Homebrew Æthieer (Feral) Species Details

Physical Description:
Their day form is pure white aside from their long wiry ethereal tails, their toes, the upper half of their ears and their neck which tend to be black or fade to black. They have black lips and a black nose. Their eyes are completely black and have trails of ink like ethereal tears. These tears gained them the racial nickname of Ink Wolf. 

Their night form is solid black aside from their glowing white eyes. Their chests, neck, belly, and paws gain some longer wiry ethereal hairs. They have sharp retractable claws that are black in their day form and glow a soft white in their night form.

In either form their vision, along with their hearing, sense of smell, and intelligence are still on par with their cerberen cousins.

Though their appearance look nearly identical to each other to non Æthieer, their vision sees more of the EM spectrum than most races can see and can see into the ultraviolet and infrared. Their pattern style is usually inherited from their father but mixes between mother and father are possible. For example the father could have a vine like pattern while their mother could have a spike like pattern. The child could end up with a pattern looking like a vine with thorns. 

This allows them to see fur patterns that are unique to each Æthieer. These patterns in both their day and night form can only be seen by other æthieer, under UV lights or by those that can see into the UV part of the EM spectrum. The markings glow similar to their eyes and reproductive parts while they are in their night form though this is also outside the visible spectrum for most races.

Lifespan:
Functionally immortal. Æthieer will not die from natural causes. They are however susceptible to injury and sicknesses.

History:
In the very distant past, a mad mage whose name has long been forgotten to time, captured several packs of dire and cerberen wolves for experimentation. Different packs were infused with energy from other planes. The Æthieer that came from cerberen wolves infused with energy from the Ethereal Plane were the only ones to survive the experiments. Their dual heads were gone and they looked more like dire wolves. Unfortunately for the mad mage, they couldn’t be controlled and ended up killing the mage. As he lay dying, he banished them to the Ethereal Plane. 

They spent many millennia surviving by hopping into the Material Plane to hunt for food. As time progressed, they evolved. Their need for hunting on the Material Plane for food faded as they fed off the ethereal energies of their new home. An unexpected and unintended side effect of the mad mage’s meddling greatly reduced the needed time for them to evolve. 

Eventually they grew in intelligence and evolved to have a bipedal form and kept the quadruped form as an alternate form they can switch between. Most of their newly evolved race built a home on the Material Plane but kept a tether to their home plane to feed. As long as their tether to the Ethereal Plane remains intact or they are able to return to their home plane to restore this tether, they do not require food and a long sleep for them is 6 hours.

Because they evolved from two headed wolves, sometimes an Æthieer will be born with two distinct personalities. One controlling their bipedal form or anthro form while the other controls their quadrupedal form or feral form. The change between is usually random and occurs while they sleep. This rare throwback has its drawbacks. For example the main persona may be a cleric that mostly heals while the other may cast more offensive spells. 

Society:
When they first moved to the Material Plane they were nomadic clans that moved wherever they choose. As their clans grew bigger, they built more permanent structures to serve as their home. All Æthieer have their clan name as their family name even if they aren’t biologically related. The largest clan is the Darklight clan at a population of over 500. Each clan is lead by a council of five who maintain the clan and solve disputes that pop up. 

Most Æthieer live in their own villages and towns depending on their population. It is rare for them to live with other races but it does happen. 

As long as they are able to, in any way, improve their clan, they are free to do do anything they wish as a job. 

Though they keep to themselves, they are welcoming to friendly visitors. Visitors who haven’t met or know nothing about their hosts, can be a bit unnerved when first witnessing an Æthieer's time of day form change. Though they aren’t aggressive or evil, their night form often scares the uninitiated. 

Marrying outside their clan is permitted and the new joined pair can choose which clan to join. Æthieer mate for life and only find a new mate if their current one can’t be brought back after death. 

The larger the number of Æthieer that gather together strange things start to happen around them. For example in large numbers, sometimes the Ethereal Plane and the Material Plane will be occupying the same space at the same time. This allows some things to absorb ethereal energy. 

One product of this is called the Æther Lotus. When dried and eaten it provides a hallucinogenic and psychedelic effect that can last for multiple hours. Its effects are stronger in those not tethered or native to the Ethereal Plane. This drug is mildly addictive to non Æther wolves. The addictiveness can be increased due to the imbiber's mindset.

Names:
Æthieer have a first name, family name, then clan name. Though rare, a wolf can be banished from a clan. In that situation you may no longer use the clan name in your name.

Neutral: Artemis, Auris, Araceli, Luca

Male: Sahaal, Aren, Oren, Alastair

Female: Kastiana, Serenia, Ariadne, Freya

Religion:
Æthieer follow Keir (god of darkness and night), Vessperiya (goddess of light and day), Celestial Eclipse (God of Dusk) and Moonlit Dawn(goddess of the Dawn), as well as Fenrir, the god of wolves and his mate Ligeya, the goddess of wolves. 

They see Fenrir and Ligeya as their primary gods with Keir, Vessperiya and their children as the gods of their innate light and dark magic power and creators of the Æther dragons.

Preferred Class:

Æthieer are quite agile and efficient spell casters. Sorcerer, and Wizard would fit them well along with Cleric. Because of your unique physical abilities, a Ranger or Rogue would work well too. Classes that use heavier armor aren’t selected as much.

Alignment: Usually they tend to be neutral leaning towards good. Evil Æthieer are very rare. 

Aether Lotus: Flower found on the material plane that has been infused with ethereal energy. When the petals are dried and ground to powder, it has a similar effect to cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms on the user. Æthieer do not gain a tolerance when using this so only a little is needed. Used for rituals and recreationally. The drugs effect is usually stronger and lasts longer on non æthieer. 

Wings: 
Some Æthieer's feral form have wings that allow them to easily fly. 

Æthieer (Feral) Traits

Because of their ties to the Ethereal Plane, they have several abilities unique to them.

Age

As an Æther wolf, you are considered an adult at 15 years old. You stop aging at adulthood. Average lifespan is 250 years.

Size

Your size is large in your quadruped form and Medium in your humanoid form.

Languages

Your base languages are Common and Æthiric (Primordial)

Darkvision

You can see in darkness as though it was dim light up to 60ft.

Ethereal Affinity

Because you are native to the Ethereal Plane, you are resistant to force damage

Ethereal Nature

Once per long rest, you take on a non corporeal appearance gaining resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from non magical sources.

Ethereal Connection

Your connection to the Ethereal Plane feeds you a constant stream of energy granting you the ability to no longer need food or water and a long sleep for you is 6 hours.

Change Shape

You change into your medium size anthro form. In your feral form you are able to converse and cast spells that do not use somatic components. (Work with DM to see if you can remove or alter spells to not need somatic components)

You gain: Keen Hearing and Smell: You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell.

Dual Nature

Day form only: During the day your fur goes white and your eyes fade to the darkest black with streams of ink like ethereal tears falling down and dissipating as they fall off you. These ink like tears do not obey gravity and will always fall towards your feet. You are immune to effects that inhibit your vision.

Night form only: When night falls your fur goes darker than black and your eyes glow a soft pure white. Your darkvision increases to 60 feet. If you are in dim light you gain +1 to stealth checks.