Races:Tyrnae

Tyrnae, the mysterious rat-people of Elysium are rare in number. No one knows really how many there are, but they do know that if a tyrnae is stalking you, it's not good. Tyrnae are short compared to their Highborne co-habitors, standing a mere four and a half to five feet tall and weighing in at a mere ninety to one hundred and fifteen pounds. They have long snouts, slender builds and large ears which poke through slits in the hoods they generally wear. If a tyrnae shows its face, it generally has blue or green eyes and hair appropriate to the gender; most males prefer short hair while most females let their hair grow. It tends to match their fur color, though some have been known to have different hair colors. Their fur is short and coarse, often a muted grey to bright white. Like other beastman races their hands and feet are clawed, they have tails and walk on the balls and toes of their feet.

Demeanor
Compared to others, tyrnae have little in the way of actual personality. They are regarded by other races as being dull, unexciting and extremely enigmatic in normal conversation. But conversation isn't where a tyrnae excels. Most of the time though this aloof, mysterious behavior is just a front for dealing with others on the job. When they feel they can trust someone, which is extremely rarely, they will open up to them, and become nearly as personable as a highborne.

Relations
Tyrnae work hard to maintain neutral relations with all races, often working as spies and undercover agents due to their specialty in stealth. While tyrnae are considered an Alliance race, it's determined that they actually operate in every faction, inside every city and under every governmental organization. They have no cities of their own and no established base of power, though it's rumored that the Shadow King that rules over the tyrnae's thief and assassin guilds lives somewhere in Elysium.

Adventures
Tyrnae are the epitome of specialization. They deal in one thing specifically: stealth. Secrets are their game, and not even the massive underground run by the shas'kai can compare to the information that Tyrnae wield. If their stealth work requires them to work with others, they will do so but often will operate ahead of the pack, eliminating threats to the group before the rest of the group will encounter them.

Classes
Tyrnae are unsuited to anything but stealth classes due to their racial high specialization. While extremely rare; rarer even than Tyrnae in general there are martial classes. They tend to favor monks due to the secrecy of most orders, and make poor fighters or paladins. They are also unskilled at manipulating aethyr and make poor mages. However, they thrive in the shadows and make excellent rogues, as thievery and silent death are merely tools of their secret trade.

Rules
The following is all the rules pertaining to playing a tyrnae in a campaign set on Erinae.

Physical Traits
Tyrnae, like other beastmen are medium sized creatures and can move thirty feet in a single round. Tyrnae gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence, while suffering a -2 penalty to Strength and Constitution.

Special Abilities
Skilled: Tyrnae are highly skillful like humans are. Stealth-based skills such as hiding and bluffing come very naturally to them no matter their walk of life. As such, the skills Hide, Move Silently, Bluff, Escape Artist and Disguise automatically count as class skills regardless of if their class has them as class skills or not.

Instant Escape: Part of being stealthy requires having a great escape plan. Tyrnae can think quickly and formulate escapes with the greatest ease. As such, once per encounter a Tyrnae can make a contested Escape Artist vs Spot check to enter stealth. If this fails, the Tyrnae cannot hide while being observed by the creature they attempted to escape from, even if their class would allow them to do so.

Shadow Walk: Being incredibly skilled in sneaking, Tyrnae recieve a +2 bonus to Hide and Move Silently.

Arts of Silent Slaying: Tyrnae are incredibly focused in arts of stealth, especially when dealing with combat. As such, they may take levels of Assassin regardless of their position on the good/evil alignment scale.