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Overview

Personality

Theren are a serene, philosophical race who will never initiate aggression, but are not afraid to finish an encounter swiftly and efficiently. Theren value self-discipline and considered thought and are often practitioners of a variety of martial and psychic arts in their striving for perfection of the self.

Something that very few members of other races realise is that theren have a subliminal, background mental and spiritual contact with all other theren. This link comes from their semi-divine nature and also strengthens them against the ravages of Taint, the arcane or psychic influences of others upon their minds, as well as giving them a type of support that few other races can adequately comprehend.

Physical Description

Theren are tall, gaunt humanoids averaging a little over 6ft tall and typically weighing around 160 pounds. They have smooth, white to pale grey skin and hair that ranges from white through to grey, black and the occasional russet red. Their eyes are slanted and their ears are sharply pointed.

Theren do not sleep as other races do. Instead, theren meditate in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. A theren resting in this fashion gains the same benefits that members of other races receive from 8 hours of sleep.

After reaching adulthood, theren are effectively ageless and never suffer from age penalties.

A Theren Akashic Master

Society

In terms of their outlook, Theren are perhaps the most singular race of all the races of Kes.

Suki-o-Chi the Moon Goddess of Wisdom gave up her divine life to sustain the Theren, thereby creating perhaps the most unique of the many races. Suki-o-Chi’s infusion of her divine spark with the Theren had several unexpected effects, not the least of which was giving birth to their semi-divine nature.

The Descent, as Suki-o-Chi’s sacrifice is known among the Theren, had many effects.

1. The Theren became effectively ageless after reaching adulthood.
2. Theren births became so exceedingly rare that they are now an event for all Theren to celebrate.
3. The theren became more acutely aware of the flow of time and their place within it, as well as being able to affect it to some extent.
4. Perhaps most profoundly, all Theren were able to feel one another’s thoughts, as well as becoming more sensitive to the psychic impressions that others left in the wake of their unrestrained emotions and chaotic thoughts.

These four things changed how Theren perceive themselves, others and their place in the world. Theren strive to find inner peace and, in moments of pure clarity while immersed in tranquility, to hear the whispers of Suki-o-Chi.

Theren are far less materialistic than most other races, preferring instead to seek wisdom and personal perfection.

All members of the Theren race are also members of their government, gathering in grand telepathic conclaves that guide the future of the race as a whole. The eldest Theren are also the most revered, especially those remaining few who were alive during the time of Suki-o-Chi’s Descent.

Upon the death of a member of the Theren, all living Theren perform a small psychic ritual to return the deceased to the Theren race-spirit. Indeed, it is believed by them that no Theren ever truly dies – it is just reincarnated as another Theren.

Relations

Theren are the most accepting of the Younger Races and find sublime joy in even the simplest interactions with other races. Coupled with their lack of materialism and peaceful natures, the Theren are sometimes perceived as simpletons to be taken advantage of, though any who have spent time with the Theren know that these ascetics live, love and fight as powerfully and fully as any other race.

Religion

Having joined spiritually and physically with their goddess, the Theren do not worship any deity in the conventional sense, though they do believe that perfecting their minds and bodies is a way to venerate Suki-o-Chi.

Adventurers

Theren value the opportunity to perfect themselves, as well as the wisdom and knowledge that can be gained by experiencing new things and meeting new people. As a result, “young” Theren are some of the most widely travelled of all the races and are often drawn to causes that prevent needless destruction or chaos.

Racial Characteristics

Defenses/Qualities

• Darkvision 120 feet
• Low-light vision 120 feet
• Taint Resistance 5 (improves by 1 per 5 levels)
• +4 racial bonus to Initiative
• sensitivity to psychic impressions , 3/day
• Time Resistance (Ex) :
  • A theren has time resistance equal to her level + 11
• Immune to slow .
• The Mind of the Many (Su) :
  • The theren may tap into the subliminal mental racial network of knowledge and information shared by all theren. A theren can make a Concentration check DC 20 and spend 10 minutes connecting to other theren to gain a +6 insight bonus on any Knowledge check they make.
• The Will of The Many (Su) :
  • A theren may make two saving throws instead of one for any spell, psi power, spell-like or supernatural ability that attempts to control the theren’s mind. The theren takes the better of the two rolls as their final save.
• The Vision of the Many (Su) :
  • Theren within a short distance of one another are able to feel one another’s thoughts. Within 120ft of one another, theren are only surprised or flat footed if all theren within that area are surprised or flat footed. In addition, theren within that area who engage in combat may use the initiative check of whichever theren has the highest initiative for that combat.
• Uncanny Dodge (Ex) :
  • A theren retains its Dexterity bonus to AC even if caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker, though it still loses its Dexterity bonus when immobilized. If the theren takes a class level which grants Uncanny Dodge , they instead gain Improved Uncanny Dodge .
  • If the theren takes a class level which grants Improved Uncanny Dodge, the theren’s fluidity within and awareness of time allows her to avoid all attacks of opportunity against her, unless they are immobilized. The theren can also act in a surprise round.
• Time Sense (Su) :
  • This acts as scent, but it can only be used to locate and track temporal creatures and disturbances, as well as characters or items able to spend time motes or aevum. This also gives theren a perfect sense of the passage of time.
• Time Runner (Su) :
  • Starting at 1st level, once per day + 1/three character levels, theren can move briefly through time to take an additional move action that does not exist in the normal sequence of reality. The theren does not set off traps during this move action (though they may cause them to be triggered if, at the end of their run, the proper triggering situation still exists). They do not provoke attacks of opportunity during this move action, nor may other characters make Perception checks to notice the theren during this move action. After the move action time catches up to the theren, triggered traps go off and other creatures may notice the theren where they now stand.
  • At 10th level, the theren may take this as an additional standard action.
  • At 20th level, the theren may take this as an additional movement and an additional standard action. Note, this is not an additional full round action.
• Back to the Future (Su) :
  • Theren can briefly peer into the future to observe the results of proposed acts or decisions in their present. Since the theren is only in their future for a moment, they are not certain to receive meaningful information.
  • The base chance for receiving meaningful information is 60% + 1% per character level. This roll is made secretly by the GM. If the ability succeeds, the theren gets one of the following four results:
  • 1. Weal (if the action will probably bring good results).
  • 2. Woe (for bad results).
  • 3. Weal and woe (for both).
  • 4. Nothing (for actions that don’t have especially good or bad results).
  • If the ability fails, the theren gets the “nothing” result. There is no way to tell if a “nothing” result is the consequence of an action with no particular results or a failed use of this ability.
  • This ability can see into the future only about ten minutes per level of the theren, so anything that might happen after that does not affect the result. Thus, the result might not take into account the long-term consequences of a contemplated action. All efforts to use this ability by the same person about the same topic use the same die result as the first use of the ability.
• Theren may create akashic memory stones from 1st level and onwards. In addition, akashic memory stones created by theren cost only half as much as normal to make.
• Theren may use any Akashic Node or akashic objects without making a Willpower check.
• Having spent hundreds of generations exploring both their self-discipline and the powers of the mind, when theren take levels in Monk (or any variant, including the Oathsworn from Arcana Evolved and the monks in Heroes of the Jade Oath), Akashic or any time-related class, they stack for purposes of increasing their respective class abilities e.g. monk’s unarmed attack, akashic skill memory, time warden motes etc. A theren does not gain new class abilities from those classes that are not advanced, only an improvement in the “per level” powers and abilities.

Abilities
+4 Dexterity
+4 Intelligence
+6 Wisdom