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| Ez'Dryael |
Physical Description
Descendants of bloodlines so anathema to each other as day and night, the Ez'Dryael inherited and refined the beauty of mortal kin on their frames, but also the sheer might of their outworldly sires, too strong to be contained on a frail human body. Because of this, very few mothers survive the birth, and such children come to this world with an unnatural size, and soon they are seen as giant among common folk, reaching about 13ft at adulthood. At such age, their frail human skin has grown insufficient to contain their might, so it clings to them as an outstreched leather that barely covers sparse sections, as the rest reveals the naked truth of glistening muscles and thick bones with inhuman configurations, giving them the grotesque visage of giants of angelic beauty, with hairs of celestial cyan and other colors impossible to humans, whose bodies have been simetrically and obscenely flayed almost in entirety. And, as if such a horrific mockery of mortal beauty could not be hint enough of such beings inhumanity, the gills linning the sides of their tighs and the sphere of violet crystal where their hearts should be, visible under the translucid membrane that covers their bodies where the outstretched human skin can no longer, should help the unwary and naive to understand that they are dealing with scions of lines not born in this world.
Nevertheless, it is possibly when they make their power manifest that the Ez'Dryael look the most terrible, appealing to the intrinsecal fear mortals have of divine iconography by slowly taking to the sky displaying halos over their heads and wings on their backs, both made entirely of light as some of their bodies take on such a radiance as well, specially the crystal on their chests, which seem to sparkle with the glitter of the night sky, leading the arrogant scions of men and gods to believe their might is so big that each of them alone suffices to contain the entire vastness of cosmos upon themselves. All this taken into account, however, the Ez'Dryael are a lot as varied as humanity itself, for they tend to display the discernible ethnicity of their mortal parent in whatever remains of their human visage on them, while also displaying a variated and, usually, inhuman gamma of hues upon their exposed flesh, being the vibrant red of human muscle along with less relatable colors such as pale yellows, golden oranges, deep blues, and near black purples to mention a few. The same could be said of the unique aspect of their wings, gossamer designs unique to each individual, made with the same searing light as their simple and round halos.
Society
Despite their express aloofness and tangible distaste for contact of any kind, the Ez'Dryael keep a robust and evergrowing society that spans across the entirety of Threa, even when the numbers of the sinfull scions are few in contrast with the other races of the world. Few know, nevertheless, that the Ez'Dryael are both innocent and to blame regarding the small size of their kin for, in another display of their unyielding pride and violent natures, the sinfull scions keep an strong and almost religious reverence for those of their kin whom look closer to represent the perfect enbodyment between their two halves, while those who seem to belong more to one parent race or the other are shunned, bullied, cleansed or, ultimately and ruthlessly anhilated as an afront to the perfection to which the race as a collective seeks to achieve. Of these, those of blue flesh are tolerated, if considered a lesser kin in contrast to their opposites who sport red flesh, considered too close to their mortal counterparts to be tolerated by those of purple flesh, who are dimmed "The Pure". These militant intolerance to deviation in their numbers keeps the numbers of the Ez'Dryael quite small, for the sinfull scions are barren as a rule, as if nature or the gods themselves didn't wanted their numbers to grow any more.
Even when keeping this complex cast system among themselves and being more than aware of every little and subtle change on their objectives and plans as a whole, most people of other races believe the Ez'Dryael to be little more than solitary savages, too wild and feral to suffer the company of anybody, even others of their own kind, when it is the total opposite, for while their bodies might keep an heretical sort of sanctified chastity for all life, their minds have no qualms in travelling across untold distances, touching each other, melding, fusing, distending, contorting and warping in such a way that the lustfull nights of Sodom & Gomorrah would seem trivial in comparison before the sheer level of distilled depravity in which such collective waves of thought and sensation revel. Theirs is an existance of two worlds, which they try to keep as separate as possible, concealed from the unworthy eyes of mortals and gods alike.
