The Kendor are an ancient aquatic people whose grace and beauty are matched only by their mastery of courtly intrigue. Gaea made them in the likeness of the seahorse, one of her minor animal-children of the warm tropical seas, bipedal from the first and able to live in water and on land, though they vastly prefer their hidden underwater palaces. Their elongated, elegant forms move with hypnotic fluidity, and their iridescent scales shift color with their moods and intentions.
The making
The Kendor are beastfolk, named at the Birth of Man with all of Gaea's minor animal-children (see Beastman). Their true name is the warm-water seahorse-person, and like every beastman kind it does not drift; a Kendor is now exactly what Gaea made it then. The warmth their bodies require was set into them at the making and cannot be unset. That is why temperate and polar waters are physiologically hostile to a Kendor, not merely unpleasant.
What made the Kendor the people they are now was a catastrophe long after the making, not the making itself. In distant prehistory the aquatic peoples of what is now Adron were driven from their home, the tritons fleeing north for reasons lost even to the naga who displaced them. Not every kind went with them. The seahorse-people faced a choice their own bodies had already decided: follow the exodus into the cold deep water that would kill them, or stay in the warm southern shallows they had been named for. The ones who tried to follow did not last. The ones who stayed are the Kendor. The catastrophe worked by subtraction rather than change: it cut away everything in them that was not true to the warm shallows and fixed the rest in place, and their entire range, their thermal limits, and the inward-turned court culture that grew up in the safety of the reefs all date from the staying.
The tritons say we hid while they fought. We did not hide. We stayed where we could live, and we have lived there ever since. — a Pelaendor envoy, to the naga court at Adron
Kendor society revolves around elaborate courtship rituals, political maneuvering, and the cultivation of beauty in all its forms. Violence is considered the ultimate vulgarity, a last resort for those who lack the wit and charm to achieve their goals through more civilized means. Their hidden fortress-cities are marvels of coral architecture and bioluminescent gardens, accessible only to those who know the secret currents and can navigate the maze-like approaches.
Vitals
- Size: Medium
- Height: 6-7.5 feet (including decorative fin crests)
- Weight: 140-200 pounds
Distribution & Diaspora
The Kendor are far more widespread than surface-dwellers realize. The three Kendrel Kingdoms of the Agreben Sea represent only the most visible concentration, the settlements that chose to engage with the surface world. Across the world's oceans, other Kendor communities exist in varying degrees of isolation.
Why the concentration in Agreben? Several factors:
- Thermal requirements: Kendor were made for tropical waters and need warm temperatures to thrive. The Agreben Sea's shallow, sun-warmed continental shelf provides ideal conditions. Temperate and polar waters are physiologically hostile.
- Bfaspeen pressure: The eel-bodied Bfaspeen broods dominate much of the world's deep ocean, forcing Kendor into defensive enclaves along continental shelves where shallow water provides natural protection.
- Surface-interaction bias: Most Kendor communities refuse contact with "land-dwellers." The Kendrel Kingdoms are unusual in their willingness to trade with surface nations. Other communities exist but remain hidden.
Known populations beyond the Kendrel Kingdoms:
- The Riptear Cendoriln: Deep-ocean Cendoriln populations in the Riptear Sea (Terrenia) who maintain no contact with surface nations or even the Kendrel Kingdoms.
- The Abyssal Enclaves: Scattered Cendoriln communities throughout deep Aboyinzu, living in thermal vents and underwater cave systems.
- Pelaendor Wanderers: Nomadic individuals and small groups found throughout the world's warm coastal waters, often serving as intermediaries, translators, or advisors to surface nations.
- The Silent Fortresses: Rumors persist of hidden Kendrel cities in the Bejeweled Sea, far from any surface contact, whose inhabitants consider even Glador's isolationism dangerously cosmopolitan.
Pelaendor in distant lands: Individual Pelaendor serve as ambassadors, translators, and cultural advisors in port cities throughout Alaria. Permanent Pelaendor residents can be found in Adron (where they advise the naga court on maritime matters), several Middle Sea trading cities, and occasionally even in Ve. These individuals maintain loose ties to the Kendrel Kingdoms but operate independently, sending information home in exchange for the prestige of Kendrel backing.
