Killer Shrike Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Not done yet, but the basic info is all in place (just need to back thru and add the game elements). The Var: http://www.killershrike.com/SanDora/Var.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var that is some interesting Html there Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted March 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Re: Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Originally posted by Rage that is some interesting Html there Thanx! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Added an illo of a Varic Warrior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 23, 2004 Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var So the Var are your Dwarves, and the Haelfinan are your elves. My only problem with it is that I read about all these campaigns where you see the dwarves kicking elven ass. As an elf fan, I'd like to see the opposite once in a while. Palladium had that concept at least. And if I ever run a Warhammer campaign, guess what's gonna happen. Sorry if I'm venting. It's just something that I see often enough to get under skin. That aside, you did a good job as usual. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 23, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Yeah, the Var are dwarf parrallels as the Haelfinnan are Elf parallels. With both I added in more Celtic influences. The Var have actual ties to the earth, and the Haelfinnan are more Sidhe-like. The goal with both was to avoid the D&D-esque "elf" and "dwarf". The Kor-voshi as an aside are basically Hill Dwarves but fill the niche normally filled by "Orcs" in most settings. Barbaric nomadic savages essentially. The Affelaunes are 1/2lings, but more like the Dark Sun halflings. The goal is to put at least a little bit of spin on everything in an attempt to have a little bit of semi-unique flavoring. As an aside Im more of a dwarf person myself, you pointy-eared pineneedle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Varic Priest illo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted April 24, 2004 Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var So the Var are your Dwarves, and the Haelfinan are your elves. My only problem with it is that I read about all these campaigns where you see the dwarves kicking elven ass. As an elf fan, I'd like to see the opposite once in a while. Palladium had that concept at least. And if I ever run a Warhammer campaign, guess what's gonna happen. Sorry if I'm venting. It's just something that I see often enough to get under skin. That aside, you did a good job as usual. Conversley I hardly ever see a campaign that has Dwarvish awesomeness. I guess the people who live near me all have hard ons for the elves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rage Posted April 24, 2004 Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Killer Shrike I am consistantly enjoying your fantasy ideas. I had no idea that the Var were dwarves, (I had this strange mental picture of slighlty scaled humans) but after seeing the pic's it all clicked into place, I like your reinvention. Very cool, Keep it up man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Killer Shrike I am consistantly enjoying your fantasy ideas. I had no idea that the Var were dwarves' date=' (I had this strange mental picture of slighlty scaled humans) but after seeing the pic's it all clicked into place, I like your reinvention. Very cool, Keep it up man.[/quote'] Thanx! Yeah, I thought the Var = Dwarf parrallel was pretty clear, but due to some correspondence from a person that liked them I realized that it wasnt as clear as I thought. They too were quite suprised when I mentioned that they were essentially the Dwarves of my setting. So I figured an illo was in order to "clarify" it As an aside, these boards own Hierax is responsible for the inspiration for the mechanics of the Var & the Haelfinnan-- At first I was going to avoid elves and dwarves entirely but Hierax's Celtic dwarves and elves, which I grepped as the "Hieraxian Dwarf" and "Verbityk Elf" (after Hierax's last name) in his honor, inspired me. The Var use the Hieraxian Dwarf Race template and the Haelfinnan use the Verbityk Elf Race template. These boards own Dr. Lucky (the Ron Darbee credited on the doc) came up with the names and basic schticks of the 12 clans, using Welsh-flavored names. I padded his initial treatment out with flavor, and filled in their culture and whatnot. A true collaborative effort, in other words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Added an illo of a Varic Runeforger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 24, 2004 Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var I originally thought you were using Norse elements. I deduced the Var were dwarves because Var sounds like it was taken from Dvergar. And you can see elf imbedded in Haelfinen. I'd have to take a closer look at the descriptions to see the Celtic elements, which I haven't had time to do yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var I originally thought you were using Norse elements. I deduced the Var were dwarves because Var sounds like it was taken from Dvergar. And you can see elf imbedded in Haelfinen. I'd have to take a closer look at the descriptions to see the Celtic elements' date=' which I haven't had time to do yet.[/quote'] Yeah, orignally I was slanting them towards a bit of a Norse/Celtic/Saxon blend. There is a lot of overlap there already anyway. Thats when I called them the Var and did some of the "in-head" thinking on them, and made references/allusions to such in other sections when I referenced the Var -- their original appearance was in the Machtig document as a source of influence on their culture, and the Machtig are mostly Norse/Celtic/Germanic/Saxon blend. A lot of elements mixed together. Then Dr. Lucky/Ron Darbee got inspired by them and asked if he could do the initial treatment of them and I agreed. He went with the Welsh angle stemming from the reference that they were created by the Haelfinnan, who I had already used a lot of Welsh and Celtic flavoring for. So, logically enough, he assumed the Var would have a heavy Welch/Celtic slant in their formal names for their clans and castes. This made sense and I really like the angle he took, so I went with it. I just added a language, Old Varic or Ancient Varic, which is IIRC 3 pts similar to Haelfiri, the Haelfinnan language. But modern Var is more viking-like and distinct. All of the old names for Clans and Titles and so forth were conveniently brought forward, so it all works out. Its been interesting to see take shape. This kind of thing is why I like collaborative work to some extent. You get a much more robust/diverse result when 2 or more creative people add spin to something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var As a side note, I thought I would point out that Dr. Lucky allegedly based some of the Clans on mythological dwarves found in various sources, so even though the labeling is Welsh-like, some of the concepts are from other cultures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 24, 2004 Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var So are the Haelfinan the bad guys in your campaign, like the Unseelie Court? