Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick
2006-11-07, 10:34 PM
Selkie
Intense and feral, the maids and males of the sea walk the land in gray-eyed melancholy and tide-mutable desire.
Oran shuddered in his bedroll at the sound of a splash; but he couldn't, didn't, resist looking as she came out of the water, body glistening and bare, teeth out and face split in a ferocious grin. The teeth shrank back behind pale, full lips, and she slipped into her robe swiftly, surely, untangling her hair with a langorous motion. He shivered again and resolved to pretend to be asleep.
Onamiuna ran her fingers along his shoulder and giggled when he jerked like a fish on a line, eyes flashing pale blue-and-gray.
"Why hog the covers, Oran? Didn't you care for my...." she pressed her lips to his shoulder.."attentions?"
Oran considered his response carefully.
"Well, it's the fish breath mostly."
Selkies are the children of the sea, semi-amphibous humanoids frequently mistaken for seals as they sun themselves on artic rocks- or, in more temperate climes, for exceptionally disturbing mermaids. They take after the sea in more respects than merely resembling its creatures, however- on the one hand, selkies are intensely sociable, attractive to most species, and cheerfully shameless; on the other, they may be vengeful, pernicious, and melancholic. Above all, like the tide and the waves that bear them up, they are changable. Those who are wise enough to remember this fact deal with them best, while others, more often than not, meet with tragedy when their Selkie wife or companion heeds the lure of the sea, turning all that holds them down out and striking for new shores.
Personality: Selkies tend to behave like the very worst things more stolid and dependable races think of Humans. Prone to fits of melancholic introspection, amorous at inappropriate moments (or toward inappropriate people), and overall either too friendly or not friendly enough, most races find the personal quirks and habits of a Selkie off-putting, at least at first, and usually for quite a long time after at first- forever, in most instances.
Even with all that, the appeal of the Selkie is undeniable- their introspection counterfeits, or in some cases actually is, poetic depth, their amour is not so unwelcome more often than not, and they are beautiful by the standards of many humanoid races; chiefly as a result of their intense, shifting gaze.
Physical description: In humanoid form, Selkies look like attractive, well-proportioned humans with cabled hair in shades of gray and moonglow white, and pale skin. Their eyes are the same deep gray as their hair more often than not, and shift with ambient lighting, now storm-blue, now cloud-dark.
In their aquatic form, their hair and skin is covered in a sheath of milky white grease, obscuring the details of their bodily features and even the face. Their eyes, in water, are protected by nictating membranes, and their teeth grow longer, suitable for catching artic fish. Selkies sprout long webbing between their digits when swimming, to the point that their arms resemble flippers, and their ears flatten back to tiny seashell-shapes against the head.
Relations: Selkies get along best with those of similarly mercurial temperment, such as Claerns, half-dwarves, or even some dwarves. Most other races are too stolid, too predictable, or simply too resistant to the jibes and peccadillos of a Selkie to be of sufficient interest; however, Selkies sometimes admire members of any race who demonstrate strength to rival their home element, or those who can weather an endless torrent of imprecations with unflinching certitude of self.
Alignment: Selkies are obviously and extremely chaotic, or, rarely, neutral- most neutral selkies are apathetic, rather than lacking in basal chaotic tendencies. Good Selkies tend to those that channel their sea-lust and sea-sadness into a certain fell pragmatism, while evil Selkies are prone to vent those selfsame emotions in destructive, feral bursts.
Selkie Lands:Selkies have no lands and maintain little enough in the way of society; some rivers and lakes are home to Selkie 'pods' of nine or so individuals, but these tend to be merely convenient places to meet a new lover or hunting partner, not true civilizations. Selkies hear much of what occurs on the waters, however, and in some cases they parlay this talent into noble holdings in seabound nations or port villages.
Religion:Selkies tend not to devote themselves to any particular deity; those that do practice true divine magic are usually votaries of gods or goddesses of the sea, change, or chaos, though some few revere powers representing passion and love.
Languages:Selkies speak common and aquan.
Names: The name of any given Selkie tends to be similar to the names given to members of the nearest convenient humanoid tribe- thus, there is enormous variation among Selkies in terms of nomenclature. All Selkies, however, generally choose the name of the body of water in which they were born as a surname; thus, all Selkies born in the Garal Sea would carry the surname Garal, and function in some respects as a vast extended family.
