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Fostered by nature, the Yanar are a Race of plant-like humanoids once called the heralds of Estel, now having to create a destiny of their own as Estel has gone silent to them. Yanar do not have a true state or society to call their own, but have seamlessly integrated into other Race structures across the world, finding purposes as wide as harmless tree-huggers, mercenary warriors, nature craftsmen and religious preachers. Wielding their relatively innocent and harmless appearance as both charm and weapon, the Yanar remain one of the most underestimated Races in the world. Bringing a strong sense of community and communal living with other Races in balance, the Yanar are well known to always have a friend somewhere, and that they will always overcome anyone who dares to underestimate them in any way.
| Yanar | |
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| Race | |
| Pronunciation | Yah-nar |
| Classification | Magus |
| Common Nicknames |
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| Languages | Modern Altalar, Saan, Common |
| Naming Customs | See Language section |
| Racial Traits | |
| Distinctions | Plant-like humanoids with a mysterious past and open future |
| Maximum Age | Yanar do not die of old age, though the oldest a Yanar can be is 400 years old, not accounting for the likelihood that all Yanar Wildbirth at least once per 100 years, and thus any Yanar will not have memories stretching further than 100 years. |
| Height | from short to tall, depending on Floral Shift. |
Core Identity
It is difficult to apply a single core identity or aspects to the Yanar, due to their race being so diverse in their appeal and application around the world. Yanar are capable of being and imitating practically any Race, with on-command and on-will personality changes, physical transformations, and applications of their skills. The Yanar truly are the jack-of-all trade Race, more so than Ailor even, due to their flexibility to focus on many different kinds of pursuits in life.
Mysterious Origins
The Origins of the Yanar are still barely understood, there remains a lot of debate in scholarly circles whether or not Yanar are created by a divine entity, whether they were designed by Exist Forces, or whether they came about through some other unknown manner. Much of their appearance during the most chaotic periods of the collapse of the Allorn Empire left whatever research and records were made of their appearance in ruin in the aftermath. Though the Yanar also seem particularly unbothered by this, while other Races with mysterious pasts keep trying to reveal them, the Yanar are more than content to let others do this, and focus on their future.
Nature Masters
Regardless of the disposition of the Yanar, the connection between Yanar and nature is unmistakable, and more-so undeniable. Even Yanar who engage in Artificer Point Buy or Magic keep the theme of nature alive in their work and activities, whether it is something as simple as plant-like patterns in Metallurgy, or a fusion of living wood and technological design. Whenever any issue arises with nature, the Yanar are the first to the scene, and the last to leave, with intricate knowledge and a deeper understanding of plant life that no Race can compare with.
Nelfin Glue
While the Nelfin Races are incredibly divided, from the religious opposition between the Estellon Teledden and the Void Worship Kathar, to the war-like Maquixtl on land, and the sea-borne Fin'ullen. The one thing that unifies them all, is the Yanar, who act like peaceful mediators between all of them. Despite the violent opposition between the Nelfin races, Yanar are always able to safely and skillfully move between the subgroups without being blamed or accused of being complicit. The Yanar are universally well liked by all Nelfin Races.
Design
Physical & Mental Characteristics
Yanar have a very flexible physical appearance, because of their natural ability to Floral-shift into the appearance of other Races, though many of them are by default Floral-shifted to Teledden or Maquixtl. This means that their proportions are similar to these Races, with pointed ears, though every part of their body is made out of plant and flower matter, and some even have bark-skin. Their hair can be made out of vines or flowers or both, metals and leaves adorning their limbs, with a great deal of color and hue variance. Yanar may sample after other Races, so for example, a Yanar may choose to appear like an Eronidas, but have wooden tusks and cactus-like skin, or they might appear like an Isldar, but instead of white hair, they have white orchid petals for hair and light blue skin. The Race is agender, though through other cultures, Yanar can learn what gender means and adopt one, causing physical changes in line with an identity. The Yanar don’t have a personality guideline, because of how flexible they are. The next sections will discuss why this is the case.
