Thalan
Thalan are a people whose cultures are both forged by and fractured by their traditions. From the Dwergar in their mountain halls, to the Zwerge in their silent cities and the Powrie on their frozen plains, all Thalan are defined by an adherence to the codes of their ancestors. Their societies are steeped in rituals and grievances, and their history is one of civil wars and fractured bloodlines that have turned a once-unified people into a collection of resentful and independent nations.
Dwergar
Dwergar are stout and broad, standing 4 to 5 feet tall with powerful, barrel-chested frames. Their skin has deep, earthen tones of stone-gray, clay, or iron, and their eyes are shades of dark brown or amber. Their hair is thick and coarse, typically black, rust-red, or gray, and their faces are defined by strong, squared jaws and prominent cheekbones.
Korathi — Culture and History
To be a Dwergar of Korath is to be born into a legacy of honor, taught that your clan's word is bond and your craft is your soul. You are raised on the principles of resilience and solidarity, the unyielding traditions of a people secure in a mountain kingdom that has never been conquered.
That solidarity, however, is now the perfect weapon for an enemy that lives within your walls. The recent Gaospod plague, a horror born of your own industrial hubris, has turned your halls into a paranoid state where the person beside you could be a monster in disguise. With your trust poisoned, your kingdom is now caught in a vice: the armies of Baleros to the south, the cold ambition of Kazak to the north, and the quiet terror of an enemy who wears a familiar face.
Names
Korathi naming is a reflection of their class structure. The nobility of the great clans use static, hereditary surnames, while commoners are identified by a patronymic or matronymic.
Masculine: Barendd, Brottor, Eberk, Hakon, Rurik, Stellan, Ulfgar, Vigdis
Feminine: Astrid, Audhild, Dagnal, Gunnloda, Ilde, Ingrid, Sannl, Torgga
Clan Names (Nobility): Asgeir, Bjorn, Grim, Harthacnut, Knýtlinga, Munsö, Skjöldung, Yngling
Patronymic (Commoner): Add the suffix -son ("son of") to the father's name, such as Barendd, the son of Ulfgar, is Barendd Ulfgarsson.
Matronymic (Commoner): Add the suffix -dóttir ("daughter of") to the mother's name, such as Astrid, the daughter of Ilde, is Astrid Ildesdóttir.
Kazaki — Culture and History
To be a Dwergar of Kazak is to be raised on the promise of progress, taught that the bloody secession from the old kingdom was a necessary act of liberation from a diseased and stagnant past. Your culture rejects tradition as a weakness, and your worth is measured by your ambition and your productive output in the forges and mines that fuel the nation's future.
This promise of the future is the price of your bondage. The reality of Kazak is a corporate state run by industrial barons who have built a system of debt-slavery upon the ashes of tradition. Your ambition serves only to enrich the oligarchs, and your labor forges the chains of a prosperity you will never be permitted to share.
Names
Masculine: Aethelred, Dunstan, Eadwin, Godric, Leofric, Ordric, Wulfstan
Feminine: Aethelflaed, Cyneburh, Eadgyth, Mildrith, Saewynn, Waerburh
Clan Names: Ashdown, Blackwood, Oakes, Stonemill, Whitlock, Wyrmhelm
Powries
Powrie are 4 to 5 feet tall with gaunt, sinewy frames. Their skin is sallow and tough, with distorted, asymmetrical features, including long, sharp teeth, prominent brows and close-set, dark eyes. Their hair is most often wiry and black, growing sparsely.
Culture and History
To be a Powrie is to be born into a faith forged in the blood of your own kin. Your ancestors were a disparate collection of nomadic clans until a wounded, refugee god arrived in your lands. Its arrival ignited a civil war where the followers of a new, vengeful god exterminated those who clung to the old, weak ways. Your ancestors were the victors, and that victory is the foundation of your people's existence, where loyalty to clan and god is absolute.
The faith of your ancestors is a trauma passed down through generations. The raids your god demands as a part of his retribution chew away at you with every village burned and every life taken. You return from these campaigns under the facade of glory and justice, but with the empty stare of those who have seen and done too much. The celebrations are violent, drunken rituals meant to help keep the memories from taking root. The quiet hours are filled with sorrow, rage, and lust to cope with the reality that your work is not yet done. You are raised to be hard and unfeeling, because any softness is a crack through which the horror of that reality might seep in.
Names
Masculine: Cadan, Jago, Kenver, Mawgan, Perran, Talan, Zennor
Feminine: Demelza, Eseld, Kerensa, Lowenna, Morwen, Tamsin, Wenna
Family Names: Angove, Berriman, Penvrane, Rosevear, Scobell, Treloar, Trevelyan
Zwerge
Zwerge are compact and wiry, standing 4 to 5 feet tall. Their skin is pale and ashen, sometimes faintly mottled with darker pigmentation. Their faces are angular, with hollowed eyes of an icy blue, faded gray, or milky white set beneath heavy brows. Their hair is always dark black, deep brown, or slate gray and grows straight and fine.
Culture and History
To be a Zwerge is to be born into a culture of silence and toil, taught that all are equal before the stone. Your society has no nobles or kings; an individual's worth is measured only by the skill of their hands and the weight of their judgment. In your sealed mountain halls, you are raised to believe that work does not end at death, but is a sacred duty that continues for eternity.
This sacred duty, however, is the engine of your extinction. Your people's survival now depends on the necromantic rites that bind the dead into an unthinking labor force, the "Silent Ones." With every generation, the living dwindle as the ranks of the dead swell, leaving your halls ever quieter. Now, the disastrous invasion by Bethune has shattered your isolation, forcing a dwindling people and their silent, dead kin into a war for a future that may no longer have a place for the living.
Names
Masculine: Albrecht, Armin, Dietrich, Gunther, Konrad, Manfred, Rainer, Wolfram
Feminine: Adelheid, Brunhilde, Gisela, Hedwig, Ida, Mathilde, Rosamund, Sieglinde
Clan Names: Eisenfaust, Graumantel, Nachtwache, Steinbrecher, Schwarzwald, Winterberg
Thalan Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid Size: Medium (about 4–5 feet tall) Speed: 30 feet
As a Thalan, you have these special traits:
Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 120 feet.
Stout. You may reduce the distance of any involuntary movement by 10' using a Reaction to brace yourself.
Iron Resolve. You gain Temporary Hit Points equal to twice your Proficiency Bonus whenever you finish a Short or Long Rest.
Thalan Lineage. You are part of a lineage that grants you unique abilities. Choose one of the following options:
Dwergar. When you complete a Short Rest or Long Rest, you can choose to gain resistance to one of the following damage types: Acid, Cold, Fire, or Poison. This resistance lasts until you finish a Short Rest or Long Rest and choose another resistance.
Powrie. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an attack, you may add your Proficiency Bonus to the damage roll.
Zwerge. You gain the Chill Touch cantrip, choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability. Additionally, when you are reduced to 0 Hit Points, enemies within 15 feet must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + Proficiency Bonus + Charisma modifier) or be Frightened until the end of your next turn. If any creatures are frightened by this ability, you drop to 1 Hit Point instead. Once you use this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a Short Rest or Long Rest.