Race: Thran
The term thran is possibly copyright WotC. The thran that follow have only superficial, at best, relation to the thran of M:tG.
Thran
- "We did not come all these thousands of years just to disappear - or die - now."
Eight hundred years prior to the falling of the Arcturas on the third planet from Philomena (fourth, if you count the asteroid belt), the ancelari fled their homeworld, which had been overrun with the Tyranid offshoot known as the Zerg, with a failed attempt to destroy their world made in the process.
Of course, the events in the passing of history are not necessarily set in stone: they most certainly could have been different. The thran are evidence of this.
In another timeline, the ancelari did not successfully escape their homeworld, though they did manage to shatter it. The society that arose from the ashes - tiny in number, even compared to the ancelari of modern Trinity - sought means to go back in time to before the arrival of the Zerg, so that they might set right what once went wrong. If nothing else, they wanted to ensure that the portal to the first world in the Philomenic System - Adnez - would open, rather than fail as it did in their own time.
The thran did not succeed in their mission, though they slowly but surely unlocked the secrets of Time. After millenia - during which they had changed drastically from their original ancelari ancestors, as well as having acquired mutations induced by regular, rapid temporal transit - they eventually purposefully succeeded in shattering their own timeline, allowing them access to alternate timelines. This event allowed them to escape the barren worlds that had become the Philomenic System after the invasion of the Tyranids, which they had been powerless to stop.
In the Keystone Timeline, the thran are present throughout time, able to almost intuitively travel through time in ways that almost no one can understand - these are beings that transcend almost all understanding of the intricacies of Time.
Personality: Cold, calculating, and distant, the thran have acquired a non-linear perception of time, and thus sometimes find communication difficult; they are also easily irritated by other races' limited understanding of time, and their insistence that it is linear. Most thran are incredibly old, having used various temporal effects and technologies to extend their lifespans, and come from a universe that was conquered by the Tyranids - as such, they tend to fluctuate between extremes of bitter cynicism and extreme optimism.
Thran also tend to have an incredibly alien mindset, even more so than actual aliens: due to their impressive mastery of the force of Time, thran are born with the ability to access memories from their entire lifespan. As soon as a thran becomes self-aware, around the age of twenty, their mental state has reached the point that they can access the whole of their future memories, and nigh-instantly gain their entire lifespan's worth of memories. Due to their disjointed timeline, however, and interference from the world memory, these memories do not allow them to actually use these abilities: instead, a thran is only aware of the knowledge and skills he will gain. (Meta: In d20 game mechanics terminology, thran immediately gain their first level in their chosen class as soon as they develop their racial ability to access all of their future memories.)
Vital Statistics
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| Starting Age | Aging Effects | |||||||
| Adulthood | Simple | Moderate | Complex | Middle Age | Old | Venerable | Max Age | |
| Age | 18 years | +1d4 | +1d4 | +1d4 | 300 years | 600 years | 1000 years | +5d100 |
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| Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier | |||||
| Male | 6' 4" | +2d12" | 150 lbs. | x(2d4) lbs. | ||||
| Female | 6' 1" | +2d12" | 120 lbs. | x(2d4) lbs. | ||||
Physical Description: The thran superficially resemble the ancelari, their ancestor race, but benefit from several millenia worth of additional evolution and temporally-induced mutation. Thran adapted to a world in which the Tyranids had won and stripped the various worlds in the Philomenic System bare; as such, they can survive in atmospheric conditions that all but the artilects would find inhospitable, and they retain their ancestor race's self-sufficiency in terms of nutrients.
Due to changes in atmospheric conditions, thran have lost the coloration of their ancelari ancestors, and are thus almost universally pale-white in color, and their eyes transitioned to dealing with the changed lighting conditions. Their skeletal structure has also changed over time, and is better-suited to working in lower-gravity environments; their builds, in general, also reflect evolutionary traits advantageous to situations in which finesse and maneuverability is drastically more important than brute strength.
Religion: The thran have no religion of their own, and oftentimes outright reject religion, as they are confounded by the idea of beings that existed that could have, if they so chose, stopped the Tyranid invasion of their own time. Most thran are nihilist, and in this vein are similar to the ancelari descendants who remained trapped on Arcturas.