Given this ascetic style of life and their utter self-worshiping as ultimate expressions of perfection and stability among the spheres, the Ez'Dryael see no use for clothing of any sort nor for the developement of technology of any kind, as the unique power they have over the matter of their very own body serves them more than well in providing for all which the mortal folk has through hours of effort, days of work, and years of learning. As such, the days of an Ez'Dryael are spent in deep rumination and contemplation when they are not foraging for something to satiate their voracious appetites, decimating entire villages and towns if necesary.
Relations
While the Ez'Dryael do not consider humans a threat, the latter see the sinful scions as physical manifestations of the level of ruin in which Threa have descended, believing the giants to be the souls of the corrupted who die by hunger under the sun at the desert lands of Narmok. With an utter disdain for their parent race, and considering them little more than smart animals, the Ez'Dryael feel no remorse in ransacking the human settlements which are closer to the surface in the same way an anteater searches for ants to feed and, like the afore mentioned beast, look not for treasure or wealth, but for cattle and humans alike upon which to feed. Curiously, there is a human sort of legend that states that, every 28 days, when most women would menstruate, the female Ez'Dryael is, instead, reminded of how barren and cursed their kin is by an insatiable craving in their entrails and, as both a retaliation and a display of envy upon humanity, they would savagely raid towns and even cities in search for pregnant women and recently born children to feast upon. Because of this, most human households have an special room designed at their basement for when women are pregnant, to keep they hidden along their children until the child is born and is 1 year old. While the story is popular as a genesis of such a custom, there hasn't been such a particularly thematic raid in recorded history, leading to believe the story is merely a myth in the same vein of stories that speak of good hearted Ez'Dryael who actually protected humans of their less forgiving kindred.
Gavras are largely ignored by the sinful scions, as the purple blooded dissregard technology as a lesser mean to exert one's will over the material world, proper of lesser life forms who lack perception of the realities beyond the material realm. Seen as little more than crude toys of rancid flesh not fresh enough to be aten, gavras feel they can almost understand the lonesome giants in their contemplativeness. However, the stitched ones also acknowledge that the sinful scions are probably too godly and alien to be understood by someone who can barely piece together it's own personality as a whole and with effort.
While the alghul are devouted to The King Of The White Kingdom, many of those who have seen the the Ez'Dryael on their most feral and savage facet develope a certain degree of reverence and fascination for the sinfull scions, as the utter lack of restraint and naturality with which the godly giants tear apart screaming opponents and devour them has a sort of ritualistic and artistic appeal to the hungerfolk. Nevertheless, the fact the Ez'Dryael seem so fond of spending their time basking on the sunlight and enjoying the beauties of diurnal life keep the alghul at bay and alive, for the sinfull scions make little distinction regarding their morsels if truely hungry, thought they prefer the taste of living flesh to the near-death bodies of the alghul.
It is only with the deerath that the Ez'Dryael deigns to exchange some thoughts, for only the singing haunts are capable of listening and glancing into the stream of thought the Ez'Dryael call "The Blue World" (in contrast to the physical realm, which they aptly call "The Red World"). As such, the deerath are the only sentient life form the sinful scions consider as worthy of being regarded with respect and as a "lesser equal" or "little sister race", worthy of being invited to partake in the joy "The Purple World" ought to bring in the promised day. For their part, the singing haunts have no ill will towards the Ez'Dryael and, usually, take great joy in sharing their memories and dreams with them, which the latter clasify as "Experiential Impresionism", treasuring such artistic expressions as a philanthropist would collect art objects from "uncivilized natives". Nevertheless, the deerath quickly bore of the Ez'Dryael neverending ruminations and questionings about the very nature of their souls, mind, and fate, which they see akin to someone writing dramatic poetry about beautyfull golden fields of wheat instead of going to the fields in question and enjoying their beauty firsthand. In the same vein, the keep a safe mental distance from the Ez'Dryael mental orgies, which the singing haunts cannot endure for long before being harmed. There is no rule that forbids an Ez'Dryael from eating a deerath, who are reknown for having an exquisite taste of flesh, but such an act is seen as barbaric and uneducated among the sinful scions.
