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    Races; The Aven

    Manek Iridius
    Manek Iridius
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    Posts : 9
    Join date : 2012-11-08
    Age : 33

    Races; The Aven Empty Races; The Aven

    Post  Manek Iridius Sun Jun 15, 2014 6:53 pm

    Avens

      Almost all avens can trace their ancestry back to a trio of isles, each dominated by a single enormous tree, in the Salmentè Basin. Once a highly warlike race, the aven people are now by and large an introspective sort that values their militaristic past even as they've forged on and spread throughout the Homesphere.


    Personality:

      "Let the strength of your eyes add to the strength of your arms." ~Unknown (Often attributed to Queen Skye of Averia)


      Avens are a long-lived and patient race. Though no challenger to the elves' undisputed lifespan, the Homesphere's 'birdfolk' (barely-accurate slang) rarely forget, even if they do often forgive. Personal insults are oft-ignored, familial insults met with witty retort, and racial insults with challenges -- the aven are a tight-knit people, even with their colonies and settlements spread thinly across two other continents, and to find two aven settlements in a given country is to find the most well-defended trade route and caravans for kilometres.

    Physical Description:

      Amoungst the other Homesphere races, avens easily stand out in a crowd. Their plumage gives them away near argonians, the jarring, bright colours give them away around kahjiit and amoungst (nearly) any humanoid they stand head and shoulders above the rest. Standing at roughly 7"6 and weighing between 150 and 250 lbs, they often seem bulky (clerics of Glaux especially) but, despite that, the hollow, honeycomb-like bones that allow them to fly make them significantly lighter than most other medium-sized races.


      All avens bear at least a passing resemblance to some form of nonmagical bird, making them even more diverse (if that's actually possible) than humans -- and, much to many other races' chagrin, the 'species' of a given aven's parents has a tenous-at-best link to their own, making clan names that much more important in aven culture.

    Relations:

      Avens have always gotten along fine with humans and elves, even if they find the former to be rather unreliable in the long term (though, considering the differing definitions of 'long-term' in their respective vocabularies, this unreliability comes largely from the fact that the second time they need help from a human individual or group, they're no longer present or have become unrecognizable.).


      More than one caravan has tried to settle in a mountain range only to be driven off by dwarves who've built strongholds or major cities within -- though settlements near small outposts and villages are often left undisturbed unless a particularly enterprising merchant gets leave to expose the community in hopes of a trade agreement. These polar-opposite approaches lead the two races to maintain a civil, if tense, relationship.


      Though they rarely meet, avens and mer spent centuries at each-other's throats -- Averia eager to settle the untouched surface of the Meridian empire, and Meridia looking to expand into the basin without the hassle of land- and skyborne civilization above. All races -- elves especially, look back on the Averia/Meridia conflict with confusion. Niether would give any ground to the other, even when that 'ground' was completely worthless to it's owner. Despite the acknowledged foolishness of the conflict, scars remain and though the two countries maintain a trade relationship, individual members of the races' rarely care to forget what was, in essence, the complete failure of communication -- and of course, pin the blame squarely on the other.


      Avens are civil, if somewhat aloof, around other smoothskinned races. Amoungst 'monstrous' humanoids, they hold the same general status as elves amoung smoothskins -- long-lived and wiser for it.

    Alignment:

      If only because their chief deity rests in the axis, most Avens lean towards Good alignments, though no race is truly without it's dissidents. They have no bend on the Chaos/Law axis.

    Aven Lands:

      The homelands of the aven people lie in the heart of the Salmentè Basin, surrounded, East to North to West by the continent's four other countries. The three isles each bear one enormous tree, supposedly planted and nurtured by the aven deity Glaux specifically for the people who grew to call those massive trunks home. None know how old the trees truly are, and they're the source of much academic speculation.


      Elsewhere, avens are drawn to heavily forested areas, especially along coastlines. The similarities between aven and elven homemaking are so numerous that a bored wonderer could be forgiven for thinking he'd stumbled across Afaroh or another elven city upon entering a quiet aven settlement. Where forest and coast are absent, avens take to the high bluffs of the local mountain ranges to forge their settlements. Unlike the elves, none would mistake the decorated caverns and cliff-bound huts for the wondrous stone architecture the dwarves are known for.


