BODREN
Aquatic Sylvan of the Wetlands
Bodren primarily live in smaller like-minded communities that collectively make up a larger tribe of Bodren people. Rarely do Bodren feel the need to consult or address a social leader and only in times of great need will the larger tribe come together to solve issues. Bodren domiciles are minimal and attempt to influence the natural world around them as little as possible, with some Bodren choosing to only live in natural caves, coverings, and cenotes. The Bodren have a deep respect for the natural world, and while they do not directly view any aspect as a god itself, they draw guidance and lessons from nature and the wild world around them. Many Bodren feel a strong connection to a specific aspect of nature and will personally revere said aspect, be it the fluidity and freedom of a flowing river; the birth and death cycle of a flower field, or the unstoppable and wild nature of the wind.
Although Bodren reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, their understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. Living well over 700 years gives them a broad perspective on events that might trouble the shorter-lived races more deeply. They are more often amused than excited, and more likely to be curious than greedy. They tend to remain aloof and unfazed by petty happenstance. When pursuing a goal, however, whether adventuring on a mission or learning a new skill or art, Bodren can be focused and relentless. They are slow to make friends and enemies, and even slower to forget them. They reply to petty insults with disdain and to serious insults with vengeance.
Like the branches of a young tree, Bodren are flexible in the face of danger. They trust in diplomacy and compromise to resolve differences before they escalate to violence. They have been known to retreat from intrusions into their hidden homes, confident that they can simply wait the invaders out. But when the need arises, Bodren reveal a stern martial side, demonstrating skill with sword, bow, and strategy.
Preferred Classes
Sorcerer
Ranger
Cleric
Druid
Alignment
Bodren love freedom, variety, and self- expression, so they lean strongly toward the gentler aspects of chaos. They value and protect others’ freedom as well as their own, and they are more often good than not.
Syntax
pronunciation
noun
plural
adjective
variants
(BOD-ren)
That Bodren is strong.
There are many Bodren.
That is a Bodren artifact.
Attributes
Base Speed
30 feet
Attribute Modifiers
+2 Dexterity
+1 Charisma
Unique Racial Features & Abilities
Deep Breath
Bodrens’ unique skin pores have the ability to slowly consume oxygen while underwater.
You can hold your breath 4 times longer than usual.
Keen Senses
Adapting to a land with no lack of visual distractions, such as thick fog, obscuring flora, and creatures that camouflage into the environment, Bodren have learned to listen, smell, and feel the areas around them to sense danger.
You have proficiency in the Perception: Vibe skill, and can see normally under water.
Fae Ancestry
Your Sylvan lineage has blessed you with a resistance to some adverse magical effects.
You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.
Relentless Endurance
Bodren don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day.
While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.
Physicality
With their unearthly grace and fine features, Bodren appear hauntingly beautiful to many members of other races. They share a common ancestor with the Faekin and Fangren, and while they maintain many of the classic Fae characteristics, they have abandoned their wings and developed tall, slender, and agile bodies.
Unique Racial Traits
Bodren have adapted strongly to a part land-based part water-based lifestyle, and with this have evolved a unique type of skin, mostly devoid of body hair and maintaining a richly moisturized quality. Its oxygen-absorbing ability allows them to stay underwater much longer than other people, though they are not fully aquatic.
At a young age, Bodren skin is light, thin, and almost translucent. During this vulnerable period of their life, they are highly susceptible to their environment, and it is during this development that they begin to manifest evidence of their surroundings.
Most Bog-native Bodren have skin colors that range from deep midnight blues, to shining emerald greens, and even in rare cases tones of copper, silver, and pearl. They frequently develop speckles and spots of varying color that cover their more sensitive areas like the neck, groin, and face. Bodren who maintain actively water-based lifestyles may also develop webbing between their fingers and toes.
Bodren hair is thick and smooth, with an oily texture that aids considerably in reducing water resistance. Their hair colors, much like their skin, are typically much lighter in youth, this is thought to be due to their Fae ancestry. Pastel blues and greens and neutral colors such as blonde and silver are common for Bodren children, but as they age it usually darkens into rich and dark colors such as black, bronze, and mahogany, and some become bolder colors like deeper blues, teals, and magenta. Some Bodren who live decidely land-based lifestyles different from their ancestors never develop these darker hair or skin tones.
The connection from their neck to their shoulders remains uniquely sloped, giving them the appearance of strong, but slender shoulders. It is thought that this physiology is both a remnant of the muscles that were needed for wings adapting for aquatic movement, as well as an evolution that reduces the impact of squarer shoulders in aquadynamic maneuverability.
Bodren ears are similar in shape to Faekin, in that they are long and thin, but they grow much more closely to the curve of the skull and are smoother. Like many other Sylvan people, some Bodren intentionally claim characteristics of the animals in their native environment, such as fin- or fan-shaped ears or fish-like eyelids.
Stature
A character’s stature is not purely for roleplaying. In many instances, your height and weight can and will have mechanical implications. The character’s body type, however, is mainly for visual storytelling and narrative purposes.
