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Elemental Deneg
Spirit folk and terata under 4' tall with inherent elemental powers.Cascadian
Tiny folk in waterfalls.
- Lifespan: 120 years
- Diet: Tiny animals, plants, and minerals
- Habitat: Waterfalls
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
6” tall fey beings with translucent wings of water and six spindly limbs (sometimes four legs, sometimes four arms). They have bluish skin and hair made of light.
Cascadians need the rush of water over them to live. They can leave waterfalls or rushing water for days at a time, but eventually, they must return to the rapids.
All cascadians can breathe both water and air, have immunity to cold, and can teleport short distances. They can also swim against current with no penalties. If a cascadian dances on water, the water will dance with them.
Once a week, a cascadian can create a minor rainbow. Once a month, they can create a bridge of water. Once a year, they can summon a torrent of rain. They need not be near water to do these.
Cascadians are so small, they often avoid interaction with others unless someone is disturbing their waterfall. Those who live in imperial lands are considered pests and often harmed by imperials.
In their own communities, cascadians live in vertical communities behind the waterfalls, catching small fish, bugs, and plants that come down the cascade, building simple hidden structures in the rocks, and making art out of light and water. They are often paired with and friends to jamuqas if they live in the same areas.
PRO 8 ATH 14 STR 3 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 10 STH 11 ESS 9
Clootie
Hairy fey of the springs.
- Lifespan: 400 years
- Diet: Water-heavy fey fare
- Habitat: Springs and baths
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Clooties appear to be 4’ tall, hirsute fey folk, usually with dark brown hair all over them.
Clooties live in springs. They can breathe underwater; their hair does not get wet. They can speak to plants, fungi, and animals who drink from their springs for up to an hour afterward.
Clooties are seen as “ugly” or “repulsive” by many other species no matter what they actually look like. This is a self-defense mechanism that they can turn on and off, but most leave it on, as it does not work on other clooties and they forget they have it on.
The touch of a clootie will purify any water. If they give water to someone from their spring, the water can heal, soothe, or restore the drinker. They can turn other water into a lesser version of this once every other day. They can smell water for miles.
Clooties live in small communities around springs, natural baths, or other small sources of water. They are secretive and fearful, as their people have been harmed by outsiders. They are matrilineal and matriarchal. They like to play games, especially hide and seek, and they love making toys out of stone or wood for their children. Most clootie communities will have secret stores of toys alone.
They are viciously oppressed by imperials, who use them like dogs to find sources of water.
PRO 7 ATH 9 STR 6 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 6 STH 9 ESS 8
Crag Folk
Small folk among the stacks, skerries, and rock isles.
- Lifespan: 200 years
- Diet: Seafood-heavy fey fare
- Habitat: Rock islands and stacks
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Crag folk appear to be 3’ to 4’ tall fey folk with shaggy hair on their heads. They are usually tanned and dark of hair, but there is some variation. Most are very scrawny.
Crag folk are resistant to heat and cold. They can swim very well, but they can only breathe underwater for a short time. They are very good at jumping and climbing, and they can comfortably cling to a steep slope or vertical for days, even sleeping there.
All crag folk can turn their skin to stone temporarily if they press against stone for more than a few seconds, but it only lasts a short while. They can also turn their hands into spears to catch fish for a few seconds at a time.
Crag folk live on the skerries, stacks, and rock islands, the small collections of rocks in the shallow sea and ocean waters, river waters, or lake waters. They have small communities that focus on scavenging for food, fishing, and finding trinkets and small objects to trade. They are often employed and exploited to be fishers, trash collectors, or pearl divers.
PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 7 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
Duskling
Small folks of dusk, twilight, and the gloaming.
- Lifespan: 60-80 years
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Anywhere at dusk or twilight
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Dusklings are 3’ tall fey beings with dark purple skin, almost black, with white spiral spots on them. Their hair is bright white, their eyes glowing motes of yellow light, and their ears pointed. They have fangs.
