Undine

## Overview

Undines are mortals who experience the influence of a water elemental on their ancestry through one of many ways. In many cases, undines are directly descended from marid, water veela, mudmen, merfolk, tritons, or water mephits, or receive a blessing or curse directly from them at birth that resulted in a transformation of their very essence. In others, the presence of a water wysp, mire brute, water weird, tojanida, or water elemental during the life of a forebear or their time in the womb may manifest in an undine child. Finally, a coastal or island town may find itself with a handful of undine births after storms affacted by xocothian magic strike shore. Regardless of how an undine comes about, they almost always have a desire for simplicity and modesty, though their desires and emotions are near-impossible to read by non-undine due to their eternally placid expressions.

### Heritages

**Mistsouls (Vapor)**: Mistsouls represent the fluidity and mutability of their element. With the ability to perceive the necessary insights in any subject and reduce them to a handful of simple steps, mistsouls are able to turn complex and overwhelming ideas and situations into digestible nuggets of content. Such perception makes it easy for them to note the commonalities between different concepts, and they often speak of universality and intrinsic connections when they're not popularizing aphorisms and mantras among other undines who would otherwise never consider such deceptively simple things. Common stereotypes of mistsouls include wise, humble spiritual leaders who hide great meaning behind few words, custom-defying swindlers who excel at wrapping their targets up in red tape, or easygoing and respectable diplomats who are able to find a shared premise or goal between almost any groups.

**Rimesouls (Frost)**: Rimesouls represent the rigidity and precision of ice. Eminently disciplined and modest to the point of asceticism, rimesouls find extravagance and overindulgence to fill them with disgust behind unchanging expressions. They are excellent logisticians and planners, understanding that everything has a purpose, but often have difficulty living among other races who seem to have no problem living without any idea of their proper place - especially those who consider competition over resources or power to be honorable, rather than a meaningless waste of energy that could be solved in minutes with some concentration. Common stereotypes of rimesouls include exacting authoritarians that will inevitably abuse any power they gain, pretentious pseudo-intellectuals who can feel nothing but disdain, or traditional-minded geniuses who put the happiness and well-being of their community above all else.

## Mechanics

Standard Racial Traits

* **Ability Score Racial Traits**: Undines are both perceptive and agile, but tend to adapt rather than match force with force. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom, and –2 Strength.
* **Type**: Undines are outsiders with the native subtype.
* **Size**: Undines are Medium creatures and thus receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
* **Base Speed**: Undines have a base speed of 30 feet on land. They also have a swim speed of 30 feet, can move in water without making Swim checks, and always treat Swim as a class skill.
* **Languages**: Undines begin play speaking Aquan. Undines with high Intelligence scores can choose from the following: Auran, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Ignan, and Terran.

Defense Racial Traits

* **Energy Resistance**: Undines have cold resistance 5.

Magical Racial Traits

* **Spell-Like Ability (Sp)**: Undines can use Hydraulic Push 1/day (caster level equals the undine’s level). Upon reaching level 9, Hydraulic Torrent can be used instead. Upon reaching level 13, Hydraulic Vortex can be used instead.
* **Water Affinity**: Undine sorcerers with the elemental (water) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. undine clerics with the Water domain cast their Water domain powers and spells at +1 caster level.

Senses Racial Traits

* **Darkvision**: Undines can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.

## Society

Undines usually prefer to live in smaller settlements, as larger populations tend to lead to urban lifestyles, which take them further away from the simplicity of day-to-day life that they enjoy. True to their nature, undines always seek out water near their homes as a source of food, transportation, and defense, which usually takes the form of a lake, river, or sea but can just as easily include wells leading to underground deposits. Not possessed of any particular curiosity or wanderlust, most undines adopt the trade of their clan in some way or another - as young undines tend to be raised communally, with little loyalty to a particular set of parents, biological or not - and only interact with new ideas after they've been filtered through the lens of a mistsoul. Though this results in the average undine spending their whole life in a single area, eventually becoming one of the elder heads of their familial clan, the friendship of a non-undine who leaves the settlement often results in the undine following due to the close bonds they have with those they care about. Undines consider their emotional experiences to be private and intimate, only shared with those they're incredibly close with, and while many in mixed societies learn to accept that other races don't feel the same, it's incredibly difficult to overcome that for themselves - an undine freely expressing their emotions without regard to any who may hear is akin to public nudity, signaling derangement or perversion.

