Tritons (SofS)

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Aloof Ones, Blues, Longmanes, the Elders.
Easily the most mysterious and distant people of Serôs are the tritons, the deep-dwelling folk who rarely interact with the other races that is, until recently. Tritons have long been the guardians of the depths, keeping many secrets and dangers from creating more than ripples in the deep currents. They are considered among the eldest of the aquatic races in the Inner Sea, though they are not native to this plane. Still, their arrival in the depths predates even the legendary merfolk Histories of Hmurrath. Once the only magic-wielding race to stand against the morkoth, they helped many of the sea peoples to resist the evil races and learn some of their magic or fighting skills. Now, with the other races becoming their equals in culture, magic, and might, the tritons' long isolation may soon come to a close, provided of course that they can consider their new allies as equals, rather than children or pets.
==Physical Characteristics==
As in the MONSTROUS MANUAL tome, tritons are humaniform with their legs ending in finned legs with flippers. While their facial and upper body features are quite comely in human and elven terms, they are obviously their own people and do not mate across their races.
Skin: While they most often appear with the deepblue skin of common tritons, those of Serôs sometimes bear young with skin closer to pearl or light green hue. All other characteristics are unaffected, though the albino or mutant triton is socially outcast. No matter the pigmentation, there is a slight sheen to their skin that increases and eventually becomes the scales of the lower legs. Their hands are webbed, and their calves are bisected by minor dorsal fins running from mid-calf and tapering off at the ankles.
Hair: Tritons wear their dark blue or dark green hair in long manes. Males commonly cut their hair about five inches past shoulder length and braid this to keep the hair out of their faces. Triton women wear their hair as long and as free as they desire, though they too braid some or all of their hair when expedient. While it seems they all shave their heads around their ears, in truth the hair grows no closer than two inches to the base of their pointed ears. This is often missed due to their long hair, but when tritons are on the warpath, they bind their hair into tight ponytails or other configurations for visibility, exposing this adaptation for better hearing. They also weave in pieces of metal or coral to use their braids as bludgeons in emergencies.
Eyes: If seen anywhere closer than 200 feet from the surface or any amount of light greater than a standard torch, a triton' s eyes look normal, with irises of brilliant green and blue hues. If in the depths or in dim lighting, the pupils of tritons' eyes expand tremendously to allow vision in the depths, often turning the entire eye black. A nictitating membrane protects the eye from any sudden flashes of light and blinding, but this reflex allows normal vision at depths of up to 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.
Size: Like most of the other races, they are close to human size, though the standard triton of either gender swims at a mere five feet in height. There are some giants among them of six feet, but the average falls between 4' 8 and 5' 4.
==Psychology==
As the elder race of the allied sea peoples, tritons have many biases and preconceptions about those with whom they occasionally swim. They have come to expect that all races that are not their enemies should treat them with some awe, or at least respect. If they do not get that respect, the immediate response is either total indifference or anger. For centuries, they have guarded the depths and the rest of Serôs from alleged great evils, and many tritons feel that the other races owe them some level of fealty for such activities. However, with their recent successes due only to alliances with the other races, many no longer see them with the same eyes, and this is galling to many a triton.
As their typical creature allies are sea lions and hippocampi, they are nervous around the always prankish and happy dolphins of the shallow sea, and they resent the fact that dolphins interrupt their currents (getting in one' s personal space is the surface-world' s metaphor)with impunity. Dolphins rarely interact for long with tritons unless they show some sense of fun, and the playful sea mammals often try to break down the formidable shells of propriety and aloofness that tritons build around themselves.
==Social Characteristics==
Tritons operate under a patriarchal feudal system of nobles, inherited titles, and the like. There is little evidence of the inner workings or titles within the nobility or even the military, for the tritons do not readily share such information with outsiders.
How they build their settlements and organize their society is quite regulated, and they are currently helping to rebuild parts of Myth Nantar with their characteristic orderliness. All triton protectorates begin with one garrisoned outpost (usually one central tower building surrounded by support buildings or caverns for additional living space). Once the tritons have made the areas around said outpost safe for more inhabitants, they establish four more outposts in sequence at cardinal points a half-day' s swim from the central garrison (sixteen miles N, S, E, and W of the central tower). Once those outposts are established, the central garrison grows to become a town. Slowly but surely, tritons increase outposts in sets of four and in a grid-like pattern, so no triton outpost or settlement is more than a half day away from another. At their largest, triton protectorates are never more than three days' swim across, and consist of the capitol city, a ring of eight core trade cities around it, twelve farming towns around them, and a perimeter of twenty-four garrisoned outposts.
==Notes==
The recent disruptions by Iakhovas in the Inner Sea were ignored early on by the tritons, who felt it an upwater problem that only distracts from our true duties below.
Even with the mourning songs of the great whales telling them of great troubles above, the tritons avoided the turmoil in the waters above. When a rogue mermaid and her shalarin companion stole a triton conch to summon aid against their enemies, the tritons merely gave chase over the stolen property. Morkoth soon invaded the Pumana Protectorate at Abydos and at Pumanath, reclaiming some of the fell magic the tritons kept from them in order to fight the Twelfth Serôs War. Once the tritons faced the enemy and saw what their arrogance had blinded them from seeing, they realized their folly and became the cavalry that broke the invaders at Myth Nantar and sent them back to the Outer Sea.
The tritons wield a unique weapon of their own design called the tapal. These are made for each triton and presented to him when each becomes an adult. Many tapals are family heirlooms, and many older tapals have great enchantments placed upon them. It is in effect a long sword, dagger, and spear all in one, for it is used with lightning efficiency as a stabbing and slashing weapon despite the water resistance. The tapal is some form of crystal carved into an arc almost like an angular fisherman' s hook, though with more width, a razor' s edge all along the outer edge, and a handle inside the arc. The short hook end of the arc stays on the inside close to the body, while the long edge and front point are ideal for swimming past a foe and slashing it without effort while passing by. The weapon is also used like a dagger, its front arc a massive but wide point. The tapal can also be flipped about so the long point is forward; grasping a secondary handle toward the middle of the tapal as well as the main handle, it works as a spear or general stabbing weapon. Tritons jealously guard the creation secrets of the tapals, though the new alliances at Myth Nantar have seen the tritons begin sharing this weapon with the shalarin.
==AD&D Game Characteristics==
Unlike the standard AD&D tritons, the tritons of Serôs neither wear scale armor nor wield crossbows of any sort. Their weapons have always been tridents, daggers spears, nets, and tapals.
Classes Allowed (Level Limits): Fighter (12), Ranger (12), Mage (15), Dukars (U), Cleric (12), Priest (12).
Multiclass Options Allowed: Fighter/Cleric, Fighter/Mage, Cleric/Ranger. Cleric/Mage.
Ability Adjustments: Strength + 1, Constitution + 1 Charisma -1, Dexterity -1. Maximum Strength and Constitution 19.
Preferred Armor and Weapons: Silverweave armor is the standard for tritons, as are tridents and tapals as weapons.