Dusklings come out at dusk, living in dark areas where they can sleep through the day. They hunt in low light, not being able to see well in pure dark or bright light. They can see magical energies, sense thoughts, and smell blood. They can turn their hair into cold fire, a bright white chilling flame, which they can put on their weapons. Their bites are poisonous.
Dusklings are reclusive, living in remote places near caves or in deep forests where the light is weak. They come out at dusk or twilight to hunt, then go back to their homes and spend the night working and living, sleeping through the day. Their communities are matrilineal and matriarchal, and they worship deities of night, dusk, twilight, the moons, and the stars. They are known for their complex, see-through textiles.
Imperials don’t often interact with them but view them as pests.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 7 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 9
Dvergar
Crafters of stone.
- Lifespan: 600 years
- Diet: Subterranean fare
- Habitat: Caves and tunnels, mountains and mounds
- Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed
In the early days of the world, a stone became aware. The stone was cloven by the shifting of the earth, and thus was two stones, both aware. From these two stones more stones were cleaved, and as many eons passed, the stone took form, and became a mortal person, and thus were the dvergars born. In their own legends, they formed in the body of the giantess who is the world.
Dvergar are fey folk of about 4' to 5' in height. Their skin usually resembles human hues, but some are pitch black and others pale white. Coloration varies by individual, not national groupings, and usually reflects their relationship with stone. Their ears are slightly pointed, but not as sharply as most fey. They have straight hair, but otherwise human-like in hue, and tend to keep beards and braids culturally. Those who interact with the mortal world often wear beards if they can grow them because without them, many mortals confuse them with children.
Some dvergar have shapechanging powers, however.
One in a thousand dvergars is born with birthmarks that make it seem as if they were burnt severely over a significant portion of their bodies. These are said to have "been burnt on beauty's pyre" and are culturally treated as spiritual and magical. Because of this, these dvergars are usually stronger in magic than others.
Dvergars are shapers of stone and rock, makers of caves and tunnels, miners of mineral and gem, builders of mounds and hollows, and smiths of jewelry, weaponry, and tools. They have a natural ability to make things when it comes to stone.
A dvergar can shape stone and rock with their hands, using only a little bit of their magic. If they wish to create a cave or a tunnel, they usually work together with others to do so, but using a lot of magic, one can do it alone given time. If they wish to build a mound or hollow a mountain for one of their comunities, it is often a long-term project or a group effort. Their smithing is not wielding magic over metal, but heating stone to create the forgefires needed to work the metal.
Dvergars cannot get lost underground. They can locate objects made of stone or rock underground via a form of echolocation if there is no solid barrier between them and the object. They call this the "clamouring", and they claim they have this because they were once "married to thunder".
Other earthen powers held by some dvergar include enriching soil for to grow plants, taking strength from the amount of stone around them, and rarely, creating pillars from the ground to lift up the sky.
Dvergar are of fey descent and still have fey powers. Every dvergar has some of the following:
- Shapechanging: some dvergars can alter their appearance, usually by taking on the qualities of different kinds of stones.
- Sizechanging: some dvergars can shrink or increase their size by half or twice. This never lasts long.
- Transmutation: some dvergars can turn metal, flesh, blood, wood, or various other substances into stone or other materials they need for craftwork. In legend, this is how one of them brewed mead from blood.
- Camouflaging: some dvergars can blend into their surroundings if there is anything made of stone nearby, becoming nearly invisible.
- Minerslights: some dvergars can create lights with a snap of their fingers. These cold lights are safe to use in mines without exploding trapped gases, hence their name.
- Infecting: some dvergars know a charm to cause disease in others, drawn from ancient microbes lost beneath the surface of the world.
- Dreamsending: some very rare dvergars can send their image into the dreams of others to deliver a message.
If a dvergar does not see sunlight in their first 50 years of life, they become weak to it and turn to stone if it touches them. If they do see it, they are innured, even if it is but a moment. For this reasons, most dvergars make a trip to the surface at least once if they live far enough down not to see the sun.
