8.) Sylvani-Specific Ability Choices

=====Subraces ("Families"):=====

(Sylvani choose one subrace)

====Fauns====

**Info:**

Typically seen as meek and innocent, most fauns ended up as house servants to the Elemental nobility, though in this case "house" is a relative term considering that many Elementals live outdoors in Glades. The fauns were often highly mistreated by the Elementals due to their oft-conciliatory and docile natures. Those fauns with stronger personalities often found themselves kept as torture subjects. As always, some Fauns managed to find their way into the service of more kindly families, and in these cases, they often flourished. Considered kind, loyal, and hard-working, there is little a Faun won't do to help out.

**Abilities:**

Deer-footed and often small in stature, Fauns have nonetheless developed GREAT dodging reflexes, allowing them to move out of the way of Elemental fights and anger without SEEMING to be dodging. It's incredibly hard to land a punch (hand-to-hand only) on a faun who is focused on getting away from the source of violence. The faun ability only works as long as the faun has not entered combat or done offensive actions of any sort, not just physical. They must be able to see the blow coming. Fauns who sacrifice this ability to join combat may utilize the Gladeshield ability. The Gladeshield can cut NEW magical damage for those allies within 20m of the faun for one level 1 magic (non-restricted) by half. The Gladeshield can be grown in power. For 8xp, it can protect (by half) against one level 2 magic or two level one magics. For 16xp, it can protect against three level 1 magics, a level one and a level 2, or a level 3. Gladeshield takes two posts to cast and must be actively channeled the entire time it is active. The faun can not do other actions when Gladeshielding. Gladeshields can not overlap. (Can't have 3 fauns all casting Gladeshield in the same area.)

====Satyrs====

**Info:**

The goat-legged satyrs are one of the reasons that the royalty of the Sylvani never amounted to much. They were always derailed by....parties. Promoting a life of hedonism and excess, they can't resist a party. The royalty of the Satyrs tended to abdicate in favor of...well, just going back to having a good time. Before being enslaved by the Elementals, Satyrs lived a very free life. Despite being completely obsessed with attempting to reach a state of (often chemically-induced) bliss, Satyrs did have an exceptional impact on music, and are credited with building some of the world's first musical instruments, including the flute and the lyre. The Elementals tended to use the Satyrs as....toys, often keeping them in places ranging from high-class pleasure-houses to cheap and filthy brothels.

**Abilities:**

Satyrs are immune to all forms of sexually transmitted disease. If they choose to start with Empathic Manipulation as one of their magics, they get a second level free.

====Centaurs====

**Info:**

Long the warriors of the Sylvani, the Centaurs are a proud race. They have protected the Sylvani since time immemorial, and are largely the leaders in the freedom movement and helping other Sylvani to escape servitude to the Elementals. Both male and female Centaurs exist, but female Centaurs tend to train with a bow and light sword, whereas male Centaurs train with the spear and axe. Other than this, there is rarely any difference in their ranks, and a female warrior is as well-respected for her skills as a male warrior. There is a title system for Centaurs, generally based both on age and the amount of battles they have fought. Young warriors are addressed as Shar (male) or Shara (female) and then their name. For seasoned warriors, the title is "Dar" or "Dara", and for old, wizened Centaurs, whose hair has become gray, the title is "Kar" or "Kara". It is considered impossibly rude to address someone with the incorrect ranking and to not show respect to one's elders.

**Abilities:**

A centaur may start out with two weapons instead of one, but must take the traditional weapons listed to do so. There is a reason for the phrase 'strong as a horse'. A centaur has strength on par with a Shifter.

====Minotaurs====

**Info:**

Whereas the Centaurs were the slave-soldiers and oathbound bodyguards of the Elementals, the Minotaurs were considered too dull and slow to be given such lofty positions. A race of people with bovine features, the Minotaur found themselves enslaved as beasts of burden to the Elementals. They were forced to labor, undertaking the most brutal of tasks, everything from plowing fields, to hauling stone, to pulling the carriages of the Elemental elite. Before their enslavement, however, the Minotaur were the farmers and craftsmen of the Sylvani, skilled in practical and sturdy arts -- arts that the "cultured" Elementals did not truly appreciate. Minotaurs were especially known for their abilities in pottery and weaving, as well as carpentry, wagon-building, and boatbuilding. A house built by a Minotaur is a house that lasts, the old Sylvani saying goes.

