Fawl

Brief The fawl are a tall and slender race with large eyes, small horns, and pudgy noses. They are elegant in stride and their extensive lifespans make them great keepers of lore. They often wear clothing made for hide and moss, but under the guise of clothing it becomes much easier to tell the sexes apart, the males have large robust arms, with high cheekbones and prominent Masculine brows. Their upper bodies often taper like a muscular letter V, usually standing between 6’5”-7’8”. The women of the Fawl share the same high cheekbones, but often have lighter eyes and hair, they have succulent lips and flawless skin that is almost unable to retain a scar or blemish. Their horns are typically smaller and eyes usually seemingly larger due to the lack of a large brow. They have slender athletic builds with portionate bosoms and thin waists. They usually stand 5’8”-6’6” tall, their bodies are often found enticing by humans and 9/10 times a Half-Fawl is born from a Fawl mother. These souls often spend their existence in exile and dedicate their significantly shorter lives to pursuits of knowledge. Libraries across Norhardt usually have one or more Half-Fawls employed. The Fawl historically inhabited all of “Nor” with different cultures and dialects separating them, but due to a shared believed origin the Fawl were a peaceful race with disputes being settled by Fawvic’nor. Fawvic’nor was a set of three trials, Strength, Intelligence, and Constitution. The opposing factions would each volunteer a champion they thought were the finest example of what it means to be Fawl. The constitution challenge was the hardest, each champion would have to find their way to the top of Mt. Matraz where a large Oak grows near a hot spring. It is said this hot spring is where the Goddess Forneesa forged the first Fawl, the Masculine energy called Gor, and the Feminine called Vix. Forneesa, Gor, and Vix are almost exclusively the three deities prayed to by the Fawl. The story goes that Forneesa was going to create a third Fawl neither masculine nor feminine meant to be birthed into existence once per generation called the Star Born, there is no record if one was ever birthed, heroes of the Fawl commonly claim such ancestry, but during the attempt Forneesa’s brother and ex lover Kaowl was jealous that Forneesa forsaken him millennium ago and dipped his hand in the pool as Forneesa was trying to create the first Star Born. The pooled turned toxic and a third Fawl was indeed born, It was a dark being born of hate envy and greed, with large fangs and spikes along its scourged body it bred with some of Gor and Vix’s descendants. These offsprings are outcasts and barely resemble the Fawl, instead they vary in various forms of terror and move like shadows typically in the underworld. They are called the Kaowka and their souls are ever increasingly more tainted by Kaowl’s evil.

Stats: +2 Int +2 Wis -1 Cha

Age: The Fawl age at a pace about 3x slower than humans nearing the end of their lives near 300 years of age, however fawl living close to 800 have been known to exist but extremely rare and often due to magic.

Alignment: Fawl have an innate tendency toward good, however after genocide many Fawl have taken life into their own hands resulting in some questionable behavior.

Size: Fawl are about the same size and build as tall humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 60ft.

Abilities

Nature Affinity: You have speak with plants, and speak with animals.

Forneesa's Kiss: You kiss a ally on the forehead once per long rest restoring them to full health. (if corrupted or not a believer in Forneesa this ability no longer works)

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Fawl.

Male Fawl get an ability called Inner Gor, which allows the parties weapons for 10mins to be ignited in green flames that deal an additional 1d4 damage at level 1-5, 1d6 6-10, 1d8 11-15, 1d12 16-20. This can be performed once per long rest.

Female Fawl get an ability called Inner Vix which for 2 rounds of combat Or 2 mins surrounds each party member in a pink light that boosts their AC to 30. This ability can only be used once per long rest. At level 15 this ability can allow the Fawl to …

History

The Fawl are the ancient natives of Nor’hardt or what they originally refered to as Nor. They never really settled the southern portion of the continent, this allowed humans to quickly gain a foothold when they “discovered” the continent, within 100 years the whole southern desert was colonized by man. The Fawl would occasionally see human adventurers travel up the river BurlimKvos, they were not slain unless violent, but instead held captive so that the Faw could learn about man.

