A description of each species background follows incorporating a list of appropriate skill bonuses. Players choosing a krinn character need to further define their character with an appropriate culture. Players should apply the skill bonuses immediately to the Standard Skills on their Character Sheet and add the additional new skills, known as Professional Skills, to the appropriate section of the sheet. In many cases a race lists a range of skills and invites the player to pick one or more, that will gain a bonus: in this way players from identical racial backgrounds can ensure that their adventurers are different in the areas they have developed. Also note that each race comes with several Passions. Passions can add a great deal of depth and characterization to the adventurer you are creating, defining ingrained preferences and prejudices as well as defining the character’s moral values.
Krinn can inhabit just about any location in a fantasy world and can have had contact with any and every species at one point or another. Some of the other species look upon krinn as their staunchest of allies; others view them as the most vindictive of enemies. They can reach ages close to 100 years, sometimes even exceeding it, though rarely naturally. Krinn tend to be fast learners and are more adaptive to change than any of the other races. Many believe that krinn are the chosen race of the gods, a belief that is not without some merit, as the strangefolk seem to be on the decline in comparison to krinn. Of course, some strangefolk races attribute this to the voracious nature of krinn expansion.
Of all the playable races, only krinn choose a separate culture and community, which helps them to further define themselves. Note that each culture can be even more granular and can be altered to be very much region-specific. Strangefolk in comparison are less widespread, and as a result, their culture is more homogeneous and entirely subsumed under their race. The following information details the three types of krinn cultures.
The Nährlkrinn, crimson of shell and fierce of spirit, form the core of the Relleus Empire, the oldest and mightiest realm of the Krinn. They believe their red hue is the divine mark of Rell, the Burning Father, and that through conquest they enact his fiery will. Nährlkrinn architecture is monumental — high, geometric towers of sandstone and bronze. They revere order, military might, and the perfection of craft.
The Ilukrinn, black of shell, trace their roots to a more ancient time. They speak an older and more complex tongue called Ilucian, preserving knowledge long lost to others. Though not imperial by nature, their republics (known as Briox) and councils are centers of learning and diplomacy. The Ilukrinn value logic, mathematics, and philosophy, and many of the world’s greatest treatises on alchemy and law were penned by their thinkers.
The Drolkrinn, brown of shell, dwell beyond the walls of empire — in forests, hills, and fungal groves. To some they are savages, yet their tribal artistry is unmatched. They embed living fungus into their carapaces, shaping spines, ridges, and living patterns upon their shells, which they believe grow in harmony with their souls. They are a spiritual people, living close to the natural Veil and guided by shamans who hear the song of the soil.
Strangefolk characters are created in almost the same way as humans. Characteristics are determined using the Characteristic dice for that species, which will result in different Characteristic values and ranges, but otherwise all the other elements: Attributes, Culture, Class and so on, are factored as normal.
Adras tribes wander the high plateaus and drifting plains, spinning vast webs between stone spires. When the winds shift, they weave colossal balloons of silk and rise into the sky, carrying whole encampments aloft to distant lands. These “sky caravans” are a sight of wonder, shimmering like ghostly moons above the horizon.
The Adras are spider-like beings whose four arms and two legs move with eerie grace. Two long, bladed appendages curve from their backs, used in both art and war. Their faces are chitinous, and often displaying striking patterns, bearing eight dark eyes that gleam like polished jet. Depending on their tribe, their chitin coloring can be a solemn grey to bright and colorful. Most can tell one Adras from another due to their natural face markings, clothes and hair provide another form of individualism. Men often fashion their shoulder and back hair more subtlety, women are known to display their hair in modern fashion. While not considered large, Adras are on taller than an average Krinn.
These people are a nomadic, reclusive folk, known for their mastery of silk and for their belief that the Web is the pattern of all things — life, fate, and the divine. Often, when Adras' are spoken of, they are touted for their way with words and agility, which gives way to rumors of thievery and cheating. If not for their skill in silks, the distrust most races have of Adras would prevent regular relations. They are most often found traveling between Krinn cities, though rarely deep within the Relleus Empire.
Adras do not live especially long lives, with most lifespans less than 100 years.
