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Word of the troubles of the land may reach the cetaceans who protect the seas, and when this happens an emissary is given a land-form and sent to assist. The unicorns may misunderstand the issues and solutions of the environment strange to them, but their intentions are noble. They trust most those who have never interacted with whalers, especially women who are seldom seen on whaling boats.
Next: Treants!
Next: Treants!
Some think the trees are alive, but what they don’t know is that these “sentient trees” are actually just ordinary trees infested with a rather peculiar species of carpenter ants. These little insects have developed a way to animate their homes as a means of self defense. As for the ones that talk... that’s just the local fey having some fun at the expense of an unwitting traveler who really thinks the tree is moving on its own.
Next: hobgoblins!
The reptilians who seek to rule the world from within wear skin-suits to disguise their form. Those skin-suits will sometimes leave and seek their own fate if left unused long enough; the magic that sustains them will grow organs to fill their hollow insides. Skin-suits recently escaped from storage facilities in the northern forests are named huldrefolk, the hidden people by others living nearby but the name the reptilians gave them and which they use for themselves is shabti.
Shabti are naturally secretive, a tendency reinforced by reptilian attempts to crush or discredit them. They also have an opposing urge to seek acceptance. The combination of these can result in fantastical stories to cover up their origins while fitting into wider society.
Next: Shoony!
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Next: Shoony!
Myths talk about the god Curchanus, the divinity who once held dominion over all beasts. As the stories go, he was lured into a trap by the Demon Lord Lamashtu. She expended an entire demonic army weakening him enough for her to finally destroy him, stealing his dominion over beasts and ascending to become a true goddess.
On the isle of Kortos, it is said that in the moments before his death, Curchanus was able to send some of his divine power into one particular kind of beast; the humble dog. Those dogs blessed by the dying god's grace were elevated until they were something more than beasts; they became intelligent, though they maintained their belief in the power of teamwork and community.
So even though Curchanus has been dead for longer than most civilizations have been around, the Shoony still maintain shrines to the dead god of beasts, for they would not be able to do so had his final thoughts not been of them.
NEXT: Suli
NEXT: Suli
In a far off land a peculiar tribe of humans stuck a deal with the elemental lords several millennia ago. The result of this bargain was the infusion of elemental power into the bloodlines of the humans born to this tribe. Over the centuries the elemental blood grew stronger, transforming the tribesmen more than their ancestors ever could have imagined. What started off as simply gaining control over the elements turned into ever living being within the tribe becoming a part of the elemental order.
Next: Ratfolk
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Next: Ratfolk
The wizard left his spellbook and his rat familiar unattended while he was out with the boys, and came back to find out that he had a new apprentice!
After some unfortunate business with animated brooms, said apprentice developed a hankering for some company, and finally refined the process by which he took on a (to his eyes) 'giant' humanoid form, and raised other rats to join him in this new adventure among the giant walking-upright folk.
Next: Fetches
Next: RatfolkThe wizard left his spellbook and his rat familiar unattended while he was out with the boys, and came back to find out that he had a new apprentice!
After some unfortunate business with animated brooms, said apprentice developed a hankering for some company, and finally refined the process by which he took on a (to his eyes) 'giant' humanoid form, and raised other rats to join him in this new adventure among the giant walking-upright folk.
I’ve seen this story before... *looks at old VHS for Fantasia*
Next:FetchesFetchlings
Because of their culture of survival combined with a long association with the Plane of Shadows, Fetchlings have raised stealth to an art form. Many fetchling rituals revolve around remaining unseen and in the shadows. For example, some coming of age ceremonies involve the would-be adult needing to take some token from their parent or guardian without being noticed.
What is truly unique, however, are Fetchling engagement customs. When two of the Kayal decide that they want to tie the knot, the first will surreptitiously place an engagement ring on their paramour's finger without said paramour noticing. The one proposed to will accept the proposal by secretly placing a matching ring on the proposee. It is considered bad luck if either notices the other doing the actual placing of the rings.
Of course these customs can raise tensions in a couple consisting of a fetchling and someone of another ancestry since direct proposals are not done in Kayal culture.
Next: Fleshwarp
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Druids are more aware than most that death is not an end, that souls will be reborn in new flesh in time. This makes killing a holding action at best. A solution some use to stop their enemies returning with the next generation is to plant special seeds in the fallen so that they will return as plant creatures, separated from their allies and upbringing.
Most such leshies are unaware of their previous lives but a very few remember the conflict that ended with a druid killing them and will seek vengeance. It's no coincidence that leshies are weak and easily crushed in their base form. Those rare leshies that attain great skill at magic or combat are regarded with extreme suspicion by the wardens of nature.
Next: Ogres!
I wonder what this ancestral 'Ling' race is like?
It might not surprise anyone that the monstrous part-ape part-bat Ahools were created by a curse. Specifically, they used to be the warrior caste of an empire that is long gone. The few scholars who have studied the ruins of this empire discovered that at one point, they were threatened by an overwhelmingly powerful enemy. Just who this enemy was is still a debated topic to this day.
What most agree happened next was that the warrior caste, unable to defend the empire against this threat, performed a dark ritual that would give them the strength, speed, and mobility they would need to win an unwinnable war. The result was their transformation into the Ahools that are around today.
