Domriso
2014-02-23, 08:10 PM
This is my basis for a revision of the Illumian race presented in Races of Destiny. The race always seemed kinda boring to me, but after looking at it again (to try and make some homebrew for this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=17059733)) I decided that the ideas were interesting, and that I wanted to try my hand at fixing the issues I had with the race.
Here is my attempt.
This is a work in progress, but it shouldn't take too awful long to complete. At least, I hope not.
The concept of the Illumian's intrigued me from the start, but I hate the fact that apparently all of the weird races are made out of humans. Why couldn't the Ritual of Words Made Flesh be used on an Elf? Or on a Dwarf? Or even an Orc? There's precedence for this sort of change to the ritual in the entry in Races of Destiny itself, so it seems that what should have been a cool template got shoehorned into a race just so it could fit in with the set up of Races of Stone and Races of the Wild.
Hence, my version of the Illumian's, taking the idea that it is a template-turned-race, with mechanics harkening back to the original web-post (http://web.archive.org/web/20041207024604/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041114b&page=2), but expanding it even more.
Illumian
The Illumian "race" is one of language embodied, a race which constantly strives to understand, contemplate, and redefine the world around it. While many Illumians look like Humans, this is more because of the Human prevalence in the world than any special connection to the ubiquitous humanoids.
Personality: Illumians are inherently learned creatures, understanding language and communication on a basic, primal level. Their desire for learning is more voracious than other races, and they often possess a pride for their race that stands out as near-arrogance.
Physical Description: The Illumians are difficult to classify physically, because they come in so many forms. The most common Illumian is one descended from Human parents, and thus they most often resemble humans. However, the nature of the Word Made Flesh is one of acquisition, and it was only a matter of time before other races were introduced to the Illumian fold. All told, Illumian's descended from Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and Orcs are incredibly common. Furthermore, the nature of the ritual makes it so that two Illumians, even if of different races originally, breed together more effectively than those two races alone.
It should be noted that Illumians which are born to two Illumian parents generally take after one parent, with only minor traits filling in the blanks from the other parent. Two Illumians will always give birth to another Illumian, but if an Illumian breeds with a non-Illumian the vast majority of children from such a union will keep the physical traits of the non-Illumian parent but inherent the mystical traits of the Illumian parent.
To clear some things up, the first Illumians were made by being altered by the Ritual of Words Made Flesh. This physically and metaphysically altered them, turning them into a living embodiment of language. The original ritual was carried out by Sektlamoor on herself, and thus targeted Humans, but after she successfully performed the ritual a number of subsequent times she expanded the ritual to other races. The result has been a race which started as many others. It acts as a template, adding onto other humanoid races.
However, when an Illumian and a non-Illumian mate, the child is usually (85% of the time) mechanically considered a member of the non-Illumian race, with the Illumian template added on.
This would cause the Illumian race to spread dramatically, except they are inherently secretive and selective, choosing only to mate with those whom they feel should have been born an Illumian. In all honesty, if the Ritual of Words Made Flesh were still known, it would probably be carried out on these individuals, but instead they are simply bred with, to at least give their children a chance at "greatness" (stereotypical Illumian arrogance coming out here).
However, there are traits which all Illumians, regardless of racial origin, possess. One is that of hairlessness. Whether it is a mere quirk of fate or a specific desire of the original Illumian, the ritual of Words Made Flesh removes the hair from its host. While the hair does not immediately fall off, no new hair will grow, and so all of a newly made Illumian's hair eventually falls off. Naturally born Illumian's do not grow hair in the first place.
But, by far the most obvious trait of Illumian's is that of the glowing runes which float around their heads. These runes, commonly known as sigils, glow slightly, producing about the same amount of light as a candle. They generally remain static, changing only with growing experience and knowledge of the Illumian themselves.
