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Telia

Telia CR 2

XP 600
NG Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +0; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +7

DEFENSE

HP 23
EAC 13; KAC 14
Fort +3; Ref +1; Will +7
Defensive Abilities retract

OFFENSE

Speed 25 ft., swim 20 ft.
Melee tactical baton +9 (1d4+3 B)
Ranged static arc pistol +7 (1d6+2 E; critical arc 2)

STATISTICS

Str +1; Dex +0; Con +4; Int +1; Wis +2; Cha +1
Skills Culture +12, Engineering +12, Medicine +12, Sense Motive +7, Survival +7
Languages Common, Telian, Vesk
Other Abilities flashback
Gear freebooter armor I, static arc pistol with 2 batteries (20 charges each), tactical baton

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Flashback (Ex)

Once per day, a telia can reroll a failed Intelligence -based skill check.

Retract (Ex)

A telia that takes the total defense action gains a +6 bonus to their Armor Class instead of the usual +4 bonus, and they also gain the unflankable universal creature rule until the start of their next turn.

ECOLOGY

Environment any
Organization solitary, pair, or longevity (3–12)

The tortoise-like telias are long-lived creatures—most live to be 1,000—and their vast experience has taught them that memory is mutable and (for other species) fleeting. Over time, a telia’s scaled shell changes pattern and color based on the telia’s experiences. Each bony plate, or scute, is a comprehensive physical record of the creature’s experiences, radiating a series of fine rings from its center. The rings’ color and shape differences give subtle clues to the telia’s experiences. Times of great joy, learning, and discovery often produce brightly colored and clearly defined rings, while darker times can result in cloudy, imprecise portions. Individuals older than a few hundred years are apparent from the scrambled or sometimes totally absent markings on the edges of their scute.

Telias have exceptional control over their memories. Some choose to forget entire centuries in a bid to excise trauma or in hopes of again experiencing the joy of discovering their passions. Most, however, trim only bad habits, bits of bias, and old grudges. Partially as a result of this practice, telias are genial and relaxed. Some underestimate telias based on their advanced age, but most telias are generous in deliberately ignoring such prejudice, having only pity for the narrow views of such short-lived creatures. In fact, telia culture considers individual blame to be abhorrent, which means some see telias as shiftless or incapable of accepting or assigning responsibility. To the typical telia, however, the vast causal nexus that leads to any given outcome is too nebulous to oversimplify. In their view, one can’t blame a creature without in part blaming its community, its family, and its ancestors—and in turn their families and community, onward to infinity. As a result, most telias are quick to forgive those who wrong them.

Storytelling is central to telia society, and most are well practiced in the craft. Though telias have a written language, they rarely use it. Instead, telias embrace an oral tradition, passing down even complex technological information entirely verbally. They take an unhurried approach to learning, and it is common for a telia engineer to spend many decades as an apprentice. While they understand why other species rely on written records, most telias would much rather listen to a story told well than read from a screen. Telias are curious creatures, and when their travels take them away from their communities, they take their stories along with them in the form of video and audio recordings. Among an adventuring telia’s most precious possessions is their digital archive of their friends’ and family’s favorite stories.

Telias originated on the only inhabited planet in its Near Space system, rich with coral reefs, continent-spanning jungles, and complex cave systems, all teeming with unusual life. Thanks to their technological know-how, telias were among the first in the galaxy to correctly interpret the signal and build hyperspace engines. Once introduced to the broader galaxy, telias have fallen in love with the near infinite diversity of life and experience available beyond their own star system.

The average telia is 4-1/2 feet tall and weighs 200 pounds.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Starfinder Alien Archive 3 © 2019, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Saif Ansari, Kate Baker, John Compton, Adam Daigle, Katina Davis, Eleanor Ferron, Crystal Frasier, Leo Glass, Sasha Lindley Hall, Amanda Hamon, Thurston Hillman, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Virginia Jordan, Jason Keeley, Natalie Kertzner, Luis Loza, Lyz Liddell, Ron Lundeen, Crystal Malarsky, Robert G. McCreary, Hilary Moon Murphy, Adrian Ng, Joe Pasini, Lacy Pellazar, Samantha Phelan, Jessica Redekop, Simone D. Sallé, Michael Sayre, Owen K.C. Stephens, James L. Sutter, Jason Tondro, Diego Valdez, and Linda Zayas-Palmer.