BRINY (HALF-SKUM)
They come from the deep and cold place below, watching the warmth of our wives with greedy eyes, eyes that want to steal. Skum lurk everywhere in this city, and the local strain constantly seek a human mate to take and impregnate.
If a skum is not born the union is cast out—along with the mother—by the skum, who are bound by an ancient ritual not to kill them (some have conjectured that aboleth deliberately forbid such killings to allow their progeny to establish a foothold on land).
The women often come back— poor silent creatures that they are, no matter what they were like before. They always bring back what they have been given, these poor taken wives, but they never tell what they saw, or what happened to them.
The given thing is called a briny, and hated although it is, it is well-known amongst the fishermen that to kill the child means to kill the wife too, for many have tried, many have killed the foul infant in the hope of freeing the wife only to find her hanged a few days later—always by her own hand.
‘Fishermen spit when they hear the name mentioned—Briny, Fish-Bred, born of a forced union between skum and the wives of men—they hate the children that flounder in the streets, children more at home in the cold dark waters than in the lands of men; children that, they say, have some purpose in being on land, children that remind them of the foul act that created them. The children hate the day, hate the sun yet are attracted to it like moths to a flame; their eyes seem almost to bleed as they stare into the glow of the summer sun, praying for someone to turn off the light.’
Physical Description: Some are more human than others, but each is deformed in some way, and slowly some (about 25% of the race) change as they age, eventually undergoing a terrible change and becoming a skum. However, for a PC this end can be a long way off, or perhaps it never occurs. They always inherit some aquatic feature; bulging eyes, shreds of wan skin between fingers or toes, or perhaps an unsettling ocean smell.
Society: Briny tend to stick with other briny—it’s safer that way, although the more human ones find it fairly easy to blend into society. Some briny even thrive on their appearance and make a living from it in the freakshows and side-stalls of the city.
Relations: Many locals are bigoted, and fishermen in particular despise such creatures. This can harden the attitude of a briny, who may be more aggressive, however, they make excellent friends since anyone who overlooks their ancestry is unusual and to be prized by the briny. Some people pity the briny and show them acts of great kindness, and many religions in the city happily accept converts to their cause. Briny can meet and procreate with other briny, and do so willingly and regularly in the city, most notably on the Gyre.
Alignment & Religion: Although they can have any alignment, briny tend to be more neutral, their upbringing makes them more self-reliant. Some briny are unaware of the eventual end fate has in store for them, others seek to stop the awful transformation with devotion and prayer.
Communities of briny (most notably the Gyre) develop their own religions based upon nature or sea, or adopt those other races to better blend into the societies they are a small part of. Amongst these, the worship of Brine is the most common.
Adventurers: Tough lives make rogues or fighters of many briny. Whilst some take to religion and rise to high ranks. Amongst their own societies religion tends to be more druidic than clerical.
Male Names: In an effort to blend in briny often take human names, although those with an inherent favouring of Aquatic may take a darker name more in keeping with their past.
Female Names: Like the males, the less common females also tend to take names from societies they find themselves in.
