Introducing Cloudlings
While this blog has been silent for the past month or so, rest assured I haven’t been idle all this time. Querent of the Seven has finally (maybe) reached its first completed draft and I’ve been working like a madman to make sure I patch up all the holes I accidentally left in earlier writing sessions. Believe it or not, there are quite a few of those that can spring up when working on a manuscript close to 500 pages long! And on top of that, I’ve been running Q7 in one form or another for so long that certain rules which I thought were obvious weren’t in the book at all when really, they should be. For example, I’d gone close to a year without any actual rules for shields appearing anywhere in the manuscript. But this is what editing is for, and seeing it all finally come together is beyond exciting.
So exciting, in fact, that I want to talk about one of our more unique playable races! Cloudlings so far have been one of the favorite options in playtests and to show you why that might be, I’m going to share their page directly from the book here.
Cloudlings
Furry humanoids living in the Endless Sky, cloudlings have adapted themselves for maximum friendliness and cuteness to better gather their food source: Kindness. Cloudlings seem to be related to beastfolk going by appearance alone, although to assume so would be wrong, as they are entirely unrelated to any of the races of the center lands. All cloudlings are white-furred with a nimbus of colored light flickering along the tip of their tail and ears, their soul made visible.
Society: Cloudlings are among the most numerous sentient creatures of the Endless Sky, building towns and villages on floating islands near the western end. Due to the fact that cloudlings derive sustenance from kindness, their society is among the most peaceful and egalitarian one could hope for. While they have rulers, there is very little actual ruling that needs to be done most of the time, the kings, queens, and mayors of the land being in charge of organizing defense more than meting out any real justice.
The closest thing cloudlings have to a system of punishment are the sanctuaries, walled communities similar to monasteries where individuals who are feared might become stormy are sent. Within the sanctuary, the "imprisoned" cloudlings are showered with kindness and affection in an attempt to rehabilitate them before their transformation can take place. If this fails, the community is left with no choice but to exile the stormy cloudling, usually sending them to the dark lands located far below their floating islands.
It is possible for cloudlings to exist in the center lands, and although the drama of daily life there can often pose a serious problem for beings who literally feed off kindness, a few communities persist in face of the hardships.
Relationships: Cloudlings throw themselves into relationships of all sorts with great eagerness. Good friends and romantic partners provide all the nourishment a cloudling needs. In cloudling culture, extra weight is seen as a symbol of status, as the heavier a cloudling becomes, the more they are liked by others.
Life Cycle: For the most part, cloudlings progress through life similar to more mundane beast-folk or humans. However, they must be careful not to grow too large an ego or risk turning stormy. A stormy cloudling is one who has learned they can feed off their own arrogance and the dark joy that comes from putting others down.
Names: Cloudlings live in a land of many colors, to the point where their own fur is tinted in a rainbow of hues. As such, the most popular names in cloudling culture are those that relate to colors.
Examples: Scarlet, Sunny, Taupe, Violet, Emerald, Indigo, Teal, Amber, Magenta, Blue
Language: Known as clarion, the language of the cloudlings sounds like the ringing of bells. To one knowledgeable in its speaking, the language is capable of all the things that would normally be expected, but to those unfamiliar, it sounds like nothing more than voiceless music.
You’ll be able to get all the mechanical details on playing a cloudling in a soon-to-be-released quickstart document I plan to make available for free this month. There will be a post here with all the relevant details when that’s released, but in the meantime, feel free to direct any questions about cloudlings or anything else related to Querent of the Seven to me!