Hullo my Pathfinders. My last post didn't got much traction but heh, I'm here just to show my sketches and maybe come back to finalized drawings some day. It's just a hobby. But anyways.
This will be a long post. So strap yourselves in.
In my last two posts, I've talked about some things planned for my homebrew scenario within the world of Golarion, where Pathfinder lore occurs for most of its history. This scenario in kind of inspired by the idea of The Dihyang Project, created as a new region within the lore and world, inspired by Indonesian culture. So it got me thinking on creating my own take on one of those.
My first thought was using Sarusan, a continent in the southernmost parts of Golarion, which still is to this day a mistery in Golarion, with very little about it written about it. But then, I thougth of something more interesting. To me at least.
In most of my posts, I've mentioned something called "Vril Galdr / Galdr Vril" or "The Magic Plague", as well as "Sarathan". Well, that is the name of my new setting: The Sarathan Isles. And the so called Plague affected these isles more than you can imagine. You already saw some of the animals and beasts present on these isles on my older posts, but I said that they were not the only ones.
These were my first sketches when creating my scenario, using medieval bestiaries and fantastical humanoids with less representation in modern fantasy media, as well some more weirdness for Humans as well, that are always the safe space in fantasy TTRPGs. I really liked the ideas I had, with some of them being highly inspired by Sawyer Lee's Dragonslayer world, one of my favorite fictional worlds, specially his earlier take on Cynocephali, that I referenced in my first draft.
Some time later I decided to polish some of the designs, and put them in some clothing, pushing some inspos from early Middle Ages and Late Antiquity styles, since most of their names and apparences came from Pliny The Elder's descriptions of cultures beyond his known world, as well as later medieval/reinassance bestiaries, as I've stated before.
In my last post about my headcanons for some Pathfinder Ancestries, I have to admit that I've made of them just to make new heritages affected by the Vril as well. Let's say that Elves, as well as Humans and Halflings, got the short end of the Plague stick.
So let's talk about some of them in a height chart.
Woodwose Human: They are the only ones here that were already existent before the Magical Plague. They are basically Neanderthals/Denisovans. And I don't plan on doing stats for them - at least for now - because we are getting playable Neanderthals for D&D - and later Pathfinder 2e I hope - made by Palaeogames later this year. The name Woodwose came from Middle English and refers to the figure of the Wild Man, large-set humanoids covered in hair and that lived in the woods. So I thinks that our good cousins Neanderthals fit that description, to a degree at least. Extinct hominds were as complex and human as we are today.
Akephaloi Human: Inspired by the more famous of the bestiary humanoid, the so called Blemmyes. It was a bit of a challenge not to create something that deviates too much from a human, like some drawings I've saw putting their eyes on their nipples - cool idea, but not for what I've planned. So I've given them short necks, broad shoulders and long skulls. Oh and I restrained from using the Blemmyae name, since it reffers to real eastern African people. So yeah. Nope. Akephaloi is the term used for this type of creature, since it's basically a headless human.
Cynocephali Human: As I've said before, Sawyer Lee was my main inspo here. Just a lanky human with a stretched, dog-like muzzle - or baboon-like, since they are the more "dog faced" primates excluding lemurs. Cynocephaly is pretty big in Antiquity and Medieval of what I've gathered, including a representation of Saint Christopher with a dog head. Yep
Tannakin/Squarefoot Orc: Inspired by the classical pig faced orcs, as well as Ahmonza Gwynn very own Razurk and Orq. Their name came from a weird legend of Western Europe of wealthy women that ended with a pig head, specifically the name of the first record in the 17th century about Tannakin Skinker, that is pretty messed up. The other name, Squarefoot, came from the legend of Jimmy Squarefoot, that I first knew it existed because of Monsters in My Pocket.
Sciapod/Monopod Halfling: Another one of Pliny The Elder's many legendary tribes from beyond the Greco-Roman world. It's said that they use their giant foot to block the sun, that makes me think of an Ancestry feat that allows them to roll like a tumbleweed by holding their legs up. Maybe when I write about them in the future.
Panotti Halfling: Another Pliny one, basically a Halfling with ears big enough to cover their body. In my version, their ears are pretty flexible, and can be used to cover their face, and they decorate ther ear lobes with painting, tattoos and piercings.
Astomoi/Gangin Halfling: There were Astomoi in Pathfinder 1e as a playable race, but they were pretty... weird in my opinion. I've wanted to bring some characteristics of the ones described by Pliny as well, like them having pretty big nostrils, since they feed on smells, not having a mouth and all, as well as having their body covered in hair.
Arimaspi Goblinoid: They are basically Small or Medium sized Cyclopes, being Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears affected by the Magic Plague. Given that both Battlezoo and Graung's Guide (the last being the best version hands down. Cyclopes are very present within the lore of ancient Golarion) gave us playable Cyclopes for PF2E, I still don't know what I will do with the Arimaspi in regards of ancestry feats.
