Isstiliph

A Glimpse of Life

Isstiliph was born in fire. Five hundred years ago, the mountain at the center of Isstiliph’s island kingdom erupted, bathing tens of thousands in molten rock and burning ash. The survivors of the initial explosion fled to the island’s cracking coastlines, desperately praying to their two gods to save them from certain death. Miraculously, their gods intervened. Yamah, consort of Dagger, sacrificed her divine life to shield the Isstiliph people from the raging rock and flame for two full days, while the dalaihal, Dagger, constructed a hundred ships for his people out of thin sheets of volcanic rock and fine spun silk. On the evening of the third day, Yamah cried out as her divine power gave way and she was taken by the fire. Dagger exhaled a mighty breath and sent thousands of the Isstiliphi eastward across Tai. The people mourned their god and their homeland. They consoled each other with prayers and with oaths. And they hurried to record as much of their collective wisdom as possible so that it would not be lost beneath the tides of flame. Two weeks later they found themselves on the shores of Chaesharin, caught in a brutal war of retribution between Koveyah and Atri. Both great kingdoms offered the Isstiliphi riches to join their side as mercenaries, but Atri required slavery and Koveyah required conversion. Able to tolerate neither, the Isstiliph accepted both offers, took the gold, then betrayed both kingdoms. In one week of military action they seized the iron mines of Koveyah and the stables and chariot houses of Atri. Before either kingdom could respond, Isstiliph had become a military power in its own right.

Isstiliph culture is a product of its past tragedy and its future ambitions. Tragic plays of doomed love and inescapable fate dominate the creative life of Isstiliph’s people, while a long and intricate philosophical tradition of stoicism and cynicism define their intellects. Of all the sapient kinds of Chaesharin, the Isstiliph are the least individually religious and culturally cultic. The Isstiliphi revere Dagger for what he has done for the people, and sacrifice to Yamah’s ghost for her saving actions, but in general, the people of Isstiliph are hostile to the supernal and to the gods of the other kinds. The Isstiliph are less likely to actively worship Dagger, and more likely to ambitiously strive for greatness in his name. Isstiliph’s royal cult is small, wields few relics, and has ceded most political and administrative control of everyday life to the High Lords of Isstiliph’s five city states and their citizen congresses. The government of Isstiliph has a mild, democratic inclination. Isstiliph holds no slaves, but pays small stipends to villages of farmers and other laborers. While Atri uses its laborers to free its native citizens for learning and celebration, Isstiliph uses its laborers to free its native citizens for military service. Isstiliph considers its men and women at arms to be the highest social station one can achieve, and death in battle is perceived as the most righteous offering one can make to Dagger. The Isstiliphi fight differently from the other kinds, use different weapons than the other kinds, and conduct themselves in battle differently than the other kinds, and all of it they consider to be an essential part of their culture and distinctive identity. Another unique facet of Isstiliph culture is that it permits both men and women to rise to all ranks in the army and navy, including even to High Prince. Isstiliph relies on its military to be the kingdom’s voice in the world of Hadam, as the kingdom is small and jammed between empires on all sides. If the Isstiliph are to have a future, it will be through their soldiers.

The Isstiliph are also aware of how physically different they are from the other kinds of Chaesharin and it contributes to their cynicism and lack of association with the other kingdoms. It has also made the Isstiliphi even more proud than they would otherwise be, eager to assert their value in a world that mocks them relentlessly. At the same time, the Isstiliphi rigorously train diplomats to go far and wide and learn about Chaesharin’s other cultures, and bring their secrets home for public consumption. The Isstiliphi make shows and exhibits of animals, oddities, and technologies from other lands, and Isstiliph’s noble houses are filled with iconography, idols, and cultural trinkets from all of the surrounding peoples.

Common Kaidir

Isstiliphi perform the daipelah only twice per day, and not at fixed times, but rather when the first wake up and right before they sleep.

Isstiliphi consider it to be taboo to interrupt another person.

Isstiliphi bow when handling or exchanging weapons of any kind.

Isttiliphi eat all foods but consider it taboo to eat alone.

Isstiliphi consider it taboo to show their mouths to anyone other than their spouses, and only the very young or the unveiled ever go without mouth coverings in public.

