Edited by Cassey Toi
As I alluded to in the opening post about Loaerth & Feywyrd (Interview with Felix Sundown, Part 1), there’s much more than just “MAN” walking around in the world. Or, at least, there used to be. What I haven’t decided on yet though is exactly what the other races will be. Stock fantasy races, even if you mash-up the cultures a bit (elves underground! dwarves living in trees! oh my!) has been done well enough. Now, this isn’t to say that “been there done that” is something to avoid though, obviously it works. Players get a lot of options; they are familiar with the stock fantasy line up (dare I say Tolkien-esque line up?); and they know the sticking points of each race from the start. This means there’s less overall pre-game work that needs to be done to get a good handle on what’s available.
On the other hand, L&F is a blank slate that I’m hoping to develop collaboratively with the community (meaning you – the reader). So, instead of just dropping all 35 (!) races from the D&D cosmos into L&F, the better approach is perhaps to come up with some themes first, choose which races work, which don’t and what new races we might want to see. We have to work backwards, flesh out the back-story of L&F a bit more, and develop what races are present in the game at the start. But even before we do that – we know already that there’s one race that is new.
Feytrolls – Concepts and Backgrounds
Felix Sundown is a feytroll, but I don’t explain much as to what exactly that means when I introduced him. Obviously, we need to explore the concept behind feytrolls a bit more.
In appearance, Feytrolls are somewhat like faeries with a strong dose of house fly thrown in. They are small, plump humanoids standing about 2 to 3 feet in height, but often weigh in at over 50 lbs. or thereabouts. Their rotund faces feature a pair of prominent, bulging compound eyes that are glazed over like stained glass windows. Humans frequently feel uncomfortable in the presence of a feytroll because there’s no telling what they are looking at. In fact, they are quite capable of looking at many things at once.
In addition to their eyes, the other striking feature of a feytroll is the fly like wings that adorn their backs. While functional and flight worthy, these can not, however, carry them more than a dozen yards or so before they need to sit down to take a rest. They are usually too fat to go much further than that. More often than not, they prefer to simply walk at a leisurely pace to “take it all in” as they say.
As a race, they are generally cunning, quick to react, persistent in the face of opportunities, and patient while waiting for them. They see beauty in the grotesque, and much to their disgust and frustration often find value in the trash of others. Humans, who are often apt to throw away things that are broken or seemingly useless, could learn a thing or two from them.
They are not a violent race, which is perhaps one of the reasons why before the Helfay they were frequently enslaved by humans and the other races who could tolerate them. With their keen senses, and quick reflexes, Feytrolls often made excellent servants to kings and wealthy merchants on the lookout for assassins or tricksters looking to fool them. Feytrolls are not easily fooled by anyone. They see the world as it is, and are quite skilled at adapting to and surviving the worst of it.
Before the Helfay, feytrolls in the more civilized areas of the world integrated in to society as best they could. Many spent their lives as servants or serfs trying to buy their own freedom. Those that did, usually became merchants who traded in rare books and antiquities. They never did well as merchants who traded in foodstuffs or other perishables, except perhaps for the Sugar Cartels (who were rumored to have all been led by a brotherhood of rapacious feytrolls). A few feytrolls became great scholars in their time. Their powers of observation served them well as academicians, and even better as practitioners of magic and sorcery.
The Short Story of Felix Sundown
Felix Sundown, a feytroll, is an academic and sorcerer. He is the son of a petty bookseller who managed to buy his family’s freedom at an early age. Felix never knew slavery as a child, and he was better for it. To him, nothing was impossible to achieve. He entered Aram Court as a young adult, and stayed there for years of scholarly training. Eventually Felix received the title of Steward, which permitted him to openly study the Old Ways (a complex set of rituals and spells that are kept secret from Provincial Wizards). In only a few years he managed to master Aram Court’s most secret rituals, so he left to seek out training from the Archivist Eurig Talfrun in Loaerth City. Eurig agreed to take him on as a student, but only if Felix agreed to bond himself as a thrall to Eurig. Felix agreed, and remained his silent servant for centuries as a result.
