u/MapleTopLibrary

Peri, the green one foot tall dragonfly-esque cousin to the Faerie, have a small magical ability that packs a big punch when it comes to their primitive survival. By ingesting Sea Salts over time, Peri build a passive charge in their bodies. This charge boosts all physical attributes, making them faster and stronger, more resistant to disease, clever and more intelligent, all by a small margin. A Peri that can maintain this bioelectric charge can expect to live twenty years longer than a Peri that does, not on average.

Aside from these latent effects, the bioelectric charge can also be expended in one violent moment. Originally a defensive ability, where a Peri that has been cornered or captured by a predator can stun or kill the predator even if gravely wounded, allowing them and others to escape, and as a way to cleanse the body from parasites. This shock would need to recharge over a period of several weeks before being able to use it again so the Peri usually relied on their mental magical abilities of geas and glamours and their speed to protect themselves. Eventually, the Peri’s archaic ancestors discovered they could use this shock to hunt.

Using their innate mind magic, the Peri could stalk prey until they were close enough to strike, then in a quick lunge get close enough to their target that they could stun the animal. Smaller prey could be killed outright by the shock, and larger stunned at least temporarily, long enough they could finish it off with a knife afterwards. Having a small contingent of dedicated hunters who take turns going out and bagging a large game animal every other month or so can usually keep a clan fed with wild game meat reasonably well.

When the Green Knights first appeared during the rise of the Nac Buacheileen Clan, the Peri discovered that the Knights were made of wooden flesh, which was resistant to the electrical stun. This presented problems because the usual tactic in war for the peri is to strike fast and hard in one decisive attack, stunning their target and finishing them off and then running away. If they couldn’t stun the Knights, and their bronze and copper knives couldn’t quickly kill them, much of how they would fight was useless.

They eventually had to rely on the mind magic to subdue the Knights, tricking and misleading them in elaborate ways.

NAME: PERIWALD

FLAG/SYMBOL: A green hand, palm upraised, underneath a thunderbolt.

LOCATION: https://imgur.com/a/hK6X18T

GEOGRAPHY: Periwald is heavily forested and humid despite its cool climate. Sunny days are rare, with most days being either overcast, or drizzling rain. Pebble beaches line the shore snarled with white bleached drift wood and whale bones. Inland, the dense forest continues into steep rocky hills that climb into the foothills of the mountains.

Few large population centers exist, with Lyonesse, the under sea city (see FADED WONDERS) the major exception. Most population centers consist of a few hundred Peri at the most living in Semi-permanent structures surrounding defensive stone towers.

BIOLOGY/ETHNICITY: The Peri are a cousin species to the Faerie. They are roughly the same size and shape, averaging one foot tall (30 cm) and proportioned like a human, though where the Faerie are slender, the Peri are stockier and more cherubic. Peri skin has a green caste to it, and their hair is typically dark. Where the Faerie are moth like, Peri resemble dragonflies, with long, transparent wings, lighter mirror-like eyes, and antennae that more resemble spike horns.

Like the Faerie, due to the severe supply limitations on the magical pollen that allows flight, Peri wings are all but vestigial concerning flight. They do, however, allow speed, agility, and balance beyond that of a human, and can still be beaten rapidly to make sound or create force to aid movement. Due to never having had great access to the magic pollen that is the catalyst for Faerie magic, Peri society was less affected socially by its blighting though they did experience a simultanious crisis in the form of the Green Knights (See FADED WONDERS).

A less potent source for Peri magic still exists in the form of Sea Salt, harvested along the coast by boiling sea water down to the crumbly white residue that remains. Ingesting the salt gives the Peri a Bioelectric charge which can be used to give a slight physical boost over a long period of time, or released in a single burst in an electric shock that can kill small creatures or stun larger ones. The average Peri lifespan is around 60 years due to the magical bioenhancement of ingesting small doses of Sea Salt in their food.

Peri also have a natural magical ability to cast glamours and geas, a form of mind magic that is explained more in the magic section.

Peri have a slight allergic reaction to both iron and salt that is not of the Sea Salt variety.

HISTORY: Existing as barbarian tribes during the height of the Faerie courts power, the Peri stabilized as a clan society, where Peri that shared a lineage banded together.

When the blight struck the Faerie Courts, destabilizing them, the Peri thought it was an opportunity to collectively strike and take power. Under the banner of the Nac Buacheileen Clan, a confederacy of clans gathered as an expeditionary force, but in the process triggered an ancient superweapon hidden in the foothills of their territory (see FADED WONDERS). Every day, a legion of armored knights were created magically from a grove of trees and would ride out to fearlessly decimate every obstacle that presents itself. This was more than enough of a distraction for the confederacy of clans and effectively halted the invasion of the Cwmyteg Faerie Courts and led to a decade of war as the Peri fought to subdue the Green Knights of the Grove.

The Nac Buacheileen remained in power, with the Right of Clan of Clans, allowing them to deal on behalf of all clans of the confederacy of clans, and executive power with matters that have to deal with Periwald as a whole.

SOCIETY: The Peri live in a Clan based society, where Peri that shared a lineage band together. Typically, there will be a primary line that has the leadership in the clan, with petty families descended from minor lines holding small regions. Over all the collective Clans, which are called the Confederacy of Clans, rules the Nac Buacheileen Clan, who hold the Right of Clan of Clans, which gives them the power to deal in international issues and things that affect all of Periwald.

Clan leaders are chosen from a Primary line, or lineage descending from the primary ancestor that established the clan anciently. At times, petty families can gain enough power that they will schism, sometimes violently, from their primary clan.

