Prism

The hot air of the smithy hits you like a board as you enter. Sounds of burning fuel and clanging metal ring in the air. This is the right place. As you press forward, you see the master smith finishing their craft, lifting the red-hot blade into the air before plunging it into water with a hiss.
The smith never even looks at you, not that you'd be able to tell. Their humanoid frame is taller than you even bent over the forge- you'd guess they would stand around 6'4". Their block body is gray with black speckles, as if carved from soft stone- almost claylike at parts. Swirling smoky-white crystal protrusions jut out from their body at random points. Their face is perhaps the most unnerving- lacking eyes entirely but hemmed instead with little crystal protrusions, with a large mouth made of the same smoky-white crystal.
They do not open their mouth when they speak, but you notice their back vibrate slightly as the speech radiates from their torso as a whole. The speech would, to someone from Earth, sound like a text-to-speech generator, ringing rather artificially in the air. "Be careful, stranger, I'm working. Have you come to make an order?"
Prisms are not as populous in Halika as Dryads or Humans, but they are the third most populous race in the world. Known for their long lives, their mastery of mining, metallurgy, and chemistry, and their close-knit clans, Prisms play an important role in many of Halika's societies.
As a Character Race, Prisms have the following statistics:

• +2 Con, +1 Intelligence
• Immune to poison
• Immune to blindness, cannot perceive color or smell
• Blindsense 60 ft
• 13 + Dex unarmored AC

Basic Information

Anatomy

Their size is directly correlated to the availability of minerals in the area. So, a particularly healthy prism could be around 6'5", with more resource starved groups usually being closer to 4'6". Anything in between is relatively normal. The body type is fairly uniform throughout height, being pretty stocky and well built.
They are typically a dark speckled gray with a rough texture, but have several extremly hard crystal protrusions that can be any color that a gemstone could be. These protrusions appear as a symmetrical pattern across the body, scattered across the torso, back, and limbs. Specifically, there are 4 protrusions on the "hands" and "feet" approximating to fingers and toes, used primarily for mining, and 3 on the front of the face. Underneath the thick rock surface, the crystals run in a vein like pattern, acting as nerves

Genetics and Reproduction

Prisms lack inherent gender. Prisms can reproduce asexually or in pairs, producing budding extensions of themselves. These buds grow for some time on the surface of the parent before splitting off and becoming larval egg-like young. Young Prisms take a long time to grow, and close kinship networks gather around to care for them as a group.

Dietary Needs and Habits

Prisms feed on water, salt, and minerals, preferably a diverse assortment of minerals. Some Prisms use saltwater and drudged sea silt to gather what they need; others mine salt flats and mountains to get their diverse assortment of dietary needs.

Biological Cycle

Prisms have a larval-adolescent phase of 25 years before rapidly maturing into an adult by age 30. Adults typically live until age 200 unless malnourished.

Additional Information

Geographic Origin and Distribution

Most coastal and mountainous regions sustain sizable Prism populations.

Perception and Sensory Capabilities

Sense wise, they have no sense of smell, taste, or sight. However, by vibrating the crystal structures on them, they're able to use a kind of sonar to navigate! So, in general, their hearing is pretty keen. And, finally, they communicate by using those vibrations to approximate speech.

Genetic Descendants

• Half Prism

Lifespan

200 years

Average Height

6'1"

Average Weight

300-400 lbs