The People of the Young Kingdoms

[Guest Worldmaker]

Okay... here is my rough draft information for the PC races available in the Young Kingdoms (my FH setting). Commentary is welcome, as I need to come up with more details about each of the races...

 

 

Currently, characters may be a Dwarf, Halfling, Half-Orc, Human, or Orc. Specific campaigns may place restrictions on which specific races are allowed for player characters.

 

In addition to race, players must decide if their characters are part of the Imperial culture or a member of one of the barbarian races. The character's culture determines its native language and Everyman Skills.

 

The Imperial Races: The Imperial Races are all of those who currently live in those areas once ruled by the Empire, and in the Young Kingdoms specifically. As can be ascertained by the name, the Imperial Races are made up of several different peoples.

 

The language of the Empire, Auld Taoric, is spoken throughout the Young Kingdoms, and is still the native tongue of most people born in the Young Kingdoms. Of course, because of the size of the empire and the number of societies that were conquered by the Empire, dialects are common, and accents can vary widely. A Choyen and a Barind, though both fluent speakers of Auld Taoric, can easily find each other totally incomprehensible.

 

 

Aateni: The Aateni are native to the forested islands of the EasterSea Coast between Last Port and Calafia. The Empire invaded and assimilated those Aateni living on the islands of Tan Aaten, Tan Dimor, and Tan Prado. Aateni living on the other Aaten islands remain barbarians. Aateni are of medium height, averaging 5'7" to 5'9. Their skin is deeply tan; their hair ranges from light brown to blonde, with the occasional redhead. Black hair is almost never seen. Aateni eyes are either blue, green, or violet. Never anything else.

 

 

Barind: The coloration ranges of the Barind's is perhaps the most limited of all the races of human. A typical Barind has brown hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. Black hair and eyes is also sometimes seen, but redheads, blondes, and any other eye color is unknown among them. They tend to be shorter and slighter than the other humans as well, with both sexes being within 5' even to 5'5 inches in height. The Barindian language is still spoken in some of the more rural villages of the northern EasterSea Coast. Indeed, some secluded Barind villages were bypassed by the Empire and never felt the touch of Taoric rule.

 

 

Choyen: The Choyen are a tall, handsome people with dry black hair, dark eyes, and yellowish-brown skin. The average height of a Choyen is 6'. They tend to have high foreheads and narrow faces, making them look slightly feral. The Choyen are native to the plains and forests lying along the north of the Ravenwood, and between the Ravenwood and the Great Mother River. When initially discovered by the Taoric armies, they were still living as semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, using flint- and bone-tipped weapons. Their conquest by the Empire brought them modern technology, true cities, and agriculture. The Choyen still tend to shun metal armor, preferring instead to wear reinforced leather.

 

Durindan: The Imperial dwarves differ greatly from their barbarian cousins. The dwarves, when first conquered by the Taors, were a rebellious people determined to keep their way of life. In reaction to this, the Empire forcibly relocated and separated the dwarven clans. They were forbidden to practice their own religions and customs, and were required to adhere to the religion and customs of their human conquerors. After three thousand years of this, the Imperial dwarves are quite assimilated, and are happy to be so. They show as much pride at being the descendents of Imperial citizens as any human would. Like all dwarves, the Imperial Durindan stand between 4' and 5' tall, are broad across the shoulders, and are thickly built. Despite his height, a male dwarf often weighs as much as a full grown human. Their hair color runs toward the darker shades of brown, gray, and black, with red sometimes occurring. The yellowish blonde hair found among humans and halflings simply never occurs. Durindan skin ranges in tone from tan to dark brown. Eye color is almost always brown, black, amber, or gray. It should be noted that Durindan follow standard Imperial customs regarding beards. Durindan can be found in nearly all of the Young Kingdoms.

 

Jaris: More than any of the other Imperial Races, the Jaris have managed to retain their original native culture... or at least most of it. There are some who speculate that this is because, as a race, they tended to cooperate and collaborate with their Taoric conquerors rather than resist them. The Jaris are a tall people. They are broad-built, though not so much as the Chayk, who remain the largest of all the human races. Heights less than six feet are rare among the Jaris, regardless of sex. The Jaris are most notable for their skin color, which ranges from a deep umber to a bluish-black. Hair is either dark red, dark brown, or black, and eye color is similarly brown or black. Every now and again a Jaris will be born with gray eyes and white hair (always in that combination); custom says that such people are destined to perform some great act on behalf of the gods. The Jaris are native to the desert and scrub along the southern coast of the Sea of Horses, as well as the multitudes of inhabited islands found on that body of water.

 

Lemenari: Lemenari have hair that ranges the spectrum, with the exception of black, and their skin ranges from olive to dark tan. They are as short as the Barinds, averaging between 5'3 and 5'6, but are built strongly. Eye color can be blue or green, but is most common as a dark brown. The Lemenari speak their own language amongst each other, reserving Taoric as a way to communicate with other peoples. They are native to the islands of the Lemenar Archipelago, southeast of the Easter Sea coast.

