No one knows how the Kendar got to Chorane, or even how long they have been there; not even the Kendar themselves know. ''We've always been here," a Kendar will say if asked about the race's origins. ''I mean, I think so...wait a minute. Hmmm...well, I've always been here, except for that time I went exploring down that steam vent...so I guess we've always been here. Yes, definitely. We've always been here. I think."

Obviously the Kendar are a lost offshoot of the kender who roam the surface of Krynn. But no Kendar has ever seen any of these surface-dwelling cousins, so they do not acknowledge their existence. The Kendar believe only what they have seen and experienced first-hand. If another member of their particular clan swears his own first-hand experience of something, then his clanmates may believe it--maybe. Otherwise, it's strictly seeing is believing.

The Kendar have probably been here nearly as long as the Theiwar, though the two did not know of each other's existence until Amesh and his humans arrived 700 years ago, building bridges and filling the empty caverns of the land. Today, the area in which the Kendar live even borders briefly on Theiwar territory, though the two races have very little to do with each other. The Kendar do deal extensively with the humans, however, both as trading partners and simply as friends.

Despite the fact a that they have been separated from their surface-dwelling cousins for millennia, there are many similarities between the Kendar and the kender. They are about the same size (Kendar may be slightly smaller), and they look and dress quite similarly. The Kendar have abandoned the hoopak that is common on the surface of Krynn, for reasons no one knows.

The Kendar are as good-natured and cheerful as kender, but a good deal less trusting--as mentioned earlier, Kendar tend to not believe anything they have not seen themselves. They are every bit as curious as kender, but they are not as fearless or foolhardy-. They can recognize inherently foolish or dangerous behavior, and they are not nearly as likely to go rushing off into danger and have to be rescued.

Kendar can be infuriating in their own ways, however. No one can tell them anything unless they have seen something themselves with their own two eyes, they tend to not believe it. They are also very difficult to talk to, as they do not give straight answers or ever get to anything remotely resembling the point. They ramble, qualifying everything they say with ''I think'' or ''perhaps'' or ''maybe," and they have to be constantly steered back to the original subject, or they will talk for what seems like forever on nearly any subject except the one the conversation was originally about.

Of the three human tribes, the Kendar get along the best with the Ameshites. The Kendar and Ameshites share a great love of music, and this has brought the two groups together. Many Kendar attend the Ameshite's Auditions (discussed above), strictly for the pleasure of hearing the music. And Ameshites are frequent quests at the Kendar's many Clansings, a tradition that affirms each member's place in the clan through a ritual cycle of songs and dance.

The Kendar also love to discuss religion with the Ameshites. Nothing ever is resolved--the Kendar love the story of Parthenu, the First Singer, though they do not for a moment believe it--but both the Ameshites and the Kendar are delighted to find conversation partners who are willing to put up with the excesses and eccentricities of the other. To an outsider, one of these free-wheeling discussions would be the height of boredom, but to the participants, it's heaven.

In addition, the Kendar are essentially good-natured folk, and identify much more closely with the values of the Ameshites than with the Yaluu, whom the Kendar feel are quite evil and should be avoided if at all possible. The Kendar get along well with the Vodar, and they trade with the Vodar a great deal, but they prefer the company of Ameshites.

Kendar society is based around the clan, a loosely organized family unit that usually includes between 200 and 500 Kendar. There are over 100 Kendar clans in Chorane, each led by a Clan Master. The Clan masters gather three times a year, under the guidance of the oldest among them, to settle whatever issues any of the Clan Masters wishes to bring before the group. These sessions can take as long as two weeks to complete, as everyone has something to say, and they take forever to say it.

The day-to-day things governments are supposed to do are handled on the clan level. If members of two different clans have a dispute, their respective Clan Masters find a third, neutral Clan Master agreeable to them both to resolve the problem. On purely internal clan affairs, the Clan Master's word is law.

The Kendar survive in Chorane the same way as everyone else--growing brak and herding funnos. Kendar do not brew or consume dakoline, because for some unknown reason, the extract of the tannadako fungus that gets humans and dwarves drunk only makes Kendar sick.

Kendar also have a mercenary streak that is second only to that of the covetously greedy Yaluu in Chorane. Many enterprising Kendar make their living as merchants, loading their goods in a cart they wrestle through whatever sections of Chorane they can, wheeling and dealing for coins, bartering for goods and making whatever trades they can. Some Kendar even deal with the Yaluu if the profit potential is there, though the risks are quite high. A Kendar will deal in anything--pots and pans, small sculptures, jewelry, herb and spices, and even minor magical items.

The Kendar have a military, but it is neither very big nor very effective. Each clan is responsible for providing, arming, and training a squad of ten to twenty soldiers (depending on the size of the clan) who serve in the militia for one-year terms. The Kendar have offered to help the Ameshites militarily in case of attack, but they want no part of Ameshite raids on the Yaluu or the Theiwar.

There are no Kendar clerics, mainly because there are no Kendar religions (they do not believe in anything they cannot see, remember)? The ever-curios Kendar are fairly adept at magic, though there are not as many aspiring young mages because of the race's natural skepticism. Kendar love magical items, however, and will trade well in excess of their actual value to get them. A magical item is something you can see, and its effects are also (usually) visible.