Neptori
Fast Facts
Height: 5'6 - 6'10"
Weight: 120-250(lbs)
Lifespan: Adult (18 years), Elder (200 years), Deathly (250 years)
Notable Features: Diverse Skin, Hair and Eye Colors, Naturally Patterened Complexions, Pointed Ears, Selectively Webbed Hands and Feet, Gills at the Torso, Intersex Reproductive Organs Across Entire Population
Player Restrictions: None
Racial Ability: Aquatic Endurance: Neptori are fully amphibious and capable of processing oxygen from either air or water, though the degree of this ability is affected by the ethnic background of the individual. They are born in the water and can swim much more quickly and elegantly than the other humanoid races. Particularly when they elect to produce webbed appendages.
Population: Roughly 10 million
History
When the Boundless Empire collapsed, the remote coastal colony of Nepthalia was severed from contact with mother Sol’Valen. This port city was situated at the southern cape of the Ecithian continent, and housed a naval base boasting a fearsome armada. Cut off from the Phoenix King, the colonial governor, Prince Trimander Sol’Miaren, took the reins of the newly independent city-state and his line ruled there for many years, contented in their autonomy and making no endeavours to contact their motherland.
The shift was gradual. The land of South Ecith altered before these elves, who inhabited its shoreline, but over the years they began to adapt. Their affinity for the waters they sailed began to grow greater. Their skin, hair and even their organs evolved toward an amphibious bent. Moreover, their relatively isolated population was able to combat the threat of inbreeding, as the two sexes began to merge into one and their perception of gender evolved along with their bodies. Their reliance upon the skiffs and schooners they used to rule the seas decreased, as they found their already formidable lung capacity appended by gills that enabled them to breathe underwater.
As the first generation of truly amphibious Neptori was born, a council was called and then King of the Tides, Tryvain Sol’Miaren, declared that with the birth of his fully amphibious son, it would be time for the Neptori to populate a greater frontier of Ransera- and to establish submerged cities in the ocean‘s depths. The prospect was celebrated by some, and rejected by others. Although decades later the Tide King’s ambitions would be realized in the undersea metropolis of Caerulia, this exploit was the first crack in a united Neptori people, and over the centuries would lead to the splintering of Nepthalia into the progenitors to the Five Neptori Nations that survive in the modern age.
In present day, the former colony of Nepthalia lies in ruin, though it is not wholly uninhabited. A small contingent of Coastal Nation Neptori occupy its outskirts, driving off would-be grave robbers and treasure hunters.
The underwater city of Caerulia still stands to this day, and is considered the capital of the Nation of the Tides, where Tryvic Sol’Miaren, King of Tides, sits his Caerulean Throne. Sitting off the southern Ecithian cape, it remains the largest settlement of Neptori in the known world. As the other nations split off, their diaspora spread far and wide, though the bulk of the population still remains in the general vicinity of the Ecithian continent or the waters that surround it.
Physiology/Biology
The Neptori are a fully amphibious race tending to have long slender builds built for hydrodynamic motion. They possess both lungs and gills, and are capable of shifting their hands and feet into having webbing at will, but that is about where the commonalities end in this remarkably biodiverse race. All Neptori are naturally intersex. Every fertile member is able to inseminate and carry children as well as being able to nourish their young through lactation. None of these functions are explicitly tied to the gender identity of the individual. More on gender and sexuality in the ‘Culture’ section.
Beyond these universal attributes, Neptori physiology is largely impacted by the environment in which their particular family group evolved. The broadest umbrella with which to distinguish them is via the five Neptori Nations, each of which is composed of various clans each with its own sub-ethnicity. More on these distinctions under the culture section.
Psychology
The Neptori are as diverse psychologically as they are physiologically, if not more so, but by and large they are a race that values community. Though some of the nations prefer to live in homogeneous settlements set apart from the landed races, some like those of the Wayfarer Nation are more likely to find community alongside other races. Whatever their community, Neptori are prone to valuing the needs of their tribe (chosen or inherited) over the wants of its individual members.