 

 

Ormuz: To those for whom the Goblin Races are nothing more than inhuman monsters bent on the destruction of the world, the Ormuz are something of an enigma. They began as a small group of orcish villages which got caught up in the sweep of the Imperial army. Rather than being obliterated, they became just another subject population; as subjects of the Empire, they thrived, learned, and became civilized. The Ormuz stand anywhere between six and seven feel tall, and tend to be heavier than humans. Their skin is dark olive to dark brown in color, though their eyes range the entire spectrum. Hair color is always dark... meaning almost always black. Most humans find them ugly, but since the Ormuz hold the same opinion of humans, it evens out in the end. The Ormuz live alongside humans in any community with more than a few hundred people. They also live in their own villages, but have no nation to call their own. Most Ormuz have never learned to speak any of the native orcish languages.

 

Ostrali: The Imperial halflings live up to the image most players have of such people. They stand between 3' and 3'6" tall, and are built to proportion. Their hair color is usually dark, with brown being more common than either black or auburn. Eye color ranges anywhere between blue and green to brown, with black being very uncommon. The Ostrali can be found living alongside any of the human races. They tend to live in segregated areas within larger human communities, rather than having their own separate towns and villages.

 

 

Silde: The Silde tend to be thickly built, and of medium height. It is rare that one find a Silde, male or female, who is taller than 6' or shorter than 5'9". Hair is usually gray, pale blonde, or light brown, while eye color runs to the darker shades of brown, gray, or green. Their skin is the palest of all the human races, looking almost as white as fine porcelain. The Silde, existing as they did on the far western reaches of the Empire, knew the rule of the Taors for a shorter time than all of the other Imperial races. Their native culture is surprisingly intact, to the point that most Silde do not even speak Taoric. The Rostok hold the Silde in contempt as weakling city dwellers who gave up the life of the open plains for the corrupt life offered by the Empire. For their part, the Silde consider the Rostok to be murderous animals not worthy to be called "human". The truth is that both groups are the same people: the only true difference is that the Rostok live as nomads, ranging their herds across the Great Empty, while the Silde are city builders.

 

 

Taors: Taors tend to have brown hair, with occasional redheads and blondes occurring. Their skin tends toward an olive complexion, and their eyes are blue, brown, or hazel. Taors stand between 5'4 and 5'9, and tend toward slim builds. Once, it was quite easy to tell the Taors from the non-Taors. However, the spread of the Empire introduced Taoric blood to the other Imperial races, so that in modern times there are many a person who claim to be Taoric but who are of obviously mixed heritage. The Taors originated along the northern coast of the Sea of Horses, where that sea meets the EasterSea.

 

 

Vos: The Vos are a semi-nomadic folk who travel go from place to place putting on performances, trading wares, performing the odd service, and basically ripping off everything they can get their hands on when they think they can get away with it. They aren't always well-liked, and have a general reputation for being a pack of untrustworthy bandits who'd slit your throat if the price is right... While this isn't entirely unfounded, its not totally the truth, of course. A Vos would much rather use guile and trickery to separate a mark from his money than resort to banditry. Honor is important to the Vos, but its conditional. Once their word is given, its as solid as a rock... but until then you shouldn't trust them as far as you can throw them. Once you are befriended by a Vos, he is your friend forever, unless you do something that dishonors him or betrays him in any way, in which case you've just bought yourself a serious enemy. The Vos are a darkly colored race, with skin the color of a penny and hair that ranges from black through the various shades of brown to auburn, but never really truly red). They're slimly built, but muscular, and men and women both tend to average just over six feet tall.

 

 

 

The Barbarian Races: While the Imperial Races share a common culture, the barbarian races are distinct and separate. They are referred to as barbarians by the Imperials, regardless of their actual level of civilization.

 

 

Chayk: The Chayk tribesmen generally have blonde or red hair, with fair skin and blue or green eyes. Among those Chayk who live close to the Choyen, darker hair, eye, and skin shades are sometimes found. Chayk are the largest of all the human races; a Chayk man who stands less than 6'6" tall is considered a runt, and men of 7' are commonplace. The Chayk barbarians make their living as marauding seaman, boiling out of their villages and towns on the Iceclaw Peninsula and the Ice Islands in the far north of the EasterSea Coast. Chayk men consider beards a mark of adulthood, and within Chayk society, only the very old may shave theirs without inviting ridicule. The Chayk language has a written component, though generally only heralds to the tribal chiefs and the priests know how to utilize it, so most Chayk are illiterate.

