Chelif

Chelifs are animal folk empowered by the dominance and power they have over animals, each other, and other beings, and by the pain and fear they generate. They always take exaggerated, dangerous animal features.
Anyone playing a chelif will have to be someone who has left their privilege behind to become a part of the local communities

[European] Adder Chelif: 4' tall brown and black-scaled snake folk. They have a strong venomous bite which they empower with infernal magic. They were early assimilators into the imperial culture and have thus forgotten their old culture entirely. They served in the imperial military as assassins and shock troops, and they inspire fear in those they once slaughtered during the conquest. They enjoy a status of privilege and power in the empire. They believe themselves racially superior and seek to rise in station above all others. They have national ambitions.

PRO 11 ATH 10 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9

[Common] Bottlenose Dolphin Chelif: 9' tall anthropomorphic dolphins. They have grey skin, fins on their backs, small beaks, and a blowhole. They can echolocate, use whistles and squeaks to speak in code, and are known for their cunning. They are beguilingly charismatic, and they can steal people's hearts with their personal interactions. They come from a culture of conquest, dominance, and bullying. They are a major part of the imperial navies.

PRO 9 ATH 11 Swim 14 STR 12 AWA 10 WIL 8 PRS 10 STH 7

Brown Rat Chelif: 4' tall anthropomorphic rats who came to the region long ago. Their original nation is long forgotten, as the ones local to the city-states have allied themselves to the ruling class and assimilated. They are owners of industry, purveyors of disease, and slumlords. They live in great wealth in half-submerged mansions.

PRO 9 ATH 11 STR 5 AWA 9 WIL 7 PRS 7 STH 10

Carrion Crow Chelif: 5' tall anthropomorphic crows. They have black feathers with a purple or green sheen to them. They have shrill, high-pitched voices. They come from a culture that values subtlety and manipulation over directness and honesty. They believe that being direct will expose them and weaken them, and thus, they choose deception. They have some magicks that help with this.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 7 AWA 10 WIL 8 PRS 9 STH 9

Cave Lion Chelif: 10' tall lion folk, maneless but with massive jaws and claws. They were recruited to the conquest with rich bribes, as the dreorcwenn wanted them for their massive size and strength. They became extremely privileged members of the ruling class of the city-states, and they began wielding powerful magicks soon after. They have many different powers (consult the GM) based on their different roles in the military or society.

PRO 14 ATH 12 STR 19 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 8 STH 6

Cicada Chelif: 6' tall anthropomorphic cicadas. They have extremely loud, abrasive music as part of their culture and their powers. They own vast farms where they keep slaves, hoarding food to mete out as they please. They are a part of the ancient noble class and have deep roots to feudalism. They are ruthless and powerful, culturally, and those among them who betray this are outcast or killed.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 9 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 7

[Common] Cuckoo Chelif: 3' tall cuckoo folk with grey, brown, and white feathers, tails, and wings. Cuckoo folk belong to a cult that worships a deity they called Nondanatus, a deity born dead, never alive, always consuming. They believe that sacrificing the children of others feeds their deity, and therefore, they are justified in killing the children of others and tricking people into raising their children. To get by in society, however, they pretend to be sparrowhawk folk, mimicking their coloration and role in society. They dwell in the avian slums and prey on people for their fucked up god.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Flight 12 STR 5 AWA 10 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9

Cuckoo Wasp Chelif: 7' tall anthropomorphic wasps with green chitin and translucent wings. Sometimes their lower bodies are brown. They are skilled at mimicry, have sharp stings, and care little for their own children. They have a culture that focuses on how great their species is, and how everone exists to serve them. Thus, they employ others to raise their children, often at the expense of others' children. They are a ruthless part of the ruling class, and those among them who try to live differently are outcast.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 9 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 9 STH 7

Great Grey Shrike Chelif: 6' tall anthropomorphic shrikes. They are grey in color, save for some brown mixed in on some of them, and their white chins, cheeks, and above their eyes. They have black feathers creating a mask across their eyes and beaks. They have pleasant voices, and they are generally very pleasant people, culturally. Except when they hunt, when they become bloodthirsty and cruel. They view hunting as their national sport, and they engage in it regularly, with the intent to exterminate and gain trophies. They love to display their victims in extravagant ways.

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

Greater Stag Beetle Chelif: 8' tall anthropomorphic beetles. They have black and reddish black chitin, massive mandibles in half the population, and great insectoid wings. They are extremely racist supremacists who refuse to sully their bloodlines, leading to inbreeding in their ruling class members, and they are known for their role in the imperial militaries.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Flight 10 STR 11 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 6

[European] Hippopotamus Chelif: 14' tall anthropomorphic hippos. They are extremely massive, strong, and slow on land. They spend a lot of time in water, and they are excellent and dangerous swimmers. Despite their strength, they are known for their laziness culturally. They prefer to have their servants do it, no matter what it is, and tend to spend their time soaking in deep baths, floating and doing nothing while others work for them. Their ruling class is enormously wealthy, and their underclasses are enslaved and conscripted. The wealthy have incredible magic, the poor have only the hope to be wealthy.

PRO 7 ATH 5 Swim 11 STR 17 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 6

Horned Grebe Chelif: 4' tall anthropomorphic grebes. They are water birds with long necks, white-tipped pointy bills, and a crown of black and reddish black feathers. They have brown plumage elsewhere with white-feathered bellies. They have magical voices that can cause despair, desperation, and nihilism in others if they choose, and they are known for their manipulations and backroom machinations. They are often relegated to advisory roles, but they wield enormous power.