Culture
Most of Neptori culture is tied to the particular clan or nation, but one common, pervasive theme that spreads across the gamut is their acceptance of gender fluidity. They acknowledge three genders, which are called Xhal (He/Him), Xhosh (She/Her) and Xhix (They/Them) in the Nepthal tongue. While most tribes are populated by all three genders, it is not unheard of to find a Neptori clan composed entirely of Xhix. All Neptori children are considered Xhix unless they choose, at some point, to be considered Xhal or Xhosh. There is no ceremony associated with these declarations, and Neptori individuals may elect to shift to a different gender at any point in their life, if they find themselves associating more strongly with masculine or feminine traits. Neptori individuals may present different physical attributes to align with their sense of gender (e.g. more curvaceous bodies among Xhosh or denser muscles among Xhal), but this varies greatly from person to person. Notably, there is no clear-cut association between gender and sex in Neptori culture. Pregnancy, for instance, is not considered a feminine condition so a Xhal may become pregnant without it impacting their gender identity in the eyes of the clan. As such, there is no literal term for 'mother' or 'father' in the Nepthal language. Rather, a Neptori's parents are distinguished as Foréas, which translates to 'Bearer' and Archontas, which translates to 'Sire'. In most clans, the child will take the surname of the Archontas out of respect to the parents with whom they did not share the inherent closeness of sharing a body during gestation.
The Five Neptori Nations are described below in order of population (highest to lowest):
Nation of the Tides The Clans of the Tidal Nation, the largest faction of Neptori, primarily inhabit the open saltwater seas. Their settlements tend to be fully aquatic, and they are the Neptori nation least likely to spend significant time ashore. As such, their lung capacity is smaller than that of nearly all other Neptori and their physiques are heavily impacted by the water pressure of their particular ecosystem. They have varying degrees of comfort on land, with many of their number being easily exhausted by land travel and often finding their lungs taxed after more than 4-6 hours out of the water. Pushing through this exhaustion is liable to cause loss of consciousness or worse.
Tidal Nation Neptori tend to have lighter hair and a wide range of complexions which tend to fall in the blue, green and grey spectrums. Those who dwell shallower waters are often lighter-skinned (aquamarine, seafoam green, etc.) while those who dwell the deepest trenches tend toward darker complexions (dark purple or midnight blue) but this varies from clan to clan. They tend to fall on the taller side of the height spectrum, but those who inhabit the trenches may be quite small by comparison to those who dwell shallower waters.
Nation of the Coast The Clans of Coastal Nation are the second largest Neptori faction. They are primarily island or peninsula-dwellers, though they can be found settling continental coasts in remote areas. They are primarily land-based and have smaller gills than their Tidal cousins, which process oxygen at a slower rate and can make prolonged submersion taxing after more than 12 hours. They tend to fall on the middle to shorter end of the Neptori height spectrum with slightly stockier builds and pale skin and hair, which often has a yellowish hue.
Though they sleep on land, they spend a great deal of time at sea foraging on cetacean mounts or by boat.
More social members of the Coastal Nation can also often be found in port cities trading with landed races or offering their services on the crews of seafaring vessels, where they make splendid scouts and navigators to complement any crew.
Nation of the Loch The Clans of the Loch Nation are widespread with a broad and eclectic range of tribes, who have an affinity for freshwater bodies and adaptations that suit inhabiting them. Their skin and hair tend to fall along the green color spectrum ranging from light algae green to deep hunter. Their coloring tends to be inclined toward camouflage in their preferred habitat, as the Lochfolk are particularly reclusive and averse to land-dwellers. On the whole, Lochfolk are the tallest, slimmest Neptori.
By and large, the clans of Loch Nation prefer to settle underwater and avoid the land-based races of Ransera. Some are bashful, others hostile toward their landed neighbors who often represent a threat to their resources. Some of these Lochfolk, particularly those who favor the shallower waters of brooks and canals, have a reputation for causing mischief upon humans and other races who haunt their shores to fish or bathe.