Knowing they care nothing for the politics of hell or their undead state, the ghaisten cannot see anyway in which an Ez'Dryael could betray them, which grants them an unparalelled measure of relief near them. For their part, the Ez'Dryael see the ghaisten not as demi-ghosts or undying creatures, but as denizens of "The Blue World" akin to what a monkey would be to a human: an extremely distantly related being which shares some vague similitudes, but is, still way too low on the evolutionary ladder for like being acknowledged as an equal. As such, some Ez'Dryael entertain the company of one or more ghaisten as "pets" of sorts, offering them protection against their persecutors. Nevertheless, a ghaisten needs to be very carefull to not mention it's desire to return to its mortal state, for such an intention is taken by an Ez'Dryael in a fashion similar to how humans would take a person claiming a desire for suicide, as the Ez'Dryael see the ghaisten state of life as superior to their prior living condition.
Rare are the chances in which the svetocher and the Ez'Dryael meet, for while the latter seek the light of the sun, the first shuns it, enclosed on the cities of their vampiric sires under the cover of The Veil. If anything, both races share a common disdain for each other, as the dhampir see the sinfull scions as little more than wild and exotic beasts shaped as men due freak accident of nature, while the Ez'Dryael see no difference on the children of vampire and men and other humanoid shaped morsels aside of a less rich taste. If ever, the interest a particular svetocher might express on the Ez'Dryael is likely to stem from a unique passion for scholastic pursuits such as the arcane arts or the understading of their bizarre anatomy, mysterious origin, and unexplained abilities. As this is the interest of few, scarce and rare are the tomes that dwell or ponder upon the unknown nature of the Ez'Dryael, usually mingling fact and legend all the same.
There is no bargain the hellspawn can strike to appeal the Ez'Dryael for their souls despite the level of depravity in which they already revel on their own. Sinfull beyond measure by nature, the Ez'Dryael would be the perfect candidates for Hell's damnation, if they weren't intrinsecally amoral, which makes the concepts of good and evil as alien to them as their ways are to the rest. Without acknowledgement of evil, there can't be sin, as sin can only be commited by those knowing they are incurring in evil, thus sparing Ez'Dryael souls from the eternal suffering of The Nine Realms Of Baator. The irony that those to be addressed as "The Embodiment Of Sin" by men cannot be damned for their sins has turned into a rhetoric figure of speech commonly used to sumarize and remind the hellspawn that technicisms and sub-clauses are both their most dreadful weapon and their most accute weak point, thus exorting the inexperienced to be ever so vigilant of such little and, potentially lethal, details.
While most pitborn aren't particularily inclined towards the pursuit of knowledge, those who attempt to unravel the mysteries of The Abyss share the consensus that ignorance regarding the nature of the Ez'Dryael is rampant among the folks of the surface, who link them to the gods and the divine, when it might be the absolute opposite. These sages at The Halls Of Grime relate the flayed and inhuman visage of the Ez'Dryael to the mythic qlippoth, elder entities said to dwell in the most remote corners of The Abyss, forbearers of the demonkind as a whole. Being creatures hailing from the maddening realms of Xoriat, it wouldn't be a wonder that they would have appeared before the mortal kin as incomprehensible beings of power rivaling the very gods. As such, many sages at The Halls Of Grime revere the sinfull scions as true heralds of the incoming apocalypse that is to crumble every rule and consume all reality into the primordial maelstrom of chaos from which the ordered universe spawned. Because of this, there are persistent legends that speak of exhiled Ez'Dryael who have found a new abode in The Halls Of Grime, revered and worshiped as unholy prophets of doom by the desperate pitborn.
