Buomman
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The buommans are a race of humanoid creatures from Dungeons & Dragons. The buomman species is named for the first sound most buommans learn to make, a deep "buomm". They are also sometimes called "the moaning monks" in reference to their habit of nearly constantly singing (see below).
Buomman physiology is nearly like human, but with some differences; They are often slightly shorter and slightly heavier than the average human, their hands and feet are elongated and their faces are long and sagging. Buommans have better low-light vision than humans, being able to see further and also distinguish color and detail. Since buomman culture is much centered around song they have very good hearing and an innate sense of tone and pitch.
Most Buommans are lawful good or lawful neutral although lawful evil and simply neutral ones exist. Chaotic buommans are rare. Buommans have strong willpower and great insight but their personalities tend to be reserved, in game terms, this gives them a good wisdom score but low charisma. Most buommans who choose a character class become monks, a few specializing to become astral dancers.
Buommans live in the astral plane, usually in temples and shrines that they have formed out of astral debris they believe to be the bodies of unconscious deities. Whether the buommans believe the deities to be dead or sleeping is something they do not tell non-buommans. Nor do they say whether the purpose of the temples is to revere the gods, keep them asleep or wait for their reawakening. The truth is that the buommans themselves are divided on this, most good buommans look forward to the gods returning, while neutral buommans often see them as dead and most evil buommans want the gods to continue sleeping (if that is what they do).
Buomman language, Buommi, is very similar to whalesong, consisting of deep, hummed melodies. While Buommi can be used for communication it is mainly used as a ritual part of buommans' daily life, with the buommans singing specific songs while eating, waking, leaving or performing many other (some of them very abstract) actions. Although most Buommans can understand human languages, they swear to never speak them, which makes it uncertain how well they could speak them if they wished to. Buommans name themselves in a way which also resembles that of whales, using short melodies as names. When interacting with other humanoid species buommans will usually accept nicknames, as long as they contain no harsh consonants.
The origin of the buommans is uncertain, as their existence goes several millennia back in time. According to the planar handbook it is possible that they are the descendants of humans who colonized the astral plane and later evolved into the buomman race.
[edit] Sources
- Cordell, Bruce, Gwendolyn F.M. Kestrel. Planar Handbook (Wizards of the Coast, 2004).
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