Tortle

What many tortles consider a simple life, others might call a life of adventure. Tortles are born near sandy coastlines, but as soon as they’re able to walk on two legs, they become nomad survivalists eager to explore the wilderness, experience its many wonders, put their skills to the test, and make new acquaintances.
A tortle hatches from a thick-shelled egg and spends the first few weeks of its life crawling on all fours. Its parents, old and near death, spend what little time they have left telling stories to their offspring. Within a year, the young tortle becomes an orphan, though not before it learns to speak and to survive on its own.
A young tortle and its siblings inherit whatever tools, weapons, and gifts their parents left behind. Each young tortle is expected to fend for itself. It leaves the place of its birth and finds its own corner of the wilderness in which to hunt, catch fish, and get by. With each passing year, a tortle hones its survival skills. It forms friendships with its neighbours while also respecting their privacy. At some point, a tortle feels an almost overwhelming urge to venture far away from home and see more of the world. It gathers up its possessions and heads into the wilderness, returning months or years later with stories of its exploits and new skills.
When a tortle nears the end of its natural lifespan, it seeks out a mate and procreates. Tortles lay their eggs (numbering as few as one or as many as a dozen) in a fortified compound enclosed by stone walls that are easily defensible. If no such compound exists, they build one. The parents spend the remainder of their lives guarding the compound, defending their offspring, and sharing a lifetime of knowledge before they die. When the children are old enough to leave the compound, they pick up whatever weapons and tools their parents left behind and set out on their own.
Tortles don’t have their own pantheon of gods, but they often worship the gods of other races. It’s not unusual for a tortle to hear stories or legends related to a god and choose to worship that deity.
Tortles believe that night and day watch over them and other creatures. The moon is the eye of night that watches over them in darkness, and the sun is the equally vigilant eye of day. Tortles feel most at peace when one or both of these “eyes” are looking down on them. They become more nervous and uneasy when neither orb is visible in the sky. Tortles tend to be most uncomfortable underground, where neither the sun nor the moon is visible to them.
Blessed are the days when both the sun and moon are visible in the sky at the same time. Tortles often choose such days to leave their homes and begin a wilderness expedition, or perform some other task they know to be dangerous.

Basic Information

Anatomy

Tortles are humanoid tortoises. They walk upright with a ponderous, rolling gait. The creatures have leathery, reptilian skin and shells that cover their backs and bellies. An adult Tortle stands just under 6 feet tall and weighs more than 750 pounds.
Tortles have no hair; their skin is mostly olive or blue-green. Their back shells are usually shinier and darker than their skin, while their front shells tend to be lighter, with a yellowish cast. A Tortle's mouth is beak-like and toothless and can deliver a vicious bite.
Tortles are stocky, but most of their weight comes from their shells, so they tend to remain at the same weight throughout their adult lives, never growing fat or thin. Their arms and hands are shaped like those of humans, but thicker. Tortles can wield most weapons as easily as humans, though they usually do not wear clothing, only sometimes wearing cloaks, belts, or harnesses for carrying tools and supplies.

Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Tortles prefer simple, non-gender-specific names that are usually no more than two syllables. If a tortle doesn’t like its name for whatever reason, it can change it. A tortle might change its name a dozen times in its life. Tortles don’t have surnames or family names.
Examples:
Male and Female Names: Baka, Damu, Gar, Gura, Ini, Jappa, Kinlek, Krull, Lim, Lop, Nortle, Nulka, Olo, Ploqwat, Quee, Queg, Quott, Sunny, Tibor, Ubo, Uhok, Wabu, Xelbuk, Xopa, Yog