Wilderlands Races: Demi-Humans

See also:
RADDical Wilderlands
Wilderlands Regions
Wilderlands Map
Wilderlands Languages
Wilderlands Races
Demi-Humans

DWARVES

Sturdy and strong, dwarves are tireless workers and fearsome opponents in battle. They were created in ancient days by their god, Kazadarum, The Rock-Father. Dwarves are very clannish.

CITY DWARVES

The Kazadrach, or City Dwarves, are the most commonly encountered dwarves in the cities and towns. Most city dwarves are smiths, jewelers, merchants, or alchemists. City dwarf men trim their beards short and neat, or simply wear large, flowing moustaches. Women do not grow facial hair. City dwarves can also be found in the southern city of Chim.
Description: Tan skin, red, brown or blonde hair, blue or green eyes, 4 ft. 0 in., 160 lbs, portly build, typically Neutral.
Languages: Common and Dwarven

DEEP DWARVES

The Kazadrugar, or Deep Dwarves, shun daylight and prefer to live out their lives underground. They are an
unhealthy race, and spend most of their time studying dark magic, seeking ways to conquer and enslave their cousins and neighbors. They keep goblin and troll slaves to do most of their labor, leaving them more time to study. Deep dwarf males have a difficult enough time growing any hair let alone beards. Their women (the few there are) are typically bald, or possess but a few wispy strands of hair on their heads.
Deep dwarves rarely wear armor, as it interferes with their magic, and are usually only armed with a dagger (often poisoned). Deep dwarves do not revere the gods, instead worshiping demon lords and gods of evil knowledge.
Description: Splotchy gray skin, bone white hair, pink eyes, 3 ft. 8 in., 120 lbs, lumpy build, typically Chaotic Evil.
Languages: Dwarven and Abyssal

HILL DWARVES

The Kazadurul, or Hill Dwarves, are a coarse, insular warrior race. The clan thane is the highest social class of the Kazadurul, as the clan folk believe the only true Dwarf King is Kazadarum. Clan warriors often work together in mercenary troops, fighting for one or more of the human lords, though they will never fight another dwarf troop in such manner. Kazadurul females are equal to males, as the birth rates are more equal among the hill clans; some even become warriors. Kazadurul are as likely to work with wood as stone
and metal, and most of their villages are above ground, with buildings of stone and wood. Hill dwarf men grow beards, but not as ostentatious as the mountain dwarves. Women do not grow beards, but often grow moustaches and sideburns. Hill dwarves are typically armed with greataxes and armored in chain shirt or splint mail. Hill dwarves worship Kazadarum with zealous exclusivity, and consider mountain and city
dwarves to be heretical for their polytheism.
Description: Bronze skin, brown hair, green eyes, 4 ft. 2 in., 170 lbs, stocky build, typically neutral.
Languages: Dwarven and Common.

MOUNTAIN DWARVES

The Kazadaran, or Mountain Dwarves, are the most ordered and hide-bound of a very stubborn race. Though perhaps best known to reside in Thunderhold, Mountain Dwarves have resided in many underground kingdoms, including the famed dwarf kingdom north of Tarsh. Their society emphasizes honor and obedience to social superiors. They pay very close attention to ritual and precedence; every mountain dwarf has his
own position in the social order, and knows exactly where he stands in respect to everyone else. Mountain dwarf women are rare (only 1 in 10 are female), and so are kept secreted from the rest of the world, as they are considered the most precious of treasures. Mountain dwarf men are very proud of their beards, and let them grow throughout their entire lives, braiding them and decorating them with gems and jewels. Women grow beards just like their men, though they are not as vain about them as their men folk. Mountain dwarves are typically armed with warhammers and armored in breastplate or half-plate, while nobles wear full plate or even mithral plate. Mountain dwarves revere Kazadarum, but also worship Goibhnie the
Divine Smith, Rosmerta the Bountiful, and Odin the All- Father.
Description: Tan or ruddy pink skin, fiery red hair, blue eyes, 4 ft. 5 in., 180 lbs, stocky build, typically Lawful Good.
Languages: Dwarven, Common and Terran

ELVES

There are nearly a dozen major known elven settlements in the Roglaras, not counting the scores of small villages and camps found in forest and glade. While each of the different settlements has its own history and idiosyncrasies, most of the elves living therein, regardless of the distance involved, maintain a moderately unified culture. There are, however, exceptions to this rule, and there are a number of strange and unusual elven societies.

