Takaran Creole Translator ― LingoJam

Shovelfolk are a basal species of sophont Astutocentaurini that lives almost exclusively in the river valleys of the Takaran Western Weave. They are only one of many sapient species that belong to this clade, and they share their world with larger and more feudal relatives. They are a small yet very ancient species, having survived for over 3.8 million years and outlived all four previous iterations of global civilization. Not only that, but they are the only living sophonts that retain a cultural memory of these advanced prehistoric societies, which has led to many of Borea's other cultures to regard them as a wise and experienced race (although not everyone agrees.) Shovelfolk are mostly pacifists, living in primitive albeit egalitarian clans. Due to a fairly long cranial lifespan (about 100 to 150 years compared to the 70 to 90 years of other closely related species) and relatively slow fecundity, warfare is very rare among them, and a more subtle sexual dimorphism means that men and women are not nearly as segregated regarding their societal roles, which has likely played a part in their species' persistence across deep time. Despite existing mostly outside of Borean feudal interspecies society, they regularly cooperate with the Borean oliphaunts and the Plainer tribes in their everyday lives and are on fairly good terms with the former in particular. They are also skilled at masonry and metallurgy, and they take pride in their rather extensive use of excavating tools, particularly their namesake shovels. Their greatest achievements, however, would have to be their warrens, vast underground villages that they bore directly into cliff faces of solid rock and clay. They've been building and living in these warrens for millions of years, which has resulted in their current condition of shorter, more robust limbs and smaller body sizes (only about 3 feet to be exact.) Their distribution is largely relegated to the river valley, and as a result, their cultures and religions are largely identical to each other. Despite this, they have managed to maintain a stable population and healthy gene pool by regularly outbreeding with neighboring Shovelfolk clans. Rather fittingly, a particularly common theme in Shovelfolk cultures is their reverence for the Takara River itself, and it is a fairly common motif in their clothes and artwork.