Lashunta

From PathfinderWiki
Lashunta
A lashunta astride her saurian shotalashu mount.
(Creature)

Type
Humanoid
(lashunta)
CR
By character class
Environment
Any (Castrovel)
Alignment
Adjective
Lashunta
Source: Inner Sea Bestiary, pg(s). 25
SFW compass rose 150.png

This article might have further canon details available on StarfinderWiki.

Lashuntas1 are a species of humanoids native to the continent of Asana. They are the most influential species on the planet Castrovel and live in an educated, civilized society.2

Culture

See also: Lashunta city-states and Qabarat

Lashuntas constantly plot and maneuver for political positions within their scattered city-states,23 each of which is ruled by an elected or hereditary ruler. These connections are strengthened through trade alliances, interbreeding, and defense pacts, with conflict typically limited to feuds over honor and ceremonial combat.3 While they occasionally engage in ritual combat or raid each other, lashuntas always band together against external threats.4

Lashuntas have their own language, also called Lashunta,5 and rely on telepathic and magical communication between their city-states.3 They discovered and understood the interplanetary portals that link their planet to others long ago, and formed a particularly close bond to the inhabitants of Akiton.6

Damaya and korasha lashunta

A lashunta woman watches over a city-state from her shotalashu mount.

The lashuntas are divided into two castes known as damaya and korasha. Membership is not hereditary, as lashuntas decide at puberty which they develop into. Damaya are taller than korasha and tend towards roles that require strong leadership and communication skills, while korasha are stout and tend towards physically demanding jobs. Both castes share a strong appetite for intellectual matters.47

Fashion

Due to Castrovel's warmth and humidity, few lashunta wear any more clothing than is necessary to complete a task.6

Connections with shotalashu

Lashunta warriors form close telepathic bonds with their shotalashu mounts, making them incredibly effective mounted combatants. When a bonded shotalashu or rider dies, the surviving party suffers lasting emotional trauma.8

Psychic ability

All lashuntas see the pursuit of mental perfection as an admirable goal which has, over the generations, developed into keen psionic powers in many members of this austere race.295

Such lashuntas have natural telekinetic and telepathic abilities, which are especially prevalent among lashunta warriors who telepathically bond with their telepathically sensitive shotalashu mounts.58 These innate capabilities help make Castrovel the solar system's dominant home of psychics.9

On Golarion

A lashunta tribe known as the Lotus-Eaters was collected by the crew of the strike starship Divinity after it entered Golarion's solar system and stopped by Castrovel to collect rainforest-dwelling life to resupply one of its habitat pods. The lashuntas were then placed in stasis, and remained there when the starship crashed into modern Numeria. Millennia later, a Technic League captain—an aiuvarin named Prosser—discovered and revived them during an expedition into the Silver Mount, establishing a village within the isolated habitat dome with himself as its chieftain.10

Lady Altouna, the ruler of the Numerian city of Hajoth Hakados, is a lashunta who arrived in the city while fleeing from the Technic League. However, most of the city's residents believe her to be a half-elf, a cover that she maintains to avoid drawing unwanted attention to herself.11

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

  1. In Pathfinder First Edition, lashunta is used for both singular and plural. In Pathfinder Second Edition, the plural form is lashuntas.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 James L. Sutter. “Into the Black” in Children of the Void, 49. Paizo Inc., 2008
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 James L. Sutter. “Chapter 1: The Solar System” in Distant Worlds, 12. Paizo Inc., 2012
  4. 4.0 4.1 James L. Sutter. “Adventures on Castrovel” in The Seventh Arch, 67. Paizo Inc., 2023
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jim Groves, et al. Inner Sea Bestiary, 25. Paizo Inc., 2012
  6. 6.0 6.1 James L. Sutter. “Chapter 1: The Solar System” in Distant Worlds, 10. Paizo Inc., 2012
  7. In Pathfinder First Edition, the roles of lashunta castes were instead gender roles. This was retroactively changed in Pathfinder Second Edition with the publication of The Seventh Arch. See Meta:Lashunta for details.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Josh Colon, et al. Occult Bestiary, 53. Paizo Inc., 2015
  9. 9.0 9.1 Robert Brookes, et al. “Ancient Enlightenment (Psychic)” in Occult Origins, 16. Paizo Inc., 2015
  10. Crystal Frasier. “The Divinity Drive” in The Divinity Drive, 17–18. Paizo Inc., 2015
  11. Jim Groves, et al. “Gazetteer” in Numeria, Land of Fallen Stars, 11–12. Paizo Inc., 2014