Deriku Stands on the Spiral's page

A large, faded scar spans the right side of his face from his jaw to his eyebrow, showcasing a fleck of dead grey in his dark brown eye. The back of his scalp also bares lines of animal claw marks, a deep and grievous slash trailing down his neck to disappear beneath his shirt. His left hand was badly burned and badly treated in his past, leaving his small and ring fingers fused together and curled into his palm.

At just over five feet tall, Deriku has the awkward shape of a boy who is starting to grow quickly.

Deriku sees death at its most basic: an inevitability, a necessity, something to be expected, but not feared. Death will come to all who live, and the dead require neither sympathy nor tears to speed their souls along the River. Every soul will make it to the Boneyard, though some must be dragged there, kicking and screaming.

A week after the deaths of his parents, Deriku would surely have joined them in the River of Souls were it not for the interference of the Shriikirri-Quah. The people of the Hawk plucked him from the ashes of his kin and took his appearance as a powerful omen. Naturally, the Hawk-Clan chief traded Deriku to the Skoan-Quah for the promise of internment in one of their sacred ancient burial sites.

Reads Marrow, the Skull-Clan shaman who bought him, saw great potential in him, and it was she who gave him his infant name Deriku: Nothing. He was raised in full Shoanti fashion despite his unwelcome heritage. The tribe's native children made his life as difficult as possible, often putting him at risk of great harm for their own amusement. He may have never made it to adulthood if not for a raiding party from the giant army of Karzoug the Claimer, devastating his tribe when he was five years old. Many of the other children were killed, including some of those who had been the most vicious to him.

Forced to flee ever northward, his adopted tribe was able to survive in the cold Lands of the Linnorm Kings. Even here safety was hard to hold on to; difficulty adapting to their new way of life took its toll on the tribe, which shrank slowly at times, quickly at others, yet Deriku survived. He viewed light through the crack of death's door many times, yet each time he stayed with the living.

By 4714, the tribe was sufficiently weakened to fall to a party of four ice trolls. Deriku's chest was crushed during the melee and he began to die in the snow as the only family he knew died around him. Reads Marrow resorted to the creation of abominations, raising their own dead to assist in the fight. Though she drove off two living ice trolls, every member of the tribe fell.

Reads Marrow dragged herself to Deriku to keep him warm, and smiled as Hokuto Ishihara appeared in the snow to save him. "Go, Deriku" she said, "I now go to see the secrets you have seen. Pray Pharasma forgives me for what I have done here to save you. Go now, Stands on the Spiral."

Deriku was taken away from all of that death by Hokuto, but death is still watching him. It will follow him wherever he goes.

• +2 to One Ability Score: Human characters gain a +2 racial bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
  
• Young: +2 Dex; —2 to Str, Con, and Wis.
  
• Medium: Humans are Medium creatures and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
  
• Normal Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.
  
• Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
  
• Skilled: Humans gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level.
  
• Heart of the Wilderness: Humans raised in the wild learn the hard way that only the strong survive. They gain a racial bonus equal to half their character level on Survival checks. They also gain a +5 racial bonus on Constitution checks to stabilize when dying and add half their character level to their Constitution score when determining the negative hit point total necessary to kill them. This racial trait replaces skilled.
  
• Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).

• Resilient: Growing up in a poor neighborhood or in the unforgiving wilds often forced you to subsist on food and water from doubtful sources. You've built up your mettle as a result, and gain a +1 trait bonus on Fortitude saves.

• Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on the following checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage from exhaustion; Constitution checks made to continue running; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march; Constitution checks made to hold your breath; Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethal damage from starvation or thirst; Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethal damage from hot or cold environments; and Fortitude saves made to resist damage from suffocation.
  
• You may sleep in light or medium armor without becoming fatigued.
  
• Normal: A character without this feat who sleeps in medium or heavier armor is fatigued the next day.

• Prerequisite: Endurance.
  
• Benefit: When your hit point total is below 0, but you are not dead, you automatically stabilize. You do not need to make a Constitution check each round to avoid losing additional hit points. You may choose to act as if you were disabled, rather than dying. You must make this decision as soon as you are reduced to negative hit points (even if it isn't your turn). If you do not choose to act as if you were disabled, you immediately fall unconscious.
  
• When using this feat, you are staggered. You can take a move action without further injuring yourself, but if you perform any standard action (or any other action deemed as strenuous, including some swift actions, such as casting a quickened spell) you take 1 point of damage after completing the act. If your negative hit points are equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you immediately die.
  
• Normal: A character without this feat who is reduced to negative hit points is unconscious and dying.