Rootwardens
The Thal'Ruun descend from the Elaren Enclave, a druidic circle that disappeared from the surface during the Age of Divinity. Fragmentary records suggest the Enclave may have included elves, firbolgs, humans, and orcs, though too little survives to confirm its exact composition.
When the Creeping Rot spread through Eldareth, the Enclave abandoned the surface and sought refuge underground. They eventually settled in the caverns now known as the Murmuring Depths, where they remained largely cut off from the peoples above.
Centuries, perhaps millennia, of life below gradually changed their descendants. They adapted to the darkness, unusual plant life, and other conditions of the Depths until they became a people distinct from those who first entered the caverns. They are now known as the Thal'Ruun.
They call themselves Rootwardens, a name tied to the responsibility their ancestors assumed when they settled below. The term remains closely associated with caring for the caverns, root systems, and living communities that support them.
Identity and Culture
Thal'Ruun are tall and usually broad or powerfully built. Their features vary considerably between families. Some have long or pointed ears, while others have broader ears that droop slightly. Their faces may be narrow and angular or broader through the nose and jaw, and small tusks or pronounced lower canines occur in some individuals but are not universal.
Their skin ranges from pale gray and blue-gray to darker slate and purple tones, with earthy greens, browns, and muted teal also common. Fine fur may grow along parts of the face, ears, shoulders, arms, or body, though its amount and placement vary.
One of their most distinctive features is the thornlike growth that develops naturally from their skin. These hardened growths may appear along the shoulders, arms, back, or other parts of the body and vary in size and shape between individuals. Together with their unusually tough skin, they form a natural layer of protection.
Some Thal'Ruun also bear faint markings that glow in darkness, particularly along the face, arms, or shoulders.
Clothing is made largely from materials available within the Murmuring Depths. Fibers taken from cultivated fungi, underground plants, hides, and other local materials are commonly used. Garments are often made to sit around rather than cover larger thorn growths, while certain cords, ornaments, or pieces of clothing may indicate a person's work, family, or participation in an important rite.
Thal'Ruun communities are spread throughout the Murmuring Depths, usually wherever water, fungi, root systems, and other resources can support a permanent settlement. Some communities remain in one place for generations, while smaller groups may move when growing conditions change or a nearby cavern becomes unsafe.
The Thornvaults are among their most important sites. Each has been maintained for generations and protects something the surrounding communities consider necessary to preserve or contain. Some shelter old groves, unusual root systems, or rare species found nowhere else in the Depths. Others seal off places affected by disease, dangerous growth, or other threats.
Thal'Ruun druidic practice is closely concerned with keeping these underground environments healthy. Rot, predation, and death are accepted as ordinary parts of the living world. Rootwardens intervene when disease spreads beyond its usual limits, a species begins overwhelming the surrounding habitat, or an outside influence threatens the systems on which nearby settlements depend.
Intervention can include cutting away infected roots, burning diseased growth, relocating animals, closing contaminated caverns, or killing creatures that have become too dangerous to leave alone. Such measures are usually considered carefully beforehand, since removing too much can damage the same environment they are trying to protect.
Life underground has also affected everyday communication. Long pauses are common in conversation, and silence is rarely treated as something that needs to be filled. In large caverns, people may also lower their voices to avoid carrying sound farther than intended.
Rootsong
The traditional language of the Thal'Ruun is Rootsong.
Rootsong is produced low in the throat, with deep sustained tones accompanied by higher resonances shaped through the mouth and tongue. A speaker may hold a low note beneath parts of a phrase while changing the pitch above it, giving the language a layered sound that carries clearly through the caverns of the Murmuring Depths.
Rhythm, pitch, and resonance can all affect meaning, making Rootsong difficult to reproduce accurately without practice. Its sound is particularly well suited to the Depths, where a low voice can travel considerable distances without needing to be shouted.
Rootsong remains the everyday language of many communities and is also used for oral history, old oaths, and instructions passed between Rootwardens. Longer recitations often make greater use of sustained tones, especially when several voices are speaking or singing together.
Thal'Ruun who regularly deal with surface peoples often learn Common or Elvish as well. Knowledge of other languages varies depending on how much contact a community has with outsiders.
The Rootwardens
Rootwarden describes a responsibility carried by many Thal'Ruun rather than membership in a separate order.
Rootwardens watch over the caverns, water sources, fungal beds, root systems, and other environments their communities depend upon. They track changes over time and pass that knowledge between generations, since a problem beginning in one part of the Depths may eventually spread far beyond a single settlement.
