Uraeus

A lone Uraeus nomad looks solemnly upon the sands of their homeland.

The Uraeus

The Uraeus of ancient times once enslaved humans, and used them for labor, food, and many experiments such as necromancy.

A shattered people born in the ruins of a fallen empire deep within the Karakol wastelands, they have been retaking every inch of their ancient territory by fang and claw. Forced to scatter and go into hiding after an ancient conflict with humans brought their former empire its knees. As food and water became scarce from territorial conflicts, many turned to infighting for even the most basic scraps to survive. Many Uraeus left their homeland and sought refuge in more fertile lands, but after having enslaved and warred with other races for millennia they were greeted in other lands with extreme prejudice and violence. As desperation grew, they attempted to take supplies by force, with many Uraeus trying to invade neighboring territories to raid and commit banditry to claim their resources as a last-ditch effort to survive. However, starving bandits with no supplies cannot fight, and the raids were often one sided massacres.

Now, several centuries later, the former Uraeus empire is no more. Its cities are now abandoned, filled with ravenous undead and spirits claimed by thirst, haunted with acts of betrayal and relics of a more prosperous time. Its people have become nomadic tribes, hermits and pariahs often seen as bringers of ill omen by other races. They spend much of their time simply trying to survive or retake their lost territory and rarely mingle with other races, but when entering other species territories they do so peacefully as meditators, merchants and travelers. Most uraeus never stay in one place for too long out of fear. They try their best to settle disagreements with other races as quickly as possible, as the very fate of their people now rely on it. Skirmishes between clans is common, but rarely towards outsiders. Even opposing clans will work together to police their own kind to make sure no radical young idiot starts a new war with the other races. They have spent years trying to negotiate and rebuild their reputation with the other races for the sake of their own.

Despite their situation being a daily affair just to survive, with the recent birth of several sparked Uraeus within the clans in recent years, many Uraeus believe it a sign that times are changing for the better. Many clans believe that this is the beginning of their return to their former glory. The clans have begun to take great strides to unify and mend old wounds to ensure this shared vision of prosperity becomes reality, and a organized group of diplomats from multiple clans have arrived to Khantabr to attempt to cease the constant clash's with trespassers that colony has been sending into Uraeus territory and attempt to make formal peace with their human neighbors.

Physical Description

A Uraeus warrior prepared for a fight.

Uraeus vary to an extreme, with coloration, scale patterns, even frequent mutations in individual births being factored by everything from the type of environment the egg was hatched in, the soils and plant matter placed around the egg, to what the mother consumed during the gestation period. The race typically has a humanoid torso with a head, two arms, five digit hands, and a lower body of a snake. The race has some sexual dimorphism in that females are smaller and typically more slender than the males, but the entire species tends to have lean and athletic builds for their upper bodies as the bulk of their muscle mass is located in their tails and along their backs and spines.

The race has a self correcting form of population control in the form of the egg hatching a male when resources are scarce and food is not plentiful, so that the species can hunt, fight, and scavenge for more food, or a female when resources are plentiful and the clan can support more mouths to feed. Typical gestation periods lasts about two months after insemination, with a single female laying up to three to ten egg clutches per pregnancy. A single female could potentially lay around eighteen to sixty eggs a year. However, due to extreme weather conditions, nomadic lifestyles, constant infighting with their own clans, food shortages and other forms of environmental dangers lead to many of these eggs being destroyed or ruined before hatching, and only a handful of the children surviving long enough to reach maturity.

Typical males reach an average height of 15 feet, up to a massive length of 25 feet from the top of their head to the tip of the tail. When moving, they only stand roughly four to six feet off the ground when in a relaxed stance, with their tail following behind them or coiled beneath them. Females usually only range in height from 11 feet to about 20 feet, and have more slender tails.

The average weight of this race is drastically different for each individual. Males can vary between 300 lbs to 600 lbs, while females in the range of 250 lbs to 400 lbs. Despite this hefty weight, they can swim in water as easily as most other species, sometimes even better.

