Never has there been a more misunderstood people than the Zaalan folk. Their navies warded the Embassy Ark against the Oberon, yet it is their technology which opened a rift for the invaders. Relegated to stowaway status - often found as the underclass of Coalition colonies - they live scattered lives in the dark expanse or grind in the Coalition industrial machine. On their minds, a burning question dares to form - when will they ever truly be accepted?
Statblock
| Size |
Medium |
| Lifespan |
80-90 |
| Magic Ability |
5 to 7% of the population show an ability to perform Spellweaving. The spacer lifestyle unique to some Zaalan tribes also seems to trigger more cases of Psionic Metadisease, leading to an emergent Psionic underclass. |
| Crownworld |
Hakaria, Embassy Ark. Zaalan spacers are mostly found in Teroshe or on the many moons of Hestia |
| Major Faction |
Zaalan Free Tribes; Hiderid Coalition of Stars |
| Language |
Zalani, Hakari |
| Average height |
5′4″‒6′0″ (1.63‒1.8 m) |
| Average weight |
130‒170 lb (59‒77 kg) |
| Skin colour |
Teal to ethereal purple, often adorned with crystalline-hued patches of scales. |
| Hair colour |
Dark brown, autumn orange, mossy green, deep gold |
| Eye colour |
Large black pupils surrounded by a slim crescent of violet or blue. |
Physical Description
Zaalans are tall humanoids that seem lean and wiry, but in fact possess uncanny strength. Much of the wiryness comes from the fact that most Zaalans now eke out a living in space, lacking a home colony of their own. Zaalans have large eyes and tough skin, ranging in colour from teal to ethereal purple. Patches of crystalline-looking scales grow along the body, meshing with normal skin in intricate patterns. Small horn-like appendages protude from the sides of a Zaalan's forehead. Those horns grow for the entire duration of a Zaalan's life, and thus require constant grooming and trimming. Older Zaalans allow them to grow freely, whilst others guide their horns into specific shapes with the aid of head bracers.
Heavies
Zaalan physionomy is particularly susceptible to changes in gravity - more than the bodies of other species. Conscious of that fact,
heavies are those Zaalans who elected to stay planetside or live on the rings-below of
Embassy Ark , where gravity kept their bodies fit.
Skinnies
Skinnies are Zaalan spacers who, despite their especially sensitive physionomy, refused a planetary lifestyle under the heel of the Coalition. They eke out a living out of dingy ships or asteroid bases, which often must operate with limited gravity control due to the ships' age and to their dive-drive's usual lack of maintenance.
Racial Bonus
Heavies : +2
CON, +2
STR
Skinnies : +2
DEX, +2
STR
Racial Foci
Will of the Spirits
Zaalan horns and natural empathy allow them to sense when a nearby comrade needs help. Once per day, as a free action, a Zaalan with this trait can select an ally within 10 feet. The chosen individual can reroll one attack roll or skill check and take the higher result.
Born Hunters
Thanks to their natural grace and innate tenacity, dating back to their stone age on the steppes of their original homeworld, Zaalans are among the best hunters of any race. They gain a +1 level bonus to
Sneak, Notice and
Survive checks when tracking, hunting, or otherwise pursuing another creature.
Homeworld
The Zaalans have no homeworld to speak of, for they were not represented during the Conclave of Four effectively. Roughly half of all Zaalans are
Coalition of Stars citizens, living out impoverished lives on
Hakarian factories or in the corporate habitats around the moons of
Hestia. The rest live in space clans no bigger than the crew of a large ship, loosely united under the banner of the
Zaalan Free Tribes or as part of
Hodeth Alliance cells. Two minor Zaalan communities subsist on the
Embassy Ark as well as in the depths of the outer planetary zone, in the mass of ships and hulks welded together they called
Teroshe Yards .
Communities
Distrusted by many, blamed for joining the Ark as stowaways by some hardline Hiderid, and generally believed to have opened a rift for the
Oberon Incursion to pass through and destroy the
Pyxis Globula, Zaalans often prefer to seek out the company of their own kin. Most Zaalan groups, even smaller Hakarian communities, are called "tribes", named after the Great Tribes which once defined Zaalan society on their destroyed homeworld. However, so complete is the breakdown of their ancestral culture that most often, they will simply blend in whichever organization their environment demands.
Alignment
Typically, Zaalans will be closer to Chaotic or Neutral alignments. Lawful-Good Zaalans are unheard of, but equally there are few Chaotic-Evil Zaalans.
Relations
Zaalans are wary and often shunned or mistrusted by those who do not know them; at such they keep a reasonable distance. Despite not being allowed to settle on the
Mewei Domain world, the Zaalans maintain positive contact with the isolationlist Mewei, who brokered a spot for them on the Embassy Ark at great personal sacrifice and do not consider the Zaalans in their debt. Many Zaalans, whether they are Coalition citizens or not, often resent Hiderid culture.
Naming Convention
Zaalans only really sport one name - for their 'last name' is effectively their Circle's name, when they belong to one. Zaalan names are typically written using a very specific subscript of the Zaalan syllibary.
Male Names
Tomor
Olziy
Iriq
Eadwynn
Female names
Ajaie
Khachie
Jamie
Nomolyn
Adventurers
There are a few reasons for Zaalans to wander :
They have become disillusioned with their world and decided to strike it out on their own or as a Bogwynne.
They are a mercenary or a scavenger, part of a growing diaspora.
They are treasure hunters, here to loot the Stream's endless troves of lost tech
They are whitescales looking for a solution in the stars to heal their community
They are an agent of some tribe, looking to strike an alliance to secure precious tech
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