Crest of Avalon Sealtuans vs Clockwork Avalon Sealtuans
Crest of Avalon Sealtuans
The sealtuans are a nomadic race quite adapted to living in and on the water. They have lived on the islands off the coast of the continent since time immemorial. The sealtuans claim they were present since the dawn of time and the creation of the species, saying that they are the race born of water just as humans were created from fire, dwarves from earth and elves from air, but some evidence suggests they originated as half-elves who interbred with the true race born of water. There is little evidence to support this theory, as the sealtuans' unknown ancestors remain quite absent and probably extinct. Their society has become one ruled by a loose confederation of nobles, all of whom answer to the Jelkeshans. As members of the Mandate, whether they like it or not, sealtuans are usually treated as second-class citizens. Sealtuans are forbidden under Jelkeshan law from owning gold or land, preventing them from ever getting above middle class without leaving their homes.
The Jelkeshans have been occupying the sealtuan floating cities since roughly six hundred years ago, but only closed the net and took over the whole of the sealtuan nation just a decade ago.
Personality: To the sealtuan, family comes first. All else is second. They take care of each other, look after each other, and work side-by-side with each other pretty much from birth until the day they die. Most sealtuans couldn't begin to contemplate abandoning their family, and distant relations treat each other just as warmly as first cousins or siblings. This creates a unique solidarity in the race, one that could very easily result in the sealtuans uniting to overthrow the Jelkeshans.
By contrast, the sealtuans are very suspiscious of outsiders. They are actually rather xenophobic, a fear not entirely unfounded given their history with the Jelkeshans.
Physical Description: Sealtuan height ranges from under five feet to about six feet tall, and weight usually ranges from one hundred to one-eighty pounds. Sealtuan men are taller and heavier than sealtuan women, but the difference is less pronounced than is found among humans. Sealtuans are more graceful than humans, but also lack their strength. The sealtuans are usually almost identical in appearance to half-elves, though most think it the other way around, and have hair ranging from light brown to almost black - a marked difference from the fair-haired Jelkeshans - with the fair, smooth skin that marks half-elves. Their eyes are almost always a shade of blue or green, with the only exceptions being the ones whose eyes are violet. Some sealtuans have hair matching their eyes, and it looks fairly natural on them. The rarest are the sealtuans have scales, usually in patches of metallic blues, greens, purples or golds, and only a handful of sealtuans in a generation have scales all over their bodies. These scales are usually regarded as a sign of bad luck - gold scales being the worst luck. Some Jelkeshans find it a matter of pride to own a gold-scaled sealtuan.
Relations: Sealtuans are pretty xenophobic, and dislike humans because they lump all humans together in with the same group as the Jelkeshans, and dwarves in with the same group as the humans. Thus, relations between the races are generally unfriendly, although sealtuans have been known to form individual friendships with humans, dwarves, and other races.
Alignment: Though they tend to respect family, a lawful trait, most sealtuans are too free-spirited to be much of anything but chaotic alignments. They aren't necessarily anarchists who exist to destroy, but they do dislike governments and laws on general principle. Morally, sealtuans tend towards neither good nor evil, looking after themselves and their own without much compassion or malice for outsiders who don't interfere with the sealtuans.
Sealtuan Lands: The only lands the sealtuans can really call their own now is the Sealtuan Archipelago, a cluster of islets south of the Jelkeshan Isles that ranges from small rocks jutting out of the ocean to small islands with a patch of forest on them - most of those are too marshy to really be of much use, though.
Religion: Sealtuans approach religion fairly casually, and often don't understand the depth of faith humans and dwarves can exhibit. One of their favored patrons is Taelessa, although some of the sealtuans more violently opposed to the Jelkeshan occupation reject her as demanding that the sealtuans be too passive about accepting the Jelkeshans' occupation.
Language: The sealtuan language is Palaou, a language given to many vowels and few consonants, with almost no hard consonants. People mock it by using ululations, and even the sealtuans will admit that it isn't exactly the most well-developed language when compared to Tradespeak or Gut-Tamaug. Still, they take pride in learning and speaking it and refuse to speak Tradespeak - sealtuans traveling abroad often learn Gut-Tamaug instead.
Names: Sealtuans, much like some humans, have first names and surnames, both of which are given at birth and stick for the rest of their lives. Some have Jelkeshan names, while others have more traditionally sealtuan names.
Adventurers: Many sealtuan adventurers seek fame and glory, a place above the peasant life they were born to, are rebels against the Jelkeshans, seek revenge against the Jelkeshan overlords, or any combination of the above.
Sealtuan Racial Traits
* -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma. Sealtuans aren't as strong as most humans, but they are more graceful and charismatic than the norm.
