Red Sages (ROH-jeen VAR-ee)

The Rojin Vari are an extremely unpopulous ancestry that almost entirely keeps to the boreal Grendlen Forest of the north. They are based in a Monastery built into the side of the Roðinn-Sí ("roh-jeen shee") mountain. These forests are prowled by dangerous megafauna, whom the Rojin Vari hunt (and some say control).
The common term is Red Sages, and they're very rare (but not unheard-of) visitors to places of learning in global civilization. Pairs of wandering scholars occasionally visit libraries and places of learning in information exchanges. secretly they're

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seeking out and removing potential elements of their history/curse from other History books

. and they're dealing old records (and natural science (including biology) texts) that their extremely-old ancestry maintains in The Red Monastery.

Discipline

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Rojin Vari practice self-discipline to manage their hunger for blood. They do not feed on mortals for two reasons. 1) as part of their martial culture, other mortals are unworthy. 2) it could lead to people discovering the vampirism. they do feed on the blood of the predatory fauna they hunt. Incidents in which they've been witnessed covered in the blood of their prey have been massaged into stories that they coat themselves in the blood of prey in order to lure larger predators for hunting.
They also carefully manage histories of them, and after centuries of censoring, stories of vampires are wholly missing from the world.

origin

the Rojin Vari arrived in the conjunction from the same plane as the orcses (unless i need to change that later).

Mechanics

Drinking blood is just part of their metabolic process. They can only reproduce via propogation. Biting a victim infects them with some enzyme that's used in their blood-drinking physiology. if the victin doesn't get killed in the process, it turns. (in fact, some failed hunts have resulted in Blood-cursed Megafauna). science: that enzyme (within the sage) alters the blood so that it can be used by the sage. when bits of that enzyme are left in a surviving creature, it alters the blood gradually until the whole body becomes a sage.

Sects?
* spider (giant silk spider)
* bat (develop giant bats)
* wolf (develop giant wolves)

Magic/Religion.

A form of animist buddhism where enlightenment and self-mastery unlocks magic of their blood/curse. among some that's wildshape. in others it can be casting magic sources - either arcane or divine. For the sake of progression, that means that the sage develops their abilities by mastering the urge and surpressing it. so giving into the blood-feeding would actively slow their development.

common class archetypes

beastmasters who actually 'domesticate' creatures from Grendlen Forest. hunters/rangers. Barbarians/berserkers. maybe druids. monks obvi. fighters. assassins trained to eliminate exiles without allowing them to make a scene and expose themselves.

Terms

The Red Monastery - their monastery
Rojin [roðinn]Dyr ("roh jean deer") - exiles
Rojin [roðinn] Vari ("roh jeen vah ri") - the people. aka "The Red Sages"
roðinn-Sí ("roh jeen she") - the mountain

Trade

They make jerky of the beasts they kill (because

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they're mostly drinking the blood,

they need very little meat and gain little from it. like eating corn) and trade this to/from the few ships that are allowed to dock there (individual permits. the Red Sages value their privacy).

Weaponry

the best use quarterstaves as to prevent excessive blood loss. Others use Estocs (some maintain the knowledge of human katana). Manu use darts (release enough blood to aid in tracking but not wasteful)
to wield a slashing blade is to say "i'm ok with your blood being wasted" - used against other vamps or against unworthy foes.

Clothing

There are stories of them coating themselves in the blood of prey-animal to catch the attention of apex predators when they hunt. handicap themselves but that does fit the vibe of their hunts.

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but those stories come from the few witnesses of their post-feast mess

. they are hairless and wear pelts. They sometimes wear robes/wraps (red) woven from spiders/silk-worms (something like that but a new fantasy animal) native to the Grendlen Forest.

Appearance

hairless. range in height from orc height to dwarf height.

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essentially the previous living body just moves on the slider toward 'generic create-a-character', moderating exaggerated features toward a middlepoint

They wear pelts from the creatures they kill. They don't reproduce physically, so they don't have much of a concept of nudity/genital-taboo. clothing typically covers the torso for warmth, and arms/legs left free for agility.

Within their society there are no gender roles or concepts of gender. exiles who leave or Sages who spend time in external society sometimes experiment with gender and examine it.

general ideas:

peach trees grow at the edges of the Grendlen Forest forest.

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just a flavor note. peach wood harms jiangshi

note to self on art: use an octagonal (dharma initiative lookin') shape called a Ba-qua mirror in their designs.
warning bells hung at the edge of the forest. ringing a bell was the fair way to warn people that jiangshi were being transported by.

Mechanics

something with poison - like resistance or maybe vulnerability to it. Great Sense of Smell. strength/agility. discipline/thirst mechanic.

Meta

Architecture: shaolin monk architecture on mountainside
food and culture:jerky, martial arts, hunting
names:conventions from Yautja, chinese, norse
general inspiration:'Dark Angels' + 'Blood Angels' + shaolin monks + jiang-shi + askurgans + werewolves
themes: an organization controlling/suppressing the natures of its members (but for good (is it justified in this case? in any case?)
recent events: increasing problem with bloodcursed megafauna (an injured bloodcursed fauna is failing its hunts a lot. adventurers investigate, find this out, and put it down)
setpieces when visiting:
tropes leaned on: refined sophistocation, secretive, uncontrollable beast nature
tropes inverted: western nobility/sophistocation -> eastern sophistication in discipline
Crisis/Doom: their curse being found-out.

happenings: could be that some author wrote the story of a vampire and had to be 'removed'. either he died/went-missing and the manuscripts (all but one that the players find!) destroyed. either that manuscript gets out AND POPULAR. or an investigation into the murder may lead to the Red Sages.

Scientific Name

Rojin Vari