The Soulbound

Intro:

Standing between 4 and 6 feet the Soulbound cover a wide assortment of body shapes and sizes. The soulbound have a wide variety of animalistic features spread throughout a mostly Human body. The Soulbound are born with two halves of their soul: one half is born into a humanoid body, the other is born into the body of a spiritual companion; their cultures, environments, and lifestyles are heavily influenced by their companion. The Soulbound's companion largely is determined by their genes - two Soulbound with wolf companions will almost certainly have a child with a wolf companion; when two soulbound with different companions have a child, the child almost always is born with a random companion.

The Children of Eldara:

The Soulbound are the children of the Nature Goddess Eldara. As Eldara represents nature and animals, most Soulbound inherit such characteristics, both in physical appearance and personality. The Soulbound live in forests and plains across all of Eldara, and are some of the most abundant peoples across the world, regardless of the success of the Soulbound they generally live nomadic or pastoral lifestyles. As the creation of Eldara, they seek and find balance in all things, and find enjoyment out of the temporary.

History of Duality:

With souls split in two parts, the Soulbound often find themselves in a neutral standing on subjects; such neutrality gives the Soulbound a great acceptance for all things in this world. Their acceptance collides with the ambition of man, and builds into a resolve and reverence for all things natural. Life brings death, day brings night, chaos brings law, and law brings chaos; without the destruction of one thing, another may never rise, which falls back to its previous state. All things natural to the Soulbound are dual; all things natural return to a neutral state, and those things which haven't fallen yet merely call for a more cataclysmic failure to crumble to dust. The Soulbound leverage man's need to create order while revering the natural chaos of the wild.

Widespread Travellers:

Many Soulbound are filled with a great wanderlust; the spirit of the animals, the forest, and Eldara suffuse her race. Being led by nature, the Soulbound have made their way to the far recesses of Eldara. They are found in deserts, forests, mountains, underground - if not for the grand civilizations of the Human race, the Soulbound could easily be mistaken for Eldara's rulers. While they cover grand expanses, the Soulbound are often spread thin; living in largely nomadic tribes the Soulbound often live meager lifestyles on the land, and by hunting. The extent of their safety is the ability to quickly mobilize other tribemembers and tribes to hunt down ferocious prey, or slavers.

Subrace Intro:

While the number of races affiliated with the Soulbound are too numerous to count they all fall into three broad categories of how they bind with their spiritual companion. While all Soulbound are born with spiritual companions, the method in which they bind, and the forms the companions can take changes with their subrace.

Animal Kin:

Likely the most alarming of the transformations, the Animal Kin can merge bodies with their spiritual companion, gaining many of the abilities associated with the creature they're bound with. The Animal Kin shows a hybridized form between themselves and the animal to which they've merged, spawning many rumors about monstrosities that lurk within the forest at night.

Companions:

These Soulbound have more powerful spiritual companions than the others of their kind. The bonded spiritual companion of a Companion grows larger and more powerful, making them on par with their Soulbound counterpart. Companions make powerful trackers and hunters, as their allies can draw out threats, allowing them to strike from a safe distance.

Enchanted:

The Enchanted hold spiritual companions that take the form of items or equipment that may be carried around. Though not as immediately powerful as some of the other Soulbound, the enchanted have found great success in cityscapes. Though their kind usually avoid such urban lifestyles, they are largely accepted with open arms, and the ability to have a companion that can be easily disguised proves to be powerful.

Soulbound gain the following:

1.) +1 to acuity and will scores and their maximums.
2.) Summon Monster as a spell with a maximum level = 1/3 level (min 1.) Learning this spell grants 1 mastery in this spell.
3.) +1 bonus to Knowledge[Adventuring.]
4.) Resistance to Nature effects. (Not damage.)
5.) Common and Nomadic.

6.) The Soulbound gains a spiritual companion. This companion may take one of three forms. The form is associated with the Soulbound's Subrace, all Soulbound have a spiritual companion, which is a creature no larger than medium size, and of a CR equal to 1/4 the Soulbound's level. If the Soulbound has the Animal Companion extra the spirit companion becomes the animal companion; the size restriction is removed for the spirit companion, and the spirit companion instead gains an additional bonus equal to the animal companion's bonus(for a total of 1/2 level.)

Society

The Soulbound society is built off clans, companions, and adventure; a ceremony is held when each Soulbound gains its other half. The ceremony differs between clans, some companions demand to be sought out, while friendlier comanions seek those they will become bound to; some clans send their uncompanioned out into the wilderness once per year in a grand ceremony, while others hold a smaller celebration when their own become whole. All Soulbound societies celebrate the gaining of a companion, as they are only considered 'whole' once they have been chosen. Soulbound societies have a loose social structure based on a hazy hierarchy arcane to all those but the Soulbound; some companions, namely those that are rare and of great power give their Soulbound great leverage over the other Soulbound. Phoenixes are one such rare companion, these royal companions give merit to their Soulbound to command warrior companions, which give merit to command scout and forager companions.

Origin/Ancestry

Animal Kin, Companion, Enchanted

Geographic Distribution

• Eldara

On Soulbound

All races have a similar, but slightly differing view on the Soulbound, allies, or targets. Most Soulbound are known for being peaceful, and pastoral or nomadic. These peaceful people pose little to no threat to races that establish themselves, even if the Soulbound were to choose to fight; many races see the Soulbound as an easy target for just this reason, most would choose subjugation over conflict, so many demand unfair taxes and demands from them.

Animal Kin

The spiritual companion that suffuses the Soulbound. This grants the Soulbound one of the following bonuses: Keen hearing or normal smelling; an increased unarmed die size, and a +1 bonus to unarmed damage; and a +2 bonus to acrobatics, athletics, and survival.

Companions

The Companion's companion gains an additional CR equal to 1/4 of the Soulbound's level, and may be of large size.

Enchanted

The spiritual companion can become a piece of non-magical equipment that is worth a number of gates equal to the Soulbound's level^2 x 25. The companion can adopt a form for an unlimited amount of time, and does not need to eat or breathe. It takes a minute to adopt a new form, but once a form is adopted it can switch between it and its base form as an action. Only one item form may be adopted at a time.