Troglodytes (Cave Dwellers)

The cold shores and rocky sea-side cliffs that ring Occidentia's northern half have a peculiar effect on their human inhabitants. Permanent residents of these windswept coasts develop pale skin of unnatural colors, greys, sickly greens, and even harsh whites, all of which easily burn under the sun. Their hands and feet grow long with gnarled talons in place of nails. Worst of all their eyes grow large, clouded, and sensitive to light. Sages are unsure if this is a physiological effect of cold and sea winds on a human body, or if it is an entirely supernatural effect.
Regardless of origin they are known as troglodytes and cave dwellers due to their habit of living in caves, either natural made or artificially dug, to escape the light of the sun. Their strange fishing hamlets make up the majority of coastal towns across all of northern Occidentia.

Culture

Shared customary codes and values

Troglodytes place a high value on ritual and social structures. Most are religious, but even those that are not will seek out religious institutions to participate in their rituals. As such troglodyte communities tend to have highly regional religious and social customs, that vary significantly from the norm of whatever larger nation or religion they claim descent from. Examples of this include Capetian troglodytes drowning and resuscitating their children as a part of baptism rituals, Lengian troglodytes displaying the mummified bodies of their ancestors in family shrines, and troglodytes of all regions indulging in hallucinogens as a part of social drinking activities.

Common Etiquette rules

Troglodyte communities tend to be highly insular and unwelcoming to outsiders, but this changes radically for anyone who makes an attempt to take part in their rituals and habits in good faith. So a traveler in a troglodyte run bar would find the patrons giving threatening glares so long as they stand around, but they would open up quickly should the traveler sit down and order using the behavior in imitation of a regular.

Art & Architecture

Troglodyte buildings are build into naturally occurring caves, carved out of existing hillsides, or should neither of those be available made on the surface by piling up sod. They frequently extend far below ground and as a result tend to be much larger than their exteriors would imply.

Related Organizations

• Capetia
• Daqin
• Dominon
• Lusitania
• Tarraconensis

Languages spoken

• Aquan

Troglodyte (Cave Dweller)

Standard Racial Traits
• Ability Score Racial Traits: Troglodytes are fast and clever, but frequently have difficulty relating to others. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and -2 Charisma.
• Size: Troglodytes are Medium creatures and thus have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
• Type: Troglodytes are humanoids.
• Base Speed: Troglodytes have a base speed of 30 feet.
• Languages: Troglodytes begin play speaking the common tongue of their homeland. Troglodytes with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Feat and Skill Racial Traits
• Keen Senses (Ex): Troglodytes receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Magical Racial Traits
• Born Supplicant (Su): Troglodytes are easily able to slip into group rituals and spells even subconsciously. Whenever a troglodyte is within the range of a harmless spell that affects more than one target the troglodyte may elect to be targeted by that spell regardless of whether or not the spell's caster intentionally targets the troglodyte or not. The troglodyte does not count toward the maximum number of targets that a spell can target. This ability can only be used once per round by any given troglodyte.
Offense Racial Traits
• Natural Attacks (Ex): Troglodytes have gnarled boney fingers which grant them two claw primary natural attacks that each deal 1d4 damage.
Movement Racial Traits
• Cave Crawler (Ex): Even the most civilized of troglodytes has spent much of their life crawling through caves far from the sun's rays. Troglodytes have a climb speed of 10 feet and receive a +8 racial bonus on climb checks.
Senses Racial Traits
• Low-Light Vision (Ex): Troglodytes can see three times as far as humans in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of dim light.
• Blindsense (Ex): Troglodytes have blindsense out to a range of 5 feet. This is based on a combination of a highly tuned sense of hearing and smell and is lost if the troglodyte is deafened or nauseated.
Weakness Racial Traits
• Light Sensitivity (Ex): Troglodytes are dazzled in areas of bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.