Sometimes, misfortune happens to a person. For eiremians, it happens to them before they were born. The children of mysterious lineages connected to the negative energy plane, eiremians inherit an inner stillness that is both calming and numbing, and which comes to define their lives. Their quieted passions can leave eiremians feeling like they’re missing out on something wonderful that the rest of the world has, but, well, it could be worse. They could be dhampir.
After all, sometimes a little peace and quiet isn’t such a bad thing.
Appearance: Eiremians favor their human heritage, though they have a tendency to seem pale and a little unhealthy, as though they don’t quite get enough to sleep or eat. Eiremians have strength without building muscle and are often much stronger than they look, to the surprise of those who find themselves lifted bodily by someone half their size. Eiremions often have very dark or even black eyes, flecked lightly with a starry light, and their shadows are always far darker than the environment should allow, with outlines that remain distinct even to darkvision.
An eiremian’s clothing—and space, such as a bedroom—tends to be neat and orderly. Everything has a place that it comes from and is returned to, and they take care of their possessions as part of their daily routines. Mostly this stems from their need to be aware of their own space, in part to reassure themselves that it is there, and in part because caring for it helps cultivate a positive serenity that is warm and reassuring in place of the numb peace they so often experience.
Demeanor: More than anything else, calm defines an eiremian. The inner absence and stillness that infuses the race gives eiremians a level-headed perspective; they remain calm in times of crisis, think clearly even when emotional, and are hard to scare, rile, or manipulate. Unfortunately this cuts both ways, as eiremians often have great difficulty feeling strong emotions. They can come across as cold or detached to others because their reactions are very often (seemingly) much smaller than the stimulus that provokes them. Even such intense events as the birth of a child or a loved one in danger are met with a mild practicality that can seem unnerving.
Eiremians notice things because they pay attention. They feel the need to be aware of their environment because often things can seem to just vanish around them if they don’t have a firm idea of their place. An eiremian often surprises those close to them with their perspective on the thoughts and feelings of others; indeed, an eiremian often offers help before the beneficiary has realized they need it. For those willing to move past their distant chill, eiremians are attentive and loyal friends.
Backgrounds: No one’s quite sure what causes an eiremian to be born, though some factors—such as strong exposure to negative energy during pregnancy, and one or more resurrections in the life of the mother—do seem to make them more common in specific bloodlines. It isn’t always immediately obvious to the parents of an eiremian that they’ve had a supernaturally-touched child, though some realize that the calm and stillness of their infant is not normal. As the eiremian grows older, many parents are at a loss for if, and how, to deal with their seeming distance and most give their child the space they seem to want. In some cases that’s true, and the eiremian appreciates having room to live their own life; in others, the eiremian wants a closeness and affection that they don’t know how to express, and they grow up lonely without really being able to say why.
Eiremians can have trouble being sociable and often have few, but very close, friends growing up. Many end up being shuffled into apprenticeships that they don’t quite ask for because they accept the circumstance with a shrug and move on; an eiremian with attentive parents ends up in a field they enjoy, but ending up in a profession they have little interest in happens depressingly often, and is not helped by the fact that more often than not the eiremian simply deals with it. Their natural affinity for negative energy draws eiremians with the luxury to choose their own path towards professions relating to death, destruction, and entropy—they make for talented morticians, demolitions experts, soldiers, and more. Eiremians with an interest in necromancy are more rare than one might think, as entropic animacy often fails to speak to them in the way that stillness does. This tendency to float through their own lives without comment means that a surprisingly large number of eiremians never leave their home towns and settle down to become quiet and productive, if somewhat detached, citizens.
Adventurers: If one asks an eiremian how they came to be an adventurer, even money says that their reply is, “It just sort of happened.” Eiremians inclined towards violence for whatever reason (usually soldier’s training, though sometimes because they’ve learned applicable skills during magical studies or as part of joining a priesthood) sometimes end up with a problem that they feel qualified, obligated, or even just interested in solving, and when they’re done putting down the threat or solving the mystery they end up swept along with the companions they gained along the way, never really stopping to object or consider if they actually wanted to leave. Mostly, this is good for the eiremian; the opportunity to broaden their horizons and experience new things helps warm the chill distance in their hearts and puts a shy smile on their lips in the times they get to relax, and the intimacy of an adventuring party can give the eiremian that sense of closeness they may have been missing in their lives.
It’s surprising to some, considering their magical lineage, but many eiremians become warriors; the death involved in the profession draws them into it, and their surprising physical strength causes many of their foes to underestimate the eiremian. Those eiremians with magical inclinations often become clerics, inquisitors, or alchemists, professions in which their attention to detail and cool distance profit them greatly. Their emotional problems and relatively weak force of will mean that despite their highly magical lineage, eiremian bards, sorcerers, and oracles are relatively rare, as are eiremian psionicists.
Racial Traits[]
Eiremians possess the following racial traits.
- +2 Strength, +2 Wisdom, –2 Charisma: Eiremians are stronger than they look and have a strong sense of calm and awareness, but have difficulty expressing their emotions and projecting their will.
