Shalarin (SofS)

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Fins, finheads, skelar (noble malenti term for light fins), wild-tiders (nickname from the merfolk, based on a prophecy of Selana).
The shalarin are a previously unknown race, and they exist only in Serôs now, though they speak of an ancient watery home far away. Their lives are governed by a caste system that has stratified them into groups that operate independently, yet remain strongly united at the center. This culture helped save Serôs during the recent threat of Iakhovas the Invader. While they had long mockingly been called the diplomats of the deep, the shalarin were the glue that held the allied races together to defeat the great evil.
==Physical Characteristics==
The shalarin are a unique race in Serôs unknown in the Outer Sea (though they may simply have remained hidden or merely are undiscovered in those waters). Upon first seeing the shalarin from afar, many viewers become confused, as the shalarin move like a graceful humanoid swimmer, but their prominent dorsal fins remind many of equally graceful but deadly sharks. Fully adapted for life in the oceans, the bipedal shalarin might be able to survive in the surface-world. However, no shalarin has ever attempted to leave Serôs, so no one knows.
The greatest physiological difference between the shalarin and other races of Serôs are their gill slits. Unlike most races, these are placed not at the neck but along the collarbones and ribcage. Shalarin breathe by taking in water along their shoulders and exhaling out their sides.
Skin: Sleek and scaleless, a shalarin' s skin is closest to a dolphin' s in silken texture and coloration. While silvery skin is the norm, shalarin coloration can range as
wildly as coral colors, from ivory or white and down to midnight blue in some rare cases.
Hair: None at all.
Fins: Shalarin all share a major characteristic that signals adulthood: a large dorsal fin beginning at the tailbone and rising slowly up the back to crown high above the head. The dorsal fin then recedes across the forehead and down the bridge of the nose. The lighter coloration of the shalarin' s hand- and foot-webbing is matched by the dorsal fin. The only major differences among dorsal fins apply to the castes (see Notes). This provides a great amount of stability while swimming at great speeds, but flexing this fin while swimming at any speed is what allows the shalarin their incredible maneuverability.
Eyes: Unlike the other races which share eyes similar to humans and other land-based races, shalarin eyes are more akin to fish and cetaceans. The eye is all pupil, making the eyes all black, though a few shalarin gain deep blue or purple eyes. A nictitating membrane constantly cleans the eyes, protects them from blindness or obstructions, and automatically shields the eyes while shalarin swim.
Size: Shalarin are closest to elves in body type and size, that is they average six feet in height (both genders). Their fingers and toes are quite elongated, and shalarin have webbing between all digits for better swimming. However, they seem taller and more dominant due to the dorsal fin, which in mature adults peaks a foot above the head and fans out two feet behind the shalarin at the shoulders.
==Psychology==
While the shalarin have been in Serôs for nearly 3,000 years, they still consider themselves visitors and guests here. They have never forgotten their original home: the Sea of Corynactis, an alleged paradise of green waters, plentiful food, and a notable lack of enemies, unlike here. While they continue to dream of this other place, they (or at least those of the Faith Caste) have never fully accepted Serôs as their home.
As their culture is caste-based, shalarin know exactly how to act and speak both within their own castes and to members of other castes. Since caste defines how a person thinks and acts in shalarin culture, it is incredibly important for a shalarin to learn what a nonshalarin person does in order to determine how to interact with that person. If someone tells them disparate information (such as a warrior being able to cook or sing songs, etc.), they are both fascinated and confused if the skills of a person cross caste boundaries they have mentally put in place. A warrior is a warrior, while a cook is a provider, and they cannot be the same.
As a race, shalarin are quite open and polite, though they avoid sea elves to a certain degree due to the early persecutions visited upon them by the Aryselmalyn.
The only races they outwardly loathe are the ixitxachitl and morkoth, as their encounters with these malevolent creatures taught them to hate. The shalarin seem naïve to many, especially the tritons, but their open nature often leads many to underestimate their quick minds.
==Social Characteristics==
Shalarin, who dominate a large amount of the north central sea from the gloom to the lower depths, form their society under a caste system. It is said of shalarin that the four Great Castes reveal the four great divisions of the shalarin themselves: We are ruled by the Hand, the Heart, the Head, and the Currents themselves.
Below is the breakdown of the castes and what sort of characters/people belong to each caste:
Protectors Caste: The Protectors (16%) are the Hand, the defenders of the shalarin personally or collectively. Visually, protector caste shalarin have bone spines supporting their fins, and their skin takes on any colors. Caste members learn warfare, both their own style and that of their enemies, and they also establish a separate code of conduct and honor for themselves as warriors. Always honor the trident and it shall honor your skill; never lie to one you protect, or your protection is false and futile; give a foe the defeat his methods prove he deserved, and dishonorable attacks gain the defeat of death; and respond to a foe' s attack, but never begin the battle, for the protector' s job is to provide defense, not aggression. Fighters and rangers are the character classes of the Protectors Caste.
Providers Caste: The Heart of the shalarin population are the Providers (70% of shalarin). This caste is split further into three sub-castes. The Providers (50%) are the common people, the workers, and they have the most freedom to choose their own lives and livelihoods. The Servant Caste (18%) directly and exclusively serves the opposite end of the caste: the Rulers (2%).
Regardless of plans and dreams, the castes are quite rigid, and while the Rulers control the governments and shalarin society in general, they are effective captives of the caste and can never leave or stray from their duties. So too suffers the Servant Caste in its chores menial and major, and its attendance of the Ruling Caste, not to mention its acting as a liaison between all other castes and the rulers.
