DOSSIER ON THE RACES
WINDRU: The Wood Folk
The Windru
are a short race, with few individuals reaching much over four feet, but seldom
much less. Their skin is dark coppery-brown, and they have large luminous eyes
of dark colors. Their noses, while long and aquiline, have the nostrils set in
close to the face; their ears are long and pointed, and stretch far from the
skull; their chins are small and sharp under their wide mouths.
The Windru
are divided into many small tribes that rarely average over a hundred
individuals. Each tribe is cared for by a Great Mother, who is in charge of the
physical well-being of her people, and an Old Father, who is the shaman and
war-chief and cares for the spiritual rightness of the tribe. Neither is
considered greater than the other, and their roles are seen as complementary.
Although in some cases these functionaries are man and wife, this is not always
or even usually the rule.
In culture,
the Windru may be considered "primitive;" they have no metal
artifacts, writing, stonework, agricultural skills, or architecture. However,
their skill in hunting, woodcraft, herblore, weaving, carving in bone or wood,
storytelling, and foretelling the weather is highly praised by those who know
them. They live mainly in and around trees, especially deep in woods far from
other races. In battle they use spears, bows, and a type of wickerwork armor
that is surprising in its lightness and efficacity. They are fond of the flute
and harp, and of a type of instrument called the carillion drum, which is a set
of small drums of various tones fixed in a semi-circular brace.
Peculiar
among the skills of the Windru is tree-reading. According to them, each tree
has a type of slumbrous reflective intelligence, that, while it cannot act or
think, knows and records what is going on around it. This knowledge can be
transmitted through root and branch to other trees, and when "read"
by a windru, knowledge can be had of what is going on from one side of a forest
to the other. The effort is, however, time-consuming, and if the trees are not
within touching reach the connection of consciousness cannot be made. The
Windru have a great respect for the trees, calling them "Elder
Brother" or "Elder Sister," and the more often a particular tree
is read by a particular individual, the easier the read is.
Although
each tribe is independent, they all follow the same code of conduct and way of
life. They have little dealing with other races, but when they do, they love to
lie to them. It amuses them greatly, and if a stranger has accepted the first
lie they have been told, they will rarely speak the truth to him there-after.
WOROGS: The Sons of Earth
Worogs are
a race of almost human size, but wider and more solidly built. Many reach over
seven feet tall. Their legs are short in proportion to their bodies, but strong
and swift; their arms, chest, and back muscles are long and highly developed,
but their large round heads are set forward off their hunched and stooping
backs. They have no facial hair, but their hair grows long and manelike from
the skull to the end of the spine. All the skin on the body is tough, but on
the elbows, shoulders, knuckles, and knees it grows in especially thick knobbed
coverings. The females have rudimentary breasts that only swell out when she is
with young; it is hard to tell a male from a female unless one is in this
state.
Worogs have
little need of any skills or crafts. Their main occupation is the tending of
large herds of cattle to supply the enormous protein needs of their bodies.
They have few fat cells themselves and so cannot store their energy
efficiently. Worogs tend to live in clusters of beehive huts made of undressed
unmortared stone, situated near clean running water and open fields.
They dress
in leather kilts, both male and female, and occasionally fashion leather caps.
Their weapons tend to be simple and crude, but effective: clubs, staffs, and
slings. Their one great attribute is their strength and solidity which aids
them in their cattle-herding duties. It has been known and recorded many times
for a worog to wrestle with a mountain bear hand to hand and win, and few
armies in the world, no matter how well-equipped, can withstand a battle charge
of Worogs when they are in their war frenzy.
As to
temperament, the Worogs are slow, simple-minded sorts, given to extravagant and
extreme emotions. It takes a while for ideas to get into their heads, but once
one does it is hard to dislodge, and Worogs make loyal friends and implacable
foes.
One fairly
interesting note about the Worogs are their horns, which they fashion from
their herds. The Worogs have a way of channeling air from their noses through
their lungs and out of their mouths in one continuous stream, and so can
produce horn blasts of unusual length. They have a crude system of
communication based on these horn calls, that can be heard for miles.
VULAGS: People of the Mound
The Vulags
are a race similar to Men, sharing their general shape and size. Their
characteristics as a distinct race are their pale hair, from grey to white;
their teeth, the color of old ivory; the greyish corpse-like hue of their skin;
and their yellow blood. Also notable is the muscular stringiness of the male,
contrasted to the pale softness of the female. In both sexes a peculiar change
occurs early after the thirtieth year, which produces a strange
"withered" and aged look. Notwithstanding which they continue in
health and vigor until almost their hundredth year.
