Terakian

By Shawn Arbuckle (sa3x+@andrew.cmu.edu)

Authors note

I was inspired to create this race by the cartoon movie Heavy Metal. I do not intend to break any copyrights with this though. If you wish to copy and give this info out you must include this message. And I would like to know what you think of this race so drop me a line and let me know what you think.

This Version of Terakian, adds a new background a new gift, and a better history of the Terakians.

Background

The Terakians are a race of warriors. Their sire was known as Terak the Defender. The Terakians purpose in life was to defend the people of their homelands. Over the years much of the Terakians history has been lost. It is believed that an army was formed by a group of renegade Mages and with this army they conqured and destroyed the lands of the Terakians. The attack was so swift and sudden the Terakians had no time to time to prepare and they were all but wiped out. It was during this attack that their history was lost. The remaining Terakians, five hundred or so, fled into the mountains and deep forests to lick their wounds and decide what to do next. The Terakians made constant strikes against their enemies but were never able to push the Mages or their armies out. Over the long years the tales of the battles were confused and changed until no one was sure who the Mages were for sure and soon all Mages were counted as enemies. When the first settlers came to the new world many of the Terakians followed hoping to start a new life. When the Terakians encunterd Mages in the new world, both sides knew they would find no peace. As the years went by the Terakians became less numerous. Many of then had taken sleepers as mates and forgot their heritage; those who remembered it did not pass it on to their offspring. Today the Terakians live in isolated villages far from the modern cities. Encounters with Mages have become less common. The Terakians have made peace with the Verbena but contact with the other traditions is still very limited.

Character Creation

Since Terakians are a race warriors they begin with 4 dots in strength, 4 dots in Dexterity and 4 dots in Stamina. They cannot increase these any higher, but temporary pluses can raise them.

Social and Mental scores are treated a normal; secondary and tertiary only may be used for Social and Mental.

All talents are available. The available skills are: Animal Ken, Leadership, Melee, Drive, Stealth and Survival. Knowledge available are Medicine, Linguistics, Occult, (Mage, most often) Lore.

Available backgrounds are Allies, Mount Loyalty, Trophy and Weapon.

Mount Loyalty^*

*	Your mount will carry you, but it may choose to leave you somewhere.
**	Your mount will obey commands but will not risk its own life.
***	Your mount will obey your commands even if it means its life.
****	Your mount will risk its own life to save you.
*****	Your mount will obey all commands and will aid you in your battles.

Weapon

*	You have a weak blade.
**	You have a fine blade, but unreliable.
***	You have a reliable blade that will not break.
****	You have a strong blade that will be there when you need it.
*****	You have a sword of immense power you may call to you with a command. (Possibly Silver)

Trophy^**

*	You have a minor trophy, perhaps from your first hunt.
**	You have a nice trophy, perhaps the skull or a possesion of a slain enemy.
***	You have a trophy of moderate power. The envy of all your friends.
****	You own the second most powerful trophy in your village.
*****	You have a trophy of great value, even the cheftain of you village must kneel in respect of your strength.

^*The player may choose a fitting mount. Naturally the ST has the final say. Keep an open mind though, creatures belived long extinct have been found even today.

^**While it may or may not be enchanted the Terakian belives the tropy gives her some type of power. The more dots she uses the more power it has. The exact effects are left up to the player and ST.

A Terakian's initial Essence score is 5. It can be raised with Freebie points. 3 points = 1 dot of Essence. Essence is what allows a Terakian use their powers. Essence may also be spent to gain extra actions, like a Werewolf would spend Rage for extra actions.

6

15

Special Abilities

Healing: A Terakian may heal two health levels in a day. Aggravated wounds take four days to heal.

A Terakian is able to teleport when summoned, but only to the site from where she was summoned. To be summoned a Terakian must be called in a ritiual in which you call him/her by name.

Terakians are close to Gaia and have gained the following powers. They can only have up to 3 in each level and may only start with 2 powers from level 1. They must spend a number of Essence equal to the power level to use the gift.

Level 1: Create Element, Mothers Touch, Resist Pain, Persuasion, and Inspiration.

Level 2: Stare Down, Sense Danger^*, Mind Speak, Falling Touch.

Level 3: Might of Thor, Empower Weapon^**, Meld^***

^*A Terakian with this power can sense where danger is coming from and if 3 sucesses are scored he may gain an extra die from any action he may take.

^**A Terakian with this power may increase her sword's strength, for a short time adding one damage die.

^***Because the Terakians are so close to Gaia they may meld with any naturaly forming object of roughly the same size or larger. i.e., Trees, rocks, the earth. They may not meld with any man made objects or water.

Appearance

A Terakian can easily pass for a human, with the following exceptions: All the body hair on a Terakian is white, and they all have a red birthmark on the right side of their necks. The birthmark is a sword with two arches flanking the hilt.

Relations with other beings in the World of Darkness

Immortals: The Terakians don't quite like the Immortals, mostly because of their habit to heal wounds in a matter on minutes and get back up.

Werewolves: The Terakians try and stay away from Garou, but they do admire the Get of Fenris, and the Black Furries.

Vampires: The Terakian despise the Vampires and try to slay them whenever possible.

Mages: The Terakians are no longer sure how to view the Mages.