Some remain responsible for the same area for much of their lives and develop detailed knowledge of its plants, animals, water, and seasonal changes. Others travel between communities to investigate disease, unusual growth, damaged roots, or changes that local Rootwardens cannot explain.
The Creeping Rot remains an important part of their teaching. Surviving accounts do not make clear how much the Elaren Enclave understood about the disaster before fleeing underground, but Thal'Ruun traditions remember it as a threat that spread farther and faster than many expected.
Because of this history, unusual disease or rapid changes in the environment are watched closely. Young Rootwardens are taught to recognize when an isolated problem has begun spreading into neighboring caverns rather than assuming it will remain contained.
Thal'Ruun and the Surface
The Thal'Ruun remain largely unknown to most people on the surface. Stories about them survive around the Greyspires, where miners, explorers, and travelers occasionally report signs of inhabited caverns below.
Sightings have become somewhat more frequent in recent years, though the number of Thal'Ruun living or traveling above ground remains exceptionally small. For many surface communities, meeting one is still unusual.
Some Thal'Ruun travel above ground when mining, damaged waterways, magical disturbances, or other surface activity begins affecting the Murmuring Depths. Others leave for trade, study, or simply to see the lands their ancestors abandoned.
Surface scholars have attempted to connect Thal'Ruun features with the peoples believed to have belonged to the Elaren Enclave, but the surviving evidence is too limited to establish a clear ancestry. After so many generations below, the Thal'Ruun are a distinct people with their own physical traits, language, and traditions.
Beneath Vel'Nathar, their communities continue to maintain settlements and Thornvaults that have existed for generations. The Creeping Rot remains part of their oldest surviving history, and the possibility of another spreading threat continues to influence how closely the Rootwardens watch changes within the Depths.
Rootwarden Traits
Ability Score Increase. When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. You can't raise any of your scores above 20.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium.
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Natural Resilience. You have resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against being poisoned.
Silent Grace:.You have proficiency in the Stealth skill. While in rocky or fungal terrain, you can attempt to hide as a bonus action.
Thorned Hide. Your skin and natural growths function as armor. When not wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Constitution modifier.
Thornshield. When a creature within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to lash out with thorny growths. The attacker takes piercing damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, shared between Thornshield and Rootform Shapeshift. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Ancestral Magic. You know the thorn whip cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast entangle once without expending a spell slot. At 5th level, you can cast spike growth once without expending a spell slot. You can also cast either of those spells using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level.
Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells when you cast them with this trait (choose when you select this race). None of these spells require spell components when you cast them with this trait.
Rootform Shapeshift: You can use bonus action to transform into either a ThornBat or a Root-Serpent. This transformation lasts for 10 minutes or until you dismiss using an action.
While transformed, you cannot cast spells or use weapons, tools, or other equipment. You retain your hit points and mental ability scores, and you can use your racial traits while in this form, but not class features that require speech, somatic components, or fine manipulation.
You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, shared between Thornshield and Rootform Shapeshift. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
ThornBat Form (small beast)
Armor Class: 14 (natural armor)
Hit Points: Equal to your Thal’Ruun hit points
Speed: 10 ft., Fly 40 ft.
STR 6, DEX 16, CON same as Thal’Ruun, INT 3, WIS 12, CHA 5
Saving Throws: DEX +5
Skills: Stealth +7
Damage Resistances: Poison
Senses: Darkvision 120 ft., Echo Sense 60 ft., Passive Perception 14
Actions: Echo Pulse (Bonus Action): Detect invisible creatures within 30 ft. until the end of your next turn.
Traits: Silent Flight (advantage on Stealth checks in darkness).
Root Serpent Form (medium beast)
Armor Class: 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points: Equal to your Thal’Ruun hit points
Speed: 30 ft., Burrow 30 ft.
STR 14, DEX 14, CON same as Thal’Ruun, INT 3, WIS 12, CHA 5
Skills: Stealth +5, Athletics +4
Damage Resistances: Poison
Senses: Blindsight 30 ft., Passive Perception 14
Actions: Constrict (melee weapon attack, +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., 1d6+2 bludgeoning damage and the target is grappled, DC 14 escape).
Traits: Burrow Camouflage (advantage on Stealth checks underground).
Languages. Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a list of languages to choose from. The DM is free to modify that list for a campaign.