Yanar Reproduction
Yanar, while a-gender, lack conventional reproduction organs with which to reproduce, but that does not mean that their Race is incapable of increasing their numbers. While other Races usually have to copulate to reproduce, the Yanar are able to employ a form of self-division, by grafting a piece of themselves onto a tree, causing it to grow a Yanar Growthling pod. This pod grows over the course of a month to birth a fully grown adult clone of the original Yanar, personality and all. However, as time goes by (and through the use of Floral-shifting) the Yanar change their appearance and personality, to the point that they become two distinctly different people, though retain a family-like bond.
Yanar Wildbirth
Yanar are capable of ‘Wildbirthing,’ or resetting their growth, as Yanar are naturally ageless. When a Yanar chooses to die, they may envelop themselves with a cocoon, which revives them after a day’s wait. In this process, the Yanar can choose to change their appearance, personality, and wipe all of their memories to the point they are functionally a different person. The only thing that must always stay is their connection to people. Even if they do not remember why, a Yanar will always like or dislike the same people across their incarnations and seek to be close to the ones they were before. Despite being Ageless, Yanar can die if they are killed by an external force like an accident or violence. It is important to note, however, that both Wildbirth and any "Shapeshifting" mechanics that Yanar have, for balancing reasons, do not function as Disguise mechanics or prevent the Yanar from being recognized as who they were prior.
Yanar Graftbirth
Yanar Graftbirth is how Half-Yanar are created. A Yanar may sample material from their non-Yanar lover and graft it to a tree much like normal Yanar reproduction, which in a month’s time creates a fully grown Half-Yanar. Half-Yanar share all Yanar abilities and design, but are aesthetically different. They appear like a fusion between the Race of their non-Yanar parent mixed with flowers and plants, always part of them, but never all of them. Visual aesthetics of the non-Yanar parent’s race must remain, especially skin-tone and eye color. Additionally, they can only Floral-Shift their Yanar parts, meaning they always resemble their non-Yanar Race.
Dulofall Yanar
Dulofall Yanar are a Yanar permutation that are out of the ordinary. They were created when a group of Kathar kidnapped a number of Yanar and called upon the Void God Eloblina to convert them into Void-influenced Yanar, instead. This turned the Exist-based Yanar into Void-Based Yanar. This culminated in a micro-cult called "Dulofall" Yanar to grow out of this initial group in the Dread Empire. Dulofall Yanar are entirely pitied and shunned by all other Yanar, as the penultimate example of the corrupting powers of the Void. All Yanar specials are also accessible to Dulofall Yanar, they just require some common sense translations for the Void instead of the Exist. It is not possible to turn a regular Exist Yanar into a Dulofall Yanar, only the Void God Eloblina is able to do this, nor is it possible to convert them back without any Exist Arken's assistance.
Racial Abilities and Specials
Racial Abilities are generally a set of unique powers and effects that all peoples of that Race all innately have, while Specials are more passive, aesthetic focused capabilities. Specials are defined per-page, while Abilities can be searched on the Ability List page to determine their generic function. Yanar have only Specials themed around plants, nature, cottagecore and the changing of the seasons. Half-Yanar have access to all the same Specials, with one small change, in that Floral-Shift does not allow them to change Racial appearance, though they can change anything else.
- Existborne: The Yanar are born of the Exist, and as such, immune to: Becoming Vampires, being Void-Silven, becoming Void possessed, having Void Magic, becoming Ordial Mages, Geists, Archon, or any other Draconic, Primal, Void or Ordial Affliction or Heritage (except Marken). Yanar can only ever be exist-aligned. They can be revived as Undead under specific circumstances, as a Hollow or Wraith Undead.
- Ageless: The Yanar are Ageless, meaning they cease to visually age after birth as adults. Additionally, they can change their age-based appearance to any Ailor age equivalent they want (so long as it is 18+).
