G'folian

• Surround yourself with people who have differing viewpoints.
• Let your emotions get the better of you in tense situations.
• Try to establish a new holiday at an inopportune moment in hopes of making your mark on a region.

• Believe you'll burn them alive with your flame breath if they misspeak.
• Find your way of moving unnerving and blatantly stare.
• Assume that your beliefs match the ultra-traditionalist viewpoints associated with your species in the distant past.

A g'folian is a hexapod with a chitinous shell plating that makes them resemble an alien crab. They have an incredibly tiny sucker mouth on the front of their elevated shell, along with two bulbous eyes. They have six legs (three different sets) that are about 3 feet long and elevate the shell off the ground like thick stilts. A g'folian has two serrated clawlike arms that they use to manipulate objects.

The coloration of a g'folian shell differs based on regional elements of their upbringing and overall ancestral history. Most coastal g'folians have sand-colored shells, while reds and blues are common in areas with longer or shorter day/night cycles. Colder environments produce darker hues, and g'folians in tropical regions have shells with high levels of contrast and white speckles. Adventurous g'folians who have left their homes to explore the wider galaxy often use specialized services to recolor their shells in scintillating patterns or specific art styles. In some cases, a shell develops over time and might bulk in size, or become etched with philosophical writings that the individual g'folian has accumulated over their lifetime.

As hexapods, a typical g'folian has three sets of legs that allow for movement, located near their back, center, and fore. It's easy to see similarities with common crabs, but g'folian legs are far thicker, elevate them farther from the ground, and provide a variable style of locomotion that can operate on land and in watery environments. The legs provide a wide range of motion, which allows for g'folians to master new and unique means of movement in different situations, mimicking the scuttling abilities of crabs. Similarly, a g'folian can easily retract their legs, allowing them to adopt a defensible position using their outer shell for defense.

The interior of a g'folian is a furnace of competing chemicals, all tightly contained within their shells. A g'folian can expel the otherwise inert chemicals in a process that ignites them in a vicious display of fire. The use of theses flames is somewhat taboo, intended to be used only in self defense or service to others. A g'folian using their flame to heat a meal would be ridiculed, while using the flames against an attacking monster would be viewed with grudging understanding.

A g'folian's claws can be used to work with most technology with limited adjustments. Ages ago, these claws were far larger and could even be used as close combat weapons. Some lineages of g'folians maintain these claws, though most of the species have adjusted to being able to manipulate finer equipment with their pincers. Some equipment vendors in the Absurdity sell g'folian-specialized equipment that can be better manipulated with the species' pincers—these adjustments have little combat impact but are instead seen as a status symbol among g'folian travelers who can purchase such exclusive equipment for themselves.

The reclusive world of Inthana in the region of Kazmurg's Absurdity is home to the g'folian species. A place of vibrant tropical coastlines and rugged night-shrouded canyons, the world remained relatively separate from the politics of the wider Absurdity region of space. G'folians developed to become the predominant sapient life-form on the planet, though varying groups of g'folians, known locally as ditties, developed in isolation from one another. The considerable number of ditties created a dizzying array of ancestral heritages related to the regional seclusion that took place over thousands of years. Only when the Cooperative of Worlds—a galactic federation intent on peacefully unifying worlds— found Inthana did the disparate groups of g'folians come together and agree to join the interstellar organization. The relatively recent events of the Smiling Day virus that rocked the Cooperative caused many g'folian ditties to abandon the Cooperative, leading to Inthana formally removing itself from the organization and many ditties abandoning the world to maintain ties with the Cooperative.

Sometime pre-Gap, the g'folian ditties came into greater contact with one another, which led to a complex movement-based ritual that would lead to the decision of victors in conflicts. Today, many g'folians maintain a deep reverence for the art of dance because of their ancestral connection to it as a means of solving conflict. The first encounters of pop culture by g'folians often led them to misconstruing entertainment videos for intense battles. In g'folian society, dancing is a sacred event that must be arbitrated by an odd number of witnesses who must declare a winner, with abstaining on votes seen as a great shame.

Though sometimes armed conflict would occur between g'folian ditties, most groups remained isolated from one another and focused their attentions inward. They dedicated themselves to fiercely debating philosophy and the components of the cosmos. G'folians are incredibly philosophical, regularly questioning or espousing different beliefs in the cosmic order of the Universe or the practices of specific organizations. They regularly “try out” different philosophies, such as the Absurdity belief of Cholm or even the imported strictures of the Prophecies of Kalistrade that come from lost Golarion. They take these philosophies seriously while they participate but often discard them to test a new viewpoint, usually leading to misunderstandings with the organization they depart from.

Those who left Inthana and their home ditties are the most active g'folian adventurers. Several ditties abandoned their home world following their species' departure from the Cooperative of Worlds, with those groups migrating onto other Cooperative worlds, where they've since established roots. The people of these traveling ditties continue to explore the wider cosmos or participate as members of the Cooperative. G'folians who travel the wider galaxy do so to broaden their horizons, especially by learning more about the cultures and philosophies of other species, which they eagerly analyze—sometimes going too far and coming off unintentionally as insensitive.

One of the more recent quirks of g'folian society is the adoption of holidays as a concept. Prior to them joining the Cooperative of Worlds, g'folians had little understanding of a stellar calendar and even less thought about attributing special events to specific dates. Since other species broadened their horizons, g'folians now seek to catch up on creating different holidays.

G'folian names utilize combinations of click-like sounds, often using consonants. G'folians tend to preempt their personal name with a title. This is considered polite and formal when addressing a g'folian, and omitting the title is seen by traditional g'folians as a major slight.

G'folians hold a wide array of philosophical beliefs, most having originated along the lines of traditional ditty heritages. For example, icesure g'folians tend to venerate the elemental powers and revere the elemental lords of those distant planes above all others, interpreting the elemental planes as the true basis of the Universe and a force that shall endure into future iterations of the multiverse. Meanwhile, stonehail g'folians often eschew direct belief in deific powers and instead follow personal philosophies, such as the power of individual stars as entities beyond understanding.

Beliefs stand side by side with religion. Common deific powers venerated by g'folians include the Devourer, Ibra, Oras, and Pharasma. Since the end of the Gap, other deities have seen a rise in prominence, but mostly from curious g'folians who dabble in religions as an extension of their research into the different philosophical beliefs of the wider cosmos.
Popular Edicts attempt to find meaning in events and judge their worth to see if they should be commemorated, study the beliefs of others as best you can
Popular Anathema mock the philosophies of others

Collector the Rizix, Teacher the Clazark, Scientist the Kikickik, Pilot the Tsikrikik, Poet the Tixit, Explorer the Siksak

8

Medium

Constitution, Wisdom, Free

Strength

Additional languages equal to your Intelligence modifier (if it's positive). Choose from the list of common languages and any other languages to which you have access (such as the languages prevalent on your home world).

• Fire
• Manipulate

You can see in dim light as though it were bright light, so you ignore the concealed condition due to dim light.

Your body produces gases that you can expel and internally ignite. You can exhale a 15-foot cone that deals 1d4 fire damage (basic Reflex save against the higher of your class DC or spell DC). After using Fire Breath, you can't use it again for 1d4 rounds. At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the damage increases by 1d4.