In terms of dress, Illumians possess a wide range of stylistic choice, since their heritage is one of great mixture and combinations. However, one area which Illumians share is that of makeup and tattoos. Most Illumians decorate themselves lavishly with makeup, and often tattoo their bodies with details important to themselves. Different alphabets and runic systems are common, though other tattoos exist.
Relations: Illumians are a secretive race, preferring to remain out of the way, controlling actions from behind the scenes. Because they naturally seclude themselves to their cabals, very few large Illumian societies exist. When traveling among other races and cultures, Illumians usually prefer to attempt to blend in, avoiding the constant questions involving their natures.
Still, among the other races there is a tendency towards curious but distant. Because most Illumians can trace their heritage back to many different races, the natural racist tendencies of their progenitor races have long since died out. When dealing with any other race, there is a tendency among Illumians to treat them as pawns, simply because the other races rarely have the kinds of political machinations which are common to the everyday life of the Illumians.
With Humans, Illumians usually have a feeling of quiet respect, as the original Illumian was a Human herself. Still, there is an almost sorrow at what many Illumians consider to be a not-yet-fulfilled role in Humans, a wasted potential.
With Elves, the Illumians often honor and covet their advanced lifespans, but at the same time berate their clinging to tradition.
With Dwarves, the Illumians praise their craftsmanship, but otherwise shake their heads at a stubborn people.
With Halflings, the Illumians see a familiar bent, with a group who prefer to remain out of the way, but also a stance of quiet rivalry, for who knows what such a similar race could be capable of.
With Gnomes, the Illumians primarily see a kindred soul, a people nearly as naturally inquisitive as themselves. However, whereas the Illumians have a near-essential impulse to experience all they can, the Gnomes are more intrigued by the world itself, and less with mastery over it.
With Orcs, the Illumians see a brutish race shoehorned into a terrible circumstance. Many an Illumian have set out to try and better the Orcish people, simply based on the perceived inequalities set out with them.
Lands: Illumians have no large domains. As a relatively young race, the Illumians usually choose to settle in out-of-the-way, largely unpopulated areas, often ones which resist habitation. Still, most Illumian cabals exist near some form of other culture, for the Illumians always believe that there is something to learn from everyone.
Religion: The Illumians are a largely irreligious race, their many constituent races stitching what beliefs they held together in a barely-understood whole. Still, the concept of ascension is held deep by some Illumians, and thus religion does often play a role.
Being a young race, there are few purely Illumian deities, with only three standing out as universal. Most Illumians pay some form of lip service to the major three, those being Sektlamoor, the progenitor of their race, Shalmemjur, the keeper of memories, and Joolanpith, the ender of words.
Illumian Traits
"Illumian" is an acquired or inherited template that can be added to any creature of the Humanoid type.
Size and Type: The creature's size and type do not change.
Special Qualities: The creature gains the following special qualities:
Luminous Symbols (Su): The symbols which orbit an Illumian’s head glow softly, providing illumination equal to that of a candle. Illumians can make their sigils disappear by concentrating for a moment (a standard action), but they don’t receive the sigils’ benefits and can’t use any special abilities granted by illumian words (see below) while they’re doused. Restoring the sigils to visibility is a free action.
Luminous sigils (including power sigils; see below) are insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. An illumian’s sigils remain present and in effect even when the Illumian takes another form, unless she would lose her supernatural abilities as a result of that form change An illumian wizard who casts a polymorph spell on herself retains her sigils, but an illumian who is raised as a zombie loses them.
Glyphic Resonance (Ex): Illumians are the physical embodiment of a magical language, so they interact strangely with symbol-based spells. This group includes all spells whose names contain the word glyph, rune, sigil, or symbol (such spells in the Players Handbook include explosive runes, glyphs of warding, greater glyph of warding, sepia snake sigil, and the various symbol spells). When an Illumian encounters such magic, one of two things happens: either the Illumian’s resonance overpowers the spell or the foreign magic corrupts the mystical language that defines the illumian. Illumians have a -4 racial penalty on saving throws against these effects if their level is less than the caster level of the spell. If an Illumian’s level equal or exceeds the spell’s caster level, she is immune to the effect.