      Nonavens are rare in aven lands, if only because most aven architecture doesn't focus on land-friendly structures. The three isles that form the aven homeland, however, were long ago fitted with ladders and ramps, expertly carved from the Great Trees that house the cities of Soren, Allomere and Hoole.

    Religion:

      The chief deity of the avens is Glaux, the First of the Wise-Plumed, creator of the aven people and appointer of their first, current, and so far only monarch. He often encourages his people to explore and expand their knowledge -- but will always expect a call to arms from the homeland to be answered.

    Language/Culture:

      Avens speak Auran, the native language of the Elemental Plane of Air, and their link to the plane has been the source of poetry and legend for millenia. Most aven literature consists of epic poems and tales set during the 'Isles of Schism' age in the pre-Era. Aven music, though often haunting and beatiful, enrages bards worldwide by eschewing typical vocals and instruments for (as one might expect) various birdcalls and shifts in body language -- Where any given song might expect a lone bard, perhaps playing an intrument as he sings, even the simplest of Aven compositions call for a choir of five or more.

    Names:

      First names, amoung the Avens themselves, are not a particularly important part of an individual's identity -- the variations in colour, plumage and even species between generations lends an ineffable sense of 'self' even when in crowded city streets. Clan names, however, are far more important and often the only way to reliably trace one's heritage beyond magic. Titles are a major part of Averian society, and any given tradesperson will typically earn several in their chosen field (bestowed by their field's guild, or a highly respected member of Aven society at large.)


      Male Names:

        Alkyr, Caalrieèk, Glaux, Kireek, Prentiok, Xephyr

      Female Names:

        Akuul, Axyriik, Kelshiira, Skye, Verilyr, Aeyrii

      Clan Names:

        Cel'Terok, Ecirrikol, Kerecosc, Ni'Erocx

      Example Titles:

        Bladed Quill, Fleetwinged, Hammerdin, Real-Shaper, Scarlet-Crested, Skyguard, Wise-Plumed


    Adventurers:

      Many avens begin adventuring at a young age, and it's been theorized that it may have something to do with the race's Pre-Era history; avens were trained at least defensively, and many joined their local militas to join the infighting amoungst the Isles. When the race was finally unified, the youth no longer had civil wars and constant strife in the future, and many (much to other races' surprise) grew restless with the respite given.


      Adventuring avens often travel merely to explore the world and find new insights to help them when (and if) they finally decide to settle down -- though many strive to earn at least one title within the profession before retiring. Their queen, Skye, well known as one of a few Royals Who Actually Do Something, is often regarded as an adventurer in lands particularly distant from Averia's sphere of influence.


    Aven Racial Traits

      -+2 Wisdom, -2 Constitution; Constant foresight and planning has always served the Aven people well, but their hollow bones are somewhat fragile and the entire form suffers for it.


      -Medium-size; as Medium-sized creatures, avens have no size bonuses or penalties.


      -Aven base speed is 30 feet, and they can fly at 40 with average maneuverability.


      -Aven Fighters may add 'Improved Maneuverability' and 'Flyby Attack' to their list of applicable bonus feats.


      -+2 racial bonus to all Reflex saves related to a fall; The most popular method of travel amoung avens remains flight, and with such light frames, fledgelings learn to quickly recover should a zephyr knock them off-course, and years of practice inevitably departs the knowledge of how to properly land should they be unable to recover.


      -+2 racial bonus to all saves made to resist sleep or fatigue; Aven armies don't march, and drifting off mid-flight is a surefire way to ensure nobody has to dig a grave -- just fill one in.


      -Automatic Languages; Common and Auran. Bonus Languages; Aquan, Dwarven, Elven. While communication between allies has always been vital, and one benefits greatly from knowing a merchant's native tongue, the only possible explination for so many travelling avens to know Aquan would be to prevent the Aven/Mer conflict from reigniting -- with that context, many of the once-bewildered fall silent and nod understandingly.


      -Favoured Class: Skyknight. A multiclass aven's skyknight class does not count when determining whether she suffers an XP penalty for multiclassing.

    -Special Qualities/Attacks

      -Birdsight; Unique aven physiology allows them to make out fine details at distances that stump the most advanced of looking glasses. They can see twice as far as other races, and their range increments for all weapons increase by 10% since they can more accurately gauge distances.


      -Low-light Vision; Avens can see (due to the addition of their Birdsight) four times as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. They retain the ability to distinguish colour and details in these conditions.

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