The Peoples and Nations of Scalgard

Aelfin

Sometimes known as Half-elves or Sidhe-kin, the Aelfin are not a true race to themselves. Rather, they are changeling children, fathered upon human maids by, or fathered by human men upon, the otherworldly race known as the Tuatha-Sidhe. They have no true society of their own, but are born into the society of their mortal mother or left on the doorstep of their father's house. In Ceumri, already a land given over to magic, many Aelfin have found a home, but they are next most common among the Fenian and in Saesony. Though they may travel freely, their birthing or foundling is strangely unknown in other lands.

The Aelfin exhibit some of the characteristics of their immortal parents, having slightly slender and pointed features, a somewhat extended life span, and frequently displaying an odd coloration in the eyes or hair.  From a distance, one can get confused, but up close, there's no mistaking an Aelfin for the truly human.

In addition to their physical resemblance, the Aelfin also have inherited an almost magical quality from their parents: a sort of racial memory. Though it is stronger in some Aelfin than in others, it ties them to the knowledge of their Sidhe parents, giving them certain insights and surprising knowledge.

• - Knowledge (nature), DC 20
• - Knowledge (nature), DC 25
• - Knowledge (nature), DC 30

Ceumri

Like Estria, Ceumri rests on the Inland Sea and reaps the green reward of it's moist winds that carry soft rain. But where the merchant nation is dominated by a single forest, Ceumri has a wide river valley cradled between low hills. The land gives its people variety, and they use it to the fullest. They mine bronze and iron from their hills, as well as quarry stone; they sift gold from rich deposits in their rivers, where they also fish for salmon; they grow wheat in the soft ground and potatoes in the hard, and hunt game in their few forests. Where other nations trade and war for what they need, Ceumri has the luxury of choosing allies based on based on love and enemies based on hate.

Unfortunately, the people of Ceumri have much to hate. The forests to their north are a surer home for the savage fir bolg than any other, and invasions of the giant wolf-men mirror those from the fomoire, who spring from hidden caves beneath the rivers and pools that otherwise give Ceumri life. Orcish raiders have a hard time navigating Ceumri's southern straight, but the lure of gold drives them ever on. And across that straight lies Annwyns' Realm; Brother Worm is not an aggressive neighbor, but who can rely on the will of gods?

These many threats have kept the Ceumri close to home, in small stone and wood-walled castle-cities, a few days' dangerous ride from each other. Keeping them all one people, though, are their Three Crowns. One of the land's oldest traditions, the Crowns are a Bard, a Druid and a Hero, each standing for one of the three types of people: the skilled, craftsmen and farmers; the wise, herbalists and doctors; and the strong, miners and warriors. These three travel abroad and bring news, judgment and justice to each castle in turn in exchange for hospitality. Both more and less than kings, they are guardians of tradition, an old ritual protection for a land that lives with dangerous magic so near around.

• Hope in Hidden Springs - Knowledge (local), DC 25
• Uneasy Rests One Crown - Knowledge (local), DC 30

Common Classes: Bard, Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard

Dwarves

High in the mountains to the north and west of Ceumri, the dwarves make their homes. The last of the giants' kin, they live lives of strength and industry in sprawling stone castles atop the tallest peaks. Each dwarven castle is a complete community, ruled by a thane. "Thane" is a hereditary title, but long is the dwarven memory, and strong their pride - a son would not last as thane if he did not live up to his father's name.

Though the dwarves' best customers are each other, they are not isolated from humanity. Skilled metalworkers, their forge-goods are in high demand as far away as Thrudvang. But, more, dwarves mix freely with the Fenian tribes. Family branches have lived with the human folk there as long as any can remember, stout and loyal members of the clan they call home. These dwarves travel freely between mountains and hills, living with their relatives in each land and setting aside their rivalries as they move between. This is part of the thanes' law.

The dwarves have no gift for human magic, no love for gods and no ties to the Tuatha-Sidhe, but their oldest thanes have kept alive an ancient lore, and rumors say they are the only beings since their forebears passed from the world who know the rituals to bind enchantment with the power of the runes.

• The Kings of Stone Eternal - Knowledge (nobility), DC 20
• Forging the Crown of Kings - Knowledge (nobility), DC 25
• Calling Their Father's Names - Knowledge (arcana), DC 30

Common Classes: Bard, Fighter, Knight, Ranger, Rogue

Estria

Resting almost entirely on the sheltered shores of the Inland Sea, flanked by dwarven mountains and with it's back pressed firmly against the Low Countries, Estria has a degree of natural protection from orcs and the firbolg that other lands lack. A mild climate mitigates the harshest and most dangerous weather that Mannanan throws down and, combined with a wealth of natural resources and an aggressive desire to trade, this has made the people rich. Merchant ships ply the seas and well-guarded caravans ride the roads, both bringing money home to feed the people's greed.

The only land in Scalgard that could rightly be called a "nation", Estria is filled with farmers and craftsmen who walk open fields towns without much to fear. The roads are well-made and better patrolled, and the average man lives in a white-washed wood and mortar home and sleeps the night away with no walls save those and still no fear for bandits or monsters.