Uraeus sleep an average of 8 hours in the coldest hours of the night. While not entirely cold-blooded, they do require a warm environment to feel comfortable, and tend to become sluggish and generally weak in extreme cold or winter environments. They reach physical maturity around the age of 14, and tend to live to be just over 150 years of age on average, if they keep a healthy and safe lifestyle. A uraeus dying of old age is extremely rare, as only one in a hundred Uraeus ever manage to live beyond a century.

Society

Undead Uraeus often roam many of the ancient city and settlement ruins deep within Karakol. Avoid their bites at all costs.

The culture of the Uraeus is currently a nomadic tribal clan system and focused entirely on a meritocracy of survival, breeding, and territorial conflict. Most women stay home, usually crafting, educating, or caring for their young, while the males hunt and scavenge. Birth rates are kept high to keep up with constant death and battle, and those who show the most skill at surviving, such as bringing back the most food regularly, or winning the most battles, get the attention of more mates. They believe their children will gain the skills of their parents, and that the only suitable mates are ones that have made a name for themselves. It is considered taboo to mate with those that have not made a name for themselves or shamed themselves, and many clans only allow the clan leader to mate at all. They have a simplistic honor code - they prefer to hunt and kill worthy enemies, often going as far as giving an unarmed enemy a weapon and a chance to fight back at their full potential before striking them down - a tradition formed to better their reputation among other species after a lengthy history of wanton bloodshed and warmongering in their past. The better the showmanship, performance, and cleanliness of the kill, the more honor it brings the warrior, and the higher the honor and praise, the better station they hold within the clan. Typically the clans leaders are the most powerful warriors or spellcasters within the entire clan, and usually most, if not all, the younger generation is directly kin to them due to their deeds giving them first pick of mates.

Leadership is usually handled with a duel when issued by a child of the current leader. It is not always a fight to the death, but can be. The challenger must have proven themselves worthy in several ways and have a majority of the clans backing to even be allowed to commence the duel. The leader may always decline the challenge without loss of honor if the clan does not back the challenger. During times of conflict with another clan, a leader can challenge another leader. It is customary for the losing clan to submit and join the victor's clan after the duel is concluded. Leaders are often the only law of the clan. They dictate when something is allowed or not, and thus it is so. Their rule is absolute, making each individual clan vary in alignment, customs, and values drastically different. Some clans are open to outsiders and trade, others will attack on sight and are extreme isolationists. In the end, the person making the rules is the strongest Uraesi the clan, and those beneath them will obey out of fear, or respect - or they can leave.

Uraeus society and culture mostly revolves around scavenging, hunting, trading, or mercenary work. It is common to see female Uriesi as carpenters or blacksmiths keeping the clans homes, wagons and carts constantly repaired, as tailors and leatherworkers to make tents and clothes for the entire clan, or as cooks constantly preparing feasts from the bodies the hunters bring back and cleaning the bones and hides for other uses. The males usually do work with a risk of immediate danger involved such as raiding, hunting, fighting, foraging, delving into ruins, or otherwise scouting hostile territory. However, both genders can easily become any role they desire, as their society does not shame either gender for acting outside of the norm, so long as they are good at it. Uraeus culture strongly places value in an individual's skill and accomplishments.

Relations

Many Maralith demons were originally Uraeus warlords and generals, who obtained their current positions from dark pacts, their cruelty, and the sheer amount of bloodshed they brought to battlefields in life.

Uraeus are often neutral in alignment, and try to remain neutral and unbiased towards other species to preserve themselves. Often feared for their appearance and their troubled history with other races, they have often formed alliances with other monstrous races such as Centaurs, Gnolls, Hobgoblins, Orcs, Strix, and rarely even sentient Undead. They care not about the appearance of other races, as they only see their own kind as attractive. Seeing all other non-reptilian races as "equally disgusting", the Uraeus are willing to work and trade with any culture, regardless of its reputation, so long as they are not openly hostile with their kind. They have terrible relations with humans, as the lingering resentment they hold for each other has only improved slightly over the years.

While they have no issues with slavery in theory, only a handful of the most conservative and xenophobic tribes still continue the practice. Such practices damned them their people in the past, and they generally do not desire to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors. Their unified pride lends them to have a no tolerance towards slavery of their own species, and anyone found possessing Uraeus as slave will be ruthlessly hunted down and butchered by the Uraeus clans as a show of unified retribution.

