Nuria

Nuria are born from blended riardi and nutra families who assist one another in harsh, coastal climates against predatory creatures. They are the only riardi who can shape-shift. Nuria have visually striking eyes with neon-colored irises set in lighter or darker sclera of the same color. This and their vividly-hued fur is a trait inherited from their nutra parentage. Their offspring can also inherit their eye colorations. They have no scaling on their hands and feet-paws, but have sharper, longer, and more durable claws. Their ears are short and pointed, and they have doubly-long spikes growing from their vertebrae. These can be rattled as a warning signal if needed. Nuria have short tails, and find this convenient in general given their usage of their spikes.

These riardi bear no tail-heads. Instead, their tails have simple spheres of bone which is used to clobber targets for martial purposes, and no additional intestine running to their guts. Nuria however more than make up for it with nurax- a nasty substance which develops on their short tails, can be warmed and melted off the hairs, and harvested into a concentrated form. Nuria practice tail-wrapping with fabrics to entrap the nurax and harvest it at regular intervals in order to coat weapons with it.

If using the Onsaelyt Dice System

Nurax has the strength of the character’s VIT, doubled, besides Natural Weapon: Toxin skill’s dice (if the character has it). The defending character must make a RES roll against it, along with Resolve if they have the skill. Failures drop the defender’s VIT by one die size each turn in combat, and their HP drops by the resulting numbers the dice roll. The effects of nurax include nausea, hypertension, swellings, convulsions, muscle spasms, respiratory failures and cardiac failures. This puts it roughly on point with the same toxicity as that of rhogathi venom. Unlike rhogathi toxin, nurax contains a magical compound which serves as its own antidote and this can potentially be used to neutralize the effects of both nuria, riardi, and rhogathi venom and toxins. However, the wax and both harming and healing compounds take a full ten days for it to replenish.

Nuria riardi can shape-shift into a meld form, two animal forms, and two were-beast forms- as they are a heartsong relative. They cannot shape-shift their fur pattern at all, but may opt to keep their nuria form’s pattern on their meld form. They cannot shift their animal form’s patterning onto their riardi form. The nutra responsible for the nuria’s fur patterns is Hashav’ba Rashisho, who was most fond of amphibian patterning. Shape-shifting takes the nuria riardi twice as long as nutra to learn, and unfortunately their meld form is static once chosen- it is less ‘fluid’ than others. To offset the difficulties that come with shape-shifting, nuria begin character creation with the Game Host’s approval to have one meld form, one beast form, and one riardi Spiritual & Birthright skill (Dream Roaming, Wishcraft, or Lucky Leap). Other riardi hope that someday, they may all learn to shape-shift into a quadrupedal, ancestral ri’perafi form at will.

By having families with the shapeshifters known as the nutra, the nuria riardi thus are uniquely the only riardi at present who can shape-shift into a ri’perafi form, which retains their markings, coloration, and speech. The earth remembers the ri'perafi's extinction, but Silaanju brought the riardi into being, and by the nuria gaining shape-shifting powers, their souls began to remember their ancestral form. Eventually, all future riardi with aeryardi heritage will be able to shape-shift freely into a ri’perafi form, and thereafter, all riardi will eventually be able to do so as well- the form of the ni'perafi (new perafi).