Moon Folk (5e Race)

Moon Folk

At the top of the mountain, there was a village. The air was colder than anywhere I had ever been before and yet the village was quiet and dark. No fires lit up the buildings. No sounds rang out from any inhabitants. At first glance, it would have seemed as if the place was long since abandoned to the snow and cold. Yet one would quickly realize that humanoid figures milled between buildings, sitting on boulders, standing out in the open. All of them were deathly pale; almost as white as the snow around them. They made not a sound as they moved besides the nearly inaudible crunch of powder. Most seemed almost transfixed by the stars of the night sky. They stared above without any wavering. I approached one at the edge of the village. A woman who was... for lack of a better word, poetically beautiful. She too stared at the sky above. I couldn't help but take a look as well, seeing naught but the stars with perfect clarity. The woman's face was somewhere between vacant expressionlessness and a mournful grimace. She didn't seem to notice I was there. Even as I stood there on the verge of asking what this place was, the woman collapsed to her knees, shaking with silent sobs. I immediately dropped down to comfort her, not knowing what was wrong. She fell into me, her sobs still silent. 'What's is it?' I asked. 'What's wrong?' She didn't answer. Several minutes passed and her sobs died down, for the first time, her face looked towards me, tears forming rivers down her face. The woman's beauty left me speechless and stunned. As she made eye contact, her hand slowly lifted up to my face, cupping it lightly with frigid fingers as if she couldn't fully believe I was real. The grieving look she had softened a bit with a hopeful glint. Had I learned more about astronomy prior to that, I would have seen the bloody glow of a single star in the sky. A glow which foretold the price that would be paid to end a war.

-Arcturus Lancelot, Human Knight

Physical Description

The moon folk are an oddity of a race. On the basic level, they appear as pale white, slender, and graceful humanoids. However, on further inspection, one would quickly see a number of additional traits that set them apart from humans. Moon folk are an incredibly long-lived race, whose members often break millennia in age. Despite or perhaps because of their age, a moon folk hardly ever seems to age much beyond the apparent age of someone in their twenties. An individual of the moon folk would only be described as breathtakingly beautiful by anyone else, even most elves. Their skin is always an off-white tone, never reaching much further than the palest of pinks or blues. Beyond that, a moon folk often has several brightly colored markings on their body. Most commonly, these markings consist of a purely colored circle on the forehead, a striped pattern like the stripes on a tiger, or a spotted pattern like the spots on a snow leopard. Generally, moon folk men have a bluer tone whilst the women are pinker, but there are exceptions.

As one would look closer, one would realize that the totally unblemished skin of a moon folk is actually an incredibly smooth covering of fishlike scales. Even when running one's hand over the skin, one would not easily be able to feel the scales even when going against the scales. All moon folk have large fishlike tails. These tails are usually around the same length as the moon folk's height, with a rounded fin at the end and a ridge along its top edge and continuing up the spine until the middle of the back. The moon folk have long slits along the sides of their necks which remain from their merfolk ancestry. A moon folk's eyes are always a wide pale blue ring iris around a black center with a vertically slitted white pupil which narrows when the moon folk is under stress. Moon folk only ever have hair on their head and it is always an ivory white. They do not have facial hair of any type with the exception of very neat and narrow eyebrows.

While the moon folk do not naturally grow facial hair, the men grow small, scale-like spines along the jawline which function almost like beards and rarely ever extend much more than a couple of inches. These spines are not hard but are mostly inflexible. As a Moon Folk ages, they grow a pair of off-black horns, usually the same hue as their skin but almost black in tone. These horns only appear on moon folk who are at least a couple centuries old and are a similar shape to that of an antelope's; mostly straight with some minute degree of a spiral. A moon folk's horns will usually grow to around a foot in length over the course of half a millennia and extend backwards from just in front and above the ear. About every two hundred years, a moon folk will sprout a new set of horns which slowly push back the previous pair over time. As the third pair is grown in, the first fall off. A moon folk's ears are rather long and pointed, similar to an elf's but longer and more horizontal against the head. The average moon folk is perhaps slightly taller than the average Human but are also quite slender by comparison. Moon folk are actually nearly mute. They can in fact speak, but the vast majority don't.