Bodies and Genders

The Isstiliphi are tall, with women five and a half to six feet in height, and the men six to six and a half feet in height. The men are especially broad in the shoulders and neck, contributing even more to their towering countenance. The Isstiliphi’s skin has varying shades of green in it, most pale, though some striking and jade, and all Isstiliph have soft scales arrayed around their ribs, elbows, hips, and knees. Isstiliph facial features are hard and angular, and their eyes are green and gold, with black slashes for irises. Isstiliph mouths are wide, with folded skin in the corners allowing them to open exceptionally wide and their tongues are long, light pink, dexterous. The Isstiliph reproduce orally with special glands along the bottom of their tongues, and Isstiliphi women lay eggs through their mouths as well. They have no genitals between their legs and commonly go without clothing save for veils over their mouths, which they consider to be private. This causes no small amount of shock and scandal for the other kinds, especially since mature Isstiliphi women still have large and heavy breasts. Isstiliphi have no hair, though will occasionally don headdresses with hair-like weaves for ceremonial occasions. Gender relations in Isstiliph are almost entirely egalitarian, though pregnant women are excluded from public life, work, and military service until they lay eggs.

Common Names

Isstiliphi do not use theophoric elements in their names, unless they are members of the royal cult. Other people use words for various virtues as names, “Koa” (power), “Bel” (heart), “Kol” (voice), “Tef” (strength), “Qil” (speed), “Qin” (aim); or the names of heroes from plays, “Dag,” “Yam,” “Oda,” “Kul,” “Les;”  or the names of significant victorious battles in Isstiliph history, “Kalm,” “Jez,” “Hev,” Gol,” “Ath.”  Isstiliphi names tend to be short, two syllables at most, and female names are marked by an “i” on the end of the name.

Examples: Akoa, Bel, Koli, Dag, Akuli, Eles, Jezi, Golathi.

Views of the Vaishineph

The Isstiliphi never knew of vaishineph in their homeland long ago, and so consider them to be foreign, strange, and dangerous. To the Isstiliphi, gods are more like representations of ideas and powers than they are actual beings with wills and lives of their own, and so they consider the aihalan and the vaishineph to be abstractions of various forces and beliefs. Nevertheless, because the vaishineph oppose the war making powers of all five great kingdoms, and because the vaishineph are associated with alien things born of Chaesharin's magick, the Isstiliph are happy to kill the vaishineph wherever they find them. The Isstiliphi take particular pleasure in despoiling the religious and cultic objects and peoples of the other kinds, and so killing a vaishineph in tribute to Dagger is a treasure without peer. Much like a hunter would prize the killing of especially dangerous and exotic prey, so too do most Isstiliphi look upon the vaishineph and the gods they serve.

Views of the Other Kingdoms

Atri: "The elderly should have the decency to die in battle before mysticism drives them to insanity and banality drives them to decadence. We are eager to enjoy the fruits of their lands that they have grown to impotent to appreciate."

Deiyeh: "Anyone who loves the gods more than the warmth of bodies or the breathe of life deserves neither."

Lisrai: "Weak. Affected. Coddled from birth until grave. Too much coin warps the mind. Not enough war softens the heart. We will give them the benevolent gift of battle so they can remember what it means to be alive."

Lock: "The Lockan are everyone's friends, and therefore, no one's. Still, they do not recoil from us as others do. They deal fairly when coin is laid or blades are drawn. There is enough honor in these small things that we will not be the first to break peace with them."

Kind Trait

Pride of Giants: When the Isstiliphi came to Chaesharin's shores as stricken refugees, and when they were called monsters, beasts, and demons by those of the land, it would have been easy for them to fall to pieces and be swept away in the tides of other cultures. But they endured. They took what everyone else feared of them and made it true. They wore their alien features like armor, and wielded their natural strength with pride. Thus equipped, though the world may be chaos, the Isstiliphi always trust the heart within themselves.

Pride of Giants grants a starting character +1 Strength and +1 Poise.

Advancement Traits

Army Service: Every Isstiliphi citizen, man and woman, serves in the kingdom's army for a minimum of three years. From there, some retire to other occupations or further education, but many remain in the military, becoming officers or elite soldiers. If an Isstiliphi has reached their later years, then it is certain that they have combat experience, and more familiarity with the ways of war than many soldiers in other kingdoms.

