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Language

A note about language: no racial languages exist on Maroon, save for Dragonborn. Each region of starfolk speaks a local dialect, derived from the original Old Speran the First Folk spoke. Common to Vindulan and the provinces (analogous to Common in the PHB) is High Speran, but beyond the wall, community of speech degrades as the distances between cultures increases.

Your character's default language is the one from the region your character was born and raised in. The language families are as follows:

Ancestries

Ancestries may differ from those described in the Player's Handbook.

Halflings & Gnomes

Halfling and gnome are semi-derogatory terms for folk directly descended from or part of a self-named sect called the First Folk or Landers. A minority in Vindulan proper, they live on the outskirts in the south, in the Enclave, where they grow and consume exclusively food which (they claim) is descended from the seeds the colonists brought with them. The First Folk are obsessed with relics of the starfolk, defunct though those artifacts found invariably are, and organize in caravans to go searching for them. Exiled First Folk tend to keep together even outside the Enclave, and their deeply-rooted mores keep them from associating with tallfolk at any level beyond acquaintance. They trade primarily in crafts, especially musical instruments and fine textiles, producing some of the finest instruments to be had inside or outside the Cincture.

Humans

Humans represent the dominant ethnicity in Vindulan, both inside and outside the Cincture. Generations of life on Maroon have changed them, but they are recognizably congruent to their starfaring ancestors. Humans are living in a sea of alien biomass, fulfilling their driving passion to explore.

Elves and Half-Elves

Early in Vindulan's history there are stories of settlers who attempted to strike out on their own, cut off from the nascent settlement by the Fall. Some say they did not die off or succumb to the predation of the new world around them, but instead survived and began to change, generation by generation. They developed pronounced physical differences from humans, such as elongation in ears, legs, and fingers, but there are marked changes also in their brains: a decreased need to sleep and a sensitivity to the "magic" reviled by the First Folks. Elf is the name by which the people of the Cincture most commonly refer to them.

Notable differences have developed among them; those living in the Shadow Hills have taken on a grey pallor, whereas the ones norside have broad birthmarks of wild variety and color on their bodies and a sensitivity to light.

Dwarves, Tieflings, Half-orcs, Dragonborn

The other PHB races are not present as a demographic, but rather as individual mutations. The Tiefling is notably open to change in its racial spells in collaboration with the DM.

Other Races

Other races from WotC are open for play, pending DM consultation. See D&D Beyond for an exhaustive list.

Classes and Backgrounds

Some of the PHB classes have specific roles or come from specific regions in Vindulan. They are mechanically as stated in the PHB. You are invited to forge your own approach to them as well!

Barbarian

Literacy, technology, and splendor are only some of the signs of civilization. In the hinterlands beyond the Wall, nomadic clans give rise to strongmen and women to lead and defend them. In the coastal plains to the north or the Shadow Hills in the south, your tribe finds its way not by settling behind a wall and digging up rocks to eat, but by thriving in the world around you, channeling its power and taking what you need.

Bard

Skeltering Hall is the home of the bardic colleges, chief purveyers of news to and from the Old City and the provinces. Bards serve in many capacities in Vindulan: as clerks of the magistrates, aides to Cincture officials, as couriers of sensitive information, as entertainers and keepers of lore. Skeltering is home of one of the great libraries of Vindulan (the other being the Academ), and the seat of the Electoral Office that manages the city's yearly elections. You may be from the City with all the refined airs that come with it, or you may have learned the basics of your craft in your settlement from a caravan-borne skald. But to truly practice as a bard, your road leads to Skeltering.

Cleric

Your path is one of guidance. You have been chosen, by your actions and intentions or by some quality unknown even to you, to manifest the gifts of the Three. Some aspect of them usually makes itself clear, and the Church of the Three usually brings you into their fold to learn what paths others such as yourself have taken, and what mysteries others have left unrevealed. With your healing abilities and seemingly direct connection to the gods, you are among the most valued of people in all Vindulan- but first you must spend time among them all.

See also: Religion Alternative: Favored Soul (Sorcerer)

Druid

You have a gift for communing with the life around you. You can shape it and mold it in the way that a potter might shape clay, or a carpenter might shape wood. Indeed, it shapes you in kind. You see the connected nature of all living beings, and it infuses you with the power to restore the natural order where it has been lost, or achieve harmony where there is discord. There are others like you, and they sometimes teach you; there are many, many more who do not understand.

Fighter

You might be a Beacon soldier defending the provinces in the south, or a settler defending a freehold in the hinterlands. You might be guarding the Mines of the Queen, or part of a caravan ensuring its safe passage through the Blood Wood. No matter where you are, your goal is simple and your aptitude is great: defeat your foe by force of arms.

Monk

You have dedicated your time to the perfection of your body as a tool, to make it respond in concert with your intentions well above and beyond the ordinary. You may have trained as a disciple of the Three at a monastery, or you may have achieved this state through constant inebriation among the pilfering streetrats in the underbelly alleys of the Old City. Always present in your life is the relationship of the student to the master--in the fullness of time, your training will be complete. But it is not yet.

Paladin

You serve the Three in ways an Aspect cannot. Your fate is linked specifically to fighting for humanity's survival on Maroon, as you swear dual vows to the Beacon and the Three. Your conduct is a shining example--or a warning. Your mission is a lifebond, only discharged at your death, by natural causes or otherwise. Few take their first step to the Unveering Oath earlier than their thirties, and indeed, many of these turn away to other paths even as they prepare for it. You have achieved the beginning of your story: what's next?

Ranger

You know the wilds as well as bards know the roads, and the creatures in it are the object of your study. Where the Beacon dares not tread, where a Cincture mage hesitates, there a ranger will forge a path. The Old City and its trappings are for folk who have no patience to see the ephemeral glimmer of sunset fairies on a lake deep in the Blood Wood, or fortitude to reach the peak of a Throne to gaze on pterids swooping amidst the valleys and swells of the Shadow Hills with the wind in your ears. You are friend to settlers--ally, even--but you are not truly at home unless you are on a road of your own making.

Rogue

You are everywhere and nowhere. Where there are things people need, you can get them; where there are lives to end, you might end them. You are the anger of the faceless multitudes, the churn of the waves of people struggling to make it in this alien world. You are an agent of change. What will fortune bring your way?

Sorcerer

Your powers are fierce and elemental--burning fire and cracking ice, the shock of sound and lightning, the slow creep of poison, death, and decay. Some who have trod your path have ruled the whole of Vindulan, but many have lived out their lives in the ignominy of the hinterlands. The very fabric of the world responds to your will. You are free, your magic unfettered by ropes and rules and oaths. Stand where you are, and the world will answer your demands.

Warlock

You may be a member of a secret cult who has been rewarded at long last for your years of service, or for a significant deed done. Or you may not have even been aware of the existence of your patron until they bound you in their service to repay them for some unasked-for boon. In the Cincture, you must be cautious; you are marked as an enemy. In the hinterlands, you might even be celebrated. But the Pact is real, and through your Patron you have the power to take your fate in your hands.

Wizard

The way this world works is not the way your starfaring ancestors understood things to work. You are an adept student of the new order, and a keeper of knowledge gained in your studies: knowledge that few truly grasp, let alone use to its fullest potential. The Academ is where you have gained what purchase you can on the mountain thus far, studying how to safely channel the powers that you have for the benefit of your fellow citizens. Soon you will have a choice to make. Which Belt will grace your body? In what way will you serve the Queen, the Council, and the realm?

See also: Magic

dnd/SeedsOfChange/Classes (last edited 2020-07-04 14:57:00 by SteveKillen)