Axolarians

Hailing mostly from the expansive cave systems of the Mirishi and Daepgodirian rainforests, the Axolarians live fairly isolated lives. They're incredibly naive and sociable, generally to their detriment, although this does help to curb their population size. Were it not for the tendancy of these amphibious creatures to throw themselves in harms way, and their incredibly slow reporductive cycle, Albionoria would be overrun with the Axolarian species. This is becuase the Axolarians are seemingly immortal; regenerating from almost all wounds except decapitation and dehydration. They have never been observed to age and as such, they are deemed a serious threat to the Jordalian dominion, although these creatures have never demonstrated a war-hungry attitude.

Axolarians are storytellers; obsessed with collecting and sharing knowledge with their tribes, which do not yet (or choose not to) use a written language system.

Outside of the Jordalian Federation, these creatures have almost never been seen, and are often confused for lizardfolk or dragonborn, although their transucent flesh and whimsical attitude marks them out immediately as something 'other'.

Hot & Not-Hot

Axolarians have very limited eyesight even in darkness. They are more used to the dark, particularly once submerged, their eyes focus more clearly, allowing them to pick out distant objects with great clarity. However, they have never developed the ability to discern colours; seeing the entire world in black and white. As a result, they have no concept of a day and night cycle above ground; referring to the time of day and general brightness as either "Hot" or "Not-Hot". It is not uncommon to hear an Axolarian refer to events that occurred "several Not-Hots ago" for example.

Naive Friendliness

Axolarians have loved for so long, in such safety in their cities beneath the earth, that they have very little concept of danger or consequences. As a result, they tend to welcome each new visitor as if they were an old friend, regardless of their intentions. They are hospitable to all, and revel in hearing the legends and myths that wandering travellers bring of the exciting over-world.

Regeneration

The Axolarian people have the potential to be completely indestructable. They regenerate almost as quickly as trolls and have been known to completely reform over time, even from the smallest part of their bodies. As a result of the horrifying difficulty required to kill them, it is surprising that they have not spread further across the world and infested every town, city and river-bed on it's surface. It is believed that the only reason that their numbers remain in check, is because they are immensely water dependent, and dessicate if left in the open air for too long without access to a large body of water. Other theoreis for their limited numbers seem to point to their naivety and the harm this tends to put them if they vanture from their cave systems.

Credit: Arcane Forge

Storytellers

Axolarians don't tend to make it too far above ground despite their incredible regenerative powers, and therefore revel in collecting the stories of others. They have no written language (although some have learned the languages of other creatures and started to transcribe their histories) and therefore rely on their memories to hold on to the histories of the world around them. These stories and the skills they learn from them are worth more to the Axolarians than gold, and the worst crime that a being could commit in Axolarian culture is the removal of memories, the alteration of history or causing amnesia in one of their kind.

Axolarian Traits

Your Axolarian character has the following racial traits. Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age. Axolarians reach maturity at around 20 years old, and do not technically have a cap on their lifespans as they regenerate any signs of ageing away.

Size. Axolarians generally reach 6-7 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet as well.

Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.

Superior Darkvision. Although completely colourblind, seeing the world in shades of grey, which they refer to as either "hot" or "not-hot" depending on brightness; a lifetime spent in underground cave systems has granted the Axolarians incredible vision in the darkness. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light.

Lore Hoarder. The Axolarian tradition of word of mouth storytelling grants you proficiency in the History skill as well as one other skill of your choice.

Regeneration. When you take a short or long rest, you regain hitpoints equal to the maximum roll on one of your hit dice. This does not spend any of your hit dice.

Additionally, you may spend one of your hit dice to regenerate HP as a main action, even while in combat. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest.

When you take a long rest you may regenerate any severed body parts (fingers, legs, tails and so on) or scar tissue you may have suffered. This does not cure diseases, poisons, mental ailments or the exhaustion caused due to your Water Dependency however.

Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack or whatever you are trying to percieve is in direct sunlight.

Water Dependency. If you fail to immerse yourself in water for at least 1 hour during a day, you suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of that day. You can only recover from this exhaustion through magic or by immersing yourself in water for at least 1 hour.

Languages. You can speak, and read common and write Common and Aquan.

The Homebrewery

Although I consider myself an illustrator, I am by no means a graphic designer and would have no clue on how to priduce a booklet by myself that looked this wonderful. This homebrew was presented due to the hard work of the people at homebrewery.naturalcrit.com and I would highly recommend looking at their work and using this fantastic homebrewing tool if you'd like to make monsters of your own or anything else for 5e!

Shameless Self Plug

If somehow, this creature has made it's way to you and you are not a viewer of my videos over on Youtube, I would hate to miss the opportunity to share my work with you. You can find my videos over on youtube.com/arcaneforge where I draw at least one monster per week and talk about their lore, history and mythology as well as all of their real world influences, a pinch of biology and a smattering of linguistics. There's even a timelapse of me drawing and talking about this particular creature, so I hope you'll check it out.

Thanks so much for reading!