Regardless of the their sub-castes, all Providers take pride in their work and their necessary tasks within society. There are no corresponding character classes within this caste, nor are there any corresponding visual distinctions about this caste beyond one.
Shalarin of the Rulers' Caste have large white spots or stripes on their fins (and rulers with an entirely white fin take special places in society).
Scholars Caste: The caste of the educated; the Head (4%) contains three subsets as well. All of the subsets are intelligent and responsible in some way for maintaining shalarin histories, and their fins are marked by a red stripe in places distinct to each sub-caste. The Minstrel Caste (1%) provides the shalarin with their poets, singers, and bards, and the outer edge of their fins flash with red. Sage caste members (2%) are the studied and knowledgeable sources through which many others may learn, and they use their talents as tutors and teachers or as famed fonts of knowledge. Sages' fins have a red stripe on the leading edge of the fin only, ending at its apex.
The Arcane Caste (1%) wears its red stripes along the base of the fin at the scalp and back. It allows the studied and educated shalarin to wield magic as a wizard. Thus, this caste provides comfort for wizard and bard characters.
The Seekers: Forever among the Currents, the Seekers caste (10%) embraces those shalarin cut adrift from the norm and looking for meaning beyond the shalarin themselves. Marked by solid black fins and webbing, seekers lose their place within the structures of shalarin society and are forced to seek knowledge and understanding from places and peoples away from other shalarin. The Wanderers Caste (4%) are the rogues, those among the shadows uncovering secrets and things adrift on the currents. The Faiths Caste (6%) provides seekers of truth and purpose. The Faiths Caste has adopted many of the surface-worlders' and Serôsian powers simply to fill the gap as many of the gods of Corynactis have not answered prayers since the shalarin migrated to Serôs. The Faiths Caste was once part of the Scholars Caste, but with the changes since the Passings, the priests have become Seekers as much as any thief.
Even their fins changed to reflect this, once marked with blazing red whorls and now black fins with a blazing red indented dot at the facial base of the fin where a god touched the priest as a child. Within the caste system itself, there are thirty clans, which have members of all the castes in varying degrees.
Some of the clans have dominated the rulership of some areas for centuries, while others have no ruler caste among their settlement and are ruled by a proxy ruler caste member of another clan. The clans, unlike the merfolk system, are less important to the society than the castes, though some clans gain more political and social power due to a high number of rulers in it.
==Notes==
The shalarin originally migrated to Serôs through an undersea gate from their home in the Sea of Corynactis. Some sages theorize that this sea is either on the far-off planet of Karpri in Realmspace or on the other side of the planet Toril! The wild tide that brought them thus was part of a long-foretold destiny of the shalarin people: Five times will the great tide turn and five times a bridge arcs between worlds new and old. The castes shall go forth on that bridge and share the bounty each Passing allows. One for Hand, one for Heart, one for Head, and one for Currents. The Fifth Passing shares nothing but judges, and it will restore the shalarin as one or see them scattered ever.
Four Passings have occurred and the Fifth is imminent the Feast of the Moon in the Year of the Unstrung Harp.
Shalarin are oviparous creatures, laying their eggs externally and incubating them for six months in warm subsea caverns and mud. Each of the clans has a communal hatchery for all the eggs of that clan, and protectors heavily guard these hatcheries. Shalarin eggs are both colored and textured, and these markings flawlessly predict the caste of the child: rough, dark brown shells for protectors; light brown whorled shells for providers; rust colored, tightly striated shells for the scholar caste; and smooth, black shells for the seekers. Once the egg is laid, it is brought to the clan hatchery and placed with other eggs of its caste. Parents may request to raise the child themselves, once the egg hatches, and that request is granted only if at least one parent is of the same caste as the egg. Once hatched, shalarin children are raised by parents of their caste and clan and taught their duties and destinies almost from infancy.
When a shalarin reaches adulthood, the broad stripe of cartilage down the spine and up over one' s head and nose unfolds and a person' s fin marks the start of adulthood. If a person' s dorsal fin never emerges or never rises off the spine (laying flat like a large flap of skin), that signals the shalarin' s position as a Servant Caste member. All others learn their skills, aptitudes, and castes more slowly and more naturally. Ruling caste shalarin can learn the skills of any other caste (or character class), though they must also accept the burden of rulership when the time comes for them to succeed another ruler. If a shalarin is a spellcaster (priest, wizard, etc.), her hand webbing and dorsal fin glow with magic.
==AD&D Game Characteristics==
Shalarin are a new race revealed for the Sea of Fallen Stars, and their broad abilities mimic humans most of all the other PC races. With a base Hit Die of 1, they simply adopt the hit dice of the character classes into which their clan indoctrinates them. Their base Armor Class is 99 7 due to their incredible agility in water.
Classes Allowed (Level Limits): Any (U). Like humans, shalarin are limited to one class, and they are not
allowed a dual-class option, though they do have unlimited advancement in that one class.
Multiclass Options Allowed: None.
Ability Adjustments: This new race has no adjustments for it as a PC race, though they do have the benefit of exceptional Strength (up to 18(00)). However, any Armor Class penalties for low Dexterity also affect the shalarin' s maneuverability class. Thus, a Dexterity of 5 reduces AC by 2 and changes MV Class from A to C.
Preferred Armor and Weapons: Shalarin wear pearl or silverweave armor, and even have tried some surfacedwellers' armor, though they avoid armor that interferes with their dorsal fins. Weapons are equally diverse, though they favor tridents and tapals, the latter weapons
shared with them by the tritons.
Category:Sea of Fallen Stars