* Medium: As Medium creatures, sealtuans have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
* Sealtuan base land speed is 30 feet. Sealtuan base swim speed is 40 feet.
* Sealtuans have the Aquatic subtype, but have no trouble breathing in air due to their amphibious nature. Sealtuans have gills on their necks and backs, but they seal up so as to be all but undetectable when not in the water. They also have a pair of lungs identical to those humans have, kept separate from the gills and seal off when the gills are active. The gills function only in freshwater, and the sealtuan reacts to saltwater much like a human does to thick smoke - they have to make a Fortitude save every round (DC 15 + 1 per previous check) or spend that round choking and gagging. A sealtuan who spends two consecutive rounds choking takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage.
* Oxygen Efficiency: As sealtuans are far more efficient at drawing oxygen from air and using it than humans are, they can hold their breath for quite some time - about eight minutes, on average. Sealtuans can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their constitution score times eight before they start to suffocate. Note that using their gills counts as breathing.
* Low-Light Vision: A sealtuan can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
* +2 racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A sealtuan who merely passes within five feet of a hidden object (such as a secret or concealed door) is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. An sealtuan's senses are so keen that she practically has a sixth sense about these things - a handy trait for living and working in a world where danger can come from anywhere at any time.
* Underwater Blindsight 120 feet: The sealtuans have a form of echolocation, much like that of dolphins and whales, that enables them to maneuver in the murkiest water without much trouble. This blindsight only works underwater, and a silence spell or similar effect negates it. For some reason or another, sealtuans cannot detect each others' echolocation waves, and thus can neither confuse each other nor communicate using them. Underwater, sealtuans usually don't need to make a Spot or Listen check to pinpoint a target's location, and invisibility, darkness, and most forms of concealment are irrelevant, although the sealtuan needs line-of-sight to discern that creature or object - hiding behind something is still an effective means of ambushing an underwater sealtuan.
* Blindsense 20 feet: Outside the water, the sealtuan's echolocation is greatly reduced in effectiveness. It usually does not need to make a Spot or Listen check to pinpoint the location of a target within range, so long as the sealtuan has line-of-sight to the object. Blindsense does not negate concealment, nor does it enable the sealtuan to keep its dexterity bonus to armor class against attacks from creatures it cannot see, but it does prove mighty useful in pinpointing an invisible target's location.
* Arcane Fatigue: Whenever a sealtuan casts an arcane spell - whether successfully or not - he must immediately make a Fortitude save (DC 8 + spell level). If he fails he becomes fatigued for ten minutes per spell level, and five minutes for cantrips. If he is fatigued as a result of this ability, it has no further effect until that condition is removed. Fatigue from multiple failures will accumulate, but it will not progress into exhaustion as normal fatigue will. This trait also applies to scrolls and scroll-like items - wands, staves, and other items draw their own power and do not require much at all from the sealtuan.
* Automatic Languages: Palaou. Bonus Languages: Tradespeak, Gut-Tamaug, Allannyar, Old Tradespeak.
* Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass sealtuan takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not count (see XP for Multiclass Characters, PHB p. 60).
* Restricted Classes: None. The sealtuans are able to pursue any class they choose, although receiving magical training can be extremely difficult and they are not as gifted at it as the magi, half-elves, or elves.
Clockwork Avalon Sealtuans
The sealtuans are a nomadic race quite adapted to living in and on the water. They have lived on the islands off the coast of Fieria since time immemorial. The sealtuans claim they were present since the dawn of time and the creation of the species, saying that they are the race born of water just as humans were created from fire and dwarves from stone. While Gammerond the Creator made humans, dwarves, and other demihuman races, the sealtuans claim a different creator: Yeathan, Taelessa's father and the dark master of the depths. Since Yeathan has degenerated into an evil servant of the Ebon Flame, most of the sealtuans have abandoned his worship for his daughter's.
Sealtuan society has become one ruled by a loose confederation of nobles, all of whom answer to the Jelkeshans. As non-human members of the Mandate, whether they like it or not, sealtuans are usually treated as second-class citizens. Sealtuans are forbidden under Jelkeshan law from owning gold or land, preventing them from ever getting above middle class without leaving their homes.
The Jelkeshans have occupied the sealtuan floating cities since roughly six hundred years ago, but only closed the net and took over the whole of the sealtuan nation just a decade ago. The sealtuans have since spread throughout the Mandate, particularly the younger sealtuans who don't remember anything but life as subjects of the Mandate. The elders fear they are being diluted, that the sealtuan way of life might one day vanish from Arken.