Power Sigils (Su): A 1st-level illumian has two glowing sigils that slowly orbit her head at slightly above eye level. She chooses a third sigil at 5th level, a fourth sigil at 10th level, a fifth sigil at 15th level, and a sixth sigil at 20th level. The sigils are entirely insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. But each sigil bestows magical properties on the illumian, and certain combinations of sigils offer greater power.
An Illumian can choose to take the same sigil multiple times, but their effects do not stack. Rather, any duplicate sigil counts as two sigils for the purposes of determining the effects of the sigils, but only in regards to the duplicate sigils’ effects.
For example, at 1st level Gaukalwau selects the Bley sigil and the Enh sigil. At 5th level he chooses to again take the Bley sigil. The second Bley sigil counts as two sigils, but only in regards to the effect provided by the Bley sigil; in regards to the Enh sigil, the Bley sigil only counts as a single sigil. So, at 5th level, Gaukalwau gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws (an effective 4 sigils, divided by 2), but only increases his favored enemy bonuses by +3.
Luminous sigils (including power sigils; see below) are insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. An illumian’s sigils remain present and in effect even when the Illumian takes another form, unless she would lose her supernatural abilities as a result of that form change An illumian wizard who casts a polymorph spell on herself retains her sigils, but an illumian who is raised as a zombie loses them.
Sigils enhance native abilities. If an Illumian who does not possess an ability forms a sigil which impacts that ability, they do not gain the capability to use it. For example, if Gaukalwau chose to take the zill sigil but did not possess the ability to make sneak attacks via some other means, he would not suddenly gain the ability to make sneak attacks simply by virtue of forming the sigil.
Illumian Words: Some combinations of sigils grant extra abilities when they spell Illumian words of great power. If an illumian has the sigils to form any of the following words, he or she can choose to form the two individual sigils together into a single word in order to gain the following benefit. However, by choosing to gain the benefit of an Illumian word, the Illumian weakens the effective power of the more basic sigils. An Illumian word only counts as a single sigil for effects related to bonuses provided by their Power Sigils.
For example, Sathia chooses the Chea and Hoon Power Sigils, and chooses to combine them into the Cheahoon word. She gains the benefits of both the Chea and Hoon abilities, as well as the Cheahoon ability, but only counts as possessing a single sigil for each effect.
In the case of a character taking duplicates of a particular sigil and then combining that sigil with another to form a word, the duplicate sigil is reduced in effectiveness by 1, thereby counting as a single sigil for the purposes of the duplicate sigil.
A single sigil cannot be formed together to form more than one word. This means that, at the maximum of 20th level, an Illumian can only form three words.
An Illumian chooses which words, if any, to form at the beginning of each day. This is done simply and requires only a single full-round action for each word to be formed.
Final Utterance (Ex): When an Illumian dies, her body releases the stored Illumian language within it. For 1 round per Hit Die of the Illumian, anyone within earshot hears an ululating Illumian syllables--usually gibberish, but occasionally a prophetic phrase or final curse on the Illumian’s enemies. The Illumian’s body need not remain for the final utterance to occur. Even if an Illumian succumbs to a disintegrate spell, her disembodied voice still utters strange gibberish for several rounds.
Superior Literacy: Illumians are always literate, regardless of their character class. Speak Language is always a class skill for Illumians, regardless of class.
Languages: Illumians have a natural understanding of language, in particular their own. All Illumians, whether born or made, know how to read and write in the Illumian tongue. Furthermore, all other languages are open to them as bonus languages, except for secret languages such as Druidic.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh
When Sektlamoor first came upon the concept of the inherent power held within words, she was following a long tradition. Words always held power, from the obvious magical uses, to the manner in which the right insult could cut a person more deeply than any wound. Sektlamoor followed the linguistic tendencies of many languages, especially those often used in the use of magic, and discovered that there was a commonality amongst the many tongues.
