Post by king of hyrule on Aug 27, 2005 22:59:04 GMT -5
Rito
While zora rule the waters, and gorons dwell
deep in the depths of the earth, the rito rule the
skies. The rito are an avian race of people, born
possessing the inherent gift of flight and a grace
in the air to equal a zora’s in the water. Dwelling
29 in aviaries across the Great Sea and lands
beyond, the rito are a hard-working and
ambitious folk. They alone created and
maintained the postal system that allows
correspondence between the islands of the Great
Sea, and are known to be a kind, caring and
honorable tribe. Amongst the islands of the Great
Sea and other lands beyond, the rito have earned
a great deal of respect for their sense of honor,
loyalty, and dedication.
Personality: The rito have a strict sense of
honor that guides their life. To the rito, honor
means a great deal, and their sense of honor
dictates much of their personality. Most rito are
honest to a fault. They cannot stand dishonesty
in others and tolerate even less in their own kind.
Their honest natures have a tendency to make
them seem blunt and crude at times, but it is
only through a will to express nothing but the
truth. The rito take their sense of honor to the
point of seeming stern and set in their ways.
Realistically, however, the rito love leisure just as
much as the bawdiest gerudo, though they
seldom give in to excesses easily. For most rito,
a life led through hard work, loyalty to a cause
and dedication to tasks is the ideal life, and those
who achieve such lifestyles are praised and
rewarded with increased status amongst their
peers. The rito are a very tightly knit tribe,
preferring to form aviaries with several clans. At
times, multi-clan marriage produces a new clan
for the aviary, which may eventually become too
small for all the occupants, forcing the newer
clans to disembark and find their new aviary
elsewhere. In addition, the rito are a kind folk,
dedicated to helping those in need and honoring
agreements no matter the cost. Indeed, many
tales abound from the Great Sea of shipwrecked
sailors who survive only because of the
intervention of lone rito’s offer of assistance. The
rito sense of honor and justice, mingled with
their strict adherence to the truth in all matters is
the catalyst behind almost all rito motivations. As
such, they are absolute sticklers for paying debts
in full, balancing favors and acts of kindness, and
righting wrongs in personal and non-personal
situations.
Physical Description: Rito are a tall folk,
standing an average of 5 to 6 feet tall. There is
almost no difference between the weight of
males and females, as they tend to be equal in
height. A rito’s body is covered in short, neat
feathers with thick plumes on their tails and
underarms where their wings are located. Their
faces are narrow and slightly front-sloped and
hawkish; though remarkably flat for a bird-like
race. Their slanted eyes are sharp and somewhat
resembling a hylian’s. A small, slightly hooked
beak rests in the middle of their faces. The beaks
is sharp enough for use in tearing and eating
food, but also soft enough to not greatly impair
speech, allowing rito to talk in nearly any
language they know without problem. Their
hands are soft and slender, covered in tiny,
delicate feathers and their legs from the knee
down are covered in tough hide with their feet
resembling the splay-toed foot of many birds of
prey. Their knees are forward bending, allowing
them the same type of maneuverability as most
other bipedal races. Rito males tend to have
slightly darker colorations and broader shoulders
and faces while females have thicker wing and
tail plumes. Both sexes dress often in short,
knee-high breeches tightly banded at the knee,
tabards marking their clan or aviary (or job
position if they work as post deliverers), and
cloaks with long, voluminous sleeves that are
easily pulled back when the need for flight arises.
Their wings are comprised of long, strong
feathers slimly aligned along the underside of
their arms. When moved out for flight, the
wingspans are usually double the rito’s actual
height. When folded under the arms, they do not
hinder the rito at all.
Relations: Because the largest population of
ritos lives in the Great Sea region, ritos do not
have much interaction with many other tribes. In
that region, the ritos deal mainly with hylians,
moblins, and zoras though in the Great Sea
regions zora tend to be rare. Rito are highly
respected amongst the hylian inhabitants of the
Great Sea Isles, and are known for their post
system and their stern sense of honor and
justice. The rito of the Great Sea region get along
well with the malleable hylians, deal in amicable
terms with the zora of the region, and are bitter
enemies of any moblins found within the region.