The fawl come from a long tradion of ritualized magic, despite them living in various tribes all Fawl shares similar customs and belief. Their three primary gods are Forneesa and her son Gor, and daughter Vix. Forneesa’s counterpart is Kaowl. The story goes that Forneesa was going to create a third Fawl neither masculine nor feminine meant to be birthed into existence once per generation called the Star Born, there is no record if one was ever birthed, heroes of the Fawl commonly claim such ancestry, but during the attempt Forneesa’s brother and ex lover  Kaowl was jealous that Forneesa forsaken him millennium ago and dipped his hand in the pool as Forneesa was trying to create the first Star Born. The pooled turned toxic and a third Fawl was indeed born, It was a dark being born of hate envy and greed, with large fangs and spikes along its scourged body it bred with some of Gor and Vix’s descendants. These offsprings are outcasts and barely resemble the Fawl, instead they vary in various forms of terror and move like shadows typically in the underworld. They are called the Kaowka and their souls are ever increasingly more tainted by Kaowl’s evil. Normal Fawl sometimes find their way into Kaowl cults where they allow the spirit of Kaowl into their souls and they slowly turn into Kaowka. If a champion reaches the top of Mt. Matraz he must drink from the pool with one of three outcomes potentially occurring, first they live in uncertainty and they die, this is the expected outcome, usually both champions die and the two factions are reminded that all things die no matter how strong or intelligent and they settle their dispute. The second option is their soul is of evil and their blood in their veins turn black and their eyes turn green and they become a Proto-Kaowka where if they don't feed they’ll die. One of the issues is the first feeding require the first absorption therefore destruction of a soul. The third option is the champion is destined to be a Starborn and is infused with the grace that Forneesa meant for such a creature to have. The Kaowka barely resemble the Fawl with beastly demonic features and a strong thirst for chaos and blood.

It was early in the second Era when the humans started settling north of the Kadee

Mountains,  this is when the first contact was made between the Fawl and man, the Fawl graciously allowed the group of settlers to establish a colony along the river banks only, they agreed on peace so long that the humans stayed by the river and didn’t return south to inform their rulers about the fertile lands and jungles to the north. Towards the middle of the second era and later, ambitious rulers of the Khati’hardt nation started sending warships up river full of settlers and soldiers, the fawl quickly became common knowledge amongst the humans. These earlier settlers broke the original oaths and started expanding into the jungles and grasslands, they would capture Fawl and use them as slaves and guides. They would separate families and promise to reunite loved ones if they were given the name of Fawl holy sights and locations of treasures. The humans pitted Fawl tribes against each other, with Fawl tradition forbidding full scale wars against tribes, the humans struck deals with tribes to massacure their rival tribes, they would then turn and enslave the original tribe. Ultimately a population well over 600,000 Fawl has turned into a couple hundred known fawl throughout the kingdoms of Nor’hardt. However there is leaked rumors from existing Fawl that there is pockets still in the jungle and woodlands of tribes of Fawl in the thousands total. Today fawl are seen as relics of the past and are equally hated and thought of as beasts, but also revered for their knowledge and knowledge of the land. The legends of the Star Born has made their way into the mythos of the human culture, many of humans make the trek each year to drink from the pool thinking they may be Star Born. The legend has evolved with the Fawl believing the Star Born will save their people and help rebuild the lost holy pools across Nor’Hardt.

Because of this injustice many Fawl turned to Kaowl feeling that Forneesa has forsaken them, this has caused a large amount of Kaowka to dwell in the wilds and caves. The remaining Fawl believe it is their sworn duty to destroy every Kaowka in existence. However many other races have started following Kaowl (As well as Forneesa) which has resulted in back room rituals for power, and it is said even humans can become Kaowka if their souls are wicked enough. Some Fawl make it their occupation working with law enforcement to wipe out various Kaowl cults. Since of the rarity of Fawl, they are no longer kept as slaves, however many are underpaid servants.