Adding to the numbers who worship and fear the Ez'Dryael, those haglings who take the path of witchcraft claim to have a certain answer to the obscure riddle of the Ez'Dryael existance in Threa. Accostumed to hear the whispers of eldritch creatures in the fringes of reality, the hagling witches claim the irreverence the sinfull scions display before the gods and the divine comes from the fact they have no relation at all with the creators of the universe, tracing their ancestry back to genealogies belonging to eldritch beings anathema to the red blooded creatures of the world, guardians of secrets that belong to ages of untold darkness and of such antiquity as to make many gods feel themselves young. Because of this, many hagling witches seek to gain the favor of a particular Ez'Dryael in the hope they would release, at least, a tiny insight into the obscure plans and thoughts of the patrons to which the witches are bound. For their part, the sinfull scions aren't particularly interested in granting the haglings such wishes, thought they can't denny they feel other lesser life forms should follow their example and accept their destinies as lower links in the alimentary chain with such ease.
Alignment & Religion
Being nihilists that believe themselves to be the pinnacle of evolution and who hold no regard or empathy for the creatures of red blood as a whole, most perceive the Ez'Dryael as chaotic neutral at best, and neutral evil at worst, for their lack of mercy or compassion stems from rational hubris and not of sheer maddness or nurtured malice, as the sinful scions hold themselves above the primitive concepts of good and evil, fancying themselves grander and more universal than that.
Perhaps the strongest reason for them to held such belief lies on the smatter of beliefs that the Ez'Dryael hold as holy, closely related to their mysterious origins. The Ez'Dryael believe themselves to be descendants of the blend of human blood with a line of beings which they address as Kahkhol, which could be roughly translated as "those of the blue bloodlines", said to exist in the deepest regions of Yetzirah, where the currents of the elemental oceans touch with the boundaries of Yesod, The Ethereal Plane, and it's demiplanes: Moera and Dal-Quor. Be that such is true or not, the Kahkhol seem to hail from a region of creation with an order of life opposed to all what mortals would consider normal, which would account for the aberrant nature of the Ez'Dryael.
Vaguely remembered and mostly forgotten, the Kahkhol took an interest on Threa and it's life, thought the nature of such interest is unknown. However, creatures of the primeval oceans of Yetzirah, the Kahkhol could not dwell among the mortals without loosing a great deal of their might and power so, instead, they lured mortals to come to their realm. There, the elder beings studied the mysteries of the red blooded, subjecting the fools who dared cross into their domains to such unspeakable torments of mind and flesh as to leave no corner unexplored or bereft of violation or desacration. With such knowledge, the Kahkhol crafted The Seed Of Glory, for such would be the origin of "the purple bloodlines", with the blue fruit of life in one hand, and the red fruit of knowledge in the other: a perfect kin destined to rule over all the worlds. A ultimate dinasty of god kings.
But The Seed Of Glory was flawed, for the Kahkhol might be unreachable in power to mortals, yet they remain as far as them to godhood. Delivered from the blue heavens as a falling moon of dark violet, many believe it was this original transgression which brought The Veil over Threa and, thus, the core of it's present agony. In those days, the free people of the world fought against The Seed Of Glory with the upper hand for, while counting their numbers in legions, the purple bloodline was barren, and their numbers quickly dwindled as an infection being repelled from a healthy body. Believing themselves victors, humans sought to make the power of the invader theirs, sinning of greed and arrogance. Forsaking the sanctity of their essence, humans mingled their red flesh and blood with the outsiders of the blue realms and so the world beheld in awe and horror as the sins of men took the form of radiant giants destined to inherit this world and all the others, as the Kahkhol prophesied. Tasked with the destruction of the red bloodlines, the Ez'Dryael, as they were baptized by the Kahkhol, hunted down one by one the ruling lines of the red blood, suffering no claim to the throne of Threa, and reducing the proud mankind to the meager existance of a vermin.
With all resistance broken and the world laid bare at their feet, the "The Angels Of Death", as their name means in the tongues of The Blue Bloodlines, are awaiting for the apparition of a king or queen of their kin, for their sterility forces them to use both male and female humans as breeding stock until said "Perfect One" comes to claim the throne of their kind.