The Vulags
live in separate communities under many petty kings, who are also often the
heads of large family clans. These communities are known as brughs, as
are the hollow hills where they are located. The comings and goings of each brugh
is strictly regulated by its king and his doorwardens, for the Vulag are a secretive
folk and jealous of the safety of their strongholds. Indeed, even if a hill
were known to be a brugh, the location of its doors could remain unknown
for years; the Vulag are adept at the arts of concealment.
Although
most active at night, the Vulags are not restricted to its hours. At great
danger or in war they could travel in the daylight, but reluctantly; no Vulag
felt truly comfortable outside of his mound. The Vulag preference for
night-time may be physical as well as a desire for secrecy: in strong sunlight
their pale skin and hair left them susceptible to sunstroke and dizziness. Also
a common problem of a daystruck Vulag was "sunblindness," a condition
guarded against by applying blacking around the eyes. To any humans unfamiliar
with the Vulag themselves, this often gave them the appearance of walking
corpses.
There are a
few outstanding cultural peculiarities about the Vulag. One of these is a
special form of falconry they have created, using owls as their hunting birds.
Another is their excellent smithcraft and grasp of rudimentary physics. Also of
interest is the bass warhorn of their own devising; its use is peculiar to
their people, although it seems in some ways to resemble the bagpipe, having a
set of drones, chanter, bag, and blowpipe, but having a deeper and more
sonorous tone.
In most
other talents and abilities, they resemble their cousin, Man, but adapted to
the life underground. They share the same ethical codes and systems of belief,
although these could vary from mound to mound as they do from city to city.
There is a vast and tenuous connection between every brugh in the land, and
meetings, greetings, and weddings are common among the mounds closest to each
other. Though wide apart, most brughs of Vulags still considered
themselves a united folk, and on rare occasions they have been known to act
unanimously in some great action, as in wars, treaties, and celebrations.
GETHEN: The Great Builders
The Gethen
as a race are a bit shorter than humans, averaging in height from four and a
half to five feet, and are freckled, squat, and red-headed. Their feet and
hands are broad and their toes are rather longer than human. Their life spans
are long and slow; a geth does not fully physically mature until its fortieth
year, and the average time of death is around its one hundred and twentieth
year.
The Gethen
are the makers par excellence of the races. Their metalworks, architecture,
mining, and sculpture have enriched and influenced everyone, especially the
humans. In dwellings, the Gethen prefer vast enclosures of their own devising,
going so far as to raise crops and herds inside special houses built for that
purpose. A Gethen city of great age and population may stretch over a mile in
diameter, without a single square foot free to the open sky.
The Gethen
have little use for dancing, music, singing, storytelling, writing, or history.
Their skills are passed on from parent to child, with secrets of the craft
never entrusted to writings or records. The Gethen are the most sober,
solitary, suspicious, practical, and pessimistic of all the races.
IVRA: The Airish Folk
The most
mysterious and elusive of the races, the Ivra have bodies of an exceptionally
fine and articulate nature, so that they can be invisible, ride on the wind, or
pass through solid matter. When they do assume visible form they are tall,
thin, and beardless, of a regular and flawless body type that varies little
from person to person.
Although
they have many attributes that are generally associated with spirits, they are incarnate beings that are born, are vulnerable, and die. Though they can pass
through solid matter, it is accomplished by an act of will and is not a
constant quality of their nature; enchanted objects or places guarded by spells
are impassable to the Ivra, even by these acts of will.
Invisibility
is a rule of their nature; they assume visibility for any business with other
races. They are nourished on sunlight and water and have no need of anything
else. As a consequence, they have little to do with the other races or even the
earth. They have no artefacts of any sort.
HUMANS: The Sweet Singers of the World
Men are the
most numerous and fertile of the races, the most gregarious, the most curious,
and the most cosmopolitan. They also have the widest body type, ranging from
short to medium to tall, with skins light, sallow, and swart, and hair colors
from black to white. Some are thin, some muscular, some fat. Despite these wide
differences between individuals the race is united in its common outlook and
experience; what they call its "humanity."
Humans
incorporate most of the skills of the other races, at least in a form adequate
to their daily survival. Some humans, by dint of hard study, can gain a
sufficient mastery of the crafts of the other peoples, but their main
characteristic is their general grasp of many skills, not the specialization of
a few. Humans can adapt to almost any situation or environment and are in
consequence the most wide-spread of the races.
Two skills
are, however, almost unique to the race: poetry and the setting of words to
music, and the craft of enchantment. The two activities seem to be linked in
some manner. Because of these accomplishments Men are known as the Sweet
Singers of the World and the Makers of Magic.
Human
government is almost as varied as the human body type. Groups of humans are
ruled by everything from tyranny to anarchy; they are responsible for the
invention of many forms of government in the search for the best way to rule
themselves.
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