The Faelin

## **Background**

Faelin are the descendants of fey creatures who have spread through out the world eagerly before the rise of the threats that now threaten it.   Their origins themselves put them at contention with many of their fey cousins, as none wish to claim lineage or relation to the Faelin.   This tiny wingless race is often most compared to the Atomie, however any Atomie would sooner stab a speaker in the throat than to listen to them.  Other's have compared them to Grig's, whom also take extreme offense of being compared to the wingless Faelin.  Others still have deemed their origin must have actually come from the Unseelie court, as an adaption gone wrong making a new lesser Fey that was removed from its ranks.

What is certain about their origin is that it occured far enough back for two subspecies to arise naturally.  These two subspecies of Faelin are always bitterly at war with each other, able to tell each other at a moments notice and eager to quarrel over it.  It's rare for their fueds and squabbling to ever cause serious damage to those caught in the middle of such Fairy Wars, but nevertheless, more than one human's eyes have accidentally been struck by a miniature arrow from two sides of fighting Faelin.  Some have tried to classify the two species of Faelin as entirely separate, much like Dwarves and Duergar, however even this is hotly debated in academic as they are far more akin to High Elves and Forest Elves than the two Dwarvish rivals.  The Faelin are divided into three sub-races as a result.

### **Faurin**

The Faurin are a proud, whimsical group of the Faelin, who often content themselves to living in the wild.  Living on the outskirts of humanity, often playing petty tricks on civilized races, they eagerly form their own courts and will often deify a local fey of greater import, such as a Dryad, Nymph, or even Leshy's.  While few know the origins of the Faurin, the first Fairy War was a spectacular performance that put them on the radar of the Fey in general, when large internal fey squabbles caused a horde of Faurin to raid not only human settlements to cause mayhem, but more importantly, caused them to have a war with their own fey cousins, the Atomie, Grigs, and a third unknown fey race.  It is rumored the Fairy War intensified into such bitterness, that the Faurin were almost pushed into the Unseelie court.  Others say that the race caused the mysterious race the Faurin fought were so decimated, that they were ultimately forgotten over time by all but the oldest fey who were alive during the Fairy Wars.  This war has forever caused Atomies, Grigs, and Faurin to have a rivalry between the three races of Fey.  Having dominated this, they found their place among the outskirts of humanity, serving as a line to harras and cause mischief for mortals.

### **Avalene**

The Avalene are the cousins and descendants of the Faurin.  There were many of the fey who found that good spirited humans made for great companions and ended up socializing more and more with the mortal races.  The Avalene took a natural kinship and love to the daring and daring heriocs of knights, good robbers who stole from the rich to feed the poor, and of angels who fought demons.  Their fascination took to emulation and from there the race began to integrate itself into human and elvish societies.  These tiny fey were not very usefull for manual work, nor despite their eagerness were they useful to standard military as soldiers due to their size.  However, many human kingdoms found them to have many other great uses for society, such as fighting off other Fey and pests hidden away where they could not fit.  Their natural affinity for animals led them to making great at taming animals which gives them some popularity as one of the few people able to actually herd cats on a farmstead.  Their affinity and burning desire to protect the races they found themselves integrating with more and more resulted in the Great Fairy War, where the eternal feud between the Faurin and Avalene clashing over how the Faelin's interactions with the humanoid races should be.  The Great Fairy war never had a winner, with both sides ending the fighting for unknown reasons.  There are still always skirmishes between the two groups of Faelin wheneve they meet, however their conflicts are rarely lethal, and more often causes more damage and harm to anyone in the proximity of the battle from stray arrows and overzealous assaults to claim a Win by taking down the biggest enemy.