Language: The thran communicate telepathically with a language referred to as Thrannish, which is a linguistic descendent of Ancelari. Thrannish was developed by the thran in reaction to the Tyranids' capacity for intercepting and comprehending telepathic thought; as such, thrannish has several "built-in" safeguards against such measures.
Names: Coming soon...
Male Names: Coming soon...
Female Names: Coming soon...
Adventurers: By definition, all thran are adventurers, as there have yet to be any thran known to be born in the Keystone Timeline.
Thran Racial Traits
The following section is still under development...
- -2 Strength, +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom. Thran come from a world in which finesse is more important than brute strength, where they survive only by their keen wits and intellects.
- Abberation: Thran are abberations, not humanoids, and as such are not subject to spells, device, or effects that affect humanoids only, such as charm person.
- Size: Medium.
- Speed: 30 feet.
- Darkvision with a base distance of 90 feet.
- Zero-G Training: Thran gain this feat for free.
- Oppositions (Ex): Thran have UO and CO equal to their level, and are considered Time-aligned. These resistances overlap (do not stack) with oppositions gained due to class.
- Loresight Vulnerability: If a thran is the target of a creature loresight or similar effect, he takes potency 2 damage in addition to the meme's normal effects. If he is within the radius of such an effect but is not specifically targeted by it, he instead takes potency 1 damage. The thran possess incredibly convoluted timelines, to such a degree that effects that attempt to ascertain facts about them by reading their history can disrupt their temporal existence.
- Synchronize Vulnerability: A thran that enters the radius of a synchronizing effect (such as synchronize) is immediately ejected, so long as the effect remains on the space the thran occupied. Thran rely upon temporal energies to maintain their existence in the Keystone Timeline; a complete disruption of temporal abilities renders them unable to maintain those energies.
- Atmospheric Adaptations (Ex): Thran do not require nearly as much atmosphere as most humanoids do to survive. A thran can survive in a complete vacuum for ten minutes, and can survive in trace atmospheres indefinitely.
- Telepathy (Ex): Thran do not communicate via speech; instead, they are naturally possessed of telepathic ability, and can communicate with any creature within Medium range (100 feet + 10 feet/character level) that they can see. They must share a language with the creature. A thran can simultaneously transmit thoughts to up to 1 creature per character level + his Intelligence modifier; the thoughts must be the same (this way, a thran can speak to a group of people without having to communicate with each one individually). A thran's telepathy is a language-dependent, mind-affecting effect, and can only affect creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher.
- Godelized Communication (Ex): Thran can choose to obfuscate their thought processes by transmitting their thoughts as complex strings of numbers or highly-advanced temporal concepts. As a free action, a thran can activate or deactivate this ability, which allows them to transmit a Godelized version of whatever language they choose to use. Note than only normal and trade languages can benefit from this effect; common and basic languages are too simplistic to be capable of receiving Godelization.
- Sustenance (Ex): Thran do not eat or drink normally; they are instead sustained solely by their temporal energies.
- Nonlinear Memory (Te): A thran benefits from nonlinear memory; see below.
- Nonlinear Thought (Te): A thran benefits from nonlinear thought; see below.
- Automatic Languages: One Common language, one Trade language, Thrannish. Bonus Languages: Any.
Special Abilities
This section details any special abilities listed above.
Nonlinear Memory
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Nonlinear Memory DCs
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| Circumstance | DC |
| Highly probable that you would have the memory. | 20 |
| Probable that you would have the memory. | 25 |
| Somewhat improbable that you would have the memory. | 30 |
| Improbable that you would have the memory. | 35 |
| Highly improbable that you would have the memory. | 40 |
| Possession of the memory is only a mathematical possibility. | 45 |
| Memory is a future memory. | +5 |
For a brief, eternal moment, you expand your consciousness to all your possible past, present, and future selves and attempt to remember some piece of information. This piece of information could be something you remember in the future, such as the contents of room beyond a locked door or the winner of a sports event several years from now. It could be a piece of information you could have possibly learned in an alternate past or present where circumstances different, such as recalling a memory from an alternate past where you overhead the conversation of an important political official at a dinner party you attended recently.
To perform this task, you must state the memory you wish to recall. Then, you enter a meditative state of total concentration for 10 minutes. At the end of this time, you make a temporal check against a DC based on the likelihood that you would possess the memory, per the table on the right.