Other Races in Laaerth & Feywyrd
As I mentioned above, these haven’t really been nailed down. This may be because I need to rough out the history of the world first, or at the very least come up with some general themes to help decide the issue. So far in L&F we have a couple of themes already: the humans that remained in Loaerth are a society of low-tech steampunk with a heavy dose of manifest destiny and witch burning; the rest of the races who vanished in the Helfay are back, but have vastly sharpened their knowledge of the arcane in the centuries that have past (likely due to isolation or surviving the harsh world of Feywyrd… hasn’t been worked out yet). What else works with this?
Stock fantasy races I think would rub the existing themes the wrong way. Maybe I’m wrong (leave a comment and let me know!), but if we were to include elves, dwarves, gnomes, dragonborn (blech…) and the like – it just wouldn’t work. We would need to pick and choose. I’m currently thinking that elves and dwarves might work with the least amount of tweaking. The other races? Not so sure. Tieflings and Dragonborn? No way, just doesn’t resonant at all with the setting. Gnomes? Perhaps. Haflings? Maybe, but i feel like the feytrolls fill that niche for the most part.
BEARS
Yes, the last thing that keeps crossing my mind is that perhaps what might make the setting interesting is to introduce some more “naturalistic” races. Talking Bears keep coming to mind. Maybe its because I recently saw The Golden Compass, or that my son (who is learning to read) keeps reading Father Bear because he can. But then again… I mean.. who wouldn’t want to play an armored steampunk talking bear?
EVIL GENIUS RACES
What sort of evil genius race works well in a fantasy steam punk mashup? Illithids – nope, that’s WotC “product identity”. Chtulu? Sure, but – HP Lovecraft just scares me. I’m thinking of (typically) non-playable humanoid races – in D&D these are often referred to as “monster races”. Once again, I keep thinking of a more naturalistic angle. The juxtaposition of naturalistic races against the brass and steam of the Loaerthians (the humans that stayed after the Helfay) is just something that keeps me interested. Perhaps something completely new? Or a derivative of something that is already out there? A race of porcupine-like gnolls who live in the Highlands of Korgugo? Xenophobic chameleon-like yuan-ti isolated for centuries on The Island? Do you have any suggestions? We’d love to hear them.
In any case, this is all open for discussion and fairly fluid. If you’re a fan of Nevermet Press – or a content developer – throw in your input and leave a comment! This entire post is intended to drive discussion and get people thinking. Everyone’s input, no matter how small, can be a spark…
Keeping with the feytroll theme and the idea of naturalistic races, what about having nonhuman intelligent races be either faerie-like or talking animals?
As far as talking animals go, I keep thinking intelligent giant boars…
.-= Stuart´s last blog ..Monsters as Terrain =-.
This is from my recent idea journals – I though it might be helpful. Bear in mind that the inspiration for this race comes from a children’s story where a lowercase ‘i’ loses its dot because the dot is prone to playing hide-and-go-seek and inopportune times. In fact, despite knowing that its absence will cause the entire alphabet to scrap their mission (as well as months of hard work), it remains hidden. It takes a capital ‘I’ to show up and trick the dot into making an appearance to save the day. The capital ‘I’ makes it clear that dots are mischievous and like to play hiding games.
I have in mind a symbiotic race called the Daumeddyliau that would be very well suited to visiting and surviving on Loearth. The idea is that the humanoid part of the race (Syfredin) has little to no ability with magic on their own. They learn combat and other non-combat skills as they mature physically. The other part of the race (Hudolus) is a very tiny fairy or ball of energy. It is the magical part of the race, able to employ various magics whenever they choose. Whereas the Syfredin are sensible and practical, the Hudolus are erratic, wild, and uncontrollable. They do not care about the effects of their magic on others.