Size
MEDIUM SYLVAN (Humanoid)
4′ 10″ – 6′ 4″ (147 – 193 cm)
Body Types
(unusual)
(unusual)
(unusual)
125 – 140 lbs
(57 – 64 kg)
(unusual)
80 – 125 lbs
(36 – 57 kg)
125 – 150 lbs
(57 – 68 kg)
Age
While the Bodren only live about 3/4 the life span of their Fae ancestors, they also live more in line with the Tok and Varian people of the world, maturing physically in tandem with their emotional and intellectual maturity, though at a much slower pace.
Adulthood
100 – 150 years
Lifespan
750 years
Homeland
The Brittle Bog
While this land is difficult to traverse, the people of the bog have great skills when it comes to growth construction and have several well-established settlements, though they are not fancy in the eyes of outsiders.
Mylovian Fen
Situated just north of the Brittle Spine mountain range, this region somewhat resembles its western neighbor of Everpetal Hills, but is distinctly foggier, regularly overcast, and there are increasingly squishier pockets of land as the region slopes down toward the central Bog.
Willidren Shelf
The most stable and rocky ground in the entire Brittle Bog, the Bontmoc Fen is elevated from the rest of the bog by a series of rocky cliffs and hills. Its border is defined by these cliffs, separating it cleanly from the Mylovian Fen and the Sidren Boglands.
Sidren
Almost fully devoid of larger plant life, the Sidren region is very flat, very wet, and very quiet. Half moss-covered, muddy ground, and half still freshwater, it is an eerie place to find yourself.
Fang Reach
This region is on the edge of the great Nettle Forest, the borderlines blurred by the heavy foliage that grows there. It is deceptively inviting by its bright green coloration and still waters.
The Brittle Break
where the waters of the central wetlands once split the Brittle Spine and the Elder Fang mountain ranges apart now sits the Great Bodren Dam, which secludes the fresh waters of the upper wetlands from the saltwater of the Shattered Bay to the south.
Culture Groups Overview
Deltren
These people make up the Bodren people that have adapted to the aquatic lifestyle the least, predominantly living and residing on land, however water serves a cultural and spiritual impotance to many Deltren, regardless of their lifestyle.
Petalians
The people of Everpetal and Riverpetal in particular have developed a close relation with the floral arts, but most of the Bodren living in the wider Imperial lands are also considered Petalians by most of their fellow Sylvan people. Sometimes they are referred to as Imperials by other people.
Willidren
The people of Bontmoc and Kucberg represent the largest populations of Deltren, having thrived since the early days of settlement on the northern shores of the bog.
Hydren
The Hydren people are what most outsiders think of when they hear of the Bodren, living near to equal portions of their lives ibetween the water and land.
Fenfolk
The people of the Mylovian Fen and the rural land areas of the surrounding regions make up a small but devout population of Hydren, and occupy the lands of a once grand civilization
Sidren
A much smaller populace but have kept Sidren and its surrounding areas thriving; mostly service farms and watery ranches, but some people live here for religious and research purposes
Merdren
The Merdren are the Bodren who have adopted the most aquatically active life, many living and residing predominantly within the deeper waters of the Bog.
Mosscloud
A sister community to the Sidren moss farmers of the islands. Deep under the moss-covered bodies of water, theses people raise, maintain, and cultivate these mosses.
Rootreef
Bodren who live down at the south of the Bog where it joins with the Shattered Bay. They reside in the large fresh to brackish water pools and pockets that are formed on the saltwater side of the Rootport.
Suncliff
People who live just north east of Jibomi in a region on the bog where large white sandstone deposits burst from the sea floor, these people live and sculpt the sandstone into homes and sculptures, only to have them fade with the tides within 100 years.
More information on the gameplay elements of
Culture Groups can be found in the sidebar below.
Deltren
These make up the Bodren people that have adapted to the aquatic lifestyle the least, predominantly living and residing on land, however water serves a cultural and spiritual impotance to many Petalians regardless of their lifestyle
Physical Distinctions:
description
Petalian
Locale: Various, though primarily the Heartlands
the Petalians of Everpetal and Riverpetal in particular have developed a close relation with the floral arts
Clothing and Style
description
Notable Figures
Isla Kathar
Raised in Lovalia away from the Bodren homeland, Isla has never known what it truly is to be like her people. She is on a quest to find out what happened in her past.
A Player character in the Adventures campaign. See the Cast page for more information
Nillanderen Orithan
Professor of Beanut Lore at the Everpetal University College of the Scroll.
Present at the Sidren Reliquary Devastation. Deceased.
Physical Distinctions:
description
Willidren
Locale: The Willidren Shelf
The populace Willidren of Bontmoc and Kucberg represent the largest populations of Deltren, having thrived since the early days of settlement on the northern shores of the bog.
Clothing and Style
description
Deltren Stats
Sub-groups
Petalian
Willidren
Preferred Classes
Sorcerer
Ranger
Deltren Languages
Known
You are bilingual in both Sylvan and Common. You are familiar enough with the intricacies of the Sylvan root language to communicate at a basic level in any Sylvan dialect, though you may have difficulty with clear understanding, and can not read or write in them.
