Which vampire it was that first got the idea to abduct humans as cattle, and then take them far into the lightless depths of the world below the surface, where escape would be impossible, has been lost to the recesses of time. However, this practice soon became a rather popular trend among the devilish vampiric undead for several centuries, fleeing the sunlight and taking both food source and subjects with them, all the better to fashion a territory in the lightless realms where the sun never shone.
This way of life might indeed have created a paradise for the vampires, except that they could not resist scheming against each other. Soon, wars both covert and overt were breaking out all over the territory of the undead, and the troops they all-too-often put on the front line of their battles were the living that they had taken with them, meek cattle now shown the ways of war. It was then only a matter of time before these former human cattle turned on and overthrew their masters, and the lightlost became an independent people, a subterranean subrace of humanity.
Personality
Living on the bleak edge of survival, with the memories of a time when you were hardly more than cattle so close behind, living in doomed opulence as you awaited the whims of your butcher masters, makes for a grim existence, which creates grim people. Lightlost, or "lost boys and lost girls," as they often call themselves, tend to be bitter cynics, prone to dark moods and depression. They generally compensate for this with black humor, ironic observations and sarcasm, and pessimistic resignation. After all, if you never expect anything good, then if anything good does come, you're always pleasantly surprised.
Among the lightlost, the most cunning lost boys and lost girls are the ones who lead. This usually means the eldest, because only the smartest and the sneakiest live so long, though there are plenty of younger souls with sharp minds who become leaders because of their ability. While the lightlost as a people keep tabs on each other, and feel a common bond of unity as a race, they prefer to live in small enclaves, called "circles," formed in and around the remnants of their dead vampiric masters' realms, where most of the dangerous life of the Underdark hasn't come back yet. This allows them to better organize themselves, so that they don't have any disharmony, which could prove fatal, allows them to conserve resources, and also means that they can more easily avoid detection by any of the greater powers in the Underdark.
It is said by some that the lightlost lost their faith when they lost sight of the sun, and this would not be far wrong. While they do have a certain reverence for gods of death, for the most part the lightlost do not have regular clergy, nor do they have much to do with the gods, who they feel abandoned them to their fates long ago.
Physical Description
After all the generations of living in the darkest parts of the world, where sunlight never shines, and with some guided breeding by their former masters, the lightlost have grown ghostly pale in appearance, their skins almost devoid of more than the most sparse of pigmentation. With their lives almost constantly on the run for their survival, the lightlost tend to be relatively short, though still within human ranges, and slender, though well-formed. In fact, they seem to have a ghostly beauty about them, haunting to observers. Thanks to the attentions of their now-dead vampiric masters to their genetics, lightlost tend to have the most brilliantly colored eyes, with some pigments that are not found in surface humans. While their bodies have only very sparse hair, what is said of their eyes is also true of the hair on their heads, thanks to the addition of vampiric magic in making attractive pets as well as playthings. Stark, thick, ink black is the most common hair color among the lightlost, but they have a host of others, all of them vivid and starkly contrasted against their eerily pale skin.
About Lightlost Humans
Wake, run, hide, forage, eat, study, sleep. This is the daily routine of the lightlost. The Underdark is a deadly place, and there is no time for much else. The only sanctuary from the dangers of the lower reaches of the world is to be found in the demesnes of the very creatures that once enslaved the lightlost, and in their desperation to find some solace in the darkness, the lightlost are often forced to congregate in these places of old darkness and forbidden secrets. This is the only source of knowledge in the darkness below, the only place they can gain enlightenment, however tainted it might be. But the lightlost recognize the importance of learning as a way to make themselves more clever than the monsters that hunt them, and so they drink it in, all the while steeping themselves a little more in undying cunning and fatalistic determination.
The life of the lightlost is a strange one, with the remnants of the lost opulence of their former masters available just a short distance away, and a need for desperate, clawing survival just outside the gates. Lightlost make their living with a very basic scavenger/gatherer lifestyle, with a few sparse fungus farms and even the occasional killing of weaker prey rounding out their diets. However, in their efforts to survive, lightlost often become incredibly knowledgeable about the Underdark around them, and this knowledge can make them excellent guides, to those who are willing to pay their fees in foodstuffs, essential goods, and luxury items, and lots of them.
Any lightlost found on the surface are almost guaranteed to be adventurers, since this human offshoot race is quite insular under normal circumstances, needing to stick together just to survive. These lightlost tend to be either the ones who could not fit in with the others, too rebellious even to fit in with a race of cynical rebels, or else the ones who realized their desperate plight most completely, and decided on taking whatever way out was available. The worst of the lot are the ones who were banished, who can range from the misunderstood or framed, to the most vile of criminals who will certainly claim to be of the former categories until it is far too late. Nevertheless, the skills required to survive in the Underdark find excellent application in the life of adventuring lightlost, and they often make useful additions to any party.
Lightlost:
- Human characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.
- Medium: Humans are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.
- Normal Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.
- Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.
- Skilled: Humans gain an additional four skill points at first level, and an additional one at every level after.
- Light Sensitivity: Lightlost humans suffer a -1 circumstance penalty to attack rolls, saves, and checks in bright sunlight or within the radius of a daylight spell.
- 60' Darkvision.
- Languages: Humans begin play speaking Common. Humans with high Intelligence scores can choose any languages they want (except secret languages, such as Druidic).
Special Racial Feat
Light-Hardened (Racial)
Some creatures, especially beings that normally live in the Underdark, have a hard time dealing with the raw, merciless light of the surface world. Other creatures, most notably undead, actually take damage from such exposure, and from related effects. However, it is possible for many of these creatures to overcome their weakness to light through careful, steady doses of exposure. While these methods of gradual exposure can be grueling, and even potentially deadly in some instances, those who make it through the training process are hardened against what was once a great danger.
Prerequisites: Light-related weakness.
Benefit: Creatures with light sensitivity (such as orcs) are able to function in sunlight without any penalties. Creatures that are actually damaged by sunlight (such as vampires) suffer only half the effects, or are able to last twice as long if there is a time duration of survival listed rather than a damage amount, and do not suffer any movement penalties for exposure.