Nation of the Delta The Clans of the Delta Nation are most comfortable in the brackish water found where rivers meet the sea. They are truly amphibious, and often have settlements that encompass both submerged and landed quarters along the banks of rivers. They tend to fall in the middle range of heights amongst Neptori, and their skin and hair tend to be more earth-toned than many of their Neptori cousins. They may be rusty-haired and sandy skinned or chocolate haired and ebon-skinned. The Delta Nation composes the second smallest population of Neptori, aside from the Wayfarer Nation.
The Neptori of the Delta are among the friendlier of Ransera’s water elves when it comes to outsiders. They tend to settle along waterways with access to trade and their settlements serve as trading posts where wanderers and merchants of all stripes might pause to rest, fill their bellies or barter for exotic items collected from afar.
Nation of the Wayfarer The Clans of Wayfarer Nation are widely ill-regarded among their fellow Neptori, which is just as well since they rarely cross paths with members of other nations. Theirs is the smallest Neptori Nation and they spend their lives almost entirely inland. They are the least internally communal, rarely possessing settlements of their own and preferring to settle amongst the landed races in their cities or towns. With smaller gills affording less capacity to process oxygen from water, they can only comfortably remain submerged for 4-6 hours. This tends to be more than enough for the kind of work they find themselves doing in service to other races. Their skin tends to bear purplish tones and their hair is usually fair- often to the point of platinum. They tend to fall on the shorter side of the Neptori height spectrum, and have thicker builds, as opposed to their leaner counterparts of other nations, though the Wayfarers are still typically slim by human standards.
Unlike most of their Neptori cousins, Wayfarer clans tend to spread out a bit more rather than dwelling in homogenous communities. They are more likely to assimilate into the culture of whatever area they settle in, and have a broader view of community than most Neptori, which encompasses the landed races.
Reproduction, Aging, and Death
As a fully intersex race, every fertile Neptori is capable of inseminating or becoming pregnant by a sexual partner. The gestation period lasts roughly four months and then live water births are most common. Even the pregnant Wayfarer is drawn back to the water to give birth, and infant Neptori are fully aquatic for at least the first month of their lives as they continue to develop. All Neptori are capable of lactation, and the duty of nourishing infants is often shared by both parents. This is among the reasons the Wayfarer Nation is smallest, as its members are frequently averse to the prospect of being bound to the water for as long as parenthood demands of them.
After their infancy, Neptori develop at a similar pace to humans up through reaching their adulthood at the age of 18. After that, their aging decelerates to a pace more typical of elves, with few outward signs of being weathered by the years until they pass their two-hundredth year.
Most Neptori communities revere their elders, and honor the wisdom they impart. Different clans observe funerary rites in different ways, but the vast majority observe some form of burial at sea. As the Neptori enter their lives in the water, so too do they leave their lives via aquatic pathways.
Language & Naming Conventions
Most Neptori speak the language of Nepthal, which blends tonal words with physical gestures. The tongue, while based originally on Vallenor, evolved to facilitate better aquatic communication than the parent language could offer. The dialects of Nepthal are as eclectic as the Clans of the Neptori Nations, with particularly the physical gestures varying widely between the more water and more land-based clans.
The majority of the Neptori population simply have given names and family names (which are passed down by the Sire). Both are often derivations of words and gestures that have meaning in the Nephtal language, for instance a child born during a storm might be named Tyfónas (Nepthal for Hurricane) and a family with an affinity for cetaceans might claim the surname Delfínia (Nepthal for Dolphins). Only in the Tidal Nation are there throwbacks to Boundless Empire-era colonialist nomenclature, where the royal and noble families trace their lineage back to remote antiquity. Even so, most subjects of the Nation of the Tides follow the same, simpler naming conventions enjoyed amongst the majority.
