Darfellan

The Darfellan are a fictive race in the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy role-playing game,. They were introduced, along with Aventi and Hazaru, in the Stormwrack supplement book as a minor player race for use in aquatic/watery environments.

Physical description
Darfellans closely resemble humans, and are 6 feet tall, weigh 200 pounds, and are hulking and muscular with broad backs, powerful arms and wide necks and heads (although in an benign and handsome way, like a physically fit human, not a brutal and ugly way, like an Ogre, Troll or such.) They are an oceanic race, and have webbed feet and can hold their breath underwater for up to 10 minutes. They have very little hair, with only a small bunch on their head that is usually tied up in a top knot. Though physically strong, they are somewhat clumsy, especially when out of the water. The most distinguishing feature of the Darfellan race, however, is their skin. It is a beautiful, glossy, deep jet-black in color, with varying white markings. These white markings hold quite some degree of importance in Darfellan society; the size, shape and location of them indentifies their heritage, family group and such. Occasionally a Darfellan will be born entirely black, or much more rarely, entirely white. The birth of such a Darfellan is an omen.

History
The Darfellan were once peaceful hunter-gatherers who dwelt on secluded, undiscovered coastlines and beaches and led a relatively simplistic and uneventful existence. The Sahuagin, a race of brutal, fish-like shark men, however, eventually discovered them and sought to destroy them. An almost 100 year war between the races nearly resulted in the extinction of the Darfellan race, and they are currently very few in number. Surviving Darfellan are lonely, brooding wanderers who seek only to take revenge on the Sahuagin who destroyed their race.

Society
Darfellan are coastal-dwellers who live on forboding beaches and coastlines in various climates, from the artic to the tropics. Though Sahuagin genocide has reduced them predominantly to individuals who can be found anywhere, a few scattered villages and family groups still exist in such locations. A typical Darfellan village is located in a coastal cave or among some dunes, either above or below the tide line (Darfellans like to have their feet wet) and consists of a jumble of huts on stilts with such things as tools, weapons, a fire pit, a granary and such scattered around. A dependable food source, such as kelp forest or coral reef is usually nearby. Though the wars with the Sahuagin have pretty much stopped, Darfellan are very careful to hold onto what little they have left, and are very secretive of these such settlements.

Though they once had a rich, vibrant, cultured society, the wars with the Sahuagin have all but wiped out their art, language, religion and other cultural aspects. Even the names and sense of the prominent Darfellan clans which once existed have been lost, and mean anything only to the eldest Darfellan survivors.

Darfellan usually worship a god of the sea, thought most nowadays have turned their backs on the gods. They believe their prayers went unanswered during the Sahuagin wars, and believe predominantly that the gods have abandoned them. They do, however, hold belief in a figure known as the "Deep Dweller", a particularily mighty Darfellan who will someday emerge and unify the scattered remaining Darfellan, destroy the Sahuagin, and restore the race.

Occasionally, as said before, a Darfellan will be born who is entirely black or entirely white and this will be view as an omen. An entirely black Darfellan will be destined to hold a position of importance later in life.