Appearance Overview

Riardi are anthropomorphic in nature, and mostly resemble their ancestral wish-beast chimeras, the ri'perafi. The ri'perafi resembled chinchillas, with a few noticeable differences- a feline body, their feline, pointed teeth, pearly scales on the tops of their paws and hand-paws, sharp and hooked talons, spikes arcing from their spines down towards their tails, which bore eyeless, flesh-less bestial skulls. These skulls snatch food and provide additional sustenance. The riardi, evolved from the ri'perafi, are this creature juxtaposed onto a humanoid frame. Their hands have talons in place of fingernails, and their paws and palms bear thick paw pads.

The riardi have head hair, eyebrows, and their eyes may have slit or round pupils. Their irises range a gamut of colors: yellow, amber, red, green, blue, violet, brown, and black, with slit or round pupils. Rarely, they may have heterochromia or other genetics which influence their eye coloration. Their bodies are covered in plush, soft fur, and growing from their spines, riardi may also have vestigial hooked spikes. They may or may not also have small, single spurs which grow from their hocks. Some individuals choose to use tree sap to rubberize and prevent these spurs from inflicting damage when in close proximity with others. Others may hone these spikes and use them for martial purposes, honoring their natural protection as surely as they sharpen their claws.

Their tails are another matter unto themselves. Their beautiful tails are covered in thick fur, which may or may not exude substances designed to protect the riardi. Their tails bear the ancestral ri'perafi's skull, and augments the riardi's diet by snacking on food throughout the day. Should a riardi feel threatened, the tail-head may reflexively lash out and bite victims, injecting them with venom or smearing foes with harmful substances. Although riardi have powerfully-muscled tails and can with training make them prehensile, the tail also connects to their digestive tract to process the nourishment the tail-head ingested. Practically, these factors deter predators. However, in close proximity to other Intirrians who are not fellow riardi, this poses a real risk of inadvertent harm. Due to the dangers their tails pose to other Intirrians, riardi use fabric, ropes, small masks, vines, and so on in order to reduce the risk of accidental contact and strikes when hungry, agitated, startled, or bumped into. Some riardi choose surgical removal, and require larger portions of food at meal times to make up for any caloric deficiencies they might incur from the lack of a tail-head.

Tail-heads and tails' effects last in duration from one to several days depending on potency and frequency of use. Riardi may consume specific herbs which strengthen or weaken replenishment duration, increase or decrease side effects, and adjust its volume output or retention. Without herb usage, riardi venom production is enough to use two to five times before it is depleted. It takes two days to be replenished. It inflicts vertigo, confusion, temporary paralysis, and in the case of opal riardi, additionally induces delirium, hallucinations and psychosis.

Sometimes, riardi’s tail fur produces substances in addition to their tail-heads’ venom. Southern riardi’s tails naturally produce an anti-bacterial, bug-repelling sap which crusts into a resin. This is often used as an incense ingredient, and can be crushed, re-hydrated, and turned into a fatigue-reducing honey. This can be consumed as-is by other Intirrians, or added to fruits for a dessert. Some riardi lack this particular substance, as others produce a toxin-containing wax, while yet others produce thick angora fiber. Others may naturally emit a saponin-type substance. As the riardi gene pool broadens across different landscapes, more riardi individuals will have various traits which were once regionally isolated. Some riardi utilize their longer tails to their advantage, such as signaling over distances, propelling through the air for swift travel, while others find their shorter tails are convenient. Those who have removed their tails find themselves better-suited for tighter proximity to densely-populated areas.

If using the Onsaelyt Dice System:

Any riardi venom has the strength of the character’s SPR & VIT (Spirit & Vitality) besides Natural Weapon: Venom skill’s dice (if the character has it), and the defending character must make a RES roll against it, along with Resolve if they have the skill. Failures drop their RES by one die size each turn in combat and their HP drops by the resulting numbers the dice roll. Riardi venom’s effects lasts from one to several days, depending on potency and frequency of use. It is not as potent as rhogathi venom, but riardi nonetheless rely on it in combat against non-Intirrians unless they absolutely must.

Riardi Body Types:

All riardi began their return into Intirri as living beings as the southern body type which Silaanju crafted for them. The southern riardi eventually formed a population who desired to travel north and did so. After the travelers settled in their newly-discovered northern destinations, their own body type adapted over several generations into its own distinct evolution. As time progressed, some of these northern riardi's descendants traveled throughout Intirri and became migratory warrior-traders who found the crystal deserts in Zalarkis and Symaas. These riardi created trade routes along the deserts' periphery, and began to study the magical null-zones of the hostile landscape where monsters roamed- and they became known as opal riardi.

