Yrasda

In humanoid shape yrasda resemble the fair ogres they descend from: slender, graceful, sweet-voiced, with silver, heavy-lidded eyes. Thanic are deep sea green, ushama midnight blue, and aphelka any shade between. Each sub-race has a single animal form: aphelka become squid, thanic a repulsive carp-like predator, and ushama orcas.

Having lost their ancestors' spellcasting, yrasda fight on land with weapons: ushama favor swords, aphelka maces, and thanic daggers, preferably in an enemy's back. In water they shift. An aphelka squid bites for 1-4 and lashes with up to eight tentacles for 1 point each; every tentacle that hits holds on and constricts for 1-2 per round afterward, and until the victim breaks free with an open doors roll he is at -1 to hit and cannot cast spells. A thanic bites for 1-6. Ushama bite too, but only to hunt or when attacked first. Aphelka fight only in self-defense, and thanic are cruel and aggressive.

The race arose around the great cataclysm, when some fair ogres willingly remade themselves as creatures of the sea, perhaps, sages guess, seafarers who broke from their kin for good. They roam the oceans between two great continents, seldom keeping lairs, though aphelka and ushama sometimes settle near a coast awhile. Thanic hate other humanoids; aphelka sometimes trade with human, minotaur, or fair ogre towns. Ushama travel in tribal pods and gladly help those in trouble at sea. An ushama or a whole pod may bond with one person or town, a tie only death ends, and it always returns there between wanderings.

Yrasda seek harmony with nature but see themselves as part of it, hunting unintelligent animals, mostly fish. Thanic care less and often ruin fishing grounds by eating or scattering the catch. Yrasda make goods of coral, shell, and pearl, but their best trade is knowledge of fish, currents, and weather, swapped for news of the land or part of a fisher's haul.