Homebrew Erina Species Details

I had never envisioned such as strange world to be directly under my feet. The world of the above ground was so instilled into my mind that I found the sprawling tunnels and underground structures completely and utterly mindblowing. These people were not concerned with the structure and efficiency of the Allyan city, instead living a carefree and social life.

In fact, as I soon found out, these people depended on it. They told tales of magnificence and wonder to each other, they taught the young ones through words and words alone. A culture where books no longer apply, and instead the passing down of knowledge through ancestors took its place.

— Maria Wyndar, An Account on the Races

 

Spiked Burrowers

The Erina had always lived far away from Allyan lives, resorting to burrowing into the earth to stay safe against predators, as well as developing other unique safety systems. While being vaguely humanoid, the Erina race is quite bulky and muscular, with a somewhat beige skin tone. Most notably about their figure, though, is their hundreds of spines that come in darker shades of brown. These spines reach all the way from the top of their head to the bottoms of their ankles, almost appearing as hair to the unwary. This body structure allows them to curl up into a safer form, protecting from attacks and even hurting their attacker in return. Due to their tendency to burrow as well, they have developed hands more like shovels designed for digging up and misplacing dirt. Their eyes are small and beady, and can only pick up monochromatic light. However, this does not mean that they cannot see, and are in fact well suited for dark environments in terms of vision.

History Through Speech

The well-rounded defense of the Erina allows for a large amount of adaptability in environments that can be tunneled into, such as dirt and mud. However, these adaptions against mindless creatures do not help in defense from sentient ones, and as such, they tend to stay far away from civilised places in fear of an attack. On the other hand, they are very social creatures, with a culture designed on communication with one another. Due to their culture and the development of their eye structure, Erina cannot read and are forced to pass information through speaking. This allows for an involved community, and in most cases, an Erina knows every other person from their village or town.

OPTIMISTIC AT TIMES

Even though the Erina attempt to distance themselves from communication with others, any races that do stumble across their small towns and villages are often treated with respect as guests.

Allyan. “We've had bad encounters with those Allyan folk, but it's important to never judge a person by their face.”

Other. “It's rare that we encounter a guest that wishes death upon us, although we have had a couple of traumatic encounters with those called the Sirators...”

Great Responsibility

 While many people from a variety of races are known to take responsibility for the actions of themselves or others, Erina take it to the next level. They will always accept full responsibility where it is due, and not turn their backs on that responsibility even if it results in the end of their life. It does not matter if this is directed towards a person, an item, a place or an idea, the same ideals always apply. The Erina see this as a form of great honour, but other races have been known to take advantage of this fact...

Erina Names

The Erina have a language that follows closely to the Gnomish language, and as such their names are often quite similar to those of the gnomes.

Male Names: Rammus, Brocc, Dorok, Gerrab, Forok
Female Names: Carlin, Oda, Orada, Gebera, Tanass 
Family Names: Beran, Forra, Jerranka, Hurrain, Lokas

Erina Traits

Erina have a strange self defence mechanism and culture, and as such they have these traits;

Rolling

Erina have the ability to roll into a spike-covered ball using a bonus action, gaining +2 AC and dealing 1d4 damage to any creature they collide with while moving. It takes another bonus action to revert to a normal standing form.

Monochromatic Darkvision

Erina have adapted in an ecosystem mostly comprised of tunnels and burrows, and as such, they have developed a form of darkvision. However, they have also evolved with monochromacy, meaning that they only see in shades of white and black, rather than full colour.

Ability Score Increase

 Your strength ability score increases by 2, and your constitution score increases by 1.

Age

Erina reach adulthood after a few months and live to up to a decade.

Size

Erina are usually quite bulky in build and vary in sizes between 6 and 8 feet.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet, and your base burrowing speed is 5 feet, due to the specialised hands of the Erina race.

Languages

You can speak Common, Gnomish and one extra language of your choice. The eyesight of Erina is too limited to read properly, and as such, they do not have this ability. As well as this, due to Erina culture, they can also understand Gnomish and another suitable language for their upbringing.