Human
Human culture comes in a wide variety and they easily assimilate into other cultures quite well. A Human can just as easily be found working as a soldier, merchant, farmer, or any other profession common throughout Amroth.
One factor that makes humans stand out from other races is their ability to adapt to any situation and environment. Human ingenuity and hopefulness is their strength as well as their weakness. Humans are sometimes too busy creating and forging their own destinies to look at the big picture. This causes some of the more long-lived races to look down on Humans are children.
Other races may see humans as having short lifespans, but for such a relatively short amount of time these people can, and have, accomplished great feats
Races
Islander
The Islanders of Amroth are a race of humans who have developed the ability to breathe underwater. They live on isolated island chains and can sail their outrigger canoes vast distances, navigating by the stars and by signs in the waters that only they can read. Very closely tied to the land and the water, their shamans have deep knowledge of the spirits and secrets of the seas.
Costuming & Makeup
They wear loose style clothing made from natural materials found in their native habitat and are famous for their bold black tattoos.
Requirements:
Must have gills (either drawn or prosethetic) gills on their neck
Optional:
Webbed hands and/or feet
Although not required, we encourage black (no other color) tattoos on all parts of their body except their faces.
Advantages
Islanders have the innate ability to breathe underwater.
Disadvantages
Must spend 30 minutes per game day in or near the water.
Tyrran Human
The Humans of the Oasis are the most common race and have no inherent advantages or disadvantages. Humans, once settlers from another world, now call the Oasis and the world of Amroth home. This highly capable race of people have relatively short life spans compared to other races, but are able to learn skills and trade quickly and have a profound impact on the world at large. Able to perform acts of ultimate kindness and deeds of great evil, the Humans of the Oasis are beginning to venture forth in Amroth to forge their own destinies.
Costuming & Makeup
Humans have no required costuming beyond the medieval fantasy theme of the game setting.
Advantages
None
Disadvantages
None
Barbarian
Human Barbarians are the most common race in Amroth. The humans of Amroth live on the wide plains of Lostariel and low mountains west of the Oasis. They live in nomadic clans, managing great herds of stout cattle and horses, or in small villages farming their living from the land. They are a tough and hardy people, but superstitious and fearful of ill omens.
Costuming & Makeup
Clothing varies based on location and need, but many dress in thick furs, leather armor, and typically wield the largest weapons they can get their hands on.
Advantages
+5 to Maximum Body total
Disadvantages
None
Location
Akadai
The only constant in the Plains of Lostariel is the undead city of Akadai. Akadai is ruled by King Garrus, who rules from the Bone Throne with his Queen, Kevrys the Mad. He took control of Akadai from the Tyrant King many years ago. It is said that he rules his domain with an iron fist, and his armies of living and Undead alike are feared throughout the Plains. Rumors state that he is hundreds of years old, he can hear your very thoughts and can kill three men in a single mighty blow. It is whispered that he holds power over the darkest magics and his enemies often die mysterious and painful deaths.
Akadai is a marvel of Barbarian splendor. The outer walls are as tall as ten men, and wide enough to race chariots on. Within the safety of the walls lies a bustling city, overfilled with living people, Undead, noise, and stench. In the center of the city stands the Ivory Palace, a tower that seems to rise up into the sky and is made entirely out of skulls and bones of the King’s enemies. Buildings of the wealthy, adorned with rich colors and glittering jewels, squat around the Ivory Palace. Hovels line the outer walls. Everywhere you can see warriors in service to Garrus. Various guilds of Necromancy and undeath are commonplace in Akadai. Most Barbarians in Akadai have taken to Necromancy as a way of life and do not harbor ill will to its practitioners. The Bone Guard and the Necromancer’s Guild are two of the most famous establishments in Akadai.
It has been said that if anything of value is to be found in the Plains, it would be found in the Marketplace of Akadai. Everything is available from Undead servants, to the most magical of potions, to tomes of forbidden knowledge if you are able to meet the merchant’s price. However, few are foolhardy enough to venture within the walls of the city if they have not pledged allegiance to Garrus.
Myu
This legendary island located in the center of the ocean between the two continents holds a special place for the Islanders. Reportedly formed during a Cataclysm when the giant land mass was split in two by the actions of the First People, Myu holds mystery and clues to the forbidden past on its shores.