Adras culture is roughly equivalent to Nomad, even though they have the ideas of settlements, and study many cerebral arts. Their nomadic tribe, or Tredsuen in Draj, is a social group with strong traditions and principles. Naturally tribes display the same range of characteristics as any society and, although Adras are, by and large, passive to other cultures focusing more on trade there are groups that fight and hunt, often from the shadows.
Customs+40%, Native Tongue+40%
Standard Skills: Athletics, Deceit, Evade, First Aid, Locale, Sing, Stealth
Example Combat Styles: Adras Sraldo, Adras Krelba
Professional Skills: Commerce, Craft (clothes), Healing, Language (any), Lore (any), Musicianship, Navigation, Teach
Loyalty to a tribe
Love (Person, Learning, )
Hate (any enemy of Adras and grace)
Agent, Craftsman, Merchant, Physician, Priest, Scout, Thief, Witch
Adras characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x80 silver pieces.
The Flummish hives rise in verdant forest realms, where towering trees are shroud halls and galleries alive with color and fragrance. Gardens of impossible beauty surround their dwellings, living tapestries of flower and fruit. It is said that the gola themselves are drawn to such abundance, flitting unseen among the blossoms. Yet while fair spirits may walk their groves, the Flummish suffer no spell to stain their soil. They hold that magic is a corrupting force, a whisper from beyond reason, and all practice of it within their borders is forbidden on pain of death.
For the Flummish are masters of iron, miners, smelters, and smiths without peer. Their forges burn clean and constant, hidden within the roots of hills and trees, and the sound of their hammers rings through the forest like a sacred hymn. They adorn their warriors in iron weapons in perfect form, believing that beauty lies in precision.
Renown for their poise, discipline, and strange beauty, the Flummish exude great discipline and ancient pride. Often to strangers, they seem aloof and cold, but those who earn their trust and perhaps plied without enough flummish mead find steadfast allies. They prize honesty, labor, and the sanctity of promise. To break one’s word, or to wield forbidden magic, is to become something less than living in their eyes.
Each Flummish realm is ruled by a Queen, a matriarch who births all within her domain. The Queen’s word is law, her breath the rhythm of the hive. The common Fleum are androgynous, serving in castes of soldier, worker, or artisan until one is chosen to become a Consort, taking on sex and bringing forth a new generation. The Queens live for centuries, while their children’s lives are brief but fervent, burning bright in service to the hive.
Flummish do not live especially long lives, with most lifespans less than 100 years.
Flummish culture is akin to civilized. Great store is placed in great deeds. Conduct and integrity are important and desired qualities amongst Flummish and in others. Dignified manners are expected, and loutish, uncouth behavior viewed with disdain and suspicion. Loyalty to their matriarch is paramount, as it directly related to the success of their entire civilization. A fleum outside of their society have trouble understanding places that lack such structures, and often wonder how people can be properly ordered without a clear, absolute leader to guide and represent them.
Customs+40%, Native Tongue+40%
Standard Skills: Athletics, Conceal, Dance, Evade, Influence, Insight, Ride
Example Combat Styles: Flummish Treimlun, Flummish Fleonkwan
Professional Skills: Courtesy, Craft (mead or weapons), Mechanism, Healing, Language (any), Literacy, Lore (any), Oratory
Loyalty to their Queen
Love (Something emotional)
Hate (Magic)
Crafter, Courtier, Miner, Official, Priest, Scholars, Scout, Warrior
Flummish characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x100 silver pieces.
Peaceful, civilized folk who live a largely agrarian existence, Jiran are diminutive humanoids who are shorter than misi by around a head, but lighter of frame. Their homes are farms and steads with villages forming close-knit communities. Jiran are not the most adventurous of races, and can go largely unnoticed as they pose no kind of threat to anyone. Even still, jiran have large, tentacles that dangle in front of their mouths, which often give outsiders an unfounded unnerving perception of them.
Whilst they are generally unadventurous, jiran are inquisitive. They like to know, and share, secrets. They adore stories, myths and fables, and have inquiring minds. They are innately gifted in magic and often blessed by the gods, serving as healers and diviners among other folk. This means that, when abroad, the world is a fascinating place to be questioned and taken in, and this can lead them into trouble. Otherwise they are a rather prosaic, content race that keeps to itself, and prefer neither to interfere with the wider world or have it interfere with them.
