The World of Abadonya

A Legacy That Outlives the Bargain

Ashborn are most strongly associated with Keynew, where ancient pacts, cult activity, magical catastrophes, and old contact with hostile outsiders have left traces in mortal bloodlines.

The mark can remain dormant for generations. A family may consider itself entirely ordinary until a child is born with horns, a tail, unusual eyes, strange resistance to heat or cold, or an instinctive connection to darkness.

Some Keynew communities fear Ashborn on sight, while others judge them by reputation and deed. In larger settlements, especially those accustomed to adventurers and strange magic, an Ashborn may attract attention without automatically being treated as an enemy.

Ashborn themselves often grow up knowing that strangers may decide what they are before learning who they are.

No Two Marks Are Alike

Ashborn appearances vary enormously. Some look almost entirely human or resemble the mortal ancestry of their family, while others display unmistakably otherworldly traits.

Common features include small or sweeping horns, tails, unusual skin tones, sharply colored eyes, fangs, claws, patches of scales, cloven feet, or subtle vestigial wings.

Other traits may be less visible: an unnatural shadow, the scent of smoke, strangely cold skin, a voice with a faint echo, or eyes that seem to catch light where none exists.

These features do not reliably reveal temperament, beliefs, or the exact nature of the bloodline.

Living Where Old Trouble Lingers

Keynew contains enough old ruins, buried cult sites, magical scars, and forgotten bargains that Ashborn births are not treated as impossible, even in families that insist no such ancestry exists.

Some Ashborn grow up in Golandria, Koin, Mendiville, or rural settlements where their families have lived for generations. Others come from isolated households that deliberately conceal the old blood.

Ashborn rarely form large communities of their own. Most adopt the customs of the people who raised them, though small circles sometimes form around shared experience, mutual protection, or knowledge of unusual bloodlines.

Those who travel often find Keynew both easier and harder than other lands: strange ancestry is known there, but so are the stories that make people suspicious of it.

The Blood Does Not Decide

Ashborn are frequently judged by appearance, especially when their features resemble creatures associated with cruelty, corruption, or destructive magic.

Many respond by becoming fiercely independent. Some deliberately live exemplary lives, some reject the need to prove anything at all, and others embrace intimidating reputations because fear can be useful.

An Ashborn can be generous, selfish, heroic, cruel, lawful, chaotic, devout, cynical, or anything between. Their ancestry influences abilities and appearance, not moral certainty.

Within Keynew, the most respected Ashborn are often those known for keeping their word when others expected betrayal.

No Single Path

Ashborn faith varies as widely as their bloodlines. Some reject religion entirely because they resent being defined by supernatural ancestry.

Others turn toward Seraphim as an explicit statement that inherited darkness does not control the soul. Rashtala attracts those who want to understand the magic in their blood, while Marius may appeal to Ashborn fascinated by contracts, consequences, and the dangerous weight of bargains.

Ashborn may follow any deity or alignment.

Standard Pathfinder 1e Racial Traits

Ability Score Modifiers: Ashborn gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, and –2 Charisma.

Type: Ashborn are outsiders with the native subtype.

Size: Ashborn are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to size.

Base Speed: Ashborn have a base speed of 30 feet.

Languages: Ashborn begin play speaking Common and either Abyssal or Infernal. Ashborn with high Intelligence scores can choose Abyssal, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Infernal, and Orc as bonus languages.

Fiendish Resistance: Ashborn have cold resistance 5, electricity resistance 5, and fire resistance 5.

Skilled: Ashborn gain a +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Stealth checks.

Spell-Like Ability: Ashborn can use darkness once per day as a spell-like ability. Caster level equals the Ashborn's class level.

Darkvision: Ashborn have darkvision 60 feet.

Fiendish Sorcery: Ashborn sorcerers with the Abyssal or Infernal bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer class abilities.

Race Points: 13 RP.

These are the Pathfinder 1e racial mechanics used for Ashborn characters in Abadonya.

Selected Alternate Racial Traits

Beguiling Liar: Gain a +4 racial bonus on Bluff checks to convince others of a deliberate lie. This replaces Skilled.

Bullying: Gain a +1 racial bonus on combat maneuver checks to disarm or steal. This replaces Skilled.

Fiendish Sprinter: Gain a 10-foot racial bonus to speed when charging, running, or withdrawing. This replaces Skilled.

Maw or Claw: Gain either a bite attack dealing 1d6 damage or two claw attacks dealing 1d4 damage each. These are primary natural attacks. This replaces the spell-like ability.

Pass for Human: The Ashborn's unusual features are subtle enough to pass as human without a Disguise check and the character counts as both humanoid (human) and outsider (native) for relevant effects. This alters type, subtype, and languages.

Prehensile Tail: Use a flexible tail to retrieve small stowed objects as a swift action. This replaces Fiendish Sorcery.

Scaled Skin: Choose cold, electricity, or fire. Gain resistance 5 to that energy type and +1 natural armor. This replaces Fiendish Resistance.

These options use the normal Pathfinder 1e alternate racial trait replacement rules.

Bloodlines Among the Roads and Ruins

Keynew is the principal homeland of the Ashborn in Abadonya. They appear among established families, isolated rural bloodlines, urban neighborhoods, adventuring communities, and places shaped by old magical conflict.

No single Ashborn culture dominates the region. An Ashborn raised in Golandria may have little in common with one from Koin or a remote settlement near Dragonsmane beyond the experience of carrying an ancestry others notice.

Their strongest shared tradition is often individual rather than communal: deciding personally what inherited power means and refusing to let other people make that decision for them.

Choosing the Next Step

Ashborn often become adventurers because travel offers distance from old reputations, opportunities to understand their bloodline, or a chance to build an identity through deeds.

Rogues, wizards, magi, sorcerers, investigators, fighters, and other classes that benefit from agility, intelligence, stealth, or unusual magic are common, though Ashborn can pursue any class.

A Keynew Ashborn adventurer might investigate a forgotten bargain tied to their family, hunt a cult attempting to claim them, learn why their heritage manifested now, or simply prove that ancestry is history rather than destiny.

Return to the Races of Abadonya index to browse other ancestries.