 

 

Khazak: The dwarves of the mountains and caves, this ancient people look as if they were hewn from the rock they live in. Khazak stand between 4' and 5' tall, are broad across the shoulders. Barbarian Khazak are darker in color than their Imperial cousins, Imperial Durindan. Their hair is black or burnt umber, while their skin is the same reddish shade as cinnamon. A Khazak man are expected to grow a beard. His beard is the mark of his honor; he braids marks of his deeds into it in the form of gems, feathers, beads, and other small trinkets. The loss of a beard is a social punishment never willingly undertaken by a dwarf.

 

 

Kuzko: For thousands of years, the Kuzko did what seemed impossible: they avoided being conquered by the Empire. They did this by living in the high mountain valleys of Gallesgnia and Soravia, keeping to themselves and not drawing attention. Rarely did one venture out into the greater world. With the fall of the Empire, things changed. The Kuzko have skin colors in various shades of reddish brown, and their hair tends to be black, red or brown. Their eyes are almost always gray, and when not are green. They favor bright colors with stripes on clothing, and knee high boots on men. Traditionally, an adult male Kuzko shaves his head, except for two curled locks at each temple. This is combined with a full moustache to make a truly impressive picture. Women tend to wear wimples over their hair when they are in public, and favor ankle-length skirts.

 

Nerulk: The Nerulki are the wild riders of the far north. They range across the frozen tundra of the Wolfplains, isolated from all of the other civilized races. In their frozen homeland, their primary competition are scattered goblin tribes. Nerulk are lighter in color than other halflings; their eye color is almost always blue or light gray. Hair color is always blonde. Both genders of Nerulk average between 2' to 3' in height.

 

 

Orcs: Non-Imperial orcs fit the stereotypical view of the Goblin races: savage, murderous barbarians that sweep out of the mountains intent on the destruction of civilization. Like Ormuz, barbarian orcs stand anywhere between six and seven feel tall, and tend to be heavier than humans. Their skin is dark olive to dark brown in color, though their eyes range the entire spectrum. Hair color is always dark... meaning almost always black.

 

 

Rostok: Like their cousins, the Silde, the Rostok horsetribes are thickly built, and of medium height. They share all of the Silde's physical characteristics save skin color: the Rostok tend toward a light tan in color. Rostok men do not grow beards, but rather wear long, impressively kept handlebar moustaches. Rostok see most city-dwellers as weaklings, but hold special contempt for the Silde.

 

 

Tunnmish: The wild halflings of the Young Kingdoms are similar to their Ostrali cousins. They rarely leave the safety of the deep forest, preferring to live among the trees. It is in this way that they remained free of Imperial domination despite living in the heart of the Empire. Tunnmish are of a darker cast than the Ostrali; their eye color is almost always brown or black, and when its not its gray. Hair color is always black. Both genders of Tunnmish average between 2' to 3' in height.

[Guest Worldmaker]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Well, thanks for the comments, guys. I appreciate the input.

[UltraRob]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

I don't know about the others, but I didn't say anything because I am generally impressed. You did a good job with the names, the descriptions, the dress, the ideas and I think it all looks solid and quite playable. I think these are all good starting points that would give players a lot to work with.

 

Rob

[Tim]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Thanks to the similar threads feature,now at the bottom of the page, I found this.

 

Way cool.

[Curufea]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Yes, I was wondering if the similar threads stuff was new.

 

It's pretty much the case of "should I say something - there's something different about them"

"Did you dye your hair?"

"No, I had an arm loped off, but thanks for asking"

[Kristopher]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

I just recently started reading the FH forum, so I didn't catch this the first time it came up.

 

The different peoples look pretty well fleshed out, and I like the quick but informative cultural, historical, and clothing references that many of the descriptions have.

 

Between species and culture, you've certainly given players something to work with. One of the best things about this kind of from-scratch setting is that a good player of a certain inclination can really help you flesh out this or that race or species or culture, whatever it he/she decides to play.

[gewing]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Well, thanks for the comments, guys. I appreciate the

input.

 

 

Hey, I only have internet usually 4 days a week!

 

Seems really detailed. I gather you are working up a map and more basic information on the cultures?

 

 

I have to wonder, though, do you need that many sub races and sub cultures? Not that there is any reason not to, I suppose. Certainly allows players to tailor their character.

 

What are the tech levels?

You mentioned the one group, but what are the primary weapons for the imperial culture?

Obviously there is sea trade and raiding, how good are the ships/sailors?

 

Sorry, getting nosy.

 

I can see a couple interesting character concepts there.

[Kristopher]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

In terms of the number of cultures and ethnic groups, well, keep in mind that in this sort of setting, travel is far far slower, people move around far far less, and there is no mass media. Even an area as "small" as Europe has a lot of cultural and ethnic diversity today...imagine what it must have been like 1000 years ago.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Gotta love thread necromancy.

 

Nice job, Worldmaker. How has this campaign come along in the almost-year since you posted this?

[Citizen Keen]

Re: The People of the Young Kingdoms

 

Like 'em.

 

Maybe edit the formatting to make the subtitles like "Imperial" and "Barbaric Races" stand out a little more. (size=3)(/size) or some such.