- Medium: Eiremians are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Outsider (native): Eiremians are outsiders with the native subtype.
- Normal Speed: Eiremians have a base speed of 30 feet.
- Darkvision (Ex): Eiremians can see perfectly in the dark up to 60 feet.
- Absence of Self (Su): Eiremians find it easy to be glossed over and ignored when they wish to be—and sometimes when they don’t. They gain a +2 racial bonus on Disguise and Stealth checks and take a –2 penalty on Diplomacy checks.
- Empty Serenity (Ex): Eiremians are naturally calm and have difficulty feeling passionate emotions; they gain a +4 racial bonus on saving throws and checks made against emotion effects (such as cause fear and the Intimidate skill), and the Intimidate DC to demoralize them increases by +4.
- Silent Desolation (Su): Eiremians wield negative energy with particular skill and finesse, using it to un-create their victims rather than simply slay them. Negative energy damage dealt by an eiremian deals half damage to creatures and objects that are normally healed by negative energy, such as undead, rather than healing them. The eiremian may still heal such a creature instead, if she wishes.
- The Terrible Peace (Su): Eiremians can force their stillness onto others, devouring their intent and leaving them with an awful, dizzying serenity. As an immediate action, an eiremian force an opponent taking an action (other than a free action, such as talking or drawing ammunition) within close range (25 feet + 5 feet per 2 character levels) to halt. That opponent must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the eiremian’s character level + the eiremian’s Wisdom modifier) or stop their action. The opponent does not move, fails to cast their spell, does not use their item, and so on. The attempted action simply does not happen; any resources that would have been used during the action, such as spell slots, maneuvers, or item charges, are not used, although the action it would have taken is still spent. If this ability is used to stop a full-round action, the target is considered to have spent a standard action, and can continue their turn as normal. They cannot attempt to repeat the action until their next turn, however. After using this ability, an eiremian must wait one minute before doing so again.
- Void Child (Ex): Eiremians have negative energy resistance equal to their character level + their Wisdom modifier. In addition, eiremians are immune to energy drain.
- Languages: Eiremians begin play speaking Common. Eiremians with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
Alternate Racial Traits[]
Eiremians have access to the following alternate racial traits.
Aura of Calm (Su): An eiremian can project her serenity, dampening strong emotions around herself. Up to three times per day, as a standard action, she can calm a number of creatures equal to 1 + 1 per four character levels she possesses that she can see within 60 feet. Each of those creatures must succeed at a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the eiremian's character level + the eiremian's Wisdom modifier) or have their attitude towards the eiremian shifted one step towards indifferent (from hostile to unfriendly, for example). Any morale bonuses, fear effects, confusion effects, and emotion effects affecting a creature that fails its save are suppressed for one minute. This effect is not, itself, an emotion effect. This racial trait replaces empty serenity and the terrible peace.
Inevitability (Su): Rather than inflicting their terrible serenity on others, some eiremians use it to devour attempts to restrain them. When the eiremian fails a saving throw against an effect that would prevent her from acting normally (such as hold person or geth’s mind control), she can reroll that saving throw. She must keep the result of her reroll, even if it is worse. This ability does not require an action, but once they use it, an eiremian must wait one minute before doing so again. This racial trait replaces the terrible peace.
Mostly Human (Ex): A few eiremians have appearances much closer to those of their human ancestors; in fact, they may not even realize their true race. Such eiremians appear to be human, save perhaps minor features like unusual hair, and they count as humanoid (human) as well as outsider (native) for all purposes (such as humanoid-affecting spells such as charm person or enlarge person). This ability alters the eiremian’s type and subtype.
Racial Favored Class Options[]
Eiremians can select from the following alternate favored class options.
- All: Gain 1/6 of a bonus heritage feat. Any eiremian character can choose this bonus upon gaining a level in their favored class.
- Alchemist: Add +1/2 to the number of bombs per day the alchemist can create.
- Cleric: Add +1 to the caster level of any channeling feat used to affect undead.
- Fighter: Add a +1/3 bonus on Will saving throws against mind-affecting effects.
- Guru: Gain 1/4 of a point of essence that cannot be invested in a receptacle.
- Harbinger: Add +1/4 of a maneuver known from the harbinger’s dark focus disciplines.
- Hunter: Attacks against the hunter’s animal companion while it is flat-footed suffer a cumulative 2% miss chance.
- Inquisitor: Add a +1 on concentration checks made to cast inquisitor spells.
- Kineticist: Gain 1/6 of an Extra Wild Talent feat.
- Mystic: Add +1/4 point of animus to the mystic’s starting animus pool at the beginning of combat.
- Occultist: Gain 1/6 of a new focus power.
- Slayer: Gain 1/6 of a new slayer talent.
- Soulknife: Gain 1/6 of a new blade skill.
- Spiritualist: Add 1/4 to the number of rounds that the spiritualist’s incorporeal phantom can be out of sight and line of effect before being sent back to the Ethereal Plane.
- Vitalist: Add +1/2 to the damage dealt by and health gained from the vitalist’s steal health ability.
- Warder: Add +1/5 to the number of uses per day of the warder’s extended defense ability.