The Nac Buacheileen rule from Lyonesse, an ancient faded wonder city that exists in an undersea bubble off the western coast.

Clan politics often revolve around birth order, and whole branches of a clan can be considered subservient because they are descended from the third child instead of the second.

CULTURE: Common clothing items include waxed linen and leather for its waterproof qualities and wool for how it stays warm even when wet due to the wet and cold climate. Odds are if you see a Peri they will be wearing a Bycocket hat and a cowl, over simple clothing. Copper, zinc, and tin are more common in Periwald, and the Peri have a slight allergic reaction to iron, meaning most metal will be made of brass or bronze. The fact that copper is a great conductor of electricity, allowing greater ability to use their bioelectrical shock through armor or at a distance through a copper rod, influences their combat and martial arts to favor a single decisive strike to incapacitate a foe over prolonged combat.

Common food will vary by region depending on whether they are near the coast or farther inland. Near to the coast Peri will eat a lot of fish and seaweed, inland it is mostly root vegetables, mutton, and wild game. Petty families will usually have a herd of sheep that they move around, and spend much of their time getting them unstuck from brambles and briars.

Peri are great advocates of music, and will grant traveling musicians universal free passage to travel Periwald, while most other travelers will be in danger for trespassing onto clan lands. Peri are internationally distrusted because of their magical ability to cast glamorous and geas. Peri can create musical notes with their wings, making patterns of droning notes that go along with singing. Peri performers will also cast glamours to accompany the music, enhancing the performance.

Most Peri that leave Periwald do so in connection to a Green Knight as a “rider” steering the knight out so they do not cause damage to the Peri. They do this through subterfuge, often “calling the knight on a quest” to tackle some impossible task likely to get them killed. Peri are often tricky and trouble for who they may come across and typically distrusted by non-Peri.

OCCURRENCE OF MAGIC: Magic is welcomed and seen as a biological necessity due to the health benefits of holding a bioelectric charge from ingesting Sea Salt. Sea Salt occurs naturally in the fish and seaweed that Peri on the coast eat as the main part of their diet, and can otherwise be harvested by boiling sea water and scraping the residue after the water has all boiled away. All other types of salt are mildly toxic to Peri, meaning they have an aversion to it.

Holding the bioelectrical charge enhances all physical traits, and can be expended in a shock, usually at touch or near touch distance. This shock can kill small creatures and stun larger creatures.

Peri have the ability to use the magical pollen as the Faeries do, enabling flight, though never having access to a significant stock or means of producing it it has been uncommon.

Natural inborn magic in Peri manifests in the form of glamorous and geas, or mind magic. Making a specific target feel compelled to take a specific action (though not an action they would not otherwise do on their own) or causing the target to take on a different appearance to others. The life force of the caster is used to do the casting, but can be supplanted with the bioelectrical charge that comes from ingesting Sea Salt. Beating Peri glamorous and Geas is actually quite easy, the target only has to be paying attention.

FADED WONDER:

There are three known faded wonders in Periwald:

The under sea city of Lyonesse. The largest population center in Periwald and the ruling seat of the Nac Buacheileen Clan. travel to and from the city is done with brass diving bells suspended from the cliffs that hang over the city. The bubble that keeps the city from flooding also purifies the air and provides low light, but too much fire will cause the air to be overwhelmed with smoke. The exact nature of the bubble itself is unknown.
⁠The Barghest. A small floating island with peculiar gravity. Hollowed out on the inside into a series of bunkers and tunnels, the entire surface of the rock is effectively pillboxes facing every direction, but the gravity is strange in that no matter your orientation to Ashagon each room and tunnel has a down gravity that matches the orientation of the room, or in other words you can stand comfortably facing out of your defensive hole even if the defensive hole is pointing straight up or down. The Barghest is large enough that it can be manned and defended almost indefinitely by one hundred Peri, with a maximum capacity of around a thousand. Human sized occupants would fit around 400 occupants.
⁠The Grove of the Green Knights. A misty grove of ancient trees left by a previous civilization meant to be a defensive weapon. It seems that whenever a significant magical concentration draws near to it, the trees begin to disgorge armored knights riding destriers. The knights are human or elven in appearance, though not fully human as their flesh seems to be made of wood. They come out fully formed and grown and intelligent and are ready to charge headlong at some dangerous foe. Much effort is made to make sure they are not doing that, including having a brave Peri “Rider” call the knights on some quest in a far away land. “Slay a dragon” is a popular one. The Rider then accompanies the knight and does their best to get them into dangerous situations. The number of Green Knights being generated was very high at first when the defensive weapon was triggered, but either due to a decreasing threat, or the weapon running down, the rate has slowed to a single knight riding out of the mist about once a week. Green Knights have a lifespan of around 5 years, if they make it that long. A natural death from old age is rapid deterioration and delamination of their various layers.

IMPORTS, EXPORTS, & MAJOR INDUSTRIES: Peri industry is heavily centered around the production of Sea Salt, as well as salted fish, mutton, and game. Wool, copper, brass, and bronze are other popular exports.

Peri Riders do take contracts to direct Green Knights to fight specific creatures or on a specific side in a conflict.

Production of Sea Salt is a major industry because of how important it is for its physical and health benefits. Inland clans that do not have access to the sea to make their own sea salt will trade handsomely for a steady supply of Salt, providing the coastal clans with resources like copper and tin that they would not have access to otherwise.

Musicians are in high demand with the Peri, and will often at great expense hire musicians to do a tour of Periwald

How does your judicial system (or lack thereof) work with foreigners?

Peri Bio-Electricity and other Offensive and Defensive abilities