When the host Syfredin is in mortal danger, the Hudolu attached to it will respond, usually with overwhelming force. Otherwise, individual Hudolu have a bad habit of disappearing at the worst possible moments.
Once both parts of the race reach maturity, the two merge into one entity. The discipline, skills, and ruggedness of the humanoid merge with the great magical ability of the fairy.
The names are roughly Welsh, so substitute as you see fit.
Several ideas spring to mind.
Feywyrd is, presumably, a big place. There is room for all the fey races to have spread out to a lot of different climes, so they can, after centuries of existence there, be adapted to virtually any terrain, climate or altitude. There could be fey races that build eyrie-like homes in mountains, and prefer the thin air. These creatures would be slender and very lightweight, by necessity, since they have to make do with less oxygen. Any race, adapting to any clime will do. The point is that mankind’s information on these races is now hopelessly inaccurate. They’ve changed radically from the way they were when mankind first encountered them.
And, assuming Feywyrd wasn’t just sitting there empty until the fey were banished there, why not introduce a race that was never on Loaerth until the fey returned? A race that accompanied the fey back, or even better, was dragged along with them unwillingly? Here is the makings of one of your evil mastermind races. Viewing themselves as victims, they would likely blame everyone around them for kidnaping them from their homes and taking them to this strange world. Wouldn’t they band together for protection? And, if their numbers were strong enough, might they not even start a military campaign to carve out a piece of this new world for themselves (and punish a few of the creatures that kidnaped them, into the bargain)?
A third option would be some hive-dwelling creatures. I wouldn’t make them insectoid, though. I’d make them fur-bearing. I’d even make their pelts valuable, since the “intelligent” races of Loaerth see them as little more than animals. But they’re mistaken. These critters are highly intelligent, but being unemotional and insular, they shun contact with other races. The threat they pose lies in their amorality. What’s good for the hive is good. To their way of thinking, individuals don’t matter, they’re rather interchangeable. So, if there are fur traders from a nearby village that threaten them, they believe killing only the fur traders would simply result in the village appointing others to take their place. So slaughtering an entire village to protect themselves from a few fur traders is considered a measured and appropriate response to the threat. Murder? They don’t understand the word.
Lastly, on the subject of talking animals, wouldn’t it be kind of cool to engineer a reason why the return of the fey actually caused some animals to gain intelligence and the power of speech? So instead of a race of bears that have always been able to talk, you have a few stray bears who suddenly find themselves able to talk and reason. On the whole, they’re confused about the sudden change, probably scared, and possibly dangerous. The ones who let it be known they can talk are regarded as freaks, and people are scared of them. But even more dangerous are the ones who keep their powers of speech a secret, and pretend to be dumb animals. More dangerous, at least, to anyone who discovers their secret. Bears, wolves, great cats, boar, squirrels, foxes, any animal at all could be facing the shock and confusion this change would bring.
@Stuart – Boars… I like it. The tusks alone are vivid.
@JP — the symbiotic race is a very cool idea. Faery symbiotes who loose their identity once they stay with a host for too long. They could, in theory, merge with any sentiant nonmagical host. Perhaps all the “FEY RACES” are actually just variations on which host was chosen. Elves, dwarves, bears, boars, whatever… doesn’t matter – they are all “mundane” until the Faery Hudolus choose them as a host. This explains why some have the powers of magic and others dont. Perhaps, to reinvision the horrible Helfey event I mentioned in the first Interview with Felix Sundown – instead of banishing all those races, they were inface just the Hudolus that were banished. And DING! all the races lost their magic. Then, The Island was discovered – and the Hudolus found again on “the other side” of the Veil in the Feywyrd. Very interesting spin… need to think about that for a bit…
@JG — your last point about talking animals is well taken. Normal bears become talking bears. This works well with my variation of JP’s idea above. Perhaps when the Hudolus merge with non-sentient creatures the result is a Wildefey – a talking, sentient creature that has magical abilities, but is really pure Hudolus in the mind trapped in an animal’s body.
as for the Hive.. how about Hive Moles or Hive Badgers?
