Start with: ✪ Vessel, +2 Armor
However: Your Agility is locked at 0.
Language: Shinarian, Common
The Skysea has no surface, no bottom. When you fall, you simply fall forever. The light fades, the air gradually condenses into liquid, and the pressure crushes your body to a pulp—if you don't suffocate first. The dark depths of the Skysea are called the Sea of Death, or the Realm of Mot, the death-god whose vast maw swallows all.
But the Sea of Death is not empty. Suspended in Mot’s dark realm are the ruins of Shinar, an enormous island that once floated just beyond the boundary of Tel-Kanan, whose citizens transferred their souls into bodies of clay. Shinar sank beneath the clouds hundreds of years ago, and no one alive knows why.
At its height, Shinar was the most powerful nation in the known Skysea, ruled by Amurah, the Clay King. Amurah’s Code forms a major magical tradition, containing the secrets of transferring souls into clay bodies. Legend has it that the Kananites descended from flesh-and-blood Shinarians who fled or were driven out of their realm by the Clay King’s insane regime.
The only survivors of this troubled realm are moss-covered statues—newly awoken after lying dormant for hundreds of years.
Playing a Shinarian
You’re made of clay. Your “skin” has a yielding fleshlike texture, while your “bones” are hardened ceramic. Your face can be as blank or detailed as you like, but your mouth doesn’t move when you talk, and your eyes are hollow circles that glow with pale light. Unless you’re heavily cloaked, everyone in Tel-Kanan easily recognizes you as a Shinarian.
You don’t eat food, but you do need fresh water, which flows through your body’s intricate internal canal system—and "bleeds" out if you’re sliced open. You also need to “breathe” air in order to think and speak.
Time has eroded most of your memories. You’ve been slumbering in your statue body for centuries. You remember little of your past life.
Additionally, note the following changes and limits to your stats:
You start with 2 Armor.
Your Agility is 0. You’re slow and cumbersome.
You can start with a higher Strength score than others origins: up to 4, rather than 3.
Finally, you gain the following ability:
✪ Vessel
Your body’s Stamina and Spirit are connected. At the start of your turn, before you act, you can shift 1 point of Stamina to your Spirit pool, or vica versa. You can’t exceed either pool’s maximum with this ability. Studying the Code of the Clay King lore grants more abilities tied to your Vessel body.Shinarian Names
Pick one: Ashur, Atrasis, Azu, Banipal, Bel, Dumuzi, Enkidu, Etana, Gibil, Gilgamesh, Igigi, Ilu, Istar, Kingu, Kishar, Lugal, Nebuchadnezzar, Ningal, Ninurta, Sargon, Sin, Zana, Zu.
Or invent your own. Names from the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia—the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians—can inspire your imagination.
Shinarian Keepsakes
Choose or roll once or twice from the table, or invent your own.
Ability to Learn
Some Shinarian bodies are inhabited by more than one soul. You can spend XP to learn this ability and discover a second soul within you.