- Existform: Yanar may choose 1 Spell Point Buy Pack for free (including 3 Specials) without the Proficiency Point investment or cost, which breaks cap, allowing them to purchase up to 8 magic packs. However it does not count for the 7 Point Buy requirement for Greater Mage. Additionally, Yanar can create pets out of plant/floral matter that live as long as they do.
- Magicborn: The Magic in the Yanar Racials means that they cannot use Technician Point Buy.
- Existweight: Yanar can transform their lower body into a storm of petals, twigs, and flowers, making them levitate above the ground. Yanar while in this state do not approach terminal velocity, instead gently floating down.
- Dreamrealm: While in the privacy of their Rental/Estate/Base, transport one’s mind into the Dreamrealm, plus any willing participant. While there, all imagination is free game, and all participants will remember everything after.
- Dreamhome: Yanar are able to grow any flowers/plants from any orifice or material inside their Rental/Estate/base, with changed smells, colors, shapes, growth-speed, behavior, and fruits and vegetables.
- Nature Grasp I: Yanar are able to rapidly cause plants, trees, or flowers to grow, give fruits, or go into bloom, anywhere in nature. (Limitations are imposed on progressions and events to prevent ending world hunger).
- Nature Grasp II: Yanar are able to apply nature aesthetics to any Power or Special even if they do not have the Nature Special from Spell Point Buy. Furthermore, they can also feel ambient fear or pain in nearby plantlife.
- Yattil Parent: Yanar are able to create up to 5 Yattil Familiars out of fruits or flowers (only rodents, lizards, and small birds are viable). These Familiars behave the same and have the same rules as Pet Husbandry Pack pets.
- Solur Parent: Yanar are able to manifest as many Solurs as they like, small Acorn-people resembling green acorns with stubby limbs and big eyes that are skittish and run away from strangers, and tend a Yanar’s garden.
- Floral Shift I: Yanar have a great degree of Shapeshifting freedom, within the aesthetics of their plant-like form. Yanar can imitate any Race visually, though must always appear as a plant-like version of that Race.
- Floral Shift II: Yanar have a great deal of control over the color and shape of whatever plant matter, fruits, and flowers are present on their body. They can change their shape and color and texture at will and instantly.
- Floral Shift III: Yanar have control over the gender presentation of their bodies. While generally a-gender, they can opt to become male or female presenting, or somewhere in between the two binaries.
- Floral Shift IV: Yanar can control their height, musculature, body shape, body fat (or the representation there-of), shape and color of their hair, and any exterior growths congruent with their plant-like aesthetics.
- Empath Sense: Yanar are able to focus on a person and sense their emotions, even if they are hiding them, though not why they feel that way. With physical contact, they can also free them of those emotions by absorbing them to themselves.
- Nature Crafter I: Yanar are able to weave living wood into any non-organic craft they engage in, for example Metallurgy. Living wood will shape in whatever way they like to add a wooden aesthetic to the object.
- Nature Crafter II: Yanar are able to weave living wood into whatever Artificer or Technician Branch they choose, for example weaving wood into the shapes of Clockwork or Steamtek constructs and Abilities.
- Nature Crafter III: Yanar are able to sacrifice one of their arms and turn it into a melee weapon with yanar aesthetics, but steel durability, which they can give to others. If the weapon is destroyed, the arm will regrow over a week.
- Noxious Immune: Yanar are immune to any gas or air-based miasmas, even Magical ones, being able to breathe normally in otherwise polluted air. This also allows them to travel to Guldar without negative effects.
- Yanar Aesthetics: Yanar are deeply intertwined with nature, and exclusively draw their powers from the Exist, their spells flavored with nature and plant like aesthetics, appearing like wood, vines and other such themes.