Uraeus see creatures such as Lamia, Medusa and Marailith's as abominations and remnants of their twisted past to be killed on sight.

Alignment & Religion

Religion in Uraeus society is now an unorganised mess of word of mouth and faint memories. Having left behind many of their traditions and practices with the fall their empire, all that remains now is a scattering of old textbooks, ancient prayers, traditions and ceremonies that a few of the current generation can remember. However, a few still feel the pull of their ancient gods, and many of their rites are still observed till this day. One of the few gods still actively worshipped by almost all Uraeus is Nalinivati, the mother of serpents and the creator of their species. The Uraeus pantheon includes the ancient orisian deities, such as Anubis, Bastet, Isis, Ra and Sobek. Ancient art and depictions of these deities show major differences then what is widely accepted, as the Uraeus see them in their own likeness. For example, Sobek to the Uraeus people is seen as a deity of water serpents, virility, strength and the guardian of rivers and waterways, and is depicted as a colossal titanboa, not a crocodile. Despite these differences, Ureaeus are able to call upon these deities for their divine aid and blessings without any issues.

Typically your everyday common uraeus is a variety of Neutral. They are rarely an extreme alignment. The most common is True Neutral.

A Uraeus depiction of an avatar of sobek in ancient times bringing ruin to a human settlement.

Adventurers

Almost all of the Uraeus clans are nomadic, or isolated villages in remote locations. After their empire fell long ago, they could never manage to unify like they once were. They have been trying to unify in recent years. Almost all Ureasi are adventurers, mercenaries, merchants, vagabonds, bandits, raiders, or wandering family units and caravans.

Names

First names tend to be bi- or trisyllabic and almost always end in a vowel. Common female first names are Akina, Deka, Eshe, Kahina, Raziya, Ghida, Leysa, and Tiziri while Dahrehn, Jaware, Kito, Omari, Rubani, Annaber, Himmi, and Tabat are common among men, and Hannan, Kadin, and Maimum are common gender-neutral names.

Typically, surnames are based on the first letter of their fathers name, and the name of their clan. For example, if your character's father was named Severik, and your clan was the Uzeri, your surname would be "S'uzeri".

Uraeus Racial Traits (18 RP)

All Uraeus gain the following racial traits:

Type: Humanoid (Reptilian)

Ability Score Modifiers: +2 Cha, +2 Con (2 RP)

Size: Medium (0 RP)

Speed: 30 ft. Land, 30 ft. Climb (3 RP*; listed below)

Languages: Common and Uraeus (0 Rp). Uraeus with a high intelligence bonus may also select Aklo, Draconic, Gnoll, Giant, Orcish, Necril, Terran, or Goblin as bonus starting languages.

Low-Light Vision: Uraeus can see twice as far as a race with normal vision in conditions of dim light. (1 RP)

Scent: Uraeus gain the scent ability. (4 RP)

Climb: Uraeus have a climb speed of 30 feet, and gain the +8 racial bonus on Climb checks that a climb speed normally grants.*

Serpent’s Sense (Ex): Uraeus receive a +2 racial bonus on Handle Animal checks towards reptiles, and a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Survival checks. (3 RP)

Natural Armor (Ex): Uraeus gain a +1 bonus natural armor to AC. (1 RP)

Venomous Fangs (Ex): Uraeus possess a Bite attack that deals 1d4 damage plus their strength modifier and applies Uraeus Venom (see below) on a successful damaging attack. (1 Rp)

Uraeus Venom (Ex): A number of times per day equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 1/day), a Uraeus can envenom a successful bite attack. Uraeus are immune to their own venom. Uraeus Venom: Injury; save Fort DC 10 + 1/2 the Uraesi's Hit Dice + the Uraesi's Constitution modifier; frequency 1/round for 6 rounds; effect 1d2 Con; cure 1 save (1 RP)

Slapping Tail (Ex): Members of this race have a natural tail slap attack with a reach of 5 feet and deals 1d8 (medium sized) damage plus their strength modifier. (3 RP)

