SIDHAI  (pronounced "Sith-EYE")                        29 points
Copyright (c) 1989 by Bob Schroeck
 
+1 IQ, +1 HT
-1 DX, -1 ST
 
1 level of Acute Hearing         Colorblind
High Pain Threshold
1 level of Magic Resistance
2 levels of Toughness
Determine height and weight normally.
 
All Sidhai have feathery black hair and solid green eyes (no white, no 
pupil). Their skins range in color from a cream-white to a brownish tan, and 
the texture can be anywhere from baby-smooth to a bark-like roughness. Instead 
of teeth, they have hard bony ridges inside their mouths. They have four 
fingers on their hands, and their feet are three-toed in a "Y" form: two toes 
in front of the ankle, one behind. They have no fingernails or toenails, and 
do not possess a navel.
The Sidhai are an intelligent race in competition with humans for 
living space on the Jadiwan continent of Narth. A much older and longer-lived 
(they age as standard GURPS elves) race than Men, the Sidhai are the original 
inhabitants of the Jadiwan continent. The more fecund and ferocious humans 
have slowly forced the Sidhai into three relatively small homelands, helped by 
two things: their overall numbers, and their ability to use magic. In defense, 
the Sidhai, who do not produce spellcasters, turned to technology for defense. 
It is only the fact that they are one TL beyond the humans that keeps them 
from being wiped completely off the map.
Unknown to most humans is the fact that the Sidhai are a species of 
mobile sentient plant life that has a reasonably bipedal, humanoid form. The 
Sidhai like to keep this fact very quiet. Unfortunately, humans who do not 
know anything about Sidhai physiology are at a -5 on First Aid and a -10 on 
Physician skills when trying to treat them, and of course their innate 
resistance poses some problems for magical healing. As a further, disquieting 
detail, Sidhai blood is a thin, brown sap-like liquid, likely to freak those 
not familiar with it.
 
Sidhai are by nature somewhat phlegmatic. No Sidhai is Impulsive or can go 
Berserk; defense-only Pacifism is not an uncommon disadvantage. Common Sense, 
Acute Hearing (above the racial norm), even greater Magical Resistance, and 
Animal/Plant Empathies (any level) are common advantages. Another common 
advantage is additional Toughness. If the GM allows, Sidhai may buy a second 
point of Toughness for 10 points, and a third for 15, but no more. Sidhai with 
DR 3 are obvious to the casual viewer, for their skin displays the barklike 
consistency mentioned above. 
A Sidhai can have no more than one level of Acute Sight.
Sidhai cannot be Psionic, and thus cannot have Danger Sense as an 
advantage.
Bad sight (nearsightedness), Bad Reputation or Social Stigma (among 
humans only), Xenophobia (towards humans only), and a species chauvinism that 
counts as Fanaticism are likely disadvantages. 
In a fantasy setting such as my Narth, Sidhai can have powerful 
priestly/clerical types, capable of directly invoking the power of their 
Goddess, Linde (pronounced LINN-day). Priestly power is, for them, something 
other than manipulation of mana, so they will not fit into worlds where 
"Clerical Aptitude" and Magic Resistance cannot be possessed by the same 
character.
The language of the Sidhai, Sidhaisin, is a M/VH skill.