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Racial Martial Arts
Bramble Sylph
Avg. Height: 2'9"
Avg. Weight: 40 lb
Avg. Lifespan: 150
Physical Characteristics:
Eyes: | Gemstone hues, yellowish amber to sapphire blue; yellowish-green peridot rare and considered lucky. | Hair: | Longer than most Sylphs; mustaches and beards are sign of maturity and respect; any color. | Skin: | Similar to daun; some have a greenish tint. | Body Type: | Diminutive, well-proportioned; noses small and hawkish. | Wings: | Fragile, insect-like; iridescent colors (patterns and colors hereditary); allow for limited flight; too delicate for jewelry. | Clothing: | Bright hues found in nature; berries and flowers used more often than metal or gemstones; mostly made from silk or gossamer linen. | Notable: | Smallest of the Sylphs. |
Region: Northern Vash
Languages: Common, elvish, own dialect
Stat Adjustments:
Strength: | -12 |
Reflexes: | 14 |
Endurance: | -10 |
Dexterity: | 14 |
Reasoning: | 0 |
Wisdom: | 12 |
Will: | 4 |
Intelligence: | 9 |
Special: Flying.
Bonus to Archery, Evasion & Dodging, Animal Handling, Observation, Stealth, Foraging and Outdoorsman learn rates.
Penalty to Melee, Parry, Unarmed Combat, Armor, Conditioning and Shields learn rates.
Weighing in at roughly 40 pounds, the Bramble is the smallest of the Sylph race. Very few exceed more than three feet in height with the average being slightly over two-and-a-half foot. In build, the Bramble is unusually well proportioned. They tend to keep their hair longer than most Sylphs do and cultivate beards or moustaches as a sign of advanced maturity and respect. Their noses are small and somewhat hawkish. Their eyes range in gemstone hues from yellowish amber to sapphire blue with the rare yellowish-green peridot being considered lucky. Gracing their diminuative bodies are fragile insect-like wings flowing from between their shoulder blades in a variety of iridescent colors. Wing patterns and colors tend to be hereditary, with the patterns of the parents merging in their children.
Brambles tend to have skin coloring similar to that of dauns but a few bloodlines have a greenish tint to their skin. Hair color is very diverse, ranging throughout the rainbow, including individuals with purple, pink, and even blue hair.
Brambles have an average life span of approximately 150 years with most reaching maturity around 35.
The wings that most Bramble sylphs have allow for limited flight. Their musculature makes flying very exhausting and it can only be maintained for extremely short periods. Many Brambles hitch rides on other sentient beings or on animals that have been trained by villages in a symbiotic relationship. Their small size also allows them to fit into areas that are inaccessible to many other races, though it can be as much a detriment when it comes to manipulating large items.
In their clothing, Brambles tend to favor bright hues found in nature, rich olive greens, honeyed golds, sky blues and warm nut browns being among their favorites. Items such as berries and flowers are used more often than metal or gemstones to accessorize their attire.
Noted world-wide as expert weavers, many of their garments are made from the silk of the silk worm or from milkweed silk or from gossamer linen, which they produce themselves. They are also experts at extracting brilliant dyestuffs from natural sources and at intricate forms of fabric decoration, including batik, stencilling and painting.
Most Brambles spend their days tending to their woodland homes. They are very much attuned to natural world and those who depend on the forest for survival. At a very young age, Brambles learn to recognize the various flora and fauna surrounding their carefully disguised homestead. They are taught that each plant and animal has a critical role to play in their survival. Forested regions are preferred for the proliferation of building materials and the many hiding places that can be found in the foliage.
Brambles love to dance and frolic, finding occasions to celebrate from weddings and fests to just a beautiful night. Bramble women deck themselves out with blossoms or berry-bearing twigs for the celebrations while men tend to wear only pants and boots to these outings. Greetings, farewells and goodnights between friends and family are expressed by rubbing noses.
Brambles live in small communities, preferably above the ground where they avoid the trampling or misstep of larger creatures destroying their homes. Many villages are within mulberry groves due to the reliance of the silkworm on mulberry trees. The villages also usually have a small area devoted to the growth of flax. The flax plant has become a staple in the lives of Brambles, being used for linen and for linseed oil, which they use as a medium for the pigments with which they decorate their dwellings and items of furniture.
Bramble wings are delicate and most have to spend a large amount of time caring for them. The wings are too fragile for jewelry, and paints or dyes kill the cells of the wing, destroying it. Metal or other dense material are generally avoided because the weight of such materials affects the Brambles' already limited ability to fly. Jewelry made from plants is more common, as well as lightweight, but durable items made of plant resins. Statues and other artwork fashioned in resin are very popular and often painted brightly.
