Homebrew Fursonin Species Details

Tenen crouched low, stifling the urge to growl, as she watched the Lemurian merchant wander through his shop, blithely unaware of her sitting within his rafters. She pushed back the hood to allow her to hear the little sounds, the slow, sonorous beat of his heart, the slight wheeze in his breathing that would have given him away in the forests of her childhood. She could still hear her mother's cautions whispering in the back of her head.

This one had sold her. Had bought her. As if she was property, a thing, and the exchange was nothing real, nothing tangible, only a few pieces of metal that one could find anywhere, the smell of them angering her as she recalled the look on her mother's face as they were separated. He smelled like the one that had bought her, and she could still recall the feel of sinking her claws in that's one's fat belly, thinking she was so young she hadn't learned the higher art of her people yet.

Her people had been fashioned from the badgers of the savanna, it was said, smart and fearless, vicious and unrelenting. They had called them "honies" and said they wee good for guarding, and had missed the fact that what they were best at was hunting. And Tenen was hunting now, drawing the long knife from the leg sheath, the muscles their still and coiled for the leap that was to come as the Merchant turned, oblivious to the death that awaited him.

Haelflings are a peculiar group of peoples created by Alfey, Paria, and Antelle. They are humanoid, with marked animalistic features such as ears, tails, claws, and even skin that is derived from what they came from originally. They are sometimes called Fursonin, which is derived from their collective name for themselves. Some will say that Haelflings are best thought of as Demi-humans, and are sometimes called that. All Haelflings originally come from Hyboreal, the mysterious and barely known Savage Lands, but how they got to the Bright Lands is questionable. Haelflings make up about 1% of the total population in the Bright Lands.

Haelflings come from one of nine known clan backgrounds, though each clan may have a broad number of slightly different tribes. Feline, Canine, Mustelidine, Squamatine, Procynonine, Lagomorphiine, Lophinine, Vulpine, and Simian. It is rumored that there are centaurs among them, for example. They do not have cities, but instead have regions they roam in the Hyboreal lands, where they are tribal and often violent to strangers.

Unlike most of the other races, they were not created to be part of the God’s war, but to prepare for after it. They were intended to be the replacements for humans, should they have all died out – when that didn’t happen, they were set aside and left alone, seemingly discarded, and allowed to develop on their own. Their origin makes them a Shadow Race, and in their homeland, those who live near the ocean often are on good terms with the denizens there.

They like to wear simple, comfortable, and practical clothes, favoring bright colors. They often will use hoods or elaborate hairstyles to disguise their ears. They are quick with a laugh, generally attentive to the needs of others, but also quite unforgiving when it comes to personal failings such as being out of shape or unsuited to survival. They are strongly carnivorous, but love sweets whenever they can get them, though a few varieties are herbivores with the same sweet tooth.

Haelfling practicality extends beyond their clothing. They’re concerned with basic needs and simple pleasures and have little use for ostentation. They look for the most straightforward solution to a problem, and have little patience for lollygagging.

The diminutive haelflings survive in a world full of larger creatures by avoiding notice or, barring that, avoiding offense. Standing between 3 and 3.5 feet tall, they appear relatively harmless and so have managed to survive for centuries on the edges of wars and political strife.

Haelflings are adept at fitting into a community of humans, dwarves, or elves, making themselves valuable and welcome. The combination of their inherent stealth and their unassuming nature helps haelflings to avoid unwanted attention.

Coming from a tribal and deeply familial background, Haelflings work readily with others, and they are loyal to their friends, whether haelfling or otherwise. They can display remarkable ferocity when their friends, families, or communities are threatened. They are adaptable, remarkably fast, and on a constant state of alertness about the world around them, and see it as something that is happening.

This is a key ability of theirs, since their native languages do not have words for people who are not themselves Haelflings -- they are People, and the rest of the Bright folks are not people, but something else. They are called "chamanashkanem", which, roughly translated, means "takers of children". However, because of their strong racial tendency to be wise and kind to others, feminine Haelflings tend to be exoticized in human cultures, but all haelflings in the Bright Lands are pretty much at risk of death or worse should their nature be discovered. They are often enslaved, and many of those haelflings in the Bright lands are run away slaves or their descendants, especially from Lemuria, where raids often go out to capture and enslave them.

Haelflings usually set out on the adventurer’s path to defend their communities, support their friends, or explore a wide and wonder-filled world. For them, adventuring is less a career than an opportunity or sometimes a necessity.

Tribes

There are several tribes of Haelfling: Feline, Canine, Mustelidine, Squamatine, Procynonine, Lagomorphiine, Lophinine, Vulpine, Ursine, and Simian.