Fey Spirit Folk

Fey beings from legends and stories with inherent fey powers.

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Barhana

Spirit folk connected to their islands.

• Lifespan : 1,000 years
• Diet: Sunlight, soil nutrients, and water
• Habitat: Forested islands
• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Barhanas appear to be anthropomorphic figures with rose pink skin, patches of bark on their bodies, and leaves for hair. Their eyes are pockets of light. When they stretch out their arms, an image of a tree appears around them.

Barhanas can elongate their arms, and when they do, the arms become like that which they are bonded to. They form tree-auras when they do this, no matter what they are bonded to.

Barhanas can bond with anything they can see and touch. Their bonding is done through touch and will - they touch what they wish to bond with, and they will the bond to happen. They can only will the bond to happen if they can see what they are touching. Once bonded, they will be able to sense that which they are bonded to at all times, be able to share characteristics of their bonded target, be able to communicate with it if it is intelligent enough to be communicated with, and transfer their own characteristics into the bonded target.

Barhanas can bond their entire being to any being or thing on the island they dwell upon and thereby connect to the entire island, permanently. If they are not dwelling upon an island, they begin to change and slowly lose their identities. If they are bonded to an island, they can leave that island and remain bonded and maintain their identity.

To bond to an island, they must find something on that island to bond with that is not self-aware or intelligent. That is, they must bond with a non-mortal on the island. Usually, this is a plant, often a tree, but it can be an animal, fungus, or natural object (stone, glass, dirt, even fog). It must be something that is naturally part of the island in order for them to bond to the island through it.

Once bonded to an island, they cannot change that specific bond. However, they can temporarily bond with anything or anyone even while bonded to the island. Temporary bonds last either until the barhana or the bonded target choose to break the bond or for about six hours for every level of success in the bonding roll (momentary for a tie, six hours for a normal success, twelve hours for a special success, eighteen hours for exceptional). To bond, the barhana rolls their bonding power against the WIL of the target, even if the target is consenting.

Barhanas can influence plants if they bond with plants. They can influence animals if they bond with animals. They can influence fungi if they bond with fungi. And so on. They must be able to see the being they bond with, so bonding with microorganisms is nearly impossible in most situations. If they bond with unintelligent things (rocks, for example), they have no influence over similar objects, only the specific one they bonded with. If they bond with another mortal, they will not have influence over other mortals nor even the mortal they are bonded with. Bonding with other intelligent beings is usually reserved only for procreation.

Barhanas can transfer characteristics between themselves and their bonded target at will, but they cannot take so much from their bonded target as to incapacitate it without breaking the bond, even the permanent bond. In fact, it is extremely dangerous for them to do this with their permanent bond. Therefore, for every point they take, they must return one to the target that is of equal weight - a base state for a base stat, a substat for a substat, a mundane skill point for a mundane skill point, a language skill point for a language skill point, an esoteric skill point for an esoteric skill point, a point of power in an ability for the same, etc. They cannot transfer bonuses from possessions, charms, spells, etc.

If the barhana takes characteristics that go beyond mere points, an equal exchange is still required. For example, if they turn their skin to stone to match a stone they are bonded to, they must let the stone borrow their skin. If they take the eyesight of an animal they are bonded to, the animal then must have their eyesight. And so on.

Barhanas are widespread throughout the world. Every community is different, based on their preferences for what they bond to. Every island has a different community, and every community identifies itself with a different aspect of their island. Most choose to bond to their islands through plants, but some do choose to bond to the local fauna or other features of the islands. Each island centers their community identity on these bonding preferences. A typical community all bonds to the same kind of plant, usually a tree. Olive, oleander, and laurel trees are the most common. In the region near the city-states, some are immigrants or slaves, others are natives.

Because of their interconnectedness, barhanas view gender as a matrix of identity, biology, and community. They universally use neutral-plural pronouns in their own languages.

Barhanas are viewed as obscure and reclusive beings. They are often though to be myths spoken of only by sailors.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 8

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Bodach

Smaller fey folk who gain power from debts.

• Lifespan : 500 years
• Diet: Common fey fare
• Habitat: Temperate hill lands
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Bodachs are fey folk standing about 4' tall. They are bald on their heads, have wrinkled skin, and disproportionately small eyes. Their backs are hunched.

As fey folk, they are much concerned with debts. Anyone who owes them a debt, they take some small object as a marker of that debt. It can be a coin, a card, a piece of hair, a piece of fingernail, a memory, a fragment of their soul, anything that means something to them. They take this, then put it in their hunch, which has no discernible hole in it. Anything that marks a debt is simply absorbed.

While they carry a marker of debt, they know where the person who owes them that debt is.

Every debt has a time limit. It may be a few moments, it may be a year and a day, it may be a thousand years. But once the debt comes due, the bodach can teleport to wherever the person is who owes them. And then, they may collect.