Dvergars live underground all over the world in vast societies. The most well-known live in Akazad, a thanedom in Faerie near the border with the lands of the White Crown. There are many nations of dvergar in other parts of the world.
The Akazadian culture is focused on their mountain homes. They live in cities and towns in hollowed out mountains, hills, and valleys, in the highest layer of the subterra (called the Lithosphere). They are ruled by a council of thanes, each one a skilled master of their crafts - mason, smith, sculptor, tunneler, bergsmed (mountain shapers), miner, builder, quarrier, potter, mosaicist, ceramicist, brickmaker, beadworker, wagoner, driller*, railworker*, mechanic*, digger, farmer, gardener, jeweller, wallmaker, architect, engineer*, teamster, polisher, engraver, carver, etcher, millwright, seimsologer*, paleontologer*, etc. Some of these occupations are not available in all eras and are marked with an asterisk.
Their crafting is the core of their culture, and this is central to almost all dvergar cultures. Things they make are very important to them, and they will not part with them without an equivalent trade unless the person they are giving them to is very special to them in some way. Something made by a dvergar is almost always imbued with the magic of elemental earth in some way. The importance of their crafting to them often makes outsiders think of them as miserly or xenophobic.
Earth and stone are the materials they work with. They live in hollowed out mountains, deep caves, great earthen mounds, warrens and tunnels, and cities and towns made entirely of stone. The heart of every dvergar community is their crafting halls. It is said the heat made by their works is felt miles above and below.
They value arts and crafts of stone primarily, but they also make music, rhythmic music echoing through their underground homes, smashed into rock and stone. Funerals are an important part of their culture; a dvergar's funeral involves being buried as deep as possible and marked with as large a stone as possible. Their writing is entirely runed based and etched into stone tablets.
Imperials exploit dvergars for their crafting skills. They are stereotyped as lustful, greedy, and conniving. However, their skills often get them privileged positions and wealth in imperial society in spite of this.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 11 AWA 8 WIL 9 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
Fledanic
Amphibious species in the canals.
- Lifespan: 60-90 years
- Diet: Refuse and litter
- Habitat: Canal waters
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Fledanics appear to be slimy, bumpy-skinned toad-like hominids with flippered rear feet, bulging eyes, and small horns on their noses. They always have a series of spines on their heads, but the spines vary in color by region, nation, and even individual. They are usually about 3’ tall.
Fledanics are resistant to cold. They can breathe underwater and are resistant to poison, toxins, and disease. They are very good climbers, in spite of their flippers, as they can stick to the walls of the canals or other structures. All fledanics can walk briefly on the surface of water, and they can command waters to keep objects, people, or other things beneath their surface if it is their home canals (usually determined by which city the canal is in).
They eat refuse and litter from the canals to keep them clean.
Fledanics live in small communities, usually very territorial and resistant to change or outsiders, and very distrusting. They are led by the strongest and toughest, though there are usually a counterbalance to these leaders in the form of small councils of elders within the community. They are often scavengers in imperial cities, and many of them are driven into the sewers instead of the canals, which they hate and resent. They are viewed as monsters by the imperials, despite the fact that they keep the canals clean.
PRO 9 ATH 9 Swim 11 Climb 12 STR 6 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
Gagwsvga
Small fey who smell of fallen leaves after the rain.
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Lifespan: 60 years
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Diet: Fallen leaves, nuts, fruits, seeds, water, dirt, fungi, worms, and insects
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Habitat: Forest floors
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Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Gagwsvgas (gah-gw-suh-gah) are 6”’ tall fey with skin that looks like it is covered in patches of dirt, but is actually part of their skin. Their hair is colorful, tiny leaves, and they have four eyes in a small arc across their faces. They can blink only two at a time, but can close all four to sleep.
Gagwsvgas smell of petrichor all the time, and if they are somewhere where that aroma emanates, they can absorb it and use it for various magical powers: changing the color of leaves, making them fall off plants, enlarging and turning leaves into sails that let them fly or boat, becoming invisible under a pile of leaves, or shooting tiny sparks of electrical energy.