Undeterred by their wanderlust urges, another community of southern riardi eventually forged southward in Nyx-ine- and downward. They explored subterranean environs left behind by dwarves, e’lar elves, and other Intirrians. These riardi settled into these underground forgotten spaces, rendered them habitable through their magical wish-crafting where dwarven and elven ingenuity and precision could not succeed, adapted, and thrived. These riardi became known as the ore riardi.

From both southern and northern families, central riardi were born and became quite distinct unto themselves. Central riardi were also quite content to travel the equator around Intirri, earning their namesake.

As time continued, more generations of riardi began to have shifting opinions towards staying insular changed as they found other Intirrians curious and supportive of their populations. Trades continued, settling became more comfortable, and survival sucked less. The first Intirrian riardi who were born to another Intirrian people were the nutra. The nuria were the first riardi to be born from riardi and nutra relationships. They became heartsong relatives in the humanoid shapeshifters' culture, and through dint of birth, nuria began to follow the nutra's way of life, rather than reside solely among riardi populations. Later, nuria became a bridge for the riardi in many profound ways- including shape-shifting into the extinct ri'perafi form.

Over Intirri's coastlines and great oceans and seas, riardi fell in love with the nomadic way of life. They took to learning the ways of sailing and fishing from other Intirrians, and developed relationships with the merfolk known as the orumae. They became instrumental for matters of trade and travel.

Resulting from interlapping geography between northern riardi and the anthropomorphic rhogathi, who were evolved from the manticore species known as the rhylshaat, northern riardi began to bear offspring who became known as the rithi. The rithi readily embraced rhogathi's fierce culture in the frozen north, and cultivated craftsmanship and martial artistry. They became fine warriors in their own right.

Naturally, the riardi's innate curiosity led them to wild spaces, and therein, found fae. The resulting offspring became known as the aeryardi, and these riardi reside with their families mountaintops, cloudscapes, and fae society. Friends to valkirie, they enjoyed learning ethic, virtue, morality, spirituality, and cultivated the riardi's collective desire for both flight and their ri'perafi heritage. They sought academic learning, and formed a cultural group called the Caelbinders in order to study and practice harvesting chemicals for scientific purposes. Though many do not become Caelbinders, their culture has grown into one which honors this occupation, monkhood, diplomats, couriers, chemists, smugglers, archivists, pharmacists, engineers, mechanics, laboratory specialists, botanists, fireworks-makers, dancer, storyteller, artist, and more.

Some riardi, meanwhile, were born to riardi and valkirie parentage. The aeryardi shunned the valkirie culture, and in turn, the valkirie chose to name their offspring the aervalk. These riardi are the only ones who have wings growing from their backs, and bear efathered tails. Aervalk became feared by aeryardi- over time, the aervalk became pawns under the valkirie, and became known as Stormbinders- a direct contrast to Caelbinders. They represent wish-craft converted into power harnessed for a purpose other than their own self-agency. The aervalk appreciate their disciplined culture, and find it refreshing compared with the aeryardi’s culture. The aeryardi, meanwhile, are concerned at best and terrified at worst.

In areas where riardi encountered kobolds and both were hard-pressed for survival, relationships born out of mutually beneficial survival purposes began, and the resulting offspring were the ribold. These riardi have draconic traits from their kobold heritage, and this grounds their wish-craft in an earthy, elemental way. The ribold have vaguely draconic physiological traits from their kobold heritage.

Elsewhere in Intirri, in the Scaruun Islands, the riardi had encountered the phoenix-like elves, the diasaxxis. Relationships saw sparks and passion fly, and the result was the riasax riardi. The riasax have tails which can become fiery, and they often enjoy urban areas and technological progression.

Curiously, there are but two more unusual riardi: one who resides in the Nexus over Intirri, and one who resides on a different planet altogether. Nexus riardi are insular unto their own, with their own ways and culture, and far, far away, as the Llyma elves traveled through space to awaken in the planet Asmarius-Daatimir, the souls of some riardi spirits in Intirri's astral realm took notice, and paired with a strong curiosity, traveled to Tanazira- thereafter to Asmarius-Daatimir- and the result was the lyrdi riardi.

Riardi overall are a varied species, and their appearances will be covered in further detail on their own. Across time, their body types will blur and their stories will be less about origins- and more about the stories of their previous generations' love and explorations which brought them into being their unique selves.

You can learn more about their body types in detail with the Riardi Body Chart Summary. If you are looking for their genetic data, see the riardi's genetic behaviors and the riardi's genetic codex.

The Riardi Color Codex allows you to interact with their full palette of fur colorations!