The Intelligent Races

Intro

According to legend, Lomara gave the gift of speech to the world and thus created intelligence. She did this in the hope that it would promote understanding and exchange and growth of wisdom. Unfortunately, Kalar then gave the intelligent races the gift of deception, and we ended up where we are now.

There are a good deal more intelligent races than those detailed here. The Elder Races from the Time-before-Time created many hybrid species (wolfmen, lizard men, half-ogres), most of whom had a degree of intelligence. There are also the goblin races (goblins, orcs, hobgoblins, ogres) who are intelligent only in the strictest academic sense. To detail all the speaking races would take ages, even if I restrict myself to the ones in the Bestiary.

So, all the races detailed here are the ones that you can play without grovelling to a senior ref.

Elves

Elves resemble slim, delicately built humans. They have pale skin, slender limbs, oriental (almond-shaped) eyes, and of course pointy ears. They live many times longer than humans, up to five hundred years. They are, as a culture, artistic and intelligent, taking much interest in the arts and in magic. They are not great fighters, prefering to keep the battle at a distance, but they do make some especially fine swords (mainly because they are usually enchanted).

Elven society is forest based and ruled by a matriarchal monarchy, with a complex political maze of councils and parliaments running the more everyday stuff. Although there is far less betrayal and backstabbing in elven politics, the standard way of getting your way is to outwit your opponent using cunning and deceit. At least in human politics it's easy to tell who has lost (the one who's dead), but elven politics can be completely baffling to the average spectator.

Elven characters tend to be mages or charmists. If they are fighters, they will be agility-based. It is unusual for elves to have high Strength or Life list-multipliers.

Half-Elves

Do to some genetic oddness, humans and elves can breed. Also, due to a quirk of nature, both races tend to find the other attractive, so half-elves crop up relatively frequently. However, they are frequently shunned by their society (whichever they're born to) and find their way to cities such as Keese, where what you are is less important than what you've got.

Half-elves could pass for human with a little effort. They are slim and elegant, but lack the pointy ears. They share the elven artistic tendencies and affinity with magic, but also have the human capacity for mindless hatred. This makes half-elves among the most screwed up individuals around. The same rumours that claim an organised Thieves' Guild is running much of Keese, claim that a half-elf is controlling it. This is quite plausible.

Half-elves can be anything and do anything, although are rarely grunts, and tend to have Intellect and Charisma mulipliers higher than Strength or Life.

Drow

The Drow are a subterranean dwelling sub-species of the elves. Although they are physically very similar (except for the completely black skin and completely white hair), they are very different in temperament.

Drow are only now beginning to appear in Keese, and still suffer a lot from the suspicions of the natives. This is as nothing though compared to the hatred that some of the other races show them, accusing them of worshipping Necros, and even of being abominations of nature.

They are proud, arrogant and contemptuous, with morals that are flexible in the extreme, but have yet to prove any more unpleasant than the regular inhabitants.

Drow tend to be priests of one of their shady gods, but also make fine assassins, having no qualms about torture and murder.

Dwarves

Dwarves are short and very rugged. They are a race of miners and craftsmen, stocky and strong with big noses and long beards. They rarely leave their underground communities, but the few adventurers you get are invariably fighters. Dwarves dislike magic, prefering things that can be built from honest hard work. Dwarven craftsmen are the best you'll find, and they make the finest weapons and armour known.

Dwarven society seems to run itself. There is no apparent authority beyond team leaders. Everyone seems to know what is best for the community as a whole, and does it without needing to be told. As a result, dwarves outside of their home tend to be stroppy and stubborn if asked to do anything they don't consider necessary.

Dwarven characters are invariably fighters. They dislike magic intensely, and will avoid it as a rule, although they do sometimes become priests. They will almost always have Strength and Life at x1 and x2, with Agility and Charisma rather lower.

Half-Orcs

In their (frequent) raids on human settlements, orcs often indluge in a spot of rape and pillage. Every once in a while, this results in the birth of a half-orc. If the child is not immediately burnt as a demon, it is usually because the mother has fled to bring it up on her own.

Half-orcs are obviously not human. They are gruntish and bestial, with nasty teeth and evil finger nails (no, they don't do damage). They have dark, brown-green skin and black hair that grows as a mane down their back. Their voices are harsh and guttural, and they sound as if they are growling all the time.

Despite their heritage, half-orcs are not thick. They have an innate inability with magic, but make good shamen. They are strong and tough, but are capable of subtlety. Half-orcs are perhaps the most misunderstood of the intelligent races, being at least as likely to be shy and timid as violent and aggressive.

Half-orcs can essentially be anything, but are not usually mages or charmists. Their physical skill-lists (Strength, Life, Agility) tend to be highest, with Charisma usually lowest.

Half-Ogres

The image of an ogre and a human trying to mate is ludicrous to say the least, but half ogres are relatively common, so it is generally accepted that they are a hybrid race created in the same way as wolfmen and lizard men. They are rarely less than six feet high, and are built like brick out-houses. They have brown skin, little hair, sloping neanderthal foreheads and huge muscles that bulge out from everywhere (even from under the thick layers of fat).

Half-ogres are big and strong, but notoriously dim. It is rare for them to grasp such simple concepts as adding, let alone the principles of magic (although examples of half-ogre shaman do occasionally occur).

Nothing is known about their society, if they have one at all. Questioning a half-ogre about such concepts is frustrating in the extreme, so it is simply assumed that they are solitary creatures. Certainly, they have more resemblance to ogres in appearance and behaviour, and ogres are solitary, so it is a reasonable assumption.

Half-ogre characters are grunts, with Strength at x1 and Intellect at x5. Anything else is unusual and needs a good excuse.