If it is raining, gagwsvgas can draw lightning to them, even if it is not a thunderstorm. Gagwsvgas can make matter on the forest floor decay at a faster rate with their breath.
If they hide under a pile of leaves, they can shake a little, cause a rustling sound, and appear under a different pile of leaves within 500’.
Gagwsvgas live in small communities in forests and woodlands, usually temperate or subarctic ones. They thrive in the fall and late summer, but they are active all year. They love to have big festivals throughout the seasons. They are often worm and insect farmers, build homes in canopies or root systems, and have intricate arts made from fallen objects throughout the forest.
In imperial societies, they are seen as pests.
PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 2 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 9 STH 14
Hill Folk
Small folk who live in the hills and have a varied diet.
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Lifespan : 200 years
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Diet: Anything
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Habitat: Hills
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Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Hill folk are hairy folk who stand about 3’ to 4’ tall. They have one single eye in their foreheads and disproportionately large noses. Many of them have hunched backs, but this is not a universal trait; it comes from living in caves even too small for them. Their teeth are made of stone and metal.
Hill folk can eat and digest almost anything that is small enough to fit in their stomachs. They are immune to poisons except for industrial/infernal ones. They are attuned to the hill lands they dwell in and can speak to the animals, plants, and fungi there. If they go to other hill lands, this power does not translate, even if the animals, plants, and fungi are the same. Their territories are determined by birth, though it is possible to attune to a different region if they live there for a year and a day.
All hill folk can “hill hop”, leaping from the top of one hill to the top of another; they can do this to any hill within 10 miles. They can also burrow into hills by spinning around on its highest point.
Hill folk live in extensive clans in the hill lands of the world. Their cultures vary by region, but most are insular and closely guarded. They live in burrowed out hill caves and live off the land. Those local to the region of the campaign are partially embedded in the local native culture, but they have their own distinct ways. They have a love/hate relationship with the prospectors in their area - big mining groups they hate, solo prospectors may be able to befriend them if they act right.
They are viewed as nuisances by imperials.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
Karahtuchu
Small folk of the ashes and embers.- Lifespan: 40-50 years
- Diet: Burnt foods
- Habitat: Places of flame and magma
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Khuurai
“Monsters” of the arid regions.
- Lifespan: 60-90 years
- Diet: Sparse mortal fare
- Habitat: Arid regions
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Khuurai are 5’ tall hominids with chitinous shells over their bodies. They have antennae on their heads, bulbous cheeks covered in black fur, and bulging frog-like eyes. Their bodies are reddish and orange, and they have huge, sharp fangs. Their feet and hands are clawed.
Khuurai need no water at all. They can communicate and sense via their antennae, and they are able to spit acid a long distance. They can jump very far. All khuurai can cause the winds to shift at will.
Khuurai communities are small, communal, and closed off. They communicate silently via their antennae, though they can also speak, and they tend not to be very welcoming to outsiders. They are seen as demons by many in imperial lands, but in their own cultures, they are worshipers of desert and wind elementals which teach them beautiful silent songs, poetry, and other verbal arts. They have a complex writing system that communicates sounds and the silent, chemical communication of their antennae.
PRO 9 ATH 8 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 9 PRS 6 STH 8 ESS 8
Kishken
Tiny slurry and slush people.
- Lifespan: 40-50 years
- Diet: Water
- Habitat: Anywhere cold
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Kishken are 6” tall beings with stout frames and furry grey bodies. They have dark blue faces with tusked mouths and pitch black eyes. Their hands are clawed and their feet are flippers.
Kishken are immune to the cold, can breathe underwater, can see in the dark, and can swim very well through water or ice slush. They are able to walk on snow. They can spew out a black slurry that is extremely cold, like liquid nitrogen.
They live in small communities in cold places where it snows often. They are hunter-gatherers with egalitarian communities, and they are often found living in the small spaces of larger species, such as in attics, within walls, or under homes. In urban areas, they live in sewers or gutters, even. They build nests out of ice, snow, and stone, and they have large families living in every nest.
