The echryni are amphibious humanoids who inhabit most of the islands in the Cays, with the largest population living along the westernmost shore of Darnali. Although adult echryni look only slightly human, most of them live among humans with ease. The majority speak the Truth, but they also sing in a short, staccato language that others call wave speech, which is designed to carry for long distances underwater.
Echryni go through three stages, taking a different shape in each.
Early Life: Their life cycle starts in the water, where they begin as larvae in a carefully constructed birth bed. The young have leathery grey bodies, with wide, finlike wings, webbed feet, and tails like rudders. A series of variously shaped openings along the front of their bodies serve as food filters and gills. The young mostly spend their time eating tiny creatures that live in shallow, warm water and growing at a rate of a couple of inches per day. This stage lasts anywhere from two to four months.
If out of water for more than a few minutes at a time during
this stage, the young quickly begin to suffocate. Underways are typically anywhere from
7 to 15 feet (2 to 5 m) in diameter and can be as long as 20 miles (32 km). Sometimes they branch off, but they always go from one shore to another. New ones are easy to spot because they appear in a sudden geyser of air, about 10 feet (3 m) out in the water. A large circular membrane appears in the shallows; anything larger than about the size of a human fist can sink through it, but it captures anything smaller.
Underways are known to depart as quickly as they appeared, collapsing onto themselves without warning, capturing everyone inside and dragging them down. This danger gives them the moniker “skyways,” since they take you not just from island to island but, possibly, from this sea to your death in the skysea.
The danger doesn’t stop people who want to move quickly from one island to another, but many who use the underways wear some type of protection against potential collapse. A special bladed device called a fremer is a common, inexpensive (and often homemade) choice. Fremers fit on a person’s head like a hat or headband and have a long, sharp knife or stick protruding from their top. The hope is that the fremer will puncture the tunnel material before it completely collapses, allowing the wearer to escape.
Airbreathers can also be purchased for a price, as can flotation devices and inflatable spheres.
Airbreather: Allows someone to breathe
underwater for up to one hour. Activation is an action. Cost: 50 airels/25 shins
Flotation device: This beltlike device
activates automatically as soon as it senses water pressure and propels the wearer upward at twice the speed of swimming. Cost: 200 airels/100 shins
Inflatable sphere: Called the poor man’s
savior, these spheres must be inflated by blowing into them, which takes two actions. They help someone float to the surface. Cost: 20 airels/10 shins
Echryni descriptor, page 216 A common echryni expression used to express solidarity and sympathy is, “The bone betrays its softness. The water hides its face.” It portrays the echryni belief that everything must be both weak and strong to work together and survive.
Underway thieves typically keep an eye on the entry membranes, in the hopes that a traveler will forget to remove his jewelry, airels, and other small valuables before going through the membrane. If a thief is fast, she can grab any such items and run off before the person remembers—and before the tides bury the objects under sand and silt.
wings a full range of movement and keeps the gills along the sides of their chests exposed. Although they typically prefer handmade leather items, they also create and wear ornate leatherwork and waterwear for special occasions. Waterwear is a liquidlike fabric that flows around and over the skin, giving the impression of moving water, although it provides protection from the elements, as well as from ambient and weapon damage.
As adults, echryni can control and change the very structure of water—specifically saltwater—using an enzyme on their skin. This allows them to turn water into a semisolid state while retaining most of its fluid properties, creating things with it that would normally seem impossible, including fish nets, temporary shelters, and the expensive and much sought-after waterwear. Some echryni create special gloves, clothing, and other devices to further enhance their abilities.
Death Stage: The largest and strongest echryni are chosen as birth beds. An echryni They are barely mobile on land, able to push
themselves forward with their webbed feet and wings only a few inches at a time. Adult Life: As adults, echryni metamorphose into creatures that are equally suited for land and ocean dwelling. Their strong legs and large webbed feet allow them to travel over hot and rough terrain as easily as over wet sand, their now-smaller wings provide streamlined movement across land or through water, and their adaptable lungs and gills let them breathe on land or underwater for up to 28 hours at a time (at which point they must switch environments, even if only for a few minutes, to clean out their delicate gill passages).
Their adult lifespan is slightly longer than a typical human’s, provided they are not designated to give birth to younglings (see Death Stage). It is rare to see one echryni without others near, as their culture is particularly based on groups and families.
If the echryni have specific genders, they are not easy to ascertain by sight. Most dress in simple clothing that allows their
Waterwear is rare and expensive. Convincing an echryni to craft a piece of waterwear for someone outside of its immediate circle of friends and family is a level 8 task. A small piece of waterwear, such a bracelet or necklace, would cost about 50 airels. A larger piece, such as a shirt, could cost two or three times that much.
buildings that tuck into each other like puzzle pieces to create a single structure. Walkways run through the structures rather than between, and even the city’s many docks are located beneath houses and buildings.
There are only four ways to enter Vonnai, two from land and two from the sea. These lunar-powered circular doors stay open to anyone who wishes to enter during the day but lock solidly when the sun goes down, preventing both entry and exit.
The official ruler of Darnali, a woman named Loles, resides here, in the Floating House of Scarlionti, the only unattached building inside the city. Situated just off the shore, the four-story hovering tower, built of large black panels, constantly rises and falls so that it’s never more than a few inches above the water.
Loles is rarely seen away from her house, giving her speeches and decrees from its roof, and requiring anyone who wishes to see her to join her on the first-floor balcony. The house provides her with additional protection as long as she remains in contact with it. There are some who would say Loles is paranoid and heavy-handed in her ruling, but in truth she is a level-headed, forward- thinking ruler who is determined to keep her people and their city safe.
may decline the position, but the societal pressure and the honor is enough that few do. To be a birth bed, an echryni builds a water basket along its chest, then collects an enzyme-soaked egg from everyone in the community who wants to provide one. In a complex ceremony on a predetermined day, the chosen ones take to the sea.
Deep in the water, they build elaborate water cocoons to house themselves and the eggs. During the cocoon building, which takes about a day, the rest of the community stays underwater with them, singing to them in wave speech. At the end of the day, only the chosen echryni stay behind, encased in their cocoons.
By the time the eggs hatch about a month later, the adult is long dead. The larvae burrow into the adult, living and eating inside the body for a few months or until their food source is depleted. By that time, they typically have their wings and are able to start swimming and hunting on their own.