Wayang

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Wayang

(Creature)

Uncommon

Small

Humanoid

Shadow

Wayang

Level

Varies

Adjective

Wayang

Images of wayangs

Source: Tian Xia Character Guide, pg(s). 70–75

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Wayangs are an ancestry of humanoids who migrated to the continent of Tian Xia from the Netherworld during the Age of Ashes.

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. Outsiders believe that tattooing and ritual scarification from a young age are common among wayangs, but in reality it is a mixture of shadows and delicate paintwork.

History

Wayangs and fellow Netherworld-native d'ziriaks once lived in harmony in the Netherworld, but at some point in the distant past—some say when Zon-Kuthon was exiled to the Netherworld by Abadar—both were persecuted by colonizing Kuthites and velstracs in ongoing wars that both d'ziriaks and wayangs refer to as the Desecration. Wayangs chose to leave the Netherworld during the Age of Ashes, which opened passages for travel from the Netherworld to Golarion in the Universe.

Wayangs felt at home on shadow-cloaked Golarion, but as the light returned, wayangs found themselves trapped on an increasingly inhospitable home unable to return to the Netherworld. Despite their long existence in the Universe, wayangs still consider themselves to be creatures of shadow.

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.

On Golarion

A wayang oracle.

Wayangs live 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 Netherworld 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. Wayangs are also quite common in the metropolis of Goka and in the shadowy community of Deepmarket that lies beneath it.

A few wayangs still live on the Netherworld, 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 Netherworld as they used to be in the Universe.

Religion

Lao Shu Po, whom they know as Sister Mousedeer, is the patron deity of wayangs and the one they most commonly worship, although many view her as a blight instead of a blessing. More generally, wayangs see their deities as teachers from whom they can learn lessons, and they often choose Irori, Pharasma, Ragdya, and Diomazul. Worship of Abadar is extremely unpopular due to his role in banishing Zon-Kuthon to the Netherworld, though some debased wayangs do turn to The Midnight Lord.

Some wayangs adhere to a philosophy called the Dissolution. According to it, upon death, their souls will forever dissolve into the Netherworld.

References

Paizo published details about wayangs in Blood of Shadows, and described wayangs as an ancestry in Tian Xia Character Guide.

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