Coralon

The ocean floor shifted/ Sand rolled off of the emerging Coralon as he stood, awakened from his hibernation. All around him a vibrant reef was flourishing. Fish swirled like clouds up above, dappling the sea floor with silvery shadows. The coralon looked over his garden with a reserved silence, though the soft rumble that came from his chest indicated his pride. The coral responded with a similar, nearly silent rumble. Across the bay, half-a-dozen other coralon were walking. Sand stirred around them, clouding the bay waters. The triton sent their messengers across the cape waters with the announcement. Winter was over.
-Saefrin, triton storyteller and explorer

Outside of the city Caenas, The First Reef, many coralon never leave the reef that they first arrive in as a polyp. For hundreds of years, they grow with the coral and tend to it but rarely venture out into the expanses of the ocean. Those who become adventurers primarily do so out of necessity when their reef is destroyed or dying. Some that choose to adventure never had a reef and feel no need to stay in one place. More rarely, a coralon will leave their reef out of loneliness or a desire to explore.

From The Elders

The coralon that live long enough to die of age will release polyps as they pass. These polyps are swept away by the currents. Those that survive will take root in reefs or rocks and grow into baby coralon, called corlets. Corlets are raised by the coral around them, which becomes its family. as the corlet ages and grows with the reef around it, it will become a full coralon. Very few polyps manage to naturally survive. Out of hundreds, perhaps only five will make it to adulthood. Coralon tend not to be sad about this prospect. This is largely because they don't consider polyps to be their children, but the children of the reef they arrive at. It's rare but corlets can manage to survive and grow without a reef. These corlets tend to become wanderers with no attachment to their home, and no 'family.' This process contributes to the coralons' solitary culture and is why some coralon are territorial over their reef. In Caenas, things tend to be are slightly different. Every reef and coralon within Caenas view each other as one family and take care of each other. It is more common for coralon from Caenas to want to venture out into the world. It also leads to them become less solitary but they remain territorial.

Familial Gardens

A reef is not only a coralon's family but a garden. Coralon dedicatedly care for their reef and help it grow, taking great pride in its health and expansion. Aside from their reefs, many coralon also cultivate shellfish and kelp for food and trade. They offer pearls, shells, kelp and shellfish meat in exchange for supplies they cannot get at their reef. Very few coralon would ever consider trading away their coral itself. Despite this, coralon do trade items made from their coral-like poultices and poisons- as long as they can obtain these items without doing too much damage. Coralon tend to grieve the loss of parts of their reef but are resilient and long-lived enough that they grow to expect loss. When a coralon experiences the loss of an entire reef, the experience is considered traumatic. They may hibernate for years to cope with it. A coralon will not start a new reef if their previous one was entirely destroyed.

Solitary Lives

The Coralspeak language sounds simple and is produced by humming and vibrations. It is written like a series of fine, wave-like lines. Unlike all other aquatic languages. it is more often written than spoken. This is due to the solitary nature of coralons' lives. They seldom interact with one another but have an immense amount of time on their hands. This makes a written language, carved into stone, feasible. Even coralon that do not write find other ways to the time. They take up whatever trades they have access to, from pottery to jewelry making. Coralon that live among other societies use these trades as a means of supporting themselves, but ordinarily coralon use their crafts as hobbies rather than a means of income.

Coralon

Ability Score Increase +2 Con, +1 Wis

Size Medium

Speed 30 ft Swim, 30 ft Walk

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Age. Coralon live to their mid 500s but stories suggest they could live several hundred years longer.
Alignment. Coralon have trouble adapting to change. This makes them more likely to be lawful and tradition-abiding. Their Solitary nature makes them tend towards neutrality.
Size. Coralon tend to stand about 6 t tall and are bulky because of their coral bodies. They tend to weigh between 200 to 300 lbs.
Craft. You have had a long time to learn crafts. You have proficiency with two instruments, sets of artisan's tools or gaming sets of your choice.
Limited Amphibiousness. You can breathe air and water, but you need to be submerged at least once every hour to avoid suffocating.
Speak with Coral. You can speak with coral, anemones and similar creatures as if you shared a language.
Brief Hibernation. Over a Long rest, you may hibernate to receive the following benefits. While resting in this way, you sleep the entire duration of the rest and cannot be woken.

• All levels of Exhaustion are removed and the Poisoned condition is cured.

• You gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. These temporary hit points remain until you take a Short or Long Rest

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Languages. You can speak read and write Aquan, Coralspeak, and one other language of your choice

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Civilization and Culture

Naming Traditions

Coralon take great pride in their reefs, and name themselves after features of their reef. They choose their name when they reach adulthood and their reef is well established. Coralon without a reef either keep the name of their former reef as a reminder, choose to be nameless, or take a name from a society they have encountered.
Feature Names. Atoll, Barrier, Blackcoral, Cape, Elkhorn, Firecoral, Flytrap, Guyot, Seamount, Sebae, Snakelock, Wirecoral