**Abilities:**

Minotaurs are somewhat different from their brethren They do not have the speed or ability to jump that the other Sylvani do. Instead, they have both the strength of the centaur, but also the ability to stand their ground no matter the cost. It is nigh impossible to move a Minotaur who does not wish to be moved until that Minotaur is dead. Several Minotaurs have sacrificed themselves to holding open the rifts between the Bright Lands and the mortal realm, and for this sacrifice, and many others, the Minotaurs are well-loved though the least represented of all the Sylvani races.

====Dryads====

**Info:**

It is said that long ago, the Greek gods would save the most beautiful mortals from death by turning them into trees. This, they say, is the origin of the Dryads, a people made of wood, whose hearts are forever connected to the forest. The Dryads suffered one of the worst fates of all of the Elementals during their capture. Herded into forests surrounded by the territory of the Fire Elementals, they were forced to produce large quantities of wood to keep the fires fueled. They watched their children get sacrificed over and over again, with no possibility of escape through the horrible territory of the Fire Elementals. Dryads are, therefore, extremely apprehensive and afraid of fire. Escape, however, ultimately came to them, when several of their minotaur brethren managed to sneak into the forests and assist in opening portals to help them begin to escape. A Sylvani glade with a Dryad or two is considered lucky.

**Abilities:**

Dryads all must take Naturalism as one of their magics. However, the first level of Naturalism is insta-cast for them, and every level afterwards takes half as much time and energy for them to use. Additionally, they may transform into sentient trees, which can move and walk, albeit extremely, extremely slowly. Yes, those trees can talk. Unlike most creatures, Dryads are plant-based and thus, do not bleed when injured. Dryads are very vulnerable to fire, even moreso than vampires.

====Harpies====

--The Argoyan were several races once, long ago, considered predators and enemies to the Sylvani. However, though the marriage of Persekus Nikephoros, one of the few Satyr kings who managed to hold a reign for a significant amount of time, to Gygat, a harpy Queen, the Sylvani and Argoyan became one united race. The Syvani refer to the Argoyan as "xaderfos", or honored cousins. Of the Argoyan races, it is believed only the harpies survive in any large number.

**Info:**

The harpies were forever a fine warrior race. They have long been a matriarchy due to the fact that decreased body mass and increased aerodynamics have allowed female harpies to fly longer and faster than their male counterparts. And flying fast and far has always been necessary for harpies, who often had to cross great distances to get from their craggy, rocky cliff-face dwellings to the plains and forests where food was more abundant. Male harpies generally stayed 'at home', tasked with the building, defense of the nests, and training of the children. In the early days, many a faun and satyr were lost to the harpies. However, after the marriage of Persekus and Gygat, many harpies moved from the cliffs to the forest. There, they worked to scare off those who wished to do harm to the forest-dwelling Sylvani. The Harpies were ALL enslaved by Air Elementals. Used as war mounts, the harpies were bound by ritual to a single Air Elemental. Should that Elemental die, they would as well. Before the Sylvani were freed, someone began breaking that ritual magic, and allowing the harpies to get free, and flee across to the Earth realm. Harpies continue to be cannibals and carrion beasts, though the taste of Sylvani flesh has long since grown sour to them, so they must look outward to those who are not their cousins. Their offspring are hatched from eggs.

**Abilities:**

Winged and capable of flight in their true form, and often with terrible clawed feet used for gripping and tearing, a harpy cry stuns a single person for a full round, making them unable to attack or defend. However, it takes a round of inhaling deeply to prepare. For every additional round of preparation, up to three, it can stun more people, or for a longer period of time. The harpy is helpless during the preparation rounds, and can do no other action. Any attack that lands will disrupt their concentration -- they must begin inhaling again. Additionally, any physical attack or damage to the stunned person will knock them out of their stun.