Adventurers:Selkie adventurers are as varied as the fish in the ocean, and as likely to come up at strange times (and some say, as likely to turn the stomach if not cooked properly). Some are simply bored, some lust after the news (and, to be blunt, the citizens) of foreign lands, some seek to uncover ancient and potent magics to grant them the power of the tsunami...and some are running. Selkies have a well-known tendency to seduce and, in happier cases, marry humanoids who live near the water; but these relationships almost always end in tragedy as the 'Sealwife' returns to the ever-shifting tides, leaving behind a distraught (or dead) husband and children to bear the burden of her loneliness. Those Selkies who flee such situations frequently see an adventuring life as a good way to make sure they never see their former loved ones again.
Selkie Racial Traits:
+2 Cha, +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Str; Selkies are swift and agile on land and sea, and, while not always likeable, are difficult to ignore. However, they are not a physically vigorous race, and their mentality is tainted by bestial urges.
Selkie base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium: As medium creatures, Selkies have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Breathe the Sea: Selkies in their Sealsark form can spend a number of rounds underwater equal to four times their constitution modifier, not the usual two, before they are required to make checks to resist drowning. When they are forced to make checks, they assess a +4 racial bonus.
This ability applies only to attempts to breathe underwater; a Selkie holding his or her breath on dry land, or in another airless environment, gains no benefit.
Sealsark: A Selkie appears humanoid out of salt water, but upon entering it, instantaneously transforms into a seal-like humanoid creature. This transformation is, in the case of salt water, involuntary; in fresh water, the change can be conciously assumed. A Selkie cannot transform out of water.
Selkies in their Sealsark form can see as far underwater as they could normally, gain low-light vision while underwater, and gain the benefits of Breathe the Sea. If a Selkie is somehow prevented from transforming, or chooses not to, they gain none of these benefits.
A Selkie's form remains mostly humanoid; they can utilize any items they could normally use or wear (weapons, armor, wands, etc.) while in Sealsark form.
Greater Call than Thine: A Selkie has a +2 racial bonus to saves against charm or compulsion effects, due to the natural call they must continually resist.
Ambergris: When necessary, a Selkie secretes an oily substances that coats their skin and hair. This substances grants a +10 bonus to saves against the detrimental effects of normal, nonmagical cold.
Favored Class: Arcanist (Heartbound) or Bard. A multiclass Selkie's Arcanist or Bard class does not count does not when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
I know, I know. I post things in big bunches and you haven't a chance to comment on them all. But please try? I really like the idea of Selkies, and I'm playing around with my Fiend Folio with utter glee....so, anyways, everyone, general of pointed impressions, away!
Intense and feral, the maids and males of the sea walk the land in gray-eyed melancholy and tide-mutable desire.
Oran shuddered in his bedroll at the sound of a splash; but he couldn't, didn't, resist looking as she came out of the water, body glistening and bare, teeth out and face split in a ferocious grin. The teeth shrank back behind pale, full lips, and she slipped into her robe swiftly, surely, untangling her hair with a langorous motion. He shivered again and resolved to pretend to be asleep.
Onamiuna ran her fingers along his shoulder and giggled when he jerked like a fish on a line, eyes flashing pale blue-and-gray.
"Why hog the covers, Oran? Didn't you care for my...." she pressed her lips to his shoulder.."attentions?"
Oran considered his response carefully.
"Well, it's the fish breath mostly."
Selkies are the children of the sea, semi-amphibous humanoids frequently mistaken for seals as they sun themselves on artic rocks- or, in more temperate climes, for exceptionally disturbing mermaids. They take after the sea in more respects than merely resembling its creatures, however- on the one hand, selkies are intensely sociable, attractive to most species, and cheerfully shameless; on the other, they may be vengeful, pernicious, and melancholic. Above all, like the tide and the waves that bear them up, they are changable. Those who are wise enough to remember this fact deal with them best, while others, more often than not, meet with tragedy when their Selkie wife or companion heeds the lure of the sea, turning all that holds them down out and striking for new shores.
Personality: Selkies tend to behave like the very worst things more stolid and dependable races think of Humans. Prone to fits of melancholic introspection, amorous at inappropriate moments (or toward inappropriate people), and overall either too friendly or not friendly enough, most races find the personal quirks and habits of a Selkie off-putting, at least at first, and usually for quite a long time after at first- forever, in most instances.
Even with all that, the appeal of the Selkie is undeniable- their introspection counterfeits, or in some cases actually is, poetic depth, their amour is not so unwelcome more often than not, and they are beautiful by the standards of many humanoid races; chiefly as a result of their intense, shifting gaze.
Physical description: In humanoid form, Selkies look like attractive, well-proportioned humans with cabled hair in shades of gray and moonglow white, and pale skin. Their eyes are the same deep gray as their hair more often than not, and shift with ambient lighting, now storm-blue, now cloud-dark.