Using this knowledge of magical linguistics, Sektlamoor created an entirely new language, one naturally imbued with a touch of magic. As she experimented with using the language through spells, she discovered that these words could empower the spells far beyond their normal bounds. She also discovered that, if spoken correctly, the words themselves could change the world itself.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh was Sektlamoor's attempt at becoming closer to the language. Recognizing the power held within her own creation, she created a long ritual, an extensive chant really, which, when recited perfectly, resulted in the transformation of the recipient into an Illumian.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh
Transmutation
Spellcraft DC: 600
Components: Verbal
Casting Time: 1 day
Range: Touch
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
To Develop: 5,400,000 gp; 108 days; 216,000 xp. Seeds: fortify (DC 27), life (DC 27), reveal (DC 23), transform (DC 71). Factors: No somatic component (+2 DC), made instantaneous (x5). Mitigating Factors: Increase casting time to 1 day (-20 DC), spell must be performed solely in Illumian (ad hoc -10 DC)
The result of this spell is that the touched creature is infused and transformed by the Illumian language, becoming a physical embodiment of said tongue. They retain all of their other racial traits, but immediately gain the Illumian template. This process is instantaneous and irreversible, and cannot be dispelled.
Throughout her life, Sektlamoor performed the Ritual of Words Made Flesh countless times, personally bringing the Illumian people to numbers in the low thousands. However, not all the rituals were identical. With her mastery of the Illumian tongue, Sektlamoor often would alter the ritual slightly, either to reinforce the recipient or to grant additional abilities. The most notable example of this was granting eternal life upon a truly remarkable bard with one casting.
As the first Illumian, Sektlamoor traveled forth, seeking others who wished to be brought into her fold. While not everyone who she desired accepted, soon enough her forces began to swell, and Sektlamoor realized that there was nowhere in which her newly created people could actually call their own. This began their quest to find a place to call their own.
Here is my attempt.
This is a work in progress, but it shouldn't take too awful long to complete. At least, I hope not.
The concept of the Illumian's intrigued me from the start, but I hate the fact that apparently all of the weird races are made out of humans. Why couldn't the Ritual of Words Made Flesh be used on an Elf? Or on a Dwarf? Or even an Orc? There's precedence for this sort of change to the ritual in the entry in Races of Destiny itself, so it seems that what should have been a cool template got shoehorned into a race just so it could fit in with the set up of Races of Stone and Races of the Wild.
Hence, my version of the Illumian's, taking the idea that it is a template-turned-race, with mechanics harkening back to the original web-post (http://web.archive.org/web/20041207024604/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041114b&page=2), but expanding it even more.
Illumian
The Illumian "race" is one of language embodied, a race which constantly strives to understand, contemplate, and redefine the world around it. While many Illumians look like Humans, this is more because of the Human prevalence in the world than any special connection to the ubiquitous humanoids.
Personality: Illumians are inherently learned creatures, understanding language and communication on a basic, primal level. Their desire for learning is more voracious than other races, and they often possess a pride for their race that stands out as near-arrogance.
Physical Description: The Illumians are difficult to classify physically, because they come in so many forms. The most common Illumian is one descended from Human parents, and thus they most often resemble humans. However, the nature of the Word Made Flesh is one of acquisition, and it was only a matter of time before other races were introduced to the Illumian fold. All told, Illumian's descended from Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and Orcs are incredibly common. Furthermore, the nature of the ritual makes it so that two Illumians, even if of different races originally, breed together more effectively than those two races alone.
It should be noted that Illumians which are born to two Illumian parents generally take after one parent, with only minor traits filling in the blanks from the other parent. Two Illumians will always give birth to another Illumian, but if an Illumian breeds with a non-Illumian the vast majority of children from such a union will keep the physical traits of the non-Illumian parent but inherent the mystical traits of the Illumian parent.
