Faunin Lore | Gilda

Faunin

Appearance:

Bi-pedal bestial humanoids.
Animal appearances are restricted to small-type creatures. (No wolves, wild cats, horses, etc)
- Must be a mammal or a bird.
  - Examples: badger, hedgehog, cat, small mutt dog, fox, bat, owl, parrot.
(Disclaimer: do not use furry art to depict these creatures.)
Bird Faunin have arms instead of wings, but they are full of feathers and allow them to fly for short periods of time.
All Faunin come in natural colours, both in fur/feathers and eyes.
Faunin get no taller than 4'5, and no shorter than 2 foot.

Origins:

The Faunin were once a halfling race, a subcategory of humans. They came to be on Gilda in a similar fashion to how they did.
The halflings naturally gravitated away from their tall cousins and instead wandered into the forests, where they were protected by the trees. They weren't a strong race, so they truly struggled in open plains.
Their preferred means of home-building became that of digging burrows and resting in hollow trees. From their time spent with humans, some of them even knew how to wield magic. They knew only peace, but as fate would have it- that was about to change.
They had stumbled into the territory of elves- of whom were disgusted by them. It was natural for elves to be incredibly xenophobic, so it came at no surprised that they weren't fond of the halflings.
The poor little people were being forced out of the forest- but they knew they could never survive out in the open plains with their skill-sets at the time. They were doomed!
A kind elven woman with brilliant feathers sticking out of her white hair, by the name of Thilesin, stopped them from leaving the outskirts of the woods. She devised a plan to let the halflings remain in the woods without the other elves knowing. She would teach them how to shapeshift.
One by one, the halflings took on the form of their favourite creatures. Once their craft was perfected, they were able to live in the woods safe and sound. The elves even treated them well and honoured them as real animals. They were totally fooled.
Time passed and the halflings didn't much care to return to their humanoid forms. In an incredible feat of magic and evolution, they found that they couldn't leave those forms at all. They tried to stand on their own two feet, but it was to no avail.
Eventually, their animal bodies learned to stand upright and evolve into a more humanoid visage. They decided to name themselves after Thilesin and the Fauna. They were The Faunin.

History:

After becoming their own unique race, the Faunin felt confident enough to venture out of their original forest. They found that they weren't fans of the elves. They took their worship too far. The moral codes of the Faunin were a lot more understanding than the strict elves.
They sent forth scouts to find suitable land for them to inhabit. Along the coast, the scouts encountered goblins working on a giant ship.
After asking where the boat could take them, the goblins told the Faunin scouts that they could go anywhere they want. In fact, if they helped the goblins for five hundred years, they would take the Faunin to a land they could call their own.
Five hundred years? That was an awfully long time. Before they could argue, the goblins were offering up the best-tasting beverages they'd ever tasted. It was alcohol... and they were getting drunk out of their minds.
Through the intoxicated night, the Faunin, being highly emotional people, ended up having the best night of their lives. They trusted the silvertongued goblins and were convinced that five hundred years would pass in no time at all.
By the next morning, they had entirely forgotten about the five hundred years portion of the deal. They rounded up their people and started loading onto the boat after signing their lives away to servitude.
For years and years, they followed the goblins around. Though they were never treated poorly by the green-skinned creatures, they never really could amount to the greatness of being their own race. They were reduced to apprentices and only given menial, small tasks to follow.
Some Faunin managed to escape. Though, any Faunin that were noticed to have escaped ended up bringing punishments of less food and more tasks to the ones that remained behind.
When the five hundred years were over, they took the boat they earned and sailed away to start populating the other islands. The five hundred years came to an end ten years ago.

Alliances:

The Elves: The faunin tend to see the elves as being quite mean-spirited. Though they appreciate the respect to nature, they find their practices to be overbearing. When they became the bipedal animals, the elves ended up worshiping them as perfect specimens of the wild gods, which very much creeped them out. They just don't understand the morals of elves- and they might never. Faunin might be too sensitive for them.
The Orcs: They have barely made any contact with the orcs. In fact, the orcs are a brand new race to them. They are curious, but they remind the faunin of tall goblins. This fact might scare some faunin, but others might see them as improved goblins and want to find out more.
The Humans: They are finding themselves most comfortable around humans, which is ironic considering they are relatives. The humans really do define their own individual destinies, which is something the faunin find refreshing. The lack of bindings to gods and deities really make them easier to get along with.

Atonements:

Wizards: Within the faunin community, being a wizard doesn't mean one's a leader or a champion. It simply means they have a few more abilities than the average faunin. The faunin are very inclusive and treat people well if they are treated well in return.
Undead: Since the faunin have only recently broken free of their seclusion, they have had no chance to be undead. So, the only way to be undead is to have it happen in the roleplay. There are a few methods how someone can become an undead:
- Bitten: All undeads carry the curse of undeath. If their ichor gets into a living person's bloodstream, they will eventually die and rise 3 days later as an undead.
- Risen: A corpse which has been brought back to life through necromancy. A necromancer is a type of dark wizard.
- Redeemed: A being that has been revived by an orcish shaman. They are vastly different from undeads to the point where they barely count as one. All of their vitals return, but they have no connection to arcane. These undeads have a built-in desire to constantly achieve greater things in order to make their second chance of life worth it.

Advanced Lore:

Faunin live until the age of 80. The only real way to tell their age is through the deterioration of their bodies, including fur/feather brightness.
In terms of reproduction, the offspring never takes on the form of their parents, unless the wild gods deem it right. The spirit of the offspring is given an appropriate animal by unforeseen forces.
- This sparks a lot of debate over what certain animals mean as opposed to others.
- Bird faunin have live birth.
- All faunin are only pregnant for 3 months and have a high chance of birthing more than one at a time.
Faunin are highly curious creatures. Sometimes that lands them in danger.
- They are best known for saying "why" over and over again until they fully understand something.
The main attitude of a faunin is to stick to kind people and stay away from negative ones. They can be very emotional creatures.
- That being said, it is possible to find some faunin twisted by the goblins.
Faunin can speak to animals (duh).
Very quick learners. Which has allowed them to adopt multiple languages fast.
Prefer to sleep in window-less homes, primarily burrows and dens.
Most faunin have a natural hatred for alcohol, it's seen as their race's downfall.