Shavali

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Dirzendar
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Shavali

Post by Dirzendar »

A long while back, when I was still in high-school, I worked on a little Tolkien/Faerun-esque world with Elves, halflings, humans, half-elves, djinn, gnomes and this race. As I was not all that familiar (and still am not, really) with the A/D&D system, a bit of this is guesswork. I actually worked up a bit with GURPS, but I've lost the stuff from back then. I'm posting from memory. For convenience, I use old Terran gods and Forgotten Realms/D&D gods. The world is called Vallorhallen; it should be noted that half-elves are the most numerous race; humanity is slowly dying out due to a number of plagues and numerous wars between the remaining two human nations, one of which has kicked out non-human sentients. (many remain in secrecy). It should be noted that VH-Common is a hodgepodge of Norwegian, Greek and Elven, given that humans were transplanted there rather than evolved.
Singular: Shavali
Plural: Shavalin
Infinitive: Shavali/Shavahari

Shavali "Dragon-men"
*They are generally chaotic/chaotic good. Though they are matriarchal, it's not to the point that AD&D Drow are. Their society is based on clans and is rather decentralized. A number of clans are nomadic. There are a few exceptions to the alignment, though not many. They are about as common as humans, though that's changing, as humans in Vallorhallen are dying out due to plagues and a great number of the original population being absorbed into other races or being killed in numerous wars. The Shavahari are on a growing trend.

*Shavali are descended from dragons and transplanted humans of Greco-Roman stock-their human founders were basically Amazons. They are quite hearty and resistant toward magic. Though about 60% of their body is covered in scale of various colors, their chest, their arms and most of the head is ordinary human flesh. They possess large scaled wings, though they require magic to do more than glide. They are as tall as humans, though their wings make them appear taller. Within the last three hundred years, they have begun interbreeding with Elves.

*Shavali age at 1/3 of the rate of humans, due to their draconian blood and the way magic affects them. If in a silenced area, they would age at 1/2 the human rate. They are, however, not immortal like the elves. Their lifespan is about 220-300 years, though it can be extended with magic.

*Shavali worship a sort of blended pantheon: Ares, Athena, Bahomet, Tiamat and recently Corellon Larethian being particularly important to their daily lives. Their Aries has largely lost focus on his War portfolio, gaining a focus on being a protector of home and hearth. They call Aries their forefather and believe (rightly or not) that Aries is to thank for their current forms and that Aries and Athena called their human forebears to Vallorhallen.

*Elves have a rather enthusiastic relation with them-they are respected and more than a few Elves over the last three hundred years have interbred with them, to the point that most of the Wild Elves now live side-by-side with Shavali. Humans have a neutral relation with them, their origins forgotten on the human side. Gnomes are allies; halflings are neutral and djinn are cold. Dragons look at them as odd cousins.

*Although dragons in this world are able to shape shift, Shavali cannot without being a mage. They have spell-like ability “Blur”. They make good thieves/assassins and mages. Though their society is chaotic and focused on the hearth, some tribes are rather warlike.

*Their society is based on “Clans” (though tribes might better describe them). Each clan is composed of several “Hearths” (what other peoples might call clans). There are three main clans well known throughout Vallorhallen: Ankirden, who live in the cities, Zuekirden, who live on the mountains with the remaining dragons and Palkirden who live in the forests with the Wild Elves. These clans are extremely flexible and there is a lot of migrations between clans.
*A common practice among young Shavalin is to travel amongst the clans and spend a solar year (374 days) with whatever clans interest them. For this reason, the Shavali make a point of keeping track of familial lineage to limit inbreeding. Among smaller, more insular clans, this isn't always practiced. Their journey is called “Taking Athena's Helm”.

*Any Shavali gets a bonus for jumping and resist enchantment; barehanded is treated as a slashing attack (because of claws). They may also use a tail for blunt damage, though they loose initiative for the next move unless they have good (above 9) dex.
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Moriquenti
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Post by Moriquenti »

It's a very well developed race and your world seems very interesting.i used to play too in a world that humans was a minority and i understand completely.Dragonmen on the other hand is 3d's and 4th's edition offspring and i am unfamiliar with this.Your dragonmen though are well developed and with interesting background.a race like this could fit in every world...

just a thought:i think that a race like this is hard to be in very large population because normally other races views them with scepticism and distrust especially elves that hardly trust other races...just think about that...
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Dirzendar
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Post by Dirzendar »

Thank you. Except for a very few touches, most of this is as I had it in high school about five-six years ago. Very touching that you should say that.
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