To clear some things up, the first Illumians were made by being altered by the Ritual of Words Made Flesh. This physically and metaphysically altered them, turning them into a living embodiment of language. The original ritual was carried out by Sektlamoor on herself, and thus targeted Humans, but after she successfully performed the ritual a number of subsequent times she expanded the ritual to other races. The result has been a race which started as many others. It acts as a template, adding onto other humanoid races.
However, when an Illumian and a non-Illumian mate, the child is usually (85% of the time) mechanically considered a member of the non-Illumian race, with the Illumian template added on.
This would cause the Illumian race to spread dramatically, except they are inherently secretive and selective, choosing only to mate with those whom they feel should have been born an Illumian. In all honesty, if the Ritual of Words Made Flesh were still known, it would probably be carried out on these individuals, but instead they are simply bred with, to at least give their children a chance at "greatness" (stereotypical Illumian arrogance coming out here).
However, there are traits which all Illumians, regardless of racial origin, possess. One is that of hairlessness. Whether it is a mere quirk of fate or a specific desire of the original Illumian, the ritual of Words Made Flesh removes the hair from its host. While the hair does not immediately fall off, no new hair will grow, and so all of a newly made Illumian's hair eventually falls off. Naturally born Illumian's do not grow hair in the first place.
But, by far the most obvious trait of Illumian's is that of the glowing runes which float around their heads. These runes, commonly known as sigils, glow slightly, producing about the same amount of light as a candle. They generally remain static, changing only with growing experience and knowledge of the Illumian themselves.
In terms of dress, Illumians possess a wide range of stylistic choice, since their heritage is one of great mixture and combinations. However, one area which Illumians share is that of makeup and tattoos. Most Illumians decorate themselves lavishly with makeup, and often tattoo their bodies with details important to themselves. Different alphabets and runic systems are common, though other tattoos exist.
Relations: Illumians are a secretive race, preferring to remain out of the way, controlling actions from behind the scenes. Because they naturally seclude themselves to their cabals, very few large Illumian societies exist. When traveling among other races and cultures, Illumians usually prefer to attempt to blend in, avoiding the constant questions involving their natures.
Still, among the other races there is a tendency towards curious but distant. Because most Illumians can trace their heritage back to many different races, the natural racist tendencies of their progenitor races have long since died out. When dealing with any other race, there is a tendency among Illumians to treat them as pawns, simply because the other races rarely have the kinds of political machinations which are common to the everyday life of the Illumians.
With Humans, Illumians usually have a feeling of quiet respect, as the original Illumian was a Human herself. Still, there is an almost sorrow at what many Illumians consider to be a not-yet-fulfilled role in Humans, a wasted potential.
With Elves, the Illumians often honor and covet their advanced lifespans, but at the same time berate their clinging to tradition.
With Dwarves, the Illumians praise their craftsmanship, but otherwise shake their heads at a stubborn people.
With Halflings, the Illumians see a familiar bent, with a group who prefer to remain out of the way, but also a stance of quiet rivalry, for who knows what such a similar race could be capable of.
With Gnomes, the Illumians primarily see a kindred soul, a people nearly as naturally inquisitive as themselves. However, whereas the Illumians have a near-essential impulse to experience all they can, the Gnomes are more intrigued by the world itself, and less with mastery over it.
With Orcs, the Illumians see a brutish race shoehorned into a terrible circumstance. Many an Illumian have set out to try and better the Orcish people, simply based on the perceived inequalities set out with them.
Lands: Illumians have no large domains. As a relatively young race, the Illumians usually choose to settle in out-of-the-way, largely unpopulated areas, often ones which resist habitation. Still, most Illumian cabals exist near some form of other culture, for the Illumians always believe that there is something to learn from everyone.