Outside of the Great Sea region, there are very
few aviaries of rito. Those that do exist tend to
deal well with other tribes as a whole. The rito
have amicable dealings with gorons, often
dealing in minerals and other precious metals
mined out of their aviaries in return for bomb
flower crops, lumber, or other important goods.
The gerudo seem to puzzle and even anger the
rito, who cannot abide the gerudo’s deceptive
and thieving ways. Deku puzzle the rito, but the
good-natured rito consider the deku to be
excellent merchants and find their dedication to
business admirable (so long as the deku do their
business honestly). Kokiri and rito rarely if ever
cross paths, mostly due to the isolationist nature
of the kokiri. The two tribes have a healthy
respect for each other, as they both share a
tender respect for the wilds of the world, but the
strange, anti-social, and sometimes xenophobic
nature of the kokiri sometimes offend the rito
who are far more open and inviting. Subrosians
and tokay are almost unknown to the rito,
though there are rumors of aviaries on both
Labrynna and Holodrum where the two tribes
often come together for trade and leisure. The
30 good-natured rito, always eager to create new
friends and alliances find the subrosians to be
excellent company, and the Tokay to be amusing
company worthy of respect.
Focus: For the most part, rito tend heavily
toward the focus of light. Indeed, rare are the
rito who so much as fall into the focus of shadow.
The rito are a honorable folk who believe in
justice and truth. For them, the light focus is a
natural fit. Rare indeed is the rito who falls from
the graces of his people into the dark focus. In all
the annals of rito lore and myth, there are no
recorded instances of such a wicked rito, but all
know that history is written by the victor, and as
with any other tribe, there are members who are
swayed to the path of power at any cost.
Rito Lands: Rito primarily dwell in the region of
the Great Sea. Throughout the region, various
aviaries dot numerous islands and landmarks,
the largest of which is Windfall Island. It is there
that Prince Kamaldi and his father, the Chieftain,
rule over the rito responsible for the Great Sea
region’s post system. Other notable aviaries
include pockets on the peaks of several mountain
ranges in Termina, mountains and cliff bluffs
north of Death Mountain in Hyrule, and some
small isolated pockets on Holodrum and
Labrynna.
Religion: The rito are not an overly zealous folk,
yet the proper worship and homage to the
Goddesses is an important part of rito culture.
For the most part, the rito give equal worship to
all three Goddesses, considering it a dishonor
and an insult to do any less. In practice however,
the rito seem to relate most powerfully to Nayru.
Their sense of justice, law, and truth compel
them to follow the ways of the more
philosophical of the Goddesses. In addition, the
rito also offer worship to the various demigods of
the world, most notably of which is Zophor, the
God of Winds. The Wind Shrine just outside of
Windfall Isle is testament to this devotion to the
patron of the skies.
Aspect: The rito are seekers of truth and justice,
and place a great amount of faith and expectancy
in honesty and kindness. For the rito, no other
aspect save the Light aspect holds as much sway
with their connection to the Tri-Force. Except for
the few rito wizzrobes who become specialists of
the Water or Forest aspect, Light is the aspect of
choice.
Adventurers: A rito may be pulled into
adventure for a number of reasons. Rito take
their honor and sense of justice to the extreme.
A rito who feels insulted may be obliged to track
down his opponent and right the wrong (though
keep in mind that ritos are not quick to anger
and not often moved to violence). In addition,
ritos are moved by knowledge and fascinated
with lore and mythology. A rito may leave the
aviary for a period to research ancient stories, or
perhaps a rito who works for the post system in
the Great Sea region discovers something amiss
with one of his deliveries and feels obligated to
investigate the disturbance.
Rito Tribal Traits
• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2
Strength, -2 Wisdom: Rito are swift and
intelligent, but they lack physical strength
and are somewhat blindly dedicated to
their ideals of right and wrong.
• Medium-size: As medium-size creatures,
rito do not have any special advantages or
disadvantages for their size.
