Isolated Mountain Dwellers. Yakirians stand 7 feet tall and are covered in shaggy fur with two horns growing from their yak-like heads. Yakirians live in an isolated caste society that promotes efficiency and cooperation.

Resilient Enlightenment. Yakirians are a spiritual people, maintain a tight balance between mind, body, and spirit.

Heart Eaters. Yakirian ritually consume the hearts of humanoids and giants to absorb the creature's knowledge and strength, and to bolster their battle prowess. They also perform this as a funeral rite as the most respectful way to honor and preserve the knowledge and strength of the departed.

Nemesis of Leng. While most of their population is nomadic, the heart of yakirian society lies on the remote plateau of Leng. Yakirians are a bulwark against the twisted creatures of Leng, and believe their primary purpose is to prevent the spread of that dark influence.

Variant: Schism Yakirian

Yakirian culture is split. One side holds to the oath of enlightenment, while the other encourages devouring the souls of their enemies. This affords the yakirian greater power but destroys the victim's soul in the process. The different yakirian groups still work together other to oppose the remnants of Leng.

A yakirian who follows the divergent philosophy gains the following special trait.

Soul Consumption. When a schism yakirian consumes a creature's heart, it also consumes the soul. The duration of the benefits increases to 8 hours. In addition, the yakirian gains advantage on all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws, and all attack rolls made against the yakirian have disadvantage. The soul is trapped within the yakirian for 24 hours, after which it is destroyed. If the yakirian dies before that time, the soul is released. While the soul is trapped, any magic used to revive the dead creature fails unless the caster succeeds on a DC 15 spellcasting ability check. Once the soul is destroyed, only a wish spell can bring it back.

A schism yakirian has a challenge rating of 3 (700 XP).