Religion: The Illumians are a largely irreligious race, their many constituent races stitching what beliefs they held together in a barely-understood whole. Still, the concept of ascension is held deep by some Illumians, and thus religion does often play a role.
Being a young race, there are few purely Illumian deities, with only three standing out as universal. Most Illumians pay some form of lip service to the major three, those being Sektlamoor, the progenitor of their race, Shalmemjur, the keeper of memories, and Joolanpith, the ender of words.
Illumian Traits
"Illumian" is an acquired or inherited template that can be added to any creature of the Humanoid type.
Size and Type: The creature's size and type do not change.
Special Qualities: The creature gains the following special qualities:
Luminous Symbols (Su): The symbols which orbit an Illumian’s head glow softly, providing illumination equal to that of a candle. Illumians can make their sigils disappear by concentrating for a moment (a standard action), but they don’t receive the sigils’ benefits and can’t use any special abilities granted by illumian words (see below) while they’re doused. Restoring the sigils to visibility is a free action.
Luminous sigils (including power sigils; see below) are insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. An illumian’s sigils remain present and in effect even when the Illumian takes another form, unless she would lose her supernatural abilities as a result of that form change An illumian wizard who casts a polymorph spell on herself retains her sigils, but an illumian who is raised as a zombie loses them.
Glyphic Resonance (Ex): Illumians are the physical embodiment of a magical language, so they interact strangely with symbol-based spells. This group includes all spells whose names contain the word glyph, rune, sigil, or symbol (such spells in the Players Handbook include explosive runes, glyphs of warding, greater glyph of warding, sepia snake sigil, and the various symbol spells). When an Illumian encounters such magic, one of two things happens: either the Illumian’s resonance overpowers the spell or the foreign magic corrupts the mystical language that defines the illumian. Illumians have a -4 racial penalty on saving throws against these effects if their level is less than the caster level of the spell. If an Illumian’s level equal or exceeds the spell’s caster level, she is immune to the effect.
Power Sigils (Su): A 1st-level illumian has two glowing sigils that slowly orbit her head at slightly above eye level. She chooses a third sigil at 5th level, a fourth sigil at 10th level, a fifth sigil at 15th level, and a sixth sigil at 20th level. The sigils are entirely insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. But each sigil bestows magical properties on the illumian, and certain combinations of sigils offer greater power.
An Illumian can choose to take the same sigil multiple times, but their effects do not stack. Rather, any duplicate sigil counts as two sigils for the purposes of determining the effects of the sigils, but only in regards to the duplicate sigils’ effects.
For example, at 1st level Gaukalwau selects the Bley sigil and the Enh sigil. At 5th level he chooses to again take the Bley sigil. The second Bley sigil counts as two sigils, but only in regards to the effect provided by the Bley sigil; in regards to the Enh sigil, the Bley sigil only counts as a single sigil. So, at 5th level, Gaukalwau gains a +2 bonus on all saving throws (an effective 4 sigils, divided by 2), but only increases his favored enemy bonuses by +3.
Luminous sigils (including power sigils; see below) are insubstantial and disappear into any matter they touch. An illumian’s sigils remain present and in effect even when the Illumian takes another form, unless she would lose her supernatural abilities as a result of that form change An illumian wizard who casts a polymorph spell on herself retains her sigils, but an illumian who is raised as a zombie loses them.
Sigils enhance native abilities. If an Illumian who does not possess an ability forms a sigil which impacts that ability, they do not gain the capability to use it. For example, if Gaukalwau chose to take the zill sigil but did not possess the ability to make sneak attacks via some other means, he would not suddenly gain the ability to make sneak attacks simply by virtue of forming the sigil.
Illumian Words: Some combinations of sigils grant extra abilities when they spell Illumian words of great power. If an illumian has the sigils to form any of the following words, he or she can choose to form the two individual sigils together into a single word in order to gain the following benefit. However, by choosing to gain the benefit of an Illumian word, the Illumian weakens the effective power of the more basic sigils. An Illumian word only counts as a single sigil for effects related to bonuses provided by their Power Sigils.