But while the individual Estrian himself is safe, his nation struggles on. Sitting at the center of Scalgard, Estria is a crossroads for all nations, with none so dependent on trade that the spoils of war aren't a worthwhile gamble. Estria's response to the thread is numbers, and their large army drills regularly and while as soldiers they are less than the heroes of other lands, they fight in strong formation and can easily outman the common, wild warband.

The Plutarch holds the reigns of Estrian power, and uses his Keepers of the Hoard as the whip that drives his nation on. These tax collectors, trade-police and spies keep the barons honest and carry their advice to the Plutarch. The barons tread carefully, though, for their nobility and the power it entails can be literally bought and sold. Too many bad deals are sure to bring them down. The Plutarch's family is, of course, the wealthiest, and though they could theoretically lose their hereditary position should their trading ventures fail, Estria's strict laws governing land and taxes prevent the Plutarch's treasuries from growing too empty.

• Knowledge (nobility), DC 20
• Walking the Halls of Gold - Knowledge (nobility), DC 25
• The Plutarch's Nature - Knowledge (nobility), DC 30'

Common Classes: Fighter, Knight, Rogue, Scout, Wizard

The Fenian

Barbarian tribes of the Northwest, the Fenian dwell in the Deiran Highlands. A rocky country of hills and scrub-grass, and nearer the maurauding orcs than any other land, the Deiran has made a hard people of the Fenian. Far from a cohesive group, 'Fenian' is an adjective, meaning 'wild' in the local tongue, used to describe the various clans that occupy the region. Each clan is distinguishable from each other only by the different patterns of plaid they wear on their kilts and by the different colors that they paint their faces when going off to war.

Without cheap access to iron, advanced industry has been hard for the Fenian to come by. The people live in semi-permanent homes of stacked moss, piled stones and earth, surrounded by piked fences of fire-hardened wood. Though they don't like it, when they're forced to move a full Fenian clan can arrive on a plain at the break of dawn and have their village built by the time the sun sets. The clans live mainly by raising sheep and trading the wool and cured hides to their allies amongst the dwarves and to nearby Ceumri. So vital are these sheep to Fenian life, and so tenuous the trade, that clan war over territory or herd ownership is almost as much a business as the care of the herds themselves.

These small wars, combined with the even more frequent orcish raids, have made the Fenian a fierce and warlike folk, proud of personal strength, but also fiercely loyal. They are superstitious, too, both fearing and respecting magic and those who use it. It's a common assumption of the people that those who know magic are of Aelfin blood, and only a true man can rule among them. Thus, their leaders are most often the fierce Berserkers that their clans produce rather than the often wiser Druids or Bards who serve instead as advisors to the lairds of the clans. The position of laird is said to be won by strength of arms, and while often true, this is not always the case. Instead, a laird can be challenged to any sort of competition, be it combat, hunting, singing, or a game of fidchell, with a clan's Druids serving as judges over the challenge.

• The Soldiers of Frost and Bone - Knowledge (local), DC 30

Common Classes: Barbarian, Druid, Fighter, Rogue, Scout

The Low Countries

Common Classes: Fighter, Ranger, Rogue

Orcs

Orcs do not live naturally on the main continent of Scalgard. Rather, they live on a plate of dirt-covered ice to the furthest northwest. Orcs are a prolific and warlike folk who value physical strength as the greatest virtue. When their population grows to large for their frigid home to support them any longer (some say when they simply get bored), the Orcs take axe and shield in hand, pile into their longships, and make for a quick raid on any coastal village or city they can find. They strike the Fenian, Saesony and sometimes Ceumri, but their worth assaults fall upon the Low Countries. They strike hard and fast and haul off as much loot as they can fit into their boats, even going so far as to leave behind the bodies of their fallen comrades in order to fit more treasure. Occasionally, even a living orc who does not have his fellows' respect will find himself without a ride home from his adventure.

Half-orcs, an often fearsome intermixing of orc and human blood often arise out of these raids, as orc warriors consider the womenfolk of their fallen foes to be valuable loot. In fact, when orcs have come across poor villages in their raids, they've been known to carry off the human women and girls they find. Half-orcs can often be found in coastal towns where they were raised by mothers who survived an orcish raid or were left behind by a war party they landed with.

Because of such frequent raiding, orcs have become some of the best ship-wrights on Scalgard. Though it is difficult, if not impossible, to find an orc who will freely accept a commission for a ship, many half-orcs have picked up enough of the trade from their fathers to do a fine job, and many an orcish prisoner will bargain his freedom for use of his skills.

• Succor of the Wolf-Father - Knowledge (religion), DC 20

The Raven Banner

• The Plague Knows No Master - Knowledge (local), DC 20
• Boiling a Cauldron of Hate - Knowledge (arcana), DC 25
• Knowledge (), DC 30

The Red Branch Knights

A renowned band of sorcerer-paladins, the Red Branch Knights are feared for their military organization and their ability to combine the powers of magic with strength of arms. They take their name from the distinctive red color they wear prominently on some portion of their armor (usually an arm or leg), and rumor holds that they're sworn to wear this color in answer to an ancient pact between their patron goddess and a group of Tuatha-Sidhe. The Knights' ability to mix the Sidhe's magics with the gods' elemental might lends credence to the rumor, but less fanciful souls say the knights' red coloring merely represents the blood any skilled knight of their order sheds over the course of his life.