[2] Studied:
<none>
[1] Oral:
Learnable
Deltren Unique Feature
Fae Step
flavor
You can cast the Misty Step spell once using this trait. You regain the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest.
Hydren
The Hydren people are what most outsiders think of when they hear of the Bodren, living near to equal portions of their lives between the water and land.
Physical Distinctions:
description
Fenfolk
Locale: Mylovian Fen, The Brittle Spine mountains
The Fenfolk of Jibomi and the surrounding regions make up a small but devout population of Deltren, and occupy the lands of a once grand civilization.
Clothing and Style
description
Physical Distinctions:
description
Sidren
Locale: Sidren
The Sidren, of Sidren, are a much smaller populace but have kept Sidren and its surrounding islands thriving; mostly service religious and research purposes the islands and surrounding bodies of water grow some of the most sought after medicinal greens that keep about half the populace employeed.
Clothing and Style
description
Hydren Stats
Sub-groups
Fenfolk
Sidren
Preferred Classes
Sorcerer
Cleric
Hydren Languages
Known
Your native language is Sylvan. You have been exposed to enough of both the MerSylvan dialect and the Common language to effectively communicate in both, though you may not understand nuanced conversations. You have been exposed to enough VerdiSylvan to achieve basic communication, though you may have difficulty with clear understanding, and can not read or write in it.
[3] Native:
[1] Oral:
Learnable
Hydren Unique Feature
Green Palm
The Hydren people are very attuned with the natural world and all those living things around them.
Nature & Beasts Proficiency+
You gain proficiency in the Nature & Beasts skill, and may double your proficiency bonus on all Nature & Beasts skill checks.
Merdren
Physical Distinctions:
description
Mosscloud
Locale: Sidren
The Mosscloud culture of Sidren make up a sister community to the Moss farmers of the island, deep under the moss covered bodies of water, theses people raise, maintain, and cultivate these mosses.
Clothing and Style
description
Physical Distinctions:
description
Rootreef
Locale: The Brittle Break, Shattered Bay and surrounding waters
Down at the south of the Bog where it joins with the Shattered Bay, live the Rootreef people, who reside in the large fresh to brackish mater pools and pockets that are formed on the saltwater side of the Rootport.
Clothing and Style
description
Physical Distinctions:
description
Suncliff
Locale: Central bog, northeast of the Mylovian Fen
The Suncliff people live just north east of Jibomi live in a region on the bog where large white sandstone deposits burst from the sea floor, these people live and sculpt the sandstone into homes and sculptures, only to have them fade with the tides within 100 years.
Clothing and Style
description
Merdren Stats
Sub-groups
Mosscloud
Rootreef
Suncliff
Preferred Classes
Sorcerer
Druid
Merdren Languages
Known
As a Merdren, MerSylvan is your native dialect, and you are somewhat familiar with basic Sylvan as well, though you may not understand nuanced conversations. You have been exposed to enough of the Common language and the VerdiSylvan dialect to achieve basic communication, though you may have difficulty with clear understanding, and can not read or write in either one.
[3] Native:
[2] Studied:
[1] Oral:
Learnable
Merdren Unique Feature
Aquatic Evolution
Merdren are fully adapted to living under water.
You are capable of breathing under water, however you require 30 minutes of continued water exposure per day or suffer one level of Exhaustion.
Naming Conventions
The Bodren take historic fae names and push them to the artistic limit, unlike the Faekin however they do share clan names with those of their closest relations.
Traditional Feminine Names
Aqualinde, Ardanil, Coralyn, Cumaesse, Delphinia, Elaria, Estifire, Fintara, Galene, Haliya, Hessanye, Isidora, Kaiamar, Lorelei, Lorrne, Loruente, Marisela, Nalcnden, Nenyna, Nereida, Oceana, Pearlina, Quelinda, Raineleth, Silnnarre, Sirenia, Thalassa, Undine, Vallieya, Vespera, Waverly, Xanthe, Yara, Zephyrine.
Traditional Masculine Names
Aquadon, Artmaillin, Benthos, Coralmorn, Delmarin, Elintiersanon, Finloch, Glimmerscale, Hondilroon, Hydrus, Icarus, Korarnimarco, Kelparis, Lylalushorn, Marineris, Meryedil, Nautis, Oceus, Peldalf, Pearlfin, Quariil, Quicksilver, Riptide, Sinyoril, Selendil, Tidewalker, Uthriel, Uulrnil, Vesperan, Wavecrest, Xanderus, Yiridon, Zephyros.
Traditional Family Names
Thramuseus, Chamius, Aelsonthaer, Laemthaer, Chamorin, Adiane, Kororinh, Spellaerith, Stormihle, Gaethorinh, Thaorour, Laemorinh, Thramwatch, Athihle, Caemorinh, Gaethiuth, Salingfhaer, Gaethlock, Jaerious
The Beanut Lands 