Tulirans of Eniret

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** October 6th, 2011, 3:49 pm

Tulirans are humanoid with a long, catlike tail.

The Tulirans’ eyes are gold and deep-set with a round pupil.

Their hair is coarse and thick with little shine, kept in waist-length braids or long ponytails. On the males, facial hair is mild, but most prefer to stay clean-shaven. The color is deep black or brown. When interbred with the other races, a recessive gene often shows and they are born with silky, shiny gold hair. Among the pure-blooded Tulirans this is so rare as to be nonexistent.

Their noses are sharp and prominent.

Their skin is a deep brown (think African-American) to nearly black. It is not thick, heals easily but also scars easily.

Their emotions can almost never be read on their faces. The forehead is high and broad, the cheekbones very prominent, the jawline strong and cleanly cut. This gives them a sharp-edged appearance.

Their build is slightly delicate. Height averages from 6’ 1” to 6’ 9”. The limbs are long but strong and slightly muscled. Their fingers are long and slender. Occasionally, among the less pure of their race, the skin under their fingernails, on their palms and the soles of their feet will be pale.

Sense of sight rated at 4 ½, touch at 4, hearing at 3, taste at 2, smell at 2 ½. A weakness is sudden flashes of bright light. This can temporarily or permanently blind them. Their movement is moderately quick, extremely graceful with very good agility, which enables them to climb even the most difficult of trees.

Forest is their natural habitat. Their strength is moderate and their stamina poor. They can work magic and sustain it with moderate ease.

Their talent or gift from God is manipulation of wood, living or dead. Even the young ones can meld a piece of park or a stick into a marvelous sculpture. The oldest and most skilled among them can make the tree spirits appear as visible beings and bend them to their will.

They hate wide open spaces.

Their faith is strong but often twisted to reflect and serve their own ideals. They are not known for their loyalty. (Don’t trust a Tuliran!)

Their language is similar in sound and structure to a mixture of French and Native American; nasal and sibilant.

In battle, they are excellent archers and are often placed on the front lines to repel cavalry, since their height puts them nearly on a level with the average horsemen. They have an affinity for fire, and it is usually hard to enchant them unless they have been tainted beforehand.

They value nature.

Their leaders are chosen by royal blood or by a series of trials. They prefer nocturnal hours.

Overall, they are a sharp, hard people. Their laws are merciless, and they often deal with others in the same manner.

Aragorn · **Joined:** September 23rd, 2010, 3:42 pm **Posts:** 9085

Does their tail do anything, such as signify emotion by what position it is in, or grab onto things like a possum's?

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** October 6th, 2011, 8:37 pm

Yes, their tails quite accurately signifies their emotions, even when their faces don't. A twitching tail is a universal signal of a tense or nervous Tuliran. If it droops they're depressed or sad. Lashing back and forth is a sign of extreme agitation or anger. They're very expressive, if you know how to read them.

Aragorn · **Joined:** September 23rd, 2010, 3:42 pm **Posts:** 9085

Neat.

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** October 12th, 2011, 9:19 pm

Are these guys supposed to be in the same family as the others, or are they totally separate?

Quote:

Their skin is a deep brown (think African-American) to nearly black. It is not thick, heals easily but also scars easily.

I envision a dark skinned warrior with a white scar running across his face! Twould be so awesome.

Quote:

Occasionally, among the less pure of their race, the skin under their fingernails, on their palms and the soles of their feet will be pale.

Oh, now that is cool! It makes it easy to detect racial impurities. Is that frowned upon at all, or accepted?

Quote:

They hate wide open spaces.

Why do they hate them? That isn’t quite clear.

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Their faith is strong but often twisted to reflect and serve their own ideals. They are not known for their loyalty. (Don’t trust a Tuliran!)

Dually noted.

Why is their touch so high, out of curiosity? What makes them so in tune with the physical? Do they have sensory pads on their hands or something?

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** December 19th, 2011, 9:21 pm

Wow, I forgot I had to answer on this.

Airianna Valenshia wrote:

Are these guys supposed to be in the same family as the others, or are they totally separate?

I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to mean. They're in the same world, if that's what you mean, but it's an entirely separate race... or do you mean the previous Tuliran topic I posted? That one and this one are identical, pretty much.

Airianna Valenshia wrote:

Quote:

Their skin is a deep brown (think African-American) to nearly black. It is not thick, heals easily but also scars easily.

I envision a dark skinned warrior with a white scar running across his face! T'would be so awesome.

Ooooh, yeah. *stows idea along with thoughts of albino Tulirans in "cool stuff" brainfile*

Airianna Valenshia wrote:

Quote:

Occasionally, among the less pure of their race, the skin under their fingernails, on their palms and the soles of their feet will be pale.

Oh, now that is cool! It makes it easy to detect racial impurities. Is that frowned upon at all, or accepted?

It's rather frowned upon. Think about being an albino in public school. They're teased and not generally popular at all. Technically it's not a "bad" thing, they're just different, but children especially will poke fun incessantly. They generally have a hard time of it. Jacy (if you know anything about him) is one of those, but it's even easier to detect the racial impurity with him because of his very bright, shiny golden hair, which is almost never seen.

Airianna Valenshia wrote:

Quote:

They hate wide open spaces.

Why do they hate them? That isn’t quite clear.

It's a quirk...the Raechal (their counterpart) are extremely claustrophobic. I'm not sure it has to have a reason, but it might have something to do with heavily forested areas being their natural habitat.