PRO 7 ATH 8 Flight 10 STR 6 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9

[Eastern] Imperial Eagle Chelif: 6' tall anthropomorphic eagles. They have black plumage on their lower bodies giving way to golden brown on their upper bodies and heads. Their tails are greyish, and they have white epaulets on their shoulders. They have sharp beaks that curve down slightly. They are a major ruling class species known for their role in the slave trade. They even enslave their own, so fervent they are to be supreme in their role. They are cruel, engaging in hunting slaves as well as buying, selling, trading, and owning.

PRO 9 ATH 10 Flight 12 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 8

[Mediterranean] Jellyfish Chelif: 4' tall anthropomorphic jellyfish. They have a solid-colored dome head that branches off near their torso into thousands of dozens of lappets, flaps of flesh that hang off them, ending in bifurcated mouth-like, colorful clubs. It's better to just google a picture, because these look fucking weird. Anyway, their mundane animal counterparts do not cause much pain, but the chelifs do - they have intensely painful stings that paralyze and even comatize people. They use this to maintain power and control over others instead of in defense as it was once intended.

PRO 9 ATH 8 Swim 10 STR 6 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 8

[Mediterranean] Monk Seal Chelif: 8' tall anthropomorphic monk seals. They have a white stripe on their bellies that varies by individual (often dimorphically gendered), and the rest of them is black and/or brown to dark grey. They once dwelled in sea caves, though now they have built towns along the coasts. They are deeply embedded in the imperial church, their species name apropos, and they have a lot of power there. They are strong swimmers and warriors as well.

PRO 8 ATH 7 Swim 12 STR 10 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 6

[Northern] Pike Chelif: 5' tall pike fish folk with grey, white, and yellow scales and fins. They dwell in the rivers and brackish waters of the region. Their original culture was one of beautiful music, long journeys, and great stories, but their ruling class sold out to the conquest to support the imperial navies. Their underclasses are still oppressed, but the richest among them are enormously wealthy and powerful. They have powers over weather and dreams, sending nightmares to their enemies.

PRO 9 ATH 9 Swim 12 STR 9 AWA 8 WIL 7 PRS 8 STH 8

Red-Billed Chough Chelif: 5' tall anthropomorphic corvids. They have mostly black plumage with a greenish sheen. They have curved red bills and red legs. They have very loud voices. They come from an ancient culture that once honored the harvest and resistance to tyranny, but at some point, they became the ruling class, and now they are hoarders of wealth and food, feudal lords, and cruel tyrants themselves. They are known for letting their serfs starve in hard times, then feeding on them. Those among them who opt out of this cruelty are themselves killed and eaten. They are a powerful and ancient noble part of the ruling class.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Flight 10 STR 7 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9

Saltriovenator Chelif: 18' tall anthropomorphic theropod with a long tail. They are basically like a t. rex with small horns on their snouts. They have dark red feathers. They live in the coasts and islands of the region in small, powerful little fiefdoms, some of them entirely independent, some of them part of the imperial realm. They are known for their culture of hunting and their deep pride. They have magic that makes them see only what they think is best about themselves, giving them incredible confidence but a blindness to their weaknesses. They rule their small fiefdoms viciously. The few who do not take part in this are outcast.

PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 20 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 9 STH 6

Spiny Spider Crab Chelif: 5' tall anthropomorphic crabs. They have chitin that ranges from grey and black to bright red. They often ornament with detritus from the sea. They have an intricate culture that involves worship of the oceanic abyss, belief in entropy and chaos, and an embracing of violent and dangerous impulses. They believe restraint is a weakness. They lean into their id, which is culturally encouraged to be unstable, volatile, and cruel. Those who hate this or try to recover from the trauma of it are usually killed. Their embrace of infernal chaos gives them strange powers.

PRO 8 ATH 8 Swim 9 STR 8 Claw +4 AWA 9 WIL 7 PRS 6 STH 8

[Italian] Three-Toed Skink Chelif: 3' tall anthropomorphic lizards. They have long bodies and short limbs. Their skin is brown and olive with black stripes. Some are silvery in color. Any animal near them must roll or be dominated and controlled by their presence, though they can turn this off (they rarely do). They developed this power as a means to gain power over others in their early communities, and now it is embedded in their culture.

PRO 8 ATH 10 STR 5 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9

[Common] Toad Chelif: 4’ tall anthropomorphic toads. This nation is known for their beautiful voices. They are a major ruling class nation with connections to entertainment industries, owning theaters, sports teams, and other distractions, using these to spread deceptions and lies to the populace. They are very rich and powerful as a nation.

PRO 8 ATH 9 Jump 11 STR 5 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9

Wild Boar Chelif: 6' tall boar folk with dark grey fur, massive tusks, piggy eyes, and hooves and tails. They have a tradition of using baleblood to empower themselves, and many of them end up becoming baleful. They joined the conquest willingly when it came to their lands, joining as a powerful force of shock troops and conquerors, and they consider themselves the most elite soldiers of the imperial military. They are known for their extreme violence and racism. Many older boar families are extremely wealthy.

PRO 13 ATH 8 STR 15 AWA 8 WIL 7 PRS 7 STH 7