Mortai

Mortai (), also referred to as the faces in the clouds or eyes of the gods, were a mysterious and seemingly god-like race of gargantuan aerial beings that inhabited the skies of the Beastlands.
==Description==
Mortai had the appearance of immense clouds and could perfectly imitate several different types, including storm clouds. They spanned many miles from side to side, though it was difficult to determine their exact dimensions, and hovered anywhere from a few hundred feet to altitudes of over and beyond. They moved through the skies with fantastic speed and great maneuverability. It was little known that in the heart of these clouds laid the core of their power, a glowing nimbus of light that measured no more than across.
When they wished to make themselves known, mortai would pulsate with a golden glow and crackle like a thundercloud, followed by the manifestation of various beautiful and wise-looking faces on the surface of their cloud bodies, resembling to various extents humans, demihumans, and humanoids. Their voices were booming and thunderous like a storm. Some sages made records of hearing faint laughter and voices within their bodies even when mortai weren't speaking.
==Personality==
Mortai were immensely intelligent beings, their intellect rivaling that of deities, with a specialty in matters of philosophy. They were usually pacifistic in nature and enjoyed practical jokes, though they were never malicious or life-threatening. Their favorite pranks to engage in were the creation of small rainclouds that trailed someone for a few days or unleashing a trailing wind to repeatedly blow a hat off someone's head. In most cases of mortals trying to pick fights with them, mortai would simply fly away, though if the mortal was of an evil alignment mortai were likely to retaliate in order to teach them a lesson.
They were more than happy to pretend being ordinary clouds so as to go unnoticed by mortals, preferring not to interfere with them and holding themselves above the affairs of those on the ground. However, mortai were not completely averse to helping mortals by providing info or answering questions, so long as they were approached with respect. Whenever mortai figured that a full revelation would do a mortal less good than having them figure some of it out for themselves, they would hide their advice behind riddles or only provide a portion of an answer.
==Abilities==
These beings had perfect control and precise command over any atmosphere that surrounded them, allowing mortai to mimic a number of spells. These included control weather (three times per day), control winds, dust devil, fog cloud, gust of wind, ice storm, whispering wind, and wind wall. Mortai also possessed innate magical abilities that resembled the spells aerial servant, air walk (as cast on another), call lightning, conjure air elemental, legend lore, rainbow, rainbow pattern, wind walk, death fog, and cloudkill (seven times per day). Out of all these abilities, the mortai most frequently called lightning down to strike their foes.
Due to the size and makeup of their bodies it was impossible to harm a mortai physically, unless one were to attack their core. The only effective ways to cause harm to mortai were through dragon breath, magic spells, and similar such effects. However, mortai had a strong innate magic resistance to anything that tried to alter air or water.
Mortai could rain heavily if they so desired and they often chose to do so when being bothered by obnoxious surface dwellers. And whether it was due to their magic resistance or sheer will, mortai were responsible for it being a magical trait of the Beastlands that all spells involving air, wind, or weather were guaranteed to fail at being cast on the plane, including the fly spell.
==Combat==
Being pacifists, mortai generally preferred to flee from combat, even when their opponents were obviously much weaker than them. They only resorted to combat when forced to fight.
==History==
When the Rogue March came through the Beastlands, a mortai by the name of Breath of Life blew the modrons off course in an attempt to maneuver them away from the nymph Alisiphone's lake as a favor to her, as she wished to avoid her lake getting polluted like it had during the last Great Modron March.
==Rumors & Legends==
There existed three competing theories as to the nature of mortai's existence. One posited that they were merely collections of chaotic good petitioners that either preferred the form of clouds or were just too chaotic to take the form of an animal like other petitioners of the Beastlands. Other theories posited that mortai were manifestations of the Beastlands itself or were demipowers of air that served the various sky and storm deities of the Upper Planes, much like how archons served the various deities of Mount Celestia.
==Society==
===Homelands===
Mortai could be found across all three layers of the Beastlands.
===Languages===
All languages were known by the mortai, though they also communicated with each other by means of rumbling like thunder and shooting lightning.
===Relationships===
They occasionally acted as manifestations of the Seldarine deity Sehanine Moonbow and the Dark Seldarine deity Eilistraee.
The bird-spirits of the Beastlands were known to pay them heed.
At least one mortai was always present with Stronmaus, the giant god of storms and storm giants. They were considered by him to be companions and he delighted in soaring through the skies of the Beastlands with them. Additionally, at least one or more mortai were always present around his divine realm of Stormhold, guiding it through the skies above the Karasuthra layer of the Beastlands, and some speculated that it could be by their very will that Stronmaus's cloud palace stayed afloat.
==Appendix==
===Appearances===
===References===
Category:Creatures of neutral good alignment
Category:Creatures found in the Beastlands (plane)
Category:Creatures found in Brux
Category:Creatures found in Karasuthra
Category:Creatures found in Krigala