Homebrew Aquilar Species Details
The aquilar are a bird-like people from a region of canyons with steep cliffs and rushing mighty rivers known for its rugged rocky hills and mountains. They are a naturally inquisitive folk who explored around the region, but their sharp eyes were able to find abundance in a landscape that seemed sparse to most others and they honored it as a secure nest to return after their travels. The numerous caves of the canyons and hills became storehouses for treasure and they prospered as traders and mapmakers, giving others quick and reliable passage through.
While the home of the aquilar remained safe, abroad their impeccable vision, curiosity, and talent with quill and ink brought them attention from certain human kingdoms, who conscripted them into servitude: they were made to function as spies and messengers and thieves and assassins, doing the dirty work that allowed the elites of the empires to maintain an aura of cleanliness and superiority. A quick-witted and proud(some would also add territorial) folk, many aquilar naturally rebelled and sought freedom. Some found it as those kingdoms fell and splintered apart or through daring and speed, but some aquilar saw the profit to be made from their forced occupations and remained in urban society. Whether more rogueish or respectful, aquilar are motivated by seeking out the limits of the landscape and themselves, valuing independence and analytical thinking to choose their best path forwards. They do not often flock together, but their swiftness of mind and body can be invaluable when trouble comes to roost.
Size
Aquilar are medium in size, standing a little taller than the average human at around 5'10"-6'4" tall, and owing to their hollow bones and lean muscles their weight is in the range of 100-145 lbs.
Appearance
The aquilar are avian humanoids, having bird-like heads resembling an eagle's with a strong hooked beak and two long feathers(red to reddish brown) on their crown that stick up and curve backwards. Their plumage is a light and sandy golden brown overall scattered with cream and white with their heads being a darker brown, and it darkens during the Winter to a palette of dark brown mottled with gray and black. Their eyes have a nictating membrane and are usually golden or amber in color but occasionally a light stony grey or brown, and rarely, black. Their hands have three talons and and opposable thumb ending in short but durable claws, and their feet have three talons and a dew claw. Aquilar have long legs and deep chests, and a short fan of tail feathers with white tips. The feathers on their heads and chests are fluffier than elsewhere on their bodies, giving the impression that they are bulkier than they really are, as aquilar are generally lean and athletic.
Age
Aquilar grow and mature quickly, being full grown at about 15 years of age, and they have similar lifespans to man, though most aquilar are considered elderly at about 70 years of age.
Alignment
The aquilar tend strongly towards Neutral and Chaotic tendencies in their alignment. Generally honest, they are loyal to their families but place a high value on independent thought and self-sufficiency, preferring to make advancements in knowledge or personal growth above adhering to rigid laws and schools of thought. Sometimes this independence lands them on the criminal side of a society and they double down on their position, thus leaning more towards Evil. They will comply in a sort of easy-going manner with a society's rules if they are not strictly enforced and those rules align with their vision of things, but aquilar are seldom fully Lawful in alignment.
Language
The native tongue of the aquilar was long thought to be bestial and incomprehensible by all, but a somewhat recent breakthrough by a circle of elven druids revealed that they speak an offshoot of the Giant Eagle language, which they write with the Iokharic alphabet.
Names
No names have been translated from the aquilar language, but they have revealed that their names are highly descriptive words primarily detailing the surrounding nature of their home which would be broken into multiple words in other languages; their names for others often are a commonly repeated phrase or one similar in construction to their own which describes the other person's job or the place they were met.
Aquilar Traits
The aquilar are sharp-eyed, insightful and adventurous.Sharp Sight
The eyesight of the aquilar is famously sharp and capable of picking up on things most others miss, even at long distances.
You have Advantage on Perception checks that rely on sight, and in clear conditions, you can make out fine details of creatures and objects up to a mile away as small as two feet across.
Wind Stride
Aquilar are exceptionally agile and have long, springy legs, capable of propelling them through the air great distances in a single bound and at high speed on the earth- and even faster if not weighed down by armor.
When you jump you are always considered to have a running start. You have +5 bonus to Unarmored movement speed.
Piercing Cry
The aquilar are a vocal people with strong lungs. They can focus this gift into a thunderous cry that can damage nearby creatures with its piercing tone.
When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with a piercing cry that deals 1d10 Thunder damage in a 15-ft cone; the sound is audible within 300 feet. Each creature in that area must make a Constitution save(DC 8 plus your Constitution modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, a creature takes full damage, on a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage. The damage increases to 2d10 at level 5, 3d10 at level 11, and 4d10 at level 17. You can use this trait proficiency times after a long rest.
Quill and Ink
The aquilar have long had a strong written tradition using their own quills as implements for writing and drawing charts, first with primitive ash and crushed rock pigments on cave walls, and then with ink on parchment. They may not all be studious or prolific in their output but any good aquilar will be familiar with the implements of calligraphy.
You have Proficiency with Calligrapher's Supplies.
Insightful
The clear sight and inquisitive nature of the aquilar helps them to read the posture and gestures of others, and to decipher the intentions of those they interact with.
You have a +1 bonus to Insight.
Language
The native language of the aquilar is surprisingly an offshoot of the Giant Eagle language, and perhaps even more surprisingly, the two are mutually intelligible.
You know and can speak, read, and write Giant Eagle.
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