SR5:Race:Centaur

5th Edition Rules
Basics // Combat // Magic // Matrix // Driving // Character Creation

Races

Humans

Elves

Dwarves

Orks

Trolls

Centaurs

Nagas

Pixies

Sasquatches

Changelings

Shapeshifters

CHARACTERS AND CHANGELING CULTURE

Changelings are outsiders by nature. They don’t want to be part of the normal society because they are special. They were pushed to the outskirts and found a home there, with others like them who understand them. While the world has had sixty years to adjust to the idea of 2.5 meter trolls, burly orks, stout dwarfs, and graceful elves (and haven’t gotten it perfect yet), they have had only a little more than a decade to come to grips with beaks, tentacles, frog tongues, and tails. And there are so many fewer changelings than metahumans, no one ever gets a chance for them to be seen everyday and make them seem normal. A character, even one running the shadows who is a natural outsider, still needs a place to call home with people who understand them. The character can choose whether they are trying to fit in, whether they go back to their neighborhoods, or whether they go the route of the hermit and live alone, away from the world. Roleplaying the difficulties of fitting in when you don’t look like anyone near you or even the difficulties of a life where finding someone like you may never happen should weigh heavily on the character. They may be the dreamer who knows that the right one is out there; they may be the shut-in, angry at the world because they can never know whether their present company is there for them as a person or because they want to watch the sideshow; or they could be oblivious, or play oblivious, to the reality of their situation. Being a changeling may seem cool to have the great abilities or nifty stat boosts, but the true advantage is in the character you can play, the chance to play out the role of the outsider on the outside, while struggling to be accepted on the inside.

EQUUS SAGITTARIUS

RACE	BODY	AGI	REA	STR	WIL	LOG	INT	CHA	EDGE	MAG	ESS	INIT
Centaur	3/8	1/6	1/6	3/8	1/6	1/6	1/5	1/5	1/5	1	6	REA+INT
Racial Traits:Low-Light Vision, Thermographic Vision, Magic Sense, Natural Weapon (Kick: DV (STR + 2)P, AP +1, +1Reach), Search; Movement (x1/x4/+4)

The still-developing culture of the changelings is an interesting area of study. Anthropologists are able to observe the breaking away of a sect of a culture in real time as opposed to making guesswork on what happened from writings or stories. Changelings today usually go one of two ways, depending on the severity of their SURGE expression. Those who have been greatly changed are what I’d rather focus on, as they are the ones who are developing a new culture for themselves and their kind. Those whose expressions are minor often simply stick within their original culture and accept their small differences as simply a part of who they are, or they hide them in order to fit in. These same individuals are also the ones who show up at changeling gatherings and then try to fit in because they “know what it’s like,” only to find themselves drummed out or ignored. Because in truth, they don’t know what it’s like.

The changeling culture is one of acceptance for their own kind and the expansive variations of their expressions, along with a reluctance to take part in the formalized culture of anyone else. They revel in their nature, and many have been trying to create changeling-only communities with varying levels of success due to the limited number of individuals with extensive expressions. Within these areas, and within the culture of the changelings themselves, is a world of accepting difference and expressing one’s self, often through art or stage performance. The revitalization of small portions of slum communities has become a calling card for changeling communities. As a group and as a culture, they help each other out, and every structure is customized for the changeling who will live there. They even work together to remodel homes for those who move in or when they have children who display different traits. The areas have also attracted many metavariants who also don’t feel at home in the rest of the world. Acceptance is universal for the altered. That acceptance is limited, though, as they have very little tolerance for any normal human (or “norman,” as they call them) who wants to live among them, feeling they are simply being used to boost the norman’s countercultural cred, or that they are being pitied as “freaks.”

The counterculture of changelings is about not accepting changes, but rather trying to erase them in an effort to fit in. They may attempt self-mutilation to get back to normal, they may cover up changes and act as if they don’t exist, or they may try to become a mainstream success in some field or another, giving something for the normans to condescendingly admire as an “inspiration.” For changelings, joining the culture of the world at large is their counterculture.

CHANGELING SPECIFIC

Centaurs are a member of the equine family, with a lower body resembling a horse with a hominid torso attached where the horse head would be. A centaur typically stands 2.7–3.2 meters tall and weighs between 400–1000 kilograms. Most of the variation comes from the horse body, which may resemble several different breeds of common horse (Equus ferus). Centaurs possess only three digits and an opposable thumb on each hand, and the skull shape can vary within the species. The common centaur, known to metahumanity since shortly after the Awakening, has a primarily equine head similar to a horse but shortened slightly in length. A second variation of the species, much like the varieties of metahuman subspecies, has a human head. These “lesser centaurs,” as other centaurs referred to them, rarely reach adulthood, as they are generally cast out of their tribes and left to fend for themselves. A few have been taken in by kind-hearted centaurs, metahumans, other metasapient species, and at least one dragon, and have survived to adulthood outside of their regular culture.

Though centaurs have long been considered primitive, this view is not entirely fair or accurate. While centaurs generally desire to maintain their simple tribal lifestyle and live in their natural habitats, they are quite capable of sophisticated thought and understanding of modern technology. Several common centaurs and many lesser centaurs have begun to explore metahuman society and demonstrated a solid facility with adapting as needed. Of particular note are the Prairie Boys, a band completely composed of common centaurs; Rouge Bitless, a lesser centaur professional fighter; and Milo Czerda, a Nobel laureate and member of the Draco Foundation’s board of trustees. Other centaurs serve in mercenary units, work on rural farms, or act as guides or trackers thanks to their innate magical tracking sense. Though they are capable of integrating into many parts of metahuman society, most just choose not to.

Estimated Worldwide Population: 50,000 (common); 1,500 (lesser)

Population Centers: The Eurasian Steppe, North American refuge (created by the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn), and parts of Greece and the Czech Republic

Current International Status: The Native American Nations, Greece, the Czech Republic, Amazonia, Yakut, and Mongolia all recognize centaurs as sapient beings and allow them full citizenship. Currently Evo is the only megacorporation that offers centaurs citizenship.