Riardi's Way of Life

Riardi only speak in present tense and are prone to swapping their adjectives after the nouns they are discussing, rather than beforehand. Thus, instead of saying, “Yesterday I bought a blue stone”, or, “I bought a blue stone yesterday”, they will say, “Today is the second day in which I own a stone of blue hue.” Conversing with a riardi may take a little longer due to their indirect, current-tense speech patterns, but when they speak directly, a matter of saving time and of the utmost importance is at hand. In the example given, the speaking riardi has omitted bought yesterday.

Ethics and morals vary from individual to individual. Actions are considered the ultimate measure of a person, rather than words and services. They are omnivorous. Riardi have a high degree of empathy and understanding of the natural world around them, as well as their role within it. They rejoice in being alive on an ongoing basis, and take pleasure in the smallest things.

Riardi’s tail-heads have led to conflicting opinions among one another. Those who are against having them believe that chopping the head off and removing the intestine is a more civilized way of life, while those who are against removal insist that their natural defenses need to be retained, regardless of any social strains tail-heads may generate should they interact with other Intirrians. The few who underwent the removal surgery found that their appetites lessened, but they had to supplement their meals with larger portions to make up for any nutritional deficiencies. Some riardi created a middle ground, such as creating tail-head restraints which keep the jaws clamped shut. These tail-heads are not capable of striking their owner and lack sentience. Yet others consider that they should retain their tails and harvest their resin, nurax, venom, etc, for medical purposes. Those who do routinely tend to this activity with utmost care.

Riardi prefer plain, practical clothing which they craft themselves. Woven accessories are worn most often, as are carved-wooden and stone jewelry, such as bangles, earrings, and otherwise easy to wear when moving around vines and foliage. Metal jewelry is intensely disliked, though they are absolutely loved by ore riardi, who fill the exception.

The riardi are very self-preserving Intirrians, regardless of which population they grow up in. The southern population are especially hyper-vigilant and use as many natural resources as they are able to without leaving traces of their movement- and in ways which are as self-sustainable as possible. Yet others focus on retaking their golden pyramids, buried by foliage, study arcane geometry and astronomy. Yet more feel the urge to be simple merchants and live peacefully. Northern riardi make peaceful alliances and establish themselves, trusting in their relationships with others and are far more amiable and cheerful. Opal riardi are much more nomadic and enjoy a dynamic way of life which is a mix of the two. Nuria in Kalankra and their riardi descendants mix a blend of nutra culture with their own, and devote themselves to studying magic and shape-shifting in hopes of someday assimilating the extinct form of the ri’perafi. Ore riardi are much more rooted in craftsmanship and creativity. At their best, riardi overall are loving, pleasant, generally just-natured, and generous.

Riardi who have the largest families are often considered the most ‘successful’, but they consider every day a success, no matter what happens- and will readily spend time with anyone who feels lonely or inadequate in order to help them achieve their dreams. In the north, northern riardi live in mountains within large caverns, engage readily in trade, and enjoy fiber arts.

In the south, they live in the canopies of rain-forests and sometimes within tree trunks, depending on the size and means available to them. They like only capable warriors who are honorable enough to keep the riardi’s presence secret.

Riardi who feel compelled to break with tradition and explore often wear clothing which wraps them up so that they can pretend to be ra’chaka. Stuffing a cloth into their tail-mouths, tying it up, and covering their fur with pigments if need be, some riardi have found a lot of culture shock by exploring villages and towns in this way, and they bring this information back to their communities. Criminals among their kind are not cast out, but are given extra support- community service, time with qualified individuals for healing purposes, and a lot of extra patience. Once they can overcome their hyper-vigilance, they may yet find life even more exciting and wonderful than they dreamed.

Abilities:

Dream Roaming- The being is able to perceive and later travel through others’ dreams, witnessing events, thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes and more therein. Dream visitors cannot alter others’ dreams without practicing and learning dream magic. Riardi teach several times of day in temples devoted to Silaanju and Shihab.

Wishcraft- Riardi can grant one wish per game session which has a beneficial affect on either themselves or another. When this skill is at low level, the impact around them is very small, such as gifting someone with the wish to earn a little extra money, health, energy in combat, etc (in 5% increments per level), and one additional person every fifth level of this skill gained. If wishing for an item or desired form (ex: a player wants a new staff), the GH can create an event so that the riardi will encounter a new staff- but actual quality and/or present affordability may vary. After all, wishes work in mysterious ways! Other subtle wishes such as better NPC reactions for bargaining or better once-per-session use of skills are perfectly acceptable and will provide bonuses to dice rolls.

Wishes may be made at any point during the game session regardless of if the riardi character has already taken their turn in a combat scenario- they only need inform the game host. Riardi wishes tend to manifest as the game host decides. Wishes must be specified for duration during combat scenarios- such as “Oh, Allison just took too much damage and will die this turn, but I want to request a Wish which will give her more HP so she can risk enduring a knockout instead.” The GH agrees and asks for duration when the wish request is made; the riardi player says “immediately”, “within the day,” “within the night”, “within the next day, two days or week”, and so on. Players can choose to stack a wish from each day so that multiple wishes take effect on a singular day, but will not be able to use their wishing ability for the same number of days thereafter- after all, the cosmic balance cannot be interrupted too much without some backlash. If a wish botches, it becomes much worse- a new sword could become triple the cost at the local auction house or market, the wish to boost their existing staff could backfire and cause the staff to break and local supplies to run completely dry and prevent proper production for a while, etc. Likewise, if a wish receives a critical success, it's something to party over!

Said GH has the right to deny any wish and/or modify it with a riardi character's player. If the whole group is playing riardi, things can become quite difficult so the group will need to work out how to go about working with this in order to maintain game balance and player expectation vs. reality. If necessary, before allowing a player to choose a riardi for their character, the GH may opt to completely change this ability and modify it, then inform the players of any house rules regarding these Intirrians in order to maintain balance. Good game sessions should never be predictable, and players should also feel it was worth their time and fun to do!

Lucky Leap- Riardi are able to manipulate magic in such a way that they can leap to impressive heights- they are often accomplished jumpers who enjoy heights. If this skill botches, however... good luck coming back down. The average jump is ten feet straight upwards for every foot of height the riardi has; ex: fifty feet for a five-foot-tall individual.