Timus
Living below the sight and feet of their towering neighbors, the timus are a small, courageous, and devoted people. They've got a deep love of art, craft, and storytelling, and often seek work as artisans. To be tasked with keeping their (rather large) family history is one of the greatest honors a timus can have.
With bravery far beyond their size, many an adventurer has been shocked to discover how far a timus will journey in their quest, and the danger they'll face that their larger companions won't.
Indominable Spirit
Despite their tiny and meek appearance, timus are a very strong-willed people. Often brave to the point of foolhardiness, timus have been known to find themselves right in the middle of situations that far outsize their physicality. It's not uncommon to encounter a traveling timus that has seen their fair share of danger and trouble. Despite what other species may assume, timus make capable rangers, merchants, mercenaries, adventurers, and spies. Their quick paws, keen senses, and ability to maneuver into small spaces that others can't can land a timus in plenty of trouble, but also make them invaluable parts of an adventure.Deft Hands
A timus' tiny paws and nimble fingers make them excellent artisans. Threading a needle, blowing glass, kneading dough - it all comes naturally to the timus. It's common for timus families to run a craft business in cities or larger towns rather than working in fields or in mines. Walk through an alley in a big city and you'll see spot timus merchants hawking their crafts everywhere you look. From jewelry to clothing, baked goods to brewed meads, wooden toys, colorful beads, potions and lotions, art, pottery, clocks, instruments, and savory street foods - if you need to find a gift for someone, visit a timus neighborhood.Life Underfoot
Timus often find themselves fitting into the small gaps in society. The spaces hidden around a city that larger species ignore are ripe with opportunities for the enterprising timus. What a lycan would consider an attic crawlspace is a comfortable living area for a timus family to raise their children. Cramped alleyways become busy market streets, a gutter a canal, a closet a bunkhouse, a shed a storefront, and a sewer a fortress. They tend to see all this as "wasted space", perfectly good locations that other species simply ignore for no good reason. The fact that many larger species will rent these cramped spots to timus for a paltry amount of coins might have something to do with it, however. You can use the timus profession table to find a craft or artisan profession your timus character had before adventuring, or to inspire one of your own.Names
Timus tend to have enormous families, so a family name alone may not tell you much about who a timus is. There could be sixteen Cookes on one street alone. Timus typically go by their personal names first, family name second for these reasons. Family Names: Alton, Cooke, Darrow, Greeneleaf, Odell. Female Names: Bronwyn, Dayana, Ivy, Rona, Serra. Male Names: Abram, Benn, Jasper, Silas, Walmond.Timus Traits
Your timus character has the following species traits: Ability Score Increase Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1. Age A timus matures around 5 years of age, and lives into their 30's. Alignment Most timus are neutral and tend towards good. Size Your size is small. Speed Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Keen Senses You have proficiency in the Perception skill. Nimble Dodge When attacked by an Attack of Opportunity, you may use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack. In addition, you may move through the spaces of creatures at least one size larger than you. Outsized Bravery You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. Small Paws You gain proficiency with one type of tools or one musical instrument. Language You speak Common and Critteran.Medicine Mice
There persists an old folktale in some remote villages that timus have powers of medicine and healing. The stories go: with just a touch they can close a wound, purify sick blood, and ease an upset stomach. If someone is dying, a timus fur potion will cure them by morning. There's a more sinister take as well: some truly rural folk believe that timus bring disease everywhere they walk, and simply choose when and who to inflict it upon. This vision of the timus as supermagical plague-casters or natural-born healers is based in no sense of reality of course, but it's curious how many distant villages hold these same beliefs.Too Small to Notice
One old myth recorded in timus texts from before the Moot speaks of a time when "the animals did talk, but they had not yet fire for themselves". It goes on to say how each night, all the species shivered in the dark, cold to the bone. A powerful monster guarded the only fire in the whole World, and the folk were never able to defeat it and take fire for themselves. The tiny timus kept volunteering to help, but the bigger ones told him he was too little. One day, as they battled the monster again, the timus snuck right past the fight, scooping up fire in a spoon and running away before the monster ever noticed. When the tired and beaten animals returned home, they found a warm fire waiting for them, the timus sitting cozily.
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