Relationship with Tritons
The Kendor and the Tritons of Vetral share ancient origins but have diverged profoundly over millennia.
The Common Ancestry: Both peoples trace their origins to the prehistoric aquatic civilizations that once flourished in what is now Adron. When the tritons fled Adron in distant prehistory (the reasons lost even to the naga who displaced them), not all underwater peoples went with them. The ancestors of the Kendor stayed in the warm southern shallows their bodies were named for, and the staying is what set the two peoples on separate histories (see The making, above). What has diverged since is custom and bearing, not blood; the Kendor held to the thing they were made to be while the world around them changed.
Modern Relations: Cool and distant. The two civilizations maintain formal diplomatic contact through Pelaendor intermediaries but view each other with mutual disdain:
- Tritons consider Kendor effete and cowardly, hiding behind reefs while Vetral fights the Bfaspeen directly, obsessing over courtship games while the real war for oceanic survival is being lost.
- Kendor consider tritons crude and militaristic, a theocracy of warriors who've forgotten that civilization means more than fighting. The triton obsession with "Old Lanes" and sovereignty claims strikes Kendor as unsophisticated posturing.
The Bfaspeen Question: Both peoples fight the Bfaspeen, but they don't coordinate. The Agreben Sea and Alrock Ocean are separated by vast distances, and neither civilization is willing to subordinate itself to the other's strategic priorities. Occasional proposals for alliance founder on questions of command, prestige, and fundamental cultural incompatibility.
Trade: Limited but present. Pelaendor traders occasionally reach Vetral-controlled waters, exchanging Kendrel luxury goods for triton forgecrab metal and deep-sea salvage rights. These transactions are strictly commercial, neither side pretends friendship.
Heritages
- Kendrel (Court Kendor) — Masters of etiquette and social manipulation in hidden palace-fortresses beneath tropical reefs. See Kendrel.
- Cendoriln (Abyss Kendor) — Bioluminescent deep-ocean Kendor who trade in secrets and blackmail from underwater caves and thermal vents. See Cendoriln.
- Pelaendor (Wanderer Kendor) — Nomadic Kendor who travel ocean currents and serve as primary ambassadors between Kendor society and the surface world. See Pelaendor.
- Pelarian (Fire Kendor) — Volcanic-vent Kendor with fire attunement who developed a martial tradition that distinguishes honorable contest from aggression. See Pelarian.
Game mechanics
Aquatic Grace
Passive ability. You can breathe both air and water, and suffer no disadvantage for skill checks or AD rolls made underwater. You can communicate telepathically with any creature within 30 feet while both you and the target are underwater. On land, you must immerse yourself in water for at least 10 minutes during each long rest or gain a level of weakened that doesn't fade until you do so.
Kendrel (Court Kendor) — Mesmerizing Presence
Major ability. Your beauty and grace can stop conflicts before they begin. When combat would begin, you may use this ability before initiative is rolled. Each creature makes cunning saving throw against your presence challenge number. Each creature that fails becomes unable to take hostile actions against you for the next minute unless you or your allies attack them first. Affected creatures may still defend themselves if attacked. This ability has no effect on creatures that are already in combat or have been in combat with you within the last hour.
Cendoriln (Abyss Kendor) — Abyssal Intimidation
Passive ability. You can control your bioluminescent patterns to unnerve and disorient. You have advantage on intimidation checks, and when you successfully intimidate a creature, they also gain one level of dazed. Additionally, in darkness or dim light, you can shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light 10-feet beyond as a free action.
Pelaendor (Wanderer Kendor) — Adaptive Camouflage
Major ability. Your scales can shift color and pattern to match your surroundings, and you can blend into crowds or natural environments with ease. As an action, you can become nearly invisible automatically succeeding on a check to hide and become obscured, even in bright light. If you move or attack, you lose this effect and are visible once more.
Pelarian (Fire Kendor) — Thermal Resilience
Passive ability. Your body generates and tolerates extreme heat. You can survive in water temperatures up to boiling, suffer no ill effects from hot environments, and have resistance to fire damage. When you take fire damage, you may choose to absorb some of the heat—for the next minute, your melee attacks deal an additional 1d4 fire damage as steam vents from your scales. Additionally, when stressed or angry, you visibly steam; you have disadvantage on checks to conceal strong emotions.