### **Nymphlings**

Unlike the first two groups of Faelin, the Nymphlings have unknown origins.  Unlike the other Faelin, the Nymphlings are an all female subspecies.  Many suspect they were created by deviant alchemists and wizards who would capture the Faelin and attempt to modify them to suit their needs.  Some rumored they were once all familiars and had since been twisted into something else.   Further, some claim they are actually older than the Faurin and were the actual forebearers of the Faelin's as a race.  Regardless of these origins, Nymphlings are the most mocked and insulted fey.  Despised by the Faurin, and looked down upon by the proud Avalene, they have rarely formed hubs of more than a dozen of their kin, often living as nomads or slaves.  Despite this, they are actually by all accounts more durable, healthier, and harder to get rid of than their cousins.  Their common name being based on the Nymph, many have attempted to capture and enslave Nymphlings, to try to gain magical boons much like a Nymph could bestow.  The nymphlings have no such ability to do so, so the efforts often end in vein.   However, their reputation of being Nymph like extends to other fields, to which there are those who would capture the Nymphlings for such purposes.

## **Physical Description**

Faelin are a diverse race in appearance, with numerous differences in each subspecies.

The Faurin are often said to resemble even smaller Gathlain, and its not uncommon to find Faurin with bark-like skin.  Although this bark is not nearly hard enough to provide them any protections, for them to grow leaves from their back, flowers from the side of their head, or even to sprout.  Most will have pointed ears akin to Elves, although some have fuzzy pointed ears more akin to some dogs.  Wild and Whismical, their nature is reflected in their appearance with their hair often being rather unkept.  Some Faurin can even grow gosammer wings, although these are always limp and useless.  Faurin with these limp wings are often the most reckless and hostile of the race.  Others have grown furry tails or scaled ones, resulting in quite the mixed appeareance. The average Faurin is typically 11 inches tall.

The Avalene are often compared to Elves.  With Pointed ears, the race is often nicknamed by dwarves as 'The little arses' due to their running grudge with elves.  Their hair color is often much more diverse and wild than elves, ranging from Red's, Blue's, Purples, and some having hair that glitters like silver.  Their skin is usually soft and supple, but incredibility resilient. Their skin colors however, often have color tinges.  Often, having soft green, soft blues, and other soft colors for their skin.  The Average Avalene is typically a foot tall.

Nymphlings are unlike their cousins, very curvacious.  Their proportions often something of ridicule for their cousins.  They tend to be taller than their cousins as well and weigh more than their cousins as a result.  Almost always reaching 14 inches, the race tower over their cousins, although there is far less deviation in their height.  Their peach skin is appointed with small pointed ears, much akin to half-elves.  Their hair colors are often bright colors. Vivid and colorfuly bright haired and bright eyed, the Nymphlings are said to hold the beauty of the nymphs.  They are often optimistic in dark situations.  Much like their elastic body, their attitude always bounces back to find the positives in a situation.

## **Society**

Life for a Faelin is always filled with Obstacles, whether imposed due to their size or the perception others have of them.  All of them are durable, althought not necessary hearty.   Their eagerness to do things results in many of them being nomadic.   The Faurin and Nymphlings are often constantly on the move, especially the younger ones.   However, their internal feuds has resulted in each sub-species of Faelin having entirely different cultures, heavily influenced by their homestead.

Faurin are wild, and always up to see new things and experience new situations.  They are crazy enough to jump down the top of the tallest tree, and try it again to see if something different would occur.  Deeply tied to nature, their wild stunts are rare to actually harm the environment. Faurin as a race are extremely flamable, resulting in them often fearing fire and those who would use it.  The race despite their recklessness is very observant, using what others would call as insanity to find and experience more, comparing those experiences, and being able to guess what will occur.  This quest for experience often leads them to being compared to gnomes, whom they almost always have pleasant interactions with.  The Faurin often form Fairy Courts around a larger fey of importance, such as Dryads, Nymphs, and Treants.  They have little skills for politics, and often are more welcome to the courts of larger fey for amusement due to their amusingly reckless nature.   Their bold nature makes them great at dealing with threats to the forests, and at fooling people into thinking they aren't observant.  a Faurin court often ranges from as few as a dozen, to as many as several hundred.  A faurin without a court, will often roam hoping to eventually find a court to mingle with.  Faurin children are nutured for a few years, and then left to learn the world and find a court for themselves.

