Wayang
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Wayangs are a race of humanoid creatures who migrated to the continent of Tian Xia1 from the Shadow Plane during the Age of Darkness.2
Appearance
Wayangs are short, lean humanoids, similar in stature to gnomes. Their eyes are yellow or white, and their hair is stringy and slithering. They have sharp features and skin tones ranging from twilight plum to deep black. Tattooing and ritual scarification from a young age are common among wayangs.23
History
Wayangs moved from the Shadow Plane to Tian Xia early in the Age of Ashes, feeling at home on shadow-cloaked Golarion. However, as the light returned, wayangs found themselves trapped on an increasingly more inhospitable home, unable to return to the Shadow Plane. Despite their long existence on the Material Plane, wayangs still consider themselves creatures of shadow.245
Society
Wayangs live in small, tightly-knit tribes whose members all regard each other as family, regardless of blood relations. They are nocturnal and prefer the shadows of night to searing bright light, which can be perceived as creepy by other races. For the most part, wayangs view other humanoids and beasts alike as co-conspirators against themselves, to be avoided; only their secretiveness and nimbleness have allowed them to survive. Despite this teaching, some young wayangs, fascinated with stories of the outside world and its denizens, become adventurers to explore the bright unknown.23
On Golarion
Wayangs can be found living in many nations across Tian Xia but they are particularly prevalent in the Wandering Isles of Minata. Many wayangs believe that the eruption of the volcanic Mount Shibotai coincided with their emergence from the Plane of Shadows onto Golarion and, as such, can be found across the Shibobeka Islands that were formed by this eruption. In particular, the wayangs founded the city of Inahiyi on the former caldera of Mount Shibotai. Further south amongst the islands of Tengah Pulu, wayangs are the sole inhabitants of the island of Bukorang.6 Wayangs are also quite common in the metropolis of Goka and in the shadowy community of Deepmarket that lies beneath it.7
A few wayangs still live on the Shadow Plane, either having never migrated to Golarion or after making their way back there from Golarion in the ensuing millennia. The latter wayangs feel as isolated in the Shadow Plane as they used to be on the Material Plane.8
Religion
The patron of wayangs is Lao Shu Po, but many wayangs view her as a blight instead of a blessing.2
Some wayangs adhere to a philosophy called the Dissolution. According to it, upon death, their souls will forever dissolve into the Shadow Plane.4
References
Paizo published detail about wayangs in Blood of Shadows.
For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.
- ↑ . “Introduction” in Heroes of Golarion, 3. Paizo Inc., 2019
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 . “Races of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 13. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 . “Chapter 3: Rare Races” in Inner Sea Races, 187. Paizo Inc., 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 . “Transformed by Light” in Blood of Shadows, 10. Paizo Inc., 2016
- ↑ . The Empty Throne, inside front cover. Paizo Inc., 2012
- ↑ . “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 31. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Regions of the Dragon Empires” in Dragon Empires Gazetteer, 24. Paizo Inc., 2011
- ↑ . “Chapter 3: The Great Beyond” in Planar Adventures, 108. Paizo Inc., 2018