Cervin - Elf up Top, Deer down Low

[Amanojyaku]

Cervins are slender folk resembling deer with humanoid torsos where their necks should be. They hail from a world of plains and forests, and gravitate to similar crystal spheres, though they lay no particular claim to Arcadia. They are notable across the Wheel for developing spelljamming ships long before attaining heavier-than-air flight, as well as their tendency to find the move from pen-and-paper catalogs to digital computation backwards.

Cervin technology is simple and frightfully easy to reverse-engineer, favoring las or melta weapons that can kill without causing much pain. Their ships are near-unique not just for paint jobs that can withstand sphere-cracking and atmospheric entry alike, but also for being somewhat larger than strictly necessary, with spacious chambers and corridors inside. They're particularly infamous for capital-grade spelljammers with acres of grassland under clear domes exposed to the Astral Sea.

Physical Characteristics
Average Height: 1.7-2.2m
Average Weight: 50-100kg
Languages: Trade, Cervin
Common Personality Traits: Skittish, moody, proud, stoic, claustrophobic
Common Physical Traits: Cloven hooves, light footsteps, stiff fingers, slender build, sleek fur
Example Names: Cerea, Alloran, Chiron, Aldrea, Nelliel

Racial Statistics
Characteristic Bonus: +1 to Strength or Willpower
Skill Bonus: +1 to Athletics and Perception
Power: Hind Quarters: You have four legs; a result of 3 or 4 when determining Hit Location hits your Left or Right Hind Leg, respectively, instead of your Body. Increase your base Speed by half (rounded up), and you ignore difficult terrain that is a result of natural growth.
Size: 4

Racial Feats

Bounding Gazelle [Cervin]
You're just a bit more goat-like than is normal for a Cervin. Gain a free specialty (Jumping and Climbing) in Acrobatics and Athletics, and a +1k0 bonus on those tests.

Buck Wild [Cervin, Paragon]
You may be smaller than most trucks by a technicality, but that doesn't mean a Cervin in motion can't still hit like one. Gain one free rank of the Raging Locomotive sword school. You can advance this sword school as if it appeared in your class progression. In addition, your Charge attacks deal +0k1 damage.

Daggertail [Cervin]
While certainly not common enough to build a warrior caste out of, the most common mutation among Cervins is one that causes the tail to grow long and develop a wicked blade at the end. Gain a natural Tail Blade attack with the following profile: 1k2 R; Pen 4; Brawling, Reach.

Heavyweight Draft [Cervin]
You're built significantly more like a horse than a deer. Gain +1 Size, and halve the proficiency penalty for all armor. Instead of increasing your Speed by half, your racial power grants you the Quadruped trait. THis feat can only be taken at character creation.

Physical Qualities

Cervins are basically elves that grow out of deer. Their upper bodies are lean and sinewy, with whatever skin isn't covered by fur often burned a deep brown by the sun. Their eyes are generally dark in color, and the hair on a Cervin's head is usually the darkest shade on its body. Even in those without fur on their upper bodies, the ears almost always do, making them the most obvious indicator that you aren't looking at an elf, berk.

Below the waist, the Cervin's lower body is that of a deer, with soft, sleek fur and standing on four cloven hooves. Cervin fur is most often brown or grey, with a white- or cream-colored underbelly, and they walk with a light, bounding gait. Patterns of spots or stripes often serve as clan indicators. Oddly, exposure to the Astral Sea bleaches all of the pigments in a Cervin's body, invariably turning them white and their eyes a silver color; these "star-clad" Cervins are often looked on with pity back home, making skin and fur dyes very popular among them.

Since their bodies make modesty a difficult prospect, Cervins tend to wear clothes only for decency's sake. Simple tunics or coverings for the upper body are most common, while kilts or skirts thrown over the lower body exist for those who can't or won't keep their tails down. Actual clothing aside, most Cervins may typically only "wear" belts for carrying items.

Playing a Cervin

Cervins are easily spooked, occasionally vain little bundles of nervous energy. THey tend to be uncomfortable in enclosed spaces, which is why their own ships are so large and spacious. They are also invariably vegetarian; while capable of keeping down the occasional egg or glass of milk, they make a point of keeping fresh fruits and vegetables available. Cervins tend to graze, eating small things throughout the day rather than a few large meals.

Consoles with lots of buttons that must be pressed in sequence are anathema to a Cervin, whose stiff knuckles find them argumentative unless specifically designed with their clumsy hands in mind. They prefer arcanotech or hardlight arrays, or else roles that don't require much use of their hands. Despite this, they make for excellent communications officers or couriers, with their large ears and prey-animal backgrounds lending well toward picking up intent.

Most berks wouldn't believe that Cervins were among the fastest races to develop technologically, looking at their society on the ground. They live in small communities, each famility in a small indent in the ground referred to as a "scoop," with a simple cover that can be raised over it against the weather. Manufacturing or other intensive work is done under large pavilions, with large gates that can be closed against the weather or opened to allow workers to take their projects outside, as desired. These pavilions very often double as spaceport centers, if only to keep ships from disturbing the civilians.

Cervin Heroes

Nelliel - more commonly just "Nel" to her friends - is rather stocky for a Cervin, light and sure on her hooves like some sort of demented space goat... if said goat was empowered with light and fire and healing vomit. That last bit's a tad embarrassing, though; she'd much rather be known for her skill with the lance than for puking berks back to life. For now, she rides with the Boros Legion, leading a fledgling Wojek leaguehall in the outer reaches of the Wheel.

Sir Sanguinus, on the other hand, is already dead, but that hasn't quenched his lust for blood. Locals on Cadia fear the brutish undead Cervin in his scarlet armor, even as he tends to fight against his fellow Khornates as the forces of Chaos attack. He fights only for himself, and loves only himself, and if all other beings exist to magnify that love, then Sanguinus's will be a truly exalted existence indeed.

Tobias is half human on his mother's side, though fortunately he favors his father... with his bluish fur and bladed tail at least, if not in that he's almost preternaturally pathetic in everything he does. So far, he's had the legendarily bad luck to run afoul of two Ghor street gangs and a psychotic Goliath in the same night, and come perilously close to being shanghaied into a Rakdos street performance on the way home. He's still clueless, but his "friends" are already arguing about whether his bad luck can be weaponized for the good of Sigil...