Personality: To the sealtuan, family comes first. All else is second. They take care of each other, look after each other, and work side-by-side with each other pretty much from birth until the day they die. Most sealtuans couldn't begin to contemplate abandoning their family, and distant relations treat each other just as warmly as first cousins or siblings. This creates a unique solidarity in the race, one that could very easily result in the sealtuans uniting to overthrow the Jelkeshans.
By contrast, the sealtuans are very suspicious of outsiders. They are actually rather xenophobic, a fear not entirely unfounded given their history with the Jelkeshans. While they travel, live, and work among other races, sealtuans don't make friends with other people.
Physical Description: Sealtuan height ranges from a few inches under five feet to about six feet tall, and weight usually ranges from one hundred to one-eighty pounds. Sealtuan men are taller and heavier than sealtuan women, but the difference is less pronounced than is found among humans. Sealtuans are more graceful than humans, but also lack their strength - either in spirit or in body. While they appear to be mammals, sealtuans are actually a race descended of fish that an ancient sea-god shaped into something very similar to Gammerond's demihuman creations. As such, sealtuans - despite their similarities - are incapable of breeding with any demihuman race.
Upon first encountering a sealtuan, many drylander humans find them haunting, exotic and beautiful. Their eyes are almond-shaped and solid black save for their metallic gold, blue, green, or violet irises. Their ears are completely internal, but they do have a ribbed fin in place of each ear that they use for maneuvering. A sealtuan's skin is smooth, dark blue fading to pale creamy white on their chests and bellies. Sealtuan skin is hairless, instead covered in scales like those of a loach, too small to be seen or felt. The sealtuans have hair on their scalps matching their eyes, and thick, ridged scales growing on their backs, shoulders, forearms, lower legs, and necks in a shade matching their hair and eyes. Some have fewer scales, some have none at all, and rarely some sealtuans have bodies completely covered in fine metallic scales. Sealtuans completely covered in gold scales are regarded as bad luck and used to be abandoned at birth, but in recent years Jelkeshan nobles have taken to raising them to be personal servants and entertainment. All sealtuans have fins on their forearms, shoulders, hips, and calves as well as webbed hands and feet with rather long, slender fingers and toes. A sealtuan female's fins are thin and gossamer, while a sealtuan male's fins are thicker and sturdier. Female sealtuans have sharpened eighteen-inch-long bone spines growing from their wrists that they are adept at using as weapons. While sealtuans do have lungs, they also have gills. They take in water through their mouths, venting it out through a set of gill slits on the sides of their necks and through another set on their backs. Their gills seal up when they are out of water.
Many sealtuans have mutations from this norm, the result of their ancient ancestors' dabbling in transmutation magic on both themselves and the creatures around them. While this power once led to them having an empire that once ruled much of the world, now it only results in unusual divergences in sealtuan physiology. Regardless of physiological differences, however, these sealtuans are still able to breed with others of their race. They usually produce unmutated children. Still, sealtuans have a great deal more control over their proportions as they mature than do the demihuman races.
Sealtuans lay eggs, soft-shelled external wombs much like a shark's egg. These eggs require care for seven months, the mother keeping it submerged in fresh water and cleaning it regularly. A sealtuan child takes about fourteen years to reach physical and sexual maturity, though they are rarely considered full adults until about seventeen to nineteen years of age. Sealtuans usually live for about a century, though sometimes they can live up to two hundred years. On average, sealtuans live about as long as humans do.
Relations: Sealtuans are pretty xenophobic, disliking humans because they lump all humans together in with the same group as the Jelkeshans and dwarves in with the same group as the humans. Thus, relations between the races are generally unfriendly, although sealtuans have been known to form individual friendships with humans, dwarves, and other races.
The only race the sealtuans really get along well with are the myrmidons of Vaundei. Vaundei was an ally of the ancient sealtuan nations, and the two races are generally of similar morals and goals.
Alignment: Though they tend to respect family and tradition, a lawful trait, most sealtuans are too free-spirited to be much of anything but chaotic alignments. They aren't necessarily anarchists who exist to destroy, but they do dislike governments and laws on general principle. Morally, sealtuans tend slightly more towards good than evil, looking after themselves and their own without much compassion or malice for outsiders who don't interfere with the sealtuans. They'll generally help someone in need, but don't make a habit of looking for people in trouble.
Sealtuan Lands: The only lands the sealtuans can really call their own now is the Sealtuan Archipelago, a cluster of islets south of the Jelkeshan Isles that ranges from small rocks jutting out of the ocean to small islands with a patch of forest on them - most of those are too marshy to really be of much use. Sealtuans live more in their underwater cities, fantastic yet alien constructions of coral and stone that evince a genius of design. Sealtuan houses, despite being underwater, often have several rooms filled with air. The sealtuan population numbers about two million.