The Nes plant fruits are head sized round melons with a thick smooth white skin and baby blue flesh, with red star shaped seeds down its core.The Fawl have eaten Nes fruit or what they called Burlimba for centuries believing it aids in clearing the head of evil thoughts. The roots are often an ingredient in the Fawl’s version of healing potions. The flower buds which are a dark brown before they are mature and yellow, can be fermented in a very sweet alcohol that almost tastes like pineapple. Humans created a thriving trade business with Senios selling Burlimba and other native species, this has often led Burlimba to be too expensive for Fawl to use their main traditional plant. This has led to modern Fawl within the last 600 years to lose knowledge and the rituals that go along with this sacred plant more and more every generation.

Fawl Variants
 Bordril Fawl  The Bordril Fawl are the native inhabitants of the nation of Bordril. The Nations symbology, ethos, and namesake all stem from this particular Fawl sub-race. When humans discovered Nor’hardt the Bordril were the only warlike race. It is due to this that modern Bordril Fawls have avoided genocide and slavery. This martial culture also bred them to be taller and stronger than their counterparts. The Bordril Fawl, which is really more of a confederation of Bordril Fawl Clans, that decided that their cousins on the rest of the continent were far to passive and a bunch of pushovers. The Bordril Fawl had a tradition of battling for mates but also raiding their passive cousins. During these raids the Bordril Fawl tried to avoid needless bloodshed as long as their victims 100% obeys their demands.

When the humans came in droves raping the land, the Bordril Fawl were the only ones putting up resistance in the form of violence with violence. Bordril was not officially conquered till EII 1765, almost 1500 years after Captain Khatibi arrived in Nor’hardt. They were conquered by humans who ironically shared a lot of the same base values of freedom and violence, these humans only won due to their large population, in reality they were unorganized humans fed up with both Khati’hardt and Loridios. To the credit of these humans they attempted to preserve the Bordril Fawl’s culture best as possible, they choose the same red banners and the jungle boar as their emblem. After the conquering was done they actually built infrastructure and were committed to co existence with these Fawl. In truth this all boiled down to the first King of Bordril, High King Luther Von Chuk. Von Chuk saw that Bordril will be seen as a rebel state, and therefore needs to be stronger than their neighboring nations. In fact Von Chuk married the daughter of the previous ruling Bordril Clan the Karpo Clan, this marriage solidified the Bordril Fawl and Humans as one nation. This would tend to be a mutually beneficial relationship, as it instantly bolstered the population of Bordril, and the Fawl population was mostly unaffected during the Fawl Wars. Bordril has always been accepting of all new Fawl immigrants as well.

Stats: +2 Str +2 Con -1 Cha

Age: The Fawl age at a pace about 3x slower than humans nearing the end of their lives near 300 years of age, however fawl living close to 800 have been known to exist but extremely rare and often due to magic.

Alignment: Fawl have an innate tendency toward good, however after genocide many Fawl have taken life into their own hands resulting in some questionable behavior.

Size: Bordril Fawl are broad shouldered, taller, and have greater muscle mass compared to their Fawl cousins.They often stand 7 feet tall on average and weight 270-300 lbs. Their genetics keep them at about 6-8% body fat for men and 10-11 for women. Your size is Medium.

Speed: Your base walking speed is 60ft.

Nature Affinity: You have speak with plants, and speak with animals.

Bordril Tribal Ritual: 1/LR you can perform a ritual out of combat that takes 10mins to give your party 2 additional hit dice, and 3 spell slots restored each.

Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common, Orcish, Goblin, Troll  and Fawl.

Added Proficiency: Choose one of the three

Survival, Nature, or Medicine

Abilities:

Male- Bordril War Ritual

1/LR- Duration 5 mins from when battle starts Before a battle spend 5 minutes anointing yourself with the soil/gravel/sand.

For the first 5 rounds of combat you have advantage against all saving throws and 2 Bonus actions.

Female- Bordrilian Ancestors

1/LR- Must be below 50% health

You use an entire turn to drop to your knees and pray to you Bordril Ancestors.

-For 2 mins, you have +2 AC

-For 2 mins 25% of all damage done against you heals you. You cannot take any physical damage. Magic damage still affects you as normal, if it beats the +2 AC.