Imperials view them as little better than rats.
PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 3 AWA 8 WIL 7 PRS 7 STH 11 ESS 8
Kobel
Mining spirits.
- Lifespan: 250 years
- Diet: Common miner fare
- Habitat: Mines
- Socioeconomic Status: Privileged oppressed
Kobels are mining spirits between 18" and 3' in height. They usually take the appearance of small fey folk with disproportionately large heads, wrinkly skin, and long arms. Their hair is usually white. They like to mimic the clothing of those who work the mines, so most wear mining garb. When in mines, they can take the form of a small blue flame. When outside of mines, they can mimic the form of a wooden doll. The place on their chest above their hearts usually glows slightly, though not bright enough to be seen through clothing.
All kobels have the ability to sense when a cave-in or earthquake is about to occur. In this moment, they can knock on the nearest wall and create a sound loud enough to be heard throughout the mine. In times when no crisis is about to occur, they can still create a loud banging, though not quite as loud, which they use to communicate.
Other dangers of mines, such as toxins, explosive gases, and so on, can also be sensed by kobels, but they communicate them in different ways. They have special knocks for every danger, and one for safety, which is the inviting knock. Their laughter can bring fear or delight to miners.
Kobels also can sense metals, minerals, and gems, or anything miners are seeking. They have various charms to alert miners to them, ranging from lights and sounds to special markings. If they are especially powerful, they may also be able to transmute certain veins into different materials (famously, silver to cobalt or vice versa).
Kobels can speak to the memories of those who died in the mines.
If a miner or miners upset them, they have charms and magicks that enact terrible vengeance. The least of their powers is to send small stones and pebbles flying through the mines. They are able thieves, able to teleport small to moderate sized objects away at a whim. Ropes and chains may be cut with a snap of the fingers. Mocking laughter may fill miners with fear. The worst thing they can do, though, is use their knowledge of the dead to terrify and torment miners.
Kobels exist in mines all over the world, and every place, they have a slightly different culture. Some are more pranksterly, some more helpful, and some more spiteful.
If a kobel wants to be helpful, they will sneakily push carts. This is often mistaken for a prank, even though they try (and sometimes fail) to take the carts to where they belong. They may also try to mime the work of miners, using similar tools, but sometimes, they do this enthusiastically but ineffectually. Othertimes, though, they are intentionally mischievous, stealing food or tools.
Kobels work the mines in exchange for money or food. They prefer tasty pasties and the common fare of miners, who know to leave a little bit out for them in solitary corners of the mines. If they are paid money, they will only take money equal to the amount of work they did based on what the miners are getting paid, no more, no less. If miners are enslaved, they will steal food from overseers and owners and refrain from their usual trickery.
Kobels are called bluecaps in the borderlands between Faerie and the White Crown. They are called coblyn(au), knockers, klokers, tommyknockers, and bergmaenleins in other areas. They have many names around the world. They are not to be confused with kobolds, who are household spirits.
The most famous and powerful kobel is Old Cutty Soames, who lives in a mine in the west.
PRO 8 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 9 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 10 ESS 8
Lekawi
Small beings of the sandbars and shoals.
- Lifespan: 50-80 years
- Diet: Fish-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Sandbars and shoals
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Lekawi are 3’ tall beings with the heads of mud puppies and the fins of mudskippers, with a small shell on their backs similar to that of a snail. They have blue, spotted skin.
Lekawi can turn into muddy sand at will. They are amphibious, breathing underwater or on land, and they can swim very well in water, mud, and wet sand. They are able to sense land under water without touching or seeing it, and they can control wet sand without touching it.
They live in small communities in rivers, near seas and lakes, and anywhere one might find shoals, sandbars, or similar wet, temporary land formations made of sand. They thrive on sand and find more solid ground unsettling. They like to work with clay, which they use to make tools with, and they make boats and temporary huts out of reeds and water grasses. They are good fishers.
They are extremely discriminated against by imperials.