Religion: Sealtuans approach religion fairly casually, and often don't understand the depth of faith humans and dwarves can exhibit. One of their favored patrons is Taelessa, their creator's daughter, although some of the sealtuans more violently opposed to the Jelkeshan occupation reject her as demanding that the sealtuans be too passive about accepting the Jelkeshans' occupation. Many of them have returned to secretly worshipping Yeathan, though the once-benevolent god of the sea has transformed - or perhaps been absorbed - into a horrific creature known in whispered voices by many names, but most commonly as Dread Cthulhu. Cthulhu's cult is highly secretive, regarded as dangerous extremists by both the sealtuans and the Mandate. Dread Cthulhu's cultists promise a return to the old ways, the ancient ways, and promise to restore the sealtuan people to their pure state.
Language: The sealtuan language is Palaou, a language given to many vowels and few consonants, with almost no hard consonants. People mock it by using ululations, and even the sealtuans will admit that it isn't exactly the most well-developed language when compared to Tradespeak or Gut-Tamaug. Still, they take pride in learning and speaking it and refuse to speak Tradespeak - sealtuans traveling abroad often learn Gut-Tamaug instead.
Names: Sealtuans, much like some humans, have first names and surnames, both of which are given at birth and stick for the rest of their lives. Some have Jelkeshan names, while others have more traditionally sealtuan names. They inherit their surnames from their mothers.
Adventurers: Many sealtuan adventurers seek fame and glory, a place above the peasant life they were born to, are rebels against the Jelkeshans, seek revenge against the Jelkeshan overlords, or any combination of the above.
Sealtuan Racial Traits
- Abilities: -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom, +2 Charisma. Sealtuans aren't as strong as most humans, but they are more graceful and charismatic than the norm.
- Medium: As Medium creatures, sealtuans have no special bonuses or penalties due to size.
- Speed: Sealtuan base land speed is 30 feet. Sealtuan base swim speed is 40 feet.
- Type: Sealtuans are monstrous humanoids with the aquatic and amphibious subtypes.
- Sealtuans have the Aquatic subtype, but have no trouble breathing in air due to their amphibious nature. Sealtuans have gills on their necks and backs, but they seal up so as to be all but undetectable when not in the water. They also have a pair of lungs identical to those humans have, kept separate from the gills and sealing off when the gills are open. Sealtuan gills function in both saltwater and freshwater, though they tend to get a little giddy from too much freshwater.
- Oxygen Efficiency (Ex): As sealtuans are far more efficient at drawing oxygen from air and using it than humans are, they can hold their breath for quite some time - about eight minutes, on average. Sealtuans can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their constitution score times eight before they start to suffocate. Note that using their gills counts as breathing.
- Low-Light Vision (Ex): A sealtuan can negate concealment due to darkness in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination (but not total concealment). She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
- Sixth Sense (Ex): +2 racial bonus to Search checks. A sealtuan who merely passes within five feet of a hidden object (such as a secret or concealed door) is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it. A sealtuan's ability to detect nearby hidden objects is almost mystical, a fine-tuned danger sense handy for their underwater realms where danger can come from any corner.
- Blindsense (Ex): A sealtuan has a rudimentary form of echolocation much like dolphins and whales. She usually does not need to make a Spot or Listen check to pinpoint the location of a target within the blindsense's 20-foot range, so long as the sealtuan has line-of-sight to the object. Blindsense does not negate concealment, nor does it enable the sealtuan to keep her dexterity bonus to armor class against attacks from creatures it cannot see, but it does prove mighty useful in pinpointing an invisible target's location. Effects that deafen the sealtuan also negate her blindsense. Should the sealtuan receive sound-based blindsense from another source, her range improves by +10 feet or remains 20 feet, whichever is better.
- Amphibious Senses: A downside of having adapted to seeing and hearing in both air and water is that sealtuans are not particularly adept at either. They receive a -2 racial penalty to Spot and Listen checks and double the penalties for range. They also suffer -3 rather than -2 penalties for a range increment.
- Spines: A female sealtuan has sharp, bony spines on her wrists that she can use to make slashing attacks for 1d4 points of damage, using them as primary natural weapons. A sealtuan with a manufactured weapon in one hand and the other hand free can use the spine attack as a secondary natural weapon. A sealtuan monk could use them in her unarmed strikes, changing the bludgeoning damage into slashing damage and adding +2 damage to her attacks.
- A male sealtuan's body is particularly well-adapted for maneuvering both underwater and on dry land. He receives a +2 racial bonus on Escape Artist, Jump, Swim, and Tumble checks.
- Automatic Languages: Palaou. Bonus Languages: Tradespeak, Gut-Tamaug, Allannyar, Old Tradespeak.
- Favored Class: Ranger. A sealtuan with more than half his levels in this class gets +10% experience points.