humans who have been altered by the Powers in the Treacherous Lands.
One of the few races beyond the wall to possess a modicum of civilization, the Kraelings inspire fear and paranoia in the True Lands like almost nothing else from beyond the wall. Many stories passed on by soldiers of the Empire who returned from the Treacherous Lands speak of these creatures. Superficially human, they are a race of shapeshifting hunters who regard all other animals, intelligent or not, as prey. In their everyday form, Kraelings closely resemble humans (although a medical examination would swiftly show up differences, such as many more canine teeth and different muscle structure). However, their parents, Fire and Land, have granted them the ability to shift for brief periods into a 'killing form', which is stronger, longer legged, has enlarged teeth and claws, and is distinctly hairier. This form can persist for up to a couple of hours, and leaves the Kraeling exhausted (depending how long it held the form).
Small groups of Kraelings can be found living nomadically throughout the Treacherous Lands (or at least in those parts where anything approaching normal life can survive). They hunt and gather, driving herds of animals with them, and occasionally devouring the inhabitants of settled areas that they come across (the Ghouls often have suffered from this behaviour in the past, and considerable emnity exists between the races). However, in one particular range of mountains, the race has formed permanent farming communities in large numbers, and raised a kind of civilization.
The mountain range is divided by a great valley known to human cartographers as the Valley of Kessereth (for the imperial army explorer who found it centuries ago) and in folklore as the Bleeding Vale, a name given it by generations of imperial troops stationed in the area. Kessereth was one of the last areas of the Treacherous Lands to be conquered by the Empire; at the time, the Kraelings were living in a paleolithic tribal culture, and were butchered in their hundreds by the Empire's troops. In time, word came from the Emperor that they were to be moulded into Imperial citizens, and a permanent garrsion was established at Kessereth. A story that has not descended to the modern day from this outpost of the Emmpire is just how the garrison commanders set about achieving that. The Emperor was set up as a divine figure before the Kraelings (whose natural convictions were shamanistic), with the human race being his chosen people. It became a sin to devour human flesh, and great idols were erected to the glory of the Emperor. His chosen messengers (the army) were obeyed in all things. In return the Imperial Army did in fact bring some benefits, such as metal working and the art of writing, to the Kraelings.
In time the Empire began to decay; Kessereth was one of the first areas from which troops were withdrawn to provide for the endless wars against the Free Kingdoms. With their dominators gone, the Kraelings tried to maintain the civilization into which they had been forced. A priesthood seized control that combined ancestor worship and honoring the Emperor with the old shamanistic Power worship. Where the Imperial garrison buildings had stood, Kraelings created their first city, Ro'kat'lar. It was centered around a great stone ziggurat, at the pinnacle of which the priests carry out daily the Morning and Evening rituals, honoring and feeding Mother Land and Father Flame with rivers of blood poured down gullies and gutters of the ziggurat to the ground beneath it. The blood is frequently that of intelligent beings, and always includes some Kraeling. The gates of the temple are guarded by great stone statues of the Emperor in his little known aspect as a Kraeling.
At the present day, this basic power structure is still in place. The Kraelings of Kessereth have essentially iron age technology, and are ruled by their priests. Although Kraeling society is patriarchal in general, the priesthood is open to both genders, as all priests are neutered at commencement of their training. Kraelings would make a powerful force if they chose to attack anyone, but the current generation of high priests tends towards paranoid introversion, only interesting themselves in external affairs to committ genocide on any intelligent race settling too close for their comfort. This attitude is not universal among the junior priests, however. The priesthood keeps several semi-tame examples of ye liveliest awfulness chained up under the ziggurat, and parade them through the city on feast days to demonstrate Kraeling dominance over less intelligent denizens of the Treacherous Lands. The local wildlife is a popular subject for scholarship among the priesthood, and most creatures dwelling in the nearby parts of the Treacherous Lands are documented somewhere within the ziggurat.
Over centuries, the prohibition on eating human flesh has lapsed considerably, although the Kraelings in Kessereth still look down on such practices. The notorious exception to this is the cult of Versinya that has existed in secret in Kessereth since before the days of the Empire. Along with all the usual peversions found among such cultists in humans, the Kraeling cultists devour human flesh (which is not considered all that bad by their bretheren) and make whole meals of Kraeling flesh (which is one of the worst crimes in Kraeling culture). The ruling priests consider these people to be the main problem with their society, but have been no more successful in rooting them out than the Empire before them or the shamans of old.
Another problem that the priests see in their society is emigration. Famines and monster invasions are not uncommon in Kessereth, and the priesthood tends to deal with overpopulation issues by sacrificing people until the problem goes away. Add in the Versinya cultists, and it's no surprise that many Kraelings go looking for an easier life, often in the True Lands. The priesthood declares anathema on all such emigrants, regarding the process as threatening to their control. Those who they can claw back are tortured until they publicly proclaim the folly of leaving home, then offer themselves for sacrifice.
Those Kraelings that do make it to the True Lands cause more panic than they are aware. The journey is difficult and arduous, and so far only a few have made it; desperate, the brave, and the exceedingly lucky. There are perhaps a handful in Horizon and as many again scattered around the rest of the Four Kingdoms. Those in Horizon have formed a kind of nervous community, but are such a disparate group that they lack leaders or common purpose. However, they do represent a kind of threat that the Streetcleaners are unused to dealing with - most of the time they act just like normal citizens. By maintaining this pretence, the community may survive a while longer, but not every Kraeling is willing or able to truly live as a human. While some do indeed assimilate with human society, many abandon their rural prejudices and live off the abundant prey around them - the weak, the poor, the dispossessed. Their ability to blend in with the human population has hence made them the subject of hundreds of nightmares in the slums and other poor districts. So far, city authorities have been dilatory in dealing with this problem. Many with power are arguing behind closed doors that a small population of Kraelings in the city could join the time - honoured Malthusian instruments of plague and famine as mechanisms for keeping underclass population under control. Groups such as the Church of the Intercessor and the Beggars take a dim view of this attitude, to say the least.
Incidently, 'Kraeling' is the human nickname for these creatures. Their word for themselves is pretty well unpronounceable.