Avalene are bold and decisive in their actions, but are not nearly as observant of their cousins.  This leads to them often mingling with other societies. Unlike the Faurin, Avalene will form families and even take on family names.  This has lead to them valuing the formation of families, and bringing in other Avalene to the family as they serve in humanoid courts.  Often, multiples families will come together and take one the strongest families name, and live structures that are called 'Hives' by their humanoid neighbors.   Avalene communities are close knit and where one crosses one Avalene, they will often anger the entire hive and be swarmed and harrased by them.   This community work mentality of working for the family, being noble, bold, and just has resulted in them often being associated with eager worker bee's.  Even Avalene's who don't get the honor of a human court and take up the live of noble brigands will form hives with like minded Avalene forming swarming hives.  More than one mugger or corrupt politician taking a shortcut through the slums has been swarmed by dozens of Avalenes looking to part his coin to share with the needy.   When it comes to integrating into the rest of Society, they actually perform quite admirably, recognizing their inability to do many of the heavy lifting, but have found great work elsewhere.  An Avalene music troupe will always draw a crowd at the local tavern, and their ability to serve as body guards due to their durability and their small size allowing them to hide will always give them a chance to scream loudly until proper help arrives.  Their ability to serve as a Pest Control, able to crawl into mouse holes and remove the pests gives them many other jobs in a community, even if some are less than the proud calling of a Knight.   Those who do try to join a national military will find themselves relegated to scouting roles most often, and their affinity to animals leads them to also serving as Crow Lords, Dog Riders, and even Eagle Riders.

Nymphling society is at best a mother with a few of her daughters, before they get split up.  They rarely settle down in one location to form a society unless forced.  This is actually the most common reason a family of Nymphlings is formed.  They are often pursued by humans and other mortal races due to rumors of Nymph heritage they are named after.  While she will lack any actual nymph boon to grant the mortals, many of them will find another use for the Nymphling as a servant.  Other's still will find the nymphling beautiful enough to propose to them and such pairings always result in new Nymphling children.  Simple minded and often weak willed, most Nymphlings don't try to escape, instead trying to find an optimistic bright side to the dark situations their kin find themselves in and wait out the comparitives short life span of humans compared to them.

## **Relations**

The Faelin all have bad relations with Atomies, Grigs, and members of the Unseelie fey court regardless of their sub-race.   Beyond that, their relations are often most impacted by which sub-race they belong to.

Faurin's reckless and inquisitive nature causes them to bond and pair with gnomes very well.  Gnomish society is one of the few that their harrasment is welcomed for interesting situations, and so their pranks and mischief becomes more light hearted when dealing with gnomes.   With elves, they often get along with Forest Elves due to a respect for the wild, but their elvish friends will often view them as tedious, reckless, and annoying.   When dealing with humans, the relationship is often fueled by animosity seeing the humans are a blight to nature.  They rarely get along with Dwarves.  Halflings will often tolerate the Faurin, but have little love for their pranks.  They do often find themselves drawn to Kitsune, recognizing them as close enough kin to fey to form a court around.

Avalene are bold, proud, and confident and have a love for society.  This draws them to finding great relationships with Humans, Elves, and Halflings who all can appreciated their dedicatedness to the community.  They often dislike dwarves finding them smelly and messy.  They rarely have good things to say about gnomes whom they see as Faurin lovers.  They have a happiness to work with many more fuzzy races, such as Catfolk correlating them to a fantastic fusion of animals and people.  They also have a deep fascination with the Kaiju, whom they find a kinship to as wanting to be gaurdians of the people around them, although often being in the shadow of Kaiju, both literally and metaphorically.

Nymphlings are often shy and dislike combat and fighting.  However, being so desired due to rumors of their Nymph-like boons has led them to often becoming slaves to Humans and other races.  The Nymphlings who find themselves captured by more evil races will often not live to escape due to the vile nature of their captors, while those captured by races of more mixed natures such as Humans will find themselves as the greatest prized possession of a collector, or serving as a pseudo familiar to a wizard, helping him with chores and cleaning to the best of her own abilities.