The Red Branch is a band of Free Knights: mercenary warriors who owe allegiance to no king, country, or clan, but who take contracts for any group, so long as those contracts further the intrests of their patron Nefain, the Maiden of Steel. Though they may fight the man who hired them when the next season turns, they are knights of their word, and have never broken a contract. They draw their ranks from all over Scalgard, but base themselves out of an ancient and sprawling castle in the Hills of the Slumbering Beast, one of the few areas of height in the Low Countries.

• The Fair-Handed Captain - Knowledge (local), DC 20

Saesony

Saesony is a land of moors, dark patches of forest surrounded by patches of heather and rolling hills. Home to a wide collection of loosely allied towns and villages, the people of the land are a simple but hardy folk, farmers and millers for generations on ancestral land. In Saesony, no man is a slave, but there is only one king. Or... there was. The last king died in his bed two years ago, and even the wisest bards, wizards and advising priests of Biera couldn't name the cause. Worse, he left behind no wife or heir, and now the dukes watch each other warily from their castles, bargaining over the succession in public and preparing to seize it in private.

Despite these troubles, though, the Saesons are a people given to pageantry. If war comes, it will come with bright banners and the clear call of trumpets. Even the local farmers will turn out to watch in number from the sidelines, confident that they are not the targets of the war. From all of their festivals, the Saesons have grown a strong sense of family and community, and welcome outsiders who would join in. Those who keep to themselves find, instead, a strong willed and wary folk. The peasants may see the inevitable war between their dukes as a game, but when met with outsiders - orcs, fomoire, the Thrudvangir, the Volkhovi and wandering monsters - the situation is far more deadly.

• Knowledge (local), DC 25
• Flags and Twilight Faires - Knowledge (local), DC 25
• The High King's Fate - Knowledge (local), DC 30

Common Classes: Fighter, Knight, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard

Thrudvang

Sons and brothers, sisters and daughters. In Thrudvang, each of these is king. The father of a generation bestows his lands on his children upon his death, and before their own children are grown they must win land enough to leave behind. Neighboring Saesony is, and Volkhov was, an ideal target for conquest, but both lands are fiercely guarded. Often, it's just easier to war with kin.

A land of deep forests, scattered hills and temperate climate, Thrudvang is cold and wet in winter, hot and dry in summer. The land is rich, but its wealth, like its rulership, must be fought for. The peasants here, serfs bound to the land, work hard the year round, in constant struggle. They fight for survival against the dark things in the forest and also for excess. Every extra bushel of grain, every extra pig, that a farmer can bring to the table could buy the attention of a burgher, baron or king, and with that attention could come the sword, armor and shield of the landsknecht, and the richer rewards that come from war.

But not all serfs are happy with the struggle. Some look to the men of Saesony and Estria and wish for the same freedoms. They form small bands, landsers, armed with simple spears and armors and what magics they can bargain from the gods (typically Cerithwen), and train in secret for the day they're ready to rise against their kings. What then, none of them have dared yet ask.

• Crowns in the Mud - Knowledge (local), DC 25

Common Classes: Barbarian, Fighter, Knight, Ranger, Rogue

Volkhov

Once, Volkhov was a land of wide, fertile steppes, kissed by the wind and run through with mineral-rich rivers. The long winters were white, pure and beautiful; the summers were long, short and golden. Four years ago, that changed. Foul tempests boiled through the air, springing up from a clear sky in the space of a night. Lightning blasted down upon the plain, razing fields and setting whole towns to the torch. The dead tore their way free of the ground, and stranger things crawled out of the blackness, besides - things even the Tuatha-Sidhe would not claim, with the features of two different beasts mixed together. Gruesome voices bellowed deep into the night, leaving peasants quaking in fear.

Today, Volkhov is a region of sharp mountains, jagged as fresh wounds. Villages huddle in their shadow, cut off from each other, their only glimpse of a larger world the distant and precarious sight of Kyiv Castle looking down from the country's heart. This isolation has made the people suspicious and wary; for worse than the creatures that stalk the storm-tossed night is the force that Chaos exerts on the brain. After all, when madness takes hold, a garrison's arms and armor are far more threat than protection. The Volkhovi are learning chaos' patterns, though, and a lifetime of cheer does not break in only four years. Travelers will still find a welcome, but the villagers never seem to take too long building a witch-pyre when things turn... bizarre.

In all Volkhov, only Kyiv Castle stands guardian against the Chaos. The home of a great Volkovi boyar and an enclave of Mannannan's Stormlords, this is the surest bulwark Volkhov has against the monsters of the night. These heroes fight, almost without rest, to see Volkhov in the hands of man once more.

• The Lord of Kyiv Castle - Knowledge (nobility), DC 30

Common Classes: Fighter, Ranger, Rogue

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E6: Legends of the Phantom World