HIGH ELVES

Most of the elves of the northern portion of the Wilderlands are of the high elven race, by far the most
common of the subraces of the elves. Most high elven folk consider their settlements to form a single, widely dispersed kingdom, known as Alfheim. Each lord of a settlement is King in his own realm, answerable only to the High King, though there has not been a unified High King for centuries. The high elves are the greatest allies of the Dunael Woods- Folk, forming a united front against the Orcs of the Purple Claw in Dearthwood. A few high elves turn from the merry ways of their brothers and strive to return to the ancient
ways of war and high wizardry; such folk become the stuff of legends among humans and elves.
Description: Pale white to silver skin, black hair, blue eyes, 5 ft. 8 in., 140 lbs, lean build, typically Chaotic Good.
Languages: Elven, Common, Dunael.

GRAY ELVES

The gray elves are the closest living embodiment of the ancient elvish archetype, though even in their mighty eyes can be seen the eventual passing of their race. Gray elves are stately, contemplative, courtly, exacting beings, not taken to merriment or quick action. They are very rare. The grays that decide to take a hand in modern events make history and forge legends. The most recent such was Vanuviel Glamdring, who helped found the City State of the Invincible Overlord and established one of the most important dynasties in the region. His descendants founded Ashenshaft and Palewood. There is a contingent of gray elves in Onhir as well.
Description: Ivory white skin, gold or silver hair, violet or amber eyes, 6 ft. 0 in., 160 lbs, lean build, typically Lawful Good.
Languages: Elven, Celestial.

NORTHERN ELVES

The northern elves, also known as Alvar, or Blue Elves, arrived from the Great Glacier to the north. These northern elves do not recognize close kinship with other elves, considering all other elves to be cultural degenerates of the original breed, save perhaps the gray elves, whom they respect for their ancient ways but disdain for their peaceable lifestyle. The Alvar claim but a single settlement in the Roglaras for themselves, Seasteadholm on Goodholm Haven on the Warwik Peninsula.
Description: Pale blue skin, platinum hair, blue eyes, 6 ft. 0 in., 160 lbs, average build, typically Neutral.
Languages: Elven, Avalonian.

SOUTHERN ELVES

The southern elves, also known as Altani Elves, or Red Elves, are a barbaric race from Barbarian Altanis. Like the human folk there they live in savagery, preferring the atavistic ways of the barbarian to the civilized ways of their ancestors.
Description: Pale red skin, tawny hair, red eyes, 5 ft. 0 in., 100 lbs, lean build, typically Neutral.
Languages: Elven, Altanian.

WOOD ELVES

Wood elves are the rustic cousins of the high elves, paying lip service to the concept of Alfheim, and living
however they please otherwise. They prefer to live in forests and wilderness, away from other races as much as possible, though they are not as murderously xenophobic as their wild elf cousins. Their main realms are the northern Dearthwood (where they actually work with the Elves of Alfheim in Dearthwood), though they may be found in most fair forests and woods of the Wilderlands. They avoid cities and towns, disdaining even the villages of more civilized folk. They are at eternal odds with orcs, goblins, and trolls, even more so than their wild elven cousins.
Description: Tan white skin, blonde or coppery red hair, green eyes, 5 ft. 4 in., 120 lbs, lean build, typically Neutral.
Languages: Elven, Common.