If the person has the price to be paid, all is well. If the person does not, the bodach can take almost anything from them. Their soul, their life, their children, their livelihood, their capacity for emotion, their wealth, their strength, anything.

These become energy for the bodach, who uses them to grant the boons they give to others in exchange for markers of debt. And thus, the cycle goes on and on.

Bodachs are feared and distrusted fey folk who dwell in hidden places. They live on the fringes of other societies, collecting debts and collecting on them.

They dwell in small clusters, groups of families, and have their own rituals and traditions. They tend to wear colorful motley clothing, striped and bright. They wear pointed shoes. They love riddles.

Some among them carry swords or spears, but these are just ornaments. They are rarely warriors.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 6 AWA 11 WIL 12 PRS 7 STH 9

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Buinner

Little folk of the fields.

• Lifespan: 500 years
• Diet: Crops
• Habitat: Fields and farms
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Buinners are 3’ tall golden-skinned fey with wheat stalks coming out of their heads. They have disproportionately large heads. They tend to wear brown, tan, and yellow clothing. Their hair is always dark brown. They have huge, pointy ears.

Buinners have the ability to speak to crops and garden plants and encourage them to grow. They can vanish twice per day for thirty seconds, like fairies, but only if they are in a field of crops or a garden. If a farmer (or other owner of a field or garden) mistreats them, and only if a farmer mistreats them, they can cause the fields to turn fallow with a rhyme.

During the harvest season, they can grant powerful boons to those who have treated them well. They can give strength to harvesters, make sure farmers wake up when they wish to, and prepare harvested crops for preservation with a charm.

Most buinners either live on their own farms in Faerie or on the farms of mortals, where they help out if they are treated well. Because they fallow fields, imperials hate them and do not enslave them except to make them work in other places.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 9 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 8 STH 9

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Comezar

Tall fey folk who have memories dating back to the beginning

• Lifespan : 200 years

• Diet: Common fey fare

• Habitat: Temperate forests

• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Comezars appear to be 6’ to 7’ tall fey beings with violet and grey skin. They have pointed ears, white hair, and black eyes.

Comezars have the memory of every comezar that came before them. They remember all the way to “the beginning”. This varies by comezar, but it usually dates back to the first time one of their bloodline began an adventure. Since then, their bloodline has always been on a journey. Any mundane skills gained by their predecessors on such an adventure may be accessible to the comezar (roll AWA vs. varying difficulties).

Every time a comezar begins a journey, adventure, quest, or task, they temporarily gain bonuses to relevant stats, abilities, or skills. They can grant these bonuses to others joining them on the journey, and these will last for up to eight days. Any comezar who ends a journey, quest, adventure, or task early may not use their start-bonus power for a year and a day thereafter.

Most comezars are part of the larger culture of Faerie, respected for their magical memories. They are often taken on adventures by others to wield their powers. Those in the empires are either there on journeys from Faerie or as slaves, indentureds, refugees, or settlers. Some are there as settlers on a journey. They are privileged oppressed, exploited but favored for their memories.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 9 Memory 11 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 9

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The Cunning

Fey beings known for their magic.

• Lifespan : 1,000 years
• Diet: Magical mortal fare
• Habitat: Temperate hill and forest
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

The cunning appear to be blue-skinned folk with dark green whorls all over their skin. They stand between 2’ and 4’ tall with diaphanous, insect-like wings. Their eyes are deep black, and their hands have sharp claws. Their hair always grows plants in it, though what kind of plants vary.

The cunning are the last species with the ability to wield magic directed only by their will.

The wielding of magic without any channel or ritual means that the energy goes through the bodies of the cunning, and that means that their bodies are at risk when they do it. It comes from all four aspects of their being (mind, body, heart, soul), and it burns them from within. They can therefore only use it in small doses, but they can wield it with the mastery almost none can match.

A cunning uses magic by drawing from their inner being, fusing it with other energies, and directing it solely by will and gesture. They are born with this power and have mana in their very Names, so they do not need to seek out sources of it like mages and wizards do. They do have to find other sources of other energies if they wish to do much more outside the domain of basic magic that is stronger than basic cantrips.

The cunning dwell in tiny communities, hiding among the edges of towns and cities, in farming regions and forests, hiding in plain sight. They have their own communities and traditions, but they mask this in order to keep from being exploited for their powers.

The number eleven is magical. Every cunning community is led by a circle of eleven powerful elders. The elders select eleven members of the community to be teachers, eleven to be warriors, eleven to be healers, and eleven to be caretakers of the young and old. Another eleven are selected by the community to be secret keepers, eleven to be planters of food, eleven to be hunters, eleven to be weavers, eleven to be spell scholars, and eleven to be collectors of the strange and unusual. These 121 rotate roles with others in the community as needed or wanted.

Rituals are very important to the cunning. They perform eleven rituals per day, and every eleven days, they gather for a group ritual. These rituals always involve standing in a circle and chanting, dried out fungi, flowers, and dancing. The rituals are said to keep their magical power up. Each community has their own chants and dances, which always involve use of their wings.