No one knows for sure who ended up winning the war. No one knows who the enemy was, but the empire also declined. It could be that the Ahools ended up destroying both.
Next up: Halflings
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Long ago, a city was plagued by horrible swarms of vermin. Food was devoured before it could reach hungry mouths. Water was soiled. Mosquitoes filled the air, and rats filled the streets. Nobody can agree on what single act the city had done to attract such a foul curse, though all agree that they had done terrible things indeed: raided their neighbors, burned their forests, sacrificed their children to meaningless wars, drank beer with wine. No matter the cause, the resultant curses had left them desperate for relief, and prayed to their gods every day for relief—but none came.
At the eleventh hour, though, when their desperation was at its greatest, a mysterious woman appeared offering a solution. The woman was a hag, and a powerful spellcaster. She said she could eliminate the vermin and restore the city to its old glory. The city had no choice but to pay the price.
The hag worked her spell, and the city was spared. Joy filled the streets, and gratitude for their benefactor flowed like the now-clean water.
Until the hag asked for her payment.
None can agree on the hag's exact price. Some say it was gold. Some say it was every weapon within the city's walls. Some say it was medicine, or potions, or arcane reagents. Some say it was the building of a temple or school for her glory. No matter the price, the city balked. And the hag retaliated with a curse even worse than the last: She spirited every child in the city away, and cursed them to never again find their way home.
But one of the city's gods finally took notice of this. The weeping of the city's corrupt adults had long turned into a fly's buzzing in the gods' ears, but one minor goddess of the wild harvest was especially alert to the cries of children. And she sent a blessing to the lost ones: Lush, berry-filled vines began to fill the forests and marshes they had been sent to. The mountains were positively aglow with brilliant red mountain cranberries, and the children did not go hungry. In fact, the children bonded with these divine plants, and became deeply tied to them, and became... something new. They came to be as closely-tied to berry plants as the gnomes are to the First World, as the dwarves are to stone, as the tieflings are to fiends.
The half-lings are descended from the children of the lingonberry hills. Some suggest that the hag and the demigoddess were, in fact, one and the same. Half-lings are split down the middle as to whether they like this idea. Some worship the demigoddess as a trickster being who saved them from the corruption of humanity. Others worship her as a merciful being who saved them from the machinations of human and hag alike.
Next up: Behirs!
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Next: Centaurs!
It was said that long ago there lived an individual who was so skilled at horseback riding that they were practically one with the very beast they rode upon. These tales found their way to the ear of a particular demigod who thought the claims absurd. One day he appeared before the horseman and challenged him to a tournament of skill. The tournament would consist of a a race, mounted archery, and jousting.
On the day the tournament was to be held, a great number of riders from all across the land had found themselves whisked away from their homes and forced to participate all were told that should they defeat the horseman they would be returned. One by one, the horseman outclassed every last one of them until the demigod outraged by this mere humans skill demanded he must win against himself. The horseman asked how he was to be expected to do that, after all one can’t be in two places at once. The demigod merely laughed at the man and claimed the tales of his skill to be false for if he were truest so skilled he could infact deafest himself. And with a snap of his finger he cursed all who had participated in the tournament to be forever merged with their steed.
next: Oozes
Are the derro's cousins living deep underground less mad? They are not. They are merely more able to pretend.
It might seem just a peculiarity of the fey that pech carve their young out of the stone. Those who have seen them bury their dead and their enemies in the same area they use for 'birthing' are less certain it is harmless. A few who made their way into pech dwellings by stealth saw an obsession with games, and body mutilations or even lives riding on their wagers. And while their relentless delvings seem pointless they actually search for the spawn of the Worldbreaker and related artifacts; though pech do not generally worship Rovagug they seem bent on seeking him out.
Pech are mad by mortal standards but they do put up a good façade. It's quite possible to deal with them for stonemasonry or tunneling services. With all that happens on Golarion the correlation with spawn or cults of the Rough Beast showing up perhaps years later is all but untraceable.
Next: Hags!
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It is a well-known fact that many hags are obsessed with the number 3 and the idea of trinities. Anyone with a basic understanding of hags knows that a coven consists of exactly 3 of them. But this obsession extends beyond just the formation of covens.
The deals hags strike with mortals often involve 3 in some way, even if the mortal doesn't realize it. Perhaps the mortal is a third child, or they are the third member of the family that the hag has had dealings with, or the token they trade to the hag is the third such token the hag has received.
This connection to three is also limiting in some important ways, though. Some hags will only ever cast 3 spells in a day. Some will only weave their magic if their fellow coven members cast at the same time so that there are 3 spells being cast simultaneously. Some will even only stop at killing 3 opponents in a battle, and leave the rest alive for reasons said enemies don't understand.
Adventurers who face off against a hag would be wise to determine just how their enemy is connected to the number 3, for that knowledge can guard them against the hag's strongest powers or possibly be a weakness for them to exploit.
NEXT: Samsarans!
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NEXT: Samsarans!
When the. Great River achieved a form of sentience it understood that it needed to create forms that mortals would trust in order to interact with them. So it created a race that looked humanoid, but made of its own substances, water and mud.
Samsaran are the speakers for the river, trading for the things it craves, gems, knowledge and souls. Being made of water their bodies exist only for a short time before dissolving, but as animate thoughts of the River they return in new bodies as and when it re-creates them..
Next: Humans. Have we done them yet?