And yes.. the “alien” races new to Loaerth could include orcs, goblins, and other “stock fantasy” evil races. (that’s the low hanging fruit). Or, it could be something more complicated… like pets that suddenly are discovered to be much smarter and much more organized when they are brought to Loaerth.
Thanks everyone for these great suggestions.
.-= Jonathan´s last blog ..Loaerth & Feywyrd’s Feytroll And Other Possibilities =-.
@JG As far as a hive animal goes, may I suggest the Rock Hyrax (Dassi, Pimbi, Shafan)? Their ‘singing’ alone could make a great story element. It could be possible that they employ magic as a type of spellsinger. They produce hyraceum (don’t ask) which can be used to treat epilepsy. Maybe they have an innate ability to generate seizures in others. Just some ideas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Hyrax
The captured race/species is a great idea, after all, there has to be a bad guy is Feywyrd, right? Their adaptation to Feywyrd could make them very powerful in both lands.
@Stuart The Hyrax has prominent teeth, but I like the idea of boars, too. Honestly, I think of the creature from Return of the Jedi that was eaten by the huge monster thing before Luke Skywalker dispatched with it. (Can’t remember the name of it.)
@JJ Cool variation of the idea. Given the Hudolus’ nature, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to believe that they caused the Hellfay in the first place. Maybe it was indirectly – the last great archivist attempted to dislodge all the Hudolus forcibly and upon separation their reaction was extreme.
Glad that I could give you something to chew on.
@all Okay, okay, I am behind on Shayakand. Back to work for me!
@JP – OMFG. The Hyrax is a friggen great idea. It also is a silly one. Reminds me of Monte’ Python’s Holy Grail vampiric rabbits… lmfao.
@JP – I like the hyrax! Epilepsy or sudden palsy used to be called elf-shot or elf-stroke. Seems fitting.
.-= satyre´s last blog ..the mouse cage =-.
I had the anthropomorphic boar thought as well. Somehow it evokes an orcish tone, but strikes me as possibly less brutal and more natural: a tough, no-nonsense, stocky kind of fey folk.
A gnoll-like race was mentioned. I’ve had thoughts before of taking gnolls and inverting them a bit: rather than savage, bestial baddies, I envision these alterna-gnolls as wild, almost druidic, protectors of ecology. They don’t despoil their environment but fit into it harmoniously. Another thought is to make them like laughing hyena tricksters. Another thought is to combine both ideas, so that you get wild, laughing, dirty hyenas that are also tough on litter. Kinda like Smokey the Bear meets Coyote the Trickster. In a coalpunk world, I’d assume that there are some nasty industrial spots. When these encroach into the wilderness home of the laughing druidic trickster gnolls, you’ve got a story.
Also, there’s a great book by Carol Rose that might be helpful in approaching the design of the fey: Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns, and Goblins: An Encyclopedia. It’s a perspective-expanding volume on different varieties of faerie and mythical creatures found in cultures around the planet.
Thanks Charley! I’m going to either a) use my public library and order that book or b) get it from amazon
Nice! Looking forward to seeing what’s inside.
I’ve got a post coming in a few days about TROLLS… but L&F trolls are not your typical green monsters. Think Satyr, add orangutan, add tribal medicine men and there you go. stay tuned!
thanks for the suggestions!
BOARS… and BEARS… nice… ok… hodolu animal options for PC races will definitely include those as default animal types.
.-= Jonathan´s last blog ..Operation Omniscience =-.
If I recall the Sa Karens from Shane Hensley’s Evernight (for Savage Worlds) are the Illithids with the serial numbers filed off.
Nothing is to say you can’t do the same.
@Tyler — we do have something that speaks to this now. Myrmidons. Basically these are aquatic, nihilitic fish men (i.e. Sahuagin) who develop an exoskeleton when they are out of water… =D