## Religion

Existing outside of urban life means that undines don't pay any mind to Ketar Mozog, to say nothing of his occasionally overly-liberal social conventions about expressing emotion. Instead, their worship is directed towards deities that allow their life to stay simple and straightforward - Basang Ba and her Apparition are most commonly revered, followed by Fa'qamuu Twice-Heavenbound and the Apparitions of Alessandra Juntoso, Zhihao Jin, Petya Naumov, and Nothing Left of Quibatus. Pahala Kadam is seen as a symbol of strength, especially in defense of local communities, rather than war and conflict in general, and although great undine warriors name her in their battlecries and use her symbols in their equipment, actively worshipping her or even her Apparition in peacetime is seen as asking for disruption and violence. Mistsouls often pay respects to Vicenta Salcedo or Jolein Composed of Desire but rarely dedicate their lives to their worship, and rimesouls, though they tend to dislike the ritual and pomp associated with deities, traditionally allocate a small tithe of goods as sacrifices to Dowager Empress Kyouko.

## Relations

Undines tend to get along best with other undines, even across ancestral and national divides, but have varied interactions with other races. Aasimar and tieflings, despite their internal complexities, are often thought of as more understandable than undines, which sours their relations.

Aphorites usually have scholarly aspirations that don't fit with an undine's lifestyle, and thus the two rarely interact, though such moments are respectful when they do occur.

Ganzi and halflings have great difficulty interpreting undines as anything but disapproving of them, which fuels the ganzi desire to impress them even more and turns halflings away.

Changelings find that their strangeness disappears when among the stone-faced undine, and can get along with them quite easily, though dhampir and skinwalkers are driven away - though the vampire-kin's instinctive dislike of running water makes undines unpalatable to them anyway.

Drelmans and nagaji find that undines' desire for a simple life outweighs their lack of expression, and can become good friends and even better allies.

Drow and undines inevitably find their relationships speeding towards disaster, though the exact opposite is true for the similar ifrits, where their differences balance each other out.

Duergar can get along quite easily with undines, but the latter often find every reason they can to excuse themselves from the gray dwarves' superior emotionlessness, and duergar don't care enough for a people who rarely work with metal or stone to chase after them.

Dwarves find undine mildly unnerving, but share enough values with them to form initially rocky but eventually long-lasting friendships.

Elves tend to shower undines in praise for protecting natural waterways, which is pleasant once and grating afterwards.

Fetchlings find themselves speaking freely around undines, who often appreciate the unmediated glimpse into another soul, while ghorans treat undines as non-judgmental sources of information about mortal races.

Gnomes and hobgoblins are wild enough to keep undine interest and skilled enough to make their disruptions of daily life worthwhile - though undines usually have no interest in their projects or pursuits, they find the friendships with such ridiculous folk very rewarding.

Grippli have an uncanny understanding of undine emotions which offends and disturbs the elemental race, leading to enmity.

Kitsune consider undines disappointing, as the lack of reaction to their pranks and tales doesn't belie the undines' enjoyment.

Kobolds inspire secondhand embarrassment and irritation in undines like no other living creature can do, with orcs and oreads in close competition.

Lizardfolk dislike undines on coldblooded principle, but given centuries-long existence of an undine settlement that doesn't expand, there's a potential for friendly interaction.

Undines, parmans, and ratfolk all get along well, as undine stoicism renders them immune to the dangers of parman social constructs and ratfolk love of family speaks directly to the undine heart. Undines and suli can get along well, but ironically enough, the closer the relationship is, the more fragile - and the suli preference for extravagance is more than enough to shatter it entirely.

Sylph questions and undine privacy seem opposed, but the interplay between the two is fulfilling for both parties, and many business, platonic, and romantic relationships have blossomed between the two races.

Tengu don't enjoy spending a lot of time with undines, as their simple lifestyles rarely offer much worth taking and rarely produce great heroes, but acknowledge undines as the masters of underwater swordplay and occasionally seek them out for that purpose.

Vanara rarely inhabit the same climates as undines, though when they do, their interactions with undine are very awkward despite the similarities in their cultures.

Vishkanya hate undines, as their expressionless nature is difficult to imitate and they can be defensively provincial in dismissing their manipulation as an outsider's floundering.

Goblins and undines get along as if they had always known each other - goblin simplicity is perhaps the closest one can get to the ideal, and their inexhaustible energy for song is never hindered by a cool undine reception.