• A rito’s base speed is 30 feet when
moving on the ground, and 40 feet when
flying. When flying, the rito has a
maneuverability class of Poor. Since rito
need to use their arm wings to fly, they
may not make any attacks while airborne
unless it is to drop rocks or other
dangerous weapons from on high. Normal
rules for attacking while in turbulent
conditions apply.
• Flight (Ex): A rito is born with the
capability of flight, but as the rito (like all
the tribes of the Tri-Force) are still
evolving, they are not able to access this
ability without help. Ritos are born with
small, stubby wings incapable of carrying
them any distance at all. When a rito
reaches half his adult age, he must
undergo some sort of trial to complete the
growth of his wings. The trial depends on
the aviary’s standards of what trials
young ritos perform, but no matter what,
two specific criteria must be met. The first
is that the rito must come to an epiphany
on the meaning of his people and their
innate nature. This is best handled
through role-playing and has no tangible
mechanic. The second is that the rito
must meet a patron demigod or magical
protector of some kind and receive that
creature’s blessing. Always have the rito
needed the blessing of their protector
totem, creature, or demigod to achieve
their true wings. The blessing itself is
nothing more than a gesture of
acceptance from the guardian in question.
The demigod or magical protector in
question must be someone the rito has
pledged himself to and must be of the
same focus as the rito in order for the
blessings to work.
• +2 racial bonus to Defense while on the
ground, +1 while in the air: Rito are agile
creatures, but their mobility in the air
hinders them when airborne.
• Improved Low-light vision: Rito can see
three times as far as normal in moonlight,
31 torchlight, candlelight and other similar
lighting conditions as normal. They retain
the ability to distinguish color and detail
under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on Spot, Listen, and
Sense Motive checks: Rito have sharp
senses and their sense of justice and
truthfulness is no less keen.
• Automatic Languages: Rito and Hylian.
• Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favored Class: Academic. A multiclass
rito’s academic class levels do not count
when determining if the character takes
an experience point penalty (see the
Player’s Handbook, page 60 for
multiclassing).
• Favored Aspect: Light.
• Opposed Aspect: Shadow.
While zora rule the waters, and gorons dwell
deep in the depths of the earth, the rito rule the
skies. The rito are an avian race of people, born
possessing the inherent gift of flight and a grace
in the air to equal a zora’s in the water. Dwelling
29 in aviaries across the Great Sea and lands
beyond, the rito are a hard-working and
ambitious folk. They alone created and
maintained the postal system that allows
correspondence between the islands of the Great
Sea, and are known to be a kind, caring and
honorable tribe. Amongst the islands of the Great
Sea and other lands beyond, the rito have earned
a great deal of respect for their sense of honor,
loyalty, and dedication.
Personality: The rito have a strict sense of
honor that guides their life. To the rito, honor
means a great deal, and their sense of honor
dictates much of their personality. Most rito are
honest to a fault. They cannot stand dishonesty
in others and tolerate even less in their own kind.
Their honest natures have a tendency to make
them seem blunt and crude at times, but it is
only through a will to express nothing but the
truth. The rito take their sense of honor to the
point of seeming stern and set in their ways.
Realistically, however, the rito love leisure just as
much as the bawdiest gerudo, though they
seldom give in to excesses easily. For most rito,
a life led through hard work, loyalty to a cause
and dedication to tasks is the ideal life, and those
who achieve such lifestyles are praised and
rewarded with increased status amongst their
peers. The rito are a very tightly knit tribe,
preferring to form aviaries with several clans. At
times, multi-clan marriage produces a new clan
for the aviary, which may eventually become too
small for all the occupants, forcing the newer
clans to disembark and find their new aviary
elsewhere. In addition, the rito are a kind folk,
dedicated to helping those in need and honoring
agreements no matter the cost. Indeed, many
tales abound from the Great Sea of shipwrecked
sailors who survive only because of the
intervention of lone rito’s offer of assistance. The
rito sense of honor and justice, mingled with
their strict adherence to the truth in all matters is
the catalyst behind almost all rito motivations. As
such, they are absolute sticklers for paying debts
in full, balancing favors and acts of kindness, and
righting wrongs in personal and non-personal
situations.