Jiran are Civilized. Their communities are closely-knitt villages and small towns with several extended families forming the basis of the community. Their industries are agrarian primarily, but also handicrafts such as pottery, weaving, leatherworking, and textiles. They do work metals but very infrequently for weaponry.
Customs+40%, Native Tongue+40%
Standard Skills: Conceal, Deceit, Drive, Influence, Insight, Locale, Willpower
Example Combat Styles: Jiran Mihrīn, Jiran Harubat
Professional Skills: Art (any), Commerce, Craft (any), Courtesy, Language (any), Lore (any), Musicianship, Streetwise.
Loyalty to Village
Love (Something emotional)
Hates (Heavy Industry)
Beast Handler, Craftsman, Entertainer, Farmer, Fisherman, Herder, Merchant, Official, Physician, Scholar, Thief, Warrior
Jirani characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x60 silver pieces.
The Misi are smaller and broader than the Krinn, with large compound eyes and two short wings that allow brief flight. Their carapaces glisten in oily shades of bronze and green. The Misi are known for their cunning, pragmatism, and tireless appetite for trade and negotiation.
The Misian people exist as a loose federation. Each territory, or Misian Palnik, are a council of common voices that gathers to debate matters of law, trade, and diplomacy. Though such assemblies are often loud and chaotic, they embody the Misian ideals. Each has an elected Grishla to act as their leader amongst others. That power shifts not by birthright but by cleverness, wealth, and alliance. A skilled negotiator or spy may rise to prominence as easily as a soldier. Misian politics are intricate and ruthless; deceit is an art, but betrayal of kin is taboo.
After a bloody war known as the War of Splintered Spears, peace came through the Blenkrif Accord. Through tireless negotiation and no small measure of cunning, the Misi secured an unprecedented agreement: the right of safe passage and diplomatic immunity for all Misians within the imperial dominion, in perpetuity. Each Misian is treated as a dignitary of some small measure.
Despite their reputation for avarice, the Misi are also inventors, record-keepers, and master administrators. Their streets buzz with industry, and their ports are filled with fleets bound for every corner of Kerethad. Many races, even the proud Krinn, rely on the Misi to move goods, knowledge, and gold through their endless networks of trade.
Misians are social creatures bonded into Palniks that share territory, sometimes across plains, other times they create vast halls in mountains. In this respect they closely resemble Barbarian culture although there are certain key differences. First of all, gender does not matter in misian society: males and females share duties and responsibilities equally. This includes child-rearing, manual labor, hunting, and war. Secondly misians tend to downplay the individual in favor of the society. They are, however, collectively, an acquisitive, materialistic society, jealously guarding their discoveries and achievements. Misians like things and, when removed from the Palnik, a lone misi can become selfish and individualistic very quickly, because the overall misian culture is absent to guide and control his baser instincts.
Customs+40%, Native Tongue+40%
Standard Skills: Athletics, Brawn, Deceit, Endurance, First Aid, Locale, Perception
Example Combat Styles: Misian Prisk, Misian Rorvlan
Professional Skills: Commerce, Craft (any), Engineering, Lore (any), Mechanism, Musicianship, Oratory, Survival
Loyalty to a Palnik
Love (Something Materialistic)
Hate (Flummish, or some other species that bears your Palnik enmity )
Alchemist, Crafter, Entertainer, Herder, Mage, Merchant, Miner, Official, Physician, Priest, Scholar, Scout, Thief, Warrior
Misian characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x100 silver pieces.
The Nozun are tall, mantis-like humanoids, lithe and sharp of limb, whose angular faces and mirror-bright eyes betray nothing of their inner fire. Their movements are deliberate, graceful, and unnervingly precise — every gesture weighted with control. Their carapaces gleam in shades of jade, bronze, or dun, and their long legs are built for leaping and striking in a single motion. The Nozun dwell in the wind-cut islands and plains of the eastern kerethad, where stone citadels rise like blades from the earth, ruled by proud warlords and their poetic courts.
