• Feel a strong connection to elemental metal and believe aspects such as its luster or mutability represent core elements of your personality.

• Enjoy being the center of attention through flashy displays of your personal talents.

• Presume you to be a miner, alchemist, or smith.

• Assume that you must be sharp-tempered, unyielding, or that you are too ostentatious for your own good.

Taloses come in all shapes and sizes. Skin color ranges from the matte black of cast iron to lustrous platinum, copper to brass; even the blue-green of abysium and other skymetal colors make rare but not unheard-of appearances. Hair covers the same range of color and an even wider variety of metallic textures, from tight, sharp coils of steel wool to strands of gold as thin as spun thread, or even delicate chains of silver or iron. Hair length and style are equally varied.

Taloses bear a passing resemblance to other ancestries and heritages with bodies partially made of metal, which may lead to confusion early in life before their elemental metal affinity becomes clear. As they are born, not built, taloses bear none of the telltale seams or circuits of androids and other construct. Taloses also lack the uncanny mathematical balance of aphorites; their bodies may bear the rough texture of beaten silver, the iridescent swirls of Numerian steel, or the scuffs, rust, and tarnish left by a long or hard life. As for their oread cousins, the greatest physical indicator of a talos in comparison is a distinct lack of nonmetallic, earthy features; most oreads will have at least a bit of cragginess around the edges that a talos lacks.

As the Plane of Metal renews its contact with other planes, its influence over the bloodlines of those descended from its elemental denizens results in an ever-increasing number of the planar scions known as taloses. This isn't limited to only newborns—it can spring forth in adults with latent connections, fed by the explosion of elemental metal magic cascading across the Universe.

Some talos lineages possess an inherent connection to a particular aspect of elemental metal, such as iron-based ferrous metals, lustrous precious metals, or the rare liquid metals such as mercury or djezet. Often, but not always, these taloses share their lineage with their parents. Taloses can most often be found among alchemists, smiths, inventors, and miners—anyone who works with metal for a living.

A talos is most often born and raised amid the society of their mortal family. The general lack of widespread knowledge about the Plane of Metal can result in the sense of isolation common to geniekin, which might be especially pronounced for a young talos. Talos children tend to be quick-witted and mercurial, prone to flamboyant displays of their natural talents and hard-won skills in an ongoing quest for attention. Those taloses who don't go into fields utilizing alchemy, smithing, or other forms of metalwork often become performers or diplomats to put their natural charisma and (sometimes literally) magnetic personalities to work.

Taloses are often regarded as independent and inconstant, with detractors writing them off as “all flash, no substance.” They sometimes have difficulty connecting with other people but are rarely actively malicious; even those who lack confidence tend to be good at faking it well enough to get by. The most popular deities among religious-minded taloses are gods of metals and crafts, such as Ingenos.

Popular Edicts

• Make your elemental ancestors proud.

• Refine your passions and skills.

• Craft beautiful and durable objects.

Popular Anathema

• Let the metal within you grow tarnished.

• Archives of Nethys.

• Remaster.