Charr

The door swung inward on well-oiled hinges and revealed a powerful and lithe female charr standing at the threshold, younger than the general but no less impressive. She towered over Dougal, and the tips of her short horns brushed against the door’s lintel as she entered. Her black lips were drawn back over her full set of vicious, gleaming white teeth and fangs, as if in a perpetual snarl. Her heavy yellow eyes scanned the room, assessing everything and everyone in it as a threat and then dismissing them as beneath her notice. Where exposed, her amber fur bore black stripes on it, like those of a tiger, although a tuft of the snowiest white poked out from beneath the collar of her armor, right above the hollow of her throat. The armor that covered most of her fur moved as silently as she did, oiled for stealth as well as combat. She bore no weapon in her hands, but she didn’t need one. She had her talons extended, each of which looked as sharp and long as a dagger. —Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb, Ghosts of Ascalon

The charr are a fierce race, famous for their mighty feats of invention and engineering as well as for their conquering legions. It is sometimes said the charr were born for war, and this is a claim that most of them would proudly agree with. In their society, everything and everyone has their role to play, and should treat that role with utter seriousness. From churning battlefields on the front lines of battle, to the great foundries and forges in their fortresses of black metal, to the sprawling livestock ranches that feed their nation, the charr value their crafts above all else.

Strong and Fierce

Charr are reminiscent of nothing so much as enormous predatory cats, like lions or tigers standing on two legs, though they are distinct in that they have four ears and a set of large horns; these horns vary in size and shape from individual to individual, and what little jewelry the charr make mostly takes the form of engraved metal bands fitted to them. Their fur likewise comes in a variety of marking patterns and shades of grey, brown, or red; many charr also have a longer mane of fur between the shoulders and on the back of the head and neck. Males are more heavily built, with more prominent teeth, and male charr have less fur on the tail with a longer tuft only on the tip, while the female's tail has longer fur along the whole length.

Charr are usually taller and always bulkier than humans, usually standing head and shoulders over them at between seven and eight feet in height and often weighing over 300 pounds. The combination of their appearance and sheer size means that many members of other races consider them intimidating and will give them a wide berth.

Credit: ArenaNet

Legion Over All

The charr are a military culture and their society is built around military units, which charr become a part of from childhood. No matter a charr's vocation, they are always viewed as a soldier and view life like a soldier. Weakness and foolishness from individuals is viewed with particular contempt.

Charr don't typically have regular family structures by other races' standards and they have very little contact with their parents or offspring, though they sometimes keep tabs on each other. As soon as a cub is weaned, at around a year old, they enter their first warband and they are trained together as a military unit. Warbands are viewed as a charr's family and the members of the band usually regard each other as siblings.

The charr military society is broken up under the four High Legions: Blood, Iron, Ash, and Flame. Blood Legion is primarily concerned with traditional battlefield warfare and is the largest of the four; Iron’s portfolio covers fortifications and siege warfare, and is the source of most of the charr’s technological innovations; Ash is in charge of covert operations; and lastly Flame leads most of the charr’s magic-using soldiers, and is tied with Ash as the smallest of the legions.