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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Michael Morris" data-source="post: 4268097" data-attributes="member: 87">Well, I've gotten ahold of the illegal bit-torrent of the PHB so now I can begin to detail out things for the setting with some understanding of how it all fits together. I'll start with races.Dragonborn and Tieflings have no place in Carthasana, so they remain banned from play. Even after reading their entries in the PHB I still think their inclusion in the core was the stupidest design decision of 4e.Eldarin almost got the ax too - I don't necessarily need two elven races. However, reading their powers and their entries got me to thinking about one other race of the setting that has never really been detailed since there are only 5 members of it in 3e.  With imagination moving I came up with a bit of setting specific text on them that allows them to fit nicely into the setting - and it also explains from a storytelling vantage why half-elves exist and half-eldarin do not.Eldarin, Humans and the Tal Ishan Humans are new comers on the stage of Carthasana, and though their numbers have grown their origins are more cloaked in myth than many of the other races which proudly trace their lines back to at least one of the five.  What makes this more curious is that the arrival of humans on Carthasana is within the memory of some of the older dragons and a handful of Eldarin known collectively as the 'Tal Ishan' - meaning "They who remain" (Or one who remains, nouns of the Silesni language lack distinct singular and plural forms in a manner similar to Japanese in our own world). Ages ago there was a war among the Eldarin to decide who would become god-king of the race. The participants and circumstances are mostly lost to time, but at the conclusion of the war those on the losing side where cursed with mortality by Januel, the leader of the winning Eldarin faction. Abora was angered by this, and while unable to end his curse she twisted it so that it only affected the children of losing faction - and these children where blessed with the fortitude necessary to one day take over the world. Meanwhile Januel's following where cursed in turn to fade from the world and be drawn back into their kingdom within the vast plane of Abora after a time. Of those alive when these events occurred only five remain and they are among the most powerful creatures within all the multiverse. All but one of them nurse a powerful hatred of the Eldarin race and seek to do them ill. Humans themselves have through their mortality forgotten their heritage and do not know the nature of their relationship with Eldarin. The only clue lies in childbirth: The coupling of an Eldarin and a Human will give a member of the mother's race - not a half-breed as is the circumstance encountered with Elves. Eldarin persist upon the world for some 200 years before the calling draws them forcibly back into Abora.  Eventually, the prophecies say, all members of this race will be drawn away. Of the Tal Ishan the only one who's name is known among sagest is Telsindria - (from the Silesni name "Tal Sin Dre A" meaning One Last of First"). Elves and Eldarin today call her Li Eya - "Loved Lady" in recognition of her role as a mediator between them and the human kingdoms, and one of the few with wisdom and experience to dwarf their own as theirs dwarfs humanity in turn. The primary reason for her benevolence was she was born a mere moment before the curse took effect, making her the last of the firstborn. She does not personally remember the splitting war and though she nurses a sullen hatred for Januel and all the eldarin gods for their part in her suffering, she does not bear the eldarin themselves ill-will. The same cannot be said for the four other Tal Ishan, who are among the most formidable and deadly of foes likely to be encountered anywhere in Carthasana. Halflings of Carthasana are a bit easier - they call themselves Oyasini and their culture and nature is already well established for the setting as it is with all the races.  The abilities given in the PHB continue to fit the male oyasini - or the oyasoi - but the female oyasini - the oyasi - have wings and their abilities are different as follows.Oyasi (Female Halflings)RACIAL TRAITSAverage Height: 3´ 5˝–3´ 11˝Average Weight: 45–65 lb.Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +2 WisdomSize: SmallSpeed: 6 squaresVision: NormalLanguages: Common, choice of one otherSkill Bonuses: +2 Acrobatics, +2 InsightGliding Fall: You can use gliding fall as an at will power.Gliding Fall Halfling Racial PowerWhile your wings are too small and weak to allow flight, they can slow your fall.At-WillFree Action PersonalEffect: So long as you are lightly armored and unecumbered you take no damage from falls regardless of distance fallen. You do not land prone from falls.And as there is one feat requiring the second chance power so too is there one feat building on this one.Improved Glide [Halfling]Prerequisites: Halfling, Gliding Fall, Gender - FemaleEffect: You may glide fall regardless of armor worn; or you may slow the fall of another creature sized small or less; or, with a running start, you may glide over an area equal to you speed.</blockquote>

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