For example, Sathia chooses the Chea and Hoon Power Sigils, and chooses to combine them into the Cheahoon word. She gains the benefits of both the Chea and Hoon abilities, as well as the Cheahoon ability, but only counts as possessing a single sigil for each effect.
In the case of a character taking duplicates of a particular sigil and then combining that sigil with another to form a word, the duplicate sigil is reduced in effectiveness by 1, thereby counting as a single sigil for the purposes of the duplicate sigil.
A single sigil cannot be formed together to form more than one word. This means that, at the maximum of 20th level, an Illumian can only form three words.
An Illumian chooses which words, if any, to form at the beginning of each day. This is done simply and requires only a single full-round action for each word to be formed.
Final Utterance (Ex): When an Illumian dies, her body releases the stored Illumian language within it. For 1 round per Hit Die of the Illumian, anyone within earshot hears an ululating Illumian syllables--usually gibberish, but occasionally a prophetic phrase or final curse on the Illumian’s enemies. The Illumian’s body need not remain for the final utterance to occur. Even if an Illumian succumbs to a disintegrate spell, her disembodied voice still utters strange gibberish for several rounds.
Superior Literacy: Illumians are always literate, regardless of their character class. Speak Language is always a class skill for Illumians, regardless of class.
Languages: Illumians have a natural understanding of language, in particular their own. All Illumians, whether born or made, know how to read and write in the Illumian tongue. Furthermore, all other languages are open to them as bonus languages, except for secret languages such as Druidic.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh
When Sektlamoor first came upon the concept of the inherent power held within words, she was following a long tradition. Words always held power, from the obvious magical uses, to the manner in which the right insult could cut a person more deeply than any wound. Sektlamoor followed the linguistic tendencies of many languages, especially those often used in the use of magic, and discovered that there was a commonality amongst the many tongues.
Using this knowledge of magical linguistics, Sektlamoor created an entirely new language, one naturally imbued with a touch of magic. As she experimented with using the language through spells, she discovered that these words could empower the spells far beyond their normal bounds. She also discovered that, if spoken correctly, the words themselves could change the world itself.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh was Sektlamoor's attempt at becoming closer to the language. Recognizing the power held within her own creation, she created a long ritual, an extensive chant really, which, when recited perfectly, resulted in the transformation of the recipient into an Illumian.
The Ritual of Words Made Flesh
Transmutation
Spellcraft DC: 600
Components: Verbal
Casting Time: 1 day
Range: Touch
Target: One living creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes
To Develop: 5,400,000 gp; 108 days; 216,000 xp. Seeds: fortify (DC 27), life (DC 27), reveal (DC 23), transform (DC 71). Factors: No somatic component (+2 DC), made instantaneous (x5). Mitigating Factors: Increase casting time to 1 day (-20 DC), spell must be performed solely in Illumian (ad hoc -10 DC)
The result of this spell is that the touched creature is infused and transformed by the Illumian language, becoming a physical embodiment of said tongue. They retain all of their other racial traits, but immediately gain the Illumian template. This process is instantaneous and irreversible, and cannot be dispelled.
Throughout her life, Sektlamoor performed the Ritual of Words Made Flesh countless times, personally bringing the Illumian people to numbers in the low thousands. However, not all the rituals were identical. With her mastery of the Illumian tongue, Sektlamoor often would alter the ritual slightly, either to reinforce the recipient or to grant additional abilities. The most notable example of this was granting eternal life upon a truly remarkable bard with one casting.
As the first Illumian, Sektlamoor traveled forth, seeking others who wished to be brought into her fold. While not everyone who she desired accepted, soon enough her forces began to swell, and Sektlamoor realized that there was nowhere in which her newly created people could actually call their own. This began their quest to find a place to call their own.