Requires age 30 and up
Base: Grants +1 Valor
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 Discipline

Blood of the Viper: Isstiliphi women have a unique defense mechanism that helps them defend their young during the year they are in eggs. When Isstiliphi women reach maturity, their blood turns violet in color and becomes suffused with a substance akin to adrenaline that lies dormant until needed. Though Isstiliphi men are known throughout Chaesharin as the giants of the land, it is actually the Isstiliphi women who are the strongest.

Requires Female
Base: Grants +1 Strength
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 Blood

Coiling Power: The muscles of the Isstiliphi coil around their bones in slithering layers that contract and expand to produce an explosive amount of physical force. The coiling and uncoiling of the Isstiliphi's muscles can be seen plainly beneath their skin, an unnerving sight to those who are unfamiliar with their bodies.

Base: Grants +1 Strength
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 to heavy carry tests

Majestic Countenance: Isstiliphi males are the tallest and most physically imposing figures in all of Chaesharin, often standing several inches over the tallest members of other kinds. In both fear and derision they are sometimes called "dasheshesh" by the other kinds, meaning fat snakes. But Isstiliphi males who hold their heads high, stand straight backed and proud, and who allow their determination to shine forth from their eyes, are a majestic sight to see.

Requires Male
Base: Grants +1 Beauty
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 social resistance

Stoic Clarity: Isstiliphi culture is cynical and sarcastic. Dark humor is the only kind the people know. But it is also an brutally honest culture, where lying, especially to oneself is looked down upon with utter disgust. As a result, Isstiliphi people have a keenly developed sense of when something is amiss, out of place, or when someone is trying to deceive them.

Base: Grants +1 Initiative
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 to save vs. verbal deceptions

Stories of War: All of Chaesharin's people tell glorious stories of war heroes, but in most kingdoms these stories are told to emphasize moral lessons, to exhort young people to virtues, or to celebrate the pride of the nation. In Isstiliph, these stories are told to prepare young people for the day when they too will stand on the battlefield, weapon in hand, and the choice before them to die in anonymity, or die in glory.

Requires age 30 and under
Base: Grants +1 Valor
Rank 1/2: Grants +1 to attacks as attached character

Godnapper

Rather than investing their energy in the glorification of their own royal cult, Isstiliphi people take special pride in stealing the cultic objects of other nations, and then displaying them in their homes, shrines, and public squares. Godnappers are thieves, not of gold, or precious stones, but of the idols and relics of other kinds. Godnappers are experts in stealth, infiltration, and, when necessary, combat. But it is the pride of godnappers that they do not kill. Godnappers believe it is their fault if they are seen, and no one should have to die for their own mistake.

As vaishineph, godnappers need to change little of their former lives and skills, only broaden their horizons. Godnapper vaishineph continue to steal and to infiltrate, but not for the purposes of merely shaming the royal cults or selling trinkets to noble bidders, though when one has extra time there is certainly no harm, but in fundamentally destabilizing them and bringing them to a lasting ruin. Godnappers know that there is power in symbols, and power in the ability to steal those symbols away, and it is a power they are keen to continue to wield.

In a group, godnappers can lead a party through the shadows and into places they would not otherwise be able to reach. With calculated efficiency and fluid dexterity, godnappers are also strong combatants, able to dance through fights, leaping in and out of the darkness to disable opponents and create opportunities for allies to escape or overcome.

Attribute Increases: +1 Wisdom +1 Discipline

Starting Willpower and Resolve: 0/2

Starting Gear and Garb: Common short weapon, Traveling pack, common javi

Starting Thread: Deldev Reaches

Script: Striking Tongue

Skill: Pick Lock

Locks are a new invention in Chaesharin, only becoming popular in the past century, and only on account of being found in cellars beneath Agari ruins. Godnappers stole early copies of the locks to study before they proliferated in the homes of the wealthy and the vaults of the priestly, and they guard the secrets for how to carefully pick them with or without conventional tools.

Given a few minutes time, the godnapper can break through any lock of common or superior quality, or that would have a TN to overcome of ten or less.

Slithering Shadow (lvl 1)

Godnappers know that invisibility is a matter of patience and psychology, and that the cover of darkness is a matter of perception and misdirection. So long as the godnapper is not equipped with armor that imposes an attack penalty, they gain a +1 to stealth tests and saves, and +1 attacks while hidden.

Combat Reflexes (lvl 1)

The godnapper's stoic patience grants them clear and fluid reflexes in even the most dangerous of situations. Whenever the godnapper gets a successful save in a martial conflict, they can immediately undertake a minor maneuver action and a minor ready action, if they desire.

