Safir (5e Race)

Author: Halian (talk) Date Created: June 22, 2016 Status: WIP Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Safir

“	An ćaté Tèqagisan au vwontás nerỳmāiþ kānivǧa.*	”
—Meteli Ìneǧae Iliu Suizan, former archon of Nesta-Palo, Fertile Conversations * “The Awakened mind is the bedrock of society.”
—An katae Teqagis eu vwontà nerymais kaniaþ.*

The safir are a mystical people of great psychic power, often orthogonal to the machinations of the stillminded world. They live in places of ethereal beauty, in expansive plains or ancient petrified forests or crisp beachheads, crafting great artistry and cultivating the gardens that are their minds.

Tall and Alluring

With their exquisite figures, graceful motion, and reserved yet empathic nature, safir appear hauntingly, yet extraordinarily, beautiful to humans and to more than a few other races. Safir are well-known for their blue blood, and for the light blue hue that it imparts upon their skin.

Safir are unique among the known sentient races in that they have three sexes: female, male, and a sort of in-between known as azhar, who, while looking outwardly female, can sire children as well as bear them. They are also unique in their unequal sex distribution: for every 36 children, on average, there are 25 females, 5 azhar, and 6 males. As well, the resting body temperature of safir is lower than humans; however, they can consciously modulate their body temperature via meditation. Male safir are rarely seen in public, due to their scarcity and their closely protected nature, while, aside from height, it is difficult for an outsider to tell an azhar safir apart from a female one.

Female safir range from 6 to 7 feet tall, males from 4¾ to 5½ feet, and azhar from 5½ to 6¼ feet. All safir have pointed ears, like elves. A plurality of safir have brown hair, but all manner of hair and eye colors are possible; they have no facial and little body hair. There is great variation in hairstyles among safir, but longer hair is usually indicative of higher social class.

The usual form of clothing among safir is a long robe that is close-fitting around the torso but loose and flowing at the sleeves and around the legs, which can be found dyed all manner of colors — though cool colors are more common — and printed with many different patterns, commonly geometrical, abstract, or nature-based designs. Safir who have blended into elven or human society may wear the costume of their adoptive homeland.

Typical adventuring gear for this people includes flat- and recurve bows, curved swords made from a strange, beautifully patterned steel, various forms of polearms, and crossbows.

The Eternal Balancing Act

Safir are torn between their cold, soft, reserved nature, and their natural empathic powers, along with the resulting inclination to give into their emotions, especially when in the company of others. Their long lifespans, however, of well over 400 years, afford them ample opportunity to partake of both extrema.

Safir, by their psychic nature, are flexible and pragmatic, loath to let themselves become affected by petty happenstance and desirous to resolve conflicts diplomatically before raising a sword, or a mind, against their sisters. To this end, their cities are well fortified by means yet unknown to the Unawakened, and many a prospective raiding party have found themselves suddenly lost, back where they started, or turned against themselves when marching thereon. Should, however, the need arise to defend themselves, the safir are keen inheritrices of a proud martial tradition that has persisted for untold millennia.

It is not unheard of for a safir to go her entire life without speaking a single word. Those that do speak, however, do so in a mellifluous, enchanting language called Āirumāli, or in one called Īnēmāli, which is more akin to birdsong than any other known language.

A Distant, Haunting Melody

Humans. Safir view humans, ever pragmatic as they are wont to be, as good allies, despite their lack of emotional restraint and their ephemeral lifespan. Elves. Safir view elves as distant cousins, if not kindred. Their mutual love of nature and of artistry gives them much common ground.

A City Devoid of Stillminds; or, The Unawakened Plain

Safir are naturally telepathic and empathic, innately able to feel and share their emotions and thoughts with one another. This has led to an interesting dichotomy: some safir prefer living in cities with their fellow psychics, while others find the presence of so many Awakened anathema, and have taken up residence in the countryside, far from prying minds.

