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Message: <blockquote data-quote="steeldragons" data-source="post: 5261801" data-attributes="member: 92511">Orean Races: The ZepharimThe zepharim are a reclusive race of winged humanoids that live in or  among the clouded mountains around Orea but are most commonly found (if  at all) in the Worldcrest and Dragonreach ranges.They range from five  to six and a half feet tall with great feathered wings. Wingspans are  generally twice their height. The largest recorded zephari had a wingspan  of sixteen feet. Their eyes are slanted and almond shaped, reminiscent  of elf eyes but much larger with nictitating membranes (quite  literally, "eagle eyes"). They are said to have extraordinary distance  and night vision. Eye colors are grey, grey-blue, grey-green, or amber.  There are some occasions of metallic silver or golden eyes that are  throwbacks to the zepharim’s immortal heritage. Their skin is often  heavily tanned due to their general lack of dress. While smooth and  supple to the touch, their skin is actually quite tough providing a  natural body armor and giving the zepharim a high resistance to the cold  of the chilly heights in which they commonly roost. On their heads is a combination of hair and feathers. Coloring  for this is as diverse as any plumage. There is a general tendency  to the lighter side of the spectrum: whites, greys, yellows and golds, pale blues and purples but colors of all brightnesses and hues (especially among males) are possible. Their upper torsos are broad and heavily  muscled, as are their legs (used to swiftly launch themselves into the air).When not using them for flight, zepharim fold their wings around  their shoulders, giving the appearance of a great feathered cloak. Their  dress is scant and loose fitting. Commonly, they wear toga-like  wraps, short tunics, and other flowing fabrics that will not inhibit  their wings. Males generally do not wear anything above the waist.  Warriors (of either sex)will have a harness to carry weapons without interfering with  their wings. The zepharim are capable of smithing and do craft armor  that they can wear in flight but this is usually only donned when  knowingly going into battle, not for hunting or other missions that  would send a zephari away from the aerie.According to myth, the zepharim were created by the elder gods as  messengers and servants. They were of particular use to the god,  Sorilorr who had them scour the realms gathering information to record  for “The All Knowing.” After unknown eons, a group of these divine  beings were attached to the physical world and made mortal (there are  several differing accounts as to why). The zepharim race consists of those individuals who simply identify as zepharim and another subspecies who are referred to as "highcrest" or "greater" zepharim. Highcrest zepharim still cling to their divine  heritage and live in extremely  ordered and highly magical societies. Inhabiting finely crafted aeries  and lofty towers crafted in the sides and tops of mountains. Other zepharim have  embraced their physical being and, while retaining certain magical  abilities, are more simple in their lifestyle, forming villages in cliffside caves or treetops of secluded valleys. Male and female zepharim flock separately. For the most part, among non-highcrest male and female communities will not interact in their day-to-day affairs, maintain separate aeries and hunting grounds anywhere from a few to 100 miles apart.Females are considered decidedly "tougher" than males, maintaining a fairly militant/"amazonian"/warrior woman way of life. Females are as large if not larger than males by up to a half foot. Advanced spellcasters and healers are more prevalent among males, though by no means unheard of among the female of the species.The genders interact (at least on a larger scale) every 20 years for the purposes of mating. Males and females (and any respective partners of the parents) will form large protected nesting communities to raise their young. Once the fledglings have learned how to fly, roughly 7-10 years, the parents (and all communal parents) separate back into their gender specific flocks and return to their ancestral aeries/hunting grounds. Most zepharim do not feel the pull to engage in the mating until around their 150th year...and may/will continue to generate offspring until they reach 1,500 or so.Among the highcrest, there is more of a day-to-day interaction between the sexes. Highcrest communities, while still having a certain degree of gender separation, will reside within a common valley or upon/around a common mountain. But even with the highcrest, mating is still only undertaken on the cycle of the species. Pairings for pleasure and those associations/relationships viewed as "significant" among the zepharim are invariably homosexual.Their colonies are groupings of varying size. Each  group is ruled by an elder zephari that holds the titles of “lord” (or lady) whose  word is law. However, edicts are not generally handed down as the  zepharim are very free-willed and uninhibited in their pursuits,  whatever they chose them to be. It is possible for multiple aeries within a limited region to revere a single lord/elder.Each aerie has a group of  "official" hunter/warriors (among females this is nearly the entire "of age" population). While all  zepharim have innate magical abilities, the study and practice of magic  is not uncommon among them, particularly among the highcrest. Magic-using individuals serving as counselors for the community or advisers to the lord are not unusual. Larger  groups of zepharim will also have priest or priestess “healers” (most commonly revering Arinane and Sorilorr but may also worship Sylari or other nature/sky related gods of good). Both sub-species are extremely long-lived, though it is not known exactly how long. According to the sage Belbin in his work, The Avian People of Allanann Peak,  “. . .the  winged folk of the surrounding mountains paid homage to a great lord, Vathiiryn Gul.”While Belbin never met the great lord, he was told that“. . .Vathiiryn ruled from a great citadel even higher up  the mountain and had ruled over all of their kind in the surrounding  peaks since the time of Zan [the final emperor of the Selurian Empire  before the Greatspell and the Godswar]”Making the zephari lord, by Belbin’s accounting nearly 2,000 years old. Belbin’s  contact with the zepharim of Allanann referred to Vathiiryn as “aged”  and lamented that the great lord was not expected to live much longer.Known zephari names are generally descriptive in nature,  “Brightfeather, Greywing, Clouddancer, etc. Though among the “highcrest”  zepharim names reminiscent of elvish are not uncommon, the best known  of these is the zephari hero from the time of the Scourge Wars who was  called "Peringyr." In addition to flight and enhanced vision, all zepharim have the  ability to turn invisible once per day and remain so indefinitely (unless they attack or the effect is dispelled). They are also able to generate light around themselves of varying intensity (from a glow to a flare.) 3 times/day. At its brightest, this ability can be used to daze or temporarily blind onlookers. This light also has the odd effect of holding undead or other negative energy creatures (of equal or lower hit dice than the zephari) at bay. The length of the light effect is dependent on the intensity. A simple glow allowing sight in dark places (not that the zephari needs it him/herself) can last up to 1 hour/level. The "negative energy protection" will last d6 +1 round/level and requires the zephari's concentration. A flare to daze or attempt to blind lasts only 1 round. Elder zepharim have been known  to control weather and raise fiercesome storms but whether this is a  natural ability or the result of spellcasting has never been verified.The zepharim are a telepathic race but only for communication among  themselves. They cannot read the thoughts of others or contact another  mind that is not a zephari, unless that individual is also telepathic  (an initiate of the Emerald Tear, a mage with an ESP spell in effect, a  unicorn or other creature with innate telepathic abilities, etc.)</blockquote>

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