Carchardian

Before the Bloody War, the carchardian race did not exist. Using aboleth technology, the sahuagin biologically engineered the carchardians from normal great white sharks. They imbued the sharks with sentience and free will, but ingrained in their minds a strong sense of loyalty and duty. Trying to create a perfect soldier, they gave the carchardians a sharp military intellect, and topped off their versatility with the creation of the remora imp, which could work as their hands.

**Physical Description:** The Carchardian is physically identical to a great white shark. In general, the species is dark above and white below. Back and flank color in the Carchardian ranges from bronzy and greyish brown to various shades of grey. Like other sharks, the skin of a Carchardian is very tough and studded with tiny, tooth-like scales called "dermal denticles", enabling the Carchardian to glide efficiently in ghost-like silence. As in other sharks, the upper jaw of a Carchardian is not fused to the skull. Instead, the jaws are slung loosely beneath the skull, held in place by flexible connective tissue and braced by accessory cartilages. The teeth of a Carchardian have broadly triangular blades with coarsely serrated edges. The eyes of a Carchardian are relatively large and well developed, with color vision and detail accuracy comparable to a humans.

**Society**: The carchardians were considered a great failure by the sahuagin, for while they did have a deep sense of loyalty, they also had an unquenchable thirst for freedom, and soon they turned on their creators. Thousands of sahuagin were slaughtered by the carchardians before they drove the smart sharks off to other regions of the sea.

The typical Carchardian personality is practical and analytical. They value freedom above all else, but the art of war comes in close second. It should be noted that individual freedom is not a goal of these hyper- intelligent sharks.

The freedom they fight for is for the group. While they will defend even a small group from oppression, they are merciless against any individual who would dare swim against the flow of the society that the individual belongs to. These seemingly contradictory concepts boil in a constant internal struggle in every Carchardian, which may explain their violent tempers and cold attitudes. Obey the law of your kind to fight for freedom, defend your own, and never surrender are all tenets of the core Carchardian philosophy.

**Relations:** Many races see the carchardians as humorless and unimaginative. Others see them as great thinkers who focus on their cause. They tend to get along well with militarized societies that treat their citizens well, while finding enemies among anarchists, fascists, and pacifists.

**Alignment and Religion:** Carchardians are often lawful neutral, though individuals can vary greatly from the norm. Their philosophy tends to revolve around the delicate balance between societal order and freedom from oppression. Carchardians often worship Jaadel, which is considered one of Keilona's cults.

**Adventurers:** Carchardian adventurers will be found where-ever freedom is threatened or war is imminent. While considered warmongers by most, the carchardians have proven to be champions of freedom, and securers of peace.

**Names:** Carchardians have little patience for social niceties, and this is reflected in their cut-and-dry naming practice. They often have descriptive first names, and almost always use a territorial designation as well. While many see this practice as primitive or lacking creativity, Carchardians see this as practical. Carchardian titles replace their current name, for example if Warrior of Dagon Ridge is honored with the rank of commander, then he becomes Commander from Dagon Ridge.

***Male Names:*** Keeper of Bloodwater Range, Dweller of Eel Cave, Defender of Squibbon Reef

***Female Names:*** Mother in Raveners Range, Soldier in Typhon’s Deep, Protector in Delphin Cove

## **CARCHARDIAN RACIAL TRAITS**

* **+4 Strength, -2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom:** Carchardians are very strong, but are not known for their charm or cleverness.
* **Racial Buoyancy:** -110; **Depth Tolerance:** 1,200 feet
* **Large:** Carchardians are Large creatures and thereby suffer a -1 size penalty to their AC and attack rolls and a -4 penalty to Stealth checks. In addition, they gain a +1 bonus to their CMD, take up a 10 feet by 10 feet space and have a reach of 5 feet. A +2 Strength bonus due to size is included above.
* **Type:** Trueforms are Magical Beasts with the trueform subtype.
* **Amphibious:** Most trueforms have either lungs or gills, but rarely both. In whichever medium they are not equipped to breathe, they can absorb oxygen for a limited time. Trueforms with lungs can survive underwater for 1 hour per 2 points of Constitution. Trueforms with gills suffer the same limitations, except on dry land.
* **Darkvision 60 feet:** Darkvision is the extraordinary ability to see with no light source at all, out to a range specified for the creature.
* **Low-light vision:** Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light.
* **Animal Mimicry:** When not wearing any equipment, trueforms can easily pass as the normal animal that they are closely related to. A successful Bluff check grants them the ability to blend in with or pass as a normal, "non-sentient" animal.
* **Bestial Empathy:** Trueforms share an affinity with other animals (or vermin) of their own species. For example, a squibbon shares affinity with all octopi, delphins with all dolphins, carchardians with all sharks, and so on. Trueforms gain the ability to communicate with these creatures as if under the effects of a *speak with animals* spell (caster level equal to 1/2 the trueform’s character level, rounded up). In addition, they gain a +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy checks when dealing with these animals. Whenever these trueforms initiate an exchange, animals begin with a starting attitude of indifferent. This is a supernatural ability.
* **Fast Swim Speed:** Carchardians have a base swim speed of 60 feet.
* **Gills:** Carchardians can breathe underwater indefinitely.
* **Seabound:** Carchardians were never meant to move on land. They do so at a movement rate of 5 feet by flopping around.
* **Sharkhide:** Carchardians have a +4 natural armor bonus. In addition, shark scales are extremely sharp. Anyone grappling a nude carchardian will sustain 1d3 slashing damage for each round he holds the grapple.
* **Remora Imps:** Trueforms such as the carchardian and the ixarc use the remora imp as a sort of “helper monkey”. A trueform with remora imps as its primary form of tool use can control up to one remora imp, plus one for every two character levels they possess. These imps are perfectly loyal and will obey the trueform even if it means death. If slain, the trueform can replace them in 1d4 days (possibly much sooner or longer at the discretion of the environment, local population of remora imps, and the GM). Optionally a trueform can also use remora devils (an advanced and rarer mutant form of remora imp). These take much longer to find (3d4 weeks) and take up the place of 2 imps (thus trueforms of under 2nd level cannot control them).
* **Keen Scent:** Carchardians can notice other creatures by scent in a 180- foot radius underwater and can detect blood in the water at ranges of up to a mile.
* **Life Sense:** Carchardians can sense bioelectric activity, granting them blindsense 30 feet against organic, living creatures that are touching the same body of water.
* **Bite:** Carchardians gain a vicious natural bite attack, dealing 1d8 damage. The bite is a primary attack, or a secondary attack if the creature is wielding artificial weapons.
* **Weapon Familiarity:** Trueforms are proficient with all natural weapons and treat any weapon with the "trueform" quality as a martial weapon. As a consequence of form, many trueforms cannot effectively wield manufactured weapons without this quality.
* **Languages:** Carchardians begin play speaking Common and Pelagic. Carchardians with high Intelligence scores can choose from Aquan, Ceti, Draconic, Lok'tar, Pinnipar, and Sahu.