"Words can’t describe to you what it is the caithan people have. Imagine, if you can, being able to instantly and silently communicate with someone miles away. Now imagine being able to reach out to a whole village at once. A town. A city. The smartest sages of the city, the most proficient soldiers, the masters of each and every craft, able to share knowledge with one another."

His hand shaking, the weathered soldier takes out an old flask from a pocket of his jacket. He takes a long draw, the pungent smell of alcohol wafting from his mouth.

"How do you describe the color blue to someone who's been blind since birth?" he asks.

— Lieutenant Jalamar of the Sentran Empire
Young caithan adventurer


About

Caithan are a humanoid feline, resembling a cross between a human and a large predatory cat. Some are spotted or striped, with markings similar to leopards, tigers, or cheetahs, and some have no markings at all. They have thick hair, like a lion’s mane, although only the males have the thick hair on and under the chin. Caithan tend to braid their hair.

Caithan are a psionic race. A majority of the Caithan are gifted with some degree of psionic powers, and they all have racial telepathy that they use to communicate with one another. Adventurers and Caithan found outside their lands do not have any psionic powers. They find themselves unable to truly fit in with Caithan society, and they are often treated with open pity by their psionic brethren for not being fully Caithan. Relegated to living on the outside of their own culture, many of them leave. Some stay close by and work as a go-between between the Caithan and other races.

Special Abilities

  • Low Light Vision: The being ignores penalties for Dim or Dark lighting (but not Pitch Darkness).
  • Nimble - Agility: Caithan are light on their feet.
  • Mental Hardiness: Caithan minds, even non-psionic ones, aren't quite like those of other races. They have the equivalent of Arcane Resistance to resist mental attacks.
  • Can't Swim: Caithan actually can swim, they just shun it and are not particularly good at it. They subtract 2 from Athletics (swimming) rolls and each tabletop inch of movement in water uses 3″ of Pace.
  • Insular Learning - Common Knowledge: Caithan living in their own lands don't know very much about the outside world until they leave. They do not get Common Knowledge as a Core Skill.