## **Alignment and Religion**

Faelin almost all universally will happily worship deities associated with fey and nature.   While the Avalene is also prone to worshipping Desna, Sarenrae, and Cayden.

Faurins tend to be chaotic in nature.  Some good natured and more malicious natured ones do exist, while several older Faurins have settled down into being a truly neutral fey being.   While Faurins may exist of any alignment, most tend to embrace their chaotic nature first and foremost.

Avalene are righteous fey, often trying to tye themselves to the image of knights.  While there are many that are quite chaotic, there are also who do become noble knights who fight for the good of the people enforcing the law.  While an evil Avalene is possible, they are rare.  An avalenes capacity for Law and chaos is most dependant on the society around them, or the family of Avalenes they find themselves in.

Nymphlings tend to be very neutral and somewhat chaotic.  Their weak willed nature and dislike of violence causes them to rarely become righteous good people ready to self sacrifice, but also rarely do they seek elaborate revenge.  While some may become lawful beings, their nomadic nature tends to lead them to need to be ready to change for new situations.  They too often worship Desna when hoping for freedom from bad situations, or on the move.  Other's will worship Calistria embracing the poor sitaution, and wanting to worship and make the most of their situation and getting a more direct revenge when opportunity allows itself.

## **Adventurers**

The nature of Faelins often leads them to taking up the mantle of adventurer from time to time.  This is especially true of the Avalene, who find it thrilling to use such adventures to emulate the idea of being righteous knight-like figures.

Faurin who venture on such journeys find the path of a Druid or Ranger a natural call.  Othere's find that tuning into the beasts of nature as a Shifter may draw them.   Other's even become reckless barbarians despite their small size, with durability that will earn the respect of larger peers.  Rarely, they may take up the arms of a fighter or swashbuckler.  A few are born with natural fey magic, and seek the path of the sorcerer, to confuse their enemies with magical tricks.

The Avalene are well natured and lean to many roles see as noble. Many become Swashbucklers, Rogues, Fighters, and even Cavaliers.  Some seek the path of a Ranger and cleric, although its hard for them to find respect from their peers in such roles  A select few may even seek the paths of a Wizard or Sorcerer, although this is quite rare for Avalene.   Those Avalene of especially just nature will often seek the path of a Paladin, most often serving Sarenrae.

Nymphlings are often terrified of the path of the adventurer.  While they do travel a lot as nomads, they generally try to avoid danger, not rush into it as must adventurer's would.  Those few Nymphlings who are bold enough to choose such as calling, usually are magically gifted and find the path of the Sorcerer as their true calling.  Others will become Bards, oracles, and Rogues.   It is rare for them to choose an occupation that ties them down to one place, unless they have someone they call their master, where in they often will choose a very diverce range of jobs to attempt to satisfy them.

## **Names**

Males: Aes, Alii, Ankou, Artair, Bearach, Boisil, Brianan, Ce, Cesan, Coll, Comhall, Curdan, Dubh, Earc, Eoran, Faolan, Fionan, Gilleasp, Gormal, Lachaidh, Madadh, Maon, Neas, Niall, Oisean, Osgar, Ros, Sionn, Solas, Taog, Tearlach, Uallas

Females: Aeval, Anjanas, Asparas, Beathag, Caitir, Fionnaghal, Latharna, Malmhin, Mor, Ros, Sidheag, Sileas, Sorcha, Taerlag, Una.

## **Faelin Racial Traits**

### **Faurin Racial Traits:**

Ability Score Modifiers:

Standard (0RP): Faurin while wild and reckless, are observant and keen to learn their surroundings and apply this to their future endeavors, but their small size leaves their health more frail.  They gain a +2 to Wisdom and +2 Dexterity, but suffer a -2 to constitution.

Type:

Fey (2RP) Faurin are Fey and gain Low Light vision.

Base Speed:

Faurin have a base speed of 20 feet. (0 RP)

Size:
Tiny (4RP) Faurin are Tiny Size and gain a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a –2 size penalty to Strength. Tiny races gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.