Adventurers
Far more militant in their quest to claim Threa as their world than the passive deerath, the Ez'Dryael only settle down into contemplativeness when they cannot find a way to further the invasion agenda of their kin, be it through the systematic extermination of blossoming humanoid opposition, self-experimentation in the search for a means to defeat their own limitations, or active efforts to alter the local enviroment to suit better the needs of their kin and all other beings derived from The Purple Bloodline as a sort of aggresive terraforming.
In the opposite side of the spectrum, those Ez'Dryael unlucky enough to be "too human", are constantly on the run and, while most of them accept their fate of isolation and oblivion with an admirable amount of stoicism, others are strong willed enough as to take a frontal posture and fight for their right to live, making them unpredictable characters: heroes of freedom a second, mercyless destroyers the next. Nevertheless, necesity may make this particular sinfull scions of men and gods far more amiable and approachable than their more numerous brethren.
Standard Racial Traits
* Ability Score Racial Traits: Beings with a humanoid shape more due ancestry than by design, the Ez'Dryael have astoundingly resilient bodies with the strenght of a monster, designed to be keenly aware of their surroundings, intaking information from physical and psionical information feeds the same. Nevertheless, this lack of a need for physical communication makes them seem aloof, cruel, indolent, and unconcerned with the material world. They gain +4 Strenght, +2 Constitution, +4 Wisdom and -2 Charisma.
* Size: Ez'Dryael are Large creatures and thus receive a Size Penalty of -1 to their Armor Class and Attack Rolls, and a -4 Size Penalty to Stealth Checks due to their size. Nevertheless, they also receive a +1 Size Bonus to their CMB and CMD scores.
* Type: Ez'Dryael are aberrations with the psionic subtype.
* Base Speed: Ez'Dryael have a land speed of 30 feet and a fly speed of 30 feet (Clumsy, -8 to Fly).
* Languages: Ez'Dryael begin play speaking Ezdril. Ez'Dryael with high Intelligence scores can choose from Common, Infernal, Celestial and Abyssal.
* Effective Character Level: Due their many traits and abilities, the Ez'Dryael are considered a Monstrous Race and, thus, they are considered +2 levels when calculating the Average Party Level of the group where they are. This adjusment lowers at 6th Level to +1 and disappears at 11th Level.
Defensive Racial Traits
* Subdermal Plating: Bizarre by nature, most of the Ez'Dryael body seems exposed and open to the point of appearing flayed or half-formed, but such is a mere aesthetic ruse, for a closer inspection reveals that, under the glossy and translucent skin that covers their apparent wounds, thick cartilage and bone strenghtened with fibers of carbon can be seen protecting them at several parts (specially on their broad ribs), making them far more resilient to punishment than what their visages would suggest, granting them a +2 Natural Armor bonus to Armor Class.
* Psionic Damage Reduction: The way in which The Seed Of Glory nurtures the body of an Ez'Dryael also keeps it cohesive, cushioning blows and damage with a subtle film of psionic force across every tissue, which can only be dissrupted through the use of weapons made of crystal, able to channel the energy on the strike, thus diverting said vital protection. This grants the Ez'Dryael Damage Reduction 10/Crystaline.
* Power Resistance: As the energy field from The Seed Of Glory helps the Ez'Dryael to maintain the otherwise frail composition of their physical forms, it also grants them a measure of protection against similar power manifestations used against them. This grants them an amount of Power Resistance equal to 11 plus their character level. (How PR interacts with magic depends on the way the rules of psionics/magic transparency are handled on a particular campaign).