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 24, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var So are the Haelfinan the bad guys in your campaign' date=' like the Unseelie Court?[/quote'] The Haelfinnan aren't real nice for the most part because they are self centered and mercurial, but some Haelfinnan are kinder to the "lesser races" than others. Some Haelfinnan are violent and angry, either in general or vs specific groups, and there is the Nuwynamadd Caleb (nu-we-NOM-ath CAW-leb; literally "Vengeance Hunt"), which is a parrallel to the Wild Hunt of Celtic myth, composed of militant Haelfinnan who oppose encroachment into Haelfinnan lands. The Haelfinnan are overall very isolationist and not very friendly neighbors, but some Haelfinnan are more outgoing. But they arent specifically inimical. None of the people of the setting are specifically "good" or "bad" or "Good" or "Evil". They just are what they are, with their own motivations and perspectives. Some groups are intrinsically inimical to other groups where they have conflicting outlooks, goals, or intentions but that doesnt mean that one group is "good" and the other "bad". For example, the current campaing centers around the Machtig. The players of the Machtig characters think of their people as being "good" and currently are hunting an Undari who is trying to empire build among his broken people. A Druidic prophesy indicates that this would be disastrous for the Machtig, so the PCs of course are intent on slaying this "Evil" Undari. From the Undari perspective, the brutish gigantic Machtig barbarians wrecked their Empire two millenia ago and have spent the ensuing time raiding, pillaging, taking slaves, and wandering down out of the mountains in small groups to wreak general havok and bloodshed. They see the Machtig as blood thirsty savages and raiders, dangerous and "Evil". Whose right? Both and neither. Objectively they are just two conflicting cultures with radically different values; the Machtig are oppressors and the Undari are the oppressed, but subjectively both groups think they are reighteous and the other is malevolent or dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 24, 2004 Report Share Posted April 24, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var That definitely makes it more realistic. I approve! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var That definitely makes it more realistic. I approve! Yeah. Ive never been fond of Manichaeistic Pure Good vs Pure Evil simplifications, but many people seem to need to be able to classify things as "all good" or "all bad". {shrugs} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted April 25, 2004 Report Share Posted April 25, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var I just go by the premise that everyone has a hidden agenda, be it benevolent or malign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted April 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 25, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Added an illo for a Varic Warleader Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Maybe I'm a bit biased but I think that the Var have a lot of flavour beyond that of normal dwarves. You've done an excellent job of expanding upon a tired overused race and breathing some new life and culture into them -- you know that you're doing something right when people don't even know that they are dwarves! Everything fits together quite nicely and I like how you integrated and intertwined the Elves (Haelfinan) and Dwarves (Var) history/legends/mythology together. Your version is far more interesting that the standard fantasy fare of generically good demi-humans that generally get along but are so different that we get all of the time. In particular, I like the anti-metal Haelfinan creating the Var to work metal because the Haelfnan can't and then have their slave race turn on them. Of all the hints of dwarf/elf wars yours has the most opportunities for plot hooks, takes the background beyond even the Tolkien greed for the fancy necklace thing in the Silmarillion. All in all the Var are a nice ancient and mysterious race that gives the setting a lot of great background to draw upon to create adventures for your PCs. Since you're on a magic roll/rampage, I'd like to see more on Earth-related magicks (be they based elementally or on a sentient earth spirit/goddess, or both). E.G., Rolemaster had something called "EarthBlood" (basically magical arteries and veins of the earth) and "EarthNodes" (basically pools/oceans of magical power), I always rather liked the idea of the Dwarves delving not just for the precious metals and gems but for the veins of earth power that they tended to cluster around too and giving various magical properties to metals and gems/crystals. Anyway, sorry to start rambling, please keep up the good work with reworking the old races into something new and fresh and keep on sharing it with us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted May 2, 2004 Report Share Posted May 2, 2004 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var I forgot to mention that I liked the Dwarves being bred for loyalty but using gruffness and distrust of strangers as a self-protection mechanism. I'll be adding that into my campaigns dwarven racial psychology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killer Shrike Posted May 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 7, 2006 Re: The Twelve Clans of the Var Moved the Var over to the new website format, and added some content here and there. Most notably I did a seperate Race Package for each of the Clans. http://www.killershrike.com/SanDora/SanDoraInhabitants_Var.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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