Origins

The Coralfolk were not born as most races were in Zin. They are the children of desperation, a creation born when the primal Earthborn sought to anchor themselves within the endless, thrashing seas.

Stone alone could not endure the crushing tides and ceaseless currents of the deep. Their forms eroded, battered into rubble and sand. In their struggle to survive, they turned to the living reefs for salvation. A pact was struck—not of words, but of necessity. Stone and coral fused, and in this symbiosis, something new awoke: the Coralfolk, known also as Coral Knights.

Unlike golems, Coralfolk are not mindless husks of rock. They are alive, thoughtful, and driven by the tides of their own desires. They are born with memory only of the sea’s endless pull, and the duty that lingers like salt in their veins: to guard, to nurture, and to endure.

Appearance

Each Coralfolk’s body reflects the reef that birthed them.

1. Staghorn Coralfolk stand tall and branching, jagged antlers forming natural crowns upon their heads.
2. Brain Coralfolk are stocky, with winding grooves etched into their hides like carved labyrinths.
3. Fan Coralfolk spread delicate, lattice-like fins that ripple with the tide, both beautiful and strange.
4. Stone Coralfolk resemble massive boulder-like guardians, their forms blending into seabed cliffs.

No two Coralfolk are alike. Some are towering bulwarks resembling ancient statues, others slim and spindly like walking gardens. Coloration ranges from dull grays speckled with algae to radiant hues of violet, turquoise, and crimson, glowing faintly in the abyss.

Their eyes are gems of the reef—opaline, pearl-white, or glowing faintly with bioluminescence.

Society and Duty

Coralfolk are bound by the reef’s will as much as their own. Their first loyalty is always to the Coral Reefs of Zin, where entire civilizations of Marinefolk (merrow, fishfolk, crustacean-kin, and more) make their homes.

1. Guardianship: Each Coralfolk serves as protector of their reef, a watchful sentinel against threats both mundane and monstrous.
2. Builders: Some travel to uncharted seas, planting fragments of coral that may bloom into new reefs, and by chance, birth more Coralfolk. In this way, their people slowly spread across Zin’s waters.
3. Explorers: Though rare, Coralfolk sometimes leave the oceans to explore coasts and rivers, seeking to understand the world beyond the tides. These wanderers never stray too far inland; the sea’s call drags them back inevitably.

Struggles and Threats

The life of a Coralfolk is perilous. To guard the reef is to invite the wrath of predators.

1. Sea Serpent Beastmen: These scaled marauders often raid Marinefolk cities. To them, slaying a Coral Knight is a feast of both flesh and stone.
2. Parrotfish: Harmless to most, but to Coralfolk they are a nightmare. With jaws strong enough to grind coral to powder, they are a living terror capable of undoing centuries of reef growth.
3. The Darkness: Recently, reefs have withered into black husks where Coralfolk never return. Whispers spread of something that corrupts both stone and coral, leaving only ruin behind.

Personality

Coralfolk are patient and deliberate, their thoughts shaped by centuries of tides eroding stone. Yet within them dwells the vibrant unpredictability of the reef. Some are stoic as statues, others curious and bold, decorated in shells and sea flora they collect like trophies.

They are deeply communal and see themselves not as individuals, but as extensions of the reef’s survival. Yet those who venture beyond the water begin to develop a keener sense of “self,” discovering ambitions foreign to their kind—wanderlust, artistry, even conquest.

Life and Birth

Unlike other peoples, Coralfolk are not born of bloodlines.

1. When Coral spreads into a new region, and thrives long enough, sometimes—rarely—it awakens. From the reef emerges a new Coralfolk, body shaped by the type of coral that birthed them.
2. Some awaken fully grown, others rise slowly over decades, assembling themselves grain by grain as reef and stone knit together.

A Coralfolk does not truly die as mortals do. Their body may shatter, but if fragments are returned to the reef, they may one day rise again—changed, reborn, or lost forever.