CREATED BY CHAOS
When the power of That-Which-Endures mutated the
vcrdan, their skin was turned the color of jade and their
blood began to flow black. Their ears grew pointed, and
they gained a limited form of telepathy- but at the cost
of forgetting their history. The underground homes of
the goblins were places of terror to the new creatures
those goblins became. and the verdan quickly fled to the
surface and into the sunlight.
When they arrived in the new lands of the surface, the
verdan found that they were often mistaken for smaller,
green-skinned half-elves. Attracting curiosity but no real
questions, they have thus been able to make their way
reasonably freely in the world.
ONGOING MU T ATIONS
Because the verdan have not dwellcd long in the world,
they are still discovering new things about themselves.
Chief among these discoveries is that their physical
forms change as they age, signifying that the mutative
power of That-Which-Endures is not done with them.
The first verdan emerged from the Underdark as
creatures of goblin stature. But they soon learned that
their kind were fated to eventually undergo a dramatic,
painful, and random growth spurt that sees them trans-
formed to hobgoblin size over a period of days.
At the same time, many verdan undergo changes in
coloring as they age. Male verdan typically have little
to no hair, while females sport shocks of wiry hair that
they try to tame in a variety of styles. But the color of
any verdan's hair, skin. and eyes can transform from
their original jade tones to pale white, deep ebon, or any
other shade in between. A verdan's ears also undergo
numerous spontaneous alterations over their l ifetime,
from the typical range of point and peak seen
among the elves, to huge ears that sweep back
from the head like wings. and which are of-
ten pierced behind the head with a single
ring to keep them from flapping about.
Changes in gender are also a known
and accepted part of verdan life. These
fluid aspects of form and identity are
seen as blessings, allowing an indi-
vidual to experience more of the
world and grow in empathy and
understanding. There is no pat-
tern to any vcrdan's mutations,
as verdan from the same family
can shift in drastically different
ways. The verdan assign no cul-
tural or biological relevance to
any particular coloration. physical
features, or gender.CULTURAL
CHAMELEONS
The clan homes of the Underdark
goblinoids who became the verdan
covered an enormous area. As the
verdan fled to the surface world, theyTHAT-WHICH-ENDURES
That-Which-Endures is a nameless, faceless, mysterious
entity, something between a multiverse-spanning pri-
mordial spirit and an over-god. It represents the amoral
and all·encompassing power of entropy- the force that
unknowingly and uncaringly changes order into chaos,
and that breaks matter and time down into its component
parts so that all can be rebuilt. Some who study this entity
claim that it is clearly evil and destructive. Others call it
simply a necessary part of the cycle of death and rebirth. In
the end, though, That-Which-Endures shows precious little
interest in what people say about it.emerged in culturally diverse locations. Some found
themselves near dwarven strongholds. others near el-
ven enclaves, and others near the widespread human
settlements of FaerOn.VARIETIES OF
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