PLAYER ANCESTRY: STRATOSFOLK

Stratosfolk are the descendants of abhuman worker corps, bred by gene-sculptors to construct space elevators and orbital habitats. Rudimentary human nervous systems fused with living vacuum suits, the creatures have survived the Great Collapse and live as a free people in the highest layers of Urth’s atmosphere. 

Able to inflate and deflate their gas-filled bodies at will, stratosfolk can ‘swim’ in the air, moving through the stratosphere like pods of dolphins. Intelligent and social, they roost in large family groups on the Wall’s highest spires.

Special Rules

Windbag – your body is filled with buoyant gas, and you can float slowly through the air at will. You cannot bear a human aloft, but you can act as a parachute to arrest their fall.

Flammable – if you are damaged by flames, you take an additional 3d6 explosive damage, and inflict 3d6 damage on everyone around you. 

Spark Tables

d20	BODY	HEAD	LIMBS	HUE
1	Bulbous	Trunk-like	Flippers	Ash White
2	Globular	Plastic	Plastic Arms	Void Black
3	Pendulous	Skull-like	Tendrils	Silver
4	Ovoid	Malleable	Rubbery	Mirrored
5	Stubby	Glassy	Double as Gas Vents	Cement Grey
6	Tubelike	Hollow	Also Your Eyes	Xanadu Green
7	Bloated	Bristles with Antennae	Crystalline	Platinum
8	Finned	Rubbery	Steel Claws	Bronze
9	Spindly	Multiple Eyes	Webbed	Gunmetal Grey
10	Rotund	Multiple Mouths	Crystalline	Gold
11	Plump	Long and Wormlike	Long and Wormlike	Brass
12	Translucent	Classic Gas-mask	Armoured Gloves	Charcoal
13	Injured	Mirrored Helmet	Hydraulic Grabbers	Glaucous Blue
14	Bioluminescent	Gooey	Octopus-like	Parchment
15	Flabby	Filled With Fluid	Crudely Repaired	Steel Blue
16	Segmented	Insectoid	Crab-like, Organic	Cinereous Grey
17	Wrinkled	Mass of Tubes	Puppet-like	Taupe
18	Pear-shaped	Rigid Mask	Sharp and Slender	Champagne Pink
19	Warty	Unsettlingly Human	Unsettlingly Human	Safety Orange
20	Imposing	Black Box	Detachable	Umber

d20	NAME	DEMEANOUR	WHY YOU DESCENDED	QUIRK
1	Albedo	Cruel	Intense Curiosity About  the Below-Lands	Shrill Voice
2	Cirrus	Curious	”	Cloying Scent
3	Alto	Daring	Fell Out With Family; Act of Rebellion	Emit Black Smoke
4	Nimbus	Eloquent	”	Militant Vegetarian
5	Cumulus	Gloomy	Traditional Period of  Youthful Wandering	Scared of the Ground
6	Noctiluce	Greedy	”	Covered in Moss
7	Filosus	Humble	Blown Away from Clan  by a Prismatic Tempest	Hiss When Nervous
8	Humilis	Intense	”	Foghorn Voice
9	Lenticula	Irritable	Escaping Religious Persecution in Orbit	Leak Weird Goo
10	Fractus	Mellow	”	Worship Clouds
11	Uncina	Mystical	Saw Yourself Wandering  Vaarn in a Dream	Skin Cold to Touch
12	Fibra	Proud	”	Love Eating Bees
13	Spissatus	Solemn	Seeking Cure for  Rare Disease	‘Speak’ using Recordings
14	Voluta	Suspicious	”	Fascinated by Walking
15	Castellanas	Tactless	Need Inspiration for  Great Work of Art	Friends with a Bird
16	Arcus	Vindictive	”	Sworn Foe of a Bird
17	Silvagenitus	Warm	Seek Revenge on  a Below-Dweller	Kite Enthusiast
18	Murus	Witty	”	Symbiotic Void-Lobsters
19	Actino	Well-read	Searching for Long-Lost  Family Member	Worship a Comet
20	Perlucida	Zealous	”	Ardent Monarchist

Making Our Own Stratosfolk

Lastly, we shall use the tables to create our own Stratosfolk PC. We have a Finned Body and a Plastic Head, with Armoured Gloves for hands and a Cement Grey finish. Our name is Fibra, we are Irritable, and we descended from the heights of Urth’s upper world because we were Blown Away from our Clan by a Prismatic Tempest. Our quirk is that we are Scared of the Ground.

I feel for Fibra: she seems to be an adventurer in Vaarn from necessity rather than by choice. She may be irritable, but who wouldn’t be after losing their entire extended family in a storm, perhaps forever? Her finned grey body makes me imagine a dolphin-like form, with a pair of biomechanical limbs that emerge from a hatch in her underbody. If I were playing as Fibra, I would decide that the Prismatic Tempest damaged her somehow: maybe she lacks the ability to return to the upper atmosphere without repairs, or perhaps her navigational memories have been erased somehow? I like that: she remembers her clan’s home exists, but finding her way there again is almost impossible without the correct navigation data for the orbital structure. She’s a treasure-hunter, but only until she finds the ancient charts she needs to return home.