Djeirani

At a glance

Feature	Details
Appearance	Humanoid descendants of arachnids; colouring, white hair, and ornamentation carry social meaning.
Origins and communities	Djeir and the Black Lake beneath Azdun.
Culture	A caste society with ornate swordplay, jewellery, and a close association between beauty and death.
Racial abilities	Meditator; Antivenin; Subversion

Origins

The Djeirani are an old race, their known history dating as far back as the Second Mortal Epoch, if not further. Owing their existence and intelligence to the spider demon Llazuth, they are a mysterious, darkly beautiful race accustomed to living deep beneath the earth.

Appearance and caste

Physical colouration is of utmost importance to Djeirani culture, with these characteristics chiefly determining social caste; the common belief is that the “ideal Djeirani” bears pure black skin and smouldering amethyst eyes. The closer to the ideal, the higher the caste. Thus, Djeirani peasants are almost always green-eyed, with reddish/pinkish skin, and can almost be confused for Humans. By contrast, nobility have the violet eyes and dark lilac skin of their ancestors. Other eye colours exist (blue is considered neither high nor low, for instance), but these are often minor mutations.

Caste differences extend beyond colour as well, with higher castes distinguishing themselves with facepaint, tattoos, and what amounts to an extensive pursuit of increasingly exotic jewellery. These nobles wear long hair and keep their faces clean-shaven, whereas lower-caste Djeirani are more content to go with a more Human look, allowing beards or additional body fat. Most Djeirani have white hair, with red or brown being rare and exotic, and all see their hair blacken with age.

Art and swordplay

The Djeirani are renowned for fusing beauty and death in their culture. Djeirani swordfighting is celebrated for its distracting flourishes and saltatory moves, and the weapons used are almost always ornamental, such as blades elaborately studded with jewels and knives forged from extravagant precious metals.

Settlements

In modern times, the Djeirani chiefly occupy the city of Djeir and the territory of the Black Lake, a large subterranean region beneath the Vashnars. Though Djeirani are free to wander and live where they please, their poor acclimation to light and the dry surface air often keeps them homebound.

Racial abilities

Level 1: Meditator

Syntax: MEDITATE

When meditating, you gain additional mana and willpower regeneration compared to others.

Level 31: Antivenin

This ability is passive.

Your unique racial heritage lets you resist deadly venoms more easily, granting you 2% resistance to poison damage.

Level 61: Subversion

Syntax: SUBVERT <target> <thought>

Detection difficulty modifier: 0%

Through your entrancing eyes, you can subvert your target’s perception and instil an anonymous thought directly into their mind.

You may be detected when using this ability. Please read HELP DECEIT for more information.

Class ideas for roleplay

These are potential starting points for a character’s story and are offered as suggestions only. You can make almost any class or race combination work in Aetolia, as your race gives no special advantage with these classes; availability follows the usual class and guild rules.

Bard

The Bard is a native profession in the Undercity the race calls home, and no Djeirani would not have heard of the Theatre of Shadows. The Ceremony of the Rose gives their society’s fascination with beauty and death a precise ritual form, under the patronage of Djeir’s Empress.

Infiltrator

A Djeirani courtier might leave the Undercity to become an intelligence agent for Spinesreach. Experience with caste, ornament and carefully staged appearances could inform their disguises and social manoeuvring, while their new loyalty lies with the Syssin and the Theocracy.

Bloodborn

A Djeirani noble could seek power beyond the status conferred by skin colour and ancestry through Bloodloch’s blood magic. Studying physiology and brutal ritual would give their ambition a practical outlet in the Dominion, with a price paid by the subjects of their experiments.

See also: The Races of Aetolia · The World of Aetolia · Character Classes