Physical Description: Rito are a tall folk,
standing an average of 5 to 6 feet tall. There is
almost no difference between the weight of
males and females, as they tend to be equal in
height. A rito’s body is covered in short, neat
feathers with thick plumes on their tails and
underarms where their wings are located. Their
faces are narrow and slightly front-sloped and
hawkish; though remarkably flat for a bird-like
race. Their slanted eyes are sharp and somewhat
resembling a hylian’s. A small, slightly hooked
beak rests in the middle of their faces. The beaks
is sharp enough for use in tearing and eating
food, but also soft enough to not greatly impair
speech, allowing rito to talk in nearly any
language they know without problem. Their
hands are soft and slender, covered in tiny,
delicate feathers and their legs from the knee
down are covered in tough hide with their feet
resembling the splay-toed foot of many birds of
prey. Their knees are forward bending, allowing
them the same type of maneuverability as most
other bipedal races. Rito males tend to have
slightly darker colorations and broader shoulders
and faces while females have thicker wing and
tail plumes. Both sexes dress often in short,
knee-high breeches tightly banded at the knee,
tabards marking their clan or aviary (or job
position if they work as post deliverers), and
cloaks with long, voluminous sleeves that are
easily pulled back when the need for flight arises.
Their wings are comprised of long, strong
feathers slimly aligned along the underside of
their arms. When moved out for flight, the
wingspans are usually double the rito’s actual
height. When folded under the arms, they do not
hinder the rito at all.
Relations: Because the largest population of
ritos lives in the Great Sea region, ritos do not
have much interaction with many other tribes. In
that region, the ritos deal mainly with hylians,
moblins, and zoras though in the Great Sea
regions zora tend to be rare. Rito are highly
respected amongst the hylian inhabitants of the
Great Sea Isles, and are known for their post
system and their stern sense of honor and
justice. The rito of the Great Sea region get along
well with the malleable hylians, deal in amicable
terms with the zora of the region, and are bitter
enemies of any moblins found within the region.
Outside of the Great Sea region, there are very
few aviaries of rito. Those that do exist tend to
deal well with other tribes as a whole. The rito
have amicable dealings with gorons, often
dealing in minerals and other precious metals
mined out of their aviaries in return for bomb
flower crops, lumber, or other important goods.
The gerudo seem to puzzle and even anger the
rito, who cannot abide the gerudo’s deceptive
and thieving ways. Deku puzzle the rito, but the
good-natured rito consider the deku to be
excellent merchants and find their dedication to
business admirable (so long as the deku do their
business honestly). Kokiri and rito rarely if ever
cross paths, mostly due to the isolationist nature
of the kokiri. The two tribes have a healthy
respect for each other, as they both share a
tender respect for the wilds of the world, but the
strange, anti-social, and sometimes xenophobic
nature of the kokiri sometimes offend the rito
who are far more open and inviting. Subrosians
and tokay are almost unknown to the rito,
though there are rumors of aviaries on both
Labrynna and Holodrum where the two tribes
often come together for trade and leisure. The
30 good-natured rito, always eager to create new
friends and alliances find the subrosians to be
excellent company, and the Tokay to be amusing
company worthy of respect.
Focus: For the most part, rito tend heavily
toward the focus of light. Indeed, rare are the
rito who so much as fall into the focus of shadow.
The rito are a honorable folk who believe in
justice and truth. For them, the light focus is a
natural fit. Rare indeed is the rito who falls from
the graces of his people into the dark focus. In all
the annals of rito lore and myth, there are no
recorded instances of such a wicked rito, but all
know that history is written by the victor, and as
with any other tribe, there are members who are
swayed to the path of power at any cost.
Rito Lands: Rito primarily dwell in the region of
the Great Sea. Throughout the region, various
aviaries dot numerous islands and landmarks,
the largest of which is Windfall Island. It is there
that Prince Kamaldi and his father, the Chieftain,
rule over the rito responsible for the Great Sea
region’s post system. Other notable aviaries
include pockets on the peaks of several mountain
ranges in Termina, mountains and cliff bluffs
north of Death Mountain in Hyrule, and some
small isolated pockets on Holodrum and
Labrynna.