Tattoos failed to gain popularity among the Brambles because of their own natural brilliance. The bright wings, hair, and skin tones of most Brambles made tattooing seem dull in comparison, though some individuals still get tattoos in order to stake their claim to independence.
Sylphs of all types feel a strong connection to animals, but the Brambles feel it most strongly. Their small size allows them to interact with animals on a more personal basis, and many communities adopt a patron animal or group of animals that live in the area. These animals are seen as part of the community and become a symbiotic part of the village, serving as mounts, guards, and pets for the Brambles, while the Brambles provide the animals with a secure place to live and food.
Brambles try not to wear heavy armor of any type. Preferring light armor, Brambles have developed a technique of lacquering dried leaves and nut shells to form a tough, lightweight plate mail. Though not as effective as metal plated armor, the resin combines the light weight of leather armor with the protection afforded by most suits of chain mail. Shields are often made of wood and then covered with layers of resin to strengthen them.
The parents of the children involved arrange most marriages among Brambles. The few marriages that don't work out are ended with no societal stigma and are usually done on amicable terms. The family unit consists of a single husband and wife, with children always being born as twins. Many generations tend to live in the same domicile, with grandparents, great-grandparents, parents, and children all living together. Female children are raised by their mothers and neighbor women in homely arts while males are taught the manly ways and taught their fathers' trade.
The Brambles see a curious consciousness at work in the natural world. Most wouldn't argue with the idea that Beade was responsible for the curious balance inherent to all natural things. Few Bramble Sylphs devote their lives to the priesthood, however, seeing the acts they do in normal everyday living as being praise enough to any divine beings that influence their lives. The language of the forest is both simple and complex. The Bramble is wise enough to realize that one can only appreciate the chaotic beauty that is the wilderness.
Bramble sylphs have many clans and are prolific. Certain bloodlines have developed weaknesses that tend to manifest through certain clans. Known weaknesses of some clans include inability to drink alcohol, strange coloring and being strangely effected by certain types of wood. Though rare, these weaknesses can have a dramatic effect on the lifestyle of some clans. Many Brambles deny this phenomenon, attributing it to belief creating the effect. Whatever the cause, few Brambles will discuss the subject at all, for even a weakness only of the mind could be devastating if used by an enemy of the race.
The Bramble's link with nature makes them very good at most skills practiced by rangers and herbalists. They also have a natural speed that compensates for their small size. Their enhanced senses allow them to interpret the world around them with surprising clarity and insight, making some accomplished illusionists, though few have the patience for the large amounts of study required by most other magical disciplines.
Brambles speak many dialects of their own tongue, which sounds to most non-Brambles like the trilling of birds, but most can also speak Common.
Bramble Sylphs have a tendency to enjoy life. They are eternal enthusiasts and go out of their way to have a good time. This can lead to some problems when interacting with other races, as the Sylphs rarely comprehend the frailties of such large races as Dauns and Gharkin. Their pranks are rarely harmful, but sometimes they underestimate the pain that can be caused.
Brambles generally get along well with other races, often living in symbiosis with sylvan elves. They share a strong love of nature with the Sylvans, as well as with the Re'har and Vulfen, but shun orcs for their tendency to destroy out of carelessness or greed. Brambles are considered runts by most druim'dwer and there is a standing joke among the dwarves that Brambles make good canaries to use when mining. Gharkins are so large and fierce looking that most Brambles tend to remain distant from them, however when a gharkin and a Bramble become friends, the partnership is often very beneficial to both, the gharkin providing protection and transportation and the Bramble the ability to scout and investigate swiftly and undetected. Though they can form a similar relationship with a daun, the Brambles generally find the humans to be a strange lot, living out their brief lives in rash and sometimes destructive ways. The small folk learned early on in this relationship to distinguish good dauns from bad and have been known to lead those whom they dislike on wild goose chases, often abandoning them in the depths of the forest and playing tricks on them all the while.
With the exception of a small delegation of Brambles attached to the Vash Embassy in Kaezar, Bramble sylphs are rarely interested in the politics of other governments outside their own settlements and few other governments bother to try to enforce their laws on these small and elusive creatures. Those Brambles that have friends among certain political groups tend to defend the group because their friend does instead of out of any loyalty to a particular cause.
Racial Martial Arts
Brambles use a style of unarmed combat available to small races.
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Martial Art | This martial arts stance is available to gnomes, haefdin, bramble sylphs, and elpa sylphs. The moves may be displayed with the
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