If the skill check succeeds, you "recall" the alternate memory. It exists side-by-side with your old memory (if any) of the event and seems just as real. If the temporal check fails, you cannot use Nonlinear Memory until after a long rest. Any use of nonlinear memory – successful or unsuccessful – immediately fatigues you.
Also, you must make a Will saving throw against DC 20. If failed, you are stunned for 2d6 rounds after use of nonlinear memory.
This is a temporal effect. If you are in an area in which temporal effects are canceled or otherwise impeded, you must overcome those obstacles when using this ability as though you were using a jikuu. Treat this ability has having an effective quanta cost equal to your character level.
Nonlinear Thought
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Nonlinear Thought DCs
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| Circumstance | DC |
| It is highly probable that you would be able to perform the task you suggest or otherwise take advantage of it | 25 |
| It is probable... | 30 |
| It is somewhat improbable... | 35 |
| It is improbable... | 40 |
| It is highly improbable... | 45 |
| It is only a mathematical possibility... | 50 |
| The thought would have major consequences on your current timeline. | +5 |
| The thought would have cataclysmic or world-sweeping consequences on your current timeline. | +10 |
For a brief, eternal moment, you expand your consciousness to all your possible past, present, and future selves and transmit a single thought to one of your selves. The thought must be brief, no more than a couple of sentences. For instance, you could send a message to yourself in the past, saying "Do not trust the vizier." You could think to yourself in the future, "Remember to pick up milk at the grocery store."
This ability allows you to send messages that can potentially change your past, present, or future, creating an entirely new timeline. For example, you could tell yourself several years in the past to bury a pound of uranium in the middle of the desert because you need it in the present to power an atomic device. To form a nonlinear thought, you must first determine the thought you wish to send and where/when in your timeline you desire to send it. Then, you enter a meditative state of total concentration for 10 minutes. At the end of this time, you make a temporal check against a DC based on the likelihood that you would be able to implement the thought, per the table on the right.
If you succeed in the temporal check, your non-linear thought has made some alteration to your time-line, though not necessarily the one you intended. The actual change, its effectiveness, and its consequences are the discretion of your referee. If you fail the skill check, you cannot use Nonlinear Thought until after a long rest.
Any use of nonlinear thought – successful or unsuccessful – immediately fatigues you. Also, you must make a Will saving throw against DC 20. If failed, you are stunned for 2d6 rounds after the use of this ability.
Note: The action required by your nonlinear thought must be one that you can fulfill personally or at least initiate personally. You cannot send thoughts to other people. Also, the more people your thought affects, the more difficult it is to perform and less likely to occur.
The acts that you must perform to fulfill the request must occur "off camera." That is, it must occur during times in the game that you have not actually role-played. For example, you could not plant uranium in the desert during the same time you fought a battle.
If the act would change or interfere with significant historical events in your life, then it is impossible to reap its benefits. Instead, if your skill check is successful, you create a divergent reality from your current timeline. You do not gain the benefits of this reality, but one of your "other selves" does.
(For game purposes, anything that is explicit in your character’s back-story or events that have been role-played count as "significant historical events.")
For example, assume that you have role-played a battle in which you are surprised and several of your comrades slain. You send a message to yourself to be wary of the ambush. Since not being ambushed would alter a significant historical event (as well as creating a serious paradox, because you would no longer have a reason to send yourself that message), a divergent reality is created – sideways to your own – in which the surprise was defeated. You gain no benefit.
In another example, assume you met an untrustworthy merchant who double-crossed you and stole all of your money. If you sent a message to yourself to not trust said merchant, you would create a divergent reality because you are changing a significant past event. However, if you sent a message to yourself that said, "Bury gold near the tree at the crossroads." You are not changing the event where the merchant double-crossed you. Instead, "off camera," you buried the money. In fact, you remember doing that. Off you go, and you now have cash in your pockets again.
Making yourself pack a potion of healing and a rope in your backpack so you can climb out of a pit changes your present circumstances. Sending a message to warn yourself of the pit so you don’t fall into it in the first place changes your past.
The best use of this ability is to change your present circumstances, rather than your past history. A degree of subtlety and cleverness are necessary to use this ability.
