Homebrew Darkling Species Details

Darklings emerged from a battle for their very existence unleashed the cascade of the darklings’ long-forgotten but at great cost. The appearance of the Adversary history, a history where they were almost and perhaps should have been obliterated. Shades whisper to them from all corners of the sprawling, shadowed city-state of Zussael, promising knowledge, power, and truth if only the darklings would trust them, listen, and obey. To protect itself, the Darkling Dominion has shunned many of the traits that once made it great. But with ancient spirits haunting the walls, looking for willing ears to hear them, the grand matriarch knows destroying what the darklings once were is the only way to save them.

Physical Description

Darklings are tall, lean, and tough creatures whose coloration varies with the shades of twilight. Their skin may be dusty violet, deep blue, or a smoky gray, but it is always somewhat muted and shadowed. Hair colors range from white to black and many deep, dusky shades of various colors in between. Men tend to be shorter than women, though just as hardy. Darklings are roughly equivalent to humans in size and weight: averaging 5–6 feet tall and 160 lb. Darklings have long, pointed ears as well as goatlike horns sprouting from their brow. Women tend to have longer, sharper horns that curl slightly overhead while men’s horns are shorter and taper into blunted ends. The eyes are the only aspect of a darkling that isn’t muted or faded. Indeed, darkling eyes glow a solid, jewel-like color: sapphire blue, topaz yellow, amethyst purple, or—much more commonly now—a bright, ruby red. They walk on clovenhoofed hind legs and have thick, red-tipped tails that they use for balance. Darklings favor clothing and adornments that are both luxurious and keep their lower limbs unhindered: cloaks, togas, stolas, and kilt-like wraps are common garments as are gold and silver jewelry and ornamental bits of armor. Zussael has lost much of its rich and powerful legacy but some still lingers in how its residents carry themselves. 

Society

The life of a darkling is highly regimented, dangerous, and often lonely. Their matriarchal society has links to forgotten power and expansion they have yet to even fully remember, and it seems they have rebuilt their species from ashes before. And they are determined to do so again. Their grand matriarch does whatever is necessary to preserve her people and their way of life, but survival in such circumstances can resemble tyranny.

Darklings are raised under strict martial law. Upon reaching adulthood, all darklings serve a 20-year term of public service, such as in Zussael’s military, regardless of social class or gender. Military officers are judge and jury when laws are broken. Minor offenses might be resolved with compulsory public service or temporary imprisonment or—in times of conflict— forced conscription, but graver offenses leave the offender with only two choices: exile or death. 

Darkling women occupy most of the higher echelons of power in the city-state with their rank and influence—and that of their subsequent family— determined by both their matrilineal ancestral power and by the individual darkling’s performance in her mandatory military term. Most of the men fill supportive or artisanal roles and enjoy a little more flexibility in their choice of work than women as long as they do not attempt to step too far beyond their status. Darkling men with exemplary military performance records can find themselves in powerful positions as well, but these are the exceptions, and even these often have a powerful matriarch working in the background to elevate her son. 

Power means wealth and influence of course. These are worthy enough ends for members of most any society, but in Zussael, it means something else too: a glimmer of protection against the Grand Matriarch’s Hidden Blades. While a darkling exhibiting signs of the Curse is doomed no matter the social status, enough power can shield certain family idiosyncrasies for quite some time while the Blades and the soldiers busy themselves hunting the lower strata of Zussael for deviants. As with everything else in darkling society, power plays and shadowy intrigue are only a veneer atop the constant fear lurking in everyone’s minds, wondering who will be taken by the Curse next and whether it will be a neighbor, a family member, or themselves.

Arranged marriages are the norm among darklings as is a non-negotiable two-child policy; same-sex marriages are required to adopt. Marriages are usually orchestrated by the matriarch of a family who barters with other families of her rank for the best placement of her children. The “best” placement is with families who have lost few relatives to the Curse; despite no evidence to indicate it, there is an unspoken assumption among darklings that the Curse has some form of generational bias in whom it takes. As much as possible, the two families ensure the betrothed darklings do not meet prior to their wedding ceremony. Weddings are opulent, darkly beautiful affairs meant to showcase the wealth and taste of the participating families; the betrothed are decorated figureheads and nothing more. In times of too-fast population growth, most darkling adults remain single and cohabitate with siblings or others in their trade or with secret lovers. Divorce is permitted in truly difficult marriages as darklings aim for loveless marriages not torturous ones. Hatred is as bad as love in keeping the Curse at bay.

There is no real poverty in Zussael thanks to strict population limits and emphasis on work efficiency and productivity. Darklings refusing to work or shirking their duties are eventually suspected of falling to the Curse. These darklings either shape up or disappear.

With some notable and drastic exceptions, most darklings accept these draconian social policies. From birth, they are not given a chance to perceive their limitations as anything but normal. The sanitized histories taught to them as children omit much of their true history—and not just the lore the Adversary brought them. Few young darklings know the artistic, curious, and egalitarian society of the Darkling Dominion prior to the Adversary and Moaro’s corruption.

Scientific and magical advancement is Zussael’s specialty, and these arenas—along with their advanced techniques in war—keep the populace busy and carefully monitoring trade filtering into its markets. As isolated as darklings are, their efficiency and singleminded effectiveness has allowed them not only to survive surrounded by horror but to keep Zussael thriving as a dark jewel in an ocean of shadows.

 

Relations

Darklings are in a tentative alliance with the grue beyond Zussael’s borders, a state of affairs that is a grim testament to the grand matriarch’s desperation. Apart from a kinship with shimmer dogs, darklings have few races they could truly call allies in Zussael—but visitors, clients, acquaintances, these darklings may have in spades.

Beyond the denizens of the Shadow Plane, darklings can be off-putting to races intimidated by their appearance and cold demeanor. Races tied to shadow can make for either rivals or comrades. Elves can be drawn to the darklings’ contrast of tightly controlled emotion, but darklings are just as likely to see elves as flighty wastes of immortality. Dwarves distrust the convoluted and otherworldly history of the darklings. Gnomes find them wholly unappreciative of their pranks, but half-orcs, tieflings, and halflings sometimes sense a kindred spirit in exiled darklings, though a darkling is likely to deny it.

 

Alignment and Religion

Most darklings are lawfully aligned out of necessity. The grand matriarch’s laws are harsh, but they keep the darklings safe. The unwholesome acts sometimes necessary to accomplish this make it difficult for most darklings to be truly good, but their motivations prevent them from being wholly evil either. Darklings are nothing now if not pragmatic, and they realize, regardless of lofty moral ideals, that things simply must be the way they must.

Some darklings find comfort in the worship of deities of mercy, magic, strength, and the night, seeking forgiveness and salvation from the Curse and from Moaro. Moon deities are almost universally shunned due to the moon’s terrifying effect on darkling beasts and Moaro herself.

 

 

Darkling Traits

Darklings are fey built from a combination of discipline and fear.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and either your Charisma or Wisdom score increases by 1.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan

Size

Darklings are about the same size and build as humans. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Type

Your type is fey. Spells and effects that specifically target humanoids do not affect you.  You also gain the shadow subtype.

Darkling Magic

You know the ray of frost cantrip. You can choose to use it as a melee spell attack in which case it takes the form of a shadowy blade. You can make opportunity attacks with it as a blade. Charisma is your spellcasting ability

Darkvision

Your people’s home on the Shadow Plane has granted you superior vision in dim and dark conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Self Control

You know yourself. Choose to have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or against being frightened.

Shadowborn

You have resistance to cold damage and vulnerability to radiant damage.

Sunlight Sensitivity

While in direct sunlight, you have disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.