Xvarts are a race of small, blue-skinned humanoids with ties to the Plane of Shadow. Their origin is unknown; xvarts have traits in common with gnomes, goblins, and halflings, but violently deny relation to any of those races. The most plausible explanation is that they are descended from halflings warped over centuries of shadow-magic, but the mere suggestion of this theory drives xvarts to violence. They feel a race-wide animosity toward halflings for reasons they cannot articulate, perhaps hinting at some ancient supernatural connection between the two races.
Xvarts possess considerable intelligence – greater on average than even most humans – but with it comes an inborn paranoia and antisocial drive, sabotaging their every attempt to build a lasting society, leaving them a race of miserable scavengers. They live in cramped warrens underground or in deep forests for protection, constantly suspecting each other of plotting to stab each other in the back (which, more often than not, they are). They have a natural knack for magic, however, and the rare xvart who rises above her paranoia often learns arcane magic as a witch and exerts her will on her fellows, becoming a powerful leader. They enjoy the company of giant pests like dire bats and dire rats, who serve them as mounts and guard animals.
Though not especially religious, xvarts offer prayers to various dark powers for protection, most often the demon lords Abraxas and Andirifkhu. On Golarion, Xvarts live almost exclusively in Nidal, particularly in the Uskwood. They are more common on the Shadow Plane, where they infest vast reaches of central Avistan’s shadowlands.
Xvarts are only found in Senksen, where members of the Umbral-Eye Clan serve as the secret police of the umbral dragon’s empire, ferreting out dissenters. They do not speak to outsiders of the terms of their debt to the dragons, or of very much else; they merely appear in a flurry of blades and illusions to visit death upon their targets.
Shores of Swords 