Wyldheart
Wyldheart is a Special that allows Yanar to not die. Killing a Yanar can actually kill them permanently, for each time a Yanar is killed, they make the conscious decision to give up and die permanently, or defy death and Wyldheart themselves. This involves the body of the Yanar dissolving into autumn leaves and fading away, leaving behind a Wyldheart, a fist-sized bark heart that pulsates with Exist Magic. A Wyldheart can then be taken either to an Estellon Temple, a Mana Tree, or another Yanar, to revive them at least 1 hour after being killed, and never in the same scene as the Yanar died. This item can also be taken by anyone, meaning allies or friends should try to capture the Wyldheart. It is important that Wyldheart when captured by enemies, cannot be handed off. The person who took it always has it on them, cannot hand it off to someone else, and drops it on the ground like a piñata if they are defeated in combat. A Yanar self-killing cannot afterwards complain about their Character not being revive-able because an enemy took them and their allies can't take it back.
Culture
The Yanar do not really have a culture. Rather than creating societies that are entirely stand-alone, Yanar join other societies to the point that they make up a sizable part of them. Common groups that Yanar join up with are Maquixtl, Teledden, Kathar, Solvaan, Sihndar and (non-wild) Urlan. The only Race Yanar often avoid are the Suvial, because of their love of fire and the inherent danger fire poses to Yanar. Most Yanar exist in an ex-Allorn pro-Nelfin environment, with Estellon worshiping groups being the most common, though Void-harmonious Yanar also exist among the Kathar, who the Kathar are not explicitly hostile to, as Yanar provide entertainment that the Kathar enjoy. Yanar also don’t really have fashion of their own, often adopting the styles of other Nelfin Races and making floral additions, or in fact wearing nothing at all. Due to the fact that most Yanar are agender and lack any sort of reproductive organs or other areas that Ailor might wish to be covered up, Yanar’s own bodies can mimic the appearance of clothing through petals and leaves, and as such clothes may be redundant.
Language
The Yanar do not have a language of their own. Rather, the majority of them speak Altalar or Saan with the vast majority of them also being fluent in Common. Yanar do have a unique naming style. A Yanar has two different names, their first name which is a permanent name, and their surname or second name which changes every time they Wildbirth, into a name that is descriptive of their personality or purpose in life. Yanar names are generally non-gendered, though additional vowels can be added to make them sound more feminine, or more masculine with more consonants.
A list of example Yanar first names: Taethor, Critha, Aphelor, Leitha, Ram, Naegra, Aew, Caph, Merilin, Gwaun, Gail, Erist, Niid, Caan, Iach, Rusta, Hithu, Telia.
Surnames (or personality names) are usually more related to what they intend to do that life, or a major streak in their personality. A Yanar with a particularly heated personality might for example have the surname Burnweed, while a Yanar with a particularly peaceful personality might have Tranquilflor as a surname. A Yanar who works in metallurgy might have the surname Barkforger, while a Yanar who works in a pub might be called Dewleafbrewer. Whatever the outcome, some type of nature reference or plant name should always be included.
Finally, it is possible for Yanar to adopt so-called clan names. Clan names are similar to family names, though they are rarely if ever used when referring to a person. While family connections matter, Yanar generally don’t want to be identified by clan affiliations, preferring their own surname. Clan names are usually fairly short and have more to do with the rough area where the Yanar are from, for example: Graymountain, Verdanthill, Pinecove, Coralbed, Stonewald, all names that refer to the rough environment the clan calls home.
Religion
By far and large, most Yanar are avid Estellon worshipers, with a particular reverence for Mana, Mother of the Living Soil. That being said, other Gods and Goddesses may equally be worshiped, Estel herself is also considered important, while most other Races leave Estel largely to the sidelines. Even when not faithful, they still have a positive perception of Estel, though none of them can remember why. Due to the habit of Wildbirth, any Yanar who was alive during the days of their first appearance in the Allorn Empire has no memory of these events, so none of them fully understand their role in Estellon or wider history. Still, other Races who worship Estellon consider the Yanar to be messengers and heralds of Estel, as folklore has it that they first appeared when the downfall of the Allorn Empire was all but guaranteed, as the last hope to save the Nelfin. As such, Yanar are often treated as the bearers of warnings and good will, to remind the faithful to stay true to the Gods and not be led astray by vice and corruption.