Black Sap (lvl 3)

With a little footwork and a lot of accuracy, the godnapper can ensure that when they strike with an advantage, their strikes have the greatest possible chance of knocking the target out. When the godnapper earns an innocent success on a martial attack, they impose the dazed condition on their target. If the target is already suffering the dazed condition, then Black Sap does nothing.

Weaving Maneuver (lvl 3)

The godnapper has embraced the serpentine nature of their bodies and can move in a smooth, weaving pattern that is difficult for opponents to predict. When the godnapper earns an innocent success on a martial save they impose the cornered take on their target.

Ride the Darkness  (lvl 5)

Many who skulk about in the dark believe that their slow movements is what guarantees their invisibility, but the godnapper knows that it is the unexpected that is difficult to see, not merely the ponderous. And nothing is more unexpected that something leaping out of the darkness at lightning speed. When the godnapper is hidden from a lone opponent or when they are employing stealth, they may spend one risk to move at a swift speed for three calls or until their stealth or hidden status is broken, whichever comes first.

Vandal Strike (lvl 5)

By sacrificing the desire to kill their opponents, the godnapper can more accurately aim their strikes to take advantage of their opponent's most superficial of weaknesses. When the godnapper imposes a mark on an opponent they are hidden from, or when the godnapper imposes a mark on a dazed opponent, they may instead spend one risk to impose a bashing damage check on them.

Sleeping Counter (lvl 7)

By limiting the way their opponents can move, the godnapper can ensure that however their opponents attack, it will not be enough to escape their grasp. When the godnapper earns an innocent success on a martial save against a single, cornered opponent, they can choose to knock the opponent out.

Vanishing Skill (lvl 7)

Through a complete mastery of stealth, the godnapper is able to whisk their allies away into the deepening depths of the shadows to escape or to maneuver for a sudden strike. The godnapper may Take the Lead one call and then make an Employ Stealth test against nearby opponents on their next call. If the test is successful, than they, and up to six nearby allies are all considered in stealth and hidden from opponents. If they spend one risk for the Ride the Darkness effect, the effect is applied to all of the same allies as well.

Race Champion

Aside from the theatrical stage, the one frivolity that the Isstiliphi people permit themselves as a culture is the sands of the race track. Whether it is single horses or more exotic beasts, whether pure races or events with trick performances and archery contests, or whether long relays or thunderous sprints of chariots, Isstiliphi's racers can accrue nearly as much glory as their soldiers. Race champions are veterans of multiple events and have led teams of other racers to victory as well. While not trained for battle per say, there is hardly a rider in all of Chaesharin that could maneuver on the back of a beast as well as a race champion, in or out of war.

As vaishineph, a race champion has much to change in the way they see the world. No longer do they compete for glory, or riches, or for the entertainment of the masses. Their skills must become more practical, though not necessarily less flashy in execution. Vaishineph race champions can offer their allies a unique advantage by being a master of mounted travel and caring for all of the animals that their rebel cult needs.

In a group, a race champion is best when mounted or when facing mounted opponents. They are able to maximize the advantage that mounted combat offers while minimizing the same advantage in the hands of their opponents. Race champions can also benefit their allies in large scale conflicts by employing unique skills to turn the tides of engagements.

Skill: Ready Mounts



Sole Stampede (lvl 1)
Unfailing Accuracy (lvl 1)
Burst of Speed (lvl 3)
High Step (lvl 3)
Acrobatic Strike (lvl 5)
Sudden Pursuit (lvl 5)
Chariot Storm (lvl 7)
Circle of Death (lvl 7)

Unveiled

Skill: Rope Mastery
Constrict (lvl 1)
Serpent's Tongue (lvl 1)
Double Lash (lvl 3)
Slip Away (lvl 3)
Physical Puzzle (lvl 5)
Reversal (lvl 5)
Flame to the Moth (lvl 7)
Discover Weakness (lvl 7)

Warbringer

Skill: Rally Army
Champion (lvl 1)
Tip of the Sword (lvl 1)
Repel Charge (lvl 3)
War Cry (lvl 3)
Wake of Destruction (lvl 5)
Whirlwind (lvl 5)
Fifth Wind (lvl 7)
Iron Rain (lvl 7)