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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Knightfall" data-source="post: 2742988" data-attributes="member: 2012">CYRADICyradi, 1st-Level WarriorMedium Humanoid (Human)Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp)Initiative: +0Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)AC: 15 (+4 armor, +1 shield), touch 10, flat-footed 15Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+1Attack: Short sword +1 melee (1d6/19-20/x2) or longspear +1 melee (1d8/x3)Full Attack: Short sword +1 melee (1d6/19-20/x2) or longspear +1 melee (1d8/x3)Space/Reach: 5 ft.  / 5 ft.Special Qualities: Racial traits, light sensitivitySaves: Fort +3, Ref +0, Will -1Abilities: Str 11 (+0), Dex 11 (+0), Con 12 (+1), Int 12 (+1), Wis 9 (-1), Cha 8 (-1)Skills: Climb +4, Hide +2 *, Jump+4, Listen +4, Move Silently +2 *, Spot +1Feats: Alertness [sup]B[/sup], Skill Focus (Listen)Continent/Region: The Fallenlands/ShapnekaEnvironment: UndergroundOrganization: Solitary, gang (4–9), or band (10–50 plus 50% noncombatants plus 1 3rd-level sergeant per 10 adults and 1 leader of 4th–6th-level)Challenge Rating: 2Treasure: StandardAlignment: Often lawful neutralAdvancement: By character classLevel Adjustment: +1[What follows is based on Dungeon Module B4, “The Lost City”, by Tom Moldvay, and the Dungeon Magazine article, “Return to the Lost City”, by Michael Mearls. Many aspects of my Lost City are completely different, as the Cyradi are the only humans that exist on the Fallenlands.]This pale-skinned, gaunt humanoid has snow-white hair and stands roughly 5½ feet tall. Its face is covered with a wooden, stylized mask, of a human face, decorated with beads, bones, feathers, and semiprecious jewels. The humanoid’s body is covered from head-to-toe with artistic, almost garish, clothing, as well as flashy jewelry.The humans known as the Cyradi are the only humans that exist on the Fallenlands continent. They are the citizens of an ancient, lost city. This city sits underground beneath a half-buried step pyramid within a forbidding canyon. However, the cyradi were not the builders of the hidden city. They were originally explorers, from the continent of Kanpur, that came to the Fallenlands shortly before the Age of Isolation. They came in the name of the pharaoh of the land known as Khemit.What they found was a land being forced through a magical transformation, which trapped them in the Fallenlands. They found themselves trapped in a changing, harsh environment and outnumbered by strange natives that were often hostile. The cyradi eventually found and retreated into the deep crevasse, which the cyradi would come to call Shapneka. They unearthed the pyramid and eventually found and laid claim to the lost city, which they named Cyrad.The cyradi built a new civilization originally based on the teachings of their gods. However, many of the cyradi became enamoured with the three Gods of the Ancients, known as Gorm, Madarua, and Usamigaras. The cyradi civilization began to shift, as these gods came to the forefront of religious doctrine. The ancient writings of the lost city hinted of another ‘higher being’, but never by its name, which drove many curious cyradi to dig deeper into the earth too uncover more writings. Eventually, they broke through into the cavern that held the trapped form of a fiend called Zargon, a native Outsider.Zargon rewarded its saviors by devouring them, then it made its way to the city of Cyrad and begun a reign of terror, killing and devouring all in its path. The followers of three Gods of the Ancients were overrun and were forced to flee up into the higher levels of the step pyramid and the caverns surrounding the lost city. The remaining populace began placating Zargon with sacrifices of treasure, magic, and human sacrifices. Eventually, their society devolved into worshipping the fiend and power in the lost city came firmly under the control of the worshippers of the fiend (i.e. Zargonites).The Fiend Worm decided to make its lair in the lowest level of the step pyramid and increased the number of tributes from its new followers. It forced its followers to work the citizens of Cyrad nearly to death and to keep them in a dream-like state, using a magical elixir (see page 22 of Dragon Magazine #315). This elixir of fantasy causes powerful hallucinations and was the Zargonites best means of control over their fellow citizens. The cyradi way of life deteriorated more and more over the centuries, as the followers of the three Gods of the Ancients became pariahs, and the traditional Khemitian ways were forgotten almost completely.All of that changed as a series of events led to the end of the Age of Isolation and the beginning of a new age. The events led to the destruction of Zargon and the scattering of the Zargonites. The followers of the three Gods of the Ancients captured the city of Cyrad and began reforming cyradi culture. And while contact has yet to be reestablished with the current pharaoh of Khemit, the citizens of the lost city have discovered a renewed connection with the traditional gods of their ancient homeland. Population numbers are finally increasing and several new settlements have been created on the surface, built into the canyon walls of Shapneka.However, not every change in the lost city has been for the better. The Fiend Worm didn’t so much as die, as ascend to become a true god, and its followers are more powerful than they ever were. The fiendish deity has created a new race of fiends to do its bidding, the zargoths. Addiction to the elixir of fantasy is still a problem for many of the cyradi, even though it is now illegal. The followers of the Gods of the Ancients constantly bicker with each other over religious doctrine, while the renewed faiths of the gods of Khemit struggle to gain a foothold in the city of Cyrad.Conflict still remains as the dominant trait of the cyradi way of life.Cyradi humans speak their own racial language, as well as Undercommon.CombatWhile cyradi humans are not known for their courage, they will fight fiercely when cornered. Those that follow the teachings of one of the three factions of the ancients – Gormites, Madaruans, and Usamigarans – tend to only become martial in the defense of their faction’s