Families
Yanar organize into clans, with all clans having a single founder, who has sub-divided a number of times to produce several Yanar of varying personalities, occupations, and predispositions. These clans however can also adopt members of different Races, which isn’t the same as a legal contract of adoption, but is more an informal manner of conveying honor and reverence onto a person to accept them as one of their own. Yanar can also be lone wolves, and decide to reject a clan, founding one of their own and severing ties with their previous clan. This isn’t considered a hostile act, after all, Yanar are generally laid back and lack real reason to have conflict unless they specifically go looking for it. There is no such thing as Yanar childhood, as all Yanar are born mentally and physically as adults with a basic understanding of how to do basic things like washing clothes and preparing food. Yanar romance is fairly open to interpretation.
World View
- Yanar are always a bit ambivalent about the return of the Allorn Empire. While they will vocally support their friends who want a return of the Allorn Empire, there always remains that nagging feeling in the back of their minds, that once an Empire has fallen, it can fall again for the exact same reasons.
- Yanar in Regalia are usually either very loyal to the Regalian State, believing it to be more stable and generally well put together than the Allorn Empire once was, or apathetic towards it, just being happy to be in a relatively peaceful place with relatively little repression and freedom of religion and movement.
- Unionism does not acquire much of a hold on Yanar, due to it strongly contradicting Yanar Estellon sensibilities. Yanar Unionists do exist, but are generally ignored or excluded by the wider Estellon Yanar and Nelfin.
- Yanar are inherently ultra-progressive people who appreciate the concept of democracy and honesty, until they are not. Yanar generally lean progressive, but Yanar who are more violent or have a wilder temper, may be more inclined to believe autocracy is more effective, especially after the collective trauma over the inability to avert disaster of the Allorn Empire and how a stronger more centralized government like Regalia might have prevented collapse.
- Yanar are very uncomfortable around Suvial, because everything they are is drenched in the aesthetic of fire, the very thing that Yanar are wildly afraid of. They don’t outwardly hate the Suvial, they just choose to stay clear of them as much as they can.
- Despite their fear of fire, fire is not a sure-fire way to scare a Yanar into submission mid-combat. Usually, their bravery and dedication to their convictions triumph in the moment.
- It is commonly believed that Yanar photosynthesize or only eat plants, but both statements are false. Yanar can also be omnivores or outright carnivores.
- A false theory about Yanar souls circulated for over a decade based on incorrectly interpreted data, that claimed that Yanar did not truly possess a soul of their own and were artificial. Recent research has shown this to be wrong.
- Yanar can never truly starve, as even the most isolated Yanar in the darkest of dungeons can grow small plants and fruitlings and nuts from the cracks between bricks and stones, even without water and sunlight.
- Though Yanar are very gregarious and open to others usually, Yanar are extremely sensitive to unwanted touch, and consider uninvited bare-skin contact to be a grave insult.
- Yanar care deeply about the origins of a person, believing them to intricately affect what they are like in the present day. As such, Yanar will often ask “where are your roots?” so as to act where someone is from, to understand who they are now.
- Yanar (despite jokes and comedy to the contrary) do not consider eating plants or destruction of plant-life as murder or violence. That being said, they would prefer proper treatment of plants and a level of respect for nature that does not involve senseless destruction of flowers and trees.
Trivia
- There have been many wild theories about Yanar being related to the Grul and even some now-extinct Races that existed in the west of the old Allorn Empire, but no records remain to verify truth from fiction.
- The Yanar had a special relation with the Vasil, though Vasil existed for thousands of years before the Yanar first appeared. When the Vasil were still around, Yanar would often graft their pods onto a Vasil tree.
- Yanar have an unexplained discomfort towards insects. Theories claim that it is because of the habits of insects to skitter and crawl, and Yanar over-sensitive skin to gentle touch.
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