Wingle (4e Race)

Wingles

Winged hunters with a love of nature, themselves, and fun.

Racial Traits

Average Height: 4'3" - 5'1"

Average Weight: 65 - 95 lbs

Ability Scores: +2 Charisma, +2 Strength or +2 Dexterity

Size: Medium

Speed: 5 squares

Vision: Low-light

Languages: Common, and one other language.

Skill Bonuses: +2 Nature, +2 Diplomacy

Ancestral Weapon Proficiency: You gain proficiency with the spear, shortsword, and short bow.

Aerial Predator: You can use fell swoop as an encounter power.

Fell Swoop	Wingle Racial Power
A swift and stealthy swoop to close the distance.
Encounter
Free Action	Personal
Trigger: You declare a charge action.
Effect: You may fly during the movement made during your charge, and gain combat advantage against the target of your charge.

“

The wind blows over the fields and fen, fresh, sweet, and wild; it worries not if it should return again, or if it should turn vile.

”

Graceful and gregarious, the wingles live on the move; even their rare cities are little more than expanded seasonal camps. They have a surprising attention to detail, but this is mostly applied to dance and crafts. They have a lively tradition of dance, song and story centered around feats of the hunt and a tribe of fourteen ancestors from which they claim to be descended. They are known to act haughty towards new acquaintances and strangers, though this softens to a teasing familiarity with time. The wingle mind is quick, and prone to brief flashes of insight, humor, and non-sequitors.

Play a Wingle if you want...

• The power of speedy flight.
• Finesse and versatility.
• To be a member of a race that favors the Sorcerer, Rogue, Warlord or Paladin classes.

Physical Qualities

Wingles are light, owing to their hollow bones. They greatly resemble humans(and thereby the same variations in facial features), but tend to have fine-boned, heart shaped faces. Their eyes are primarily blue or green, with darker hues being rare. Hair is usually feathery and fine, usually straight or wavy; the color can be any but wingles(especially females) are most well known to be golden blonde.

Their bodies are of a slim build; athletic, lean, and with hidden reserves of strength. The limbs are long in proportion to their bodies, with good reflex speed. Male wingles have broader shoulders, and all wingles have deep chests because of their flight muscles. Female wingles are noted to have excellent... form of moderate size, in line with the overall trimness of the wingle physique.

The wings grow from the back, and are at a span of roughly 12 feet. The wing shape is practically identical to that of an eagle. The coloration of the feathers ranges from deep browns and greys to pastel primary colors. Pure white and pure black wings are rare. Rarer still are gold flecks spreading over the wings with age; and so pure gold wings afford a wingle great respect amongst their kind. These gold flecks generally appear in the iris as well if they manifest on the wings.

Wingles reach their adulthood at around 50 years, and live to be nearly 400; though some wingles have been observed to live much longer than that.

Playing a Wingle Insights, by their History

Some wingles claim to come from a large floating island they call The Cloudland, said to have a pleasant landscape of hills, valleys and meadows, with an utterly magnificent castle constructed from clouds overlooking a lake. These wingles tend to be less erratic- but just as enthusiastic- than their lowland cousins, and are very well received by them. The Cloudland wingle's legends tell of how their wandering island was severed from the continent by their ancestor Maegwyn. It was said their ancestors were each given a powerful weapon or item to "protect their legacies", and the ones given to Maegwyn(Valknyr) and Hal(Syuveil) were far too powerful to remain close to each other, lest they be misused. So Maegwyn pierced the ground with Valknyr, and The Cloudland rose into the sky.

Centuries later the matriarch, Ha, passed on to the Celestial Plane. Maegwyn, being second in power to their mother, was by common unspoken consent looked up to as the leader of the wingles thereafter. She constructed the Cloud Palace upon returning to The Cloudland after the gathering, as a reminder of their mother's work and vision. She ruled from there for many years, outliving all her siblings and even several of her children. But by then the lowland wingles had learned the ways of combat from their neighbors, and a war erupted to lay claim to Syuveil and Halla, which along with Valknyr were the most powerful of the weapons. At the climax of this civil war Hal himself returned from the Celestial Plane to retrieve Syuveil, and Maegwyn's husband Urkel took up Valknyr and thoroughly routed the forces in contention for Halla. Maegwyn had been magically constructing a well in the countryside when she learned of these things, and she cried three days and nights over it before simply passing to the Celestial Plane in her sleep a few days later. These things only further solidified and defined Maegwyn's epic reign.

Five generations later only a single pure-blood wingle couple remained, and their daughter was known to be brash(even by wingle standards) and beautiful, and heedless of her ancestor's diminishing fortune. A cunning young noble named Gildas schemed to take her place in the line of succession- but not by marriage. However, the daughter escaped her assassination, and jumped off the edge of The Cloudland in possession of Valknyr, Maegwyn's spear and the symbol of the royal house. Gildas very publicly had the assassin brought to justice; having one of his midnight black wings amputated and putting a geas upon him to guard the Well of Tears, the well at which Maegwyn wept before passing away. Gildas was a capable king, but many disliked him for giving the merchant guilds too much sway in court.

