Delphins

"There are two ways that an Amazon prefers to leave this life. One is dying in a great battle after reaving so much of the enemy that it will terrify the survivor's children's children. The other is to die in bed, surrounded by their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Most Amazons would prefer the latter, but end up settling for the former."
---Midori Saotome, adopted Delphins psychic warrior

"On first seeing a squad of Delphins amazons, my first thought was that I'd somehow wandered into a supermodels convention. They have that kind of look - and tend to be tall. Having encountered flying elves, disguised dragons, and velociraptors whose translated voices have a sort of upper crust British accent, I had learned to keep my mouth shut until I learned a bit more. As it turned out, these were of House Red Crescent, and it could have caused considerable problem for me had they learned that I was only disguised as an elf."
Keian the Wanderer, "A Wanderer's Journal"

During the First Age Of Man, humankind uncovered the secrets of manipulating life. In so doing they created a terrible enemy known as the Inferials. A slave race of one of their vast Corporate Governments that eventually rebelled and slew billions. The humans that could, fled, and the Second Diaspora occurred.

One of the vast arcships fleeing across dimensional tunnels was lost due to sabotage, the Delphinicus. It was learned during the Age Of Spelljammers that the arcship had survived and landed in a world where crystalline crab-beings kept rising from the water to destroy these intruders.

During their beginnings, the survivors of the wreck sought to bring forth a perfect society based on a series of holonovels popular at that time, called Amazon's Pryde. With the genetic engineering tools they had, they created a race of children that could meet that vision and thrive on that world and under those conditions where unmodified humans could not.

Eventually the crabs stopped rising to battle the Amazons, but they were a people who had been fighting most of their lives and peace was unfamiliar to them. Hence the seeds of the war to come quickened.

The East and the West were two groups with slight differences of philosophy that now loomed large. The West preferred to keep as much of their heritage alive as possible. The East actively wanted to destroy that past so that they could start towards the future with a clean slate.

The East was losing when it released a virus that slew most of the males of the West, hoping that the disruption of the plague would allow them victory. The same virus was carried back to its source by a soldier, and the East was likewise decimated. When the West finally stopped shooting, the Eastern Empire was destroyed completely.

The damage was done. Less than one in twenty births was male, and it dropped further as the plague raged. Finally there were none. Birth creches were built using the last surviving bits of the technology of the Ancients.

Here a figure arose to take command. Vallus Kenri, nicknamed "Valkyrie", a hero of the war, declared that the war had had no victors. Many records and devices had been destroyed, and there was little that could be salvaged of their histories. Bits and pieces were used to form the identities of the Houses, each maintaining some piece of their past so that no one group would completely dominate. House Valkyr, named after Founder Vallus Kenri, held the most important piece - the Birth Creches.

It was not until 1000 years later when a prophesy came true, and the Delphins were reunited with the societies of Aramar. The Delphins were reunited with males of a compatible species (humans), and the concept of spelljamming. The men went their way thereafter, and the Houses met to discuss the implications and what to do about it all.

It was then that they also met with the Feryl and at first rejoiced at finding a group of Amazon sisters.

The Feryl learned that these Amazons had a large nursery located at their main port, where male children and female children were being raised together. This "cancer in paradise" so disgusted Captain K'yriss of the Feryl Deathhammer Escrima that she unleashed a secreted terror weapon from the days of the Elven Empire - Hellfire Dust - on the nursery. The ancient weapon perrformed as had been designed by the elves who had sought to end resistance to their empire by using it on dwarven tunnels. A poison so virulent that it stains the stone and where nothing will grow for a thousand years thereafter.

The loss of innocent children struck the easy going Delphins harshly. Overnight they went from peaceful practice of the Arts Of War to dedicated warriors who sought now to avenge themselves a thousand times over. The Delphins had debated staying aloof and heavily regulating contact with outside their world. Now they boiled off the planet as soon as they could beg borrow or steal ships, armed themselves as heavily as possible, and howled for bloody vengeance against those who had approached them as sisters and then slain their children.

The Feryl-Delphins War raged for a hundred years, and ended with the Delphins homeworld uninhabitable and the Feryl driven off into hiding. Some say the Feryl are merely hiding and biding their time, gathering their strength to return. The Delphins usually respond to such talk with hopes that the Feryl do return. Simply because the Delphins would prefer at this point to bury the hatchet. Preferably by inserting it repeatedly in the bodies of the nearest Feryl.

One of the worst insults you can give to a Delphins is likening her to a Feryl. Doing so to a group of Delphins is a surefire way of starting a fight.

Currently the Delphins are found through much of the Shadarian Empire and Nihon. There are males being born again to the Delphins, and it is a joyous event when one such is born. Most males have psionic wild talents.

Delphins Amazon: (average, generic female)
Environment: Any, Frequency: Uncommon, Organization: House, Activity Cycle: Any, Diet: Omnivore, Intelligence: Average to Genius (8 to 18), Treasure: by class, Alignment: Any (tend to good), Armor Class: 6 or better, Hit Dice (if used): 2+1, Average Level: 6, Average Class: Fighter, THAC0: average 15, #AT: 1 unless specialist, Damage/Attack: 1d6 or by weapon, Special Attacks: weapon specialization, possible psionics and spell use, Special Defenses: possible psionics and spell use, Magic Resistance: Standard, Size: M to L (6' to 8'), Morale: Elite (13-14)
Delphins males are similar but are smaller and thinner (HD:1-1), tend not to be fighters, and are more likely to be trained in magic or psionics.

Level limits (females, unmarried, married tend to be higher level by two due to the extra cooperation and assistance given them)
Warrior: U, Paladin: 19, Ranger: 21, Mage (any except illusionist and enchanter): 14, Illusionist: 9, Enchanter: 18, Cleric (any except Silver): 15, Silver Temple Cleric: 21, Druid: 15, Thief: 17, Bard: 9, Engineer: 12, Psionicist: 16.
frequent dual classing
Level limits (males)
Warrior: 9, Paladin: 12, Ranger: 9, Mage: U, Cleric: 21, Thief: 17, Bard: 21, Engineer:19, Psionicist:U

The Twelve Major Houses Of The Delphins. Flavor refers to a unifying subculture within the House. The Delphins based their Houses on what surviving records they had of their origins. So Rising Sun is based on a set of ninja and samurai movies, holovids, novels, and similar materials. Some of which ranged from mildly inaccurate to ridiculously so.

And not originally a Delphins group but currently comprised of Amazons and some Half-elves:

China Grove is notable in that it is outwards the center of the Imperial Psionics Corps. It is also the location where the Imperial Ninja Division is headquartered and thrives. The grey-clad ninjas in the Imperial Service rarely act except as spies and a news network that reports directly to the Throne. The original plan of Emperor Shades was to have them specifically as an information resource, and the former "Foot" clan has served admirably in that regard.

Minor Houses: