Garis
| Race | Garis |
|---|---|
| Subraces | Akimsilik, Beybitsilik, Ustemdik, and Half-Garis |
| Patron Deity | Wodenism, (Fenris) |
| Vision | Darkvision |
| Diet | Omnivorous |
| Lifespan | 72‒120 years |
| Language | Otani language, Garis |
| Climate | Any |
| Terrain | Any |
| Height | 5′5″‒6′11″ (170‒210 cm) |
| Weight | 124‒280 lb (56.2‒130 kg) |
| Skin Color | Any |
| Hair Color | Any |
| Eye Color | Variable |
| Distinctions | Canine features often with a tail |
| Inspired by | Dungeons & Dragons Fiend Folio, many sci-fi references |
| 5e Equivalence | Gith on Fandom |
| 5e Alignment | Any |
Origin and Mythology
The Garis are a canine-humanoid people who live on the southern shores of Otan. Like all the people of Otan, their history was forgotten, save the past two hundred years since the Great Erasure. From dreams, magical divinations, and various canine instincts, the Garis have come to believe that they once ruled the cosmos. They consider their peaceful existence on Otan to be a form of exile, with their eyes always to the stars.
They instinctually believe that they should rule all the lands of Otan including the very stars above it. These beliefs are fortified by other peoples who maintain that the Garis do not belong on Otan. These disparaging opinions are reinforced by the intercessions of their various gods, for the gods themselves seem to believe that the Otan's greatest mistake. The Garis maintain that these gods are owed a comeuppance, which the Garis will one day deliver.
Appearance And Characteristics
The Garis are comparatively tall humanoids, often topping 1.8m (6') in height. They vary from humans most notably in the shapes of their heads and jaws, which resemble various canines-like features. In addition to their canine heads, they are covered from head to toe in fur. Their lower limbs resemble those of a large canine, while their arms are decidedly more human. Their fingers are tipped by claws rather than fingernails, but they do not experience a loss of dexterity because of this variation.
Like their distant canine cousins, the Garis enjoy a heightened sense of smell and keen eyesight. They are typically color-blind. They have strong digestive systems and consume their meals much faster than other humanoids.
There are three distinct sub-species of Garis which are most readily noted by the shape of their muzzles. The peace-loving Beybitsilik variant features the shortest snouts of the race with a pronounced lower jaw resembling that of a hyena. The war mongering Ustemdik have more lupine features with a shorter snout and a menacing visage. The orderly Akimsilik have more vulpine features, with a medium sized snout and less pronounced jaw.
There are many Garis who are a full mixture of all three variants and have a non-descript and generally canine appearance, however, large swaths of the population keep their socializing, and in particular, their mating habits within their racial variant.
Akimsilik
The Akimsilik are a Garis variant with vulpine features such as a narrow snout and fluffy tail. They live mostly in the Akimsilik Region of the Garis Triumvirate. The instincts to order and enumerate things give them great ability for bookish professions. The most powerful among them tend toward spellcaster professions, or those without the knack for magic might try bookkeeping or other administrative professions. The Akimsilik have an instinctive form of OCD and it makes them uneasy when things are out of place or unaccounted for.
Individual Akimsilik will, in rare cases, take on professions more commonly filled by other variants of their race. Akimsilik might serve as police or military officers, even in cities and towns outside of the Akimsilik Region. Akimsilik are rarely put in a front-lines role, however, and typically end up in branches such as detective work or military intelligence.
Beybitsilik
The Beybitsilik sport hyena-like features with a short snout, and their heads often crested with a mane that starts from their foreheads and goes down past the back of their necks. The hyena-like features are cosmetic, however, and do not offer enough genetic variation to prevent Beybitsilik from mating with other Garis or even humans for that matter.
The Beybitsilik are concerned with harmony, i.e. the smooth and peaceful integration and lifestyles of all things. In peacetime, the Beybitsilik will concern themselves with watching over the interests of relations between themselves and the other two variants, which are also factions. Beybitsilik will often form the majority of the ranks in police departments, even in Akimsilik and Ustemdik cities. They are praised by all variants for their innate ability to deescalate tense situations and finding compromise between parties.
Ustemdik
The Ustemdik are another fur covered variant of Garis with strong lupine features and an intimidating gaze. Their fur colorings tend range from black to white with all shades of grey in between. It's possible to have brownish and reddish tinges where an Ustemdik has traces of another variant within it. Ustemdik fur is more coarse than the other variants and they feature a long brushy tail.
The Ustemdik live primarily in the Ustemdik Region, the most highly populated region of the Garis Triumvirate. Their politics are routinely hawkish and they are constantly in a state of preparation for war. Ustemdik created and maintain the Garis Border Patrol to make sure that undesirables (some would say any non-Garis) are rendered unable to visit the country. Exceptions are made primarily for the Dweorges who do a brisk trade in metals with the Garis Triumvirate.
Half-Garis
The Half-Garis are a variant of the Garis race with additional with additional Human bloodlines. They may have varying amounts of fur of nearly any color, and nearly any color of skin beneath. Similarly their hair patterns may vary with exposed furless skin on some or even much of their bodies. Half-Garis will typically have a tail, but rarely of the size of their full-blooded cousins.
The Ustemdik live primarily in the capitol of Trappist, in the administrative Akimsilik Region, the most accepting region for mixed blooded Garis in the Garis Triumvirate. Because of the lack of true integration in Garis society, Half-Garis tend to wander and can be found all over Otan, in the crews of the Araldar navy, the cities of the Free States or any country where their noses lead them.
Garis Controlled Countries
The Garis Triumvirate is the only country under Garis control and exclusively governed by the Garis. They possess one of the most unusual governmental systems in all of Otan. Their tribal nation, naturally divided them into three factions, features one seeking external conquest, one seeking internal and external peace, while the last seeks only to administer, regardless of which of the other two factions has the most sway. This latter faction, sometimes referred to as the Garis Administrati are made up nearly entirely of Akimsilik.
To the rest of Otan, the Garis Triumvirate is one of the more remote countries on the continent with few Garis interested in relations or trade with the rest of Otan. It is certainly rare for them to bother with learning the common Otani language and Garis trade is mostly limited in exchanges for metal with the League of Dweorgen Miners.
5e Equivalence
When translating the Garis to be played in Dungeons & Dragons, playable Gith races and variants were the original inspiration for the Garis. Recreating the Garis in this Wiki with Gith can be done by following the official D&D Guide: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
Player Notes
Garis... what's up with those guys.
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