Kalashtar

Strange, abberant wanderers. The minds of the Kalashtar house prisons, capable of trapping the most powerful creatures. Kalashtar walk the world with two spirits in one vessel.

Origin

The origins of the Kalashtar are mysterious, and have gone unexplained to this day. After several millennia without a single new species taking form, the world was thrown into chaos with the Demonic Cataclysm. The rise of these horrific demons would be accompanied two years later by a mysterious anomaly: the transformation of roughly forty-thousand seemingly random mortals into Kalashtar.
Why the Kalashtar suddenly appeared and what purpose they served would go unanswered, as the gods would quickly stop communicating with mortals in the coming decades after the Demonic Cataclysm. Some believe Kalashtar were created to oppose the Demon Lords in combat. Others point to their strange minds, and believe they were to use the knowledge of the dead to assist the new society. Others believe it is simply unexplainable: one last cruel act of the gods before they disappeared forever.

Description

The Kalashtar of Tetraverium come in a limited variety of shapes and sizes. When they were unleashed on the world, various mortal species were transformed them. There seemed to be a specific prioritization of Humans and Volsulks in this transformation.Others were Half-Elves or Half-Dwarves, but the Human/Volsulk blood was always the priority. Thus, Kalashtar strongly resemble these species. They traditionally stand from 5 to 6 feet tall, and between 100 to 200 pounds. They have a lifespan of roughly one hundred years.
They come in all sorts of varieties, but are characterized by their pale, sometimes lavender-tinted skin and glowing white or purple eyes. Traditionally, Kalashtar with purple eyes are more common, but have weaker psionic abilities compared to their white-eyed counterparts.

Socialization

The Kalashtar psychic prisons, or the Dual-Mind, as it is colloquially called, have been the subject of endless experiments and documentation. It is understood to work as follows: when a Kalashtar is born or created, the Dual Mind reaches out around it to the nearest possible entity. If that entity is too powerful, it transitions to the next. It prioritizes proximity and weakness. This means the majority of Kalashtar end up with the nearby specters of the deceased.
A Kalashtar’s Dual-Mind will latch onto a specter or entity usually within the first few weeks of their life. Once an entity has entered the Dual Mind, it cannot escape of its own volition, nor can the Kalashtar release it. The entity cannot harm the Kalashtar. Instead, it lives in its dreams. It is only there that the entity, or the Quori as it is called, can interface with the Kalashtar. The Dual Mind will only search for an entity once. If, somehow, a Quori is removed from the prison, the Dual Mind will not willingly search for a new prisoner. However, it is technically possible for a new entity to inhabit that space, as it is a vacant slot.
Through their Dual Mind and psionic nature, the Kalashtar are granted many abilities. They can communicate psionically with those around them. Their minds are also resilient to tampering, and are stronger than other minds. It is these qualities that also grant Kalashtar a strange, alien quality to them. Many find themselves struggling to talk to others, or taking on the qualities of their Quori.
When they were created, the Kalashtar were either reviled or revered. Some respected them as an act of the Divine Quartet, whereas others considered their coinciding with the Demonic Cataclysm to be a sign of their true, devilish nature. The Holy Kingdom would respect Kalashtar and attempt to disperse any negative rumors surrounding them throughout its rise. However, they would also reject the notion that they were divine saviors, instead characterizing them as any other species in order to maintain the superiority of demigods. This characterization of Kalashtar would become the norm over time.

Living in Tetraverium

Today, the true role of Kalashtar remains a mystery, and they are relatively unremarkable citizens of Tetraverium. They remain somewhat alien, and rarely fit into larger society. The Holy Kingdom possesses no ill will towards them, but also does little to raise them up into the higher echelons of its social hierarchy. Many Kalashtar prefer the company of one another to a more diverse society, as only other Kalashtar can understand their unique experiences. Kalashtar are common in Selestia, particularly the nation of Nerukudo. Most other Kalashtar live in Domufuerte, having integrated into the Tamor and Dimen tribes following their creation.

Subraces

There are no Kalashtar subraces.

Mechanics

If you choose Kalashtar as your species, you gain the following traits:

Ability Score Increase: You can increase one Ability Score by 2 and one Ability Score by 1.
Size: Your size is Medium.
Speed: Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Dual Mind: You have advantage on all Wisdom saving throws.
Mental Discipline: You have resistance to psychic damage.
Mind Link: You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided the creature is within 60 ft. You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
When you're using this trait to speak telepathically to a creature, you can use your action to give that creature the ability to speak telepathically with you for 1 hour or until you end this effect as an action. To use this ability, the creature must be able to see you and must be within this trait's range. You can give this ability to only one creature at a time; giving it to a creature takes it away from another creature who has it.
Severed from Dreams: Kalashtar sleep, but they don’t connect to the plane of dreams as other creatures do. Instead, they enter their Dual Mind: a space occupied by their Quori, where the environment matches their soul. As such, you are immune to magical spells and effects that require you to dream, like the Dream spell, but not to spells and effects that put you to sleep, like the Sleep spell.
Languages: You can read and write Common and Quori.