Scarai
Not all beings in Laukya are born equal. Not all beings are born at all. To a scara, notions of family and childcare are entirely alien; how could they not be, to a being born from an uncaring machine - and straight into another?
The scarai are artificial entities directly created by the First Loom, an ancient relic of a long-gone civilisation capable of bringing forth sapient life from plasm. As a result of their unique circumstances, it is hotly debated whether the scarai have souls as the other races of Laukya do, though the general understanding is that they do; even so, devils tend to keep their distance, for reasons that (as is the norm with devils) none have been able to ascertain. Despite similarities between their plasm and that of an ooze, scarai lack the instincts of these primitive creatures, and while they are capable of engulfing and digesting materials like oozes, the majority of scarai see it as vulgar, preferring instead to directly absorb plasm if possible.
Curiously, Aldrastian scholars permitted to observe the First Loom at work have noticed the species seems to largely be comprised of roughly human-styled, feminine individuals, despite the variety of forms possible to create (as proven by the myriad forms the merchant houses' own plasmic servitor-constructs take). There are several theories to explain this: one is that the loom is capable of dispensing any form, but alterations in the process induced by ages of the Dimelan elite biasing its output towards themselves (a popular tradition to "secure one's legacy") happened to result in such a populace - but then, why do they come in such variety of appearance and hue? Another, that Dimela intentionally biases its populace towards the best options to prey on neighbouring nations' hormonal inclinations - but then, would other appearances not serve equally well, depending on circumstance? And a third, that the First Loom's own activation was when an explorer who, entirely by happenstance, was a female human, inadvertently gave a sample off which to base its creations - but then, with a sample size of one, why would the Loom not have just cloned her repeatedly; from whence sprang the variety in form? If any Dimelan scholars have answers to such questions, they have not shared them.
Scarai rarely last long outside of the merchant houses of Dimela, but the Aldrastian Empire does have both a small population of scarai citizenry that survived against the odds, and multiple representatives of the various mercantile factions of Dimela. It is an unfortunate reality of their cutthroat home culture that scarai are largely kept at arm's length by many who have had dealings with a merchant house; while they usually deal relatively fairly, a moment of weakness is often enough to end up bankrupt or worse, a fact which the victims of such predatory dealings are slow to forget, unfair though it may be.
Attributes
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Intellect: 10
Will: 10 Characteristics
Perception: Equals Intellect.
Defense: Equals Agility.
Health: Equals Strength.
Healing Rate: Equals a quarter of Health, rounded down.
Size: 1
Speed: 10
Power: 0
Damage: 0
Insanity: 0
Corruption: 0
Languages and Professions: You speak Aldrasti, the language of the Empire, and Oro'lin, the language of Dimela. Talents
Shadowsight: You see into areas obscured by shadows as if those areas were lit.
Fluid: You ignore the effects of difficult terrain when you swim.
Water Breathing: You can breathe air and water.
Melting Death: When you die, you collapse into a pool of plasm and spread across a flat service to a 3 meter radius. The plasm extinguishes all flames, and acts as difficult terrain. Each standing creature in the area must succeed at an Agility challenge roll or fall prone.
Flowing Step: You can use an action to briefly assume liquid form, move up to your Speed, and return to your normal form. This movement does not trigger free attacks. During this movement, you take half damage from weapons and can move through spaces occupied by other creatures. Expert Scarai
Upon reaching level 4 as a Scarai, you either learn one spell, or gain Plasmic Torrent. You also gain 4 Health.
Plasmic Torrent: When you are not being grappled, you may use an action, or a triggered action on your turn, to gain full conscious control over your plasm. You retain this control for as long as you can concentrate, up to one hour. While in this form, you gain the following benefits:
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Intellect: 10
Will: 10 Characteristics
Perception: Equals Intellect.
Defense: Equals Agility.
Health: Equals Strength.
Healing Rate: Equals a quarter of Health, rounded down.
Size: 1
Speed: 10
Power: 0
Damage: 0
Insanity: 0
Corruption: 0
Languages and Professions: You speak Aldrasti, the language of the Empire, and Oro'lin, the language of Dimela. Talents
Shadowsight: You see into areas obscured by shadows as if those areas were lit.
Fluid: You ignore the effects of difficult terrain when you swim.
Water Breathing: You can breathe air and water.
Melting Death: When you die, you collapse into a pool of plasm and spread across a flat service to a 3 meter radius. The plasm extinguishes all flames, and acts as difficult terrain. Each standing creature in the area must succeed at an Agility challenge roll or fall prone.
Flowing Step: You can use an action to briefly assume liquid form, move up to your Speed, and return to your normal form. This movement does not trigger free attacks. During this movement, you take half damage from weapons and can move through spaces occupied by other creatures. Expert Scarai
Upon reaching level 4 as a Scarai, you either learn one spell, or gain Plasmic Torrent. You also gain 4 Health.
Plasmic Torrent: When you are not being grappled, you may use an action, or a triggered action on your turn, to gain full conscious control over your plasm. You retain this control for as long as you can concentrate, up to one hour. While in this form, you gain the following benefits:
- You gain a +6 bonus to Speed. All of your movement is treated as flying, and does not provoke free attacks.
- You are immune to all damage.
- You can move freely through openings wide enough to permit the passage of water, and you can move through spaces occupied by other creatures.
- You treat liquids as solid surfaces.
- When you move through a space occupied by another creature that is your Size or smaller, the creature must get a success on a Strength challenge roll, or fall prone.
Comments