Most safir are agriculturalists of some stripe, whether commanding fish farms or rice paddies that can be measured only by the square mile, or growing fruit and vegetables in a rooftop garden. The way of the artisan is also well-trodden among their kind, and they are well-known for their fine clothing, jewelry, and art, though they produce almost exclusively for their own consumption. Those precious few that do export their goods, however, trade them for exotic spices and for silver, which, despite forming the backbone of the safir's currency, is chronically in short supply.

Safir encountered outside their own lands are often traveling artists or sages, or artisans that wish to take truly fresh blood into their craft. It has been known for human and elven nobles to enlist the service of safir magesses in teaching them the ways of the mind.

Laiendada Silmaringi

The most common reason for safir to take up adventuring is out of wanderlust, and a desire to explore and discover. They also enjoy exercising their martial and supernatural power, and adventuring grants them the ability to do so at often minimal risk to others. Safir greatly, too, despite the collectivist nature of their society, value freedom, so they will often take up careers that allow them to travel and set their own schedule. For the same reason, it is not uncommon to see them taking up arms against oppression, corruption, and decay, or what they perceive thereas.

Safir Names

Safir are considered children until initiation, the details of which are a tightly guarded secret, aside from that it takes place in the child's teenage years, usually on or shortly after its sixteenth birthday, and involves its first, and sometimes only, haircut. Child safir names are as often meaningless babble as they are words, but adult names, and especially adult female names, are meaningful, closely treasured throughout the generations, and often long-winded.

Various safir societies may also impart on their members, in some combination or order, a family name, a matronymic, a caste name, and a locative. The given name(s) usually come(s) after the family name and/or matronymic.

Female Names: Endoré (crescent moon), Seóni (lacquerware doll), Mitēuřamae (the name of a weapon from safir mythology), Valōra (butterfly), Lakuná (dreamscape), Āstraja (guardian spirit)
Gender-Neutral Names: Mismar (anchor), Lornar (wheel), Vraissaþr (truth), Tāriel (rose), Selén (a velvet-like fabric), Imar (cloud)
Male Names: Matēu (dependable), Níraso (opal), Dyneþīłū (soft, freshly fallen snow), Ŵecù (bell), Neþu (leaf), Nenu (moss)
Family Names: Matronymics (the name of an individual's mother, with the suffix -ei added) are far more common than all other kinds of surname combined among safir. That said, some examples of the latter are Ansin (tree), Arvin (merchant), Ilāþrikan (angelborne), Jaīnakan (novaborne), Leido (crossroads), Neital (emerald), Raí (holy light), Sývrè (ocean), and Telemnai (Seeker).

Safir Traits

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Creature Type. Humanoid

Ability Score Increase. Intelligence +2, Wisdom +1

Age. Safir reach adulthood at 16 years, and their life expectancy is approximately 450 years.

Alignment. Safir are known for being stoic if not emotionless, and as a result are usually Neutral. Their natural telepathic and empathic powers, meanwhile, lead them to prefer cooperation and Good over violence and Evil.

Size. Male safir average 5’2” and 110 pounds, while female safir average 6’2” and 165 pounds. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.  

Darkvision: Safir can see infrared, which allows them to perceive the heat given off by things and, therefore, see without light. You have darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. 

Empathy. Safir are natural empaths, constantly in touch with the emotions of others. You learn the surface feelings of every creature within 30 feet of you. You can’t detect a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or lower or one that doesn’t speak any language. If a creature with at least 6 Intelligence with whom you have forged an emotional bond over time dies within the radius of your empathy, you must make a Constitution saving throw against DC 10 + the creature's Charisma modifier or be Stunned for 1 round. You may not turn off your empathy. 

Sending. Safir are natural telepaths, able to communicate psychically without speaking. You can send a message to any person or group of people within 60 feet. The target(s) hear the message and can reply with thoughts that only you can hear. You can send through solid objects if you are familiar with the target(s) and know they are beyond the barrier. This ability doesn't have to follow a straight line and is unimpeded by corners. 

Awakened Mind. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the detect evil and good spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the detect thoughts spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Āirumāli, Īnēmāli, & Common Āirumāli is a soft, fluid, melodic language with syllabic liquids and a vowel length distinction, while Īnēmāli is a language not unlike birdsong; these characteristics color a safir's accent when speaking other languages.

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