GNOMES

Gnomes are believed to be faeries that have somehow lost their ties to the land, though they are still very earthy, and love the forests and hills. Some sages claim that the gnomish race is descended from a magical cross between faeries and dwarves, though all three races deny this vehemently. Gnomes are actually fairly rare, there being only the single major settlement of them in the east, in the village of Lightelf. Other gnomes are encountered uncommonly in the cities and towns, the deep forests, and haunted hills. Unlike other many other races, there are no relevant subdivisions of gnomes. Their racial characteristics and
general description are uniform across the Wilderlands.
There are several cultural differences worth noting:

City Gnomes: City gnomes have been found in the cities of man since time immemorial. They are a sorcerous race, steeped in the ways of illusion and phantasms. They also are highly respected as alchemists and herbalists, and, perhaps, second only to the dwarves in renown as brewers of ale and beer. Some
are renowned tinkers, and no few city lords have a gnome sage, teacher, or mechanic in their employ, to work on interesting clockwork golems, clocks, and other unusual constructs.
Forest Gnomes: Forest gnomes are pudgy, roly-poly recluses who live in deep forests, away from other creatures save sylvan animals and faeries. They form fast friendships with woodland animals. They live in burrows, tree-stumps, and earth-covered homes, similar to halfling burrows, much like brownies and leprechauns, who are their greatest allies. They wear pointed hats in mixed company (usually brown
or green, never red-colored) and rarely leave the forests. Like their city cousins these gnomes are renowned for their herbalism and brewing skills. They are mistaken for simple comical, whimsical, rustic creatures by other races, and as such their powers are often underestimated.
Lightelf Gnomes: Lightelf gnomes are unlike their cousins in that they have abandoned the ways of magic in favor of martial studies. They are hunters, and trappers, farmers and gatherers. They are an embittered people, stuck between the human powers of the Skandiks and the City State, lorded
over by the former, corrupted by the latter. Their society is in flux, and on the edge of extinction. Many Lightelf gnomes have left their home to find a better living elsewhere. They seek in most cases to serve their city cousins as guards and mercenaries; most accept them, though they are wary ofthem, for the Lightelf gnomes are a comparatively grim lot. Forest gnomes dislike them, while the Red Caps hate them no
more or less than they hate everything.
Red Cap Gnomes: Red Cap gnomes are an insane breed of gnome that lives in ruins and barren hills. Legends say that they have been so since the Uttermost War, long ages ago. Some legends say that their minds shattered during the great battles of those days, or that their entire race was cursed, or even that they fell into evil and degeneracy when they tried to call upon powers too great for their minds. Regardless of their origins, the Red Caps of today are a race of psychopaths, seeking only to commit the most horrid atrocities they can before they die. However, they are also, for the most part, cowards, and remain in their haunted homes, far from other peoples, festering in their own hate. Sometimes a slightly sane Red Cap will leave the dread burrows and seek out a life elsewhere. Dark lore indicates that the Red Cap gnomes are
the forerunners of the Kobold races.

HALFLINGS

Like gnomes, the differences between halflings is mostly in their appearance and culture and has little effect in game terms. Halflings are created as per the PHB. The following details are noted to provide background information.
Common Halflings: The most commonly encountered halfling race is that of halflings of the cities and towns of the Wilderlands. They concentrate on the skills and crafts they consider most valued in the cities, the ones that they tend to perform best, such as cooking, baking, tavern-keeping and other food service, as well as leatherworking, haberdashery, tabac vending, and mercantile concerns. A fair number of these folk also enjoy working in entertainment, as well as more questionable practices, such as burglary and more esoteric roguish schemes.
Highland Halflings: Highlands Halflings look not unlike small versions of the local Altanians with slightly
redder skin and proportionally larger, hairier feet. They are a Shire folk, and prefer to be left alone by the Altanians in order to grow their pipeweed, tend to their small farms of potatoes and maize, and husband their herds of small llamas. They trade regularly with the Altanians, who find favor with the Halfling's weed, their cheeses, vegetables, and wood products. Highland Bounders (the guardians of the boundaries of the Shire) typically wear leather armor and carry short swords and slings. The few priests they have are
mostly druidic.
Stouts: Stouts obviously have some elements of dwarven and probably gnomish blood, for they are very stout, and ar the only halflings of the region known to wear large, curly beards under their great potato-shaped nose. Stouts are known for their famous Blue Tabac, the most potent pipeweed grown in the Wilderlands. The Bulwarkshir Bounders are, however, a boisterous lot, more than happy to crack open a head or two if that is what it takes for their land to be left in peace. They wear chain shirts, hand axes, and
hand crossbows. They do not worship the gods in general, figuring if they leave the gods alone, the gods will return the favor. Some of the Bounders, however, revere Odin or Mitra, for their martial and protective qualities.

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