* Regeneration: The result of inheriting The Fruit Of Life from their inhuman ancestors, the Ez'Dryael possess a surreal capacity for clinging to life despite sustaining wounds and damage at inordinate amounts. This is, in part, thanks to the fact the entire body of the sinfull scions is less heterogeneous in composition than that of most humanoids, made up of the very same cells everywhere, with it's basic building blocks ubiquituous and roaming freely on their blood, colored a dark purple due being iodine based. Bereft of heart or a closed circulatory system, the viscerae of an Ez'Dryael are inmersed on a pool of their own blood, making it easy for their tissues to be rebuilt quickly. However, when such damage is assessed as life-threatening by the Ez'Dryael's body, it's Seed Of Glory uses it's psichometabolic powers to transmute the raw compounds of it's blood into tissue at a dramatic speed. In fact, this measure is so efficient that, as long as The Seed Of Glory remains intact, it is capable of regenerating an entire body from scratch given enough time and material in a radius of 5 feet (usually transmuting the nearby gore or other disscarded parts of the mangled body in the process if available). This astounding ability grants the Ez'Dryael Regeneration 2 (Crystaline), rendering them impervious to death by hit point damage as long as their Regeneration keeps working and their Seed Of Glory keeps intact.
Feat & Skill Racial Traits
* Naturally Psionic: The result of inheriting The Fruit Of Knowledge from their human ancestors, the Ez'Dryael possess a human-like inquisitiveness and self-awareness that quickly allows them to realize the vast natural potential they have at their disposition. As a result they gain the Wild Talent feat as a bonus feat at 1st Level. If an Ez'Dryael takes levels in a psionic class, she instead gains the Psionic Talent feat.
Psionic Racial Traits
* Ego's Sanctum: Since their bodies are kept together and contained by the psychic energy created and radiated from their Seed Of Glory, most Ez'Dryael quickly learn how to project and harness the capacity of the psionic energies imbued in their bodies for defense or utility. This is specially important to them, as most Ez'Dryael consider their physical bodies untouchable sanctums for their mental selves and, thus focus on letting nobody to touch them without their consent as much as having the freedom to modify themselves as a true expression of their mental selves. Ez'Dryael with a Wisdom Score of at least 12 can manifest Force Screen and Minor Metamorphosis at will as psi-like abilities with a manifester level equal to their character level.
Senses Racial Traits
* Darkvision: As aberrations, Ez'Dryael see perfectly in the dark at 60 feet.
Weakness Racial Traits
* Seed Of Glory: The very core of the Ez'Dryael anatomy, and the replacement for their missing hearts, The Seed Of Glory is an small and round crystaline organ of violet color, roughly 20cm in diameter, and the source of most of the sinfull scions might and power. A potent and refined psicrystal on it's own, The Seed Of Glory keeps the otherwise frail and bizarre Ez'Dryael physiology together, energyzing every tissue through direct radiation, converting the free elements on the Ez'Dryael blood into nutrients and building blocks for it's cells as well as powering up it's natural psionic abilities. Rather visible under the translucent skin, however, this organ is also the Ez'Dryael sole and sore weak point, for while it can withstand severe pummeling, it is rather brittle once it's resistance is defeated, and a mere crack on it's crystal latice is all what it takes to render it unusable, thus instantly killing the Ez'Dryael (in most cases). This grants any attacker trying to confirm a critical hit against an Ez'Dryael a +4 Insight Bonus on such roll. Worst even, as their very essence is tied to this particular part of their bodies, any Ez'Dryael who is reduced to a negative amount of hit points below their Constitution Score by a critical hit cannot be raised or resurrected, as their inhuman souls disgregate along their bodies, which hastedly balloon and explode in an obscene shower of purplish viscerae and blood.
* Vainglorious: With an utter and almost absolute lack of interest and regard for the wellfare of beings outside of their own hybrid blood lines, the Ez'Dryael have a hard time dealing and relating to sentient beings of other species, appearing before them as aloof, rude, distant and inexcrutable. This imposes a penalty of -4 to Diplomacy, -2 to Bluff, and -2 to Sense Motive, since the sinfull scions are way too concerned with themselves and absorbed on their own elucubrations for like putting much thought or attention to beings incapable of direct mental imaging and communication.
- The Writer.
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