Abamiron/Nuloi Goblinoid: A few years ago I had an idea about making a whole new ancestry based on the Curupira and the Caipora, entities from native cultures of my home country. However, due to a whole new ancestry demanding time and dedication, something that I simply did not have at the time, and also some questions regarding using entities that still belongs to a living - and opressed - culture - I guess we can say that it's a similar situation with the Wendigo and Sk*nw*alk*rs in North America - , I've decided to use other humanoid with reversed feet, also described by Pliny in Naturalis Historia, to Goblinoids, since using reverse foot prints to fool someone in trails is, according to my cousin, "very Goblin-like".
Gorgade Elf: In my headcanon, Elves are very bird-like, and they are famous in other medias to adapt to their environment, with some of them having physical characteristics denouncing that. When affected by the Vril, however, elves had some dormant characteristics put to the extreme. Gorgades are humanoids also described by Pliny the Elder, famous for their woman being very hairy. Here I've decided to make them Large intead of Medium sized humanoids, with their bodies being broader, intead of the usual spindly physique of elves, and their "elven fuzz" turned to coarse, thick hair.
Collumarda Elf: The weirdest one so far and one of the few one that didn't come from Naturalis Historia. It came from a pretty obscure engraving from Aldrovandi's History of Monsters from 1642. These one put the elves bird-like bodies to the extreme, with the Vril stretching their limbs and necks and transforming their teeth and lips into long, pointed beaks. So yeah. But they are still elves.
Hippopode Dwarf: In the same headcanon that brought me bird elves, dwarves are basically a humanoid mixed with xenarthran like sloths and armadillos. Weirdly, the Vril transformed just one part of their bodies, transforming a small population of dwarven explorers in the isles into satyr-like Hippopodes - or Ipotane as they are called in some places - with large, powerful hooves and horse-like legs. Hippopode are a little taller than regular dwarves, due to their new digitigrade condition.
Not only "playable ancestries" were affected by the Magic Plague, but also my favorite kind of humanoid: Giants. Like it is said in the sketches, these were the main inspos ^^
Buggane: Pathfinder 1st Edition had Bugganes, and they were giant naked mole rat ogres. PF2e so far haven't brought them back, so I took these opportunity to bring them here as ogres affected by the Vril, and as ihabitants of deep dark caves, bringing some characteristica from the origial Manx legend, like their tusks and their mane of coarse, black hair.
Phytoi: Giants that came from the Alexander Romances recalling mythical versions of Alexander the Great, with big saw-like forearms. Here I've made them as descended from Stone Giants, one of my favorites of the classic TTRPG giants.
Syrbotai: One more humanoid described by Pliny in Naturalis Historia, basically described as "12-ft tall African men". Here I decided to make them as unique creatures, linked deeply to the Vril Galdr phenomenon in the Sarathan Isles. Their design is inspired specially by these ones, that once inspired me to make a Elephant-like Half-Giant ancestry that I abandoned some time ago, wanting to make a "Goliath mixed with Loxodon" for PF2E. But now we have Jotunborn, that are not really half giants, only distantly related to their mythical ancestors, but are cool nonetheless.
These humanoids develop cultures and mantain their similarities with other members of their ancestries enough to still be considered their kin on other places across Golarion. But some other were not so lucky when affected by the Vril Galdr...
Artabatitae: It was though to find some image relating to this creatures that wasn't absolutely...terifying. Also described in Naturalis Historia as "men that walked on all fours" and interpreted by some as some form of "mantaur" or even something like a man moving like a crab of some sort, with four legs pointing in every direction under a huanoid torso. With my version, I've decided to lean more into the mantaur aspect, but with a more ape-like appearance, being so twisted by the Vril that it hindered their brains, making them more akin to gorillas and chimps than humans. But they were fun to design. Weird, but fun.
Draconcopedes: Basically a great serpent with a woman's head, face and breasts present in some medieval bestiaries, such as the 13th century Speculum Nature. As it is the case with the Artabatitae, I've wanted to bring a more extreme effect of the Vril, making reptilian humanoids that were once more sophont, but distinct of the ones we already have in-game, and now acting more like a huge monitor lizard than a human - or elf.
Chromandae: These one is tricky. Their description in Naturalis Historia is basically a "dog toothed, hirsute humanoid", like a more savage Gorgade. Here I've wanted to make them as a sort of a mystery within the Isles. Maybe they are affected by the Vril, maybe they are lemur-like primates, convergently evolving with great apes, specailly the more agressive ones - chimps.
Woof this one was a doozy but was long overdue. I will try to make something more detailed with each one of the new heritages - besides the actual booklet describing the scenario as well as player options. Someday in the near future. AuDD is cool. It makes you have hyperfocus but not the will to develop it into something cool for you. Noice.
Anyways, special thanks again to @thecreaturecodex and @a-book-of-creatures for all the inspiration and presenting me to some really obscure medieval creatures. Hope you like my guys, gals and pals here. And if any of you have any suggestion for feats to give each heritage, lets have a conversation about it, Still trying to grasp some more mechanic concepts for creating new things for PF2E ^^
Oh and someone tried to scam me in my last post. I know what a phishing e-mail looks like. So don't even try it.