Airianna Valenshia wrote:

Why is their touch so high, out of curiosity? What makes them so in tune with the physical? Do they have sensory pads on their hands or something?

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** December 19th, 2011, 10:53 pm

*cries * I had a post all typed up, and HW ate it!!!!!!!!!

*tries to reconstruct *

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Wow, I forgot I had to answer on this.

*sniff sniffs * I know, you forgot all about me! *looses resolve not to cry *

*grins and winks *

Quote:

I'm not exactly sure what this is supposed to mean. They're in the same world, if that's what you mean, but it's an entirely separate race... or do you mean the previous Tuliran topic I posted? That one and this one are identical, pretty much.

The later half of that answered my question.

Quote:

Ooooh, yeah. *stows idea along with thoughts of albino Tulirans in "cool stuff" brainfile*

*likes contributing to "cool stuff" file *

Quote:

It's rather frowned upon. Think about being an albino in public school. They're teased and not generally popular at all. Technically it's not a "bad" thing, they're just different, but children especially will poke fun incessantly. They generally have a hard time of it. Jacy (if you know anything about him) is one of those, but it's even easier to detect the racial impurity with him because of his very bright, shiny golden hair, which is almost never seen.

Yes, I know what you mean. Children pick like cannibalistic chickens.

Quote:

It's a quirk...the Raechal (their counterpart) are extremely claustrophobic. I'm not sure it has to have a reason, but it might have something to do with heavily forested areas being their natural habitat.

That answer is actually very logical.

Umm... you didn't answer my last question, E.

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** December 20th, 2011, 5:59 pm

Oh.

Umm... I don't know.

Pester me more if that isn't satisfactory.

Airianna Valenshia · **Posted:** December 21st, 2011, 7:05 pm

*laughs * Okay.

cephron · **Joined:** December 31st, 2011, 2:20 am **Posts:** 313

Another neat race!

They seem vaguely elfin in form and temperament.
There's a couple bits that seemed surprising to me, though:

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

A weakness is sudden flashes of bright light. This can temporarily or permanently blind them.

This seems very hazardous! Suppose one of them was sleeping outside, woke and opened his/her eyes on the midday sun? Poof goes vision, just like that?

Or would it have to be like a strobe light--fast on, fast off?

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

In battle, they are excellent archers and are often placed on the front lines to repel cavalry, since their height puts them nearly on a level with the average horsemen.

I'm not sure I understand this. If they're in the front line as archers, why does their height matter? (honest question...I'm no archer) If they're supposed to repel cavalry in melee combat, what about their delicate build, moderate strength and poor stamina?

Lady Eruwaedhiel · **Posted:** January 14th, 2012, 10:30 pm

cephron wrote:

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

A weakness is sudden flashes of bright light. This can temporarily or permanently blind them.

This seems very hazardous! Suppose one of them was sleeping outside, woke and opened his/her eyes on the midday sun? Poof goes vision, just like that?

Or would it have to be like a strobe light--fast on, fast off?

In their natural habitat (thick forest and/or jungle) this wouldn't be a problem since sunlight doesn't often reach the floor in force. I've decided since writing this that permanent blindness from flashes of light is not plausible, but yes, any light that is sudden and very bright (no matter the duration) will have an effect on them. A savvy magic-user can defeat a Tuliran opponent by using Yellow light magic (though trying to make a quick flash like that will often result in an unintentional explosion. Fun for the author. Not so fun for the characters.

)

cephron wrote:

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

In battle, they are excellent archers and are often placed on the front lines to repel cavalry, since their height puts them nearly on a level with the average horsemen.

I'm not sure I understand this. If they're in the front line as archers, why does their height matter? (honest question...I'm no archer) If they're supposed to repel cavalry in melee combat, what about their delicate build, moderate strength and poor stamina?

Actually that was something I made up on the spot and was hoping someone would either come along and say how ingenious it was or refute it.

Anyone else have any input on that? *summons kingjon, since he seems a likely candidate*

kingjon · **Posted:** January 15th, 2012, 9:22 am

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

*summons kingjon, since he seems a likely candidate*

/kingjon appears in a puff of electrons

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

cephron wrote:

Lady Eruwaedhiel wrote:

In battle, they are excellent archers and are often placed on the front lines to repel cavalry, since their height puts them nearly on a level with the average horsemen.[/color]

I'm not sure I understand this. If they're in the front line as archers, why does their height matter? (honest question...I'm no archer) If they're supposed to repel cavalry in melee combat, what about their delicate build, moderate strength and poor stamina?

Actually that was something I made up on the spot and was hoping someone would either come along and say how ingenious it was or refute it.

Anyone else have any input on that?

Historically, generals have avoided putting archers on the front lines, as they are "fragile"---the more armor they have, the worse their performance as archers, but the less armor they have, the more vulnerable they are. However, using a particularly tall race to repel cavalry is an interesting idea---from what I read in the top post, these might be a little weak to be front-line infantry, but the intimidation factor might make up for it, especially if they can retreat through the lines once the enemy cavalry have been slowed out of their charge, before the battle actually comes to blows. On the gripping hand, though, that sort of intimidation would be easy enough to train horses to ignore (far easier than gunshots, which was routinely done for cavalry horses in our own history), so it might work in one war but not in subsequent wars.

Tulirans of Eniret

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