Talmontese

== The Talmontese ==
The Talmontese developed on an isolated jungle island now known as Talmont, and so are part of a unique and bizarre ecosystem. The Talmontese themselves are walking, talking trees and are not the apex of their food chain. Because of this, they have to live off the ground in elaborate tree houses to protect them from predators and prevent their filament-like toes from taking root.
The Talmontese live in hundreds of small, isolated tribes, and as such many will never meet those outside of their family grouping. In general, the Talmontese are extremely territorial and so there are unique cultural practices from tribe to tribe. Because they live on an island and salt water is damaging to their health, most Talmontese have never left Talmont, and so companionship offers them an opportunity to travel and see other worlds.
== Appearance ==
Talmontese are born with smooth bark-like skin, but as they grow older this bark becomes more rough and textured, and gradually restricts their movement. They photosynthesize with leaf-like hair, absorb nutrients through their root-fingers and toes, and also eat protein orally. Talmontese, regardless of gender, range from 4’2”–4’8” and live to be roughly 65 years before they take root. In their old age they join communal Ancestor Trees which enable them to reach great heights. The Talmontese are nocturnal and as such have complex eyes to perfectly shut out light when needed, but also can absorb the few light sources like starlight and bioluminescence that illuminate their nighttime world.
== Fashion ==
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== Culture ==
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== Sexuality ==
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== Marriage ==
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Marriage in Talmont is akin to a suicide pact, or of permanent hermitage. Those in question (which can be of any gender orientation and any number) decide to take root and grow together. The massive trees that exist around the temples of Talmont are caused by these trees being 'added on to' in successive marriages, where more and more Talmontese through the ages decide to become one with these semi-sentient trees.
A sacred mask is worn during the ceremony, one design for males and one for females, and they entangle their hand roots as they walk the floors in a procession of the clan to find the spot where they will settle down. The position and stage of the moons is very important to this ceremony, as is the time of year - 2nd and 3rd season being the only ones that allow for a proper Rooting, or consumation of the marriage. When the two entangle themselves in place, they remove each others masks and the Tribe's Shaman, usually a Sky Brander, uses their skill in Sky Branding to root the married individuals in a fraction of the time. Until their features are fully absorbed and grown together, many of the tribe will usually come to speak with and pay respects to the married unit.
== Family Units ==
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== Coming of Age ==
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== Death ==
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== Education ==
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== Cuisine ==
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== Comparative Statistics ==
Intelligence: 5/16. The Talmontese have the most primal intelligence of all the 'sentient' races. Their simplified perception of the world makes advanced contraptions or equations impossible for them. They see no shades of grew. Everything either is or is not a certain quality. You are either right or wrong, friend or foe, helpful or dangerous. No middle ground and no reasoning to the contrary. They do not have the capacity to understand such grey areas. As they are so stunted in this respect some of the other races do not consider them a sentient race even though they build and create. 
Wisdom: 9/16. Their wisdom is slightly better, but this is because of their natural understanding of animal and plant-life. They are able to sense the qualities of plants - like animals sense pheromones. This makes their skills with medicine very good, and their herbology and botany is unparalleled. They are also acute to the movements and signs of animal life around them, as they are an integral part of the food chain. Their skills of picking up movement and their night vision are extremely good. 
Agility: 11/16. The Talmontese are very agile so long as they keep moving. If they stay still on one area for too long, their roots start sinking into the soil. This is part of the reason they live in trees. They build momentum, and their fully flexible root-hands and feet enable them to dexterously grip tools or weapons in both hands and feet. 
Strength: 10/16. The Talmontese have an unbreakable grip (unless you cut off their root-fingers) meaning weapons or objects they hold cannot be knocked out of their grip, and their power for crushing force is about 90 psi. Their actual physical strength of how much they can carry is very good, but their musculature for hitting force or raw damage isn't as impressive. 
Resistance: 14/16. Talmontese have extremely good resistance. Their bark-like skin gives them a basic armor class of 2 without any clothing or added protection. Moreover, their 'blood' fluids when contacting oxygen, chemically changes to a frothing green poison that ranks 5 on the toxicity scale. Their resistance to blunt force is also very good due to their dense structure. However, they are susceptible to a wide range of fungi, bark rot, moisture damage, insects and birds burrowing into their bodies, lichens, ivy, moss - even mould all taking root on or in their bodies. While they have a good immunity to plant poisons, they are highly susceptible to basic chemicals, like borax, arsenic, chlorine, sodium etc. 
Recovery: 15/16. The Talmontese recovery extremely well. So long as they have moonlight/starlight, water, soil and clear air they can heal all injuries. They can even go so far as to regrow limbs, heal lacerations, burns, cuts, lesions etc. They can digest poisons and break down either through digestion or through root absorption any material - organic, animal or rock given time. Their blood froths when contacting oxygen to create a poisonous foam, protecting them from blood loss. 
NMP: 2/6. The Talmontese connection to the Manna Weave and Huskline is extremely good, but their transformation and channeling to form it into casting magic is very pour. They absorb a great deal of what they try to conjure for the use of magic, meaning there is often not enough left to cast. Trying to over-absorb to compensate can cause illness.
Category:Talmontese
Category:Talmont
Category:Eastern Continent
Category:Races