With their brethren on The Cloudland caught up in their own affairs, the lowland wingles became more independent and developed their hunting culture, something which Cloudland wingle were alien to. Regardless, interaction between the two tribes continued, often being done in the form of fairs and carnivals which became something of an event not only for the wingles but any travelers coming by. And due to the many races passing through the fairs, some wingles started to turn their dexterity to liberating unwatched personal items, and other wingles put their digits to replicating said items. Under Gildas these fairs greatly expanded the wingle art culture, and the wingles began to define their own style, which was light and graceful as the wingles themselves. The Cloudland wingles acquired a love of music during this period, which developed complex structures but in general had a light tone like a flock of birds singing. The music reached a peak in Gildas' later years, as he became slightly mad and demanded ethereal music to be played about the palace to soothe him. The sounds of his bards and choirs was deeply ingrained on all who visited the Cloud Palace, and so their music is still played there, evoking an ancient and magical feel amongst modern visitors.

And secretly(at first...), a tradition of wingle rangers and explorers sprung up: in his maddened later years Gildas became obsessed with finding the princess who had escaped the coup. There were persistent rumors she still survived, roaming the land below in her father's red riding cloak and still in possession of Valknyr.

Wingle Characteristics: Enthusiastic, swift, clever, proud, gregarious, emphatic, enchanting, emotional, vindictive, antagonistic, patronizing, aloof, brooding, curious, daring, eccentric, fresh, grand, humorous.

Male Names: Wingles usually have a name derived from one of the Elder's(see Famous Wingles below), but human and elvish names are popular choices as well.

Female Names: As with the males, names are usually derived from one of the Elder's(see Famous Wingles below), though human and elvish names are also popular.

Wingle Adventurers

Three sample wingle adventurers are described below.

Born on the lowlands, Garman has a reputation for being disreputable. He doesn't shy away from using the generally good name of the wingles to his advantage, disguising his intentions- and usually appearance- until the last moment. He is at his roguish best in the city, gliding from rooftop to rooftop, casually choosing his marks and then faking a bad landing on top of them to pick their pockets. He scribbles exaggerated mustaches and horns on his wanted posters, and enjoys having a laugh at what he sees as the clumsy law enforcement of the towns he visits. Nonetheless he maintains a semblance of decency, and doesn't steal from those he deems as looking needy.

A wingle of The Cloudland, Karla grew up taking in the legends of Maegwyn and the other Elders, and of Gildas and Gar. With her mother being a servant in the Cloud Palace, she was also exposed to music at a young age. Inevitably, she became a bard in her early adulthood, becoming skilled enough to earn part of her living playing around The Cloudland. After hearing of the great summer festival being held on the lowlands, Karla decided to travel down and perform there. Having been her first time down from The Cloudland, she also decided to stay and tour the surrounding countryside after the festivities ended. She happened to meet another bard, of the Halfling race, and the two agreed to proceed to the next town and meet up with the Halfling bard's friends, who were waiting on him to join them on a quest. The sense of adventure welled within her, and she hoped to someday have great feats of her own to be sung.

Being named after the legendary sword of light, and even having sunbeam yellow wings to match, Halla flippantly accepted what everyone assumed was his destiny and trained to become a royal ranger. As a matter of course he was selected to serve on that elite squad; but for years he instead was an unofficial member of the royal guard and never ventured to the lowlands. He spent most of his peaceful days at the palace wandering the halls daydreaming, in awe of the architecture; and his nights... enjoying the company of maids and members of the palace choir. At last, he was called to the lowlands: a solo mission to capture the missing princess, a reliable source stating she appeared to be in no mood to go anywhere. But upon being totally humiliated in combat when he tried to detain her, he took her gruff explanation of her travels on the lowlands to heart and began to question and form his own ideals. Not reporting back to The Cloudland, he stayed below and chose a new path similar to the lost princess': to cross the lands protecting nature and the defenseless against chaos and destructive forces.

Famous Wingles

Gar: Being the assassin eventually found guilty of murdering the High King Albus and Queen Maeghan, in broad daylight, there are few in wingle history more legendary and notorious than Gar. During his heyday he was known as the Shadow of Death, rumored to be the evil reincarnation of Hal. His midnight black wings became popular with the impressionable young wingles- a fashion he encouraged while in disguise- and catching him was at one point acknowledged to be impossible. Raised in the back alleys of lowland towns, Gar was aware of the basics of his later profession from a young age, and learned his infamous stealth to avoid the law and steal food and clothing for his mother and self.