In their aquatic form, their hair and skin is covered in a sheath of milky white grease, obscuring the details of their bodily features and even the face. Their eyes, in water, are protected by nictating membranes, and their teeth grow longer, suitable for catching artic fish. Selkies sprout long webbing between their digits when swimming, to the point that their arms resemble flippers, and their ears flatten back to tiny seashell-shapes against the head.
Relations: Selkies get along best with those of similarly mercurial temperment, such as Claerns, half-dwarves, or even some dwarves. Most other races are too stolid, too predictable, or simply too resistant to the jibes and peccadillos of a Selkie to be of sufficient interest; however, Selkies sometimes admire members of any race who demonstrate strength to rival their home element, or those who can weather an endless torrent of imprecations with unflinching certitude of self.
Alignment: Selkies are obviously and extremely chaotic, or, rarely, neutral- most neutral selkies are apathetic, rather than lacking in basal chaotic tendencies. Good Selkies tend to those that channel their sea-lust and sea-sadness into a certain fell pragmatism, while evil Selkies are prone to vent those selfsame emotions in destructive, feral bursts.
Selkie Lands:Selkies have no lands and maintain little enough in the way of society; some rivers and lakes are home to Selkie 'pods' of nine or so individuals, but these tend to be merely convenient places to meet a new lover or hunting partner, not true civilizations. Selkies hear much of what occurs on the waters, however, and in some cases they parlay this talent into noble holdings in seabound nations or port villages.
Religion:Selkies tend not to devote themselves to any particular deity; those that do practice true divine magic are usually votaries of gods or goddesses of the sea, change, or chaos, though some few revere powers representing passion and love.
Languages:Selkies speak common and aquan.
Names: The name of any given Selkie tends to be similar to the names given to members of the nearest convenient humanoid tribe- thus, there is enormous variation among Selkies in terms of nomenclature. All Selkies, however, generally choose the name of the body of water in which they were born as a surname; thus, all Selkies born in the Garal Sea would carry the surname Garal, and function in some respects as a vast extended family.
Adventurers:Selkie adventurers are as varied as the fish in the ocean, and as likely to come up at strange times (and some say, as likely to turn the stomach if not cooked properly). Some are simply bored, some lust after the news (and, to be blunt, the citizens) of foreign lands, some seek to uncover ancient and potent magics to grant them the power of the tsunami...and some are running. Selkies have a well-known tendency to seduce and, in happier cases, marry humanoids who live near the water; but these relationships almost always end in tragedy as the 'Sealwife' returns to the ever-shifting tides, leaving behind a distraught (or dead) husband and children to bear the burden of her loneliness. Those Selkies who flee such situations frequently see an adventuring life as a good way to make sure they never see their former loved ones again.
Selkie Racial Traits:
+2 Cha, +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Str; Selkies are swift and agile on land and sea, and, while not always likeable, are difficult to ignore. However, they are not a physically vigorous race, and their mentality is tainted by bestial urges.
Selkie base land speed is 30 feet.
Medium: As medium creatures, Selkies have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
Breathe the Sea: Selkies in their Sealsark form can spend a number of rounds underwater equal to four times their constitution modifier, not the usual two, before they are required to make checks to resist drowning. When they are forced to make checks, they assess a +4 racial bonus.
This ability applies only to attempts to breathe underwater; a Selkie holding his or her breath on dry land, or in another airless environment, gains no benefit.
Sealsark: A Selkie appears humanoid out of salt water, but upon entering it, instantaneously transforms into a seal-like humanoid creature. This transformation is, in the case of salt water, involuntary; in fresh water, the change can be conciously assumed. A Selkie cannot transform out of water.
Selkies in their Sealsark form can see as far underwater as they could normally, gain low-light vision while underwater, and gain the benefits of Breathe the Sea. If a Selkie is somehow prevented from transforming, or chooses not to, they gain none of these benefits.
A Selkie's form remains mostly humanoid; they can utilize any items they could normally use or wear (weapons, armor, wands, etc.) while in Sealsark form.
Greater Call than Thine: A Selkie has a +2 racial bonus to saves against charm or compulsion effects, due to the natural call they must continually resist.
Ambergris: When necessary, a Selkie secretes an oily substances that coats their skin and hair. This substances grants a +10 bonus to saves against the detrimental effects of normal, nonmagical cold.
Favored Class: Arcanist (Heartbound) or Bard. A multiclass Selkie's Arcanist or Bard class does not count does not when determining whether he or she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
I know, I know. I post things in big bunches and you haven't a chance to comment on them all. But please try? I really like the idea of Selkies, and I'm playing around with my Fiend Folio with utter glee....so, anyways, everyone, general of pointed impressions, away!