Their society is a tapestry of oaths, rituals, and verse; a feudal order bound by honor as much as by blood. The ruling Warlord-Poets, or Kataen are both generals and philosophers, expected to master the sword and the stanza alike. To the Nozun ruling class, combat is art, and art is truth made motion. Every duel, every poem, every act of discipline is an offering to the spirit of Prenom, the god of Perfect Form.
Their cities are echo with verse and are brilliant blossoms of art, where students train upon wind-swept terraces reciting poetry. The Nozun hold that the body and the soul must move as one, and to falter in verse is to falter in battle. They compose elegies for the fallen, sonnets for duels, and entire epics for wars long past. In the silence between lines, they say, the gods themselves listen.
Most Nozun live lives of discipline and austerity, seeking balance between contemplation and glory. They value refinement, restraint, and the unyielding pursuit of excellence. To act without grace is shameful; to die without purpose, unforgivable.
Nozun live somewhat longer than krinn, often reaching a well past a century before their limbs grow too stiff to wield the blade.
Nozun culture is civilized, founded on hierarchy, reverence, and self-control. Honor is the axis upon which their world turns, to act without it is to fall into spiritual ruin. Their daily lives are governed by codes of propriety and the Kataen Verses, a canon of aphorisms memorized from childhood. While outwardly reserved, the Nozun possess a profound appreciation for beauty in all things, the shape of a leaf, the curve of a sword, the cadence of a poem. Outsiders may find them severe or enigmatic, but those who earn their trust are treated with dignity and respect.
Customs+40%, Native Tongue+40%
Standard Skills: Athletics, Dance, Evade, Influence, Insight, Lore (Tactics), Swim
Example Combat Styles: Nozun Ru-Tegin, Nozun Mika-Ragon
Professional Skills: Courtesy, Craft (arms or armor), Language (any), Literacy, Lore (history or poetry), Oratory, Survival
Loyalty (Clan)
Ideal (Kataen Verses)
Hate (Dishonor or Cowardice)
Crafter, Courtier, Entertainer, Fisher, Official, Priest, Scholars, Sailor, Scout, Warrior
Nozun characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x100 silver pieces.
The Sulkar are great, towering humanoids with thick, armored shells like living stone. Their faces bear deep ridges and piercing eyes, and their bodies are built for brute strength and endurance. Once the terror of northern coasts, the Sulkar were famed as raiders and explorers, driven by a lust for battle and glory.
In ancient times they ruled the with might, but the clever Misi, using wit and guile where strength failed, subdued the Sulkar through alliance and manipulation, turning the once-free clans into loyal vassals. Today, many Sulkar serve as the warriors and enforcers of Misian rule, embodying the muscle behind their masters’ intellect. These are not a caged people, those that live within the territory of Misian either serve within their cities, or live on granted lands within their own clans. Though, they have since adopted Misian as their native tongue.
Sulkar are a deeply superstitious people, celebrating ancient traditions and rituals dating to before the Misian people conquered their lands. They are social beings, and form large clans that still echo their old customs. They are even granted freedom to feud between other clans, and raid non-protected lands so long as it aligns in the interest of their Grishla.
Yet beyond Misian dominion, in the remote lands, some tribes endure, wild, proud, and unbroken. They sing of the Old Roar swear blood oaths to any gods willing to grant aid. A surly and bad tempered people, to meet a free Sulkar is to face living rage and cruelty.
Sulkar are divided. Many live in clans, Barbarian-level societies often patriarchal in nature. The males are typically hunters and warriors, but dealings with other species are handled by the females. While others live in more civilized society alongside Misians.
Customs +40%, Native Tongue +40%
Standard Skills: Athletics, Brawn, Endurance, Influence, Locale, Perception, Unarmed
Example Combat Styles: Sulkar Zuldrin, Sulkar Skarvont,
Professional Skills: Commerce, Craft (any primitive), Healing, Language (any), Lore (any), Navigation, Survival, Track
Loyalty to Clan
Love (Freedom, Battle)
Hate (Chaos)
Crafter, Farmer, Herder, Priest, Warrior, Witch
Sulkar characters begin the game with commodities or currency worth 4d6 x30 silver pieces.