Cold-Blooded (Ex): While the species is not actually completely cold-blooded, they do have a hard time keeping their body temperature at comfortable levels. They dislike the cold, and tend to fall unconscious and even die from extreme cold easier than other races. They take an additional point of cold damage from any source of cold damage they receive, and take a -2 penalty on all saving throws against cold spells and effects, including cold weather conditions. (-1 RP)

Subraces

Rabama Braveheart

Known to be the strongest and largest ethnicity of Uraeus, and taking the appearance and biology of constrictor type snakes, the Rubama are powerful physical specimens and the pride of their people, but they are born with non-functioning venom glands. They gain a +2 racial bonus to Strength and Powerful Maneuvers as a bonus feat. This replaces the +2 racial bonus to Charisma the Uraeus normally possess, and the Uraeus Venom trait.

Ma'ani Swiftscale

The most agile and lithe ethnicity of the Uraeus, and taking the appearance and biology of several types of water snakes, the Ma'ani are quick on land and water. They gain a swim speed of 30 feet, in addition to gaining a +2 racial bonus to Dexterity. This replaces the +2 racial bonus to Constitution Uraeus normally possess, and their natural armor bonus.

Alternate Racial Traits

Corrosive Sorcery: Uraeus with this trait cast spells with the acid or poison descriptors at +1 caster level. This racial trait replaces serpent’s sense.

Deceptive Guile: Uraeus gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth checks. This racial trait replaces serpent’s sense.

Enchanting Visage: Uraeus with this trait cast spells of the enchantment and illusion schools at +1 caster level. This racial trait replaces serpent's sense.

Hypnotic Gaze (Su): The uraeus gaze is so intense it can stop others in their tracks. Usable a number of times per day equal to their charisma modifier as a standard action, the Uraeus may attempt to hypnotize a creature within 30 feet. The creature must make a will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the uraeus's hit dice + the uraeus's charisma modifier) or become fascinated for one minute. This is a mind-affecting effect and requires line of sight. This racial trait replaces uraeus venom.

Favored Class Options

The following favored class options are available to all characters of this race who have the listed favored class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the favored class reward.

Barbarian: Add +1/2 the damage dealt by the Uraeus's natural bite attack. Bard: Add +1/4 to the DC to the bard's mind-affecting performance abilities.

Bloodrager: Add +1/2 the damage dealt by the Uraeus's natural bite attack. Druid: Add +1/2 bonus to Handle Animal and Wild Empathy checks regarding reptiles.

Fighter: Add +1/4 of Poison Use as the class feature of the same name. Once completed, gains +½ bonus to Craft (Alchemy) checks made to create poison instead.

Oracle: Add one spell from any classes spell lists with the acid or poison descriptors to the list of spells the oracle knows. This spell must be at least 1 level below the highest spell level the oracle can cast. This spell is treated as 1 level higher unless it also appears on the oracle spell list.

Magus: Add one spell from any classes spell list with the acid or poison descriptors to the magus’s spellbook. This spell must be at least 1 level below the highest spell level the magus can cast. This spell is treated as 1 level higher unless it also appears on the magus spell list.

Mesermist: Add 1/5 to the Hit-Die limit and the total number of Hit Die affected with each enchantment or illusion spell the mesmerist casts. This bonus stacks with the mesmerist’s mental potency class feature and is applicable under the same conditions as that ability.

Psychic: Gain 1/6 of a phrenic amplification (or a major amplification if the psychic is at least 11th level).

Ranger: Add +1 hit point to the ranger’s animal companion if it is a reptile. If the ranger ever replaces his companion, the new companion gains these bonus hit points so long as its a reptilian creature.

Rogue: Add +1/4 to the DC to poisons the rogue uses.

Shaman: Add +1/4 to the DC to spells cast with the acid and poison descriptors.

Slayer: Gain 1/6 of a new slayer talent.

Sorcerer: Add +1/2 bonus acid damage with any damaging acid spell you cast.

Witch: Add +1/4 to the DC to spells cast with the acid and poison descriptors.