Defensive Traits:

Fey Damage Resistance (3RP): Faurin gain DR 5/cold iron

Feat and Skill Traits:
Stalker (1 RP): Faurin treat Perception and Stealth as Class Skills.

Nimble Faller (2 RP): Faurin always land on their feet even when taking lethal damage from a fall.  They also gain a +1 bonus to CMD against trip attempts.

Magic Traits:

Fertile Soil (2 RP): Sorcerer Faurin with the verdant bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Clerics who are members of this race with the Plant domain use their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. This trait does not give members of this race early access to level-based powers; it only affects powers that they could already use without this trait.

Weaknesses:
Fire Vulnerability (-2 RP): Faurin have Vulnerability against Fire and take 50% extra damage from all sources.

### **Avalene Racial Traits:**

Ability Score Modifiers:

Standard (0RP): Avalene are bold and daring.  They are the first to jump into action, but rarely think their actions through beforehand.  They gain a +2 to Dexterity and Charisma, but suffer a -2 to Wisdom.

Type:

Fey (2RP) Avalene are Fey and gain Low Light vision.

Base Speed:

Avalene have a base speed of 20 feet. (0 RP)

Size:
Tiny (4RP) Avalene are Tiny Size and gain a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a –2 size penalty to Strength. Tiny races gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.

Defensive Traits:

Fey Damage Resistance (3RP): Avalene gain DR 5/cold iron

Feat and Skill Traits:
Emissary (1 RP): Once per day, Avalene can roll twice when making a Bluff or Diplomacy check and take the better roll.

Skill Bonus (2 RP): Avalene gain a +1 to Diplomacy checks and a +1 to Handle Animal checks.

Offensive Traits:

Weapon Familiarity: (2 RP): Avalene often trained in arms and especially favor weapons primarily made of wood.  All Avalene are proficient in Glaives, Short Bows, Tridents, and Elven Branched Spears.

Weaknesses:
Fire Vulnerability (-2 RP): Avalene have Vulnerability against Fire and take 50% extra damage from all sources.

### **Nymphling Racial Traits:**

Ability Score Modifiers:

Standard (0RP): Nymphlings are durable able to handle abuse their siblings would suffer, and their shy nature is often found attractive or endearing, but their weak willed nature and optimism leave them often time make poor decisions for themselves.  They gain +2 Constitution and +2 Charisma, but suffer a -2 to their Wisdom scores.

Type:

Fey (2RP) Avalene are Fey and gain Low Light vision.

Base Speed:

Nymphlings have a base speed of 20 feet. (0 RP)

Size:
Tiny (4RP) Nymphlings are Tiny Size and gain a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a –2 size penalty to Strength. Tiny races gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a –2 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to their CMD, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks. Tiny characters take up a space of 2-1/2 feet by 2-1/2 feet, so up to four of these characters can fit into a single square. Tiny races typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack it in melee. This provokes an attack of opportunity from the opponent. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. Other creatures can move through those squares without provoking attacks of opportunity. Tiny creatures typically cannot flank an enemy.

Defensive Traits:

Fey Damage Resistance (3RP): Nymphlings gain DR 5/cold iron

Healthy (2 RP): Nymphlings gain a +4 bonus on Fortitude saves against Diseases and poisons, including magial diseases.

Magic Traits:

Magical Traits (3 RP): Bouncing Body: The Nymphlings body flexible and rubbery. It gains a +2 circumstance bonus on grapple combat maneuver checks and Escape Artist checks, as well as to its CMD against combat maneuver checks to grapple. Anytime the target would take falling damage, it treats falls as 20 feet shorter (minimum 0) for the purpose of determining damage. In addition, if the target falls against a hard surface, it can attempt an Acrobatics check (DC = the distance fallen) to attempt to bounce upward; success means the creature bounces upward half the distance fallen.

Weaknesses:
Weak Willed (-2 RP): Nymphlings are notoriously weak willed and inherently easy to dominate and bully around. They suffer a -2 to all will saves, and the DC to intimidate one is reduced by 2.