Though he was quick to take credit for deeds by copycats, Gar really was only on The Cloudland for a relatively short amount of time before being approached by a contact from Gildas. Seeing the offer as the last period in his fabled career's story, he readily accepted the task. His plan to assassinate the king and queen was executed flawlessly; but it is still debated whether the princess fended him off with Valknyr, or he let her escape due to the feelings he had developed for her while observing her routine in the castle and forming his plan. Gar has himself never given a straight answer, preferring merely to smirk and chuckle when asked. He remains in the vicinity of the Well of Tears, still able-bodied and guarding its waters despite being far beyond a normal wingle's lifespan.

Red: A wingle woman with graying blond hair, she is perhaps the most well-known figure among wingles aside from the Elders. Known only by the color of her tattered riding cloak, she is enigmatic and at best aloof; which for a wingle is like a giant speaking a long sentence of polysyllabic words. Though stern and usually quiet, she is still helpful to those in need, often saving them from a monster at the last minute then flying off with little more than a backward glance or sardonic tip on survival and self defense. She is armed with a well made(and used) short sword, and a cloth wrapped stick that is presumed to be Valknyr itself. Due to her flat-out refusing to answer questions about living on The Cloudland or Gar, and the mysterious cloth wrapped stick she carries, many are certain she is Gar's missed mark, the long lost princess and rightful heir to the throne.

Despite her well known chilly demeanor, over the years there have been a few rare tales of her settling down with some farming family deep in the countryside, away from civilization. These tales depict Red as being somewhat more open, and an industrious farmhand who insists on earning her keep. Sometimes these tales brought a thrill of revealing her true name, but they mysteriously never do.

Though the bulk of the wingles believe her to be the lost princess, a few call this impossible, citing the age she would be. Those citations are countered with Gar's age, and that is explained away as being part of his geas. Further proof against her is offered in that Albus and Maeghan are not mentioned as having a daughter in many of the history books, although even those same wingles acknowledge Gildas secretly paid certain people for certain books to be written a certain way.

The Elders The fifteen from which all wingles claim descent. They are said to have ascended to the Celestial Plane, and are venerated by nearly all the wingles in place of the local gods such as Vecna and Ehlonna. They are all strongly tied to magic, and some specialties: Elle and Lissa are associated with plants and animals; Laul and Sorah with sailing and the oceans, individually Laul with fire and Sorah with wind and the weather; Galen with thieves and trickery; Sky with dance and Ewa with music; Karr with the forge; Albin and Sheya with knowledge and secrets; Dib with light; Ha with creation, Hal with death; Jaleel with magic itself, and Maegwyn with prophecy.

The event which led to the forging of the Elder Weapons and the separation of Maegwyn from the rest of the wingles is told as Hal experimenting with using magic to drain the life energy of a living creature. The beast was a unicorn Maegwyn had befriended and taught to talk, named Syuveil. The event was jarring to the wingles, as up to that point they had lived a peaceful life and only ate grains, fruits, and vegetables, never harming a living creature. To protect Hal's (and at the time mysteriously enough) the other siblings legacy, Maegwyn commanded that powerful items and "tools" were to be forged. Hal was given a sword, full of powerful magics which he named Syuveil. It became famous for only dealing one non-lethal blow in its existence, the one that decided Maegwyn and her future descendants would take to the sky. Maegwyn's weapon, the spear Valknyr, had a similar reputation: no one wielding it was ever defeated in a fair fight. This was attributed to Valknyr possessing some of the magic Maegwyn used to look into the future, thereby granting its wielder prescience and enhanced intuition, along with enormously powerful wind magic and increased effectiveness under moonlight. Both Syuveil and Valknyr were described as having minds of their own, and awareness of their surroundings.

The other Elder Weapons didn't have quite the reputation of Syuveil and Valknyr, but were proud parts of wingle culture nonetheless; most famously Ewa's magical flute is employed by each High King's personal bard, and since Gildas the king has also worn the crown of Albin, and the queen Sheya's ring, each priceless works of living metal whose secrets are known only to the rulers. Halla, Dib's regal blade possessing strong light magic, was hidden by Urkel at the end of the civil war. It remains undiscovered, and some speculate finding it is the royal ranger's true mission on the lowlands.

One legend tells of Lissa, Elle and Hal's quest to create living rock and metal, at the conclusion of which Galen walked by and promptly snatched up the successful result, hurling it over the horizon into the ocean.

The Well of Tears sprang into wingle legends soon after Maegwyn's passing: its waters were found to have amazing healing properties, and later it was discovered they even could grant small wishes.

Though the wingles are overall decidedly humanoid in shape and appearance and fairly un-magical in and of themselves, some non-wingles question the origins of the Elders, and whether they were even native to the Material Plane...

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