Legends & Folklore
Luck Children
Like most races on Amroth, Barbarians are greatly superstitious. People with skills at reading portents of fortune are greatly prized by most tribes and most Barbarians will work to keep fortune on their side. One of the saddest victims of fortune is a luck child. Once in a great while a child, born under the right conjunction of the stars, is imbued with more than its fair share of luck. Portents show the child has a great destiny and luck, either good or bad, will run strong in the child. While this may seem a great thing, no loving parent wants to see a child suffer the vagaries of luck, and people with great destinies tend to make life as dangerous for others as for themselves. In most cases, such children are generally taught to take care of themselves at an early age and are encouraged to seek adventure elsewhere as soon as practically possible.
Exiles & Deep Flayers
Many Islanders who have been banished from their tribe have had all of their tattoos blacked out, burned off, or cut off with a sharp knife. They are shunned by their former tribe and nearly all other tribes. Rarely can a banished Islander be forgiven and welcomed back to the tribe. Islanders have a fear of the deep oceans and almost never travel there. Stories of Deep Flayers and other abominations from the depths are ever present tales in Islander society. Islanders are often targeted by Deep Flayers for enslavement. Islanders consider Deep Flayers to be one of their greatest enemies.
The Old Ways are dying out
Some Human scholars believe that the ancient races are slowly dying out, and Humans are the inheritors of this world. This theory was especially popular before the Oasis was magically transported to the world of Amroth many years ago. Now, this notion is less popular, but still present throughout the various human cultures in the Oasis and beyond. Are Humans destined to outlast all others and become the dominant force in Amroth? Only time will tell.
Culture
Barbarian
There is little cohesion in the Barbarian tribes. Stronger tribes often subjugate weaker, less aggressive tribes. The belief of might makes right is strongly accepted in Barbarian society. The Plains are ever changing as nomads drive out farmers and farmers replace nomads. Some tribes hold strongly to the path of nature, others practice darker arts. Some tribes are peaceful, but most follow the path of war and conquest. The only true path to freedom in the Plains is to be sure that you have no living enemies.
Islander
The Islanders do not have a formalized government as most people would accept it. Each member of their society has the expectation that they will look after their fellows and their fellows will look after them. Breaking this bond is to declare oneself an inhuman abomination.
Each tribe is led by a Chieftain, who is considered the wisest, most capable person in the tribe. The Chieftain will speak for their tribe when outsiders are around, and has the last word when conflicts arise.
They are assisted by the tribal elders, including the shaman who seeks the future in the paths of the stars. When a chieftain is chosen, they receive the traditional marks of responsibility tattooed upon their face. At this point, they accept responsibility for the tribe and will not leave the tribe until it is time to seek the tribal ancestors. Like breaking a tribal bond, for the shaman to do otherwise would be an act of inhuman abomination.
Tyrran Human
Tyrran Humans are very similar (although somewhat less physically hardy) than their cousins, the Barbarians and Islanders of Amroth. Humans in the Oasis are used to a more technologically advanced lifestyle than Barbarians, who are largely tribal in nature and subsist more from hunting and gathering than agriculture and animal husbandry. Regardless, Humans are able to adapt to most cultures with relative ease and Barbarian culture is no exception. Humans actively trade and mingle with Barbarians outside of the Oasis in the Lostariel Plains.
Daily Life
Barbarians
Barbarians take on many roles in their tribes and clans. While famous as warriors, Barbarians acclimate to their environments quite well and may take on whatever professions are necessary for their survival. Barbarians can be found all over Amroth and fit in quite well when exposed to other cultures. When in their native homelands, the might-makes-right traditions of their people tend to take over.
Islanders
Islanders view themselves as a part of the natural world. Islanders learn from birth that their actions affect the tribe and the world around them. The individual tribe member, the tribe as a whole, and the world around them are all connected and dependent on each individual part.
The elder generation is responsible for making family decisions and teaching the children. Children are expected to learn on their own initiative without explanations from the elders; they, in essence, “watch and learn” from others in the family. At first, children perform tasks with supervision, perhaps working alongside an older sibling. Children are highly motivated in this race to observe the behavior being modeled and they spontaneously imitate the action, receiving corrective feedback if they do something wrong. They are never given an
explanation of the nature of the wrong they did, but are expected to figure it out on their own. This may explain why there is little need for a legal system in this culture. Islanders must acquire knowledge of their people by observation, imitation and incremental participation. The rules or perceptual concepts shape their skills and experiences.
Tyrran Humans
Tyrran humans are beginning to spread out into the greater world of Amroth and can be found in every corner of the Oasis.