Sorial (3.5e Race)

Sorial
Summary::Humanoids descended from fey that feed on emotions, such as joystealers and gray jesters.

Personality
Sorial have often been described as self-centered and melodramatic. Leaping from whim to whim on a tidal wave of emotion gives them a reputation as flighty and crude. While outsiders attribute this to immaturity and selfishness, the reality is sorial are hardly in control of their own emotions. Their wishy-washy ways stem from the intensity of mortal emotion, something their fey blood has yet to adapt. Much like their distant cousins, the shadar-kai, the fey from which sorial are descended have long been the victims of an emotional deadness, forced to feed upon the emotions of others in order to feel anything more intense than mere discomfort or contentment. The mingling of the blood of fey and mortal has resulted in a kind of inborn hysteria. However, even without the inability to stifle their emotions, sorial are proud creatures. Whether because they are wrapped up in their own emotions or because of an effect of their heritage, nobody is certain. Regardless, sorial love to be the center of attention, to the point that many are afraid of being alone. Given the chance, a sorial would rather die dramatically than live a life away from the limelight.

Physical Description
Sorial are often mistaken for very pale elves. Their features, like those of elves, are sharp, complete with almond-shaped eyes and upswept ears. Their ashen skin often sports an imperceptible tint of pink, blue, or silver. They are similar to elves in build as well, with most sorial standing little more than five feet and possessing a thin, nimble frame. Most striking of a sorial's physical features are their eyes, whose hue changes with the sorial's hunger. Two eye colors are known to exist: a deep red that lightens to a gleaming gold when the sorial is full; and a midnight black that rises to a brilliant sky blue. Despite the seemingly luminescent color of a well-fed sorial's eyes, they do not actually emit light. Sorial sport a wide array of hair colors, each either brilliantly striking or startlingly dark. Indeed, sorial seem to naturally exhibit every color of hair but the mundane: gleaming red streaked with gold, shimmering blue, and even gradiented hair are all considered common. In fact, the number of hair colors that sorial have been known to possess is dwarfed only by the myriad ways the sorial style them. A sorial's style of dress is less indicative of their personal preferences and more of their mood. A happy sorial might dress in sunny hues of intricately layered clothing, while a melancholy sorial might wear simple, soiled affairs of dark colors. Many sorial go through several outfits a day, changing or altering their clothing to match their current emotional outlook.

Relations
Sorial tend to be on less-than-favorable terms with others of fey blood, the latter taking the insoril's—and by extension the sorial's—decision to remain within cities as a sign that they have abandoned the natural world. While the more lawful races tend to view sorial as “disruptive,” most intelligent races (eventually) welcome the presence of a sorial with open arms. Those few who know of their heritage or their thirst for emotion, however, see them as no better than their enslaved forebears or, in some cases, voracious vampires, and seek their elimination. When it comes to their opinions of others, sorial rarely care one way or the other. While they much prefer the company of chaotic beings to “stuffy” lawfuls, they will gladly travel with nearly any clique. However, they do possess one race-spanning hatred: khen-zai. The ethergaunts, ancient horrors who enslaved the proud insoril and twisted them for their own purposes, are an abomination the sorial will not stand for. While many sorial wish to avenge their forefathers, most cannot stand the ethergaunts' emotion-culling agenda.

Alignment
The hysterical sorial tend almost unwaveringly to chaotic alignments, with chaotic neutral being the most common. This outlook tends to come not from an active disinterest in others, but from the sorial's inability to see an inch beyond their collective nose. Even good-aligned sorial commit good deeds out of a need to be recognized rather than any sense of altruism.

Lands
Sorial, distantly descended from emotional fey such as insoril, do not have lands of their own. They make their homes in the urban areas where their ill-fated ancestors once did, drawn to emotional hubs such as theaters and town centers (as well as the occasional battlefield).

Religion
While most sorial acknowledge the fact that powerful beings exist in planes beyond most mortals' knowledge, worship is something most do not even consider. Individualistic to a fault, sorial do not enjoy the thought of some unknown being dictating their thoughts, actions and belief. At most, some sorial pay tithes to churches that support revelry or the arts.

Language
Sorial are born with an almost perfect knowledge of sylvan, a gift from their fey ancestors. Nearly all sorial speak common as well. Most pick up the languages of their native lands.

Names
Born of other races in much the same way as planetouched, there is no such thing as a "typical" sorial name. However, many sorial go by aliases, nicknames, or self-given titles, rather than their birth names.