Monday, April 12, 2010

Musing: Species Part IV: Tell me about the Friendlies

So I went ahead and mentioned what we chose as our "friendly" species, in other words what are offered as PC species.

Seeing as I'm going to be talking about these species a lot in the upcoming sandbox design, I thought I'd just down a few basic notes about each one, for both the readers benefit and mine.

Human: Okay, I start off by lying, as humans are no different then they are anywhere else you've seen them. Of course I talked about the need to have the standard human species previously, so this should come as little surprise.

Dwarf: Dwarves have some similarity to the standard ideal of the dwarf (standard in fantasy RPGs anyway), they live underground, they're fond of mining, gems, and metalwork. However, dwarves in our setting have known little but ongoing conflict for generations. They are constantly fighting for what little underground space is left against the goblins and the goblins show little to no sign of slowing down. Their love for mining and metalwork comes for in the way of making superior weapons rather then great works of art. They are much more militant and coldhearted then they are often portrayed elsewhere. Dwarves are more prized for their ability to fight then their metalwork in Deminar, though they do still share a fondness for alcohol, after all, when all you've known is fighting all your life, wouldn't you turn to drinking. Many dwarves found out in the world not defending their homeland would be seen as cowards and heretics were they to travel to a dwarf hold, so many dwarven adventures have a strong reason for leaving home and would rather not return to any dwarven holdings.

Gnomes: Gnomes are a very eccentric bunch in Deminar, they have embraced the move forward to steampunk more so then any other species. They seemingly have no home island as a species and are instead found integrated amongst only the largest and most advanced friendly settlements as well as prowling the airways in massive airships, many powered in unusual and often dangerous ways. Gnomes are much akin to gypsies, albeit gypsies with a penchant for inventing all kinds of things, whether they're useful or not. Gnome adventurers are quite common, many travel place to place to sell, build, and try out new inventions, others wish to plunder old ruins to see what technology is hidden away, and still others adventure because they've been kicked out of just about every civilized place for one explosion or another.

Halflings: Halflings, as we've visioned them, have been around since the earliest incarnations of Deminar. Halflings can be divided into two camps, the "Ferals" who are everything the Roman's used to claim the "barbarian hordes" were, savage killers, masters of ambush hunting, know to pillage a settlement when in need of something, etc. These are usually not the ones used as player characters. Then there are the more civilized Halflings, but that's only saying that in comparison to their feral cousins. These halflings still tend to shun the settlements and technological advances of other species, but occasionally they are found within more mixed settlements. Halflings normally are found in places far from settled lands, living in tribes in hidden valleys between mountains, deep in untamed woods, or on lost islands away from most others. They live mostly off the land, hunter/gatherers, but are would not be considered primitive in mindset. They don't use technology not because they don't know how, but because they shun it, for reasons they will not tell any nonhalfling. On occasion one can spot effigies of more advanced machinery and sometimes halflings go through rituals that emulate what would be considered modern practices, like eating around a table in traditional human noble ways or simulating forging metal weapons using wooden replicas. They claim they do this "to remember," but that raises more questions then answers. Many halflings leave their communities to explore the world, sometimes to report back to their homes, others to seek out new places to settle or to disperse their genes among other halfling communities. These explorations can sometimes last for years and these are the halflings many see in other lands or among adventuring parties.

Kobolds: Kobolds are another hold over from our original design. Kobolds are like the rats among the intelligent species. They are everywhere and seemingly have no place of their own. Anywhere that is settled by the friendly species, there are kobolds, (except for the Halfling communities) from small human hamlets to dwarven clanholds, to lizardfolk settlements. Kobolds have three distinct qualities about them. One, they insatiably curious. Two, though they don't form their own communities, they are very protective of one another, if they feel their species as a whole is being threatened, they will move quickly to eliminate that threat, often time with numbers into the thousands coming from seemingly nowhere. This is why most communities don't flush out the kobolds that live among them. finally, they desperately want to be accepted by those they live among. This means they'll seek to emulate the clothing, mannerisms, and speech of where they live as well as collect anything discarded by others. They often take jobs withing a town that no one else wants, like garbage disposal, rat catcher, or gravedigger, and they do it with pride, knowing they're part of the whole. This is the other reason most communities keep them around. Obviously many kobolds become adventurers to satiate their curiosity and because adventurers tend to bond strongly with each other giving the kobold acceptance.
And as Sean so kindly reminded me to inform people, they're dog based creatures, not dragons or lizards dammit, how they should be, thanks Sean!

Lizardfolk: Lizardfolk are a chance to do offer something different, yet similar at the same time. LIzardfolk have vastly different customs, tastes (in food, entertainment, clothing, etc), gods, and even language yet they have been on friendly terms with humans for as long as either species can remember. They are integrated with each other, but separated, they tend to live segregated from each other when they share a settlement (by nature, not by force), much the way racial groups of humans do in cities in the real world. There are those close minded folk on both side of the species that hold prejudice against the other, but all in all they are communal allies. It's as close to demonstrating natural racial separation and integration on a species scale in a fantasy game.

Minotaurs: Minotaurs are interesting because they don't seem to have settlements of their own and while they can be found in just about any settled area, they never seem to congregate with one another. They are the lone bodyguard for a minor noble, the merchant offering rare herbs, and the figure you see disappear down the dark alley. Minotaurs are often found on airships in a variety of roles, yet there don't seem to be airships consisting of just minotaurs, like the gnomes. Occasionally a minotaur will join an adventuring group and make a loyal and strong team member.

So there are some basics about the PC races, just so you understand their placements in the sandbox going forward.

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