ideals.Those cyradi that following the teachings of the traditional gods of Khemit, however, tend to be more combative overall, as they try to reinstate the old ways that were abandoned ages ago. Zargonites are violent by their very nature.Light Sensitivity (Ex): Cyradi humans are dazzled in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.Racial Traits (Ex): See below.Cyradi SocietyCyradi society can seem highly divided and overly complex to an outsider, which would be an accurate description of how these underground dwelling humans live. In ages past, cyradi society was based completely on the unyielding doctrine of the Zargonites and the debilitating effects of the elixir of fantasy. In fact, many of the social customs and rituals of the cyradi still use the trappings of the elixir lifestyle – strangely decorated masks, body paint, and outlandish attire, just not the elixir itself. However, many citizens of Cyrad still use the elixir in secret.Current cyradi culture is a mixture of the ideals and beliefs of the Ancients and traditional Khemitian culture. The cyradi do not have a pharaoh, and such a concept scares them as much as the idea of the Zargonites ruling over Cyrad once again. Thus, while many of the gods of Khemit are respected, they do not hold much power in cyradi culture. The true power lies with the three factions devoted to the Gods of the Ancients – the Brotherhood of Gorm, the Warrior Maidens of Madarua, and the Magi of Usamigaras. (See page 20 and 21 of Dragon Magazine #315 for more on how these factions organize themselves. Remember that in the World of Kulan, it is the Zargonites that are the outcasts, although they do have their followers within the city of Cyrad.)These three factions control the city of Cyrad, and grudgingly work together to keep the Zargonites at bay. The old Temple of Zargon was razed to the ground and a new temple, called the Pagoda of the Ancients, was built in its place. The Pagoda, as it is simply called by most, is divided into three separate sections. Each section is consecrated to one of the three Gods of the Ancients. The building is triangular in shape and each section is exactly equal in size to the other two.The cyradi still grow mushrooms as their primary food source, but the mushrooms used to create the elixir of fantasy have been outlawed. The remaining mushroom crops aren’t as tasty, but the leaders of the city consider it an acceptable loss. The cyradi living in the surface communities have tried growing other types of food crops on the dry, sandy floor of Shapneka will little success. They have begun to tame some of the wild animals of the canyon as sources of meat and milk. Desert camels have worked the best for milk, while medium-sized lizards provide the best source of meat.The cyradi can be quite xenophobic when they perceive a threat to their community, although most of the time these ‘perceived’ threats are based on little more than paranoia. They have had some contact with the Sahne, who they find to be relatively trustworthy, as well as the Bakemono & Kenku, who they have come to distrust completely. They are terrified just by the sight of the Nagpa, the Hengeyokai, and the Mongrelfolk, but are fascinated by the Jann. The Jann do not share this fascination, and avoid traveling near Shapneka, as they consider the cyradi to be little more than savages.The race that the cyradi are most connected with are the Minotaurs. Fallenlanden minotaurs are cyradi humans that have been cursed by the gods that make up the Cyradi Pantheon (i.e. Gods of the Ancients, Khemitian Deities, and the Fiend Worm). These minotaurs hate the cyradi and the feeling is mutual. Fallenlanden minotaurs cursed by the Fiend Worm are considered blessed by Zargonites, and many hold positions of power in the hierarchy of the followers of the Devourer in the Depths.Cyradi as CharactersThe cyradi have, since their isolation, tended towards becoming druids, fighters, wizards, and/or sorcerers, depending on faction allegiances. However, as humans, the cyradi do not have one single favored class. Instead, they follow the same rules as per humans in the PHB, regarding multiclassing (see under Cyradi Traits, below).Cyradi humans tend to be overly concerned with religious trappings and have the need to believe in something beyond the physical world. Thus, they often become clerics and more often become multiclass clerics. During the Age of Isolation, the cyradi worshipped one of four ‘higher beings’ – Gorm, Madarua, Usamigaras, and the fiend known as Zargon.Now that the Age of Isolation has ended, things are quickly changing. The three factions of the God fo the Ancients have lost many followers to the traditionalist preaching the ways of the Gods of Khemit, and the fiend Zargon, which was thought destroyed, has now ascended to become a god. This all means that more and more of the cyradi have turned towards being clerics.Cyradi TraitsCyradi humans have all the racial traits listed below:— -2 to Strength, +2 to Intelligence.— Medium. As Medium-size creatures, Cyradi humans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size. (Use standard human height and weight. See the PHB in Chapter 6: Description.)— Speed: A Cyradi human’s base land speed is 30 feet.— Keen Vision (Ex): The cyradi have low-light vision that allows them see twice as far as a standard human can in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of low illumination. They also have darkvision at a range of 120 feet.— 1 extra feat at 1st level.— Skills: Cyradi humans gain 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level. Cyradi humans gain a +4 circumstance bonus on Hide and Move Silently checks in underground areas. (*The circumstance bonus is not reflected in the skill numbers given here.)— Spell-like Abilities (Sp): 1/day – expeditious retreat, ghost sound, spider climb. (Caster level equals the cyradi human’s character level.)— Special Qualities (see above): Light sensitivity.— Automatic Languages: Cyradi and Undercommon. Bonus Languages: Bakemono, Kenku, Sahne, Tauric, and Terran. — Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass Cyradi human takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest level class does not count.</blockquote>

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