History

It is not entirely certain where their name originally arose. The most popular claim is that the moon folk are a race originally from the moon. Their pale beauty and penchant for stargazing aloofness likely gave most who met them a feeling of otherworldliness. The truth is that moon folk are in fact something of a magically originating race. Some time several millennia ago, a section of merfolk mixed with the land-dwelling people of Cromwell. These people developed the ability to read the movement of the stars in order to peek into the future. They used this ability to wrest some control upon the land around the mountain. It is believed that perhaps a god or great power cursed the moon folk due to their ability to read some amount of the future out of jealousy, or fear of misuse. The result left the moon folk nearly mute and drove them into the mountains. However, due to their own silence, it is merely speculation whether this is true of the moon folk and thus it is possible that the actual tale is lost to history.

Society

Moon folk society is perhaps rather strange to an outsider. Since the moon folk are mostly mute, they usually communicate via hand gestures, body language, and facial expression, if at all. The moon folk are in fact able to speak but are only ever able to speak in a soft stuttering mutter or whisper. The moon folk are stargazers through and through. They are nocturnal so as to spend any time awake looking at the stars. Most moon folk villages are small and are as high in the mountains as is possible. The idea is that one would have no obstruction from clouds when viewing the night sky. The moon folk watch the stars in order to see the future. They are so skilled at doing so, that given enough time a moon folk might be able to see up to several years in advance. This, however, is an irony of moon folk society; they are reclusive and mute yet can see into the future. They may know about what may happen but cannot truly communicate it to others assuming they even take the time to try.

Since Moon Folk generally stay with their village, they are perhaps seen as shy or aloof when interacting with other races. Additionally, moon folk seldom enter relationships at all due to their own longevity. They do not dwell on ceremony by do still marry for life. Moon folk villages are largely Japanese-themed, with wood frame buildings with slate roofs, and paper walls. Oftentimes, the moon folk adorn their homes with something like a symbol for good luck consisting of a circle with two circles within that form two layers of crescents around an inner circle. Moon folk often wear simple white robes and rarely adorn themselves with jewelry. They avoid conflict but will act to protect those dear to them. Additionally, they aren't worldly. Moon folk are not concerned with money or material gain.

Moon Folk Names

The moon folk are practically mute and likewise, rarely write. As such, it isn't very common for moon folk to have specific names that are able to be communicated to others. However, from those that have managed to communicate this information, it has been noted that most moon folk give their children names with exactly two syllables, the second of which is always some sort of "-en." Male names often have a harder consonant in the first syllable while female names usually have a softer sound.

Male: Tayen, Kirthen, Gamen, Jalen, Kalwen

Female: Aren, Ronnen, Lowen, Hollen, Solen

Moon Folk Traits

Otherworldly, but mute stargazers
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength, Constitution and Wisdom scores each increases by 1.
Age. Moon Folk, mature at the age of 50 and live for exactly a thousand years before their very being fades away leaving nothing behind.
Alignment. Moon Folk are generally neutral or good-aligned. If they are not totally aloof, they are usually compassionate.
Size. Moon Folk are on average about a head taller than the average human. Your size is Medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. A moon folk's eyes are especially strong. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Frigid Constitution. Due to years spent living in the cold peaks, you are resistant to cold damage and have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks when in snowy environments.
Piscine Physique. Moon folk have odd scaly fish traits that enable them to move freely in water, reminiscent of their speculated origin from the shores. While not wearing armor and unencumbered, you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. Additionally, you can hold your breath underwater for a number of minutes equal to five times your Constitution modifier.
Cosmic Insight. You can see into the future to better coordinate your actions in response to perceived peril. As a reaction when you are forced to make a saving throw, you may attempt to perceive the future. Roll a d6. On a 4, 5 or 6, you may instead use your Wisdom saving throw modifier for the roll. If you roll a 6, make this save with advantage. If you roll a 1, you make the saving throw with disadvantage. Once you roll a 4, 5 or 6 with this trait you cannot use it again until you complete a long rest.
Languages. You can read and write in Common but you cannot speak coherently or loudly. For the purpose of fulfilling verbal components of a spell, you mumble unintelligibly. You can communicate simple ideas by means of gestures.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
5′ 6''	+2d8	120 lb.	× (1d6) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

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