Religion: The rito are not an overly zealous folk,
yet the proper worship and homage to the
Goddesses is an important part of rito culture.
For the most part, the rito give equal worship to
all three Goddesses, considering it a dishonor
and an insult to do any less. In practice however,
the rito seem to relate most powerfully to Nayru.
Their sense of justice, law, and truth compel
them to follow the ways of the more
philosophical of the Goddesses. In addition, the
rito also offer worship to the various demigods of
the world, most notably of which is Zophor, the
God of Winds. The Wind Shrine just outside of
Windfall Isle is testament to this devotion to the
patron of the skies.
Aspect: The rito are seekers of truth and justice,
and place a great amount of faith and expectancy
in honesty and kindness. For the rito, no other
aspect save the Light aspect holds as much sway
with their connection to the Tri-Force. Except for
the few rito wizzrobes who become specialists of
the Water or Forest aspect, Light is the aspect of
choice.
Adventurers: A rito may be pulled into
adventure for a number of reasons. Rito take
their honor and sense of justice to the extreme.
A rito who feels insulted may be obliged to track
down his opponent and right the wrong (though
keep in mind that ritos are not quick to anger
and not often moved to violence). In addition,
ritos are moved by knowledge and fascinated
with lore and mythology. A rito may leave the
aviary for a period to research ancient stories, or
perhaps a rito who works for the post system in
the Great Sea region discovers something amiss
with one of his deliveries and feels obligated to
investigate the disturbance.
Rito Tribal Traits
• +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2
Strength, -2 Wisdom: Rito are swift and
intelligent, but they lack physical strength
and are somewhat blindly dedicated to
their ideals of right and wrong.
• Medium-size: As medium-size creatures,
rito do not have any special advantages or
disadvantages for their size.
• A rito’s base speed is 30 feet when
moving on the ground, and 40 feet when
flying. When flying, the rito has a
maneuverability class of Poor. Since rito
need to use their arm wings to fly, they
may not make any attacks while airborne
unless it is to drop rocks or other
dangerous weapons from on high. Normal
rules for attacking while in turbulent
conditions apply.
• Flight (Ex): A rito is born with the
capability of flight, but as the rito (like all
the tribes of the Tri-Force) are still
evolving, they are not able to access this
ability without help. Ritos are born with
small, stubby wings incapable of carrying
them any distance at all. When a rito
reaches half his adult age, he must
undergo some sort of trial to complete the
growth of his wings. The trial depends on
the aviary’s standards of what trials
young ritos perform, but no matter what,
two specific criteria must be met. The first
is that the rito must come to an epiphany
on the meaning of his people and their
innate nature. This is best handled
through role-playing and has no tangible
mechanic. The second is that the rito
must meet a patron demigod or magical
protector of some kind and receive that
creature’s blessing. Always have the rito
needed the blessing of their protector
totem, creature, or demigod to achieve
their true wings. The blessing itself is
nothing more than a gesture of
acceptance from the guardian in question.
The demigod or magical protector in
question must be someone the rito has
pledged himself to and must be of the
same focus as the rito in order for the
blessings to work.
• +2 racial bonus to Defense while on the
ground, +1 while in the air: Rito are agile
creatures, but their mobility in the air
hinders them when airborne.
• Improved Low-light vision: Rito can see
three times as far as normal in moonlight,
31 torchlight, candlelight and other similar
lighting conditions as normal. They retain
the ability to distinguish color and detail
under these conditions.
• +2 racial bonus on Spot, Listen, and
Sense Motive checks: Rito have sharp
senses and their sense of justice and
truthfulness is no less keen.
• Automatic Languages: Rito and Hylian.
• Bonus Languages: Any.
• Favored Class: Academic. A multiclass
rito’s academic class levels do not count
when determining if the character takes
an experience point penalty (see the
Player’s Handbook, page 60 for
multiclassing).
• Favored Aspect: Light.
• Opposed Aspect: Shadow.