In the imperial lands, they live in secret for fear of enslavement.

PRO 8 ATH 8 Flight 10 STR 5 AWA 9 WIL 11 PRS 8 STH 9

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Gamman

Silver fey.

• Lifespan: 500 years
• Diet: Metal-heavy fey fare
• Habitat: Faerie and underground
• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed

Gammans are 4’ tall, silver-skinned, black-haired fey with sometimes-glowing eyes and small leonine tails ending in burning silver tufts.

Gammans can eat any kind of metal so long as it is not iron (or some magical form thereof). They can see in the dark and can smell blood from long distances. They are able to shape metal with a charm (silver being easier than other metals), and they can walk through stone once per day. All gammans’ tails can burn non-fey.

Gammans dwell in and near sources of metal, which they eat in small quantities to supplement the fey fare they usually eat. They prefer to come out in the dark, but they are able to operate during the day. They are considered cousins to kobolds and trows, but they are neither elemental nor fairies. They like to collect shiny rocks and trade them for secrets or charms. They love singing in the dark and deep caves.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 6 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 9

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The Hidden

• Lifespan : 300 years
• Diet: Energy
• Habitat: Dark places
• Socioeconomic Status: Hidden

The Hidden appear to be 3' tall. What they look like beyond that depends on who is looking at them. They always appear as if they are just out of focus, out of the corner of the eyes, or otherwise hard to remember or make out. If something magically captures their true form, they appear to be a three-dimensional shadow with glowing red eyes.

The Hidden cannot be looked at directly unless they are bound or viewed by magical energies. If they are viewed directly, the viewer must roll to resist having one of their secrets exposed to the Hidden.

The Hidden can drain secrets from people by luring them into the shadows. If they get someone into the shadows with them, they can steal a secret without knowing it. The secret they steal will take the form of a red rock. This rock can then be converted into arcane shadow energy, which the Hidden can turn into STH, or it can be hatched to reveal the secret. If they do the latter, they must expend some of their shadow energy.

The more shadow energy they use, the weaker they get. They must recharge it either by consuming unrevealed secrets or by resting in pitch darknesss.

The Hidden cannot go out in daylight without covering every inch of their bodies and sticking to the shadows as much as possible. If they are exposed to full daylight without any covering, they will be dissolved.

The Hidden are only called the Hidden externally. The name for their species is a secret only they know, one unspoken. The culture of the Hidden is one of serving some secret purpose only they know. The purpose varies by community.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 5 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 15

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Jactan

Big-mouthed small folk.

• Lifespan : Less than they claim, usually about 120 years
• Diet: Fanciful foods
• Habitat: Anywhere
• Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed

Jactans are 4' tall beings with disproportionately large mouths, usually stretching from just below their ears and opening as wide as their head is tall. They otherwise appear to be fey hominids.

All jactans have very loud voices. They all have at least three powers that are improbable, such as being able to blow down buildings, lift giant rocks, spit a river, entrapping people with riddles, move ships with their sneezes, make the moon dance with their songs, and so on. Anything bizarre, outlandish, and rooted in tall tales. In Endruin, these tall tales are based on European tall tales. Consult the GM for ideas.

Jactans are greatly oppressed in the imperial lands. They are seen as a danger to the world and enslaved or imprisoned simply for existing. Their original culture is part of a wider fey culture, often living amongst tall folk or on the fringes of non-fey societies. In their own families, their roots in tall tales are reflected by their nightly storyteling rituals and lying contests.

PRO 8 ATH 8 STR 6 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 11 STH 10

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Patrail

Fey who have powerful empathic senses.

• Lifespan: 800 years
• Diet: Emotion and fey fare
• Habitat: Faerie
• Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed / Ruling class

Patrails appear to be 8’ tall fey with violet, green, and blue flames for hearts. They have five eyes in a small arc on their faces. Their eyes appear to be a single color each, sometimes the same, sometimes not. They have pointy ears and sharp teeth.

Patrails can see emotion via their five eyes. Each eye sees a different set of emotions, so if they lose an eye, they lose access to seeing some of them.

All patrails can wield their mothu (the flames of their hearts) by spilling their blood. The flames will burn away emotion from those they harm. When their heartbeats get excited, the flames in their bodies become more intense, and their flesh and eyes may burn with mothu, giving them greater powers. They can hear the heartbeats of mortals.

If a patrail tells a tale that evokes emotion from others, it strengthens their mothu.

Patrails live as respected ruling class beings in Faerie. They are among the few non-fairy beings welcomed even in the halls of the fairy queens. They are known for their wise council, psychological insights, and cunning and conniving. They are known to have intense emotional responses, no matter the situation, and thus, some walk on eggshells around them. They are also known to patron and support artists.

In imperial lands, they either come as visiting nobles or powerful fey who are feared and distrusted.

PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 10 AWA 11 WIL 9 PRS 11 STH 8