Parent Pages: Rules : Races

Crystallinus

The GM will find that this page provides more information about the Crystallinus and their home. Most of the information there may (and should) be shared with players that wish to play a Crystallinus as a PC.

The Crystallinus are a true oddity. They're small (6”), sentient crystals with the ability to transform sunlight into magical energy. They have a variety of magical abilities, without which they would be entirely helpless. They power these abilities with transformed light.

They're quite frightened of darkness, because they cannot function without light. They congregate around light sources at night, probably due to this fear. In the company of other races, they'll often volunteer to watch the campfire, being very careful to keep it going.

When they're required to work underground, they'll carefully set up mirrors to reflect the sun or shoot beams of light at each other, with each member of the species working as a relay until the last is connected. If they're connected to another of their kind in this fashion, darkness doesn't seem to bother them.

Very little is known about their culture and no one is quite sure where they come from. They fly into the Archipelago under their own power and then leave in the same fashion, but never seem to come and go in the same place twice. They cannot speak and tend to be very terse when writing out messages in the air via their innate Illusion power, as though they find the exercise tedious.

Their Illusion power allows them to communicate with any race that can see, as they're able to produce pictures of what they're trying to communicate. This can easily be role-played by playing pictionary.

They're skilled workers of glass, preferring transparent tempered glass weapons, shields and other equipment. They're as good at glass-work as the Winged Elves.

They're fond of learning magic, since their natural abilities give them a big edge in this regard.

The bodies of Crystallinus are highly sought after by wizards, because their natural light transforming ability functions even when they're dead, just so long as they haven't been completely destroyed. Combined with any way of leeching magical energy, a wizard can use them as a nearly limitless supply of such energy.

Please note that when building Crystallinus characters, their level of Extra Hit Points and Telekinesis may be varied; 10 is simply the average. Their Innate Attack may also be varied, so long as the cost remains 2 FP per 1d of damage. Finally, their DR may be varied by 2 levels (some are made of tougher crystals than others).

Lifecycle

Quite surprisingly, the Crystallinus are a form of sentient, crystalline tree nut. Each begins as a flower on a crystal tree that eventually transforms into a gemstone-like nut. Once fully developed, this nut drops off the tree and suddenly becomes self-aware.

This adaptation allows the tree's seeds to travel under their own power, eventually dying quite far from the tree that spawned them.

When a Crystallinus dies, but is not completely destroyed, it continues to absorb sunlight and eventually, roots will pierce their outer shell, seeking mineral-rich soil to grow in.

Their pathological fear of darkness serves to ensure that they die in well-lit areas where their corpse can grow a new tree.

So far, no Crystallinus corpse has managed to grow a tree properly outside of their home. This is likely because the soil of most places lacks the minerals they require for proper growth.

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