PRO 8 ATH 8 Swim 11 STR 6 AWA 8 WIL 7 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
Sgaoilte
Small, white furry folk of the moraines.
- Lifespan: 60-100 years awake, 300 years total counting hibernation periods
- Diet: Meat-heavy mortal fare
- Habitat: Moraines
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Sgaoiltes are 4’ tall, furred beings with disproportionately long arms, dark blue skin, grey and black fur that blends in with the rocky landscape, large fangs and claws, and large foreheads.
Sgaoiltes can hibernate for years if they are beneath the ground or a thick layer of ice and snow. They must hibernate for 20 years at a time every 10 years. During this time, they absorb the cold around them and keep strong because of it, but they lose much of their fur. When they come out of hibernation, they are disoriented for a few days before growing a new, thicker coat of fur.
Sgaoiltes are resistant to cold. They can see in the dark, and they can sense vibrations in the ground that indicate earthquakes, avalanches, or even the minuscule glacial movements. They can shriek loudly to call down snow or cause avalanches or to control stones nearby.
They dwell in the moraines, regions of glacial till with scattered rocks that exist in the the mountains. They dwell among the debris in small communities. They are semi-nomadic, settling in one area while half of their community hibernates for a few decades, then moving on to a new area until the other half needs to hibernate. They keep up their cycle of awake and hibernation until their final hibernation, from which they never awaken. This happens usually after their 200th year.
They are led by a group of awake elders, but their most favored folks are those who care for the hibernating. They have a spiritual practice that believes that glaciers are alive and the elementals that control them are the creators of the sgaoiltes. Those who care for the hibernating are also the leaders of that spiritual practice, called “those who wait” (“cofeitheamh”).
In imperial lands, they are often taken, enslaved, and refused hibernation. If they do not hibernate, they age rapidly and die much more quickly.
PRO 9 ATH 9 STR 8 AWA 8 WIL 8 PRS 8 STH 9 ESS 8
Spithamote
Tiny motes of light in the airglow.
- Lifespan: 40-60 years
- Diet: Energy
- Habitat: The sky
- Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Spithamotes are 6” tall fey beings with bright white and yellow hair made of light, shining green bodies, and wings made of electrified wires.
Every spithamote can move at the speed of light twice per year. They can see the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and they can sense movement even without seeing it by sensing changes in the air. They glow brightly, and they can absorb any kind of energy (mundane or magical) except industrial.
Spithamotes live in large swarms in the skies, absorbing energies amongst the airglow, amplifying it, and playing in it. They are friendly and happy, having abundance, and live in egalitarian communities. They are known for their elaborate dances, their helpful guidance through dark areas, and their fear of large birds. Imperials often enslave them as light sources.
PRO 7 ATH 14 STR 2 AWA 12 WIL 8 PRS 9 STH 5 ESS 9
Tupqar
Cliff-dwelling, small, bat-like folk
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Lifespan : 200 years
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Diet: Insect-heavy mortal fare
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Habitat: Cliffs
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Socioeconomic Status: Oppressed
Tupqars appear to be 4’ tall beings with bat ears, noses, eyes, and wings. Their wings are attached to their arms. They are a little hairier.
Tupqars have echolocation, bad eyesight, and can fly. They sleep upside down, hanging off the side of cliffs, and they can disguise themselves as part of the cliff if they do so. They gain bonuses to ATH and flight, echolocation, and hunting or PRO in canyons, near cliffs, or similar terrain. A tupqar in danger can lay against the side of a cliff, shriek, and unleash an avalanche, though this will weaken them and require much rest.
Tupqars live in small communities in villages built into the sides of cliffs or canyons. They are partially integrated into the wider native community, but they are have their own traditions and culture that is somewhat distinct. The most important tradition to them is an annual cliff-climbing race, wherein they are not allowed to fly.
Imperials view them as pests.
PRO 8 ATH 9 Flight 11 STR 7 AWA 8 Sight 3 Echolocation 10 WIL 8 PRS 7 STH 9 ESS 8
GrandGuignol
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